21 weeks: 17 questions

1) How far along? 21 weeks  (only 133 days to go!)

2) Total weight gain?  Maybe 7 pounds? I don't have a scale but I heard

that it's normal to gain 1 pound a week at this point, so that would make me 139 pounds.
3) Maternity clothes? Yes, kind of... I need to start wearing the bigger, loose shirts from my closet because my tight shirts and sweaters won't cover my belly at work.  But I haven't bought any so-called maternity tops, just pants.

4) Stretch marks? Nope

5) Sleep? I still feel exhausted all the time, and especially last week after getting back into the classroom routine following Spring Break, when I was also finishing up writing comments on all my students for 3rd quarter. 

6) Best moment this week? Several!  I reserved a spot and paid registration for a daycare that is super close to us and has good facilities and staff.  Unfortunately we couldn't get in until December but we are on the waiting list for any openings that pop up in October. Second, my cousin, Allison, in Connecticut gave birth to her second baby girl on the same day that my other cousin, Kim, celebrated her birthday (March 26th), which is exciting!  Also, my friend, Amy P., and I treated ourselves to a mani-pedi at our favorite cheap salon down the street because it had been a while since we've gone there and seen each other! Lastly, David's parents, Nancy and Fred, and good friends, Al and Blair, came to visit us in Knoxville on their way back from Florida and on through to Indiana during their spring break. 

7) Miss Anything? Sleep and going on walks with David and Hank.  David has been working a lot lately, and the the rainy weather has stopped us from going on our usual "family walks."

8) Movement? No, not yet!  Some nights, I will rest in bed and see if I can feel any little movement in my lower stomach area before I fall asleep, but I don't feel anything that could resemble something like "baby movement." I can only feel my own my pulse in my body. I'm hoping this week that she'll start kicking!

9) Food cravings? I've been eating more red meat, like meat loaf at school and then a hamburger when we went out with David's parents and the Clarks last night. It must mean I need more protein!
10) Anything making you queasy or sick?  Nothing in particular this week. 

11) Gender? Girl

12) Labor Signs? No

13) Symptoms? Nothing dramatic, but same stuff: exhaustion, nausea at night, and weird dreams on a nightly basis

14) Belly Button in or out? I think it's in, but David thinks it is out now.  I call it "out" when it's a big nub that is clearly elevated from my stomach! 

15) Wedding rings on or off? On

16) Happy or Moody?  Happy but tired from this school week!

17) Looking forward to what?  The month of April, and April 1st is finally coming up on Tuesday!  My birthday is on April 20th, and I have several family and friends who also have April birthdays.  David and I are going on a "baby moon / birthday" trip for my birthday / Easter weekend to Connecticut.  Also, I checked the forecast, and it's going to be a high of 79 degrees in Knoxville on Wednesday!  People have warned me about the difficulty of being an extremely pregnant woman during the hot, summer weather in Knoxville, but I don't think I'll ever complain about it, or I can just hop in a pool every day!

 21-week belly pictures

First, these are pictures that I asked David to take:

Then, I took some more because he had enough and didn't want to be the photographer anymore:

Fashionista little Peaches!

Now I know why people get so excited about having a baby girl!!!

After receiving a baby book from one male student two weeks ago, I received the first set of baby clothes from one of my favorite female students today between classes!  My students are so thoughtful.

Although I'm reminding myself that we only need to get the "necessities," it's going to be so much fun to dress up this little peach!  It will be tempting to buy an entire closet of cute clothes for this girl!

20 weeks: 17 questions HALF-WAY

I apologize for the delay in my HALF-WAY blog post at 20 weeks yesterday.  I was busy getting lesson plans together for this week, so needed to delay my blog post until today at 20 weeks, 1 day. 

1) How far along? 20 weeks **I can't believe we're already half-way through!!!

2) Total weight gain?  6+ pounds? I'm 138 now.
3) Maternity clothes? YES!  I finally gave in and bought some maternity khaki pants and one pair of jeans from Old Navy. I have been avoiding pants for work since January and was only wearing tights or skirts for bottoms.  Today, I had to do a quick change of clothes and put on a "non-maternity" sweater instead of my blouse because I didn't expect a freeze warning in Knoxville this morning... I definitely had to tug and stretch at the sweater more than 10 times during class today to pull it over my belly!

4) Stretch marks? None that I can see!

5) Sleep? Yes, sleeping well with my new body pillow! David and Hank sometimes use it, too. :)

6) Best moment this week? Week-long visit from the Ritt parents during my spring break.  Although Don and Booze were happy to see us, the warm weather, and be able to play some golf down here in Tennessee, I appreciate them spending a week's worth of vacation days to be with us and do some "baby errands," too, like shopping for the so-called nursery, which is the guest room in our apartment and visiting 5

day cares in one day with hopes of getting on a wait list in October!

7) Miss Anything? Not really anything right now, not even wine, believe it or not.  

8) Movement? No, and I'm getting anxious!  I thought by this point I would feel the baby move, but nothing that I can distinguish from my rumbling stomach.  I'm waiting for it any day now!

9) Food cravings? Still loving my watermelon!  I'm not sick of it yet, either!
10) Anything making you queasy or sick?  Mint toothpaste is my biggest

enemy, but thanks to my Aunt Marg, the watermelon-flavored toothpaste is saving my dental hygiene!

11) Gender? Girl!  I'm looking forward to dressing her up!

12) Labor Signs? No

13) Symptoms? Tiredness, all-day nausea, extremely weird dreams still

14) Belly Button in or out? I would call it an innie, but you can see it popping out a little when I wear a tight tee-shirt. 

15) Wedding rings on or off? On

16) Happy or Moody?  Happy!  It was a relaxing and enjoyable spring break with my parents!  We slept in every day, had some good food, took good walks with Hank, played golf and watched lots of NCAA basketball.

17) Looking forward to what?  Getting back into the swing of things at school and finishing up a good school year until a busy summer and my leave through October.  The first day back after a long break is always the hardest to get through, but I had a good day today and looking forward to a pleasant spring with warm weather and a growing belly!

Highlighted pictures from the past week: 

19-week ultrasound picture (3-dimensional) from our appointment on March 17th:

The amazing cheese, sausage and crackers appetizer plate that we ordered from Aubrey's restaurant, a local favorite, with my parents:

Our first gifts for Baby Haase from Aunt Marg and Uncle Dave (and the lamb is in hiding, so Hank doesn't steal "her" before August!) :

My mom gave us the framed board of the alphabet to hang in our guest room "nursery." It's the same one that was in the baby room for me and my brothers.  She also gave us the porcelain musical decoration piece of a mother cat feeding her baby that plays "It's a Small World," also used in our nursery as Ritt children and given as a present by our Aunt Marg. 

Strollers from the Buy Buy Baby store that we looked at... I'm excited to get jogging with this amazing little machine!

The new B.O.B. jogging stroller, car seat and adaptor from the Ritt parents sitting in our guest room/nursery...the beginning of the filling up of the baby room!

David is showing my dad the wonders that his "swing shirt" does for his golf swing.  It really made a difference!  Too bad you're not allowed to use it on the course during a match. 

20-week belly pictures 

(I had a friend who joined me in the pictures, but it was only entertaining for him for the first 10 seconds.) : 

Pillow lover

Look who else loves my pregnancy pillow!  I mean, how can you resist?! 

He felt asleep immediately after dinner last night, and I caught him in the act.  I should go out and buy another one, so we can each have our own!

Golfing pregnant!

Today was warmer in Knoxville and the first day of spring, so we went out for our first round of golf this year.  Thanks to our friend, Byron, we were able to get an afternoon tee time on the Oak Ridge Country Club course.  It was my first experience golfing as a pregnant lady!  David and my mom beat out me and my dad in the back-9 team competition, but we all had our highlights of the day.

My mom claims that she played the BEST golf of her life when she was pregnant, but I don't think I played that exceptionally well today. Maybe I have to wait a few more months until I get the advantage of using a bigger-sized belly for momentum in my swing!