Almost 100 days!

So tomorrow marks the 100 days left mark, and this week I'll be 26 weeks pregnant. I feel like I look so much more pregnant than the picture above shows, but I guess my growing chest doesn't help matters. The baby is doing well, he's getting really active and particularly enjoys kicking whichever side I'm trying to lay on when I go to sleep. Thus, I'm starting to get to the point of not being able to sleep soundly most nights. I know it's only going to get worse, so I'm trying to enjoy the few goods nights that I have when they happen!

I've started my work-from-home phase, but while I was in St. Louis, Joe started (much to my surprise) to work on the nursery. We had moved all of the furniture out a few weeks ago, and swapped our queen sized bed with my parents for a daybed/trundle that would fit up the stairs into our old office/new guest room upstairs. We haven't decided on how to paint the room, but Joe went ahead and tried to start priming the room. Unfortunately, the room has not one, but two layers of wallpaper, both of which were painted over, and made the prep a nightmare! By the time I got home, the wallpaper was all down, but the last layer of paste was still up and quite challenging to remove. We're still working on it, but hopefully will get it all off in the next few days so we can fix the cracks and bad spots in the plaster this weekend.

We think we've decided on a crib, and when we went to buy it, the salesperson let us know that the store was going to be having a big one day sale on the 14th. She advised us that they had plenty of the model and color we want in stock, and to wait to buy until then. Hopefully all of this will be worth it, as I'm starting to get nervous that we don't have any furniture at all!

Future dancer?

This past weekend was my sister's wedding. Things have been rather hectic in the couple of weeks leading up to the wedding, but it went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time. Now she and Mikael are off to Mexico to enjoy their honeymoon, and I'm back in KC, packing up the store. Friday was the last day open, and we're in the process of moving everything out of our current location and back to St. Louis, where we'll decide if it makes sense to re-open another version of the store in KC again in the spring.

Anyway, the baby has been growing and getting stronger. It's fun to feel him moving around each day, but Joe still hadn't been able to feel him. Last night, I'm pretty sure little Joseph decided to have a dance party, b/c he was going strong for a solid hour and a half! Joe kept his hand on my belly for a little bit and felt him once, and again a little bit later for what was probably the strongest kick I've felt yet. Now that I'm past the halfway mark, it's crazy to think how soon we'll be able to meet this little guy, but we're definitely excited about that. I'll try to remember to take a belly picture this week for a progress update, but have no fear - it's definitely growing!

It's a BOY!

After finding out at the ultrasound that we are the future parents of a very un-shy little boy (guess he is a Jeppson boy, after all!), Joe and I went over to a little mall near the doctor's office to start shopping. We had been wanting to get Mizzou specific clothing for our future tiger, and ended up with this outfit, so he's all set for a football game next fall!
Then it was off to baby gap to check their clearance rack, and found this really cute onesie on sale, along with a sun shade hat with monkeys on it. It's going to be really hard to not continue buying cute stuff for this little guy, and remember that we still have almost 5 months until we meet him!

18 weeks

It's here! The obvious beginnings of a baby bump. Actually, today I had customers in the store who have 5 little kids, between the ages of 3 and 11, and the wife asked if I was pregnant... true story! So hopefully that means I'm working my way past the "looking fat" stage.

I'm also sporting my newest maternity item, my under the belly Gap maternity jeans. These don't have any of the stretchy material at the belly, and instead sit low in front (but not so low you can see my underwear or anything). The elastic is hidden inside the jeans so there's no real evidence that they are maternity jeans. They have become my absolute favorite, although the little bit of stretch means they stretch out to the point of getting a little too loose. But that's ok, they still have the look and feel of my normal jeans, and best of all, weren't expensive and I was able to buy them in my normal pre-pregnancy size! What a pick-me-up!

Only 3 days left till the big ultrasound... and I'm definitely starting to notice the flutters getting stronger, so that's exciting. Any last bets on whether it's a boy or a girl?

Flutters

So within the last couple of days, I have started to feel what I imagine is the first fluttering of feeling the baby move. It's really hard to say if that's what it is, but it comes and goes, mainly at night and doesn't feel like anything I've really felt before. I'm sure in another week or two I'll know for sure, but it's fun now to think that's what I'm experiencing! Only a week and a half left of waiting for our big ultrasound, and since I've missed pictures the last couple of weeks, I'm sure we'll take one tomorrow and post it. The belly is definitely slowly growing, but I still feel like if you saw me, you'd just think I'm chubby, not pregnant. Soon enough I'll be wishing I could be back at this stage, I'm sure!

The ultrasound date is set!

We've scheduled our big ultrasound for Monday, September 14th. So in just a couple of weeks we'll get to see the baby again, hopefully find out everything's healthy and growing strong, and whether we're having Joe 7 or need to start coming up with girl names!

Just for fun, I found a list of old wives tales to tell whether you're having a boy or girl and highlighted which things I'm identifying with ...

It's a boy if:
You didn't experience morning sickness in early pregnancy
Your baby's heart rate is less than 140 beats per minute
You are carrying the extra weight out front
Your belly looks like a basketball
Your areolas have darkened considerably
You are carrying low
You are craving salty or sour foods
You are craving protein -- meats and cheese
Your feet are colder than they were before pregnancy
The hair on your legs has grown faster during pregnancy
Your hands are very dry
Your pillow faces north when you sleep
Dad-to-be is gaining weight, right along with you (he, he, sorry Joe!)
Pregnancy has you looking better than ever
Your urine is bright yellow in color
Your nose is spreading
You hang your wedding ring over your belly and it moves in circles
You are having headaches
You add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived and the sum is an even number

It's a girl if:
You had morning sickness early in pregnancy
Your baby's heart rate is at least 140 beats per minute
You are carrying the weight in your hips and rear
Your left breast is larger than your right breast
Your hair develops red highlights
You are carrying high
Your belly looks like a watermelon
You are craving sweets
You are craving fruit
You crave orange juice
You don't look quite as good as normal during pregnancy
You are moodier than usual during pregnancy
Your face breaks out more than usual
You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread
Your breasts have really blossomed!
Your pillow faces south when you sleep
Your urine is a dull yellow color
You hang your wedding ring over your belly and it moves from side to side
You add your age at the time of conception and the number for the month you conceived and the sum is an odd number

We'll find out soon!

Another milestone

So I've been mainly wearing my normal pants, although shorts and some of my jeans just don't quite fit anymore. This morning, with my only pair of "fat" jeans in the wash, I pulled out two of my "normal" pre-pregnany jeans. The first pair was definitely a no go - I could hardly get them zipped! The second pair was better, and zipped about 2/3 of the way up before it was really uncomfortable. Remembering that I had my "belly band" (a stretchy band of material used to help hold waistbands up when you can't zip all the way) to use, I grabbed that and it seemed to do the trick. Until I'd been wearing it a few hours. I know understand why pregnant women seem to hate zippers! I hadn't felt this uncomfortable at all in the previous 15 weeks, but I guess I'm now to the point where I need the soft, stretchy maternity bottoms. Of course, I still don't have much of a belly, but just enough of one to take notice!

Anyway, I went to a local consignment maternity store at lunch and bought another pair of maternity jeans, since my first pair seem to need a much larger belly to stay up. Hopefully these will work out for the next few weeks, and at $15, I don't mind the "splurge"!