Week 25

How far along? 25 Weeks

Total weight gain? As of the last doctor's appointment I have officially gained 17 lbs. HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! The doctor however says it's fine, that I look great and have a big baby so it's no big deal. Given my boobs have grown drastically, but the baby being 2 lbs now and given the boobs probably 2 lbs MAX - that's TOO much weight by my standards. I don't care what my doctor says. Cue depression. LOL I shouldn't gain more than 30 lbs over the course of the pregnancy and Coraline still has her biggest growth spurts ahead of us. Next appointment is June 3rd so hopefully the weight gain will have slowed down. 

Maternity Clothes? ASOS in the UK is my go-to maternity store! Free shipping, plus free return shipping if it doesn't fit or I don't like it. Sign me up. Not to mention, GREAT prices. All outfits can be worn post maternity too. I am obsessed. I will forever rave about them. I also recently found some cute ones at Old Navy online as well.

Stretch Marks?  Still have the red mark I freaked about on Week 21 & 22. Other than that, looks like I am clear for now. Been applying lotion with Vitamin E and Cocoa Butter religiously every day.

Sleep:  Sleep has been much better since the amazing body pillow as arrived. Coraline seems to be on a regular sleep pattern. She squirms like crazy before bed, then settles down for the night, then around 7 am is up and squirming and rolling around. 

Best moment this week: Poking my belly and Coraline kicking back. Exciting right? lol It was so much fun for me! Except Henry was freaking out thinking I was hurting her and I had to reassure him she has plenty of room and cushion in there - it's not like I was going to poke her eye or anything. I finally convinced him to give it a shot, but his prods were so tender. He did slightly poke around and got to feel where her body was as it went from slightly soft to extremely hard. Seeing his excitement made my heart smile.

Miss Anything? Sushi and Rum. Going to the Caribbean on our babymoon is going to be slight torture.

Movement: Lots of movement! It is a lot of rolling now instead of sudden kicks/punches. 

Food cravings: Fruit (watermelon) mostly.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Textures are still making me sick, like couscous, as well as red meat. 

Gender RESULTS: BABY GIRL!!! My gut feeling was right all along! I absolutely can't wait to meet her!

Labor Signs: Too soon

Symptoms: The "nesting" has begun with crazy cleaning and organizing. Disappearing belly button, baby bump, nails and hair growing like weeds, baby movements (the best!) and my boobs have drastically increased, which has lead to the dreaded red-mark, and frequent bathroom visits. Then my back has begun to break out like a highschool boy going through puberty on steroids. That bad. Luckily, it is on my upper back and my long hair covers it, but I am praying it goes away before our beach maternity shoot in St. John. Then there is the AWESOME gastric reflux/heartburn. Whoa buddy talk about miserable at night! Feels like I have a mini bonfire going on in my throat. 

Belly Button in or out? Innie - barely.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, Happy!

Looking forward to: Finishing out the nursery! 

Baby Name? Coraline! I love the name!! See WEEK 21 for name details. <3

Thoughts: Really getting anxious to meet Coraline. The nesting has begun and I have been cleaning like a mad-woman. But being displaced because of the tornado has made this really hard to handle and giving me anxiety. I need to be home so I can clean!!! Gah!
I have begun talking to her more and she definitely loves dancing to certain songs on the radio with lots of bass. It sounds completely odd but she already has a fun personality even though she isn't here yet - just the way she reacts to things and moves around. I literally can spend a whole evening poking my stomach and watching her kick back, or just feel her roll side-to-side, back-and-forth. Then of course the whole dancing around to music kind of thing. If I already love her this much, I don't know how I am going to handle the amplified love when she arrives. My heart just might explode from all the love. Cheesy, right?

**NEW** About the Board:
The board was done using fonts from WORD.
Chalkboard Fonts: Harrington and then the rest were free-handed.
Size was an Eggplant and then my pregnancy book said my uterus was the size of a soccer ball! Uuuh, come again???
Love the blooper??

**NEW** Pregnancy/Maternity Fashion: 
My lovely fashion for this photo entailed comfy yoga paints from Victoria's Secret with the fold-over band, then the "long and lean" tank top from Target. Bow in the hair is from Aggieland Outfitters. <3

I ask my Hubby to stand there to so I can set the camera up and not cut his head off - this is how he chose to pose. HAHA Sexy! Teach him to post embarrassing photos of me. Payback.

16 Weeks

Henry and myself with our newest "baby" - Buddha!

How far along? 16 Weeks

Total weight gain? I will get weighed at the doctors week 17

Maternity Clothes? Rocking maternity tops! Although, I bought warm weather maternity clothes and then it dropped below freezing. LOVE Texas weather.

Stretch Marks? None.

Sleep: Sleep is good until I am up at around 4 am to go to the bathroom every night.

Best moment this week: Our new puppy!!! Completely non-baby related I know.

Miss Anything? Still. Missing. Alcohol. 

Movement: No movements yet, but apparently this week could be the week!

Food cravings: Fruit cravings are still pretty dominant next to Macaroni and Cheese. Thai food is a big deal too. I love that we have one literally down the street. Pad Thai, Panang Curry, Tom Yum, Tom Kha Kai - YUM! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! Been pretty good this week.

Gender Prediction: Baby Girl. 

Labor Signs: Too soon

Symptoms: Baby bump is the most obvious. Hair is growing like crazy still. My trainer and Henry's family has really noticed my hair being longer - I see it everyday so haven't really noticed. Crying. ha! The emotional crying has begun too. 

Belly Button in or out? Innie - although my cute tiny belly button is starting to get a little bit bigger. I am not liking it.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I am EXTREMELY happy! Odd? I had like 2 crying fits, but other than that happy.

Looking forward to: Doctors appointment on Monday to hear the heartbeat again, and our Gender Reveal Party on April 13th thanks to a wonderful friend Marina! Then of course, FEELING THE BABY MOVE!!

Baby Names? Still have to be Henry the 3rd for a boy. The baby girl name seems to be settled on Adaleine, however torn between a middle name still.

Thoughts: Anxious on feeling the baby move. I have felt so called flutters, but I want to feel an actual kick before I go around saying I felt the baby. Wondering how the first real movement will feel. :-)

Laughing as Buddha is jumping at our feet to be in the picture too!

Instagram photo! Follow me!

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Announcement: 1+1=3
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14 Sono
Week 14
Week 15

15 WEEKS

How far along? 15 Weeks

Total weight gain? Weighed myself at the gym I am up a total 1.4 lbs. 

Maternity Clothes? I officially bought my first maternity clothes. Two cute tank tops, two t-shirts, two dress shirts, skinny pants, crop leggings, long ruched leggings. My bump was officially raising shirts beyond my unzipped, rubber band pants and it wasn't too flattering. haha

Stretch Marks? None. 

Sleep: Sleep is good until I am up at around 4 am to go to the bathroom every night.

Best moment this week: Started working out with my personal trainer again and loving the results!

Miss Anything? Still. Missing. Alcohol. 

Movement: No movements yet.

Food cravings: Fruit cravings are still pretty dominant next to Macaroni and Cheese again. We went to Cracker Barrel and it was heaven! Especially their Chicken and Rice since my queasiness has returned.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Other than a particular time of day, nothing triggers it.

Gender Prediction: Baby Girl. 

Labor Signs: Too soon

Symptoms: Baby bump is officially visible!! Hair is growing like a weed, especially leg hair! It takes forever to shave my legs already, now I have to do it more often too. *I already struggle with shaving them enough as it is people!* Nose bleeds have started happening this week. Crazy right? Sunday I was doing the baby registry at Babies'R'Us with my cousin Rebekah and had to race across the store to throw up. We were at one of the biggest stores in Houston and of course we were alllll the way on the other end of the store. Then there were absolutely NO trash cans along the way. I was having a mini-panic attach thinking I was going to projectile vomit in the middle of the busy store trying to rush to the restroom. THEN, I accidentally ran into the mens restroom, where a big black guy was using the restroom, and just started puking my guts up. Sorry dude, your in a store with a bunch of pregnant chicks. Last but not least, stomach feels like the skin is going to rip. I have to eat every 2 hours before blood sugar starts dropping, and not over-eat or I feel miserable. 

Belly Button in or out? Innie

Wedding rings on or off? On during the day, but at night I have had to wake up and take it off because it feels too tight and wakes me up.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Despite all the crazy symptoms, I am EXTREMELY  happy! Odd?

Looking forward to: Our Gender Reveal Party on April 13th thanks to a wonderful friend Marina! I can't believe it is getting so close! 

Baby Names? Still have to be Henry the 3rd for a boy. The baby girl name seems to be settled on Adaleine, however torn between a middle name. 

Thoughts: You read all these horrible pregnancy symptoms and think, "God why would anyone want to be pregnant? That sounds miserable!" But despite all these crazy changes and symptoms you feel EXTREMELY happy. At least I do. You just think of that little baby and it makes everything worth it. Although you feel miserable at times, looking back I can barely recall how miserable I truly felt. My mind is already blocking out past yucky days. It's pretty cool. 

Aggie Style Bridals

You will probably hear me rave about our wonderful photographer and friend, Michelle Peyronet Jones, for the rest of my life. She is the one who captured our beautiful engagements, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception. She also went above and beyond for my bridals.

Henry and I met while attending Texas A&M together, so to say Aggieland is dear to my heart is an understatement. 

Aggieland is where I began my first true adventure away from home, met some of the greatest friends a girl could dream for, received a wonderful education, learned what true camaraderie meant, and of course, met my Aggie Sweetheart. 

Did I mention I also have an A&M tattoo? Yea, that school is a pretty big deal to me. 

When Michelle said she was willing to do a day trip to College Station for the Bridals I was ecstatic! I of course had to bring along bridesmaids Megan (Henry's cousin) and Stefanie (sister) to help with toting my dress and fixing things here and there while Michelle took the photos. 

We began by hair and make-up. My make-up was a bit too bold at first, let's just say border line black-eye-ish with how much purple there was, so luckily Michelle was able to talk to the make-up artist and get her to tone it down more to my liking. 

Then it was off to Kyle Field! 

We had to park illegally and I knew A&M was notorious for parking tickets, so Michelle wrote a quick note to let the parking attendant know we were hurrying to take bridals and would be right back. I don't know if it worked or if he never saw, but there was no ticket. Whoop!

Apparently the gates had just closed! Michelle found a sweet old man and sweetly talked him into un-locking the gates for us so we could take some quick shots on the field. Michelle worked at lightening speed to capture some beautiful shots. That day was the mans wedding anniversary, and had nothing but kind words to say as he walked us out and locked everything back up. 

Next was the famous Century Tree. When I toured the A&M campus this tree was one of the main reasons I said yes to A&M instead of Baylor. Yes a tree. There were fresh red rose petals all under the tree from a recent proposal and the professor showing me the campus explained the importance of this gorgeous tree. After Henry proposed, we trekked across campus to walk under this tree and make our engagement "official". When I went to show Michelle the location (prior to the wedding dress being on) numerous students stopped to warn us not to walk under the tree alone, for fear we would be doomed to a life of loneliness. They were truly concerned. lol

Thanks to the wonderful summer heat and my layers upon layers of tulle I nearly passed out and we decided it would be best to move to our next location indoors....The Dixie Chicken! 

I had a friend who had stunning photos taken here, so of course I was a copy-cat. hehe

Also, Henry proposed to me right behind the Dixie Chicken where we officially met for the first time. 

Since it was Michelle's first time to the Dixie Chicken she was able to come up with some GREAT shots that ended up being some of my favorites!!

Thanks to the long lasting sun in Texas, after moving around to all these locations we still had plenty of time to make it to the Aggie Barn on the edge of town in time for the magical sunset sky. The barn photos were beautiful, however all the crickets climbing between my layers of tulle were not. HAHA

After the photos I sat down in the car to feel something jumping around in my dress. I jumped out like a mad woman and nearly stripped down to nothing right next to the road trying to get the mysterious critter out of my dress and far away from me!

A few months later I had scheduled boudoir photos with Michelle as my Hubby-to-be's wedding gift. On top of the boudoir photos, I received a second set of Bridals (WHOOP!) as a kind of trade-for-print deal with a new wedding venue in Arlington, Howell Family Farms, and a new Aggie-owned-and-operated Vintage Furniture rental company, Gold Dust Vintage Rentals. The vintage furniture was GORGEOUS, and had this venue existed when we had been looking, it would have been a top contender on our list.

Wedding Eve Bash

Henry and I opted for a less traditional Rehearsal Dinner.

Most rehearsal dinner's are for intimate family members and the wedding party.

We invited extended family who were already in town for our out-of-town wedding, wedding party members and their families, and friends in general. We held it at a local bar - the bar where Henry first saw me to be correct - Daisy Dukes. It was a country bar, so the natural decor and setting was perfect for our theme and required no extra decorations. They had a large screen and projector for a slideshow at no extra charge, bars to provide alcohol, djs to play music, and are owned by the same people who own La Bodega, our favorite restaurant, so catering was rolled into the package. It was simple and easy. 

We decided to hold toasts at the rehearsal instead of the day of the wedding due to social anxieties and knowing that our group likes to get rowdy and drink....which could result in a speech only few would understand anyway. It was a great idea I feel because it was more intimate and didn't waste time at the wedding. Although I am sure those at the wedding who weren't at the rehearsal were a little baffled on why we didn't hold an official toast. 

Uncle Billy and Uncle Warren

Uncle Mark and Cousin Matthew, Usher, girlfriend, Kaitlin

Aunt Shiela and Cousin Laura

Cousin's Shaye and Aimee, Niece Wheezy 

Fabulous friends, Lorenzo and Leslie! You will be seeing much more of them in the blogs to come.

Henry had taken the guys to a Rangers game earlier in the year for their groomsmen gifts, so the bridesmaid and flower girls opened their gifts at the rehearsal dinner. Each bridesmaid was gifted a different Coach wristlet. Each wristlet then had a mini-survival kit tucked inside: Disposable toothbrush, disposable floss/toothpick, nail file, tissues and compact hair brush/mirror.

All the girls reading their Thank You cards.

Sister/Maid of Honor, Stefanie, and Cousin, Megan

Longest friend, Airika

College Best Friends, Danni and Lauryn

All the girls from left to right: Airika, Megan, Audrey (sister-in-law), Danni, Lauryn, Stefanie

The flower girls received little fairytale princess dress-up packages. Each package had a veil with a tiara, a wand and a ring - so they could dress up with the bride-to-be. 

Baby cousin, Shaye 

Niece, Ariana, also known as "Wheezy"

My bridesmaid, Danni, put together a wonderful heartfelt slideshow compiled of numerous photos which she had broken down into "chapters" - Meet Heather, Meet Henry, Meet their friends and Family, Heather and Henry as a couple. It had almost everyone in tears and laughing. 

Lovely friend, Leslie

Hubby and myself laughing at photos on the slideshow

In-laws - I am suppose to state for the record they both were crying.

Kenny 

Fabulous, life-saving, in-law Aunt Terri!

Uncle Mark and Aunt Marilyn

Everyone enjoying the slideshow

The toasts were amazing. It was funny because as we mentioned time for speeches my sister and Casey kind of danced around each other trying to pick who would go first. Finally my sister said, "Fine, Ill go first!" and walks up to the front to claim the microphone. She then proceeds to whip out a long, pre-typed speech. I was cracking up! My favorite part was how she said she loved Henry for accepting us a package deal, he never tried to separate us as sisters, allowed her to tag along on outings and allowed her to help on the most important things, picking out my ring and the proposal - and made her feel loved on all occasions. I had never thought of that before, but it was true. Henry treated my sister like she was his sister too, and it made my heart smile hearing what wonderful things my sister had to say about my future hubby and how she adored him as a brother too. 

My sister, Stefanie, giving her speech.

This is where the great part of him accepting her as my sister came in - the water works are in full flow.

Love my little sister - and our 2nd cousin decides to jump in on the hugs. <3

Casey apparently was not aware we were giving a speech that night, so he had to wing it. LOL But he did a phenomenal job. I honestly did not expect such a well delivered speech. He had everyone bursting into laughter when he said He knew Henry and I were serious because Henry refused to bring me around any of them for the first few months.
 SO TRUE!
Henry said he was afraid his friends would scare me off - he was right. Had I not been so in love with Henry, his rowdy friends probably would have been too much to handle up front. I had never met so many guys who could party and drink so much! And I drank and partied a lot, I had just turned 21 when I met Henry, so the partying had just begun.
His friends were another breed. 

Someone recorded Casey's speech, I need to find them.

Good 'ole Casey steps up to the plate.

 
 

 

After it was all done, most people stayed out and partied. Henry went back to his friend Justin and Lacey's house, where I proceeded to my hotel room with my bridesmaids and about 10 bottles of wine.

Henry and his Niece, Alanna

All teary eyed with my Great Uncle Joe all the way from Cali and my Mom.

Greatest Father-in-law in the world!

Mom and Sister

Our fabulous photographer, Michelle, followed us to the hotel room to capture us goofing off and jumping on the bed. However our goofing off was cut short due to the room next door pounding at the wall every time we started laughing. Damn fun suckers! It was like 10 pm on a Friday! Sheesh.

 

It was a great Wedding Eve Bash before the Big Day!