Baby Bump

I will be 28 weeks tomorrow! I can not believe that I am that far along already! Im in my 3rd trimester! I honestly never thought id get here months ago it felt like a lifetime away and here I am. Today I took my glucose test, which was not fun! I had to drink this really sugary drink that made my stomach hurt and gave me a headache. Then I had to wait an hour and go get my blood drawn. This is to see if I have gestational diabetes. I should get the results next week! 

I have been feeling the baby move and kick me constantly now. The weird thing is I can now see the baby move. Ill see what looks like a ball roll across my belly. Its crazy to see. Ricky finds it equally weird but its also really kind of cool! The baby seems to be doing great and my belly is getting bigger and bigger and bigger! Approximately 12 weeks to go! 

27 weeks 6 days! I feel like a whale!!!! 

  

Getting ready for baby... really slowly!

We have a 2nd bedroom that we have been using as basically a storage space for all of Ricky's army gear. This will be the nursery for the baby one day. It needs a lot of work! We are clearing everything out and moving all of the baby stuff in which is a big job all in itself. We also have some black bookshelves that we decided we are going to sand down and paint green. Its a slow process but its slowly taking shape.

Ricky working on the bookshelves 

This is how the room started 

After moving some gear around 

Bedroom today. It looks a lot better than it did, still a work in progress 

Halloween

I realize its Dec and im behind but I wanted to share what we did for Halloween. Ricky has never been to a pumpkin patch or a farm and I thought it would be fun to experience that. I found a wonderful little farm that we decided to go to with some friends of ours. We fed some of the farm animals, we went on a hay ride, we went through a corn maze, and we of course picked our pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch. We had a ton of fun and will definitely be repeating it again next year.

Ricky and I got 2 little pumpkins and 1 very large pumpkin. I drew the face and Ricky gutted and carved it. I think it turned out pretty good!

Ricky working hard! 

The finished product! 

 On Halloween night we went trick or treating with some friends of ours and their children. Ricky and I dressed up Marley and Ringo and brought them with us. Marley was a Redskins football player and Ringo was a Colts football player. Ricky likes to say they dressed up as the underdogs lol. We had a lot of fun and Marley and Ringo got some yummy dog treats!

This is the best picture they would let me get 

Birthdays!

Ricky and I both have birthdays in November (5 days apart). We had wonderful birthdays that were spent relaxing and spoiling each other. For Ricky's birthday I made a steak dinner with baked potatoes and broccoli with cheese and of course a birthday cake. This year Ricky decided he wanted a Redskins birthday cake. I made a vanilla cake with butter cream icing. Then I rolled out some white fondant and painted the Redskins emblem on it with edible food coloring. It was the first time I have attempted to paint a cake. I think it turned out really good! Sadly Ricky has the pictures so I cant post a picture of it right now :(
For my birthday Ricky made me one of my favorite meals, Red beans, rice, and smoked sausage. Because he had to work and cakes are my thing I made my own birthday cake. I decided I wanted a zebra print cake. So I made a white cake with vanilla butter cream icing. Then I rolled out white fondant and put it on the cake. Then I made some black fondant and added the zebra stripes. When Ricky got home from work he helped me by making pink pears and adding them around the base of the cake and then he piped "Happy Birthday Brittany" on my cake in pretty pink icing. All in all we had pretty good birthdays.

A New Car!

For those of you who dont know, I have had the same car since high school. It was a White Chevy Malibu aka Bu. My dad bought the car when we were stationed at Ft. Stewart. Years passed, the car went on several cross country trips, got in a few fender benders (oops) and had some work done. It was a good reliable car that I have a lot of memories in. Sadly it was nearing the end of its lifespan and it was time to say goodbye to the Bu and hello to a new car. Ricky and I looked for several months and finally found a car that is perfect for us. We decided on a used Silver Jeep Commander. We got a great deal on it and it had extremely low mileage. The car is perfect for our growing family. It has a roomy back seat for baby and a lot of cargo space for Marley and Ringo. We added a few features for added safety. We put a cage in that separates the back seat and the cargo area so the dogs stay away from baby during car rides. We also added a basket roof rack for our luggage for trips to visit the grandparents. So far we really like our new car. I have to say though, it was kind of bitter-sweet saying goodbye to the Bu.

New Car minus the roof rack

Over Half Way There!

I am 22 weeks today :) The past couple of weeks have really gone by fast. Here is an update. 2 weeks ago I went to my anatomy scan. It is an ultrasound where they check to make sure the baby is healthy and growing correctly, they also check to see if there are any indicators of the baby having a disability. Everything with the baby looks wonderful! The baby was measuring 3 days early but my due date is staying the same Feb 29th. They also found out that I have a low lying placenta. This means that the placenta is too close to my cervix. If my placenta doesnt move then I will have to have c-section which is not what I want at all! There is also a possibility that I will have to go on bed rest which I also do not want. I am just praying that my placenta moves and it will no longer be an issue, so lets all hope and pray it moves! The baby is getting so big! Ricky finally got to go to an appointment with me and he got to see our baby for the first time in person! It was a great experience for us to share. We decided to not find out the gender so it is still a surprise! Be sure to take a look at the video and pictures!

Not the best picture but baby is looking at you! 

Baby Feet- Right and left foot!

Profile Pic- The baby is pressing his/her lips together :)

This past weekend Ricky and I went to Jacksonville to visit my grandparents and to go to their Babies R Us. The Babies R Us in Savannah is so small. The Babies R Us in Jacksonville is at least 4x's the size of the one here in Savannah. We decided to go there to register so we can look at several different items that the Jacksonville store has that the Savannah store does not. Things we do not get off of our registry we plan on buying at a later time at the Jacksonville Babies R Us or at Babies R Us online. There are some items that we have to buy online such as the cloth diapers (yes we plan on using cloth and not disposable diapers. It is SO much cheaper and they are nothing like what they used to be!) the ones we will be using are not sold in the stores and are only found online. We also registered at Target because I love Target! They have some really cute things as well! I love baby shopping! 

Busy Baby

I have been feeling little flutters for about 2 weeks now but in the last few days I have been feeling full on kicks and the baby rolling around. Its so exciting for me to be able to feel my baby inside me. I think its so amazing that my body is so complex and can support another life inside of me! I already have such a connection and bond with this baby that I have never even seen (other than ultrasound). When the baby moves I feel a closer and deeper connection and could sit there for hours just waiting to feel another kick from my baby.
The funny thing is whenever Ricky or myself put our hand on my stomach the baby stops kicking!!! I feel really bad because Ricky wants to be able to experience the baby kicking so badly and still hasn't felt him/her once yet. If I keep my hand on my stomach long enough the baby will eventually move around and kick and I can feel it against my hand as well as inside me but poor Ricky still hasn't been able to share in the experience yet. He is back in the field again this week so hopefully when he comes back home the little guy/girl will cooperate with mommy and daddy and let us feel him/her kick!
As far as I can tell we have a really active baby coming! This little one seems to be very busy in there. I feel him/her move a lot now! It seems like it likes to hang out more on my left side but I can tell when he/she decides to move and will practically roll all of the way to the other side of my stomach. It feels so weird but I love the feeling! Does anyone know if there is any correlation between having an active baby in the womb and an active infant? I guess we will see soon!

Baby Blankets!!!

 For those of you who dont know, I am a very artsy-crafty person. I love to make things and since I found out I have been pregnant I have been thinking about what things I would like to make. For awhile know I have been wanting to learn how to crochet. I love the look of crochet and you can make a lot of really cute things! So, I have decided that I am going to make the baby a crochet blanket, booties, mittens, and a hat. Now the only problem is, I have no idea how to crochet. I figured you can find anything now-a-days online so I Googled "how to crochet a baby blanket" and up pops YouTube video tutorials on how to crochet! I watched several of these and went out and bought some yarn and a crochet hook and followed the tutorials. I decided that I am going to make a lot of different colored squares and then put them all together once I am done to make a nice pattern. I decided to make the blanket this way because I really like the look of it instead of one solid piece. This gives me a little more freedom with colors and I can mix and match and add little things here and there. It really gives it a quilt like look to the blanket which I love.
I have decided that I will be doing the nursery in either green and pink or green and blue depending on if the baby is a boy or a girl. The base of the room will be green and I will also be purchasing some blue things and some pink things. Once the baby is born and we find out the gender we will add either the pink or blue things to the nursery. Because of this I have decided that I am going to be making 2 sets of crochet pieces. One in pink and green and one in blue and green. I know its going to be a lot of work but I am really excited about it and want to be able to give the baby a gift from me that is very personal and that I hand made with the thought of the baby in my mind.
As of now I have done 4 pink squares, so I have a long way to go! I actually made a lot more squares but they didnt turn out that great and I wont be using them, it was more for practice. I am getting a lot better and faster now so hopefully it wont take me as long to complete. I have about 22 weeks left to get everything completed so the countdown begins!!!
*Oh I almost forgot! I decided to start with the pink because most people seem to think this baby is a boy, me included. I think its a boy only because our family is mostly boys and I cant imagine having a girl. In reality this baby has a 50/50 chance of being a girl, and I need to quit referring to this baby as a boy and thinking of the baby as a boy. I thought that by making the girl things now I might be able to see myself having a girl. If this baby is a girl it probably doesn't like hearing herself be referred to as a him or he so I am really going to make a solid effort to refer to the baby as baby and not he/she. Hopefully this helps until we find out in about 22 weeks!!!***

What I kind of want the blanket to look like

What I hope the booties look like!!!

And this is what I have done so far, long way to go!!!

Baby Bump

I took a picture of my belly the day I found out and I looked in the mirror today and decided I should probably start taking belly pictures now. I haven't until now because until a few days ago my bump was nonexistent . It still is a tiny bump but its a lot bigger than it was. In these I am 16 weeks and 1 day pregnant!

16 Week Appointment... Scary Start & Happy Ending

I wont be 16 weeks until Wed but I had my 16 week appointment today. Like my last appointment it started with getting weighed (actually lost 1lb from last appointment) then got my vitals checked. Everything looked good there. The midwife then talked to me about my lab results from my last appointment, thankfully everything came back normal. Then it was my favorite part, time to hear the heartbeat with the Fetal Doppler.
The midwife put the gel on my tummy and looked for the heartbeat. She looked and looked and like my last appointment couldn't find the heartbeat. After 5 minutes or so of not being able to find the heartbeat the midwife decided that maybe the battery was getting low and went to find another Fetal Doppler. Once she had the new Fetal Doppler the midwife continued to look for a heartbeat and again couldn't find it. Thats when I really started to worry. The midwife had been looking for a heartbeat for over 10 minutes and couldn't hear anything but my own. The midwife decided that it would be best to bring in the portable ultrasound machine and look for the baby there. She told me not to worry and that she is sure everything is okay with the baby but of course I worried. She wheeled in the machine and put more gel on my belly and immediately I saw the baby. The baby is perfect! I got to see him/her squirm around then turned and looked at us through the screen and wave its little hand as if to say "hi!" I got to see the babies heart beating (a healthy 160 bpm) and the baby even started to suck his/her thumb, it was adorable. The baby has really grown since the last time I got to see him/her. I asked the midwife why she couldn't find the heartbeat and she said it was because the baby was really active and moving all over the place so she couldn't get a read on the heartbeat. I am just happy that the baby is okay! I started off  my appointment being really worried but ended up being really happy that I got to see the baby and I know he/she is very healthy and very active. Does that mean that the baby will be very active when he/she arrives? I guess we will see in approximately 24 weeks :) 

Second Trimester

I am 14 weeks today! I am finally in my second trimester! One down two to go!!! Feb will be here before I know it! :)

Poll

We thought we would have some fun by creating a poll. The poll is just for fun! Go to the site enter in all of your best guesses and when the baby arrives we will add in the information and see who wins. The poll is based on a point system that is explained at the bottom of the page so that way it is completely fair. I hope all of you vote!

How to play:

1. Go to http://www.bebepool.com/TOTSSL (if the link doesnt work by clicking on it, copy and paste it into the internet search box)

2. Enter your best guess for each category. (DON'T forget to put your name! You do not need to enter your email address). 

3. Check out the stats at the bottom of the page and see what others think 

Ricky and I have both entered our guesses into the poll. We didn't tell each other any of our guesses until after we each took the poll but we seem to be on the same page about what we think!

***Don't forget to vote for the gender on the right of this page***

Meet Baby Rodriguez..12weeks

These were taken at my 12 week ultrasound appointment. I think they are pretty cool!

Baby's Face (still kinda alien-ish lol) 

Arms and hands 

Baby is looking at you!

Body shot

As you now know... I'm PREGNANT!!!

That's right! Ricky and I are expecting our 1st child, due on Feb 29, 2012 which also happens to be Leap Day! If our baby is born that day he/she will be sharing his/her birthday with my cousin Jacob! Ricky and I are so excited and we hope you are as excited as we are. This is a BIG step in our lives and many of yours too. Some of you are becoming grandparents for the 1st or 2nd time, some of you are becoming great-grandparents for the 1st or 2nd time, and some of you are becoming aunts or uncles for the 1st time. Were so happy that all of you are going to be apart of this happy time. Since our families are all over the U.S we decided that in order to share this experience with all of our family and friends we decided to create this blog and hope that you all enjoy it!

I found out I was pregnant on Wed June 22, I was 4 weeks pregnant. I took a pregnancy test and was so nervous that I was literally shaking! It was honestly the longest 2 min of my life, then I saw that little pink + sign and my life changed forever. Ricky was at work when I took the test and because I still wasn't 100% positive that I was pregnant I went to the Dr office that day and got a blood test. A few hours later they confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. Since Ricky STILL didnt know I decided that I would tell him in a creative way. I decided to go to the store and buy some plain white onesies and some pink and blue fabric paint. Then I wrote the baby's due date in alternating pink and blue on the onesie and surrounded it with little pink and blue question marks. I hid it in his dresser drawer so when he got home from work to change he would see that and the positive pregnancy test. Unfortunately the paint wasnt exactly dry and Ricky grabbed it and ruined it. But he got the message and was VERY surprised and excited!

The onesie I made for Ricky before he ruined it! 

Fast froward to August 17 (12 weeks pregnant) and my 1st appointment. I was so nervous! I went in and the midwife asked me a few questions. Then it was time to look for a heartbeat. The midwife kept looking and looking but couldnt seem to find a heartbeat. Finally, she found the heartbeat and I got to hear the fast thump thump thump of my baby's beating heart, a healthy 162 bpm. Ricky unfortunately wasnt at the appointment because he was at a range and had to qualify therefor was not able to come. The midwife allowed me to call him and we put the phone on speaker and he got to hear our baby's heart beat too! After an exam and some blood work I then got to go see the baby on an ultrasound. It was there that I found out why the midwife had such a hard time finding the heartbeat. Apparently I have a tilted uterus which makes it difficult to see and hear the baby. Fortunately it shouldnt hurt the pregnancy in any way! After a minute of searching I caught my first glimpse of our baby.  I was surprised to see that the baby looks just like a real baby, I was really expecting it to still look like a blob lol, I was pleasantly surprised! The ultrasound tech took measurements as I watched my baby. I also got a video so Ricky could be apart of it too. It was amazing seeing the baby move around. At one point the baby looked straight at us and I got to see his/her face! It was incredible. The ultrasound tech said the baby was measuring right on time according to the due date and he/she looks very healthy. I was so happy to be able to finally see the little thing growing inside me. Until that point it wasnt real at all. Now it is very real! 

I am now 13weeks4days pregnant and Im feeling great! I was lucky enough to not experience ANY morning sickness. The only difficulty I have been having lately is with headaches that I seem to be getting daily and heartburn! Other than that this pregnancy has gone very very smoothly. For those of you who may be wondering, or even a little bit offended, the reason Ricky and I have kept this pregnancy to ourselves is because we wanted to wait until our 12 week appointment and make sure that everything was going okay with the baby. Then we waited another week and a half until my dad moved back to the states from Germany. We wanted him to be able to find out the same time as my mom. We decided to tell our family in a creative way. We decided to make cards that have a little poem on the inside and a picture of the 1st ultrasound along with the due date. We wanted to show everyone how excited and happy we are about this pregnancy. Also to those of you who are wondering, yes I still intend on finishing school, I will be taking the spring and summer semesters off. Yes this is another set back on graduating but finishing school is a priority for both Ricky and I, and I will finish no matter what the circumstances are. We hope that all of you are as happy as we are about our growing family and will share in this experience with us.