23 weeks

How far along? 23 weeks 6 days

Baby's Development: Baby Sophia is a little over a pound, the size of a mango amd growing right along! In the next 4 weeks, her weight (and mine) will double! You can now hear baby's heartbeat through a stethoscope and her skin is reddish in color due to the developing blood vessels. 

Maternity clothes? Oh yea! Still mixed in with regular clothes.  All pants are maternity at this point.  I tried to wear a pair of pre-pregnancy pants with a rubber band…HAH! That was a joke…it was so uncomfortable!

Weight Gain?  I am 5-6 lbs over pre-preg. Weight according to my home scale.  We’ll see what the Dr says this Friday.

Am I Showing? I think this was the week I officially “popped.” I kinda gauge it by how pregnant I look in the morning when I wake up since there isn’t an added food baby yet. ;)  I’ve noticed this week that the bump is significant and there is no sucking it in the mornings anymore. I’m seeing more people glance at my belly as I’m walking around the office, too.  I was interviewing someone this week and she was like…”Congratulations!” as soon as I walked in.  It would have been a little awkward if I wasn’t actually pregnant. haha

Sleep?  Sleep is getting a little better.  I think I am going to get us a humidifier this week as well.  I am so congested in the mornings, so I think that it will help.

Exciting Moment? We went to the Chik-Fil-A bowl for NYE with some coworkers of Matt’s and we had such a good time! It was Clemson vs LSU and although I could care less about either team, it turned out to be a great game! We indulged in some GA Dome snacks while we could still claim that it was the “holiday season.” New years day, we just lounged around and relaxed for the day.

I have really enjoyed the holidays with Matt this year. It has been pretty low key for us and I am glad we have gotten this time to relax with each other before these next few months leading up to Sophia’s arrival. I am definitely excited for next Christmas with her, though!  Although I can’t wait to get into the Christmas spirit and celebrate it with her, I am going to try and focus on not going overboard with presents (yes…I am thinking about this even though it is a year away). She will still be young and there isn’t going to be much she actually NEEDS (or we have room for in our house!). Between Matt and myself and her grandparents, I am hoping she doesn’t get TOO spoiled! J I am going to have to implement a one toy in, one toy out policy or something! haha

Gender:   Girl! Sparkles and tutus!

Stretch marks? Not yet!

What do I miss? Nothing this week. J

How have I been feeling? I am starting to realize that time is moving quickly and she will be here before we know it!  I am so excited for the baby showers we have coming up and I know that the busy weekend will make these next 4 months fly by! I am obviously excited, but I am starting to think about the labor part too and getting nervous about it.  I’m sure that’s normal and I will be thinking about it more and more as we get closer to the day.  My friend Natalie sent me a hospital bag list the other day and it really made it start to feel a little more real. Let me know if anyone is interested and I will post it on the blog.

I am trying to make more of an effort to go to the gym after work at least 3-4x/week.  It’s hard sometimes because I work really far from where we live and most days I don’t get home until about 7 because of traffic.  I’ve gone 3x in the last week, and it’s given me a lot more energy and is helping me sleep better at night, so I am going to try and keep it going.

Movement: ALL.THE.TIME.  She has started to kick down, which is such a weird feeling I can even describe.  I can also tell the difference between her rolling around and her kicks.  I am still mostly feeling movement down low, but today she is all over the place and I am feeling her on my right side and about 2 or 3 inches above my belly button as well. 

Food cravings:  Pretzels with cheese, chocolate milk, ice cream, fruit (still eating my apple a day!)

Food aversions: I have to watch what I eat because I still get heartburn easily, but no real “aversions” to speak of.

Rings on or off? Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Still happy…but stupid people really irritate me these days! lol

Looking forward to:  Our doctor’s appointment this Friday and our first baby shower coming up in Feb!