22 Weeks

22 Weeks along and finally moved into our new place for the year.  Pardon the mess you can see in the photos.  We're still in the unpacking stage.  

Here are all 3 of my kiddos working hard on this past week's board.

Aren't they adorable!  That's Kelly, Aidan, and Ella.  (and you can see my awesome basinet I snagged at a garage sale earlier last month for $10! I didn't want to get it because at the time we didn't know the baby's gender so I didn't want to get color-specific things but I couldn't pass up a $10 basinet.  I love me some garage sales!)

Here I am, showing off my bump! (Yes those slippers have made it into every picture I've taken so far. And yes, I know it's summer and 90+ out everyday but that doesn't stop me from wearing slippers and wearing a sweater.  I'm weird I know.)  But finally! My bump has emerged!  It's still small for being 5 months along but it is finally noticeable!  (I'll try to get a side-on picture of it for next week)

How far along? 22 Weeks (picture was actually taken at the beginning of the 23rd week but just go with it)

Total weight gain/loss:  14 pounds!  I thought i gained more than that but I'm holding steady at 14 pounds. I have a feeling I'll be gaining a few over the Montana vacation. Can't wait!!!

Maternity clothes? I broke out my "maternity swimsuit" this past week when i took my kiddos swimming. I mean after all the reason I got it was to be more modest in front of them so might as well make use of it. I will be bringing it to Montana so we'll see if the spirit moves me to dawn it on vacation or not.

Stretch marks? Nope.  Im going through lotion like it's my job. I love my skin!

Sleep: Sleeping well. I'm convinced I can't (or maybe I just don't want to) sleep without my body pillow and stuffed dog named Fluffy. (Dan thinks I'm so weird but again, that's not the only reason he thinks I'm one odd duck)  I might or might not have brought one or both to my soon-to-be sister-in-law's bachelorette party this past weekend. It was a fun time and I slept like a fabulous rock. Prego ladies can still have a good time even when we're serving as DD's. This prego lady danced her little heart out then hit the sack...hard. I was a little stiff that next morning but I attribute that to using my dancing muscles only seen back in my sorority days. I have noticed that some of my range of movement is starting to get more tough despite my stretching and other active activities.  For example, bending over and getting up can sometimes be more of a challenge.  It makes me feel old but I'm still moving.

Best moment this week: It's a tie between moving into our new place and dancing my pregnant little heart out at the aforementioned bachelorette party.  By moving I mean me packing my weekend bag to go to the bachelorette party while my awesome parents and 3 of Dan's friends moved all the boxes over.  Winner!  When I came back from my weekend away, everything was moved into its correct room and now all we have to do is unpack.  I do hate unpacking but I didn't have to lift much.  Now I just have to bake cookies for the moving helpers.

At the bachelorette party, one of Dan's cousins was also pregnant so I wasn't the lone prego person there.  I was so happy that I was finally feeling good enough to actually enjoy myself this weekend.  Previous attempts to celebrate and enjoy weekends of family and friends' weddings earlier this pregnancy have not been good at all for me.  I'd go into them thinking I could keep it together, feel well, and celebrate but this did not happen.  I would end up having to take breaks during the weddings, leave early, spend quality time hugging the toilet, or a combination of the three but always tears would ensue because I was sad that I couldn't participate and celebrate like my normal self.  Points to my awesome husband for being a trooper through all of this.  But this past weekend, I actually felt amazing for the first time throughout my pregnancy.  I took advantage of that by celebrating with my soon-to-be sister-in-law, her friends, and more family.  I stayed up entirely way too late and even danced on a stage to a techno version of the Lion King.  It brought me back to my days in a sorority when dancing like this was a common occurrence.  Well I should preface that when I say "dancing" I mean that in the loosest term possible.  My tall body lacks coordination so it's more like moving a few beats behind the music, but with confidence.  My dancing ability aside, the point of this long winded story was that I had so much fun and I actually felt really good.  Gosh I can't wait to celebrate the actual wedding in 2 short weeks!

Miss Anything? I had a huge hankering for Jimmy John's sandwiches this past week and not being able to enjoy my ham and cheese sandwiches makes me sad.  Stupid rule about eating cold cuts.  And I would have liked to enjoy a beer while unpacking all our stuff while Dan was gone for work this week but that also didn't happen.  Still missing my raw cookie dough.  Gosh that stuff is so good!

Movement: Little baby Koch is moving up a storm!  He loves kicking...just like his daddy.  I love feeling his little kicks because it makes me feel like he's developing just fine and it's a special bonding experience between us. (awww that's the mommy in me coming out)

Food cravings: BLT's (bacon in general), milkshakes, cinnamon rolls, and of course beer (mainly because I miss it...but it's okay, I'm more than fine surviving without it).  I'm loving Burger King's cini-minis for $1 in the morning.  Perfect little bites of cinnamon and joy!  I've been able to eat whole meals now!  I'm back to chugging my delicious milk (that's 2% or greater for you milk lovers out there) at my usual pace.  mmmm milk!

Anything making you queasy or sick: The smell of cigarettes still.  Broccoli, fish, etc. Basically anything that already stinks is intensified with this pregnancy thing.

Have you started to show yet: YEPP!!!  Still looking odd in my opinion but it's finally noticeable!  Momma Jackie finally looks like I have a baby growing in there!

Gender: Strong and handsome Koch boy!  I hope you look just like your daddy baby nugget.  He's one handsome man.  But I hope you have thick hair like me. just saying

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy except for the unpacking part and setting up the utilities at the new place.  Gosh that's such a pain to deal with customer service on the phone.  They really get in my way of enjoying the new place.  I just want to concentrate on setting up our little guy's room, not dealing with people who are paid to make my life miserable (or at least that's what I think they get paid to do).  But overall I'm happy that I'm feeling better and can actually start enjoying pregnancy instead of feeling like a miserable party pooper.

Looking forward to:  Not sure if I mentioned this or not but...My family and I (and Dan) are going to Montana in just a few short days for vacation!  Bah!  Dan and I are in need of a vacation and my family's trip to Montana is just what the doctor ordered.  (okay, so maybe she told me to take it easy on the hikes and make sure I'm not on a flight longer than 3 hours, etc.  But she did give me the okay on the trip and said it would be perfect for relaxing)  It will definitely be relaxing but a vacation with my family is always an adventure.  We never stop laughing and with my already weakened bladder, I might pee my pants a few times (hopefully not but there's always that chance).  This year we have a trophy that will be given out to the most interesting/fun person on vacation.  Last year it was unanimously voted to be given to my mom.  She is a character.  She's already been quoted saying some ridiculous things in preparation for this year's vacation so she's going into it as a frontrunner for the trophy.  This year we're bringing more people on the trip so that could make things interesting.  My Grandpa Jones will be joining us...he has what some might call an "eyebrow problem".  He's old and refuses to have normal looking eyebrows.  My goal for vacation is to groom those suckers so my child won't be terrified to meet him.  My sisters' boyfriends are also coming, Nate and Doug.  We've never had this much testosterone on a vacation before.  It's always been just my dad and 4 ladies so we'll see what this new gender balance does for our vacation experience.

I'm not looking forward to traveling to Montana.  I believe Dan and I have 3 separate flights beginning at 6am which means this lady will be waking up at 330 am to start this traveling escapade.  Once we finally land from our 3rd flight, we will still have to drive 4 hours to our destination.  We're kinda going to the middle of nowhere (near Glacier National Park'ish area) so that's why we have such a long journey.  I'll be in need of a bed and a beer by then but I'll gladly settle for a bed.

I hope to be able to share some of our Montana stories with you all next week but we'll see if we even have internet access out there or if I decide to go completely unplugged!