25 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 25 Weeks.

Size of Baby: The baby is around 13 1/2 inches long, from head to heel.  He weighs around a pound and a half. About the size of a rutabaga.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At my Dr. appt. on Friday I had gained 18 pounds total. The baby was also measuring 2 weeks ahead.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, he's moving around A LOT now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings. Just anything that sounds good. I do seem to be hungrier more often these days, which is not helping my ever expanding waist and hips. Guess that comes with the territory though.

What I miss: Nothing really at this point.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes, but otherwise sleeping fine. I don't seem to have a problem going to sleep cause I'm usually very tired by the end of the day.

Symptoms: I'm still having some issues with my upper back and under my right ribs, but its tolerable and I think the chiropractor is helping some.

Best Moment this week: Spending time with family, my mom buying Jackson's crib set and registering for Jackson at Babies R Us.

What I am looking forward to: Getting Jackson's room ready, my baby shower on Sept. 10th and getting to meet Jackson in Oct.

Our Fourth of July Weekend

We had a super busy 4th of July weekend!

I was off work Friday, so I spent the day at Dr. appts., shopping and getting ready for a wedding I was attending on Saturday evening.

I had a chiropractor appt. at 9:50 a.m., then I went and picked up my mom and we went to my baby Dr. appt. at 11:30. We had lunch with my sister and nephew and then we did a little shopping and I registered for the baby at Babies R Us! After that, I dropped my mom off at home and went and got an airbrushed tan for the wedding on Saturday. Then Friday evening we went to my MIL's house to watch So You Think You Can Dance.

Saturday we got up and did some chores around the house. My car was extremely dirty and needed to be cleaned before we went to the wedding and out of town to Hannibal over the 4th. So I cleaned it all up and Jake cleaned our gutters and trimmed an overgrown bush we have on the side of the house. It was an extremely hot day, but we managed to get it all done. I also made a couple patriotic pies for our church picnic on Sunday.

Cherry Pie

Apple Pie

Then we got ready for the wedding. It was Jake's cousin that got married and it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to. It was at the Coronado Ballroom. Here are a few pictures from the wedding.

Jake's cousin Jason and his fiance, his Aunt Deb and Uncle Paul, Jake and I, Jake's mom, our SIL Liz, friend Jim, Jake's bro. Pat, our SIL Amie and Jake's brother Larry. 

The beautiful centerpiece on our table at the reception.

Another centerpiece at the reception.

The bride and groom cutting the cake. This picture turned out really dark. :-(

Jake and I at the reception.

Jake and I at the wedding. The bride and groom got married under this beautiful chuppah. The candles and flowers lined the center aisle during the ceremony.

Then Sunday we went to church and stayed after for the church picnic. We only stayed for lunch because we were leaving for Hannibal that afternoon. Here are some of the yummy desserts people made for the picnic.

The amazing dessert table!



Sunday after lunch, we drove to Hannibal, MO with Jake's family for the 4th. Its where Tom Sawyer grew up and it was a fun little getaway for the family. Here are a few pictures from our overnight trip.

The whole family standing in front of Mark Twain's boyhood home.

Becky Thatcher's home.

The Mark Twain Dinette, where we had dinner Sunday evening.

The Mississippi River running along the edge of Hannibal, MO.

Mark Twain Statue down on the landing.

Jake and I with the river in the background.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Statue.

Little shops in Hannibal.

Huckleberry Finn's home.

Lighthouse that overlooks Hannibal and the Mississippi river.

Stairs leading up to the lighthouse. There are 244 steps!!

The view from the lighthouse.

Lighthouse.

We drove home on the evening of the 4th and made it back just in time to see some fireworks in Florissant, where we live. They put on a show every year, so we thought we'd drive up there and watch them before heading home.

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July weekend!!



24 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 24 Weeks already!! I can't believe we only have about 3 1/2 more months until we get to meet our little Jackson. I can't wait!!

Size of Baby: The baby is around a foot long, from head to heel. About the length of an ear of corn. He weighs just over a pound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm not entirely sure, I should find out on Friday at my 24 week appt. I'm kind of scared cause i think it might be a lot. :-(

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, he's moving around A LOT now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings. Just anything that sounds good. I do seem to be hungrier more often these days, which is not helping my ever expanding waist and hips. Guess that comes with the territory though.

What I miss: Nothing really at this point.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes, but otherwise sleeping fine. I don't seem to have a problem going to sleep cause I'm usually very tired by the end of the day.

Symptoms: A sore muscle in my upper back. Other than that I don't seem to have any other symptoms.

Best Moment this week: Going to dinner and shopping with my hubby this past Monday night. He HATES to go shopping with me, but his cousin's wedding is this Saturday and I needed a new dress. So he offered to come along!! I was shocked, but happy. He was sweet and sat there as I tried on 6 or 7 dresses and gave his opinion on each one. :-)

What I am looking forward to: The long 4th of July weekend, and our little overnight trip to Hannibal, MO with Jake's family on Sunday/Monday.

A Busy Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one.

Friday night and Saturday was our monthly crop at church. With my back hurting as bad as it was this past weekend (still don't really know what is wrong with it for sure), I didn't do much scrap booking. I went up to church both days and just helped my mom with the baby shower invitations she was making for my baby shower. They are sooo cute!!

Then Saturday night my SIL was celebrating her graduation from college, with a party at the St. Louis City Museum. If you've never been there, it is such a cool place to visit. We didn't stay long because my back was still hurting and there's not a lot I can do there being as I'm almost 6 months pregnant. But we had fun watching the kids play and hanging out with family and friends. Here are a few pictures I took while we were there.

My Brother-In-Law and his kids down in the ball pit. 

This was another ball pit on top of the one in the previous picture. Jake was throwing a ball down at his brother.

My nephew Larry trying to dodge a ball.

Where they had the actual party.

This is all outside of the museum. There's a lot more you can't see in this picture.

Part of the inside. There are lots of caves and tunnels to go through inside.

Then Sunday we went to church, and then after church we met up with the couple that adopted one of Max's sisters (who I fostered back in Oct. of last year). You can read about her here. I picked Max and his sister up to foster on October 1st of last year, with the intention of finding them both great homes. I found Max's sister a great home and we ended up getting really attached to Max and decided to keep him. Thankfully, the couple that adopted "Tater Tot" has stayed in touch with me and has sent me pictures and updates about her over the last several months. So we decided to get together this past Sunday so I could see her and Max could play with his sister. We had a great time and look forward to getting together again. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Keith and Adia along with Tater Tot and their other dog Dodger and Jake with our dogs Max and Libby. Hunter stayed behind for this outing as we just couldn't handle all three.

Tater Tot and Max, formerly known as Perrier and Vasser. I fostered them from a wonderful rescue group called Stray Rescue. You can read their rescue story here.

Another picture of Tater Tot and Max. They were too excited to pose for a picture.

Max and Libby on the car ride home. :-) I just love how they both look like they're smiling.

Then Sunday evening I had tickets for my Mother-in-Law and I to go to the Muny. This was her b-day gift. Legally Blonde was showing that evening and I knew she really wanted to see that one. Thankfully my back was feeling a little better that evening so we had a lot of fun and the show was excellent!!

The flag for Legally Blonde out in front of the Muny.

The show banner.



My MIL and I before the show. 

I hope you all had a great weekend!!



23 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of Baby: The baby is a over 11 inches long head to heel and weighs just over a pound, about as much as a large mango.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm not entirely sure, I should find out next Friday at my 24 week appt.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.

Gender: Its a BOY!! Jackson Thomas Smith

Movement: Yes, he's moving around A LOT now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings. As always I love sweets.

What I miss: My back not killing me!! What started out as some minor upper back pain, has turned into severe upper back pain. I saw the Dr. yesterday to find out what was causing the pain and apparently I've got a sore muscle on the right side of my back, right below my shoulder blade. The Dr. wants me to take ibuprofen for it for the next 72 hours to see if that will help. She said if by Friday its still hurting, to call and she'll prescribe me a muscle relaxer. So far, the ibuprofen is not helping and the only relief I get is when I'm laying down. So needless to say, sitting at my desk at work for 8 hours is absolutely miserable.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: A sore muscle in my upper back. Other than that I don't seem to have any other symptoms.

Best Moment this week: Spending time with family and feeling Jackson move.

What I am looking forward to: Getting everything ready for Jackson's arrival in October.



4th of July Decorations

As you probably already know from previous posts (Christmas, Halloween/Fall, Valentines Day and Easter), I LOVE decorating for all the different holidays. We've lived in our house for almost 4 years now and its taken me a while to get all my holiday decorations. The first year in our house, I think I only had stuff to decorate for Halloween and Christmas, then each year I've gotten more and more. This is the first year I've decorated for Fourth of July, so I had to start from scratch. Thankfully, I had gotten some Hobby Lobby and Michaels gift cards for my birthday back in April and I was able to use some of those to get some of my decorations. Of course there are still things I'd like to add for all the holidays, but I figure I'll just add a little bit more each year. :-) Here are my 4th of July decorations...

Our front door, decorated for 4th of July.

Little star decorations for my flower pots.

Garden flag. I got this last year and just love it.

A super cute wooden flag that my Mother-in-Law got for me this year.

Our dining room table. I decided to use my red chargers from Christmas and the red plates are from my Valentines Day decor. The centerpiece is the one I use for most holidays (from Partylite). I have votive holders for Easter and Christmas but ended up buying some clear ones from Michaels last night and just tied festive ribbon around them so that they would match better. I also used red and white candles from Partylite. The table runner, cloth napkins and salt and pepper shakers are from Hobby Lobby and the votive holders on the table are from Partylite. 

A close-up of my centerpiece.

A close up of the place setting. I used red raffia to tie around the napkins. 

A close up of the table.

A cute little plate I found at Michaels last night that I decided to use as a spoon rest.

I found this star shaped candy dish at the Dollar Tree last week and thought it would be cute with these patriotic mints. The candles are partylite.

A close up of the candy dish and mints.

Some 4th of July kitchen towels.