21 Weeks

How far along? 21 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs up

Maternity clothes? Still rocking a mix of both. I can't actually believe I am still able to button my regular jeans if I want to...but I can! I can see the bump growing little by little, but some people are still telling me I barely look pregnant. I think it depends on what I'm wearing. Some things hide it, and some things accentuate it.

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Sleeping great this week! I started using a long, extra pillow in between my legs and that has made a world of difference.
Best moment this week: is happening right now! The carpeting for Mason's nursery is being installed as I type, which means we can officially start setting everything up throughout the next few days! My mom also purchased the glider & ottoman for us yesterday, which I am so excited and feeling so grateful for. I can't wait to see how that, and all the furniture looks in the room!

Miss Anything? Not really. I survived my first party this weekend where everyone else was drinking but me (and one other friend who is expecting...I was very happy she was there!) Truthfully didn't even miss the booze. Especially when I woke up the next morning feeling great!

Movement: still kind of the same. Feeling the same light flutters and movements, just more and more often (most often at night).

Food cravings: wasn't really craving anything in particular this week (as long of I have my daily Iced Black Tea Lemonade from Starbucks). That was an expensive habit to start...woops.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope 

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Nothing to complain about. I've been feeling great! 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy as a clam

Looking forward to: setting up the nursery this week!

Baby Kazak has a name!

Like I mentioned in my 19 week update, our baby boy officially has a name & I am just too excited about it to hold off sharing it. We will be naming little baby Kazak...

Mason Gregory Kazak

 

{Mason saying HI!}

I'll admit, I'm one of those woman who has been brainstorming baby names and making little lists on my phone for quite a while. So since finding out we're expecting, I've been a little obsessed over finding the perfect name for our baby. But I'll be the first to tell you...while it is so much fun, the baby name game is hard work! (Especially if you and your significant other are not necessarily compatible in it, like us.) So here is the little story of some of the names we considered, but didn't end up using and how we came to find our perfect baby name.

We started out with each of us making a short list of our personal favorite girl and boy names. For boy names, Greg's list was simple. There was only one name on it: Adam. Greg has always told me he liked this name for a boy and wanted to use it if we ever had one. It was the name of his Grandpa (on his Dad's side) who he adored, and he also just happens to really like that name. I have never been convinced on this name for a couple reasons. While I can appreciate the thought behind it, I have personally never liked the idea of naming a boy the same first name as his father or another family member. There already was an Adam Kazak, and I wanted my baby to have his own name. I couldn't get over that. And I just have not been able to grow fond of that name for whatever reason. It's just not my favorite, so there was really no convincing me. 

The number one name on my boy name list was Benjamin (Ben). I think this is such a classic & handsome name for a boy. And I think there is just something sweet & simple about the name Ben for a boy. But, I could never really convince Greg on this name. He thinks it's kind of boring. I have always adored the name Graham and had been mentioning it for a while. But there was never any way I was winning on this one. In Greg's mind all he could think of was a graham cracker...and I gotta admit Graham 'Cracker' Kazak isn't a nickname I would want my son to have! Same with the name Cole. It's a name I have always liked, but in Greg's mind, Cole = a lump of coal.

We knew we were pretty much back to the drawing board, so we just started talking about names together and trying to think of one we both liked. I'm not sure who came up with it, but one day while we were in the car, one of us randomly mentioned the name Noah, and we both really liked it! This was the first name we actually agreed on, and I could actually see us using until...

My mom bought us this Baby Names 2015 book from Babies R Us to help us think of names. Right away, we saw that Noah is the #1 name right now in A LOT of the states. Meaning, our son could potentially show up to the first day of school and meet 5 other Noahs that are in his class. And I wasn't crazy about the thought of that. So we just started going through this book and saying names aloud that we liked. We ended up coming across the name Logan, and both liked it. However, we are friends with a couple who have a son named Logan, so we crossed that one off pretty quickly.

And then there was Mason. I think I saw it and said something like, "how about Mason? I like that!" To which Greg responded with something like..."Eh, it's okay." Keep in mind all this time, we were also trying to make a list of girl names, since we didn't know the gender yet. We ended up deciding to leave it at that until we found out what we were having and could eliminate an entire category of names. 

Meanwhile, I saw an old family friend one night and she was asking me all about my pregnancy, if we were finding out the gender, and what names we were considering. I told her Greg liked Adam...I liked Ben...we were thinking about Noah. And she mentioned that she always loved the name Mason. I told her we actually discussed that name but I wasn't sure how Greg felt about it. But something about hearing her say it made me want to bring it up to him again. The next day, I told him about seeing her and that she suggested the name Mason...to which he then replied..."I actually really like that!" From that day on, I think the seed was planted in both of our minds, and was rooting itself pretty strongly. 

The day I received the panorama results and found out the gender, I was with my mom. So I asked her what she thought of the name Mason. She said she loved it! So that made me grow even more confident in it. I came home to share the exciting news with Greg...we're having a baby boy! "Mason?" he asked. And I confirmed. We knew it was right, just like that.

As for the middle name, Greg has always wanted to use his full first name as his first son's middle name, which was something I was more than happy to oblige with (it's hard enough picking one name!!) So Mason Gregory Kazak is it!

 

{proudly displaying it in the nursery already!} 

20 Weeks {We're Halfway There!}

 

{There's our sweet baby boy!}

How far along? 20 weeks, 5 days. I can't believe I'm already halfway through my pregnancy. (And I know this next half is just going to fly by!)
Total weight gain/loss: up 9 (maybe 10) pounds? I'm sure I've gained at least a pound this week considering my appetite and eating habits have been outrageous.

Maternity clothes? Still mixing and matching a little bit of both. I'm usually either wearing maternity jeans or my regular ones with the rubber band trick and a maternity or non-maternity top (a lot of them still fit) with a cardigan over it. I like the look of my little bump peaking out from the cardigan.

Stretch marks? Nope. I've decided to go ahead and splurge and get the Mustella Stretch Marks Intensive Action Cream. I was originally thinking about purchasing the Double Action cream, but then I found this one that is specifically for fading existing stretch marks and can be used to help prevent new ones. Since I've mentioned I am seeing some old stretch marks becoming more visible again on my belly, I'm hoping to fade those and prevent any new ones from forming.

Sleep: Sleep is definitely starting to get a little more uncomfortable. Starting to get stiff from laying on my side & sick of the midnight pee breaks.
Best moment this week: Seeing our baby boy at our 20 week ultrasound & hearing that everything is looking perfect! (I'm obsessed with the pictures from it, I can't stop looking at them!) 

Miss Anything? not worrying about what position I am sleeping in 

Movement: Yep! His movements aren't super obvious yet...but I'm definitely feeling them more frequently. And we know for sure he is doing a lot of flipping & kicking in there!

Food cravings: Iced Black Tea Lemonades (unsweetened) are my serious new addiction. I've pretty much been making an excuse to go by a Starbucks daily to get one. And rice krispie treats. No idea where these random cravings like this come from, but I just had to make those this week...and then proceed to eat almost the entire pan by myself. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nada 

Gender: For sure having a baby boy!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Feeling baby's movements more often, increased appetite & need to pee

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happier than I've ever been in my entire life! 

Looking forward to: the carpeting being installed in the nursery so I can really starting putting things together in there! (And to have a home for all the boxed up furniture and bags of baby goods that are piling up throughout the rest of the house!)

19 Weeks

How far along? 19 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain/loss: Up 8 pounds

Maternity clothes? Doing a mix and match of both. Regular jeans are still fitting (& buttoning), but I'm doing that little rubber band trick to make them more comfortable

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Slept pretty great this week (minus the midnight bathroom breaks)
Best moment this week: My appointment on Friday. Got to hear our little man's good, strong heartbeat, and my doctor told me I am looking and doing great!

Miss Anything? not really

Movement: Yes! Definitely started to feel some kicks here and there this week

Food cravings: Chipotle steak burritos, chips & guac, Starbucks butter croissants & Shaken Iced Black Tea Lemonades. Yummmm!!! (Eating habits haven't been the best the past few days obvs)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nada 

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: All good things this week. Feeling great and craving terrible but yummy food & feeling kicks and movements 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Being halfway through (20 weeks) on Thursday & having my 20 week ultrasound very soon

In other news, the painting is done in the nursery and the carpeting is ordered! I am so excited for it to go in and for Greg to get all the furniture set up. I will post pictures and more info once it is! That room is officially no longer the 'spare bedroom'...it's the baby's room!

AND...baby has a name! We have been fairly certain about this name since the day we found out that we were having a boy. But now we have started referring to him by it. So I think it's safe to say, it's going to stick! But just in case...I'm still going to wait a little while to share it with the world. 

Nursery Planning and Inspiration

Nursery progress is officially under way! And I can't believe how fast everything is falling into place. Not that is hasn't been weeks and weeks in the making, (my mom and I have been shopping around since the day after we told her we were expecting). Funny enough, even though I really thought I was having a girl for the longest time, I had everything picked out and decided upon for a boy, and barely anything decided on for a girl. So once we found out it was a boy, I was ready to hit the ground running! And that's just what we did. 

We found out it's a boy on Thursday, March 26, so Greg and I went right that Sunday and ordered all of the nursery furniture! I was told that depending on which set we chose, it could take up to 4 months to receive our order. Because of this, and the fact that we had a coupon for 15% off the furniture that was good through that Tuesday, we decided to go ahead and order right away. To our surprise, they called the next Thursday, April 2 to let us know that our furniture was already in and ready for pick up! So that really got the ball rolling. 

Greg, his brother Steven, and my dad all went on Monday morning to pick up the furniture and bring it to our house. We realized we really needed to get the room painted and carpeted ASAP, unless we wanted these huge boxes laying around our house for weeks taking up space. So Greg called a family friend that my dad recommended for the paint job, and he said he could start the job the next day, if we could have the paint picked out! Off to Benjamin Moore we went, and spent the rest of the day matching up and debating colors. The job is just about complete as I'm writing this post, and we have a carpeting consultation set up for Saturday. So like I said...everything is falling into place really fast! 

Before I have the nursery practically done, I first wanted to share some of the nursery inspiration I had found for {IF} it was a boy! Like every woman of a certain age, I of course had my (secret) Pinterest board for dreaming about babies and nurseries. For a boy, all of the nursery pictures I loved ended up having a common theme: vintage travel. And a similar color scheme: tans, greys, and light blue. 

I think one of the first pictures I found that gave me the travel theme bug was this one with the world map wall mural. The light blue background with tan map are the exact colors I gravitate towards for a baby boy's nursery. I'm obsessed with this! I knew that I wouldn't be able to replicate it in our nursery, because we will be painting over wood paneling, and the lines going down the paneling wouldn't work as well as a flat wall. But I would definitely like to incorporate the map idea in some way. (I also love the suitcase on the bookshelf!)

I also love the look of this map print I found on Etsy. It's the perfect colors and the perfect saying. There will certainly be plenty of adventures awaiting our little boy as he begins his life (and for us in our new life as first time parents!) This may or may not be making an appearance in our baby boy's nursery.

What better accent to a vintage travel themed room than some vintage suitcases! I love this idea of stacking a few suitcases, opening the top one and filling it with decor. I will definitely be replicating this idea in my own way! (The perfect globe is another must-have item on my list!)

 

Here are just a couple examples of the overall look I'm going for in the room. I love the look of a neutral, light, airy and elegant nursery, with a little bit of a masculine edge. As I've mentioned...mostly light greys, tans, and pretty pale blue. If you flip through an RH Baby & Child catalog (my favorite for inspiration), they show a lot of neutrals with just a touch of pink or blue...and beautiful lighting. Just like the pictures below! ( And I LOVE the neutral, animal print rug on the right!)

Finally, just a look at the nursery furniture we chose, the Truly Scrumptious by Heidi Klum set in Mist. We got all three pieces, the crib (with full-size bed conversion kit), the double dresser with changing table topper, and the chifferobe. This was the set I loved since the first time we went looking around our Babies R Us. Greg had a little concern that it wasn't masculine looking enough. But I just loved the neutral elegance of it. In the end, it just looked best with everything we had picked out and the entire look I was going for. It's the prefect 'greige' (grey/beige) color and I'm just absolutely obsessed with it

     

So there is a little peak inside of my brain as far as what I'm thinking for our little man's nursery. I have thought for a long time that this would be the perfect theme for a baby boy's nursery and had found a lot of inspiration for it. I'm so excited to be able to bring it to life!

18 Weeks

How far along? 18 weeks, 6 days
Total weight gain/loss: I think I'm still just up about 7 pounds...maybe 8. I'll know for sure at my appointment on Friday.

Maternity clothes? Doing a mix and match of both right now. I can still button my regular jeans, but it's officially beyond uncomfortable for me. I could bust out the rubber band trick and still wear them if I really wanted to, but now that I have gotten used to the maternity jeans...I don't know why I would. Maternity bottoms are so, so comfy! Still wearing all my looser fitting normal tops, and mixing in some maternity shirts at times.

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Not having any trouble falling asleep, but I do keep waking up several times a night to pee...so annoying! And still having trouble sleeping on my left side.
Best moment this week: Starting work on our little man's nursery! (More on this in my next post!)

Miss Anything? Every once in a while, I would like a sub with some deli meat on it...

Movement: Still waiting for it to be obvious...hopefully soon!

Food cravings: I've eaten too much food this week to even crave anything. I love a nice, family holiday...but I'm glad that all the extra food is finally cleared out of my fridge after today.

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope

Gender: It's A Boy!

Labor Signs: no
Symptoms: I've forgotten to mention my hot mess of a face lately. Acne has definitely been a symptom for me during this pregnancy. But I think I may have found some good products to finally get it under control. Heartburn (hasn't been as bad this week). Also, I've had one or two nosebleeds recently...(have read this is normal during this stage of pregnancy). 

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On, but getting harder to slide off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!!

Looking forward to: Setting up the nursery & my 20 week ultrasound.