Nineteen.

How Far Along: 19 weeks

Total Weight Gain: 10.5 pounds.  I lost a half a pound this week.  Normally if I lost a half a pound I'd probably throw myself a party and then go buy myself a pair of shoes to celebrate (or eat a Frisch's hot fudge cake, which in turn would negate the half pound loss).  But since I'm prego I'm like ummm...yay?!?

Maternity Clothes: I had a semi-nervous breakdown on Tuesday of last week after shopping at Gap and Old Navy with my sister.  Their maternity sections are both the size of my cubical at work.  On top of that, the only sizes they have in the store are L and XL.  And on top of that, my sister only gets her discount in-store.  So in order to take advantage, I have to buy XLs.  No thank you!

Being the shopaholic that I am, I started getting really depressed.  I was like how am I going to outfit this growing body for the next 5 months without looking like a frump-a-dump.  Thankfully MS helped talk me into buying some good (albeit a little more expensive) pieces that I can just wear over and over again and still look nice.  In turn, I kind of went nuts shopping online.  My bad.  Rosie Pope Maternity online had 50% off everything plus free shipping, so I went ahead and ordered 5 items that will hopefully last me until Monkey comes.  I got several long sleeve shirts and two dresses.  After the discount, they were not any more expensive than things I have seen at Target or Motherhood.  Even though we aren't talking Gap Outlet prices, I still felt pretty good about really nice shirts for less than $25.  I ordered everything in a medium in hopes that gives me room to grow.  Loft also had 40% off so I ordered items from there too.  I actually rocked one of the Loft dresses at work today and think I'll probably continue to wear it even when I'm not pregnant because it's so cute.  That is unless my big belly stretches it out beyond any capability of wearing it when I'm back to normal size again.  I also ordered a few more things from asos.com.  Maybe if I get real fancy I'll take some pictures of the stuff I bought and post them on here later.  Don't hold your breath though.  Sorry about spending a whole paycheck on clothes, Jake, but you know, this whole baby growing in my belly thing is your fault ;) 

**disclaimer:  I did not actually spend a whole paycheck on maternity clothes, it's just funny to make Jake squirm about my shopping habit.

Sleep: Blahhhhhhhhhhh.  I woke up twice to pee last night so I hardly slept.  I bought a body pillow hoping that would help me get more comfortable, but it basically feels like a third person in our bed and I do not enjoy it.  I hope Target will return it without the bag.  The next 5 months pf sleep are going to suckkkk!  And then after that, I'm never going to sleep again.  I don't really think I enjoyed sleep enough while I was able to get it.

Best Moment(s) This Week: We spent Saturday with our college friends on my parents' boat.  After our boating adventure we all came back to our house and made a feast together, then roasted s'mores outside by our fire pit.  It was a blasty!

Gender: We are on a one week countdown now people.  I can hardly stand the suspense any more.  I really don't know how people go the entire time without finding out.  I would literally have a heart attack from the anxiety.  I have had several people now put their "girl" word in, so at least I've found a few souls who believe Monkey could actually be a female.

Movement: Monkey is now the size of an "heirloom tomato" (whatever that is) or a mango.  Still no "flutters" or gassy feeling movements in this belly. 

Food Cravings: I still just have the appetite of an NFL linebacker.  Keeping it in check is quite the challenge.  If my thighs are the size of Texas come December, please don't be alarmed.  At least I warned you.

Symptoms: I have three new lovely symptoms to report.  I noticed last week that the skin on my forearms and my shins is literally FLAKING off.  It's like I'm peeling, but I haven't been sunburned there.  If you've seen me, you know I am rocking the pale princess look this summer.  WTF.  It is so disgusting.  The worst part is that I can kind of see the dead skin when I'm just looking at my arms or legs, so of course I'm tempted to take my fingernail and start picking at it.  Then eventually I end up scratching the whole area until I have huge flakes of skin falling off my arms and legs and getting all over my clothes.  It looks like I have body dandruff.  SICK SICK SICK.

The next super awesome symptom was a near fainting experience I had on Friday morning.  I was at Target in the checkout line and all of a sudden felt dizzy and lightheaded.  I started sweating like a wildebeast and was praying the entire way to my car that I wouldn't pass out cold in the parking lot.  It was horrible.  I have no idea what caused it, but I have never passed out or felt like that before, so I have to assume this is related to pregnancy.  SUPER.

The most exciting symptom of the three is my first bout of sciatica!  Wahooooooo!! SIKE.  Seriously, could there be anything enjoyable about pregnancy?  Apparently not.  Friday night I stood up from the couch and could hardly walk because I had a shooting pain from my lower back down to my mid thigh, all concentrated on my right side.  I hobbled up my stairs to my bedroom like a 97 year old lady. It hurt so bad I was in tears (I don't cry - my husband does - I don't).  I'm sincerely hoping this is going to be an every once in a while situation, because if I have to deal with this every day for the next 5 months I'm going to end up begging for bed rest so I have an excuse not to walk.  Ugh.

What I Miss: Running.  Sleeping on my stomach.  Not having to eat every 20 minutes.  Not getting winded after 2 minutes of exercise.  Drinking alcohol.  I'm going to be honest - I really thought the boozing craving would have passed by now, but it has not come close to passing.  I still salivate over other people's beers and would love nothing more than to order a JUMBO margarita from Rio Grande.  Nonetheless, my conscience (and everything I read online) tells me it would be a bad idea, so I guess I can make it 5 more months without tying one on.

What I am Looking Forward to: We are going to the Reds game on Wednesday with some of my extended family, that will be a good time.  Also: the weekend.  More on this in one hot second.

Noteworthy Items:

-My sweet doggy went to the vet on Wednesday (she wasn't so sweet when I had to have two vet techs carry her into the office because she wouldn't budge her 75 pound ass off the sidewalk, but I digress).  They think she tore a ligament in her "wrist".  She is supposed to be resting and taking anti inflammatory pills.  We have also tried to ice her a few times, but she doesn't like that too much.  I hope she stops limping within 4 weeks because the next step will be a splint and I really really don't want to try to deal with that.

-We (we = me, my mom and my dad) painted the nursery on Friday.  It looks really good.  I love the gray color we chose (see the belly pic from this week for the color) and I think it's going to be really easy to match bedding whether Monkey turns out to be a boy or a girl.

-Speaking of the nursery, our crib came in.  While I'm really excited to pick it up and get it set up in the nursery, I'm also slightly annoyed.  I ordered it two weeks ago.  They told me it would take 6-10 weeks.  Normally I wouldn't care, but I only have 10 days to pick it up, the warehouse is only open 3 days a week, and they offer discounts on other items in the store if you buy your crib there, but only until you pick up your crib.  Since I have to pick it up this Saturday, I don't even know the gender in order to pick out any bedding.  We haven't even begun to research strollers or anything else the store has, so I feel a little gipped.  I plan to ask if there's any way they can give me another week or two on the discounts, but I'm also not holding my breath.  We'll see how they handle a crazy upset pregnant lady who loves nothing more than not paying full price for anything.

-I think I am in serious "nesting" mode.  I am on a "fix everything in our house" kick, and I'm not going to stop until it's all done.

-Since I'm going to be huge and unable to toast our 5 year anniversary in October, I have made Jake promise me that we can go somewhere super awesome for our 6 year anniversary.  He agreed.  I'm noting this on my blog so I can pull this out next year when he says we don't have any money because we spent it all on diapers and he doesn't want to leave the baby.  Then I'll just say "SEE I TOLD YOU SO!"