17 weeks!

"Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — his lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now and he's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. He can move his joints, and his sweat glands are starting to develop.

Wow, am I really here already? Craziness! I finally have my appetite back, which has been pretty nice. I've also had my first real craving this week (to the point that I HAD to run to the grocery store at 9:30 one evening.) The not so good part has been my sciatic nerve. I'd had problems with it for several weeks - nothing unbearable though, and pretty common. It got really bad about a week ago and was progressively getting worse. By the end of the day I could hardly move and Jason had to help me get out of bed. So at my 16 week appt last week I was given a fun "maternity support belt" to wear. I'm not sure if it's really helping, but at least it's not worse. I also start going to physical therapy this week to learn some stretches, etc to help with it.

We've been looking at several bedding options and I think have it narrowed down to two - a jungle one and a car one. We really like both so I'm not 100% sure how we'll decide.

How far along: 17 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +.2 (I gained weight!!)
Maternity clothes: Yep. There are actually a few shirts that I think look a little tight now.
Stretch marks: Not much - just the few that I noticed on my hip last week.
Sleep: Yes please!
Best moment this week: We ordered our glider!
Movement: Still not much of anything. I talk to him most every night asking him to move just a little for me.
Food cravings: LEMON COOKIES! I blame Anne for this. I was on the phone with her one evening and she mentioned lemon cookies. I'd actually never had them, but suddenly they were a must. I was already in my pjs, but got dressed to go to Marsh to pick some up. Unfortunately none of them looked good. Fortunately I got to eat one that Anne made the next day. I now have the recipe and just made a batch of them tonight. :) (And as a side note - Jason says that I have not hit rock bottom yet because I at least got dressed before running to the grocery that night.)
Gender: Boy!!!
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Being able to walk/bend over without wanting to cry
What I am looking forward to: Starting physical therapy on Friday for the sciatic nerve problem.
Weekly Wisdom: If your body tells you to lay down and put your feet up - do it. You'll feel much better afterwards. :)
Milestones: Nothing big this week that I know of.

In non-pregnancy news - I've been taking a cake decorating class! I'm taking it with my sister Karen, and my friend Melanie. It's been a lot of fun! Here is a picture of the first one:


We also finally had our garage sale this past weekend - it was a lot of work, but was fun! We had it at my mom's house and had a pretty good turnout. I'm just glad that it's over and we have space in our garage back!