16 Weeks

At about 16 weeks I hopped in the car and made the 6 hour drive to Portland. It was my sister-in-law's wedding shower, and I was excited to see family and get a much needed change in scenery. I don't know why I forgot that pregnancy resulted in my constant tiredness, but after about a half hour of driving it became quite clear I was going to need some caffeine.

Now there are a lot of opinions surrounding caffeine and alcohol intake during pregnancy. My doctor says a cup or two of coffee every day will not harm the baby, and a glass of wine at a wedding is perfectly okay. However, the judging eyes of people who know you are pregnant makes me wonder if CPS will soon be paying the Wirths a visit. The truth is I have had both caffeine and alcohol during my pregnancy. You can ask the barista for decaf, but you will inevitably end up with a shot of pure espresso every once in a while; these are the days when I am most productive. When my husband is drinking red wine from an $80 bottle, of course I'm going to take a couple sips. I ate almost an entire block of Brie cheese before I knew it was unacceptable, and I took a bite of sushi at 10 weeks (millions of pregnant Japanese women have sushi during pregnancy every year...and their kids are smarter than ours sooo...). Call me a bad mom, or just call me human. There is a long list of things you are not allowed to do when you are pregnant, and it's important not to beat yourself up when you slip. If we stressed out every time there was a piece of feta on a pizza, our babies would channel our psychotic fears and turn into uber type A people with anxiety issues. Don't worry folks. I will still order decaf coffee and tea, and I'm not going to order a Long Island Iced Tea (although I want to real bad). I can't make any promises on the soft cheeses though...

The trip to Portland was a success. And thank goodness I visited because this next update changed my world. Katie (my sis-in-law) and I were going out shopping like we usually do. I put on my J Brand skinny jeans, which I LOVE, and walked out of the bedroom thinking I was ready. Of course I was sporting the rubber band around the button, and it was a little more challenging to move my legs than normal, but these will stretch out eventually right? Katie looked at me, and stated with as much tact as she could muster through a laughing fit, "You look like you're wearing tights." There was no hiding it. My jeans no longer fit. Lucky for me she pulled out a large stack of designer jeans that were going in the Goodwill bin. Each of them buttoned around my belly, and would allow me room to grow. I almost started crying from excitement. So here I am in my new jeans. So proud! Although I wish I would have gotten a picture of me in my old pants because it was pretty comical.

16 weeks!

One more thing must be noted: P90X during pregnancy is not comfortable. As per usual, I let Jeff's dad pressure me into working out with him. I regretted it for about 5 days.

At 16 weeks it's possible to see your baby's gender. Parents usually find out around 20 weeks, but an OB friend suggested we ask our doctor to take a peak. He was willing AND...

That's right! We saw his man package in the ultrasound. Also, I bought a really cute blue cake to make the announcement to our friends. But then I ate it. However, these Slutty Brownies are worth mentioning. A layer of chocolate chip cookie dough on the bottom, a layer of Oreo cookies, then a layer of brownie mix. Attention pregnant women everywhere: you will need this recipe! Regular brownies will never taste the same again.