A few first purchases

I want to document all of the first purchases we make, so I can look back and remember some of Aiden's firsts. First off, a couple of weeks ago, Aiden got his first outfit and shoes from his Lolly (Holly, Eric's mom), and also a pair of shoes from his Uncle Joel!

A little Texas onesie from Lolly.

The little onesie will look so cute with these little Texas shoes from Uncle Joel!  They will definitely have to get a picture together in their Texas gear!

Of course any son of Eric's needs his own pair of Golf shoes!  These sweet ones are from Lolly. 

Since Eric's outta town this weekend, I went a little crazy buying some baby stuff myself...not anything major. We are obviously waiting until after showers for most things other than furniture, but I couldn't resist a sweet little outfit that I saw at Carter's the first time we went after we found out the gender.  Carter's has some of the sweetest little crab outfits that say "pinch me".  I love them.  I had to go back and buy this one:

The little long sleeve one piece says "pinch me".  So sweet!  Because I will be doing a lot of just that!  And now I'm done buying clothes until after showers.  :)

I also bought Aiden his first set of books this weekend.  I bought some board books, and some of my favorite pictures books that I could find at Half Price Books and with Bonus Points from Scholastic.  Here's the beginnings of Aiden's library:

Board Book.  I love Skippy Jon Jones!  Found it at Half Price Books.

Another Skippy Jon Jones Board Book.   Found it at Half Price Books.

A sweet Puppy counting board book.  Half Price Books.

Anything with Dogs!

Another sweet Dog book.  Board book.  I love the Dinosaur books!

This was a cute Dog book I found at Half Price Books.

A favorite I found at Half Price Books.  

A MUST have Board Book.

Ordered this board book set on Scholastic.

 I also found some of my favorite picture book series at Half Price Books and online with Scholastic.  I love the rhythm and rhyme in these books.  It makes them so fun to read aloud, and for kiddos to read along with you.  These are the ones I found:

Found this one at Half Price Books.

Probably my favorite.  Ordered with Bonus Points from Scholastic.

Scholastic!

Scholastic!

Another cute one.  Found at Half Price Books.

Any son of Eric's will play golf, but any son of mine will read, and LOVE it!  I can't wait to read these to Aiden, and watch him respond to the rhyme and repetition, and eventually read along with me!

Week 20

Week: 20

Total weight gain: 15 lbs.

Stretch marks? So far, so good.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  We had our Gender Reveal Party and found out that we are having a Boy!!  We have chosen the name Aiden Alan.  Alan is Eric's middle name, so it's special.  

We also got his first little outfits from family at the party.  I'll share:

We got this cute little number from Eric's Aunt Debi and Uncle Mike.

My parents bought this cute little hoodie for us while we were at Target that night.

My parents also bought us these sweet little polo onesies from Carter's

And they bought us this sweet little button down.

This sweet little John-John was our gift from my parents at the party.  I love it.

Eric and I also went out that night and bought our first outfit for the baby.  It was so much fun to finally get to buy baby clothes for us!  We bought him this little button down onesie with matching navy pants.  It matched the shirt Eric was wearing at the party, and seemed appropriate.

Isn't it so cute!!  Just like Daddy.

Miss Anything? Having a full wardrobe of clothes.  I feel like I wear the same things over and over, but I refuse to spend much more money on clothes that I will only wear for a few more months. 

Food Cravings: I am trying to wean myself off of sweets now.  It's tough.  This baby is definitely Eric's baby with all the junk food I crave!

Movement:  I felt the baby move the night before Eric and I had our 20 week appointment.  I had him feel, and he too could feel faint movements.  It's the coolest feeling ever.

Belly Button in or out? In, but it's starting to flatten out.  Weird.

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Pretty Happy.  Spring does that to me. :)

Looking forward to: Painting and buying furniture for the baby room!

Gender Reveal Party!

Our Gender Reveal party was a success.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my parents, and I am so thankful they were able to come down and be a part of it with me.  We had a lot of family show up, and I am so thankful for everyone who took the time to come!  Here is a little recap of today's event:

We both wore blue, feeling fairly confident in our guess that it was a boy, although eric wore a pink pin--just in case.

Brinkley wore a bow-tie of both colors...he doesn't care.  He just wants a friend!

We picked up our cake from Southern Buttacup.  These two ladies did a fabulous job!

Isn't it pretty?!

He or She??

The cake set up.  We had chalk boards where people could give name suggestions.

The entryway - guests voted and put on a pin to represent their vote.

Old Wives Tales - to help with predictions.

The food table, separated by Sweet, salty, and Fresh foods.

Yummy pink and blue cupcakes!

Water bottles with special labels.

Some of the sweets.

Guests began to come in!  Here is baby's Uncle Joel, with Eric's uncle Edward and cousin Sebastian.

Let the voting begin!  Here is Ryan and Jordan placing their votes!

Counting how many girl votes.

Jackson meets Brinkley.  They were best friends today.

Jordan suggesting a name for the baby.

Getting ready to cut the cake!!!  EEEK!  We were a little anxious.

Photo Courtesy of Debi Kirksey.
She had a pretty good angle.  Not many people in the room knew the gender at this point besides us!

I love Eric's face here.  Priceless.

IT'S A BOY!!  Eric is pumped!
Photo courtesy of Debi Kirksey.

IT'S A BOY!!!

 This party was so much fun.  Knowing that we are about to have a little boy makes it all so much more real now.  We went out tonight to Carters and bought our first little outfit for our little Aiden.  We are very excited, and now the real work begins!  Thank you to all of our family who came and helped make this day so special!

Week 18

Week: 18
Total weight gain: 12 lbs.

Maternity clothes: My only problem with maternity clothes is that I haven't been able to find any cute bootcut jeans.  I wanted to wear my boots to the rodeo last week, but couldn't.  For some reason, Motherhood Maternity thinks that tall girls don't get pregnant. All their jeans are too short.  I only wear straight leg or skinny and roll them up.  Oh well...It's 90 degrees out today, so I won't really be needing my jeans for too much longer.

Stretch marks? So far, so good.
Sleep: THESE CRAZY PREGNANCY DREAMS!  It makes going to sleep that much more exciting.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  It was Spring Break for one thing.  We also went to the rodeo with Steven and Natalie and ate some yummy chocolate chip cookies - which I had been craving.  I really wanted to try the fried cookie dough, but knew I couldn't - But Oh it looked Sooo good.  ALSO - Big exciting news for the Ramirez family - JOEL AND CANDICE ARE ENGAGED!  Woo Hoo!!  We are so excited to have Candice a part of the family!  She gets to be Aunt Candice now, or Aunt Candi, which we thought was pretty cute too!

Miss Anything? Being able to do things on my own.  I love Spring time, and I just wanna get out and pull weeds and help Eric fertilize and mulch.  I've also made some new curtains for our office, and have to wait for Eric to hang them for me. This will be the first year that we will hire someone to do our mulch and flowers in our flower beds.  I just don't want to make Eric do all that by himself.  

Food Cravings: I haven't really craved one thing continually.  It's actually kindof annoying.  I'll see something on TV and HAVE to have it, or someone will mention something, and I immediately crave it, but it's only for a day or two, and then I've moved on.  So THIS WEEK I've craved:  Pink and White Fudge Circus Animal Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Root Beer Floats (Thanks Candice!).

Movement:  Not yet.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Nope.

Have you started to show yet: Yes.  I seem to have really popped after week 17.  

Gender hopes or predictions: Boy.  I have scoped out the cake place for our gender reveal cake!  I can't wait to find out!

Belly Button in or out? In, but it's gettin there.  So weird.  I also have that weird line down the center of my belly now.

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Pretty Happy.  Spring does that to me. :)

Looking forward to: Our Gender Reveal Party on the 30th!

Week 17

I haven't posted since week 14, because Eric has been working so late and hasn't been able to get a picture of me.  So here is week 17...quite a difference from week 14!

Brinkley wanted to be in the picture.  He's been pretty clingy lately, but isn't he cute?!

Week: 17
Total weight gain:  At my 16 week appointment I had gained 10 lbs., BUT I was wearing my cowgirl boots, and the nurse didn't have me take them off, so it's probably actually 6 lbs.  A total of 12 lbs. 

Maternity clothes: Oh, I am all into the maternity clothes now.  Thanks to my sweet friend Maren, I've got quite a selection!  I love maternity pants - so comfy!  I'm afraid I won't want to go back to my normal pants!  My favorite new purchase is this basic maternity tank top from Target.  I got one in gray, white, and black.  So comfy.

Stretch marks? Nope, and I am determined to not get them.
Sleep: I am definitely loving my sleep, but it is starting to get more uncomfortable.  I've read so much about how you shouldn't sleep on your back, and that's how I normally end up sleeping.  It's been really hard just sleeping on my side.  Once i start to fall asleep, I start to roll onto my back.  I made Eric sleep right up next to me so that i couldn't, but I found myself fighting against him to roll over.    
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  Or best moment of the past few weeks - Hearing baby's heartbeat - 133 bpm.  Eric and I also went shopping looking at baby gliders.  We decided to wait to buy until we find out the gender.  I like this one if it's a girl:

This is from Babies R' Us.  It also has an ottoman that's sold separately.

 I just want a plain white or other neutral color glider if it's a boy.  One like this one would work.

From Babies R' Us.  

Miss Anything? Sunny Side Up Eggs - Eric and I went to Cracker Barrell, and I really wanted sunny side up eggs.

Food Cravings: I've always hated Pepsi.  I really never drank carbonated drinks anyways, but if I did, it was Coke.  I tried some of Eric's Pepsi one night, and that was it.  I'm also eating a lot of Bagels - Cinnamon Swirl, and Panera Bread's Cinnamon Crunch.

Movement:  I really can't tell.  Sometimes when I lie still, I think I feel something, but I just don't know.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Nope, thank goodness!

Have you started to show yet: Yes, and now people have started to touch it, which is really weird.  It's really weird to have someone walk up to you with their eyes on your belly instead of on you.

Gender hopes or predictions: I still think it might be a boy, but I would be happy to have a girl too, because of all of the cutsie things I could do.

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time?  I'm mostly happy, but now that I'm bigger, I have a hard time looking in the mirror, and not feeling sad.  Eric's really sweet though.  He likes my preggo body, so I just have to forget about it, and just work really hard to get my old body back after baby!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender at our gender reveal party on March 30th!!  Eric and I will have to wait a whole week to know.  Our ultrasound is that Monday, and we are not finding out until the party.  We are going to take the results to a bakery and have them bake a cake with either pink or blue inside.  We will cut the cake and find out at the same time as our family!  I can't wait to start buying baby stuff! :)

14 Weeks

Ok, so I skipped week 13, partly because I was too tired, and partly because 13 is an unlucky number! :)
So here we are at week 14:

Week: 14
Total weight gain: I still don't have a scale - don't plan to get one either.  We'll know if I've gained much more at my 16 week appt. :)

Maternity clothes: The hair elastic isn't cutting it anymore, and the Be Band has gotten too tight, so I broke down and went maternity clothes shopping.  I have been so much more comfortable at work in my stretchy pants!  I also have some Maternity Yoga pants that are sooooo comfy!  I wear them every day after work.

Stretch marks? Nope, and I am determined to not get them.
Sleep: I STILL want to sleep all day everyday - ESPECIALLY now that I'm sick with a cough/cold and can't take anything good for it.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  Realizing there are some super cute AND comfy maternity clothes out there.

Miss Anything? MY ENERGY.  I just always feel BLAH!

Food Cravings: Still Mostly Salty.  Recently, I've been craving Olive Garden breadsticks.  I've also craved a sweet thing here and there.  I had Eric run and get me a King Cake the other day - it just sounded SO yummy!  

Movement:  Nope.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Just all this extra mucus in my throat.  UGH!

Have you started to show yet: Yes, with a form fitting shirt on.

Gender hopes or predictions: I have always wanted to have a boy first.  I loved growing up with an older brother, AND I really want a little version of Eric!  I still think it might be a boy.

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time?  This past two weeks the emotions have hit me.  Nothing wild or crazy, just crying uncontrollably about silly things - like the Clydesdale commercial during the Super Bowl, or when Sarah (the girl with one arm) got sent home on the Bachelor.  I never really cry much unless it's something major, so this is new for me!

Looking forward to: Getting over this cold!

Week 12

I have not blogged in months, but I've always wanted to blog throughout my pregnancy to document my growth, feelings, etc.

I have to preface this post by saying that I stole this idea from Pinterest.  I love the idea of documenting your growing belly using a chalkboard.  I did add my own little flare by adding in current feelings and cravings.

This is my first post of my first pregnancy (it's so exciting!).

Week: 12
Total weight gain: I never really weighed myself before, but since my 8 week appointment, I've only gained 1/2 a pound. :(  KInda freaked out about that.  Went straight to the grocery store and bought lots of food with protein.  I think total weight gain is probably about 6 lbs.  Yes, let's go with that. ;)

Maternity clothes: Ordered some maternity pants, but have not had to wear them yet.  Just holding my pants together with a hair elastic.  I'm also using the Be Bands from Target.  They help to hide the fact that I'm not buttoning my pants!

Stretch marks? Nope, and I am determined to not get them.
Sleep: I want to sleep all day everyday
Wedding rings on or off? On

Best moment this week:  Heard the baby's heart beat. 144 bpm.

Miss Anything? Running.  At the beginning of my pregnancy, I had low progesterone, and was told to take it easy.  I haven't run in two months, and I'm going crazy!  I asked my doctor if I could start up again, and although hesitant, she said I could soon. Don't worry Mom, I'll take it slow! :)

Food Cravings: Mostly Salty.  I've made Eric take me for Whataburger fries on numerous occasions.  I'm also loving Kettle Cooked Bar-B-Q Chips.

Movement:  Nope.

Anything make you queasy or sick: Haven't had morning sickness (thank goodness!), but certain smells and foods do make me a bit nauseous.  I haven't been too keen on meat (hence the need for more protein), and any strong smelling foods.

Have you started to show yet: Yes, but mostly at night, after I've eaten all day.

Gender hopes or predictions: I have always wanted to have a boy first.  I loved growing up with an older brother, AND I really want a little version of Eric!  Based on Old Wives Tales (which I know aren't all that accurate, but it's fun!), I think it might be a boy!  I haven't been sick, and I crave salty, not sweet.  We'll see at week 20!

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Although Eric might disagree, I've been Happy most of the time. I do get VERY grouchy if I'm hungry though.

Looking forward to: Actually looking pregnant and not just fat!