Happy New Year!!

On this last day of 2016, I have reached 28 weeks which means I am officially in the third trimester now! Yay! Brinda baby is now about 14 inches long and weighs about 2.5 pounds. He is the size of an Echidna (pictured below). He now has eyelashes and is able to open his eyes although I doubt there is a whole lot to see. He is also gaining more fat which is allowing him to get better at regulating his own body temperature.

I am still doing well although my back has been bugging me more lately. That just means I need to get prenatal massages! :-) In fact, I have one scheduled for this coming week! I did my glucose test this past week but do not know the results yet. That orange drink was gross!! Tastes like the orange punch from McDonald's with more sugar added. YUCK! I definitely get short of breath more easily when walking the dogs, especially going uphill. The baby continues to batter my organs around anytime I am sitting still or laying down. I have been asked by several people what we plan to name our baby. We have not chosen a name yet, both Carlton and I are working on our separate list of names until he returns. We do not plan to share what name we pick until the baby is actually born. But we are not opposed to name suggestions!! So if you have any boy names that you like, feel free to share them with us!

Cute but watch out for those claws!

Definitely bigger!

This past week I took advantage of some of the holiday stuff still going on in the area. Agana Shopping Center has a Holiday display that used to be an annual event but the lady in charge passed away a couple years ago. This is the first year that people got together to bring it back and the display was definitely impressive! See pics below:

Angels galore

Extravagant village!

More village

Chamorro history

Modern village

More village

Mini fair

Larger fair

Ski resort

More fairgrounds

Candyland

Stockings by the fireplace

Carolers

Another ski resort

Waterfall

Carolers

Snowman light post!

I also went to the Governor's Mansion where they had a lighting display that circled the mansion. Not all the lights show up in the pictures very well but here you go!

Chamorrans rowing

Latte stones in the background

Front of the mansion

Tree of Santas

Waterfall

Santa's shell sleigh with dolphins

Various sea creatures

Lighted tunnel

Faces of Santa

Lit pathway

Train & more Santa's

Manger

And I leave you with LOVE!

I hope you all have a fabulous New Year's Eve and a great beginning to 2017!!

XOXO

Jen

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Quick post for Christmas...I am now 27 weeks along and the baby is supposed to be the size of a Fennec fox! 

What a cutie!

Baby Brinda continues to grow larger (as evidenced by the picture below) and develop. At this point, he is working on his brain more than anything else. He weighs about 2 pounds and is about 14.5 inches long.  This is the last week of the second trimester and I am still feeling pretty good. I have some days where I get tired a bit more easily, so I just take a nap. Hard to believe I am getting almost 10 hours of sleep some days (I usually sleep 8 hours at night). One thing that really helps me sleep is my C pillow!! I am not sure how I would do without it...especially when Carlton is gone!

C pillow - my lifesaver

Definitely bigger!

This past week I have gone out to enjoy some of the holiday displays in town with my friend Jen and her four kids. We got to see an elaborate train display at the Hilton and then a Gingerbread House at the Hyatt!

Jen's kids around the decorated Carabou

Hilton's International Santa's

Train set!

Jen with her kids in front of the train

Adorable River!

Train village

Skiing Santa

Governor's Complex in the train set

Two Lover's Point

Chamorro Village

Lovely Christmas trees in the lobby

Mount Lam Lam

Spanish Bridge

Berry tree at the Hyatt

Gingerbread House

Close-up of all the cookies

Santa's throne chair under the mistletoe!

I hope you all had a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!!! Happy Hanukkah!!!

XOXO

Jen

Developing into 26 weeks

This past week we have reached the size of a Slow Loris - isn't it cute? Apparently when these animals are surprised, they cover their faces with their paws as if playing peek-a-boo!

This is how Bubbles looks at me when she wants attention.

Brinda baby continues to develop his lungs, his eyes have now opened, and his hearing is getting better. He definitely responds if I poke him through my belly - either by kicking or rolling around. He is also supposed to be gaining his baby fat now so he won't be all wrinkly when he arrives!

The belly continues to grow and although the baby bump photo I have for this week is in a regular shirt, I also have a couple photos in holiday shirts! For those of you who are not on Facebook, or missed it, I got a couple holiday baby bump shirts to wear for the season.

Baby Santa!

 This past week, we had our second day of the gift-wrapping fundraiser at the local mall. We did better than last weekend but still not great. We also had a dinner and a white elephant ornament exchange which was a lot of fun!

Ornament from the exchange

In addition to the new ornament, I also acquired a bubble light as a new Christmas decoration!! It was too cute to pass up and it reminds me of the lights we had on our tree when I was a kid.....although they did not have Santa on them.

Bubble light with glitter!

That's about all for this past week!! Only one more week until Christmas!! I hope you are all ready for the big day!!


XOXOX
Jen

The Belly is Growing!

The belly has reached 25 weeks now and is definitely starting to grow more! There are not a whole lot of changes this past week. Apparently the baby may have a hair color now although I was born bald, so maybe not. He has gained a better sense of balance and so he now knows which way is up versus down. That is supposed to mean he will be getting into the head down position although I still feel a lot of rolling around, so I don't think he's chosen a particular position yet.

He should be about 14 inches long now and weigh almost two pounds. This week my uterus is supposed to be about the size of a soccer ball and he has reached the size of a Prairie Dog!

I have been getting into the Holiday spirit this month listening to Christmas music and watching some Christmas movies. We also had our Gift-Wrapping Fundraiser this past Saturday at a local mall. Our location in the mall was less than ideal, so we didn't have a lot of foot traffic but we are doing it again this Friday, so I am working on getting us a better location.

This past weekend was also the Rota Walk. The area of base housing on Andersen Air Force base where the Senior Officers live participates in extensive holiday decorations every year and they have one night where people are welcomed to come and walk the neighborhood. Aside from the lighting displays, there are also residents handing out candy, kids singing and dancing along the way. It was very festive and I took a few photos but my camera does not capture the lights very well.

This last picture shows a plane that is strung on a cable that spans the street. The owners put candy in a compartment in the plane and then as it "flies" across the street, they pull a string to open that compartment and spill candy on the street for the kids. The kids LOVED it!

There were also a couple houses that were playing Christmas movies on one of their exterior walls so you could pull up a chair and watch if you wanted.

Now I have to see what other Holiday Festivities I can explore this week!!

I hope you are all doing great and enjoying your December!!

XOXO

Jen

Week 24!

This week Baby Brinda is now the size of an Atlantic Puffin!! He's a cute guy, isn't he?? Baby is still about a foot long but now weighs about 1.3 pounds...slowly gaining that baby fat he needs to stay warm.

Other changes this past week include better eyesight, better hearing, and the baby's lungs are now viable.

The belly bump is definitely more visible now and I only have a couple pairs of pants/shorts I can still wear from my regular clothes. Maternity clothing is definitely much more comfortable at this point - any pressure on the stomach just is not comfortable!

Other than that, I am feeling good. Still walking the dogs at least 2 miles every morning (unless it's pouring outside). Still doing weight-lifting 2-3 days a week as well. I have a little heartburn once in a while but that's about the only symptom other than the aches and pains that come from the uterus being stretched out. That is definitely much more tolerable than the saline sonogram I had without any painkillers!

I am ready for the holidays already with the bulk of my shopping done and Christmas cards mailed. I have also finished most of my holiday baking! Now we have other holiday events coming up. We had a tree lighting ceremony on base Friday night and there are some holiday displays out in town that I plan to go see. This coming Saturday our FRG is having a gift-wrapping fundraiser at one of the local malls to raise money for the kids social in February. Hopefully it is successful!!

I will leave you with a selfie that Carlton and I took before he left. I forgot to include it in the post last week!! I hope you're all having a great beginning to your December!!

XOXO
Jen