The Merfett

Merfbaby is 22 weeks today!

He’s measuring the length of a Spaghetti Squash! Whoa.

How I’m Feeling: I love that this is the number one thing people ask when they see me :) I just say that I’m feeling more pregnant every day, it’s true! Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel like my belly grew overnight! I’ve been really active, even on the weekends, working around the house but sometimes it’s like I hit a wall and I’m exhausted. I haven’t started taking naps regularly, but I think that might become a new thing as the months go on.

Belly/Weight: My belly is really starting to stick out, sometimes I see it out of the corner of my eye when I pass a mirror and I do a double take! I’ve been rubbing it with Coco Butter to keep the stretch marks away, finger’s crossed! I have a Dr appointment next week, so I’ll get my new weight then. I’ve been focusing on having more fruit and veggies in my daily meals which make me feel better and I know it’s better for Merfbaby. We did go out to an amazing Italian restaurant for dinner last Friday and I dominated several slices of Margarita pizza, but it was AMAZING and worth every carb ;)

Life Changes:  I ordered some new Maternity dresses from Old Navy, they should arrive this week. I’m excited to have a few more clothing options. I wanted to have some cute “nice” things to wear for our Babymoon out to dinners, so I’ll have more options now. Pants are my biggest challenge, I may need to get another pair of jeans or bottoms so I have one more to add into my weekly rotation. Does Ross or TJ MAXX sell Maternity? Old Navy and Target are pretty affordable, I’ll look there too.

Movement: Lots of little kicks! Sometimes when I put my hand on my tummy he’ll kick out at it :) There’s a pattern to the movement, and I notice more activity after I have something sweet like fruit or juice. When I lay down for bed he gets pretty active too which is funny.

Sleep: I’ve been tired this week, sleep is my favorite reward at the end of the day. The other night I was so out of it I didn’t hear Merfman come home :( He always gives me a kiss when he crawls into bed, but I just mumbled back at him, poor guy. The show is going on a shooting hiatus for a few weeks so I’ll get to see more of him in the daylight hours :)

Cravings: Starbucks is still sounding really awesome, but I haven’t given in ;) I’ve had a sweet tooth, and I’ve eaten more chocolate than I normally do. At work we have a candy bowl that I normally take a piece or two of “fun size” candy from, and after dinner this week I’ve had a few chunks of a Hershey Bar. I don’t normally eat chocolate like that, but it’s been so good lately!

Exercise: 1,000 yard swim on Sunday, and some walks. I had plans to get to the gym yesterday, but bailed and took the extra sleep. It’s exactly 1/2 mile walk around the block for my office so I’m trying to get 2 walks in a day to make for 1 mile, 30 min total.

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week:  Ordering our diaper bag! I haven’t bought a single thing for Merfbaby, so I finally did it! I went to a consignment Sale on Sunday but didn’t see anything we “needed.” Lots of clothes and toys, but we have plenty of that coming from friends and family. I did see some really cute Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles, but I passed since they were for ages 1+. I can’t wait for our diaper bag to arrive! I’m really excited about it :) It was a little more expensive than some of the other options, but I LOVE that it looks like a normal bag and it’s going to last for Merfbaby and beyond.

On My Mind:  Nesting. We have plans to upgrade our kitchen in the coming weeks. We spent close to 2 hours at IKEA on Saturday selecting cabinets and fixtures. We came home, measured again and we’re going back this weekend to place the order. We rearranged our living room so it faces a different way, which will be part of the new kitchen plan…we’re putting in an ISLAND!!! AH! There’s going to be storage and counter top space and extra seating, oh my! I spent a good amount of time in our home office on Sunday organizing and getting things ready to be moved to our new office space upstairs. Once that process is done we can start seriously working on the nursery. I also have some serious closet organizing and purging to do.

Merfbaby is 21 weeks today!

The length of a carrot, 10 1/2 inches head to toe! I have an old school ruler on my desk and I’m quickly running out of space to show people how big Merfbaby is. I may need to upgrade to a tape measure :)

How I’m Feeling: There’s a nasty cold going around our office this week. I woke up with a sore throat on Tuesday and took it easy all week. I drank of TON of water, and lots of hot water with lemon and honey. Since I can’t take any cold meds I just prayed my rest and increased fluid intake would kick it. I also sanitized my hands anytime I touched anything in the office. I woke up feeling much better today, so I think I’m on the mend!

Belly/Weight: It’s a bump for sure! Last night I was commenting to Merfman that my tummy feels “full” and tight, like I ate too much or something? It’s a funny feeling since I know I’ve got a long way to go in the belly department. I rubbed some lotion on it before bed and that helped. I noticed two faint stretch marks on my hips :( I asked Momma-son if she got stretch marks, since they are genetic and she said yes. Boo :( I’m hoping slow weight gain and some lotion will help lessen them.

Life Changes: It was really warm in the Valley this week…90 degrees! I’m starting to struggle with clothing options since I only have two pairs of bottoms that fit comfortably. I think I may need to make a trip to Target/Old Navy to see about adding in a few other things to my closet. I get really creative with my tops, but you can only do so much with one pair of jeans and capris when it’s a zillion degrees here in the summer.

Movement: His kicks are so much stronger now, even from last week! I can feel them from the outside now. Yesterday I think he had the hiccups and it woke me up. It’s such a funny feeling. I’m also noticing a pattern to his movement. He’s active after breakfast, in the late afternoon and around dinner time. I think he likes what I’m eating at least? LOTS of veggies and salads.

Sleep: I slept hard all week. My body was really fighting off that cold. With the darker mornings is was hard to crawl out of bed, but I think I’m adjusted now. I grabbed another pillow last night to prop under my tummy, and I had one against my back – it was like sleeping in a little nook, and it was awesome.

Cravings: Starbucks!!! I wanted a vanilla latte and blueberry scone SO bad yesterday. I kind of still do ;) I switched up my morning OJ with hot lemon honey water for most of the week which made my sore throat happy.

Exercise: I took a long walk with Betsy on Sunday after church. We went to a park nearby our house that has a  walking loop. It was a beautiful day, and my first trip to the park. I think I’ll try to make that a regular walk. I had big plans for a swim and spin workout this week but I think my body really needed some extra sleep so I skipped. Since it’s lighter later in the evenings I’m going to try to get some walking in after work.

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week: Merfman got to feel Merfbaby kick for the first time! I’ve been looking forward to that for weeks and I’m so excited he got to feel! I don’t see Merfman much during the week and since Merfbaby is only active sometimes during the day I was really happy it worked out :)

On My Mind: We booked our Babymoon!!!! We’ve been talking about it for weeks and we finally pulled the trigger and made the reservation last night. 15% discount for booking in advance, woot! We’re going to the Ojai Inn and Spa. We went back on forth on where to stay and what kind of trip we wanted, and we decided the Ojai Inn and Spa was the best fit for what we wanted. We’ve been there once before for a short stay and we LOVED it. Seriously the best place I think I’ve ever vacationed. We also credit a meal we had there as one of our favorite of all time. I’m so excited to go back and enjoy our last vacation as a party of 2. We didn’t have a super fancy honeymoon – we chose to go camping at the lake with the dog, and it was perfect and very us. So, we’re both looking forward to a fancy mini vacation.