25.5 Weeks!

This pregnancy is flying by before my eyes! It seems like the holidays are just around the corner and soon after that Asher will be here before we know it!!! EEEE!!! :)

We've been staying busy lately in the baby-world. We made our decision and registered at the hospital that I'll deliver at. Next week we'll sign up for all of the classes that they offer (birthing, breast feeding, safety/CPR, etc.). Even though it's farthest from our house, I think we've made the right decision. It's amazingly beautiful, clean, super sweet staff, and I hear they treat all of the moms like a Queen once you are there! I can't wait! :) We've also finalized our decision on the car seat and stroller--this was a MUCH bigger task than I thought, so I'm glad it's over with! We purchased our crib and it was delivered last week. As I type...Mike is painting the nursery so I'm thinking tomorrow we'll put the crib together! I can't wait to see his room come together!

I'm feeling great these days other than some weird (and excruciating) arm pain. I've had it before, a couple years ago. But now it's back. I've had it checked out, x-rayed, EKG, blood work, etc. and they said it was a muscle spasm. I used to only get it maybe once a day but today I had it about 10 times!! EEK! Mike is nervous that it's something serious. He's the worrier for both of us. My next doctor appointment is on Tuesday so I'll add it to my list of Q's for the doc although I'm sure it's not pregnancy related.

Well the paint fumes have made it to the study...so I'll be heading to the other end of the house. I'll leave you with some recent pics of me and the bebe!!!

24 weeks

25 weeks

me--today!

Round Ligament Pain got the best of me!!

What is round ligament pain?

Round ligament pain generally refers to a brief, sharp, stabbing pain or a longer-lasting dull ache that pregnant women commonly feel in the lower abdomen or groin, starting in the second trimester.

You may feel round ligament pain as a short jabbing sensation if you suddenly change position, such as when you're getting out of bed or out of a chair or when you cough, roll over in bed, or get out of the bathtub. You may feel it as a dull ache after a particularly active day — when you've been walking a lot or doing some other physical activity.

The round ligaments surround your uterus in your pelvis. As your uterus grows during pregnancy, the ligaments stretch and thicken to accommodate and support it. These changes can occasionally cause pain on one or both sides of your abdomen.

You may feel the pain starting from deep inside your groin, moving upward and outward on either side to the top of your hips. The pain is internal, but if you were to trace it on your skin, it would follow the bikini line on a very high-cut bathing suit.

Research, Decisions, Planning...

I might be overwhelmed by EVERYthing that says 'baby' on it right now!!! We have started to plan for Asher's arrival and I feel like it will never end!!! It's fun, don't get me wrong, but there is just so much research that has to be done first! From strollers, car seats, bottles, cribs, paint colors...the list goes on and on.

Mike's cousin gave us a book called Baby Bargains. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! I can't put it down. It's been super helpful on reviews, what's a waste of money and what is a must! I'm only 1/2 way done so there is still lots for me to learn! We completed our registries a few days ago and have already made lots of changes since reading the book (and talking to some friends).

Friday night we took a tour of hospital choice #1. It was great! Everybody was so nice, it was clean, our tour guide was able to answer all of our questions and more! We have our next appointment with hospital choice #2 tomorrow night! I can't wait...everything is starting to feel SO real now! Especially since my belly is growing and growing...there's no hiding it! :)

We bought our bedding a few weeks ago along with a few wall hangings for the nursery! Also, my mom has started to make a quilt for Asher--I can't wait to see the final product!!

Here is the bedding for the crib!! I love it! It's neutral but has lots of textures, browns, creams and topes. We will have dark brown (espresso) wood crib set (that I'm still searching for) and 'harvest brown' color painted walls. The theme for the room is 'vintage sports'. Here are a few of the wall art we have to reflect the vintage sports...

Aaaand here's my comfy chair that my mom gave me!!!

100% sure!!!

We are finally 100% sure on the name that we will give our sweet baby!!!

Asher Niklas Atkins

We went through many many names and back and forth on a few but ended up with the BEST of all for our baby!!! We are so excited and it's becoming more and more real each day!!! We can't wait to meet Asher and hold him in our arms!!! Just in case you care, a few of the runner up's were Lennon, Gavin and Liam...in that order. I loved them all but I think Asher Atkins just flows perfectly!!! LOVE it!

Other than name browsing I've been feeling great and doing great. We just returned home from a Labor Day Weekend trip to Cleveland, OH for a long weekend to visit family I haven't seen in 16 years...since my Papa passed away! Obviously, Mike hadn't met any of that side of my family so it was great to reunite with everybody and introduce my great hubby to the family! The highlights of our trip were family tradition Bunko night, going to 'the Valley', tour of downtown by my dad, great food and definitely the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (or as the locals call it...the Rock Hall)! It was great fun and I imagine we won't wait another 16 years to go back...it'll be much sooner than that!
Oh we also went to a dive restaurant called "Close Quarters". It was sooooo good and greasy!!! It's a tiny restaurant known for their burgers, fries and wings and BOY were they good! The whole place holds MAYBE 20 people and all of the seats are centered around the bar. I swear Guy from Diners Drive-Ins & Dives needs to go there! Maybe I'll nominate them!!!!

Mike & I have been researching everything baby related including strollers, car seats, nursery themes...you name it. I think we'll register this weekend. We bought the crib bedding a couple weeks ago that we both fell in love it! Basically browns, tans and creams. Pretty neurtal but lots of textures on everything. I love it! Our theme will be Vintage Sports for the room so we are starting to put our ideas together and make it happen! My mom has already started on making a baby blanket, and a wall decor for the nursery!!! SO excited to see the final product!

I'll leave you with a pic from my vacation...

my dad, stepmom, ME & Mike

Reveal Party!!!!!!

Sooooo, this past weekend was the big REVEAL Party!!!! I loved every minute of it!!! We had a great turnout of about 30 people--mostly Mike's family (since he has a lot of local family) and a few close friends.

People arrived, we mingled, ate a delish lunch and....well, I'll cut to the chase...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did the 'cutting of the cake' and low and behold the cake was BLUE!!! It was so fun to find out in front of our family & friends!!! I was pretty much in shock! I did all of the 'old wives tale' tricks to find out boy/girl and ALL tests pointed to GIRL. Funny huh!?! BUT my vivid dreams kept telling me boy. So my guess was a boy! (When everybody arrived they were able to choose a blue or pink necklace of beads to 'guess' the baby's gender!). It was great fun!!!

Here are a few pics of our special event. Thanks to great friends who photographed our memories!!!

Belly Belly Belly!

My belly is starting to groooow! I love reading about the baby each day and how much s/he is growing, it's amazing!!! Here is my 19 week picture. I'm still waiting for Saturday to see if this sweet baby is a boy or a girl!! I'm STILL antsy and losing sleep over it!!! I had a super vivid dream last night that we found out that we were having a BOY! The dream seemed SO real, I actually woke up my husband and told him we were having a boy. He was confused to say the least! haha! I'm able to feel the baby move & kick A LOT recently! I love it! We lay down at night and Mike tries to feel the movements too...but he can't quite feel them as much as I can inside! I'm sure that'll change soon once the baby grows even MORE!

Boy or Girl, that IS the question!!!

I'm DYING to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!! We had our 'gender sono' last Friday and since we are keeping it a secret until our Reveal Party--we have the answer sealed in an envelop!!! I was SUPER tempted ALL day on Friday. I swear that envelop grew eyes an it was staring at me all day and whispering to me "ooooopen meeee". My mom came to my office to pick up the envelop and she'll take it to a bakery to get the pink or blue cake made for the party. It'll be covered in white icing--so we'll find out when we 'cut the cake'. The party is in less than 2 weeks, it couldn't come any faster!

I would usually post pics of the sono--BUT since the boy/girl pictures were captured on the CD with all of the upper-body/profile photos, I don't want to take the chances of putting the CD in and uploading any photos. Soooo, those will have to wait! The doctor appointment went great. We were able to see the upper body sono and the baby was moving EVERYwhere! Eeee! So exciting!