It’s A Boy!

Well, our big news from yesterday is that Andrew and I are having a little boy! I'll be completely honest and say that I'm happy, but also a little sad. I was, in fact, hoping for a girl to start off our family. Baby boy is incredibly healthy though and I couldn't ask for anything more. According to the sonogram yesterday he weighs 13oz and is right on track. All of his organs look good, they are working properly, and he still has a nice steady heartbeat! The only two pictures they couldn't get during this visit were his spine and the four chambers of his heart so in another four weeks I get another sonogram! I consider myself lucky that peanut didn't cooperate because I'll get more pictures of him. Little stinker was making it difficult to even get the gender because he kept moving around and his legs were crossed almost the entire time. Already a stubborn brat…. Just like his daddy. (Love you, Andrew)

 Other Pregnancy Things:
I'm officially half-baked at 20 weeks and working into week 21. I haven't been taking a ton of belly pictures because we forget about it; but I made sure to get one at 20 weeks before we headed out to the Mall of America!

Craving: It is really sporadic anymore. I get a craving at the last minute for something and try to recreate it at home the best I can with what I have. That is kind of hard to do when you haven't been grocery shopping in two weeks though. I still eat a lot of pickles, a lot of cheese, and I am still on an ice cream with Hershey's syrup kick. I'll be interested to see what kind of foods I want for the rest of this pregnancy. Luckily I have been able to throw in a lot more healthy options (fruits & veggies) without feeling as shitty afterwards. I just have to make sure I do it in moderation and eat something with carbs along with it. I would love to just sit and eat a salad, but I have to have some kind of roll or crackers with it or else I will feel like garbage the rest of the day.

Feeling: Still nauseous. That should've been my first inclination that I was having a boy. I haven't felt good at all during this pregnancy and my mom was the same way with Andy. I still take my nausea pills and do the best I can. Days that I feel really sickly though suck. I usually just want to stay in bed and curse my body for sucking so much; but I don't. I'm lucky to have a healthy baby inside of me….. regardless of how sick he makes me feel. I haven't really felt him much yet. I have felt a few flutters here and there but I really have to be paying attention in order to feel those. It'll be exciting once Andrew can start to feel him move around.

Other Things: I bought our very first baby item at the Mall of America during our vacation!

So precious! Since I am a Cheesehead by birth it is a given that my child will also be raised a Packers fan. Of course, when he gets older if he chooses another team that's perfectly OK; it is just as a small child I will mold him into a mini Packers fan and he'll love it! Darn it.
Also, now that we know the gender I can really start nursery planning. Again, I had some really cute girl ideas in my head and have to swap that over to boy. I think I know what I want to do. I'll just have to see if I can make it work!






Our Vacation:
We had a fantastic time! We started our trip on Wednesday and headed to Monona, WI to see my cousin Amber. She was a wonderful hostess and it was great seeing her and meeting her sweet little bunny Bunsen. She took us to some amazing places to eat and we got to visit a small little farmer's market where I, obviously, purchased some fresh Wisconsin cheese curds. So.Good.
After a delicious breakfast with Amber on Thursday, we said our good-byes and packed up to head to Minneapolis because that was the day that we were going to see Rifftrax Live! Sharknado! I couldn't wait to go and see Kevin, Bill, and Mike in person. When we got to our hotel we rested for a bit, showered, and then headed downtown to get a bite to eat before the show. We found this little dive bar that had really great food and then started our walk to the theater.

Bill, Mike, and Kevin

Because of the lighting and my phone camera not knowing how to process this… my picture of the three dudes is not very clear. The show was AMAZING and absolutely hilarious. The guys were as funny as ever and being able to see them the whole time during the Riff was pretty cool. Bill and Kevin really like to dance to cheesy movie music!

After the show we headed back to the hotel and I passed out. It was a tiring day for this pregnant lady.
Friday was our Mall of America day. Andrew and I both had never been so it was really exciting. Luckily for us the hotel we stayed at offered free shuttle service so I definitely took advantage of that. We signed up for the 11:15am – 4:15pm trip. That mall is insane. I looked at Andrew afterwards and said "I don't know if I ever need to go there again." Haha. In fact, I don't think Andrew ever wants to go to any mall ever again! We got to shop in some really neat stores and I got to go to Sigma Beauty which was a real treat for me. (I LOVE SIGMA BRUSHES!) We also got to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The food was fantastic, the wait-staff was hilarious, AND they quiz you on the movie. We got all questions right of course.
Once we got back to the hotel after our shopping spree, I once again passed out for about an hour. Andrew mentioned something about dinner around 7:00 and I said "Find something that delivers." We ended up having Chinese in the hotel room. Works for me!

Saturday was our not so fun morning because it was the longest stretch of our drive to head back home. We decided, kind of last minute, to go through Iowa and visit Valerie & Kris on our way home. The drive from Minneapolis to Davenport sucked. Now, I'm from Iowa, born and raised. I love Iowa and would live there again given the opportunity. However, the northern part of Iowa SUCKS TO DRIVE THROUGH. There is nothing up there. Stops are few and far between and when there is a gas station it is usually 5 miles off the interstate in a small town. I was very happy once we hit Waterloo/Cedar Falls area because civilization happened again. We stopped for lunch around 2:00 (finally) and then the rest of the drive to the Quad Cities wasn't bad at all. I have to say, thank God for audio books.

We got to Val's and had a nice dinner and spent time just talking and watching (or trying to watch) one of my Rifftrax Live movies I own. Their internet kept being wonky though and we gave up and went to bed.
We left Val's on Sunday around 1:00 and it was our last stretch of drive before finally being home. Boy were the cats happy to see us! Hobbs is still glued to us like we had been gone for years. Poor cat. He misses his daddy when we are gone.

It truly was a wonderful vacation and I am glad we got the chance to have a nice trip, just the two of us, before baby boy gets here. We have one more trip to make this fall, my cousin's wedding, down in Memphis. I'll be about 28 weeks pregnant for that trip. Should be interesting!

Long blog post today, kiddos. I hope you enjoyed reading my novel!