25 Weeks

How far along? 25 weeks & 1 day! 

How big is baby estimated to be? He is the size of a cauliflower or an eggplant. He should be around 2 pounds now! :D

Total weight gain: I think I'm around 136lbs now, so that would put me +12lbs. Luckily, I think I'm carrying it all in my tummy. I feel really healthy and I'm staying active so I feel good about my weight. It's still weird to watch the scale go up but I'm not having an issue with it. My body feels good. And I do love watching Camden grow! 

Symptoms this week: I have a little sciatica going on in my left side (lower back/hip area) but it isn't anything terrible. Camden has been sitting really low so I think he's just pinching something a bit. It isn't constant and I'm learning how to move so it doesn't hurt as bad. Other than that, I'm feeling good! Getting bigger and bigger but it honestly isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be! I think the fact that I was literally in the best shape of my life when I got pregnant is making everything so much easier! I have yet to get lower back pain, unless I'm leaning down doing something for awhile (like yesterday while I was cutting out 6 dozen sugar cookies, haha). And even that pain is really mild and goes away after I stretch a little. So far, nothing is bothering me much at all! I've been doing really good eating healthy, drinking tons and tons of water and working out regularly. I think all of those things are helping me a lot. Especially staying active. I feel SO GOOD keeping up with my workouts! I wish I had the energy and drive to be working out for 1-1.5 hours 6 days a week like I was before I got pregnant but I'm doing as much as I can! I aim for 40 minutes to an hour of exercise 4-5 days a week. Plus extra stretching when my body feels like it needs it. It really does make a difference! And everyone keeps telling me that I should "bounce back" really fast after I have the baby because of how active I have been/am. I hope that's true! 

Food cravings: Nothing in particular this week. I'm loving decaf skinny peppermint mochas from Starbucks but I have always been a huge fan of their seasonal drinks! They're like Christmas in a cup :D  I'm also still loving fruits and veggies! I could eat roasted broccoli with garlic everyday. Like, a massive amount of it. And pomegranates! I wish it wasn't such a pain to get the arils out... but it's so worth it! I love me some pomegranate arils. 

Food aversions: Nothing! 

Any movement from baby? Ohhh yeah!! Little man is a mover and a shaker!! He has been wiggling and kicking SO MUCH this week! I love just putting my hands on my tummy and feeling him move. I could seriously do that all day! I LOVE IT!! He was kicking me low in my tummy the other day and it almost tickled! It was the funniest feeling ever. I really can't say enough how much I really love feeling Camden move! It's so amazing to me!! :D I'm still finding that he's more active when I'm active. He likes when I workout. That makes me feel good, too. I love that me working out is doing something good for both of us! I already love to workout but that is just the best bonus! I like to imagine me making Camden's heart get stronger and stronger each time I workout. How awesome is it that I can make him healthier by keeping myself healthy?! It just makes me happy. 

Gender: Beautiful baby boy <3

Emotions and experiences this week: It was a bittersweet week for me, to be honest. Thanksgiving was a really nice day with my family! I got to watch the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which was great. The meal was fabulous, per usual. I made a delicious green bean casserole that was a big hit. And I made pumpkin muffins to eat for breakfast. It was a nice day. I just missed Jacob a lot. This would've been our 5th Thanksgiving together. It was sad not to have him here to celebrate with... But I'm still so incredibly thankful for him! He's been working so hard on this deployment and I really appreciate that he's such an awesome provider for me and CJ. Plus, he's always there for me. Communication is difficult with the distance and the time difference but I know that I can always rely on him. I'm also SO very thankful for this little bundle of joy growing in my tummy!! I feel very blessed, despite the challenging circumstances this year. It was a really good week, overall. I also got to do some shopping with my mom! That was a fun part of this week. With the holidays now in full swing, I'm enjoying the festive atmosphere but really missing Jake. This whole going through the holidays without him thing might be a little harder than I was anticipating. But I'm seriously trying to stay busy and keep a positive outlook. 

Looking forward to: Ummm... November ending! I'll be happy to put another month behind us and move into December. It's weird because I want to savor every moment of my pregnancy yet I want time to go by super fast so that Jacob can come home. I'm a little torn. It's tough. I am looking forward to Christmas, though! I'm having a lot of fun putting together Christmas-themed care packages for Jacob! I sent him a box today stuffed full of Christmas goodies to share with his buddies at work- 10.5lbs worth! Sending him boxes is the one thing about deployments that doesn't totally suck. I have an OB appointment next week but I'm not looking forward to that. I'll have my glucose test for gestational diabetes that day- yuckaroo. I hate needles so I'm dreading that blood draw! Then I have to get my rhogam shot. It should be a very fun visit :P or not. But at least I don't have to worry about that until next Friday. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to just getting through a day at a time and enjoying all the festive Christmasy stuff that's going on.