24 Weeks

I feel really pregnant this week. I constantly have this full feeling, even when I am hungry. It's taking some getting used to, but I feel great!

Cravings: Cottage cheese and fruit. Pizza! Tijuana Flats Refried Bean Chimichanga. I've also been using their hot sauce Georgia Peach daily. It's really cheap so whenever I go there I buy a bottle. I love putting it on eggs. Last night I made homemade fried chicken, it was delicious! I've got a craving right now for split pea soup... once I get my food stamps on the 3rd I'll be getting the ingredients for that ;)

Sad Things: Money. Gosh, money is so tight right now, we're trying to save like mad so we're not going out at all. This weekend we will be going to see a comedy show at McCurdy's. I got the tickets for free but while you're there you have to buy at least two items on their menu, which will be about $30 for the both of us. It's going to be a big treat jsut to go out. Another negative that's going on right now is my Dad isn't feeling too good, and I have such a tendency to worry about him. I have to start being careful about my anxiety levels cause they've been running high lately and I really don't want high blood pressure and Preeclampsia.
Happy Things: I love my boy Max! He kicks me like crazy all the time now, I love it. I know one day soon I'll get tired of it and it will start to hurt, but for now I'm really enjoying it. Also, I've been kicking ass at applying for government assistance. We qualify for a lot, and with Woody being a veteran who is in school on the GI bill, we really need it. I have an appointment with WIC on Monday, and since I plan on breastfeeding I'm going to get a lot of nutritional support in the form of eggs, milk, cheese, bread, and fish. LOTS of it! It's pretty awesome. Another thing that I feel so positive about is my relationship with Woody. We grow stronger every day. Even when we fight, which is so rare, there is no fear in this not working out. We just mesh so well together, I don't know how the universe lined up for us like this, but I like it. He is so loving and supportive of everything that I do. He is just everything that I would want in a man and a father to my child. At night when we go to sleep, after our routine of oiling up my belly(haha), we go to sleep and most of the time he has his hand on my belly feeling Max kick. It just makes me so happy that even though our pregnancy was unplanned, he's excited and preparing for the responsibility of being a father. I am so so very lucky!
Weight Gain: I am up to 10lbs. gained now. I feel great, and I feel like I'm carrying it well. In the past week, according to Baby Center, the baby has gained 4 ounces. That's a lot for one week! So I wasn't surprised to have gained a few lbs. and a great appetite.
Aches & Pains: Feeling pretty good! The only issues I have are heartburn and a little bit of neck pain. For the heartburn, last night I bought some Zantac 75 so we'll see how that works out for me today. As far as the neck pain, I've been spoiled with some back rubs from Woody, last night he nearly put me to sleep on the couch rubbing my back.
Movement: Like I said before, Max has been moving around a lot. And the bigger he gets, the easier it is to identify his position in the womb. I love laying on my back and seeing where his head or butt is. It's very clear to see by the lumps on my belly. Next time I'll take a picture and post it.
Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty great. As long as I'm surrounded by pillows and not cramped up by the edge of the bed because Woody is trying to snuggles in his sleep, then I'm happy. I have however been having some pretty awful nightmares. I got into a big argument with my Dad a few days ago, and with my raised emotions my dreams were pretty intense and terrifying. I went to bed early one night while Woody was hanging out in the living room with a friend, and I had to come out and have him lay with me for a little bit. It sounds silly, but I kept waking up completely out of touch with reality. Once he was in there the dreams weren't as terrifying once I woke up.

And that's about it! I've made a lot of progress in the house cleaning and organizing. Haven't had the garage sale yet, I'm going to try for next weekend. When I get the chance later, I'll post some pictures :)

Playroom Dilemma

Ok, so the porch that I plan turning into a playroom is a bit of an issue. It is enclosed but not insulated, so it gets very hot during the summer and I'm not going to be able to keep it cool with A/C unless we get new windows and insulate the ceiling and bottom walls. It'll be pricey but Woody and Bobby's Mom Retta, who owns the house, might pay for it if it increases home value.
Regardless on if I do that, I'm making it into a playroom. I'm having a garage sale in a few weeks so a lot of the junk that's in it is going, and there are trunks full of Woody's ARMY supplies and clothes that we can put up. I'm having the carpets cleaned in the house as soon as I get a little extra cash, and I'll probably put down a really nice plush rug so the baby can crawl around a bit. I'm just really excite to be able to nest, because for awhile I didn't think we would be living here. We had a roommate living on the couch for way too long, and I didn't think he would ever leave therefore making it an awkward situation for having a baby. Since he has left I've cleaned up the house a lot and organized it. Bobby is going to be switching rooms with us, giving us that master suite which is HUGE. Plenty of room for a crib area where I can set up a room divider. There is also a huge walk-in closet, I seriously never thought I'd have a closet this big in my life. And the bathroom is alright. Bobby's ex-girlfriend went nuts one day and broke his bathroom mirror, so that needs to be replaced, but other than that it's decent. The carpet is ugly as sin. It's 80's green shag. Ugh. But I figure once I get it cleaned and lay down a few rugs, we'll invest in new carpet a year or two down the road. I just cannot describe how relieving it is to be able to nest. I'm going to post pictures of the progress in the rooms as I go along...

This is the future playroom. You can see in the last two pictures the crib set and changing table that will eventually be in our room. In the first picture there is an old changing table of Carolyn's(Woody's ex) that we will be selling at the garage sale. There is also two chairs and a bar that we will probably keep in the playroom, they are really nice and comfortable so I'll set them up where I want them to be once I get the furniture in our room. We got our crib set for free from my friend Taylor, which was awesome. Unfortunately she lost all the hardware, but still not a bad deal. It'll be like $10 to replace it all.

Today my project is cleaning out our dining room. I'll take pictures of that, too. Woody and Bobby have a bunch of shit stacked up in the dining cabinet and I've been dying to get it organized. My goal is to get the liquor bottle graveyard the hell out of there, but I doubt they'll let me throw it all away, haha.