29 Weeks- Chicago!

Babymoon in Chicago!

 How far along? 29 weeks.

Total weight gain? 13 pounds. 

Maternity clothes? Not yet.

Sleep? Dr. Gallagher suggested I sleep with a pillow between my knees to help with back pain, and it WORKS!!! Apparently I have been sleeping in the totally wrong position for my back, and somehow this forces me into the right position. I wake up a few more times, but it is totally worth it to have no back pain! Ahhhhhhh.

Best moment this week? Hearing my doctor say everything looks "perfect" and... Our Chicago trip!! We had wanted to get away for a weekend for a little "babymoon," but didn't know if it would be able to happen living on a budget and with Andrew's crazy schedule getting even crazier this week. But some things came together, and we were so thankful to get away! I have wanted to go to Chicago for years, and Andrew had been several times. He was such a good sport doing all the touristy things with me. :) Our favorite things were seeing Beauty and the Beast at Navy Pier's Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the architecture boat tour through downtown. 

I mean, how can you not just love him??

View from the architecture boat tour

Beauty and the Beast

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

Realllllly excited about the Lego Store. :)

Hard Rock Hotel

The Bean at Millennium Park... so sad it was pouring down rain when we were there. 

The Hershey's Store on Magnificent Mile... Yum!

Miss anything? The usual. 

Movement? He is SUCH a wiggler. Everything I'm reading says he should be getting pretty cramped in there...

Food cravings? I somehow forgot to get pineapple at the grocery store this week, so I filled up on blueberries, peaches, and strawberries... But it wasn't the same.

Anything making you queasy or sick? No.

Symptoms? Feeling pretty good!

Have you started to show yet? Strangers have started making comments in the last few weeks, so I know I am DEFINITELY looking pregnant! 

Labor signs? No.

Belly button in or out? It's in, but the skin right over my belly button sticks out a little now- and you can see it through my tight shirts sometime. Weird! 

Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy!

Name possibilities? We talk about little Grahammers all the time now! 

Looking forward to? Hitting the 30 week mark! It seems like such a big milestone. 

28 Weeks- 3rd Trimester!

28 Weeks

 How far along? 28 weeks (7 months). Before I got pregnant, I hated calculating the weeks when someone told me how far along they were. But every book, website, doctor, etc, counts it this way, so it's hard not to. I'm now officially in my 3rd trimester. Because of the weird way they count pregnancies in 40 weeks, there are some variations in sources on when each trimester starts. Anyway, by all sources I'm in the home stretch now! Yay!

Total weight gain? 12 pounds. For everyone concerned I'm not gaining weight fast enough, in my last appointment, my doctor said my belly is about to "take off". :)

Maternity clothes? No, but I did have to use the rubber band trick several times this week (to wear my normal pants/ shorts unbuttoned but held up by a rubber band). And my sister-in-law Leslie gave me some unbelievably comfy black yoga pants from Target that I just might live in until Graham comes. They.are.awesome.

Sleep? Sleep is becoming a little more uncomfortable. I wake up more times a night now, needing to go to the bathroom or just not able to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. My back hurts consistently now at night. Maybe I'm sleeping in the wrong position or my back is just tired after a day of carrying around this extra weight??

Best moment this week? Hmmmm I'm not sure, but I'll tell you what was not the best moment this week... 

Yep. In a mild storm, a huge tree in our backyard was blown over, taking down the power cords from the telephone pole with it from one end and our electrical box attached to our house from the other end. We are so, so thankful God allowed it to fall directly between our house and garage, so no buildings were damaged, but it has been many hours of phone calls and waiting on the power company, electrician, insurance company, etc, etc. And my hubby has been busy chopping up the tree and trying to get our backyard normal again. Oh, the joys of being homeowners.

Miss anything? Being able to bend over easily. This tummy just gets in the way! 

Movement? All.the.time. I had to stop walking in Target yesterday because he was being so aggressive. I keep telling Andrew that little Graham is already living up to his name of being war-like. :)

Food cravings? I'll give you one guess. You won't need two.

Anything making you queasy or sick? No.

Symptoms? I think just nighttime backaches and restless legs.

Have you started to show yet? My belly is gaining momentum every day! 

Labor signs? No.

Belly button in or out? It's in, but not for long. Still making its journey out...

Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy but getting uncomfortable enough I already just want him out. I keep reading these things about how his lungs are fully developed and he could survive on his own now, so why am I here?? Ha. I want him to cook as long as he needs to in my little oven, but still... 

Name possibilities? Graham is becoming more and more normal to say. :)

Looking forward to? Getting our house back to normal!! It is basically a complete disaster. For those of you wondering about the nursery progress, here's what it looks like currently: 

It is basically a storage unit of our office, guest bedroom, and baby room. I couldn't even get inside it to take this picture, because our hallway is just as bad. :) My handyman hubby has been hard at work rewiring our house (it had the old knob and tube wiring) one room at a time, between work and grad school. So our office/ guest room has now been rewired, painted, outlets installed on every wall (a luxury for our 1917 house!), and ceiling fan installed. The picture doesn't really do the paint color justice, but I LOVE this gray-blue color. Thanks to the Lurkers' kitchen, it didn't take me months to decide on the precise color. Thanks Amy! Next step is cleaning up this room and moving everything into it so we can paint baby Graham's room! His walls will be a light ish brown, with navy and light blue decorations. Can't wait to get started!!

27 Weeks- My First Baby Showers!!

 The hubs and I celebrated little Graham all weekend!

How far along? 27 weeks.

Total weight gain? 11 pounds. I probably should have gained wayyyy more after a weekend of Mom's home cooking and two showers! Yum.

Maternity clothes? Not yet...

Sleep? Still sleeping well, still having incredibly vivid dreams. I definitely tried to beat up Andrew in my sleep the other day because I thought he was a concentration camp leader. Yikes.   

Best moment this week? Celebrating little Graham through two showers in my hometown! It was so fun to be with family and friends, and everyone is so excited about this baby boy on the way. Andrew and I were blown away by people's generosity and kindness, and our house is now busting with the cutest itty-bitty blue stuff! 

Me, Grandmom, Leslie (my sister-in-law), Mom. Love them all!

Miss anything? Doing tricks at the pool! Apparently back-diving is not something that little Graham enjoys yet. Ouch. I have been so careful in not eating/ drinking anything wrong, but with exercise and normal activities, I still feel pretty, well, normal... Normal enough to do back dives into a pool. Not a good idea as it stretched out my belly in a painful way. He started moving soon after, so I think he's okay... Eek.

Movement? Pretty convinced he is a future Olympian; he moves all the time. He also wads up his little body sometimes on just one side of my stomach, making me really lop-sided. So funny-looking.

Food cravings? Pineapple and most fruit.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope.

Symptoms? Felt pretty good this week. Woke up crying with a leg cramp one night, though. Not sure if that's from pregnancy or not, but it was pretty weird.

Have you started to show yet? Definitely. My belly gets bigger every day! 

Labor signs? No.

Belly button in or out? It's still in... but I'm preparing myself for the inevitable.

Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy and wanting November to hurry up and get here!

Name possibilities? Graham Harrison Buckle got some pretty stinkin cute personalized gifts this past weekend! 

My childhood neighbor Amy painted this awesome canvas for our nursery! I LOVE it!!

Looking forward to? My 28 week check-up next week. So weird how much I love going to the doctor these days. :)

26 Weeks- And his name will be...

26 weeks- Baby B is the size of a cauliflower!!

How far along? 26 weeks.

Total weight gain? Still gained 10 pounds, which is weird because I feel like my belly is growing every day now!!
Exercise? I'm still jogging about once/ week and walking at least three times/ week. I'm really hoping some of this energy will last through the third trimester...

Maternity clothes? Nope... But I couldn't button two of my favorite pairs of shorts the other day. Will probably have to go to the rubber band trick soon. Flowy summer dresses are quickly becoming my best friend. :)

Sleep? Sleep is normal.  

Best moment this week? I love hearing that everything is looking healthy for me and Baby B from my doctor! I got to see his cute little face on the 3D ultrasound, and Dr. Gallagher says everything looks perfect. The New Mom Study ultrasound lady said Baby B has chubby cheeks, and Dr. Gallagher told me last time at my ultrasound there that "he's got a belly!"... I am noticing a trend here. :)

Miss anything? Nothing new.

Movement? Oh boy, does he move!! All the time, sometimes to the point that it's uncomfortable already. Yikes, we still have a long way to go! But I do love it.

Food cravings? As I've been typing, I've put a major dent in a bag of "hint of lime" tortilla chips. Yummmmm. Plus pineapple, of course. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Well I almost passed out when they drew my blood at the New Mom's Study. They had to poke me three times before they could get anything, and then I felt super light-headed and nauseous. Ughhhh. How will I ever give birth??!!

Symptoms? The biggest thing lately has been that I get extremely, uncomfortably full after eating a normal-sized meal, but then am hungry again like an hour or two later. The research suggests that I should be eating 5-6 small meals a day to help with indigestion and heartburn, but that seems so impractical. My back has hurt a little randomly, but it might be from how I'm sleeping. Also, I've been experiencing the "restless legs" syndrome the past few weeks.

Have you started to show yet? Absolutely.

Labor signs? No.

Belly button in or out? Still in but looking pretty weird...

Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? So happy Baby Boy is active and growing!

Name possibilities? Drum roll, please... a name has been decided!! It only took us over a year to get here. :) Graham Harrison Buckle it is! Graham means "war-like," and we really want our son to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9) and fight for things that matter. Harrison is a family name on Andrew's side, to give honor to influential people in his life. Andrew surprised me at dinner the other night, saying that he thought we should name him Graham and that he'd been calling our baby that for the last week in his head anyway. We actually made up a silly, fake baby name (that we would never use) soon after we found out that we were pregnant, so we could identify him as something besides "it" from the beginning. Since we've been calling him this fake name for 6 months, it's actually been kinda weird to switch over to his real name! But I love it!! Little Grahammers, you are so loved!! 

Looking forward to? Our first baby shower is this weekend (actually two of them!), and we can't wait to celebrate with people!!

25 Weeks- Olympics & My Birthday!!

Me and the hubs celebrating my birthday downtown!

How far along? 25 weeks.

Total weight gain/ loss? Gained 10 pounds so far.

Maternity clothes? No... But the other day one of my best friends Andrea sent me a birthday maternity shirt so stinkin cute that it made me want to switch over. :)

Best moment this week? I am kinda obsessed with the Olympics, so watching the Fab Five win gold in women's gymnastics was pretty cool, as well as every other moment... Also my birthday was pretty fun! Loved sharing it all with Baby B. AND Betsy's precious Baby Hank was born!! What a cutie!!

Baby Hank!!

Miss anything? Not being able to partake in fun drinks as we watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies with friends.

Movement? He just moves around all the time now!! My sweet friend Allison got to feel him the other day! I've started to pull up my shirt and watch him move my belly around from the outside lately--it really is like a little alien is trapped in my tummy!! So weird... but I really like it. :)

Food cravings? Pineapple. Fruit, lots of fruit. I want to buy out the whole produce section of the grocery store.

Anything making you queasy or sick? A yummy-looking chicken recipe I'd gotten off Pinterest actually made my stomach turn tonight, so I didn't even try to eat it. Weird.

Have you started to show yet? Ummmm, yes.

Labor signs? No.

Belly button in or out? In. But it has started to look rather funny these past few weeks... It may be making its way out soon. Eek. 

Wedding ring on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy camper.

Name possibilities? We didn't talk about it this week. :)

Looking forward to? My doctor's appointments this week! I don't think I've talked about it on here before, but I am a part of a New Mom Research Group that is investigating how to make first-time pregnancies better. I don't mind helping that out, and we get some cool free stuff-- Wal-Mart gift cards, a carseat, ultrasounds, etc, etc. They also let me find out the gender a month before my doctor would! I have an appointment with them to get a 3D ultrasound and with my normal OBGYN, who I love.

My favorite preggo resources:

• Ap's! These are great daily or weekly updates about what the heck is happening in my body and with little baby B. I like Baby Bump, Happy Pregnancy, I'm Expecting, Baby Center Pregnancy, and What to Expect. 
• Books. I heard "What to Expect When You're Expecting" is like the Bible for pregnancy, and it's true. I bought it the day I found out I was pregnant, and it's helped me navigate since. 
• And of course anyone who is or recently has been pregnant. Such valuable help!!