Bump Update - 16 Weeks

How far along?  
16 weeks

Total weight gain/measurements: 
I don't have a scale, but at 13 weeks I had gained about 5 lbs since pre-pregnancy.. I can only imagine what I'm at now since I most definitely got my appetite back PLUS some more! Haha! Belly has gained an inch and a half since the end of August.

Maternity clothes:  
None yet...but I just ordered some high waisted leggings from Asos, though they aren't maternity. I have a couple pairs of jeggings that fit great, but all my leggings are fitting so awkward now that my belly is getting bigger. They're too big to wear under my belly, and too short to try and pull up over it! I think I'll be ordering more maternity clothes from Asos when I need them. There's some pretty cute things on there!

Stretch marks:
No. I have old stretch marks from gaining/losing weight pre-pregnancy, but nothing new from the bebe.

Sleep: 
The first trimester, I felt like all I did was sleep. Second trimester is full of sleepless nights so far! It's not enough to make me nap during the day or make me cranky or anything.. but its still quite annoying. My nights are filled with crazy dreams and pee breaks!

Best moment this week: 
You'll come to notice that I live a very dull, to say the least, life. This week however, I have realized how much I've been thinking of my grandparents lately. I had such a craving for boiled potatoes the other night - something my gramma always used to make. I also drink a black tea almost every morning - something my grampa ALWAYS used to drink. I actually forgot about his tea addiction until I smelled my first black tea last week. I told my mom about how the smell reminded me of him instantly, and she reminded me of how he used to have a black tea every day with his dinner. When they passed away when I was little, I was always sad that they wouldn't be there to see me accomplish so many things, especially the birth of my children. Now that I'm pregnant, it really doesn't feel like they're missing anything. It feels like they know and are enjoying the whole process just as much as I am!

Miss anything?
 I'm kinda missing wine. I finally have a bath tub after a couple years, and all I want to do is sit in the tub with a glass of wine!

Movement: 
Nothing yet, but hopefully soon!

Food cravings: 
Gotta have tea every morning. Cake, frozen treats, grapes, candy.. haha anything sweet!

Anything making you queasy or sick? 
Not anymore... The first trimester was rough. Eggs were a no go.. Seafood just couldn't happen..Thankfully thats all over with so far!

Gender: 
No idea! Hopefully we'll find this out soon too! Couple more weeks or so I think! Even though we don't know for sure, we both really think it's a boy. 

Labour signs:
 No! Thank god! Way too early for that. 

Symptoms: 
Peeing all the time.. Some dull aches in my lower abdomen.. Crazy dreams! 

Belly button in or out?
 In.. I really don't think it'll pop out

Happy or moody most of the time: 
Happy!

Looking forward to: 
The gender ultrasound! 

Bebe On The Way!

Well this blog came to a halt! Shortly after I stopped posting, I found out that we are expecting our first little bundle of joy! Since the moment I got pregnant, I felt more like a bundle of pukey tired crap then joy. Of course I was happy and excited beyond words! Don't get me wrong.... but the "morning" sickness I experienced was something else. It last the entire first trimester and I mean ENTIRE. I was sick morning, noon and night. Every smell set me off. I've gotten sick in too many public places for a girl who's not in college anymore, thats for sure! I was also exhausted. When I wasn't throwing up, I was sleeping. 

-12 weeks-

-13 weeks-

 Now that all that is out of the way, my second trimester is a god send so far! Thankfully! I can eat again.. mmmm eating...one of my favourite things to do these days haha! Grapes! I LOVE them! I also am obsessed with Asian salad... You know, the pre made ones in the bag that have the sunflower seeds and dried cranberries and that real good ginger sesame dressing. MMMM!! Although since we made our move to the east coast, I have NOT been able to find it!! I'm also craving a pepperoni and cheese pizza from this little take out place back in my hometown called the Jade. I swear, she makes the best pizza I've ever eaten. Being 36 hours away from this deliciousness hurts my soul. The yellow box Kraft pizza is a good replacement though.

-14 weeks-

Another pregnancy change I've experienced is the insane dreams! Oh my goodness. Ive woken up crying, sweating, talking, jumping, and even nauseated from the dreams! For the most part, they're pretty interesting, although some of them can be just plain insane and sometimes very scary. The plus side to all of the dreaming, I get to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in a long time. Living so far away from anyone I know has kind of made me a bit lonely. The dreams are pretty entertaining! 

Speaking of the move, I do LOVE it where we live. I think its going to be the perfect place to raise our growing bebe! The to photos I took with the blue shirt and sweater on, were taken in "his" room. We both keep calling it a "him", but we don't know for sure yet. In the beginning, I was saying it was going to be a girl, but I think that's just because everyone else kept saying boy! I always had a feeling it's going to be a boy. Either way, I'll be happy! I just want a chubby, healthy bebe! Hopefully we'll get that ultrasound booked soon since I'm already 16 weeks along. It's been somewhat annoying and difficult trying to take find doctors, get appointments, get blood work and ultrasounds done, all while moving from one province to another in my first trimester! Slowly things are starting to come together, although I now need to find another OB since we moved to a different area of this province and the nurse practitioner I was seeing, is now an hour and a half away from me! I'm not too keen on driving that distance all the time, thats for sure. Soon, all the pieces will fall together and a new routine will be in place! 

-15.5 weeks-

I love being pregnant so far, even though the first trimester was pretty rough on me, and I'm sure it was rough on my boyfriend as well. I am appreciated every single moment and enjoying everything so far. Seeing my little bebe on ultrasounds, hearing and seeing his heartbeat, watching my belly grow, makes my heart flutter with excitement and so much love. I feel like such a proud momma already. At the last ultrasound [about 14 weeks], "he" was laying on his stomach/face, and when she pressed harder on my belly with the wand, he flipped over and was facing us! It was such a great moment to see "him" moving around in there. I can't wait until I can start feeling those movements. "He's" potentially due on my birthday! That's going to be a great birthday present :D 

Heeerrree Birdy Birdy Birdyyy!

Have I mentioned that my boyfriend is the best? He built me a birdhouse! It's going to be a long working project. He has a ton of ideas for it & I imagine he will be constantly adding on to it! Haha! I still need to paint it as well. We got really excited once it was put together. We needed to test it out! 

More details to come in the most likely, near future!

I also mentioned that I wanted a bird bath. That man is the best. Here's the bird house and bird bath, looking all cute! The left deck is going to be a little pool/bath type thing. How adorable? 

So yes.. It still has a lot of work planned for it, but for now, the birdy friends and squirrel friends quite enjoy it! There was a cardinal flying around here every once in awhile, so we were hoping he would come hang out. He did!

We also had another visitor. 

So cute. Yesterday it was raining pretty hard here. There was a squirrel sitting in the deck/pool/bath, hiding from the rain eating sunflower seeds. A bird flew over to take cover and the squirrel ran to the top of the fence & shook all the rain off before he ran to the other end of the yard & ran up a tree. Cutest thing I have ever seen - a squirrel shaking off. Eeeee! 

Obsessed!!

I love my garden.  I love my neighbours garden. I love the lady down the streets garden! Not only have I enjoyed the whole preparing of the garden - digging, rows, planting seeds, etc., I've loved watching it grow! Every single morning, I walk through and look at everything. That usually isn't the only time I look at it... I usually go back at least once or twice more. It's my very first one! I'm obsessed with it!

I mean, how excited would you be to walk through your garden and see that the little seeds you planted weeks ago, have turned into vegetables! Look at that beautiful pea!

The flowers finally came in on the zucchini too! 

I seem to have forgotten to take a photo of the actual zucchini.... Oops. Next time. 

I also am a huge fan of having fresh radishes and green onions on hand!

Look at the cute little smile on that radish!

To add to my garden, is this amazing plant. I cannot remember what it is called. We met this lady who lives down the road, who has an amazing garden in her front yard. I love it so much. The colours in it are so pretty and contrasting.. Lots of bold plants that stick out. Anyway, one evening, we were walking by her house and she was outside, so we gave her compliments on her garden. We ended up standing there and talking with her for a long while. We left with these amazing clippings as well! Oh that lady is so so so nice. I was so happy to have met her!

Imagine this on a 12 foot by 3 foot [approximately of course] scale. Gorgeous right? I couldn't believe how incredibly generous she was. I have all of these little gems in little glasses of water. Some of them are starting teeny tiny little roots! One day I'll be able to plant them! The lavender smells absolutely amazing. That rose though! It was the very first thing she clipped & gave to me. As she was walking over to the rose bush, she was talking about when it was originally planted. It was 29 years ago, when her and her late husband found out they were pregnant with their daughter. She told me it was near and dear to her heart. That made me feel so great. Not just for the fact that I was getting this beautiful flower, but the fact that she gave a total stranger something that was so important and special to her. I definitely walked away from her house with a huge smile on me face!

A Little Polishing Up

Today is a quiet day. There is this headache that has been lingering for a couple days now.. I wish it would go awayyyyy! It's one of those days where I just want to nap and eat chips and dip. Mmm...Treats and snoozin'. My fave. I decided to have a coffee first before I jumped into my big day of hiding in the dark. Mmm coffee.. another fave. As I was sipping on it, I thought maybe I should do my nails before I lose all motivation. 

As you can see, my lovely ring finger had been peeled away at. I was going to just re-do that one finger, but then I decided 'ahh what the heck'...so I took it all off. Now, I love shellac. I also hate the removal process part of shellac. Taking nail polish off is a process, taking shellac off, gah. First you need to buff up the nail. I ended up peeling away the polish on my ring finger [don't do this... just don't.. i make bad choices sometimes.. this is an example of such choices]. Once the polish is nice and scratched up, soak the cotton balls in the gel nail polish remover, I used Red Carpet Erase. Put the cotton ball on the nail and wrap a piece of tin foil around the tip of your finger to hold it in place. The polish remover needs to soak into all the coats and break them up so they can be easily removed. After a few minutes [I finished my coffee and watched some Greys Anatomy], rub the tin foil/cotton ball around and wiggle it off the nail and finger. The polish should all be on the cotton ball! Use a fine nail file to buff the nail again. I file my nails and do cuticle work at this time as well. Then use another cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol to wipe the nails clean. 

These are the polishes I used this time around. Gelish Foundation, Red Carpet Gel Polish in colour Violetta Darling, Gelish Top it Off. Put a thin layer of the base coat on the nail. After every coat, cure the polish under the UV light. I have a great Sally Hansen Gel Manicure Starter Kit that I got as a gift. It works great & I would definitely recommend it! 

Always put coats on in thin layers. I always put 2 coats of colour on my nails. The photo above is the first and second coats. 2 coats usually gives full coverage. If not, put a third coat on. Just make sure to put them on thinly & cure after every coat. Top it off & cure again. Finish it off by wiping another alcohol soaked cotton ball on your finger nails. 

Polish is done! I like to complete the whole manicure with using this amazing Lush product! I am obsessed with it, especially in the winter. I get really dry cuticles, and this cuticle butter works like a charm! Lemony Flutter smells amazing and give me the softest cuticles and finger tips ever. 

Love it.

A little present from my boyfriend!

How beautiful are these flowers??

I'm hoping that some of those little buds get to bloom in the near future. I love these so much!
Such a thoughtful guy. <3

Onions all over the place!

So I was taking a little walk through the garden this morning. Geez, was there ever a ton of onions growing in there. When we first started the garden, everything had its own place, all neat and tidy. Now, its a little bit of everything, everywhere. Personally, I love it. I think its great. There are 4 different places that have onions growing in them haha!

So as I was checking them all out, I noticed that a ton of them were super long and falling over under their own weight. So i took out the scissors and started snipping them off. I had a good handful once I was done. 

Then I went out and got more, because I realized I neglected a whole patch. Snippy snippity snip. I ended up with about twice the amount as the above photo. Then I chopped them all up with scissors.

I mean, those are some good looking green onions right? I put some on a baked potato last night. Mmmmmmmmmm. Anyway, I let these little beauties bake in the sun for a few minutes so they could dry out. I tossed em around with my fingers every once in awhile so as much water would evaporate as possible.

Once they were dry enough, I put them in this mason jar and tossed em in the freezer. This is so handy for storing them. Its going to be so easy to just grab this jar from the freezer, take what I need, and toss em back in! With the amount of onions that are growing out there right now, I'm pretty pumped that its this easy to store them. I also saw a posting on Pinterest where they recommend using a plastic water bottle. This is what I had sitting right in front of me, so that was perfect!