Pregnancy Week 17

Pregnancy Highlights:
Date: May 31, 2011
How Far Along: 17 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: We are still sitting at about -5 so far for the weight gain.
Maternity Clothes: So far I'm just sticking to cotton summer dresses and that is working great! :)
Best Moment this week: Getting to see my cousin Rachel! She is finally home from Afghanistan. On Friday night we met the family at Joe's for pizza: Aunt Ronda, Uncle Andy, Grandma Hazel, Uncle Russell (Grandma's brother), Aunt Kay, Cousin Anna from NC. Rachel, Clyde and Kylie Rae met us there. OMG I cried so much! It was so wonderful seeing her. Later we went back over to my Uncle and Aunt's to hang out. It was so great for all of us to be together with Rachel home and just sit and talk :)
Saturday was the big Pig Pickin' to welcome Rachel home properly. As promised here are some pictures from the shindig:
This is the gorgeous pig that we feasted upon.

My dad was determined to get someone to eat pig's feet.
No Pig Pickin' is complete without some bluegrass......or partakin' in a little bit of shine!
Four generations of Bradshaws :)
Grandma Hazel rode on a motorcycle!
Gender: We'll find out in 4 more weeks! So far boy is by far the favorite prediction, with Aunt Pam and Aunt Kay being the lone girl votes.
Movement: Little ones here and there :) Can't wait until they are much easier to discern.
Food Craving: sweet treats :)
What I miss: being able to be around alcohol without someone FREAKIN' out thinking that I will also partake...please I'm responsible. I was told on multiple occasions that I should not drink, thank you what did I do my first 17 weeks of pregnancy without you here? I also miss not having people tell me what I should name my child in all seriousness. Now my cousin Gavin and my Sister have "picked out" hilarious names for the baby and I normally share these hilarious stories...have I not on here? Opps. Okay Sister wants the baby to be named Bartholomew and Gavin wants the babe to be Thomas Jefferson Bradshaw Zelman. He went all out with his name choice. So I'm telling this story to the family and my cousin Anna gets all serious and goes you should really consider Thomas that's my Daddy's name. Yes and that is what YOU named YOUR child. Why would I want to name my child after your father??? Awkward.
What I am looking forward to: A three day work week. :) A fun weekend at home with more friends this weekend! :)
Symptoms: I'm experiencing my own personal summer...awesome...NOT!

And here we are at week 17: Rachel, Me and the littlest Jookiebean in my belly :)

And the rat race never ends....

I feel like we have just been busy busy busy and we don't even have the baby yet! Ah! But for as long as I can remember my family has always packed our weekends as full as we can get them to make the most out of life. Well as you can tell from my belated posts lately we have def been making the most out of our life and we will continue. No rest for the wary. This weekend we will be making the gruesome (until you have experienced NOVA traffic on a holiday weekend you just don't understand) trek home to Carrsville. There is a HUGE celebration planned to officially welcome Rachel back home and I am sooooooooooooooooooooo excited to see her! :) Saturday we'll be at my Aunt and Uncle's for a pig pickin' celebration. Now I reckon I need to explain because I've learned since living up in NOVA that not everyone is exposed to a pig pickin' growing up. Its just second nature to me. So a pig pickin' is a FABULOUS social event that normally start in late spring and continue through the summer (normally early summer otherwise it just gets too dang hot). Now these little shindigs are called a pig pickin' because that is what you are literally doing you are pickin' off the fat old hog that has been sitting on somebody's smoker/cooker/grill all day cookin'. It is marvelous! Now I don't have a picture of any of the pig pickins that I have attended in my life with me here so I did a little googling and came across this gem.



Now you can see what I'm talking about! :) It is glorious. One of my most favorite accessories at a pig pickin' is a pig pickin' cake...HELLO HEAVEN! Now you don't have to be at a pig pickin' to enjoy a pig pickin' cake, just celebrating the fabulous Memorial Day Weekend will do. So if you fancy trying something new google Paula Deen's Pig Pickin' Cake recipe (she's from the south and she knows what shes talking about when it comes to how southerners do food!)

I got side tracked on food...whew that happens much more often lately. Next weekend the fun does not stop, Bill, Sara (carrying Baby Boy Scott) and Ali will be visiting us for the weekend. Lots of fun adventures with them in DC! :) Of course we'll have to make a stop at Georgetown Cupcakes :) Yummmm!

The following two weeks staring June 10-June 24 will be our little Babymoon, two weeks free of work! ha! Our vacation starts with a trip to the Jersey Shore with the Zelmans. I'm super excited because I've never been to the Jersey Shore. We'll be staying near Wildwood so there is lots of fun stuff to explore. Also a day trip to AC is in the works. We'll leave the family on Thursday and high tail it back to NOVA for the night only to wake up Friday morning and drive down to Roanoke Rapids, NC for wedding festivities!!! My cousin Megan is getting married and I am a bridesmaid. This is the dress that I had to get a very large size to accommodate the not yet present baby bump. Since the wedding is in four weeks I'm getting a little nervous about all my parts fitting nicely. I gave the dress a little try yesterday and we still have a little room to grow...shew! Friday will be all the rehearsal festivities followed by the wedding on Saturday. The fun doesn't stop then, we drive out to OBX for another beach week this time with the Bradshaw Clan.

I'm extremely excited for two whole weeks at the beach....not that excited about bathing suits. So I made a little trip to Target to scope out some suits and I came away with three and some cute cover ups that should fit me even with Baby Z starting to really show. Here's what I came away with:


This is actually two pieces. I got the top, polka dot of course. And a solid black bottom.

This is a one piece, though i thought it was just the two piece top at the store. Boy was I surprised when I got home! Ha! But it works for what I have to work with at the beach this year.

I'm pretty sure I haven't worn a one piece since...yeah it's been that long.

And once we are back home after our little babymoon we will have our appointment to find out if we're having a little Matt or a little Becca! :) So lots of fun updates to look forward to, now they may be a little belated but I promise they will be posted...eventually! ;)

Predictions

Things I'm not looking forward to as a dad:

1) Changing diapers - not sure what it is.  The baby can spit up on me all day but the thought of what that baby's colon is going to produce gives me anxiety.

2) Loss of sleep - this may surprise people, but I am not a pleasant person when I don't get my 11 1/2 hours

3) Being forced to be friendly and/or tolerant of my kids' friends' parents - the older I get, the less and less I have use for new friends, especially forced ones with formalities and small talk and yes, I am a football fan, and oh, Peyton Manning?  Oh, you're a huge fan of him huh?  Well, that's great I'll just sit here and smile and nod my head and RESIST THE URGE TO TELL MY KID YOUR SON IS CARRYING A ZOMBIE VIRUS AND MUST BE AVOIDED

4) Once they get old enough to repeat things, no more Howard Stern, Dr. Dre or The Misfits for dad in the vehicle for a while.

5) Baby-proofing the house - I am guaranteed to destroy at least 40% of it, either accidentally or out of rage.

Things I am looking forward to as a dad:

1) Having the sudden innate ability to lift and/or fix anything.

2) The first few months when I can essentially use the baby as a comedy prop, especially in public.

3) Making sure they have good taste in music, movies and TV shows ("Time for another Looney Tunes marathon with dad!... what?  Dora the Explorer?  There's no such thing... well, your Spanish-speaking friends are little liars then!")

4) Baby Z's first trip to the zoo, beach, a baseball game, Disney World, etc.

5) Having another person in my house who will unconditionally love me and be excited every time they see me and always feeling the same way about them.  Until they turn 12 or so.  Then things might get tricky.

Blog Update

Attention all readers I have the most fabulous wonderful greatest news!!! Matt the Bear will be joining in the blog fun. Y'all are in for a real treat and I'm so excited to get his view on little Baby Z!!! :) Yay for blog fun!!!!

So for all future posts make sure you check to see who the little update is from! :) Woo hoo!

Pregnancy Week 16

Pregnancy Highlights: Date: May 24, 2011

How Far Along: 16 Weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: We are still sitting at about -5 so far for the weight gain.

Maternity Clothes: I'm a lazy bum and need to get some new clothes...that fit :P
Best Moment this week: Kateland is visiting with us! :) Saturday night we had a girls night over at Megan and Andrea's which was fabulous. We followed it up with lunch at Pot Belly's and a double movie day on Sunday! :) Bridesmaids = utterly hilarious Sunday night we had a birthday celebration for Matt's dad which was a lot of fun.

Gender: We'll find out in 5 more weeks!! AH!

Movement:It's possible but I'm not 100% I know what's going on
Food Craving: sweet treats :)
What I miss: a nice glass of wine

What I am looking forward to: Pig Pickin' in Carrsville for Rachel's homecoming!
Symptoms: achy joints (I feel like an old lady)

And here we are at week 16

Week 15

Mama is a slacker :( Here is a very belated updated from Week 15 :)

Pregnancy Highlights:
Date: May 23, 2011 (a week late)
How Far Along: 15 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: We are still sitting at about -5 so far for the weight gain.
Maternity Clothes: I've just been buying comfy summer dresses

Best Moment this week: We had a wonderful four day weekend in Ohio for a wedding celebration and family time! :) Our fabulous trip started on Thursday, side note I do not enjoy the PA Turnpike normally but its a bigillion times worse now that I'm pregnant and I need to pee more :( We made it into town just in time for the rain...woo hooo! The rehersal for Scott and Erica's wedding was gorgeous and we had a nice time at the rehersal dinner. For the Big Day, all the boys were meeting in our room at 11AM dressed and ready to impress...cue a very cranky dressed up bear :( Poor dear! I left them to the photographer and went to have a mani and pedi :) Cue the second torrential down pour of the weekend. Torrential Down Pour -2 Rebecca-0

Met up with my handsome husband at the church and I got a nice little escort to my seat :) Gorgeous wedding and Erica looked fabulous! After the wedding there was a bit of time between the ceremony and reception so I headed back to the hotel for a bit. Torrential Down Pour-3 Rebecca-0 The reception was wonderful and we had a blast.

The rest of the weekend we spent catching up with all the Ohio Family! :) It was fabulous!
Another great highlight of Week 15 was getting to see Sister. She was in Arlington for the week so I drove out and we had a little adventure together :)
Gender: I cannot wait to find out!!
Movement:I'm not sure what is going on lately....

Food Craving: sweet treats :)
What I miss: My boobs fitting into my clothes... I mean seriously come on!:(

Sleep: it's been pretty decent lately

What I am looking forward to: Kateland's visit :)

Symptoms: lower back pain :(

Check Ups

So we had our 14 week check up today! We are measuring along quite nicely! Baby Z's little heart was going at 150 bpm this visit. :) Yay! Our next visit will be in 4 weeks when Mama will have to give more blood :( BOO! Then we'll schedule our GENDER sono 2 weeks after, unfortunately Team Z will be on vacay to the OBX with the Bradshaw Clan so we won't officially find out until 7 weeks from TODAY! OMG! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gender predicitions

In the next month or so we'll be able to find out what gender Baby Z is :) Thought it would be fun to have a little poll to get your thoughts on what gender our little bear cub will be :) Just vote by selecting boy or girl on the right --->

Also I've compiled a list of gender predictors ranging from the Chinese Gender chart to old wives tales and color coded for your benefit. (Thanks H for the fabulous idea!)


Chinese Gender Chart:
Age of the mother (28) and month of conception (January).

Baby's Heart Rate:
The theory states that if your baby's heart rate was 140 beats per minute and above, you would be having a girl. If the heart rate was under 140 beats per minute, then you would be having a boy.

Shape of Belly:
If you are carrying high with a big, round belly, you are having a girl. If you are carrying low with a smaller belly that sticks straight out, it’s a boy. Too early to really know one way or the other.

Shape of Mom’s Face:
When your face gets fuller and rounder when pregnant, it means you’re going to have a girl. If your face is long and narrow, it’s a boy.

Key Test:
This test involves a key. If you pick up a key at the top (the roundest part), you are going to have a boy. If you pick up the key at the bottom (smallest part), you are going to have a girl. If you happen to grab the key in the middle, congrats, it’s twins! I'm pretty sure at this point I would know if we were having twins....

Mayan Tale:
The Mayan tale adds the mothers age at conception and the year of conception. If the result is a even number then mom is having a girl. If the result is an odd number then a boy is on the way!

Acne:
If you have acne while pregnant, it’s a girl. It’s thought that acne during pregnancy is caused by the extra hormones.

Cravings:
People believe that if you are craving salty foods while pregnant, you can count on having a boy. If you crave sweets, fruit, and orange juice, you are having a little girl. This is a toss up. I go back and forth way too much.

History of Parent’s Kids:
You can find out the sex by going off of your parent’s kids and the order. If you are the first born, you will have what your mother had but starting with her second child. If you are the middle child, you will have what she had, but starting with the third child. If you are the last child, you will have what your mother had in the exact order.

Legs:
If your legs get really big, you’re having a boy. If your legs stay in shape and lean, it’s a girl. Too close to call at this point. I'm hoping they don't get bigger!

Moodiness and a Little Pecker:
If you are really moody, you are having a girl since you have another extra girl hormones in you. Your pregnancy will make you smile and be more happy if you are having a boy because there’s a little penis inside you. Well my new emotion is ANGER.

Bread:
If you eat the ends of bread, it’s a boy. If you eat the middle of the loaf, it’s a girl.

Mom’s Beauty:
Basically you are having a girl if your beauty disappears during pregnancy. It is said that the girl “steals” the mother’s beauty. If you think that pregnancy has never made you look more beautiful, you might just be having a little boy. Matt says I'm beautiful! :)

Dream of Sex of Baby:
If you have dreams that you are having a boy, you will have a girl. If you dream about having a girl, it will be a boy. Dreams show the opposite of what you are having.

Clumsy vs. Graceful:
If the pregnant woman is graceful throughout her pregnancy, she’s having a girl. If she becomes clumsy, she’s having a boy. I have the bruises to prove it :(

Side You Most Rest On:
If a pregnant woman prefers to lay on her left side, she’s having a boy. If she prefers resting on her right side, she’s having a girl.

Hands:
When the pregnant woman is asked to show her hands, it’s a boy if she keeps her palms down and a girl if she shows her palms up.

Dad’s Weight Gain:
If the dad-to-be gains weight while you are pregnant, it’s a girl. If he doesn’t gain weight, you’re having a boy.

What Do You Think?:
71% of the time, the mom-to-be knows what she is having.

Morning Sickness:
If you had a smooth pregnancy with no morning sickness, it’s a boy. If you were sick or felt really nauseous during your pregnancy, count on a girl.

Feet:
Are your feet colder now that you are pregnant? If so, you just might be having a boy. If your feet have stayed the same before pregnancy and during, you’re having a little girl.

Hair on Legs:
If the hair on your legs has been growing at record speeds, you might be having a boy.

Hands are Dry:
If your hands are constantly dry, it’s a boy.

Urine:
What color is your pee? If it is bright yellow, you will have a little boy. If your urine is a dull yellow, plan on a girl.

Nose:
Do you feel like your nose is growing and getting wider? If so, you might be having a boy. Ugh hence the bloody nose :(

Headaches:
If you are having headaches, you might be carrying a boy.

Baby Names:
It is said that when you can only think of specific names for a boy or a girl, you will have that particularly baby.

Pregnancy Week 14

Well hello there Second Trimester so very happy to see you! :)
Pregnancy Highlights:
Date: May 10, 2011
How Far Along: 14 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I gained 3 pounds this week!Maternity Clothes: I need to stop being lazy and start investing in something...
Best Moment this week: Family trip to PA to celebrate our one year anniversary! :) We had an AMAZING weekend! Saturday we spent walking around and looking at all the historic stuff which was a blast.

Matt with the Liberty Bell :)


Me with James Madison, Father of the Constitution, reppin' the big VA! :) PS who knew he was so short?!? PS you can see a bit of a baby bump forming in this pic


Matt drinking Alexander Hamilton's federalist brew at City Tavern.

We also made a stop at Franklin Fountain and got some AMAZING homemade icecream! :D Baby Z loved it! On Sunday we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market before heading out and grabbed a cone from Bassest's. President Obama got ice cream from them too! :) The last stop before we headed back home was the Philadelphia Museum of Art, you know the where Rocky was filmed running up the steps!

Bear gazing at Warhol :)

Gender: I cannot wait to find out!!
Movement: Nope still a little too early
Food Craving: ICE CREAM
What I miss: Not getting winded climbing up the stairs
Sleep: seriously nightmares? ugh!
What I am looking forward to: Our week 14 appointment tomorrow! Scott and Erica's wedding, getting to see all our Ohio Family this weekend! :)
Symptoms: lower back pain :(

And now the moment we have all been waiting for...Belly pics! Note: Please excuse my clothes and my face, I attribute them all to extreme tiredness from walking around in Philly all weekend. :)

Pregnancy Week 13

Pregnancy Highlights:
Date: May 10, 2011 (a week late..opps)
How Far Along: 13 Weeks
Total Weight Gain/Loss: I lost two more pounds. Total weight loss of 10 pound in the first trimester :) Way to eat healthy for that baby!
Maternity Clothes: Not yet...but I have had to get larger size shirts and some stretchy dresses to accomodate the gals and the shift in weight to my mid section.
Best Moment this week: Baby Z' first Road Trip with Aunt Sister to Charlotte. We were sad to be away from Daddy for so long, but had an amazing weekend.

In almost all the pictures that Malissa took of me from the weekend I'm eating...awesome!


We drove down Friday and spent the night in Fort Mill with our cousin Gavin. :) So good getting to spend some QT with him.


The bridal party ready to go out in Charlotte for my cousin Meg's bach party.


Double desserts: One for me and one for Baby Z.


Baby Z's first bar experience :)

Gender: We don't know yet..a few more weeks and we will! :D
Movement: Nope still a little too early
Food Craving: waffles
What I miss: cute dress skirts and peep toe pumps for the spring :)
Sleep: I was a straight baller two nights in a row. 2:30 AM!!! Woo hooo! However I got home sunday at 8:00PM ate supper and was in bed by 8:30 plum tuckered out!
What I am looking forward to: Anniversary weekend with the Hubby :)
Symptoms: This is super gross and I'm sorry in advance, bloody nose. :(

I'm a slacker

Well my weekend in Charlotte took a toll on my ability to function...apparently. I owe details from Baby Z's first bar trip and road trip with Aunt Sister :) I also owe a Week 13 post. Unfortunately I've been really busy this week with work AND PACKING for our anniversary weekend! :) So next week I'll have lots of catch up posts I promise...and finally some pics of the belly!