18 weeks and 2 days
I think I look a little bigger? Definitely rounder. :) Apparently after 20 weeks, growth becomes a lot more regular and not as sporadic as it has been. I think I got really big fast and that it's slowed down a bit. I remember lots of pregnant women saying that they "popped." I don't think I ever popped. I feel like I've always been big!

I think that I can feel the baby kicking now. I've read that first time mothers mistake gas for the baby kicking, so when I felt the moving, I just assumed that I was making it all up and that it wasn't the baby! Now that I think about it, I think it's the baby moving. It's not very regular, but I do feel something going on down there! I've also read that movement can't be felt until 20 weeks, so it really makes me wonder. It feels like a tap coming from the inside of my belly and sometimes it's multiple taps, but it's very light. A friend of mine said that she could feel kicking at around 4 1/2 months, but apparently that's really early and she knew it was the baby because she was very in tune with her body, then there's me...I had no idea that I was even pregnant until I was a few days late! I don't think I just know these things, so I didn't think it was the baby at first! It's been going on for a couple of weeks now. Apparently movement will get more regular soon...I can't wait!

We had a great weekend. On Friday night, we went to the Salt Lick for dinner (yum!) and to the Shakira concert in San Antonio. The show was about an hour and 45 minutes long and in that time span, she sang 4 songs in English and the rest in Spanish. Even though we didn't understand much of it, we had a great time and she sounded great. Yep, that girl can move. The baby started kicking at the beginning of the concert and kicked a lot right before the last song, "Hips Don't Lie." Maybe the baby will turn out to be a latina superstar. :) Wyclef Jean actually came out and sang the lost song with her, the atmosphere at the AT&T center was amazing. We had a really good time. One of the highlights of Friday night came before the concert though. We went with a couple of friends of ours and when the guy saw me, he exclaimed, "You look pregnant!" I told him that he should say that I look good, not pregnant! I guess he hasn't seen me since I was 8 weeks along. :)

On Saturday, we went to Four Hands for their quarterly warehouse sale. There were a couple of things that we really liked, but we decided to hold off on until we move. We've picked out a few things already that we liked and hopefully they'll still be there the next time around. We're going to get our leather kitchen table chairs there, maybe a table too if they still have the one that we liked in the showroom, orange theatre chairs (hook 'em horns!), artwork, and a wrought iron swirly screen.

Afterwards, we headed over to the house and they've started bricking. The sheet rock isn't up yet, but hopefully it'll be soon. I can't wait for the house to be done...two more months left.
We then headed over to San Marcos and went to the Crate & Barrel outlet store. They've got really good deals on their linens, we'll definitely have to keep them in mind once we get settled into the house. We also went to the Pottery Barn outlet. They had a sale that was 25% off of everything in the store. They have stuff from Pottery Barn kids, West Elm and Williams and Sonoma. The place was packed with stuff. We found a couch that we really liked as well as a wrought iron fireplace grate. I can't wait to go house shopping!!!

For dinner, we went to Eastside Cafe. I love that place! Since I've been good and haven't had a pumpkin spice latte yet, we got the pumpkin gingerbread for dessert. It was so good, it was like eating carrot cake without the cream cheese icing.

Today we were suppose to meet with the dog trainer, but she never showed! I need to start looking for someone else. I'm not really that surprised though, she didn't call to confirm the appointment, oh well, she lost our business.

We ended up watching Jet Li's Fearless. This baby is definitely Chinese, I got kicked throughout the whole movie! I don't know if it was the movie, or the almond milk tea that I had before the movie, but the baby was going nuts! I wouldn't mind the baby becoming a martial arts genius. :) Hehe...no expectations here!

I've experienced a few more pregnancy side effects. I am down from wearing my three rings (engagement and two bands) to only wearing the largest band because it's the only one that fits! I'm glad that we bought it back in February, I would be really sad if I couldn't wear rings anymore. The other side effect is that my feet have gotten bigger! I'm up a full shoe size. I had to go out and buy new shoes today because there was no way that I was going to fit into my old shoes anymore! Another side effect is that my belly has gotten hairer! I read online that when people take professional pregnancy photos that they shave their bellies! I showed my waxist this weekend and she just laughed at me and said that she might start offering pregnancy belly waxing. Maybe I've started a new trend! I've also gotten the vertical line on my belly that runs through my belly button. It's not that big of a deal, even though I don't know why it's there, but what really bothers me is that it's not centered, it's crooked! I'm a big symmetry fan and it drives me crazy! Oh well...marks of motherhood I suppose. 

Month 4 is Done!

I am officially 17 weeks today! Yay!

We had our 3rd doctor's appointment on Monday and everything went really well. I gained the recommended amount of weight, unlike last time where I gained double! I blame it on training. Training causes me to gave 5 pounds each year! So, I don't blame those five pounds on the baby. :) My blood pressure was within normal range, but I think my systolic number was a little bit on the high side. My blood pressure has really improved since Labor Day weekend. I think it was because of the extra days I had off and that whole week wasn't stressful at all. I'm wondering if it's going to go back up again now that work has picked up. **Sigh** we'll see. The baby's heart rate was in the 160s. When we first got to hear the heartbeat, it was in the 170s and they told us that it'll start slowing down the further along I get. The doctor measured my uterus (weird, I know) and I measured normally which I find shocking because I feel really big to only be 4 months along. I now have the same waist size as Steven! I never thought I would ever say that! Oh well...I still think this is going to be a huge baby! =)

Our next appointment is October 12th where we get to do the big ultrasound for anatomy and we also get to find out the gender. Hopefully the baby won't be shy and cross it's legs! I just really want to know so I can go clothes shopping!!!

Which reminds me, Lydia is in town for ACL. She gave us the baby origami book that Steven really wanted! It shows different ways to swaddle the baby. We were looking at it last night before we went to bed and I ended up dreaming about swaddling babies all night! We also made a pit-stop at the Co-op and she bought the baby the cutest longhorn onesie and matching cap!!! I can't wait to see the baby in it's first longhorn outfit!

This is already one spoiled kid. We've gotten so much stuff from everyone already, it's like getting married all over again except that I can't plan everything out to the last detail. :)

Anyways, we're going to see Hairspray this weekend...yay! Also, a very happy birthday shout out goes to Tia Maria who turns 27 tomorrow!

Rocker Glider
I figured out how to post multiple pics at one time!

This is the Dutailier rocker glider that we picked out. It's got an adjustable back and lock. We also got the matching ottoman/nursing stool. It's really cool because it has a platform that comes out to rest your feet on. Baby Bargains said that mothers complained about the ottoman being the same height as the chair making it uncomfortable, so I think this was their solution.
We went with the matte black wood to match the nursery furniture and the cushions we picked out were burnt orange microfiber. Since we don't know yet if we're having a boy or a girl, we have no idea what color the nursery is going to be. We figured that we could go with a neutral color and ended up with burnt orange. We figured that once we're done using it for the baby, then we can move it up to the burnt ornage media room. We also probably picked burnt orange because the Ohio State game was on in a few hours!
The final thing we bought was the crib mattress. The one we picked out has pointed corners to fit the sheets better, it's antibacterial, and the coolest thing is that it's foam on one side (foam is recommended for infants) and coil springs on the other side (recommended for toddlers because they jump on their bed). Cool, huh? So when the little Tang gets older, all we have to do is flip the mattress over.

Yes, we were one of those couples that you could sell anything baby to. :) We realize that we might be buying things a bit early, but we weren't sure when their next sale was going to be (they do a once in a trimester sale) and we were worried about getting everything in on-time especially since some of things that we bought are special ordered which means a lead-time of 8 to 10 weeks. So, when we move into the house, we'll be baby ready! I don't think any other furniture will be able to fit in the nursery!

Which reminds me, we went to the house on Saturday and our brick and sheet rock have come in! They're also in the process of fixing the weird beam thing in the master bedroom. It's so exciting that we're going to have walls soon! Hopefully we're on schedule for November 24th. 

Dresser/Changing Table

This is the matching dresser/changing table that we bought. We only got the bottom half because we figured that we didn't need to top half until later. When we get it later, we can fill it with books and pictures. For now, we'll buy a changing pad and use the top to change diapers on. :) It has the same matching feet as the crib. There's also a closet in the nursery, so we should be okay storage wise. 

Shopping Spree

USA Baby had a one day sale on Saturday, so Steven and I went on a shopping spree! We now have all of the major furniture for the nursery which I'd like to add is much nicer than our Ikea furniture! This kid is spoiled already. :)

This is the crib that we picked out, it's from the Munire Newport collection. This crib is in bisque, but we opted for the rubbed black. It's black wood that's been weathered and the weathered parts show a reddish color. It sounds kind of weird, but it looks really cool. I didn't think we'd go with black baby furniture, but we were just drawn to it, so much for our all dark wood house. The bed is convertible, so we also purchased the conversion kit. What we didn't like is that the crib doesn't convert to a toddler bed, it goes straight from a crib to a full-sized bed. A toddler could get lost in a full-sized bed We'll see when we get there, no worries.

I'm not Blogger savy, so I have no idea how to post multiple pictures in succession, so I'm just gonna post them seperately. :) 

Hook 'em Horns!
Okay, I realize that we didn't win yesterday against Ohio State, but I thought that I would post this picture anyways because it's so cute. Button's winning streak in her longhorn jersey has come to an end, but at least that means that I got to wash it! Next year it'll be Steven, Button and Baby outfitted in longhorn gear...can't wait. :) 

Let's hope this baby is a boy! =)

We took these photo-morph pictures at Dave & Buster's a few ago when we were still in school. I always thought it would be funny to see how our kids ended up looking compared to these pictures. Don't ask me what's going on with the girl's hair! I have no idea where those ribbons came from. Steven says that she'll have a "great personality." Hehe... 

15 weeks and 5 days

What do you think? Bigger, eh? :) I don't think that I've gotten that much bigger, but definitely rounder. I really like this pink shirt that I'm wearing, although it does make me feel like a piece of pink Bubble Yum/Hubba Bubba! My stomach has definitely gotten harder...yes, it's all really weird, but in a good way!

Update on symptoms...my morning sickness has definitely improved, but I do have trouble getting breakfast down sometimes. I'm definitely not as tired anymore, and I don't have to eat dinner at 5:30 anymore either! Thank goodness for that. :) But, I think that I've developed allergies. I've lived in Austin for almost 10 years now and I'm just starting to get them! Yes, it's depressing. A couple of weeks ago, I had the same headache for three days before I called the doctor's office and the nurse said that a lot of people were calling in a complaining about the same thing and that there's a whole bunch of allergens in the air. I ended up going to Walgreen's and purchased Sudafed from the pharmacist. It was kind of weird because Sudafed is an OTC medication, but when you purchase it, you have to buy it from the pharmacist directly, they card you, and you have to sign a log. Apparently people use Sudafed to make crystal meth. I learned that from my Staff...you learn something new every day! :) I took it a couple of times over the weekend and I've been fine since. Hopefully my allergies won't flare up anymore.

I think we've finally narrowed down the baby names. For a boy, we are thinking either Ethan, Evan, Aidan or Joshua. For a girl, either Evangeline (Evie for short) or Julia (Jewels for short). What do ya'll think? Any other suggestions? We're having a really hard time with boy names, but we definitely both like Ethan.

House Update: the house is coming right along. It's so much fun seeing everything coming together. This past weekend, we even got to meet our neighbors who are building a Taylor Woodrow home. Their names are Wynn (sp?) and Dorothy and they have two cute blonde boys. They're from Harker Heights near Temple, TX. They both seemed really nice. I can't wait to move in! Steven has been updating the house pics on our website, www.stevenandrachel.com -> gallery.

Work Update: I met with our office managing partner to tell him the news and I was really surprised about how nice and open he was. EY warm fuzzies. Everyone at work has been so great too. Everything has been so easy and everyone has been so supportive, I'm really lucky to be where I'm at right now.

Steven Update: Steven, as always, has been great. I think that it's become more realy for him seeing my stomach grow. :) I can't wait to see a baby in his arms.

Baby Purchase Update: we haven't bought anything new for the baby, but we're doing a lot of research on baby stuff like cribs and strollers. Who knew that a baby requires so much stuff! As far as cribs go, we've decided on either Munire's Newport or Oxford collection. Which do you like better? Steven's been looking into the stroller department, but we're thinking either Peg Perego or Graco. He really wants a Bugaboo, but I don't think that's going to happen! We're still thinking about themes for the nursery, I guess it all depends on the sex. I still like the starry night theme (hopefully it'll make the baby sleep longer!). We'll see.

Hmmm...I'm sure I'm missing other updates...I'll try to update more often! 

Jealous Button?
I've been working on knitting a blanket for the baby for a couple of weeks now. The pattern is seven strips of seven colors each. Right now it looks like a seven colored scarf and eventually when I finish all seven strips, I'll sew them together and voila, a baby blanket. The pattern is from a book that Carolyn and Josephine got me for my birthday, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The blanket was in the section labeled 8 to 10 hour gifts. But it takes me over an hour to knit each square! I guess it'd take 8 to 10 hours if I was a knitting genius. :) Oh well, I'm really excited about knitting it.

I laid out my two finished strips over the pillow and onto the couch and the next thing I know, Button is sleeping on the baby blanket! If you look to the left of her face, you can see the ball of yarn that I was knitting. Silly Button!