26 weeks.

Feet at 22 weeks.

I'm 26 weeks pregnant! I didn't feel like snapping a photo of my belly this week, so here's a shot from my fetal echo of her little feet! My gosh they're so cute. I can't believe you can make out her little toes! It's really weird to think that I'm about to start the third trimester. Really weird. It's also really weird to think that there's a living thing in my belly that's about 14 inches long head to toe. I'm constantly hearing that I don't look 26 weeks pregnant, but that's cool. My belly has grown a heck of a lot in the last couple weeks. She's definitely making herself more known these days. On Saturday I took my dog for a long walk & it was over 90 degrees, which is no bueno. I came home & passed out a few times, so Gabe made me lay down & put my feet up, which gave me a chance to watch my belly while she was kicking around. I've seen a few thumps in the last few weeks, but holy moly, she is REALLY moving now, that or she is just a lot bigger. I saw little thumps & then out of no where she rolled over or something & the centre of my belly rose & then she shifted to the right side of my belly & started freaking out! It was awesome. Husband got to see some of the moving too, which was cool. But it's so so so weird. I can't believe she's in there just acting like she owns the place! & I can't believe I already love her so much!

We're getting really close to picking out a name. But we won't tell because we're going to wait til we meet her to make the final decision. I feel like that's a good thing cause if my mom hadn't done that, my name would've been Cinnamon. & we all know there's only one profession for a girl with the name Cinnamon.

Anya.

In non-baby related news. My husband shaved my dog. Without telling me. She looks like a rat. She's lucky I love her anyway & her personality wasn't stored in her fluffy fur, cause she seriously looks like a rat. Or a greyhound. But mostly a rat. I feel so bad for her. All of the puppies at puppy school (we are currently taking her to puppy school for training & it's going great) are going to make fun of her. But she knows that her mommy loves her & that's what matters. Gabe is going to start grooming her for a while cause her fluffy butt is costing too much to have done professionally at the moment. Some day she'll go back to the salon & get well groomed, but for now Gabe can do it. Gabe thinks she looks like a dog now (obviously I think she looks like a rat), but I like that poodles don't look like other dogs. I love her fluffy butt & fluffy fro! I was really upset he cut the fluff from her head completely. That won't be happening again. I like to play with it. I remember when my mom cut our dogs like this, they looked so stupid. Actually. They remind me of the monster things in the movie The Fifth Element. The ones with the big guns that Gary Oldman is the boss of? If you don't know what I'm talking about then go educate yourself on a fantastic movie. Then you'll see that my dog looks kinda like one of those things. I think it's just the ears though. But those monsters aren't cute. But, my puppy is still cute. Mostly cause she has a cute personality, & I love her.

I started sewing this week! A woman in my ward is teaching me. I LOVE sewing! I should've started sooner. I really wish I had, but I had zero interest until this year. So these pillows were my first project. The purple one is in my living room, & the one with the bow is on our bed. I can't wait to do more. I'm glad I'm starting this before the baby comes. Gabe is really excited about it, too. I love this sudden desire to be crafty. It makes me happy. However, it doesn't banish my need to have pretty clothes & shoes. Ha!

Oh oh! Back to babies for a second. My brother's wife had their 4th baby yesterday! His name is Liam. He's going to be SO cute. I know this because their other 3 kids are absolutely adorable. I'm not even being bias because I'm their aunt. They really are adorable kids. Then you throw in my sisters kids & you see that my family really does have some of the cutest kids on the planet. Totally not bias. You can probably ask anyone. They're all pretty frick'n cute.

& my mom comes this week! She gets here in 2 days, which means I will spend much of my time cleaning, with intervals of putting my feet up because I've learned the hard way that if I don't my feet swell like crazy & I start having contractions. Which I do not enjoy. In the least. But I'm SOOO excited for my mom to get here. She's coming for my baby shower which is this Saturday. I'm also VERY excited about that. Which reminds me, I'm loving getting baby gifts. I got a box in the mail every day last week. I looove finding baby things inside! My Aunt Lynn made a super cute baby blanket for her. I'm expecting a few more of those from various family members. This child is so loved. =]

That is all.

- Alexa

24 weeks.

24 weeks.

I am 24 weeks pregnant. My cousin & I were chatting about breast feeding & after birth horrors yesterday, & then she asked me if I was nervous. Well. It doesn't feel real yet. At least not all the time. But when it does feel real, holy moly. The nerves are unstoppable, & usually so are the tears. I suppose since I'm actually looking pregnant now it feels real a lot more often than before. It's weird to think that there's a baby in my uterus. & that my uterus is big enough to hold a baby. & that in about 15-16 weeks she'll be taken out of there & we'll have to take care of her. It's just so weird! & terrifying. But don't worry. We're also excited. But sometimes the nerves outweigh the excitement. It's hard for them not to. I'm just being honest. I don't think pregnant women share that often enough, & it makes other pregnant women feel like their nerves are abnormal. It's okay to have nerves. If there aren't nerves, then I think there might be some unrealistic expectations in there. But I am really excited. She's gonna be so cute & loved. =] & a pain. But a cute pain!

The first two days of this week were lousy because I allowed myself to run out of Zofran (morning sickness stopper & miracle pill). But I got a refill & I've been unstoppable ever since! WOO! So glad second trimester energy finally hit me about a week & a half ago. Such a beautiful beautiful thing. I finally emptied the last 2 boxes that were in our room. It's amazing how much nicer our room looks. & I also did an assortment of other productive things, like sending out baby shower invitations (to family & close friends that I know cannot attend, but I'd like to still include), & finished up getting registered!!! YAY! Finally. That was a very intense & stressful thing for me, but I had to finish it because the baby shower is 3 weeks from today. 

In a previous post, "Registered," I gave all that info. Well here it is again, just in case you'd like it. We are registered at TARGET & AMAZON.COM. You can find the registry under my name...Alexa Staples. I've made sure of it. It's definitely under that name...now. 

Gabe finished something this week as well. The dresser that's going in baby girl's room!!! It's SOOOO adorable. The most recent post, "The Dresser," is all about that. Shows the before & after. But I couldn't resist posting the after picture in this post as well cause it's soooo pretty. It's way prettier in person, but it still looks awesome in the picture. I love it. It's going to look so good in there. 

My mom gets here on the 29th & I'm so so so excited. I wish my dad could come, but since he just had another shoulder surgery, he's unable to make the trip. But hopefully he'll be able to come out at Christmas time when baby girl gets blessed. But I'm certainly happy that my mom will be here. My baby shower is this early because it's when she could come. So I'm glad.

My sister-in-law, Gabe's sister, had her baby girl this week. She's the second Staples baby born this year. Two down, four more to go! All of them are girls. Crazy how many baby girls are being brought in to the Staples family. My brother's wife is due at the beginning of September. She's having a boy. It's weird to me that my big brother & I, even though he has three kids already, the oldest being 7, are going to have kids the same age...or separated by just a few months. Very strange.

Anyway. It's been a really good week. So so so happy!

Here's this thing.

How far along? 24 weeks.

How big around? 35 inches. Which is smaller than last week. But my belly size changes every day according to where the baby is. She keeps moving around & making my belly look different. A few days ago I was carrying high & was 36 inches around, today I'm pretty low. Even lower than that picture up there cause that was actually taken yesterday. Plus, I haven't eaten yet, which also boosts my belly size.

Total weight gain/loss: I want to say 13ish lbs. But I haven't checked in a couple of weeks.

Maternity Clothes: Yeah. I really need some shirts.

Sleep: Restless. They took my melatonin away. Ugh.

Best moment this week: Gabe finished the dresser & I finished the registry! WOO!

Miss Anything? Milk. I ran out & forgot to buy more. Dangit.

Movement: Most certainly. Gabe can feel her now!

Food cravings: Currently, milk. Dangit.

Anything making you queasy or sick: After I've walked around for about 10 minutes in the morning I get sick. Thank goodness for Zofran.

Have you started to show yet: Yes.

Labor Signs: Nope.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: This week, happy! Aside from the occasional mental breakdowns.

Looking forward to: My mom getting here on the 29th!

That is all.

- Alexa

The Dresser.

It's DONE!!! <--- That's not it. Obviously. It says before. Scroll down for the final product.

Gabe completed the dresser. It took him about two weeks with everything else he was doing. & I was no help since he had to do it in the hot hot garage. It looks MARVELOUS!!! & as you can see, super different from how we bought it. I was skeptical at first. We got it for $25 from a lady down the street that was selling it on Craigslist. It was super broken. Everywhere. He had to fix every drawer, & every space that held the drawer. It was a lot of work for him, but he did an awesome awesome job. I told him what I wanted & he delivered. It's going to look SO SO cute in baby girl's room. & we picked (& by we I mean me) the turquoise colour because it will work for other babies too. Just in case there's a little boy in our future. I think it looks like it definitely belongs in a child's room. For some reason it makes me think of Blues Clues. Just me? Probably. My mind is a weird place.

So anyway. I'm super super happy with it. Now Gabe just has to clear all of his things out of baby girl's room & we can put it up there. Until then, it will sit in my entryway. Which is okay. That area is hopelessly empty & in desperate need of something there anyway. A temporary cute dresser works perfectly. 

Ah! I love it. Makes me happy. =]

- Alexa

Registered.

Dear world,

The baby shower is on September 1st, so about 3 & a half weeks (but she's not due until December 1st, however, she'll probably be here by the end of November) & I FINALLY finished the baby registries!!! Mostly. I'm not going to lie, I'll probably keep adding stuff. It's a good shopping list of what we want for baby girl. You'll find that the bigger things (like the pack n play or stroller) are gender neutral so we can use them for future babies. I did my best to cover all sorts of price ranges too. But we wanted to include our more expensive things, just in case. You never know! So. We are registered at:

TARGET
I don't know how to just post the link to my list. So just go to registries, Target baby registry, find, & then it's under my name (Alexa Staples... just in case you're confused).

AMAZON.COM
Such an easy registry! Goodness. I love it. & I have the link for this one. Click below.

AMAZON.COM BABY REGISTRY

So anyway. This may seem really greedy, but I've seen lots of people share their registries on facebook & things, so I don't really feel bad. It's just in case! I mean. People are getting invites saying where we're registered, but if someone loses their invite, or wants to send us a gift & would like a good idea of what we want, then they're welcome to do so!

I did not register for clothes. Cause let's face it, people are going to give me cute little headbands & things for baby girl. If you want to see what kind of stuff I like for baby girl, click below.

Pinterest: Baby Girl

I'm starting to pin more & more of what I like for little girls. You'll find little dresses & headbands & things. Also, if you want to know what we're doing in the nursery, the colours are turquoisey things & pinks (I was originally going for coral, which I will still incorporate, but that's a little harder). I'm in love with chevron, polka dots, & various patterns that go well with those things.

So anyway. I just thought I'd share. I'm really proud of myself for being done. If you would like to send a gift, or a note, or whatever, I will be happy to give you our address.

I hope you're having a WONDERFUL week!

- Alexa

23 weeks.

22 weeks.

17 weeks left! That's madness! I didn't feel like taking a picture this week either. So here's a picture of little girl in my uterus from my fetal echo. (Her heart looks good by the way. But they'll have to check again a couple days after she's born to make sure she doesn't have an ASD like her mommy.) She's very fidgety. Loves kicking around. I saw my belly move for the first time on Friday. It makes me think of movies or shows where there's an alien in them & it's trying to get out. Pretty gross, but that's what it looked like to me. 

This week has gone well! Especially the last half. Apparently I'm feeling crafty & "nesting" a little bit, as my mom called it. Moved things around in my room. & I bought material. & had Gabe teach me to iron. (No, I didn't know how to iron. I've specifically never purchased clothing that needed to be ironed so that I wouldn't have to learn how to do it. Go ahead. Make fun. I blame my mom.) I'm pretty much a pro at ironing. I hate it, but I can do it. I also hate cleaning, but I can do that, too. I got things to make more wreaths, too, so as soon as I'm done with our bedroom, I'm going to get crafty. I'm really looking forward to it. A lady from church is even going to teach me how to sew! I think I've been inspired by the Olympics. I've watched so much gymnastics this week that I've actually been having dreams about being an Olympic gymnast. But they make me feel lazy. Which I am. So that makes sense. So I've suddenly become someone who is not lazy! Or at least I'm trying. It feels good to have the energy to do things finally. It may be coming in the last 5 weeks of the second trimester, but better late than never!

Gabe is pretty much done with the dresser for baby girl's room. I can't wait to show off the transformation. It's going to look awesome. It's taking him some extra time because he's been out flying his rc plane with people from church that want to learn this week, which I think is great. He gets so excited about people wanting to learn about what he loves, so I'm glad he's found people that think it's cool. It makes him happy.

I'm getting really excited for this little girl to come. Her room is going to be soooo flippin' cute. & a couple of our Aunts are making some nice things for baby girl. The baby shower is September 1st, (see sneak peak of invitation at left) & I just cannot wait. My mom gets here on the 29th of August & I'm sure she'll help me out with things, which will be nice. My dad doesn't get to come anymore because he's having surgery tomorrow, but hopefully he'll be able to come at Christmas time to meet his newest granddaughter! She's number 7 for them.

Gabe & I are really starting to buckle down & figure out a name. It's hard! He doesn't like my favourite name at all, so that's disappointing. But we have 4 names on our list right now. So hopefully we'll figure out our favourite. But we're not going to tell, because if she comes out & that name doesn't fit her, we're going to have back up names. Gabe has also decided that he wants me to to start measuring my belly so he can keep track of when I grow. Which the last few days has been about half an inch everyday. Weird. But I think it's cute that he wants to keep track. 

Oh. & someone asked me at Walmart how far along I am the other day. That's the first time that's happened! I think that means I'm finally looking pregnant rather than like I'm eating too many no bake cookies. Which is nice. =] Mmm. No bakes.

Here's this thing.

How far along? 23+2 weeks.

How big around? 35.25 inches on Saturday (which was the 23 week mark).

Total weight gain/loss: Approximately 10lbs. Probably a little more. Haven't weighed myself in about a week. But since my morning sickness came back, I think weight gain has slowed down.

Maternity Clothes: Just pants. But I need tops. My belly is going to start stretching my shirts soon.

Sleep: Complete crap.

Best moment this week: Getting the baby shower invitations! They're so cute!!! Oh! & one of my very best friends moved down here & now lives exactly 30 minutes away from me!

Miss Anything? Being able to fall asleep when I'm tired.

Movement: Definitely.

Food cravings: Grapes & milk.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Almost everything.

Have you started to show yet: Yes. 

Labor Signs: Haven't had contractions in about a week. Woo!

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: I'd say happy. But I have my bad mood moments. & I'm horribly emotional. Yesterday I asked Gabe for a hug & he jokingly said no. I teared up on the spot. It was horribly embarrassing. haha

Looking forward to: Gabe getting all of his junk out of baby girl's room so we can put her dresser in there.

That is all.

- Alexa