Luda Love: Onions, Funyuns

Along: 17 weeks! Well technically 16 weeks 6 days. I'm posting a day early since I'm heading back to Fredericksburg to celebrate the holiday with family.

Size: This week Little Luda is the size of an onion. The nugget is a massive 5.9 ounces and is 5.1 inches long. Little Luda has mastered some simple reflexes such as swallowing, sucking and blinking. He or She may even have a bout of the hiccups. The baby is also starting to form fat under his/her skin which will prepare our little one for the temperature change from inside my womb to the outside world. Seeing as Little Luda will be arriving in December, lets hope he or she has a little extra chunk!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: We went to the doctor this morning and the verdict is...4 pounds! The NP said that was fine, so I'm ok with that.

Maternity Clothes: Still making my normal clothes work. I did try on a pair of jeans the other day, just to see if they still fit and as of now, everything is still working with my bump! I'm sure the day that I won't be able to zip up my paints is coming, but until then I'll keep rocking what I got in my closet.

Gender: ???

Movement: I've had a few flutters this week, which is exciting, but I'm looking forward to really feeling this Nugget move! While at our appointment this morning, the NP had a hard time keeping the Doppler on the baby's heartbeat because Little Luda was moving around so much. Looks like once I start feeling the movement, it's going to be a lot of it!

Sleep: This is definitely a hit or miss for me. I'm able to fall asleep/back to sleep pretty easily, but I wake up often, mostly to pee or to roll over because I have maneuvered myself to my tummy. I move so much in my sleep and I always feel really guilty when I end up on my tummy. The good thing is that this week, I've had several days off from work, so I have been able to take plenty of power naps, which I love.

Cravings: My favorites this week have been avocados, oranges and egg and cheese sandwiches.

Symptoms: Heartburn and exhaustion.

What I'm Thankful For: I feel like there is so much going on for Shawn and I between having the baby and buying our town home that we forget to be still. The Lord has done so much for us and even through the bumps in the road, I know that He is faithful. So I decided to add this "category" to the blog. I'm going to keep it simple this week and because of my pregnancy "symptoms" I'm going to say that I am thankful for power naps and tums! I asked Shawn if he wanted to participate with writing this part of the blog, so his response was friendships. Since our lease ends in July and our town home will not be ready until early October, we have amazing friends, Zach and Nicole, that are allowing us to live in their basement during the in between time. With that being said, they have been working so hard to get the basement ready for our expected move in and we couldn't be more blessed that they are opening their home to us. We also are lucky to have another couple, Tom and Liz, who are journeying through pregnancy and becoming parents along side us, Liz is 5 weeks ahead of me. The two of them have been such good friends to me and Shawn and we are so thankful that God has put them in our lives!

Best Moment of the Week: This week has been great! Busy, but great. I was able to have a stretch of days off from work which gave me time to spend with family and friends. On Saturday Shawn played softball in the afternoon with our Church softball team. He has so much fun out there, and I'm proud to say that the team finished 3rd in the tournament this year! Much improved from previous years. Here are a few shots from the game.

Keith, Shawn's brother has been a loyal fan throughout the season.

Nicole up to bat.

Shawn, getting ready for the pitch.

Then, that evening, I was able to go on a photo walk with people from our Sunday School class. We have friend, Jason, who takes amazing photographs, so he agreed to give us a little tutorial on portraits. Here are few shots from that evening.

Some close up photography.

Working on my portrait skills. I have to enhance my skills as much as I can before the baby comes!

Heather

Jason, the photographer himself.

Natalie

Liz, throwing up the 21! She was just over 21 weeks when we took this picture.

Me and Liz, modelling our bumps! (Photo by Heather)

And last, but certainly not least, we took my Dad to a Nationals game for Father's Day on Monday night. The Nationals won and it was $1 hot dog day, so we were happy campers.