Bumpdate {9 Weeks}

I am really excited because today my best friend announced that she is pregnant! Of course, I have already known in secret for weeks but it's exciting to finally be able to share it with the world. We are only 7 weeks apart so we will be going through all of the ups and downs of pregnancy and new-mommy-hood together! Although it took Jared and I much longer than I would have originally preferred to get pregnant, I'm so happy that everything ended up working out this way because now I get to enjoy this special time with quite a few of my friends! God's timing really is perfect.

Week 9: October 30 - November 5

Each week I use these fancy chalkboard paint pens (not real chalk) to write on my chalkboard. The only downfall to these pens is that they come in a limited color palate. I wanted to make this week's board Halloween themed, but they don't make an orange chalkboard pen. So instead of giving up on my holiday theme idea, I decided to make my own orange paint. Since these are paint pens, I couldn't mix a bunch of color all at once. I literally had to color a small section with the red pen, then color next to it with the yellow pen, and then take a q-tip and swirl the colors together to make orange. Repeat the entire process until the whole pumpkin was colored in. Oh, why am I so obsessive about my crafts? Lord help me.  

We took a road trip down to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate a very special 1st birthday. (Side note: riding in the car makes me super nauseous right now so the 4 hour drive to South Florida was nothing short of miserable). Towards the end of week 9, you can kind of see what might be a tiny bump starting to emerge. See photo above. I'm really not sure if the bulge in this picture is a pregnancy bump or the excessive amount of honey baked ham that I ate at the birthday party, but let's just say that from that day forward it became more difficult to suck in my tummy.

Week 9 Milestones: 

- Baby is the size of a green olive and almost 1 inch long! Baby has lost it's tail and the webbing between the fingers and toes, and is beginning to look more human. 

- We started with my regular OB and said goodbye to the fertility clinic. We got to see baby (who still looks more like a gummy bear than an actual baby) on the ultrasound at this appointment and hear the heartbeat, 178 beats per minute. 

- I've learned that many traits of pregnancy are genetic, such as stretch marks. Luckily, my mom said that she did not have any stretch marks with either pregnancy so I hope I get that lucky too. Still, as a precaution, I decided to start using cocoa butter to prevent stretch marks. Why did no one tell me that cocoa butter smells like chocolate?! I mean, I guess it is called cocoa butter after all but I never expected it to have such an overwhelmingly strong chocolate smell. Which may not sound like a bad thing, unless you are me and you don't like chocolate. I hate all dessert, including chocolate and I especially hate the smell of all things sweet and dessert-like. I'm kind of starting to get used to the smell now, but the first time I put the cocoa butter on I thought I was going to hurl. Needless to say, I will not be applying the cocoa butter 3x per day as directed on the bottle. I'll be lucky if I can stand doing it once a day. I can't believe that I now walk around smelling like chocolate all day. Pregnancy is funny. 

- I experienced my first allergy attack since being pregnant this week. Luckily, I've been unable to take antihistamine since we started doing fertility treatments back in January so I've become a pro at managing my allergies without a bit of medicine. This makes me feel accomplished. 

- I am still exhausted and nauseated 24/7. I've managed to survive 3 full weeks of constant nausea without defaulting to the anti-nausea medication and I'm oddly proud of myself for exercising such will power. I have no idea why I am so determined to defeat this nausea without using the medication, but I feel really passionate about it for some reason. Still going strong!...but also nauseated. 

- Food preferences: I'm really into pasta and grains all of a sudden. Earlier in my pregnancy, I was eating tons of fruits and eggs everyday. Now, the thought of eggs makes me want to hurl and anything sweet isn't really appetizing either. I still like to have bananas and pears everyday, but sweet fruits like strawberries just aren't doing it for me anymore. It's so weird how quickly my appetite for certain foods can change.