26 Weeks Bump Update

And just like that, we are 26 weeks prego! My weekly turnover date is Thursdays, so I'm actually a day shy of 27 weeks but I will give you the 26 week update here!

What is up with Baby P this week?

• depending on which baby app you wanna look at, Baby P is now the size of a hothouse cucumber, an eggplant, or the length of a green onion. Approximately 14 inches long from head to heel and weighs anywhere from 1.75-2 lbs.

• she is now able to practice her breathing techniques, "breathing" in and out small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is preparing her to take her first gulp of fresh air when she enters into my world.

• her ears are better developed and more sensitive and can hear conversations I am having with her daddy. Which means daddy better be nice to mommy!!!

What's been happening with ME this week?

Weight Gained: I have no clue. I stay away from my home scale. My next prenatal appointment is next Wednesday, so we'll see. The belly has grown so I can only assume I've gained since my last appointment.

Workouts: You will probably be shocked when I say this... but my workouts happen only when I feel like it these days. It is not the first thing on my to-do list when I get home from work like it used to be. Because 1) This pregnancy has drained me from day 1; and 2) my commute takes me forever to get home from work and I don't wanna do a dang thing when I get home. I really only have time to make/eat dinner, make my lunch for the next day, shower, and get my butt to bed. So back to the question... I aim to walk 3x a week (usually after dinner) with the hubs and the doggies... and then I try to do squats and some upper body workouts at least 2-3 times a week. In the last week? I probably only worked out 2 days. All I have to say is... Thank goodness I was in shape before I got prego because the muscle I gained back in the day is helping me not gain unnecessary weight. Muscle definition is slowly diminishing but I can worry about building it all back up once Baby is here.

Symptoms: No more sore boobs. BUT! I experienced some nausea after eating lunch at least a couple days this past week. I guess it happens. Oh! And exhaustion. I've learned to accept that I'll be forever exhausted until Baby P becomes an adult and leaves the nest.

Food Aversions: Hmmmm... I don't think I had any this week.

Food Cravings: Orange soda. Yeah one day at work, I just thought to myself "I need an orange soda." I'm not a soda drinker. And orange soda has never been a choice of flavor for me... but I seriously wanted one. Didn't give in tho! And Fried Chicken. That has been a constant craving throughout this pregnancy but no one will let me have it. Every person we know that ate fried chicken during their pregnancies have had bad experiences with em. So I'm just staying away. And then, of course, sweets and carbs. Yup... everything I don't usually eat.

Sleep: Sucks. Not that I don't have insomnia or anything like that. It's just getting to be very uncomfortable sleeping on my sides and not being able to lay on my back to give my hips a break. I think it's starting to affect my sciatic nerve. Sometimes I'll experience numbness. Thankfully, no leg cramps this week. Yay me! And it doesn't help that I get up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom.

Any Baby/Pregnancy-Related Purchases? Yes!!! I just couldn't resist! I saw these in passing at work. Wasn't shopping at all but we've been getting in new stuff almost everyday and these totally caught my eye. I took a picture of it to show my hubs via text with a caption that read "isn't this the cutest thing ever?" And he replied "get it." Uh, yeah... you don't have to tell me twice!

Stretch Marks: none yet! Let's keep it that way please!

Miss Anything?: heck yes! I miss having energy to be Superwoman. I miss my old workouts. I just miss being able to stay up past 9 on the weekdays and not be such an old lady.

Belly Button In or Out? Still in!!!

Wedding Rings On or Off? On! No swelling as of yet.

Happy or Moody Most Of The Time? Super happy! Except when I'm stuck in traffic.

Any Movement? Baby P is a combination of a kickboxer and dancer. Yup. At any given time I'll feel/see a kick or a jab. And then I'll feel a lot of flutters. She's a very active baby!

Looking Forward To: Getting some baby gear from my lil sister-in-law this weekend! And maybe adding more stuff to our registries! Fun stuff!!!!

Like I said, tomorrow I will be 27 weeks. But I won't be able to whip up an update till this weekend. Until then....

Tags: #firstpregnancy #pregnancyjourney #babybump #26weekspregnant #26weekspregnancyupdate

Team Blue vs. Team Pink

*Originally posted April 5, 2015 on Fab . Fit . Me*

Gender Reveals have become quite popular the last few years. One of the questions we were constantly asked after our pregnancy announcement was "Are you planning on finding out what you're having?" The answer to that? Heck yes! There was no way I'd be able to go through 40 weeks without knowing the gender of this precious human being growing inside me. I am well aware that some people choose to keep that a surprise until the arrival of their little one, but not me. Not us.

On Saturday February 21st, we went in for THE ultrasound. We spent about an hour in there with the technician while she did her thang taking pics and measurements of Baby P. At my previous prenatal appointment, my midwife had told us that if we wanted to find out the sex of the baby, we would have to let the technician know, otherwise they wouldn't tell us what it is. We decided early on that we wanted to host a Gender Reveal Dinner for close family and friends. Since our pregnancy announcement was a surprise to everyone, we wanted the same effect for our Gender Reveal. Yup that's right. Our dinner was scheduled for the following Saturday on February 28th. Everyone was kept in suspense for another week. Us, the parents-to-be, included. When the technician asked us if we wanted to know what we were having, we told her we did. Then we asked her to not tell us right then, but to put the results in an envelope instead.

For about 2-3 hours, I had the results in my possession before I handed it off to a close friend that I had chosen to help me accomplish this epic gender reveal. It was difficult not to want to take a peek. Up until the night of the Dinner, both family and friends begged us to tell them what Baby is and even promised us they wouldn't say anything. Told them we couldn't even if we wanted to... because WE HAD NO CLUE either!!!!

A week doesn't seem too long of a wait, but man was it the LONGEST WEEK EVER!!!! The built up suspense made this dinner that much more exciting.

So this is how it all went down. Hubby and I made dinner to feed approximately 30-40 people. Yeah this turned out to be a huge event. My very good friend, the ONLY one who knew Baby P's gender all week long, came over earlier that day to bring over the balloons I asked her to stuff with either pink or blue confetti. She could not stay for the dinner (which I was bummed about) because of a prior commitment but I am so glad she was still willing to take on the task of being "the trusted one" to help me pull this off. She also brought us some cupcakes for the occasion. She is definitely the best!

People began to arrive around 5-ish. We ate dinner, hung out, and then had everyone cast their vote - Team Blue? Team Pink? The majority of the group wanted Baby P to be a boy. When we first found out we were pregnant, Daddy-to-be and I envisioned having a girl. But it's weird because all throughout the beginning of the pregnancy, I kept referring to Baby P as "he" - maybe because it was just easier to say that. And about a week or 2 before the gender reveal, Daddy-to-be just had a strong feeling Baby P is a boy. We didn't care either way, just as long as Baby P is healthy. But the night of the Dinner, we were forced to represent our default gender teams - He was headcoach of Team Blue, and I was headcoach of Team Pink.

All throughout the night, we were sharing pics on IG and FB and all of our friends on there became involved and couldn't wait to find out the results. Many were very impatient with me, too! Anyway, after rounding everyone up... the crew that was here in person...making sure our family from out-of-state and afar was in attendance via FaceTime and Skype... we FINALLY did the Reveal. The suspense was soooo worth the wait.

Check it out for yourselves....

It was a GREAT night. We enjoyed sharing this moment with everyone and so grateful that this Baby is already blessed to be loved by everyone in our lives. Thank you to everyone for all the love and support!!! Can't wait for the Baby Shower!!!!!

Great company, Great friends...

And Baby P's first official gift - shoes from Uncle Lloyd and Aunty Heidi.

Tags: #babygenderreveal #genderreveal #pregnancyjourney #firstpregnancy #babybump

Pregnancy Q&A

*Originally posted March 29, 2015 on my old blog Fab . Fit . Me.

So, even though my pregnancy news is finally out there, I'm still getting a lot of surprised reactions by people I work with or haven't seen in awhile. I get a lot of "you're so tiny" and "you hid it well". Truth is, I haven't been "hiding" it. I just chose not to broadcast it to people who aren't close to me, to avoid all the unsolicited advice since this is my first pregnancy. And at work, I wear a lot of black and I didn't really start showing until almost about 20 weeks so it was easy to miss. But everyone's excited for me and I couldn't be happier at this point in my life. I am very grateful for all the wonderful support from family and friends and cannot wait to share the rest of this pregnancy with everyone.

With that said...here are some questions I've had to answer since making the "big announcement."

How did you find out you were pregnant? I took a home pregnancy test.

What kind of Pregnancy test did you take?

Honestly? A cheap one I picked up from the 99cent Store awhile back. We had already spent a lot on brand name ones (First Response and Clear Blue) on the times we thought we could be pregnant and they can get pretty pricey! And after the cashier from Target told me I'm wasting my money on the expensive brands, and that his girlfriend used the cheap ones from the 99cent Store for all her 5 pregnancies and all worked fine, I decided I'd try those ones instead in hopes I'll get lucky.

How many? Just one. It was the last one of the batch of like 2 or 3 that I had bought a couple of months prior.

What were your 1st symptoms? Fatigue, VERY sore boobs, and extreme sensitivity to smells. Oh! And the most obvious - I was a week late for my monthly visitor.

Who did you tell first? Baby's Daddy!!!

Who was with you when you found out? I was by myself in the bathroom. Only because I didn't want him to experience another disappointment if the results came back negative. We had just come back from the grocery store and I really had to pee (TMI, I know). So while he was putting the groceries away, I snuck away to the bathroom to do my business. Something told me to just do it. Especially after noticing that the smell of EVERY SINGLE AISLE we went down made me gag. I just thought it was weird. So I did it.

My 1st reaction? I stood there and waited for the lines to appear (or not appear). And when I saw the 2 lines, I was like "NO FREAKIN' WAY!" But I couldn't help but feel excited at the same time. Especially after having seen so many negative tests in the past, FINALLY seeing the positive was just awesome.

Was your baby planned? Heck yes!

How far were you when you found out? I took the test on Sunday November 9th... so about 5 1/2 weeks.

How did your parents/family react? They were thrilled! Like I said, we waited till the end of the 1st trimester to finally tell our families. He and I are the last ones in both of our families to have kids so everyone's been impatiently waiting for us to finally give them a niece/nephew/grandson/granddaughter.

How did you tell your friends? some friends were told in the same fashion as the video shown above... I just haven't had the chance to edit the video clips into a montage. Others, we just texted them the video and also posted it onto our social media accounts.

DETAILS ON BABY PEEDEN

Due Date: July 9, 2015

Do you know the sex? yup! (And I will announce it in a future post!)

Any names? Of course! We've had names picked out for years.

Were you trying long? Almost a year.

Any Ultrasounds? Yes! from my first prenatal appointment, from Part 1 of the NIPT screening, and then the extensive one at 20 weeks where we were able to find out baby's gender.

First Prenatal Appointment @ almost 11 weeks

Part 1 NIPT screening @ 12 weeks

Have you heard the heart beat? Ohhh yes! And I love hearing it every single time I go to the doctor.

Who do you think it will look like? This one's a hard one. Our Haole-pino baby will definitely be a mix. Daddy-to-be is a mixture of all kinds of stuff - German, Native American, Irish, Lithuanian, to name a few. And I'm Filipino. Maybe some Spanish but I don't know for sure. So we're thinkin' baby will be fair-complected (lighter than me, of course) with dark features: hair and eyes. This is just my guess.

Will the baby have siblings? Future siblings? Maybe 1. Or 2. We'll see. Right now, our furbaby Tipsy will be the only sibling.

Have you felt the baby move? yes! ALL the time! And it is the most amazing feeling EVER!!! We even got to see baby kick/punch the other night. Nothing crazy, like hands, elbows, or feet. But still so very cool.

MISCELLANEOUS

How do you feel? I feel GREAT!!!! Still very tired, but so worth it.

Do you have morning sickness? Nope. Was lucky enough not to have it.

Do you have any cravings? Not anything in particular. Sometimes I'll crave random sweets. Sometimes salty. Nothing crazy. The constant cravings I get, but won't give in to, is Deep Fried Chicken. Yeah... that's a lot of grease. Gonna try to hold out for as long as I can. Right this second though? I'm craving some watermelon.

Do you have any food aversions? I did in the beginning. I couldn't stand my usual healthy foods. I had to force myself to eat my salads.

Do you have any mood swings? Gotta love those pregnancy hormones!!! For the most part, I have been cool as a cucumber. Lovin' this whole entire experience and have been told I have that "pregnancy glow". BUT, occasionally I'll go from one extreme to the next. I'd start stupid arguments for no reason to crying over spilled milk in a matter of minutes. I noticed my road rage has gotten worse. But can you blame me? My commute to and from work is just plain HORRIBLE!!!!

How far along are you now? 25 weeks and 3 days - here are my weekly baby bump pics.

Tags: #pregnancyannouncement #pregnancy #pregnancyjourney #journeytomotherhood #pregnancyqanda #pregnancyupdate #bumpwatch #babybump #firstpregnancy