Who stays up past 7PM anyways?

I miss coffee....and judging by my bedtime track record last week, I could use it. The plus side is that I don't feel as though my days cannot go on without it- but boy I miss sipping on that first thing in the morning and just feeling AWAKE by noon. Our sweet little baby, who is now the size of a small apple, is so worth giving up my delicious 12 ounce cup of black coffee every day. Seriously though, the other night I fell asleep at 7PM! I played it off like I was just napping, but I was only up for about 45 minutes after my "nap" before I went to bed for the evening. Luckily, Lance has been pretty tired lately as well because he has had early days that are a little more strenuous, so he doesn't mind going to bed a little earlier :) I really think that I am slightly narcoleptic, I can sleep anywhere, anytime, no matter how loud the surroundings are. It's lovely haha.

Hello sweet baby! I can see you a little more this week!

All last week I just kept saying "I cannot wait to feel pregnant" or "why am I not showing yet?" I know that when I hit 20 weeks on I'm going to want to sucker punch my 14 week self for wanting to be that big. But I haven't seen our little one since it was a tiny blueberry on a screen- so it's the only way that I feel I know that things are cooking in there. The first and beginning of the second trimester can be hard, I don't know if other first time mamas have felt the same way, but just incase there are other mamas out there reading this who have been in this spot, I'll share my experience. 

The first trimester I was pretty nauseous. I had a routine of a lot of water, light foods; toast, plain proteins, and potatoes and I could only eat in small portions of each. Even if I stuck to that routine religiously, I still would constantly feel nauseous in one way or another. At my 11 week check up, I found that I had actually lost 7lbs. 

Fast forward to the beginning of my second trimester and the fog lifts! It's like magic. I have energy again and I can eat normal foods (for the most part- some foods still set me off). But I sit there and rub my belly, like a magic lamp, hoping that if I wish really hard, a tiny bump will pop out. While I can feel small changes going on, I'm walking the line of "did she just eat a little of everything from taco bell or is she pregnant?" Reality: I most likely did eat a little bit of everything from taco bell and I am in fact pregnant. Take that imaginary bystanders. 

Moral of this long story, I'm so excited to start feeling more progress of this little, beautiful life that we have created. I guess I can be a little impatient and I need to enjoy this time. I'm still able to sleep comfortably for the most part, I'm not waddling when I walk, and I haven't had to pee too often in the middle of the night. Therefore, I will continue to embrace my pseudo narcolepsy and my appetite of a 7 foot, 300 pound, linebacker :) 

The Reality of Second Breakfast..

I'm 13 weeks as of Sunday and last week, my entire life was centered around food. Let me lay it out for you:

• Wake up at 6am- drink a crap ton of water-proceed to get ready for the day
• Eat breakfast at 6:30am- cereal, or toast, or bacon, or eggs, sometimes all of those things at once. 
• In the car driving to work by 7:15 and by 7:30- You bet yourself I've opened up my granola bar and it's getting me through my drive
• Arrive at work by 8:00- by 10:00 all fruit in my lunch has been consumed (does this make it 3rd breakfast?)
• By 12:30 (actual lunch time) I've eaten my sandwich- let's be honest- sandwich(s) and another granola bar
• And I'm tided over until dinner by assorted trail mixes/peanuts/etc.

You get my point. I'm ALWAYS EATING. But I haven't gotten headaches or any nausea since this trend...so that's wonderful!

Still no bump that is noticeable to others. I can definitely feel something there. Normally when I sit down in skirts my tummy doesn't touch my legs....I can feel it poking out a little more these days :) It makes me so happy! Only two more weeks until we hopefully get another ultrasound and can see the little cutie pie in there. I get more and more excited every time I think about it :)

Bye, Bye Headaches, Hello Heartbeat!

It is very possible that the wittle bitty bump I'm seeing is from the pan of brownies I ate over the weekend...but for now I'll say "hello tiny baby :)"

Last week was....amazing. We had our 11 week appointment and we were able to hear the heartbeat! Since Lance had just started his internship he wasn't able to get the time off, since this one was in Corvallis, but my mom went with me and she loved the experience. We were able to record it so that Lance could experience the magic as well :) it took her a little bit to find little baby Armstrong's heartbeat but she finally did and it is music to your ears. It's amazing how fast it beats! 160 BPM...must mean lil jelly is in there workin on it's fitness. Oh it was wonderful. So wonderful :) I'm about 1000X more sappy than I usually am- which is saying a lot because anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a cheesey, sappy, individual haha. Just today a commercial came on for "Planes. Fire Rescue" and I started to get teary eyed thinking about Lance sitting with our little bean and watching kids movies. Yeahhhh. Cheesey ball of sappy-ness. Thankfully Mr. Armstrong understands :)

My energy level has been incredibly high, well...higher than in prior weeks. I mean, waking up without a headache and with motivation to do my hair 3 days out of 5? I'd say that's a winning week. Well, I don't like washing my hair everyday, therefore on the days I don't wash it- I'm forced to do something with it- I suppose you can call that the source of my motivation. I mean really though, I managed to stay up until 9:30 or 10:00 every night without a fight! Some wise women in my life have told me "sleep now while you can!" And this 4th of July weekend, I listened to them and have napped every single day. Heavennnn. I'm not nearly as food sensitive as I was in previous weeks. It is, however, CRUCIAL that I eat before I get hungry. Otherwise- headache, sweats, "hangry mode", stomachache for the next hour. While this isn't too different from what I would experience prior to pregnancy, the symptoms are magnified extensively.

Luckily, food was not in shortage at our 4th of July BBQ with our friends this weekend. I do not remember the last time that I ate that much. So. Much. Good. Food. And we were lucky to have amazing company. I've said it a million times, but we've got some great friends up here, that's for sure!

Our layout

Family Picture :)

Sage, sitting pretty for food. Our pretty girl

This one makes me laugh every time.

In other big news, we have found an apartment to move into in August in Tualatin. It's a two bedroom, two bathroom little bungalow that I am so excited to start nesting in. We signed the lease on Saturday and I'm so excited to get in there. 

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?