We've got an active one

Little miss thang is active. I started feeling her August 19th (the day of the reveal appointment) and have felt her a lot since then. The first week I could only feel her at night when I was laying down. Now she kicks during the day, a little bit in the morning and then around 3 in the afternoon. Danny was able to feel her little kicks this past Friday, August 26th. His grin was from ear to ear. i love feeling her move around. It is so crazy! I am growing a baby guys! It is nuts!!!

Now, at 21 weeks she is the size of a bannana, 10.5 inches long weighing 12.7 ounces. Her taste buds are working now so I have to think about what I eat before I eat it. I gotta make sure and eat my veggies! Here is a pic of the growing belly.

Gender Reveal

As you know from the last post we found out what we were having a week ago. It looks like we are having a little baby GIRL! We are super excited and can't wait to get all those big bows, well, maybe the big bow part is just me but I am sure Danny will love them just as much. :) Now, we had quite a few reveal moments which I will explain all below.

Let me just start out by saying we were supposed to find out the gender this past Monday (Aug 22) but we were able to move the appointment up for the Friday before, August 19th. It started that night when we met up with the Kay, Gary, Kyle and Steph at a little pizzeria. We brought Crave cupcakes with little pink rattles on top to tell everyone. So naturally, because there was this huge secret they wanted to start with dessert first. The reactions were great as you can see for yourself below.

Untitled from Lauren Struzick on Vimeo.

So, now we move on to Saturday lunchtime. Jenna had to go back to Baylor so we celebrated my dad's birthday a day early during lunch. No one in my family knew that we had been to the appointment so they didn't know we knew. I was the one in charge of bringing the birthday cake which turned out to be perfect because I told them I got a chocolate cake but really got a pink strawberry cake. So, we are singing happy birthday (note to self, when recording the recorder person should NOT sing, sorry about that) my dad cuts open the cake, they initially think that the bakery made the wrong cake and then it clicks, OMG this wasn't a mistake they are having a girl! It was priceless.

Untitled from Lauren Struzick on Vimeo.

Now, on Tuesday I had dinner with what I call the baby group. We started going to dinner together before there were babies but now almost everyone has a little baby. We get together about once a month to just talk about life and babies. I love it! So, I did the cupcake thing for them as well. I brought my camera but didn't get to take any pics so I will just have to tell you about the reveal. All the girls have thier cupcake boxes and are about to open when I start telling them how we told my family. Mistake! I talk about how they cut into the cake, think it is the wrong cake because it was supposed to be chocolate and it was strawberry and it took everyone a second to figure out why. There was a bit of silence with the girls and then Liz says "so you are having a girl?" OMG epic fail! I told them before they even got to open the cupcakes. We laughed so hard, it was hilarious. It was so cute because Candace had a little boy gift and a little girl gift. The girl gift has the cutest little polka dot panty hose and little head bows. Super cute!

Now, for the final reveal party if you will. My friend Nanda was nice enough to host a little somethin somethin at her house. It was most of the core group of college friends. She decorated with the theme of "what's it gonna bee". Super cute. There were little yellow touches all over the house. Everyone had to vote on the gender when they walked in and they either wore pink or blue bandanas depending on what they thought. Of course I walk in and Darrell says something like "oh is it kicking?" and i respond with "she is kicking". OMG again, i did it again???!!!! WOW, first words when I get there I reveal it is a little girl. Atleast only Darrell and KK heard. So we mingle, I try my hardest to keep my mouth shut and just answer yes or no questions. We finally eat dinner and then we move to the living room where we play a little game first to see if all the little wives tales are true. It turns out the majority of them were correct because most of them came out girl. Finally, it is here, we can find out! We make a little phone call to Erin who lives in Dallas and then everyone bites into the cupcakes and it's a GIRL! It was a fun night. Here are some pics from the party. :)







Now we have to start cracking on the nursery.

Happy birthday shout out and did someone say halfway there???

First off I need to let everyone know that it is my dad's birthday! Not just any birthday but the big 6-0!!!!! I can't believe it. His big bday gift was something that is near and dear to all aggies and he lost what was so near and dear to him when we were in Norway. So, my mom got him a new one. We celebrated some at Inks Lake, this past Saturday and then of course today, on his birthday. Dad we love you so much and you are a wonderful example of how a father should be. I can't wait to see you in your new role as a Pappa! love you dad.



I cannot believe we are 20 weeks with 20 weeks to go. It is so much to process that this little bambino will be here before we know it. Everything has been kinda slow I feel like up until now I have just been researching baby stuff and now I have to kick it high gear on figuring out the nursery. Man oh man. So, we all know that last time we visited the doctor the little baby was just not ready to tell mommy and daddy what she/he was. Well, we were able to get an appointment for this past Friday (8/19) to try again. As soon as she put the doppler thing on my belly she said oh you are 99.99% having a little ......... :) That part is still a secret until we are able to tell everyone. Once we have I will have to post the videos cause they are super cute! As for now I will leave you with a belly picture and updated stats.


how far along? 20 weeks exactly
how are you measuring? Big! The doc said I was measuring 25cm which means 25 weeks. The baby is still 20 weeks and there could be a lot of reasons that my belly is bigger than normal, could be the amount of fluid, the way the placenta is positioned, etc. If it is still big next time we will figure out the reason. I have been measuring big the whole time though, so nothing new.
size of baby? According to thebump.com our baby is 6.5 inches long and 10.6 oz, the size of a cantaloupe
heartbeat? 146 bpm (at our 20 week appointment)
total weight gain/loss? + 5 lbs as of 20 weeks which the doctor is amazed by so I am ok with it
maternity clothes? Yes, Jenna and I went on a shopping spree for work clothes this weekend. P.S. just in case anyone wants to know and mainly because it mad be so mad everyone else should be just as mad as me :) We went to the Macy's one day sale on Saturday to buy clothes (fyi that means I trekked it to the mall on tax free weekend, first of all to get me to go in a mall is a big deal let alone on tax free weekend) anyway I got all these clothes brought them up to the counter with all my Macy's coupons and she told me that Motherhood and Pea in the Pod brands do not accept any Macy's coupons! WHAT you have got to be kidding me, you guys don't have any other brands for me to pick from and this was the only reason I came today, to the mall, with all these other people, just wow. So needless to say I had to put back a lot of clothes.
stretch marks? No, and I am praying they don't come
sleep? I wake up once pr twice a night to go potty
best moment this week? Finding out the gender and surprising everyone.
movement? I started feeling a little somethin somethin on Friday but haven't since
food cravings? I would say fruit would be it.
gender predictions? We know what it is.... :)
what i miss? Sleeping through a whole night.
what I'm looking forward to? Really being able to feel it kick and figuring out the nursery. Jenna has got it all planned out so it looks like I am just along for the ride. :)
how are you feeling? Really great!!!

Oh how I love Inks Lake

For 4 glorious days I relaxed

watched the dogs play


did some fishin

played some games

got some sun

went kayaking

laughed a lot

and had some great times with the family

The only person that wasn't there was the hubs. Unfortunately, he had to work the whole weekend so he couldn't come last minute. We all had a great, relaxing time but missed him.

The bun in the oven just wasn't ready....

to be revealed that is. The baby decided that it wasn't ready for anyone to know the gender yet. The legs were closed the whole time. I was in there about 45 minutes, moving around, laying on my side, poking it, anything to get the baby to reveal its gender but alas we got nothing. It was a little busy body though, moving all around, kicking its legs, sucking its thumb and moving its head all around. I go back in two weeks to try again so keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime I will update my stats since I received new ones. The heartbeat was 128 bpm. My belly is measuring 20 weeks but the baby size is 18 weeks. The baby is 8 oz., so the size of a filet mignon. Is it weird that I related the baby to food??? The baby is measuring in the 30-40 percentile in size, so good for me if you know what I mean. And, I have only gained 4 pounds in total. Here is a pic of the little babe. I might be biased but our baby is so cute!

Girl or Boy???

We find out today at 10am. Which one is it going to be, GIRL or BOY? It will be about a week before I will update my blog with the results because we have to tell family first. People's guesses are all over the board for us. My work thinks it is a girl, my fam thinks it is a boy, Danny's fam is mixed girl and boy.......so what do you think? Let your comment if you have an opinion. We can't wait!!!

17 weeks and 3 days aka 4.5 months

OK, it was going by SO slow in the beginning and now I am thinking SLOW DOWN. Before I know it we will know the gender and then I feel like it will just zoom by. I am excited to meet the little struzick but OMG there is so much that has to be done. How am I supposed to be ready for a baby when our house looks like a tornado just went though it? Seriously, there is a pic below. We cleaned out the nursery this past weekend and man oh man there is so much to do. We took everything out of the room and brought it to the living room so we can repackage everything and figure out if we will put it in the garage or the closet in the other room (which is not enough room). How are we already busting at the seams and we don't even have anything baby yet? I know it will all get done but my oh my. I am an organized person and I just have the start from the beginning. Ok, just had to get that out there.

Let's continue.....
The bump is getting a little bigger. I feel like it really started coming out this weekend because my slacks are NOT fitting at all anymore and neither are my shirts. Thankfully I have some shirts from Candace but I need to buy pants this weekend. I know in my pics I look super frumpy but let's be real, this is what I look like when I come home from work. I run straight to the closet and put on shorts and a tshirt, take off all my jewelery and chill.
how far along? 17 weeks 3 days
how are you measuring? Don't know, but will find out on Monday - when we find out the gender!
size of baby? According to thebump.com our baby is 5.1 inches long and 5.9 oz, the size of an onion
heartbeat? 163 bpm (at our 14 weeks appointment)
total weight gain/loss? + 2 lbs as of 14 weeks
maternity clothes? Not yet but I need them - BAD
stretch marks? No, and I am praying they don't come
sleep? I wake up once a night to go potty but starting this week I wake up a couple times when I am on my stomach cause it hurts so I have to roll to the side.
best moment this week? Seeing my belly grow so much in the past couple of days
movement? Don't feel anything yet but it can't be long
food cravings? I would say fruit would be it.
gender predictions? No clue. We have a mix of thoughts from fam and friends
what i miss? Sleeping through a whole night. I still desperately miss diet dr. pepper, I know I can have caffeine now but I am really trying to limit it. I am really craving some sushi as well!
what I'm looking forward to? Finding out the gender - on Monday (Aug 8)
how are you feeling? Really great!!!

The size of an onion - crazy!!! The pic is from thebump.com