22 weeks

The past few days have been quite eventful!

Friday morning, Josh and I got up at 1:30am to catch some Black Friday bargains. We only made it to Old Navy that morning but we got some great deals. Then we were on our way to South Carolina to visit his family. We made it there by 9:30am and we were both exhausted!

Later that morning, I went shopping again with Josh's sister. I didn't buy much this time but we had fun just looking around. We relaxed for awhile then Josh's twin and his wife got there. They have a 6-month old. He made me really excited about my little one that's on the way!

Saturday was another shopping day for the girls. I pretty much finished my Christmas shopping--except I still have to buy gifts for Josh. That day, more of Josh's family came over to his dad's house so there was definitely a full house. We enjoyed a post-Thanksgiving meal together.

We came home on Sunday and I spent 2-hours wrapping gifts! At least that's out of the way!

We ended up not having the maternity photo shoot this weekend due to a conflict with the photographer. We are going to schedule a new date at the end of December, when Josh and I go back to visit for Christmas.

What a busy but nice weekend! Baby girl Soto has been busy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Julianna experienced her first turkey day today. She'll be here for everyone to enjoy next Thanksgiving! YAY! We just had dinner with my parents at Cracker Barrel-- it was good but I am soooo full!

I just showed Josh a really neat website that shows what happens inside of a woman's body during pregnancy. The animation shows how the organs move to accomodate the growing baby:

http://www.umm.edu/pregnancy/000088.htm

We decorated our Christmas tree last night and put up our Christmas decorations inside:

Josh still wants to decorate the outside of our house with lights--especially on our fence. I'll let him handle that part of decorating!

We'll be up bright and early to finish up our Christmas shopping then we're heading to South Carolina to visit his dad, stepmom, and sister.

thought this was cute:

21 weeks and 4 days

Sleeping past 3:30am isn't something I enjoy anymore. I'm always wide awake by then regardless of how tired I am or how long I've slept. So during the week, I am soooo slugglish because I get incredibly tired mid-morning. Thankfully, on the weekends I can enjoy a much needed nap. So that's what I'm looking forward to today-- a mid-morning nap that I would normally not get to enjoy on a Wednesday!

I just made myself a yummy breakfast of fruits: (maybe being hungry has something to do with waking up so early?! but I did have a bowl of cereal at 11pm last night)

Since there is no school until Monday (YAY!), I plan on being productive around the house today. We are going to South Carolina tomorrow evening after we have a Thankgiving dinner with my parents. We'll be visiting Josh's dad, stepmom, and his sister. We haven't seen them in a few months so it will be nice to get together. While we are down there, I'll also be having some maternity pictures taken. Josh's sister has a friend who is a photographer so he will be taking the pictures. I'm excited but I just wish my baby belly was a little bit bigger now. But that's okay!

So the agenda for today is: completing school work (yes, even on my day off), laundry, errands, packing for the trip and the photo shoot, and of course, my nap!!!

our first gifts

We received our first baby gifts a couple of weeks ago. Two ladies that work for Josh's company sent them to us. It's so exciting to get gifts... just feels even closer to when we'll get to hold Julianna in our arms!

Lullaby Gloworm:

Sleeper:

My parents also gave us money to buy our crib. Speaking of that crib... it's still in the box! I need to get Josh to put it together so I can share what it looks like.

weight gain and health

I began pregnancy at 128 pounds. I currently weigh 147 pounds. That's a weight gain of 19 pounds in 21 weeks. I feel like I look pregnant when I see myself but many people can't even tell that I'm pregnant. A coworker told me today that I don't look like I've put on any weight at all-- which is a good thing because I don't really want to look like I've blown up. My 19 pounds is all in my belly and my chest. I'll probably just wake up one morning with a really noticeable pregnant belly and there will be no denying it then. Josh and I feel so surprised when people say they can't tell I'm pregnant. I guess because we both look at me alllll of the time!

As far as my health goes, I think the 19 pounds so far have been healthy. I have really tried to make good food choices. But really, instead of icecream... I'd much rather have an apple. It just tastes better to me right now. Except for Cold Stone: I could go for a birthday cake remix sundae anytime!

My blood pressure has also stayed pretty low. Right now, it is 110/70. Pre-pregnancy it was considerably higher than that. Maybe the healthy eating is helping because I know my level of stress has probably doubled since I got pregnant and began this school year!