Is it safe?

Since starting this whole foods plant based lifestyle, Batman and I have changed from artificial sweeteners to natural sweeteners like raw sugar, honey, etc. One of Batman's coworkers suggested we get some stevia as it has the same (ish) flavor as sweet.n.low and comes from a plant (the stevia plant- go figure). (If you try it- just make sure you don't add too much to whatever you are sweetening... a little goes a VERY LONG WAY)

We've been using this for a while now and I wondered recently whether it was a safe thing to have during pregnancy. I'm not sure what prompted this thought, but since I am paranoid about a lot of things that I put in mouth (probably more than I should... oh and get your mind out of the gutter!) I decided to consult the all-knowing Dr Google on the subject.

Apparently asking if stevia is okay during pregnancy is like asking if it's okay to eat oregano... or rosemary, or dill, or any other number of herbs and spices. Chalk another one up to my blonde roots I guess.

12 weeks

I had Batman take this pic this morning as I was getting ready for work. As big as it's getting it takes on a life of it's own by the end of the day, so this is the scaled down, realistic belly ;-)



I didn't think it was really getting any bigger, but apparently it is. And I think the bump seems to have moved higher, don't you?

As of today Olive it officially (or unofficially) the size of a plum or about 2-2.5 in. and almost all of its systems are fully formed. Amazing for such a small little bugger! It's now transitioning into the growth and maturation stage instead of development.

I'm still feeling pukey most days. I don't usually vomit (thanks to the meds) but every once in a while the gag reflex kicks into overdrive and I have to run to the toilet (or sink, whichever is closer). I still have some fatigue by the end of the day, but I have been able to stay up until 9 the last couple of weeks! (that's a big accomplishment since a few weeks ago my limit was 8) Other than that I have been feeling pretty good :)

Does this face make me look fat?

Okay I need some BRUTALLY honest opinions here. The other day someone who will not be named (ahem... Batman), made a comment that they could tell I had gained a little weight because my face was looking... um... rounder... I know that the person (Batman) was (sort of) joking, but it made me wonder if it really is getting rounder? I'm kind of self conscious about it now... I realize there is little that I can do about it until October (or later) but I NEED to know. Help! Honest opinions... no need to spare my feelings.
My scale has stayed the same for a couple of weeks so I know I haven't really gained any weight per se, but I wonder if I'm just getting a little "soft around edges."

Please help a girl out!!

Here's a pic of me and Batman from the weekend:



Please disregard the weird way my hand is positioned on my face... I was attempting to cover a mountainous zit that had sprouted the night before.

An Award x2!

Miss cutie, Adair, gave me this award today! :)

And I forgot, a couple weeks ago Can You Imagine tagged me with this one- so sweet of her!!



So here goes the rules for #1:

Now I am ready for some good ole lemonade.....Here are a few rules.....
1.Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post
2.Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude
3.Link to your nominees within your post
4.Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog
5.Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award
And my Lemonade Award goes to.....

1. Ella
2. K
3. Rikki
4. Bacons
5. Chell
6. Tiffanie

7. Carbon
8. Katie
9. Margelina
10. Coco

And for # 2:

Now I have to choose only 8 wonderful blogs to pass this award on to..."These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award!"

1. Melissa
2. Andrea

3. Morgan
4. Christina
5. Candi
6. Tyra
7. Jenny
8. Jayme

Whew! I guess it's a good thing I like to read lots of blogs! :)

Picture Tag!

I was tagged by Rikki for this wonderful, fun one. Wasn't that nice of her?

If you’re reading along with me, your instructions:


1. Find your sixth picture folder and in that folder, the sixth picture


2. Post it on your blog with some of the background of the picture


3. Tag four others and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged.


Here's mine:




This is a pic of Kino we took in 2005. He was about a year old (and huge even back then) and was facinated with the birds that had built a nest in our tree out back. He would sit there all day just looking up in the tree. It was really cute... now he just barks at them.

Here are my tags: Adair, Can You Imagine, Amy, and Kitty

That's just nasty!

Can you see the nasty growth the size of a quarter on the back of his throat? Ya, sick! The poor guy is still miserable.

Appt with a h/b

We had another appt today. We got to actually HEAR the h/b on the doppler and let me tell you, that was the most amazing sound I think I have ever heard! Olive's heart was pounding away at around 160. My doc said he wasn't going to take any guesses but if we listened to old wives it will be a girl. We'll see I guess ;-)
I'm down 2 lbs since the last appt, probably from all the puking I have been doing. I was just glad I didn't gain a ton, since I feel like I am eating all the time.
Not too much else to update on. The pain in my side that is reminiscent of O pain he thinks is ligament pain and he says still not to worry about postBD spotting (so I'm trying not to).
Our next appt is set for 4/20 and the big u/s is set for 5/22- so much for his letting us get another u/s at 16wks I guess. Maybe he forgot he said we could do that? Oh well. I'm just going to keep putting all this in God's hands, since I have no control over any of it anyway. ;-)

10 wk belly pics

This is one I took this morning. I can't really tell much of a change from the 8 week one, but my clothes can definitely tell. I got rid of all the clothes that don't fit from my closet over the weekend and sadly there isn't a whole lot left :( Oh well, it just makes room for maternity clothes, right?



This heinous one, please just ignore, as I had barely gotten out of bed, hadn't had a shower and still felt (and looked) pretty out of it.



What kind of awkward position am I standing in anyway? Weird.
Sorry they are ginormous. I forgot to downsize them when I saved them this morning.

ETA: Okay not only are they GINORMOUS, but you have to click on them to see the full pic. I'll have to fix that later... now I'm off to work!

Batman is sick

It's official. He has an ulcer on the back of his throat which is why it's been hurting so bad the last week or so. It's at least the size of a quarter, if not bigger. He's pretty miserable, poor guy. Looks like it's from the antibiotics he was on. The doc gave him some numbing mouthwash to help with the pain and if he isn't better in a week, he wants to send him on to an ENT doc. :( Poor, poor Batman.

craving #647

McDonald's fries... I haven't eaten them in months... years maybe. But last night I saw a commercial and they were all I could think about. Batman was ever so sweet and we both went and got McDonalds together ;-) I think this may be the start of some Couvade syndrome...

Feeling {marginally} better

So I'm at work today, which I guess is a good sign. At least I am not wretching up my stomach lining anymore. I'm taking the Reglan today. Last night I took the Phenegren and let me tell you... there is a reason you take it right before bed and not during the day. Whooee! I had a tough time driving into work 10 hours LATER. I can only imagine how I loopy, zombie-like I would have been had I taken it during the day.

The only thing I can think about right now is nachos from Taco Bell... how sad is that? Batman may want to have words with me later about how I am killing our unborn child with all that cheese. Hm... maybe it's not such a good idea after all?

sickety sick sick... sick

I've been puking my guts out all day long. It started this morning at around 2 and has basically been every half hour. It's gotten to the point where all that is left is this nasty, bitter, yellow bile (lovely visual, huh?)
I think it's a virus, but of course I can't be sure. My doc's office prescribed me reglan and phenegren (sp?)- one for day use and one for nights. The reglan hasn't helped all that much. Every time I attempt to rise, the gag reflex kicks in again and I run the toilet. I'm hoping this is over soon.
Don't worry, Batman has been keeping me well hydrated. Since about 3 this afternoon it's been more dry heaves than actual barfing, so that's good. I have been peeing too (in case you were worried) My doc's offic threatened to send me to the ER and right after that my bladder started working again (in fear of the IV needle you know)
Coke has been the only thing I can keep down for any length fo time. A teaspoon every 20 minutes... oh joy! Who knwe I would look forward to being spoon fed a can of Coke?
Low grade fever which the doc's office wasn't too worried about (they were more concerned with how many times I had ralphed and urinated in the last 24 hours). It's slightly above 99.
I think I am going to die if I don't feel better soon...

Emailed updates

I received this in my email today:



I won't ACTUALLY be 9 weeks until Monday, I think, but why do they feel the need to compare baby to food. That I eat. All. The. Time.
Last week it was a raspberry- I had just finished off a flat of raspberries. The week before it was a blueberry- again I had been eating blueberries for DAYS. And this week it's an olive. A green olive. I was chowing down on the last of our green olive stash earlier this week.

Does this creep anyone else out? Somehow I feel like I am EATING my baby!! Kind of gross if you think about it that way...

Go AWAY!

Snow... I'm sick of it. It was 65 degrees here Monday afternoon... today it's snowing. Has been on and off all day. We had an inch last night, which isn't a whole lot, but enough to make my morning commute a nightmare.

I was so hoping Spring was on its way and here we are back in the throes of Winter. Ugh!

The weekend and some belly pics

So as I stated before, this last weekend was an extremely busy one for Batman and I. On Thursday morning we had our u/s and appt, as you know. My sister arrived shortly after and she and I went to breakfast, ran some errands and just hung out. We spent the evening at a bball game (because my life revolves around bball and cheerleading right now) which was king of fun. She agreed with me that my cheerleaders aren't all that great ;-) but said she saw some potential LOL.
Friday I had to work half a day, so Sis spent the morning at Star.bucks, reading HP #4. Afterwards we met Batman for lunch at Re.d Rob.in (DELICIOUS FRIES!) and then we spent the afternoon scoping out the local thrift stores, looking for some kind of fabulous find (to no avail). We saw Confessions of a Sh.opahol.ic, which I thought was pretty cute, and then went to dinner at one of my FAVORITE BBQ places (I know, totally NOT vegan, but it just sounded too good to pass up!)
Saturday, Batman took us to breakfast (again!) and then we spent the rest of our time playing games (a VERY intense game of Sorry) and the PS3. Batman has now found himself a good Litt.le Bi.g Pla.net partner in my sister. I am just terrible at it, but she ROCKED it (He's ready for her to come back again, just to play LOL)
It seemed like she had a really good time and I can't wait for her to come visit us again (hopefully before another 3 YEARS have passed)
Sunday we spent the morning helping Scott's 93 yr old grandma move from one room at the assisted living center, to another. It took a few hours and she was ever-so grateful :) Then the rest of Sunday was spent cleaning our house, paying bills, going over our budget... you know the FUN weekend activities...
Overall, it really was a nice weekend :)

I took a couple belly pics a few weeks ago when I first POAS and then another one this morning, just for comparison purposes ;-) Looks like the bloat has definitely arrived. All of my jeans now hurt me when I sit down and I am just starting to look very round (and chubby). I guess it comes with the territory. I'll take it ;-)
Here's the first one from a few weeks ago- shirt down


And shirt up


And here is the one from this morning



What do you all think?

New u/s pic of Bean- 7wks 2dys

Here is the pic from last Thursday. Sorry it took me so long to get it posted- busy weekend- more on that later :)