What's Up Headaches? How you doin'?

Week 11- The week of headaches. You know the headaches you get when you've starred at a computer screen for too long? Imagine that multiplied by 8000. On the plus side- my morning sickness has subsided for the most part! I can eat most foods now without feeling like the child is running a marathon in my stomach with soccer cleats on. Yay!
Still no belly quite yet. The little bug is the length of a lime and no longer has webbed fingers or toes. Apparently it looks like a tiny, two inch long, human!

Let's see, what else is happening in the world of the Armstrongs. Well Lance has started his internship with Marquis and we are all moved into the basement apartment at my grandparents. It has been absolute heaven for Sage. She has 2 acres to romp around on and 3 dogs to play with every single day, all day. Grandpa has been such a blessing to us. He watches Sage every day while we're at work and it is a huge relief. 

Also, she's been SUPER cuddly lately, it's awesome. She'll snuggle up to my tummy any chance she gets. Or I'll force the cuddling if necessary :)

Week 10

Baby Armstrong is the size of a prune now! It's grown a half an inch since this time last week. The little booger can do somersaults now, so that's neat. This week was pretty good as far as sickness goes. 5 out of the 7 days I didn't feel like a walking, slowly functioning zombie, so that's good. Nausea is getting better- still hits every now and again- without any signs that it's coming on, just BOOM. I'm getting headaches like a mad woman. I hate taking medications, I always have. I've been trying to utilize peppermint oil to relax the muscles around my head and do some yoga- both have been pretty effective, except for Friday. Ohhh Friday. I popped Tums and tylenol like it was jooooob (all within safe ranges, mind you.) All in all, things haven't changed a whole lot body wise, I can feel a little belly pop but nothing that is really noticeable.

The baby did get a new respect for mama's dance moves last night at our friend's wedding. We were bustin' moves left and right. We are so thankful to have met some pretty amazing friends up here in Portland.

Week 9

Well, I'm officially 9 weeks. According to my "What to Expect" app, baby Armstrong is the size of a green olive. It also states, and I quote, "Chances are you've never felt so tired in your life." Well, "What to Expect" app You are SPOT on. Apparently, little worker bees in my body are constructing a placenta and that makes me feel like I went on an all night bender for three days straight. Seriously, feeling hung over when you have only drank water and chocked down dry toast for the past week is not cool. On the plus side, the nausea has subsided slightly. I'm able to eat small amounts of dry toast or cereal in the morning. I cannot stray from that regimen, or rather- I'm afraid to stray :) Sweets are still a real struggle for me.

Oreos constantly sound good, but the feeling I get after eating sweets isn't really worth it. Our 11 week appointment is a couple weeks out. I'm getting so anxious to hear the babies heart beat. The first trimester is rough in that you have confirmed by a doctor that you're pregnant- you've seen it on the screen....but now, you just feel tired, hungry, nauseous, bloated, and hungry, and tired for what seems like no reason. I'm excited to start showing to say the least.

What else is happening in the Armstrong world? Well Mr. Armstrong just graduated from OSU! He has an internship lined up with Marquis starting this summer. We are one step closer to being, somewhat, settled! This means that my commuting is going to be done! Hallelujah! 

We're so unbelievably proud of him! It was a hard road and now we're onto some new and exciting chapters of our lives!

Week 8

Lance's aunt and uncle on his dad's side are fraternal twins so women who procreate with Armstrongs or who are from the Armstrong family are considered "ticking time bombs" for twins. It's only a matter of time until one of us gets two bundles of joy rather than one. So it has been a long standing joke on which one of us lucky little boogers it's going to be. Jaime and Lindsey are out of the woods since they're finished having kids....so now it's down to Jenny and I. We came | this close | to having twins and it would of been my doing! WOAH! At our first ultrasound I saw two little blobs on the screen and my OBGYN says "oh wow, there are two eggs in there- but I only see one baby." How crazy is that!? I'll repeat though, we only have one little bun in the oven, you can kind of tell from this ultrasound that there were two eggs though. The one with the tiny blob is holding our little one :)

Not much has changed as far as cravings go. I'm able to eat salad now which is very good. Sweets are still a real struggle with me. Anything too sugary is just no bueno. I guess that's a good thing, though. 

I'm still incredibly tired. I woke up today around 9:00 and by 11:00 was ready for a nap. I find that if I push through and go for a walk that I usually have a little more energy- but still, constantly tired. 

This weekend has been better as far as constant nausea after eating, it's more induced by sweets or overly greasy items. Apparently our baby is a health freak- it's hard to take food orders from a kid the size of a raspberry, but this little booger already knows how to get it's way.

I'm starting to feel a slight difference in how my clothes fit, a little more snug around the waist- according to my pregnancy book that's normal...so now I guess I can just start walk around rubbing my belly saying "Oh, yes, it's the baby weight, not that enormous steak and hearty helping of mashed potatoes I just ate...."

It's definitely hard waiting to start showing because right now I just feel tired, bloated, occasionally nauseous, and STARVING all at once. I'll leave you today with my awkward 8 week belly picture. What? you can't see the tiny raspberry that's in there? 

Armstrong: Party of 3

One Thursday night, May 15th to be exact, I drove home from Portland. I had been wondering what was delaying Mother Nature this month and had a brief thought of "could it be?...no, no way. right?" So we decided to take a test just in case. As we stood in the hallway chatting about our day Lance's eyes slowly drifted to the test sitting on the bathroom counter and his eyes bugged out of his head like a cartoon character. My response: "Ha ha, very funny" His response: "I'm not joking" We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we panicked, we celebrated, and eventually (because I'm inpatient) we told our wonderful family members. That's right, Lance and I are expecting our first little bundle of joy this January! While our little jelly bean will be here a couple years earlier than anticipated, we are so excited for this new and exciting chapter in our life.

The first week after we found out, I both thought I was going to burst with this news and also felt rather tired, a lot. As the weeks have gone by I have slowly popped up some of the other "fondly" spoke of symptoms. They are as follows:

Food aversions:
Salad- I don't know what it is about it, but the sight, smell, and taste of it simply throws me into a fit of gags. This one does not make any sense to me. I love salad, a lot! But the mere sight in the past two weeks has been nauseating.
Sweets- You're killin me already, kid! I love chocolate and I love brownies. 5 minutes after eating any type of dessert = extreeeeeeme nausea. Not to say that I wouldn't mind these things...it's just not worth it- at all.

Food cravings: Meat, potatoes and rice. Who am I, Ron Swanson!?! I enjoy cooked veggies and fruit as well- but boy I would kill for a Porterhouse for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I can tell already that I'm going to miss coffee, a lot. Lance had some for breakfast this morning and I stood over his cup, now cold, and just sniffed for a long time. (It could be a long 8 more months)

Our first appointment:
My OB is Dr. Morcos at the Corvallis Clinic. With us moving up North in the next month, I'm going to have to find someone up there, but I really wanted my first appointment to be with her. We got to see the heartbeat and it magically made it all feel a little more real. I'm so thankful that Lance was able to be there- He's quite the support system, Me and little jelly bean here are pretty darn lucky.