HELLO 3RD TRI!

I can't believe that I'm already on the home stretch!!!!!!!!!! I had my 26 week apointment today and got totally freaked by the fact that I will now be visiting the doc every 2 weeks! Today's appointment was all the usual (weigh in, blood pressure, pee in a cup and listen to sweet little Lukie's heartbeat) plus the added bonus of the glucose tolerance test (PUKE!)...  the test consists of drinking a gazzilion grams of sugar in liquid form on an empty stomach and then getting your blood drawn to check glucose levels. All morning I felt like vomiting... the whole point of the test is to check for gestational diabetes (which I'm very worried that I have!) so I'm very anxious for the results.

Joys the 3rd tri has brought so far:

*An ever expanding belly!  Although it sometimes feels like a 1,000 lbs I really do love it.

*LOTS of kicks, rolls and karate from Lucas.  I LOVE that I get to feel him ALL day long - he is the first thing I feel in the morning and the last thing I feel at night.. I'm totally addicted

*A closeness with Lucas that is indescribeable. I am so in love with him..

"Un-Joys" the 3rd tri has brought so far:

*Sore back :( 

*Having to literally "roll" out of bed because sitting up like a normal person is no longer an option

*Having to say goodbye to bladder control. When Lucas mistakes my bladder for a trampoline an adult diaper starts to seem more and more necessary.

MORE ULTRASOUND PICS (3D)

Here is our sweet little love muffin!! It's crazy but I can tell from these pics that he looks JUST like his daddy!  And check out his FOOT!  It is almost the length of his shin!! The ultrasound tech was amazed by how huge it was!! Doug always told me that when he was young he looked like a bookend or a perfect right angle because of his huge feet.. hahahaha..  He wore a size 13 at a very young age!  Looks like little Lucas (aka bigfoot) will be just like his daddy. :)

ULTRASOUND

OMG I'm so excited I got this video to load!!  Here he is.. :)  You can see his cute little lips moving.. BTW  - the small earthquake towards the end is me laughing. :)

REGISTERING

So I finally registered for the baby shower yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was sooooo much fun and I was there ALL day (approx 6.5 hours)... the people working at the store were making fun of me when they realized I was STILL there... I'm very thourough. :) By the end of the day I realized that I was the person I hated!!!! hahahaha!  You know, the one with the 8,000 page registry list! Seriously, I just get overwhelmed when I go to buy a baby shower present and have to sift through millions of pages to pick something out... who knew that when it came to be my turn I would do the same thing!!!

THE CAKE REVEAL

Last weekend we had our friends over for football and the big cake reveal.  Although we were just pretending mine was a secret Jenn's really was a secret so it was a lot of fun!!  And who doesn't LOVE cake at 9am!! 

MY FIRST CLOTHING CASUALTY

You know your ass is growing when you go to sit down and this happens:

LOL :)  not so funny that these were one of my favorite pairs of comfy pants but nonetheless still so funny. I sent a pic to my mom as soon as it happened and her response was the best part: "good thing you weren't wearing butt floss!"  hahaha - I love that she calls it "butt floss"

So aside from my growing caboose I feel like I have a lot to share since I haven't posted in awhile.. For the past two weeks I've been able to feel our little Lucas moving.  It is such an amazing feeling.. in the very beginning it felt like he was brushing the inside of my belly with a feather - it actually tickled :)  and now I can feel more prominent moving - no hard kicks or anything yet but it's a little harder than the feather.. It's definitely not consistent yet either.. I will feel him all day one day and then the next day not at all.. I feel like as I progress through the pregnancy everything is becoming more and more "real"... at first I almost didn't believe he was in there but then I got to see him on the ultrasound and hear his heartbeat which definitely made it real.. and then my belly would shrink and grow shrink and grow and I would wonder if he was still there but now it's ALWAYS there so I know he's in there somewere :) and then add that I can now feel him moving and it becomes SUPER real..

So I've picked out an inspirational picture for how I'm going to decorate the nursery... beachy chic 

And God bless my sister in law and her husband!!!  We went to their house last night and this is what they sent us home with: a tub overflowing with baby clothes, a crib mattress, breast pump, infant bath tubs, bottle warmer, receiving blankets, diapers and a few toys... and this is just the beginning!  We are going back for round 2 sometime soon since this was all we could fit in our car. We are soooo incredibly thankful and feel so blessed to have all of these items passed down to us.  Little Lucas will know who to thank for the clothes on his back - and it won't be mommy! hahaha :)  Here is a pic of everything:

IT'S A BOOOOY!

Secret is out!!  (Lasted 3 days... hahaha.. not bad)  His name is Lucas Jae Horning. Doug picked out the name Lucas (which I think is perfect) and then Jae is my Dad's middle initials. Here are some pictures of our sweet little son from the last ultrasound :)

If you're like me and have a really hard time figuring out what is what, here is some help:

He's looking right at you!  You can see his little hand in the top right and his body is the circle on the left (you can see his ribs and spine).

THE BIG DAY!!

So at 18 weeks we went in for our anatomy ultrasound. We could not contain our excitement that we were about to find out what our sweet little baby was.  It's no secret that I REALLY want a boy and that Douglas is SURE its a girl. I was so worried that we might not be able to find out due to baby not cooperating to show us a crotch shot (this was because my preg friend Stephanie just had to have THREE ultrasounds to find out the sex of her baby due to baby not cooperating).. All I kept thinking was that I REALLY hope baby was in a good position to see or that the tech would at least take the extra time to try and get baby to move if not. I was really worrying for no reason because the second the ultrsound tech turned on the moniter and got a look at the baby it was pretty clear that baby was in a headstand position with its legs open showing us exactly what it was. :) It's a _____!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I will fill in the blank on Sept. 10th - sorry I know that's evil)

We were both on cloud nine and I immediately felt even more connected to baby. Now I knew who I was talking to in there.. :)  After the ultrasound and our appointment with the doctor we went to go buy baby its first outfit.. I wish I could post a pic but that unfortunately would give it away... after that we went and celebrated Doug's birthday by picking up his favorite pizza from Casanova Brothers and renting a couple of movies..

WHAT KIND OF BEES MAKE MILK?

BOOBEES!!!!  hahaha - that one is compliments of my husband. :)

Random Thoughts...

I wish all baby books were as blunt as Jenny McCarthy's "Baby Laughs" - there are soooooo many things that I'm finding out that I don't think any mom would ever share! I mean gross, grusume, painfull stuff! I mean stuff that would seriously frighten me to death if I hadn't been forewarned... you moms know what I'm talking about!!! Share these things with your unexpecting friends!

Here is a great article that my boss' wife sent me. It's a day in the life of a new mom: http://www.lemondrop.com/2010/08/04/what-to-expect-when-you-have-a-newborn/?icid=mainhtmlwsmain-wdl6link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemondrop.com%2F2010%2F08%2F04%2Fwhat-to-expect-when-you-have-a-newborn%2F

I'm at the point where I cry at EVERYTHING... daily really... I can just think about something random and then next thing you know I'm crying.. Now I have always been REALLY sensitive but this is like total overkill.

16 WEEKS........

We had our 16 week doctor appointment this past week. :) The highlight of the appointment was of course getting to hear our sweet little baby's heartbeat which had dropped quite a bit from 160 at 10 weeks to 139 this week. This is normal though since the baby's heartbeat will slow as it gets bigger. I've gained 4 lbs so far and everything else is tracking well. Another huge highlight of this appointment was that we got to schedule the anatomy ultrasound!!!!!!!!!  The doc wanted this scheduled for 19 weeks so at checkout we made the apointment with the front desk. The week she gave us to choose a day from was the week of Doug's birthday so of course we scheduled it for that date (Aug. 24th). :)  It wasn't until a few days later that we realized I would only be 18 weeks at that time and that they must have pulled up the wrong week by accident, so I called the doctor's office to let them know and they said it was fine and to keep the appointment since they can still see everything they need to see at 18 weeks. So Doug's birthday present this year will be finding out the sex of our baby!!  Doesn't get much better than that!

Highlights from this past month:

I found out one of my best friends out here (Jenn) is ALSO pregnant and just 2 weeks behind me!!  The little terd was able to keep this a secret from everyone until she made it to the end of the first trimester. I'm absolutely ecstatic that we get to be pregnant together and can't wait to meet baby Reber #2 (or as Logan calls the baby, Baby Logan). :)

I drank a liter of Root Beer in an 8 hour window (for someone who doesn't ever drink soda this is quite a highliht). Doug had gone to the store to pick up Sprite for my Sprite craving but also came back with the liter of Root Beer since he knows me better than I know me... The Root Beer was gone by morning and the Sprite remained untouched. :)

What I referred to as the "dissapearing baby" is now long gone.  Before now, some days I'd wake up with no baby bump at all and I'd get all worried that my baby wasn't in there anymore and then the next day it would be back and I'd be smooshing into my clothes again. Now it is ALWAYS there. :) Although in the morning I just feel like Fatty McFee trying to squeeze into skinny girl clothes and by the time night time rolls around I look about 7 months pregnant.. it's very strange but I'll take it over the dissapearing baby!!

I tried out some new exercise classes at my gym that I thought would be baby friendly and something I could stick with throughout my pregnancy:

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  Yoga - Love it!  I will definitely stick with this one and probably try for 2 days a week.
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  Pilates - Hate it!  Miserable is the only word I can come up with for this class - the only sore part of my body after taking this class was my neck.
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  Water Aerobics - hahaha.... No. This just wasn't my cup of tea and I felt very out of place age wise.

I started researching day care options and about cried at the cost. :(

We decided how we will be announcing the sex of the baby to all our friends. :)  Since Jenn and I are just 2 weeks apart we thought it would be fun to announce it together and make a party out of it.  Since our friends like to gamble we will be taking bets for Boy or Girl for both of us and at the party, which we've tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11th, I will announce hers and she will announce mine. Neither of us will know what the other ones is ahead of time...