Holy Crap 19 weeks!

First things first - I'm done with school for a few weeks!  Yay!  I'll be teaching summer school in July, which part of me thinks I'm crazy for, but until then, I have time for baby things (oh yeah, and planning a new class!)

Starting in mid-May, Mr. Teacher Bud was working like crazy (we're talking 95 hrs in one week at it's worst) and since then has been out of town for work a lot.  So I've been itching to get going on daycares, registering, etc. but we haven't done much yet, because obviously I want his input.  He's almost done with his last trip, and then we will be diving in head first.  My goal is to have a daycare selected, a registry most of the way complete, and furniture ordered by the time I start summer school on July 6th.  Wow, now that I write that out it seems like a lot!  *Gulp*

We have looked at 2 daycares, already, and I have a list of other ones to look at, so that is a step in the right direction.  We also want to cloth diaper, and I have a small but growing diaper stash.  We have so far 2 newborn fitteds, 3 small covers, 2 adjustable size pockets, and 3 newborn pockets.  I know we need a lot more, so we need to get on that too!  So far, I've just been buying CDs when they show up on babysteals or zulily.  I also found the 3 covers at a garage sale!  I was surprised, but so happy to get them for only $2 each!  I've also been uying some clothes at garage sales too.  Here's a picture of my haul one day - only $12 for all of it!

credit: me

I'm still buying mostly gender neutral stuff, because we don't know the gender yet.  But we have scheduled our ultrasound!  Our ultrasound is at 8am a week from tomorrow!  I am so impatient and can't wait! 

Belly Measurement/Weight: Still not really up to pre-pregnancy weight.  It has me a little worried, but I'm trying to think it's just my thyroid medicine doing it's job.  My belly is definitely getting bigger!  I had my 1st stranger ask when I was due this past week.  At my appointment they said that my uterus is now up to my belly button. 
Physical Progress: We're up to Mango!   It's pretty strange though, I bought a doppler from a woman on a pregnancy message board that I frequent, and baby is always, always on my right side.  It seems strange. 
How I am feeling about my body: I am mostly done puking!!!!  I hardly ever vomit anymore, smells still get to me, but I'm off the zofran, and doing soooo much better.  I'm using a pregnancy pillow most of the time, and do have some lower back pain. 
Cravings/Aversions: Tomatoes - I love them, but I just cannot eat raw tomatoes.  It's sad. 
Energy Level: The same.  My mom walked me all over the earth yesterday running errand, and I was so exhausted afterwards that I almost went to sleep at 8:30!   
Baby Movement: I think so.  Not from the outside yet though. 

19 weeks already!

I cannot believe how fast time flies during 2nd trimester. I've been traveling almost every week for work, and on the weeks I'm home (about once a month), we've been doing *something* baby related. I'm writing to you today from my hotel in Asheville, where I'll be until tomorrow. This might get long, I apologize!

Here's where things stand:
Today I'm 19 weeks, 3 days. My last doctor's appointment was at 15 weeks, and my next appointment is on Tuesday (20w1d). (I'm supposed to be going every 4 weeks, but the last two have been 5 weeks apart thanks to scheduling limitations on my part--I'm hoping to schedule the rest of my appointments at Tuesday's visit--24, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41). Baby is now the size of...something. The fruit tickers seem to be off. Apparently this week is a mango but next week is a cantaloupe? Seems like a large jump to me!

I'm feeling great--energetic, my appetite is back, I've lost most food aversions and am not having too many cravings (and none for weird foods), and I'm physically comfortable. Emotionally, I'm doing well too. Mr. Magnolia Bud and I still worry about the financial aspects of having Baby MB--especially daycare--but we're budgeting and will make it work.

Speaking of daycare, we decided a few weeks ago to put off looking for a placement until we'd each hammered out our leave options at our respective jobs. This week we were able to do that--he'll be taking a full week once the baby's born, and then working half days for the next two weeks. I'll be taking off from the time the baby's born (sometime in September) until work resumes after the New Year (Jan. 3). Most of my leave will be paid, except for December--which is do-able for us financially. We're both so excited I'll be able to stay home for almost four months, and that the baby won't have to start daycare until he/she is a smidge older than we originally thought.

We had our anatomy scan on April 20, and everything looks great. I was 18w2d, and baby was measuring 19w2d--a full week ahead. Femur and humerus were measuring 19w4d...so we're hoping that means we're going to have a tall baby, just like us! Baby also weighed in at an estimated 10 ounces last week. Here are our favorite pictures--the first is baby with his/her hand behind head, and the second is baby pointing which direction is "out" {it was head down, heehee}:




I've also finally started showing! Some days I still just look a little chubby, but here's a pic from this week:


Mr. Magnolia Bud finished painting the nursery, and we finished our registries at Babies R Us and Amazon. If you have any suggestions for registry *must haves,* please let me know! Almost everything on our lists came about as a result of recommendations from other moms and mommy bloggers.

I think that's it for now. Hope you're all having a great week!
Love and baby dust to everyone...
Magnolia Bud

I don't have a good feeling...

In one of my recent posts I talked about my options on going back to work after Baby GB is born.

Well, we finally made a decision that I think works best for the Glow Bud house - option 2!!! This was the option to keep my current position but go down to working 30 hours per week. With this option Mr. GB will be able to stay home one day with Baby GB and then we'll alternate daycare and in-home care from our neighbor for the remaining 3 days.

Since I like to have things in writing for my own personal reference, I outlined this in an e-mail to my boss. I first sent the e-mail last Thursday... I didn't hear back.

Not too concerned about it when I got to work on Monday I needed to let my boss know of my upcoming 3 hour glucose test (more on this in another post!) and to let her know when my next monthly appointment was so when I e-mailed her on that I included a note asking if we could discuss my previous e-mail. She responded right back that she has a meeting with HER boss to discuss it... hmmm... ok.

So today, said meeting with boss was first thing in the morning and shortly after I get another e-mail scheduling a "sit down" for tomorrow morning. For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this sit down.

Wish me luck!