20 weeks (in Arizona and Meixco)

Woohoo! Halfway there!

We hit 20 weeks last Friday while in Arizona and it has been an amazing week so far! 

It started with my beautiful cousin's wedding on Saturday. The ceremony was in this cute old little church in the middle of nowhere in Florence, Arizona. A very traditional Catholic ceremony and the first wedding I have ever been to where the groom actually fainted. Yes, fainted. He went stark white then...plop. He hadn't eaten anything that day from being so nervous (and they always worry about the brides). Passing out aside, the wedding was beautiful! The reception was held at this sweet little winery and  was Pinterest-perfect. Serisously, it looked like something straight from a magazine. Including the bride, she was stunning! 

Unfortunately, Jared had to leave on Sunday to go back to work. He has to save his PTO to be home with Baby Rice, so I guess I undertstand. Just stinks he will miss the family trip to Mexico, again. We will get him there one day. 

We got to Mexico on Monday evening and went straight to LaCurva for dinner. My Mexician food aversion is still there but the cheese quesadilla was just perfect to keep mama and Baby Rice content. The rest of the time here has been spent soaking up sun and catching up with family. It has been nice to unplug and relax. 

All the girl cousins at La Casa Del Capitan with a gorgeous view! 

Preggo on the beach. Embrace the bump!

All the cousins wearing (and holding) wedding swag. Sunglasses from mine & Jared's wedding and sandals from Katilin's wedding. 

Baby Size: Banana! About 6.5 inches and 10.2 ounces!

Total weight gain: last I checked it was only 7 pounds. However, with all this travel and eating I have been doing, I suspect more. Too afraid to weigh myself though haha 

Maternity clothes: still loving the maternity jeans and have a few staple items that fit great. This weather is so nice and easy to layer. Getting in a bathing suit was not easy. Luckily, my mom had a suit that fit me perfectly! 

Sleep: still great! Crazy dreams are common. I still have the 7am wake up call for the bathroom which didn't get the time change notice so that means I am up at 5am Arizona time... 

Symptoms: none really. Just loving feeling great still. Headaches are far and few between now! 

Movement: all the time!! I love it!! He is a movin' and a groovin' in my belly! What I love even more, Jared got to feel him and my brother too. I have felt him everyday since we got here. It has been amazing. 

Gender: Baby BOY!!!!! 

Best Moment This Week: my sweet wonderful gracious family threw me a surprise baby shower in Mexico!! I was so shocked. They showered me, Jared and baby boy with so many fun goodies. He is stocked up boooks and is already so loved :) Very thankful for my amazing family! 

Looking Forward To: speding another day in Mexico and a few more days with family in Arizona. Enjoying the time off of work. Trying to relax and not check my work email, too much...Also looking forward to seeing my hubby on Sunday evening! 

Baby Rice Gender Reveal!

When we first started planning this I pictured a balloon or a piñata, maybe a cake. However, my visions were totally blown out of the water. It started one weekend at a tailgate when I was joking with Jared and friends that we should do our gender reveal at half time at an NC State football game. Jared had always joked about proposing at half time so I thought it would be cool to do something like that for the baby. But what happened was so.much.better. A friend of a friend works for the Wolfpack club and she suggested having mr and/or ms Wuf come to our tailgate to reveal the gender. I was sold and totally in love with the idea!

Thus, the best gender reveal ever was born. Thanks to my wonderful friend Emily who coordinated most of it :) we knew that either mr or ms Wuf would be coming to our tailgate! Obviously, mr Wuf meant boy and ms Wuf meant girl. I mean, is there a better way for two alumni to find out the sex of their future Wolfpacker? I think not.

We decorated the tailgate area to make it feel like a traditional gender reveal. Just no baby blue (aka Carolina blue). 

So Baby Rice is a...

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!

I was beyond (happily) surprised! I was almost 100% sure it was going to be a girl. Not that I wanted a girl or that there were signs pointing to girl. Just a feeling. I don't think I have seen a more proud moment on my sweet husband's face. He yelled "ITS A BOY" so loud I think the entire tailgate knew we were having a boy! I was so happy to see him so so SO excited. It was a really special :)

Getting to share that intial moment of surprise with our family and friends was so much fun!

To even more of our surprise, Mr. And Ms. Wuf both came to the tailgate!! They made sure only Mr. Wuf was a part of the reveal but pulled Ms. Wuf in for lots of fun photo ops. They are truly like celebrities to me so it was such an honor to have them be a part of this. 

We have decided to keep the name to ourselves until his birthday. But I am so thrilled to be having a sweet Baby Boy Rice!

Side Note: today marks the exact halfway point in this pregnancy! Woohoo to 20 weeks down! Best moment so far of 20 weeks, Jared finally got to feel our sweet baby boy kicking! His face was priceless! 

18 weeks!

Baby size: sweet potato!

Total weight gain: thankfully only 7 pounds so far! Confirmed by the scale at the doctor's office. Though it feels like much more... 

Maternity clothes: loving the full panel maternity jeans! So comfy. I just wish they didn't slide down as often. Hopefully that will stop oncce I get bigger. Finally found a pair of work maternity pants I like and I could live in them. 

Sleep: still amazing. Some days I am more tired than others. I was able to stay at the fair until 9:30 pm on Sunday which I hadn't done in a couple weeks. But boy do I love my sleep. Taking advantage of that now while I can :) 

Symptoms: headaches are getting less frequent. But still feel great. If it weren't for my increase in bra size and belly growth I wouldn't know I was pregnant... 

Cravings: Frostys! I could eat one every night. I think I am considering this my first real pregnancy craving considering I have sent Jared out multiple times now to just get a frosty. My doctor's response "there are worse things in life." I take that as the green light for a frosty at least every other night. 

Movement: I am pretty sure I am feeling those first little movements! At our scan they told me my placenta is towards my back so it would be normal for me to feel them this early. I would describe it kind of like popping popcorn.

Gender: since I am blogging late, we already know! But the gender reveal will be a post on its own

Best moment this week: I had two again this week... 

1. date night at the fair with the sweetest husband ever. I LOVE the fair. He just tolerates it. He took me on the last night it was in town so I could see the lights, ride the farris wheel and of course, eat fried food! He really is the greatest baby daddy. 

2. Our anatomy scan! We got the ok that the baby is healthy and growing right on schedule. Actually, measuring 3 days early, but they said that was completely normal for size and weight to flucutate during this time. All I know is this little 9 ounce tiny human growing in my belly is the most precious thing I have ever seen. I can't thank our wonderful ultrasound tech enough for getting some of the sweetest pictures of our little babe. I will treasure these.

The ultrasound tech said we had a very active baby. They were moving all around during the scan. But, she was able to get a solid picture of the gender! Jared ancd I told her from the beginning we didn't want to know. So, she had us close our eyes and wait while she took the pictures and wrote the gender down. She sealed it tight in the envelope for us to deliver and wait. She could tell us that she was sure it was one or the other. Thankful for cooperative baby that day! 

Signed, sealed, delivered. Now we just had to wait 48 hours to know the gender of our baby!