18 weeks....

How far along:  18 weeks

How big is baby:  About the size of a sweet potato...5.6 oz and 6.7 inches

Total weight gain:  Nothing really... I think being sick has really stopped me from gaining any weight.

Maternity clothes:  Only my one pair of jeans.

Sleep:  I have been sleeping with my body pillow (life saver) and it helps a little bit.  Have been waking up at 2:30 a.m. every night and stay up for a half hour to an hour.

Best moment of the week:  Finishing painting the green in the nursery throughout the week... Nothing much else exciting.

Food cravings:  Cheese curds... soup... ice cream

Food aversions:  Still have a lot of food aversions... mostly hamburger meat.... this has been the same since the beginning. 

Symptoms:  Still sick with nausea and vomiting...taking zofran when I need it to get through the day, VERY sensitive to smells, headaches, lower back aches.

Movement:  Nothing that I can feel yet.... hopefully soon!
Gender:  No idea... I have a feeling its a girl but we won't find out until November.

What I’m looking forward to: Our ultrasound on November 2nd.

What I miss:  I miss not being sick... I try really hard to not complain about being sick but sometimes it's hard.  I hope that my sickness will end soon but I'm afraid I'm going to be sick for all 9 months. The nurses have been so nice about this when I have to call in to renew my zofran prescription... They tell me that I'm doing everything right and that the sickness will eventually stop and that they fell bad that I'm feeling so bad.  It's nice to have someone that has some sympathy about it.

Next appt:  October 26th.

17 weeks

How far along:  17 weeks

How big is baby:  About the size of an onion... a little over 5 oz and a little over 5 inches long :)

Total weight gain:  Maybe a pound or two depending on the day.

Maternity clothes:  One pair of maternity jeans so far... they are super comfy but not totally necessary yet... all of my clothes still fit though.
Sleep:  Tossing and turning... not waking up to go to the bathroom right now but just uncomfortable.

Best moment of the week:  Listening to the baby's heartbeat on Thursday night... it was in the upper 140's... Baby was on the lower left side and kept moving away from the doppler - stinker!  Also, we painted the nursery this weekend!

Food cravings:  Cheese curds... soup... ice cream

Food aversions:  Still have a lot of food aversions... mostly hamburger meat.

Symptoms:  Still sick with nausea and vomiting...taking zofran when I need it to get through the day, VERY sensitive to smells, headaches.

Movement:  Nothing that I can feel yet.
Gender:  No idea... I have a feeling its a girl but we won't find out until November.

What I’m looking forward to: Our ultrasound on November 2nd.

What I miss:  I miss not being sick... I try really hard to not complain about being sick but sometimes it's hard.  I hope that my sickness will end soon but I'm afraid I'm going to be sick for all 9 months. 

Next appt:  October 26th.

13 weeks....

How far along:  13 weeks

How big is baby:  About the size of a peach... almost weighs an ounce and is almost 3 inches long.

Total weight gain:  None yet...

Maternity clothes:  None.
Sleep:  Waking up a couple times a night... tossing and turning.  But I'm tired so I can sleep pretty easily.

Best moment of the week:  Starting to get a "bloat bump"

Food cravings:  Rootbeer!

Food aversions:  I have a lot of foods that I can't eat...  especially red meat, greasy foods, etc.

Symptoms:  Nausea, Vomiting, but more from mucus in my throat then from having morning sickness.

Movement:  Nothing that I can feel yet.
Gender:  No idea... I have a feeling its a girl but we won't find out until November.

What I’m looking forward to: Hearing the heartbeat. . we haven't been able to hear it yet and really hope at our next appt we will be able to.

What I miss:  Still not able to make plans because of sickness so I miss that and I also miss sleeping through the night (I know I need to just get used to it. haha)

Next appt:  September 27th.

 

Pregnancy week-by-week

How far along:  10 weeks 5 days
How big is baby:  Almost the size of a lime.  About 2 inches long.

Total weight gain:  None yet - I just got over being pretty sick (flu/cold) and I lost a couple pounds during that.

Maternity clothes:  None.
Sleep:  Depends on the night.  Some nights I don't wake up at all - others I can barely sleep.

Best moment of the week:  Tuesday - we got to meet our Doctor for the first time!

Food cravings:  None this week.

Food aversions:  Red meat, anything greasy.

Symptoms:  Nausea, Vomiting, but less than before. 
Movement:  Nothing that I can feel yet.
Gender:  No idea...

What I’m looking forward to:  Feeling movement! 

What I miss:  Being able to make plans.  I'm sick pretty often so I'm looking forward to being able to make plans more in advance than just that day.
Next appt:  September 27th.

 

This week has been okay... I was really sick Tuesday night - Thursday night and am recovering from the flu/a cold.  During that time I ended up dehydrated and was pretty miserable.  Today I met with the dietician and she said everything is on track with the pregnancy.  She would like to see me gain 15 lbs during the pregnancy... Pretty sure the pint of Ben and Jerry's I just ate will help with that ;)  I LOVE the video we have of the baby moving and watch it at least a couple times a day.  Our next ultrasound isn't until November 2nd and I hope I can wait that long! :)

The Housing Dilemma of 2011

So, as most of you know - Bryson and I are looking to buy a house...

We are torn on a couple houses for some very different reasons.

House # 1 -

1809 W. 1st Street

http://www.firstweber.com/homes/1100093_CWMLS-1809_W_1st_Street-Merrill-WI-54452

Pros:

• Whole house has been nicely updated... few changes need to be made.
• Partially finished basement that could be fully finished easily.
• Big garage
• Decent sized lot
• Patio in backyard

Cons:

• Smaller bedrooms... don't know if our stuff would fit comfortably. (may outgrow this house quickly..?)
• Location isn't ideal.
• Some issues that may be flagged on inspection. (nothing that seems TOO big of a deal though)
• 3rd bedroom small... (would be a nice craft room) and not sure if it is heated.
• Not too much we could do to it to increase its resale value.

House # 2 -

710 E. 6th Street

http://www.firstweber.com/homes/1100550_CWMLS-710_E_6th_Street-Merrill-WI-54452

Pros:

• Nice sized rooms. (master bedroom has HUGE walk-in closet)
• Well updated bathrooms. (jacuzzi tub downstairs)
• Nice sized fenced in yard.
• Corner lot - yard looks nicely landscaped.

Cons:

• Needs a new roof. (probably sooner rather than later)
• Only a 1 car garage (does have room to add on but for now its only a 1 car garage)
• No possible way of finishing the basement for added living space.
• Siding could use to be replaced eventually.
• Slanted ceilings in "master bedroom"  Not exactly sure where our bed would fit yet.

House # 3 -

N2527 Norwegian Road

http://www.firstweber.com/homes/1001779_CWMLS-N2527_Norwegian_Road-Merrill-WI-54452

Pros:

• Very large corner lot (almost an acre)
• Nice curb appeal... cute shutters.
• Attached 2 car garage, detached 2.5 car garage (would make a nice woodshop for bryson SOMEDAY)
• HUGE finished basement.
• Big upstairs living room.
• Updated bathroom upstairs.
• Room for growth (in value and in family size/etc.)

Cons:

• Inside is dated... needs quite a few cosmetic changes to make it "modern" (and all flooring upstairs needs to be changed eventually)
• Wood paneling throughout the house.
• As of right now - this house is out of our price range... and we don't think they will negotiate low enough for us. (waiting to hear from the bank on our actual "price range")
• Unknown when cosmetic changes could be done (financially)

So there it is - the housing dilemma of 2011.... Lets just pray the bank has some good news for us on Wednesday.... if anyone has input or advice... please let us know!

Love,

Bryson and Alyssa

Weekend in West Bend

Last weekend, Bryson and I went to West Bend, Wisconsin to visit some of my family from my mom's side of the family.  My Uncle Wally, Aunt Debbie and Cousins Sara, Hannah and Emma live in West Bend so we went on up to spend some time with them. :)   My parents also made the trip from Merrill to West Bend so we could all spend some time together.

Bryson picked me up from work at 2:00 on Friday afternoon and off to West Bend we went.  It took about 3 hours to get there (short trip compared to going to my parents house in Merrill.)  And it was a nice change of scenery.  We went up through Milwaukee (a part of Wisconsin that Bryson has never been through and that I haven't been in for a long time).

We got to West Bend around 5 on Friday evening and my parents arrived shortly after.  On Friday we spent the night just hanging out and talking with my family and at about 10:00 my cousin Sara, Bryson and I decided we were bored so we went out and Sara gave us the tour of the town.

Saturday morning we woke up and had a huge breakfast of pancakes, bacon, sausage and all of the fixings.  It was wonderful :) Then we all got ready and my mom, Aunt Debbie, Emma, Hannah and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby (I love me some Hobby Lobby!) and Tuesday Morning.  Then we made a stop at Petco before we headed back to Wally and Debbies house. Bryson, my dad and Sara went to Cabelas to look around.

On Saturday night we went to Wauwatosa and out to dinner at Dave and Busters... We had a BLAST.  It is the equivilant to an adult Chuck-E-Cheese.  It was really fun!  The only thing that wasn't so fun was it took us about 2 hours to get a table.  But we had fun playing games before we got seated.

On Sunday we had a nice breakfast and then headed on home so we could get home in time to watch the Packers vs. Bears game :)

Bryson and I at Dave and Busters :)

Love,

Bryson and Alyssa

Welcome and Honeymoon

Hey everyone!  I made this blog so that family and friends from all over could see what Bryson and I are up to.  I have made a blog before but I didn't keep up with it - so I am hoping this time is different!  We will see!

I figured my first post could be about our Honeymoon in Barbados which we took from November 17-November 24.  :) 

We left from Bryson's Aunt Diane's house at 7:30 a.m. on November 17th and we had a driver take us to O'Hare airport in Chicago.

From Chicago we flew to Miami and then off to Barbados we went!

We landed in Barbados a little after 10 p.m. island time.  (2 hours ahead of CST)  And it was pretty humid and raining. 

We had a driver pick us up and take us to our hotel... he even gave us a tour along the way to our hotel (which was about a 45 minute drive from the airport).  By the time we got to our hotel and settled into our room - it was a little after midnight. It was so beautiful, even at night time... I could hardly wait to wake up the next day and see everything!  When we woke up the next morning - this was the view from our room...

Gorgeous! You can't really see it in this picture but to the right you could see the Caribbean Sea and straight out ahead was one of the pools.

We got ready and headed to breakfast at a restaurant called Horizon's... which is where we ate most of our meals at... It was sooo pretty - right next to a pool and you could see the Sea from it. (despite the birds that flew in and the cats that walked around the island that would come up by you when you were eating... I was the only person in the whole resort that seemed even a little freaked out by the cats...)

From there we got our suits on and decided to hit up the beach!  It was so hot on the beach so we decided we needed some Rum Punches to cool us down ;)

That night we had dinner at Enid's which is a restaurant with local cuisine.... (also where I ate chicken on the bone for the first time in YEARS)

The other few days really kind of blur together so I'm just going to share some pictures that I have and post what they are of :)

This is Bryson and I before going out to dinner one night.

This is the view from the inside of The Reef Restaurant.

The outside of The Reef.

Bryson and I outside an old Sugar Mill that was on the hotel's property.

Bryson and I before going to Oistens... Its a town in Barbados that turns into a huge street party every Friday and Saturday.

Sunset from our room.

Bryson and I before going out to dinner on my birthday!

My first legal drink!

Bryson and I after dinner - they had a band.

Bryson's artistic picture that he is really proud of. :)

Mount Gay Rum Distillery

Caribbean Sea

Bryson and I outside of the second oldest church in Barbados... in front of the Atlantic Ocean. 

 The Atlantic Ocean.  Barbados has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

Bryson and I hugging the tree of life outside the 2nd oldest church in Barbados...  Those are graves behind us...

Atlantic Ocean in Bathsheba, Barbados.

Bryson and I in Bathsheba, Barbados.

Last night at the resort... Dinner at The Reef.

Dinner at The Reef

Airport in Barbados.

Walking out to our airplane in Barbados.

Thats it!  And if you have made it the far, you are a saint! :)

Bryson & Alyssa