28 Weeks

How far along? 28 weeks & 1 day!
How big is baby estimated to be? The size of a head of cauliflower. Or an eggplant? Either way, he's definitely growing! I love reading about all the ways he's growing and developing. It completely fascinates and amazes me! His lungs are pretty well developed at this point and he's adding that beloved baby fat! Eeee, I can't wait to see his chubby little face in 12ish weeks!! :D :D :D

Total weight gain: I'm up about 13 pounds. I've been staying right around 135-137lbs for the past few weeks... I'm waiting for my weight to surge as baby boy grows, haha. He does seem to be growing a lot these days. My tummy is definitely getting bigger! I guess I'm just not putting on much weight right now. Apparently I should expect to gain 11ish pounds throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. I hope that's true because then I'll be right at the 24/25lbs gained mark which is what I'm aiming for! My OB told me that she thinks I'll gain on the lower end of the 25-40lbs scale that's recommended for the average woman.
Wearing maternity clothes? Still just pants and leggings. I have a couple tighter fitting maternity tops that I'll wear but most of them are still too big, haha. I bought a cute pair of maternity cords from Target that I really like. They're a red wine color- so pretty. I was surprised I had to buy at xsmall, though! Maybe I should buy a couple xsmall tops...

Symptoms this week: Didn't sleep too well again this week. Still not sure if it's pregnancy related but it's not too fun. So I'm going for a quantity over quality approach, haha. I couldn't fall asleep until 2:30am the other day then I woke up at 5:30am! I fell back asleep an hour or so later and snoozed off and on for a few more hours. That was the worst night sleep I've had since the night Jacob left. I'm blaming it on the fact that I wasn't wearing Jake's dog tags. I only take them off to shower but I forgot to put them back on that night. So that must be why I slept so poorly ;]. I've actually slept much better every night since then. With his dog tags around my neck where they belong, of course. Other than that, I'm feeling good. Still some occasional not painful Braxton Hicks. Been feeling some growing pains in my tummy as well but not bad. I honestly still feel fabulous! :D

Food cravings: Peanut butter! I eat a multigrain English muffin with peanut butter on it every day. I know lots of PB can be bad because it's so calorie dense but I don't eat more than a serving or maybe two a day. Smart Balance is my PB of choice lately. It's just so tasty! I need to whip out my peanut butter sauce recipe for some chicken and pasta this week... Oh I also learned that not consuming enough DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) during pregnancy has been linked to postpartum depression. The Smart Balance peanut butter I buy has omega-3s in it! Win.

Food aversions: Nada.

Any movement from baby? Yes! He's still a very active baby!! Lately I've been noticing that if I put loud music on he wiggles around. It's like he's dancing, haha! It's probably just coincidental but man, it sure does make me smile! I still love feeling his precious little movements. Even those startling rib jabs that are starting to happen, haha. A couple nights ago he was wiggling all over the place and making my stomach look like it was doing the wave! It was so stinkin' funny! I sat here for like an hour just watching him make my stomach dance. I seriously love those moments! He has the hiccups again this week, too. I say it nonstop, but I love feeling Camden move. It's just so amazing and special.

Gender: Boy <3 

Emotions and experiences this week: It's been a pretty low key week for me... Nothing really exciting going on. My pregnancy hormones are definitely in full swing, though. I've cried a lot this week. Mostly over silly things- a song on the radio, an old picture of me and Jake together... I've been a little more emotional this week. Part of that could be due to the holidays and Jake being gone, of course. But I've cried more than usual. I've heard that hormones get a little wacky in the third trimester so I think that's what's going on. I also don't think my family really understands what I'm going through. They don't get that I'm trying to deal with all these crazy hormones on top of Jake being gone... It's just tough. What else... I never got a phone call from my doctor's office about my blood work so I'm going to say everything looks good! That makes me verrrry happy! I didn't want to have to do the dreaded 3 hour glucose tolerance test so I'm pumped that I passed this one! I mean I don't know for sure but I'm assuming that they would've called me if there were any problems. And apparently I haven't developed anemia during my pregnancy either! I feel like that's rare, haha. Props to my healthy eating! I'm so happy that my pregnancy has been so healthy and easy so far. 

Looking forward to: Christmaaaaaas! Jake sent me a box of gifts that I'm SUPER anxious to get and open!! I have to wait until Christmas morning to open it but you better believe it's the first thing I'll be tearing open! I love that he took the time to send me some special gifts from overseas! He's such a sweet and thoughtful man <3 I can't wait to see what that box contains! And I love giving gifts, too. I didn't get anything super awesome for my family this year but I did get each of them a nice gift. It's going to be a bittersweet day without my hubby but it'll still be fun... and it will mean that we're *almost* halfway through this deployment! Almost. Other than thaaaaat, I'm excited for Jake to get the most recent boxes I've sent him! I have so much fun with his care packages. I sent him one for our anniversary (which is two days after Christmas) and one for New Years. They're both creative and fun so I'm excited for him to get them! And as always, I'm looking forward to watching my tummy grow more and have the days tick by. I can't wait to have my whole little family together.