In my valiant attempts to catch up to my current 19-week state as quickly and painlessly for all parties involved, here are my 11-14 week updates! Way longer than intended – guess the notes I randomly type on my phone and in emails to myself really add up to something. Mom, you’re welcome.

11 Weeks: Baby is size of a Brussel Sprout!

At 11 weeks, Matt and I took a little five-year wedding anniversary trip to Salt Lake City and Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks!

How I felt: Somewhere between 9 and 10 weeks, I started waking up in the middle of the night for hours at a time. I couldn’t pinpoint if it was the pregnancy or work stress (we had a major event going on at the time that I was project managing) and therefore I was pretty exhausted all of the time. Not the same sort of body exhaustion I experienced in the first few weeks of being pregnant, but more of a “i can fall asleep within five seconds at 3 p.m.” sort of tired. 

That said, I was SO excited to get away from it all for a bit and feel the feel fresh, crisp air! It was so incredibly beautiful out there. Matt and I walked miles around Salt Lake, hiked the 9-mile perimeter of Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons (slowly acenting up to the lookout, as Matt made sure we stopped every so often so I didn’t lose my breath and witness the fascinating wonders of Yellowstone. We even ran into a few Buffalo! We obviously clicked immediately. 

How my body was changing: While I started feeling bloated around 8 weeks, this was the first week I actually felt like I was developing a small lower gut that I could not suck in! Especially after eating. We had a huge lunch on Thursday when we got in, and I was wearing my favorite pair of jean shorts…that unfortunately have no give. Even unbuttoning them didn’t do any good – I was so uncomfortable. So when we stumbled upon an Athleta store, I beelined it to their casual shorts section and immediately snatched up a pair of black walking shorts – which you will see in MANY a pictures between then and now. They were so comfortable I wore them out of the store…and continued to wear them every day of the trip! It was my first true realization that elastic will never let me down. :)

What I ate: During the part of the week that we were home, I ate a LOT of tomato soup, mainly bc we don’t have a kitchen! And I was too tired to figure anything else out past 7 p.m. when I barely had any appetite anyways. In Salt lake, continued to be hungry in the morning and lunch but have no appetite in the evening for anything. Except I started craving pasta! I can attribute that to both the pregnancy and lack of kitchen…I just wanted my mom’s sauce. (We did go to Old Spaghetti Factory one night to appease my cravings, and let’s just say I was extra thankful for my new stretchy shots!)

Oh – AND watermelon. All of the time. Which is a craving I treasure, as my mom told me that when Mama was pregnant with her, watermelon was all she wanted. So, just another reason to believe that this baby has quite the special guardian angel. Or…that it is Mama reincarnated.  

 

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12 Weeks: Baby is the size of a LIME!

How I felt: Unfortunately, zombie calling hours from 3-5 a.m. were still going strong. I hoped that after our big work event that my stress levels would go down and I would be able to sleep peacefully, but looks like the blame could start shifting towards pregnancy hormones. And even though I was sleeping less, my running workouts started to become more normal and on-pace.

But the biggest energy boost of the week came from telling my mom. She came down to Austin to visit for two weeks, and I had been counting down the moments until her plane touched down for 7 weeks! I really, really wanted to tell her in person, so keeping things under wraps – while extremely difficult at times – was well worth it. I’m going to post the video and story behind telling her (and Matt’s mom!) in a separate post, otherwise this one will go on forever!

How my body changed: That little gut that popped out in Salt Lake continued to grow, and while my Athleta shorts were still on heavy rotation, I began to do the “hair-tie trick” my sister-in-law Janice told me about. Basically, looping a hair tie through and around the button of your jeans. The little extra give was incredible, and the best part was that it worked on all pants and wasn’t at all noticeable under any shirts. Also…hey boobs. 

What I ate: While our cabinets came in the day after we got home from Salt Lake, we still had no countertops or running water in the kitchen. So, my meals revolved heavily around microwave rice pouches, black beans and avocados. Also stuck with soup for dinner, but towards the end of the week I felt sick even looking at a tomato soup container. Peanut butter and jelly crackers and mugs of cereal also started coming into the dinner rotation. 

Favorite moments of the week: Of course, telling my mom. But ALSO, what had to happen to make telling her so special – having our baby announcement pics taken by my INCREDIBLE friend and talented coworker, Alex.

She came over the Sunday before my mom arrived and spent countless hours with Matt and I, enthusiastically trying out every pose idea that I had thought about as well as concepting and creating the cutest moving laundry scene this side of the Mississippi. Check out two of the stop-motion videos she took here! 

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Week 13: Baby is size of a PEAPOD!

How I felt: Still tired. Which made me a bit cranky. And a tad more needy than usual…which may have been triggered by my mom being there to take care of me, in addition to Matt! Now that we had cabinets and countertops in place, my mom helped wash all of our dishes, pots and pans, glasses, etc in our bathroom sink (yes, bc we STILL did not have running water in our kitchen) and helped me go through and organize every kitchen bin we had filled up three months prior. We drove our to Round Top for its Fall Antique Weekend, which was fabulous, of course.

How my body was changing: Hair tie trick all day errrday. The bump, while still little, was beginning to be more and more noticeable to me (but not to many other people). And especially not in these pictures – maybe wasn’t the best idea to wear loose-fitting clothes in these weekly pictures.

What I ate: Nothing that new to update here, although now that we at least had countertops I started to make my green smoothie again every morning (before it was a mix of homemade smoothie or $7 Juiceland smoothie en route to work) and with my mom there, food just started appearing. Like…the loaf of homemade banana bread she brought me, along with two of my favorite Wegmans-brand cereals. Moms are the best.

Best thing I ate all week: My mom’s banana bread. NO DOUBT.

Favorite moment of the week: Probably just seeing my mom’s excitement every day, plus her saying “good night, I love you both!” every night and “bye to you and my little precious baby!” every morning when I left for work. :)

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14 Weeks: Baby is the size of a LEMON!

How I felt: While the mid-sleep wake up calls were still a thing, they began to be less frequent as I entered my 14th week. I was still feeling tired, but some days were way better than others. I continued to run, now at a slightly faster speed than a few weeks prior, and even challenged myself to more difficult (but still safe for baby!) yoga poses.

My energy levels were also boosted by another special visitor: And just as we told my mom the week one week prior, we got to tell Matt’s mom in person as she flew into Austin to visit for the week! She flew in on a Thursday night (okay, technically during my 13 week) and so we planned the same sort of reveal for her (using our house updates as bait) and then showing her the utterly adorable laundry line GIF that Alex made. (Again, I will post just about the mom reveal soon!)

But to top it all off, we ALL went to my 14-week appointment that Friday morning. My doctor was so extremely nice to not only let both moms and Matt in the room with me, but also give me a non-scheduled ultrasound so that we could have our moms get a sneak peak at their newest grandchild. I have to admit, when lying there on the table, pants unbuttoned, stomach out and a full house staring at the TV screen of my insides flashing on the wall, I felt a bit like a living science experiment. But then the focus quickly turned to Baby Izzo. He/she wasn’t moving too much, until the doctor had me lay on my side and she gently poked on my stomach with the sonogram thingy. The baby immediately jolted, almost like a “what the hell man, I was frigging sleeping!” sort of move. Yep, that’s my child.

How my body was changing: No surprise here, my belly continued to slowly expand! Again, which is barely visible in these photos. But the funniest thing for me was to notice the difference in my stomach in the morning (quite normal looking, maybe the appearance of a small gut) to night (full-on stomach hanging out, like I just chugged four beers and ate two boxes of mac and cheese). It was like with every meal I consumed, it just got bigger and bigger, like the food was just hanging out with the baby.

What I ate: Speaking of food, this was my best week yet: MY MOM MADE SAUCE. We finally, finally had cabinets, countertops AND running water/a working stove in our kitchen, and my mom wasted no time getting to work. I actually think I ate three helpings that first night she made it, and then had a few forkfuls at breakfast the next morning and another pound of it the next night. It was all I ever dreamed it would be and so, so much more.

Best thing I ate all week: Think I covered that. ^^^

Favorite memory of the week: Sonogram Fan Club.

Only one more roundup (filled with five more weekly updates) to go before I am caught up enough to only do one at a time…that is, if I get that last roundup posted this week. Let’s go, baby!