It's a...

Curious to know if our baby is a boy or a girl????

Click HERE to see the video we made of us finding out the gender.

17 weeks!

This week is brought to you by sleepless nights, a clean house, and Bronchitis :( .

Weeks Pregnant: 17 weeks 6 days (I'm sorry I'm posting this so late... I've been a very sick momma) I am actually posting this on the say I turned 18 weeks, I was waiting on the Daddy's Thoughts section, but in just two days we'll be posting the 18 week post & the gender announcement so I just needed to post this already!

Weight: 156.5

Total Weight Gain: I'm up a few pounds since last week but still under my starting weight of 158. This still has me a little worried that I'm not getting enough food for the baby. My goal is to have a healthy weight gain throughout the pregnancy, but I also want to make sure I'm eating the appropriate amount of food so that baby getting everything he/she needs to grow. We have an appointment on Monday so I'll be sure to ask my doctor about this.

Waist: (at the belly button) 38.5", up 5 inches total

Bust: 40", up 4.5 inches so far

Butt/Hip: 44.5", up 1 inch so far

Average number of times up to pee per night: 2 times per night, but it's getting harder for me to get up in the middle of the night. Once I'm finally comfortable the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. I'm trying to convince Jeff to trade me sides of the bed so I can sleep on the side closer to the bathroom door. That way I can just roll out of bed and walk into the bathroom.

Size of the baby bean: 5.5 inches, the size of a sweet potato, yummy.

Weight: 5 oz

What baby has been up to: Baby's startle reflex is now developed which means baby will jump at the sound of a loud noise (I'll bet my coughs scary the poor little thing). Baby is starting to develop fat deposits which will help him/her regulate its temperature after birth. It is so cute to think about this development since I think there is nothing cuter than little baby rolls. I hope this baby has some nice healthy little chub on them. Baby now has his/her own set of tiny little fingerprints unique to itself. So so so cute!

Other pregnancy related stuff

Emotional: This week has been a difficult one for me since I've been SO SO SO SO sick. I have also noticed that I have been more sensitive and emotional than ever. All of my family is going separate ways for Christmas (some to New York, Illinois, and Jeff & I will be in Missouri with his family). My sweet sister is not able to get a ton of time off work and needs the extra money so she will be spending Christmas here with her new boyfriend (aww) and my aunt & the nuns at the convent. When we were talking about the fact that she would be "alone without family on Christmas" I got very emotional and started crying. I know she won't be "alone" it just made me sad. I've also had a few upsetting events (arguments with an older woman I work with that led to tears, a disappointing conversation with a certain family member that led to tears, the fact that it's now December and we still have no set place to move at the end of the month that leads to tears and anxiety). But I know each of these situations that led to tears this week are just part of everyday life and something that I can take in stride and move forward.

Physical: As baby continues to grow, so does my stomach. Lately I've been experiencing these lovely little round ligament pains that I've been hearing about for several months now. It seriously feels like my stomach is being torn apart and I realize this is just the stretching of the ligaments that surround my stomach and it is something I will get used to, but man o man do they hurt! Anytime I change positions while sleeping or go from sitting to standing I feel a slight pull. I did experience my first pre-natal massage this week and the masseuse taught me some great stretches that I can do at home to help with the sciatic nerve pain I've been getting in my back. Exciting news... our netflix has pregnancy yoga videos that I can stream and watch and do at home. My sister mentioned that she wants to start doing yoga and although she's not preggers she is going to come over a few times a week to do these yoga videos with me. I've had a little bit of a cold for about 2 weeks now and this week it led to the loss of my voice and a terrible cough. After several sleepless nights we took a night time field trip to urgent care and found I was diagnosed with Bronchitis. I do work at a high school full of coughing and sneezing students so it's no surprise that I was going to eventually catch something during this pregnancy. The doctor prescribed Augmentin (spelling?) and Teslan Pearls for the cough. The Augmentin is proven safe in pregnancy and so far I think it's helping. The Teslan Pearls are a level C which means that they are not proven safe for pregnancy but they don't know enough about them to know that that aren't armful. I decided it wasn't worth the risk. We bought a humidifier instead. Each night I go to bed with Vick's Vapor rub on my chest, a stripe under my nose, and lather up both feet before putting on socks. All of which help me sleep for at least a good 4 hours or so until a coughing fit wakes me up. I sleep completely sitting up but once I get into a deep sleep I am sometimes awoken when I fall into the bed. Oh well, its only for a time being for this too shall pass.

What I want to devour: As it has been for the past several weeks all I want to eat all the time is Chicken! MMM..... I love me some chicken! I've also really taken a liking to Gushers, the fruit snack packs that I loved as a kid have been calling out to me once again. I've always known better than to go grocery shopping while hungry, but I must now add to that, never go grocery shopping while hungry AND pregnant. It wasn't on the list but I left with 4 boxes of cereal, apples, oranges, grapes, a case of diet rite (my favorite decaffeinated soda alternative), Gushers, Vanilla yogurt, peach fruit cups, and Orange juice... on top of the other items already on my list. This baby really likes fruity things, which is totally fine with me!

What makes me gag: Bear has this new trick... he farts! Up to this point, Bear has not had this splendid talent, but this past week it has really become apparent. YUCK! His toots stink soo badly that I am almost certain he's had an accident. Jeff and I laugh about it because we will both smell it, blame the other and then look to Bear who has this big open grin on his puppy dog face! That for sure makes me gag! Other than puppy farts, nothing else makes me gag.

Activity: I FINALLY cleaned my house! This was at the earlier part of the week before the Bronchitis took its full take over of my body. I got this burst of energy and decided it was time to clean the house in preparation for Christmas decorations. We put up our very first Christmas tree (thanks to a nice donation from someone that works with Jeff) and enjoy watching Christmas movies at night with all the lights out except for the glow of the tree. It's very romantic.

Boy? or Girl?: This is the question that's really been on our minds a lot the past several weeks. Is this cute little baby growing inside of me a Boy or a Girl?!?! We have our ultrasound tomorrow, December 2nd and we originally had planned to have the ultrasound tech write the answer on a paper and put it in a sealed envelope that we would then open on Christmas morning, but I have to be honest... Christmas is just TOO far away! I am not a patient person and I've been waiting ever so anxiously to buy little baby clothes and I just can't take it any longer!!! I want to know! I want to start calling this baby by name!!! We've decided to still have the tech write the gender on a card and seal it in an envelope and we have a really fun idea that we are going to do with the results and then find out just the two of us tomorrow evening. We wanted it to be an intimate moment between the two of us. We've also planned a wonderful dinner with our parents on Sunday night & I've come up with a really fun way that I want to tell our parents about the gender of their grand baby (for my family this is their first which makes it even more special).

I've always dreamed of telling my parents in a really unique and special way and I'm super excited to have that opportunity. My wish was to tell all my parents at the same time, but unfortunately I can't seem to get them all in the same room at the same time. So Sunday night we will have Jeff's parents, my mom, sister, and brother over for dinner at our apartment. My Dad and Step-Mom have decided not to come to this "intimate setting" so unfortunatley they will miss out on the unique announcement I had orignially planned specially for them. Oh well. We're also planning to call Jeff's sister on speaker phone or Skype so she doesn't miss out on the excitement since she lives all the way in Oklahoma! After our parents have found out, then we will share it with the rest of the general public. So keep an eye and an ear out for the announcement Sunday evening or Monday morning!!!!!! Cast your vote in the comments section or on Instagram or Facebook and let us know if you think baby is a Boy or a Girl.

Names: We will be annoucing this with the gender annoucement! Before we even got engaged we had our names picked out. We have several we both like and agree on, but we definitely KNOW the first boy and girl name we want to use. However, we aren't going to share it with you just yet... Once we know the sex of the baby we will announce the name. You only have to wait until December. :) We've known people to keep it a secret until the baby arrives, but we want to be able to refer to the baby by name & specialize the nursery, baby blankets, and such with his or her name.

Baby is now the size of the sweet potato. Here I am standing at the grocery store holding a little potato the size of our baby! It may sound silly to some, but I just had this urge to hold a sweet potato. If there weren't other people around me at the grocery store than I might have been tempted to cradle it in my arms like my baby. It just makes it seem more real when you can hold something the size of your child after weeks of yearning to hold your own baby. Does that make sense?