How big is baby? Book value is 7⅔ inches from crown to rump!
Maternity clothes? Surprisingly, my regular jeans are more comfortable this week than they were last week. I’ve even got a little extra room in them again!
Sleep: Good, except that I’ve been staying up too late again.
Best moment this week: Making all sorts of baby things with Mom I., like a quilt, curtains, swaddling blankets and burp cloths!
Movement: She’s kicking right now! At our check-up on Monday the nurse-midwife put the Doppler on my belly, and munchkin immediately started kicking it! She has pretty good aim and will kick my hand when I put it there, so she was just playing as usual! She earned the title of “little showoff” from the nurse-midwife though!
Food cravings: Still Twizzlers… and s’mores!
Miss Anything? Running without feeling the need for constant bathroom breaks.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Cooking chicken is still not on my to-do list.
Gender: Little baby GIRL!
Belly Button in or out? In!
Exercising? Still 22.88 miles per week!
Mood: Content but sleepy!
Looking forward to: Finishing the nursery!

I went shopping this past weekend. At a thrift store! What?!

And I realized just how awesome it can be! With my belly finally starting to grow, I have started to think about how on Earth I plan to cover it up in the next few months. And you know what? I don’t want to spend a ton of money on maternity clothes that I am hardly going to wear.

So I bought someone else’s things that look new, and only spent about $28 instead of what would cost about $150 (and that’s a conservative estimate)!

I couldn’t go shopping without getting something for baby girl… so she got some $1 apiece pants! I LOVE these because they aren’t just PINK like so many other baby pants out there… and there are no ruffles on the butt!

Hiking is even better when you take a break to eat fruit snacks!

I had never been on this hiking trail before, so it was a fun new experience. There were some little waterfalls, but the truly awesome part was the rock formations!

Of course, there was also a whole lot of monkey business that went on. Like this.

And this.

This.

And even this!

Please notice how there are no girl “monkeys” in any of these photos. We were well-behaved!

This little guy wanted nothing to do with any of us crazy monkeys.

Oh well. I love my monkey just the same, even if he does see the forest as a jungle-gym.

1. Preparation really IS key. Whether that pertains to being ready to teach a lesson at church on Sunday, having a savings account or even exercising, everything definitely goes a whole lot smoother when you put in that little bit of time and effort beforehand. I’m so grateful that I have been able to devote some time each day to exercising, because I believe it is making pregnancy a whole lot easier for me than if I hadn’t. That small amount of preparation is keeping my heart and blood pressure healthy, my weight gain low, and will hopefully make for a somewhat easier labor and delivery. Running every day makes me a stronger person physically, so shouldn’t daily “spiritual exercise” strengthen me spiritually? It might seem like one day of prayer and scripture study isn’t all that significant, but add up all the knowledge and spiritual strength you acquire over time, and that really does make a difference.

2. My capacity to love is infinite. I can’t even understand it. Ever since we found out about our little munchkin, I have gradually fallen in love with her. After seeing her sweet face on ultrasound last week, my feelings and care for her have increased a million fold! I could cry pretty much just thinking about her. I love her so much and cannot wait to meet her and hold her. She has really started to develop a little personality in there: she’ll kick and punch my hand when I touch her, she responds to music, and this morning she started kicking as soon as she heard our voices start talking. I could never imagine loving anyone this much and I know that once she’s born, I’ll love her a billion times more than I already do. How much more does our Father in Heaven love us? I’m sure that we cannot even begin to understand how much He really cares.

3. One Sunday at church a few years back, I went home with a little print-out written by Sister Hinckley, titled “Is This What I Was Born to Do?” It talks about women in several different situations, including the story of Esther in the Bible. Esther played a monumental role in saving her people, but she first needed encouragement from her cousin, Mordecai, who said “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). The Church has solemnly declared the family to be ordained of God. It is the most important unit of society. As women, we have monumental influence on others, especially our families. Before I decided to become a mom, I honestly wasn’t sure if it was the right path for me. I doubted my abilities to raise and love a baby. I thought that maybe motherhood was for other women, who seemed more sure of themselves and had known that they wanted families since their own childhood. I didn’t think I was “good enough”. But I can testify now that motherhood is the right path. It is “what I was born to do”. I have already grown and changed so much these past few months because of this little person who depends on me. It took an act of faith decide to embark on this journey, but I know it was right, and I can hardly wait for all the learning and loving I’ll be able to experience in the future because of it.

How big is baby? Book says she’s about 7.25 inches long from crown to rump, but according to her measurements at the ultrasound, she’s got long legs! She also weighed in at 15 oz!
Maternity clothes? None yet, but my jeans are starting to feel a little tight and sweatpants have been my best friend these last couple days.
Sleep: Restless.
Best moment this week: Finding out about our PRINCESS! Also, Michael finally felt her move!
Movement: Lots! I saw my stomach moving from the outside!  It’s so weird, but so cool at the same time! She is definitely getting so strong! I think she even had the hiccups yesterday morning. She also reacts to music now, especially Luke Bryan. Her favorite song of his is “I’ll Stay Me”. I played it for her yesterday and could see the kicks coming like crazy. Michael says she just likes upbeat songs!
Food cravings: I’ve been thinking about rainbow Twizzlers for days and days, and when we finally went to the store, they didn’t have any! Life is so rough.
Miss Anything? Not pregnancy related, but I miss my Lelia! I want her to come visit and feel munchkin moving.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular, but I have had a little nausea again lately… sometimes a little when I’m running.
Gender: Girl!
Belly Button in or out? In
Exercising? 22.88 miles last week and on track to do the same this week!
Mood: Happy and so ready for it to be September so we can hold our little sweetheart!
Looking forward to: Both of our moms coming in the next couple weeks… also, my first Mother’s Day!

Finding out that our munchkin is a baby girl has motivated me even more. There are so many fun things I want to make for her!

My two main focuses right now are sewing and wire jewelry. Here’s the first wire bracelet I made out of brass (for practice) and some glass beads my aunt gave me.

And of course I had to make something for munchkin. So I cut up Michael’s old jeans and made a little skirt and matching booties! (tutorials here and here)

The next creation took no skill at all, actually, but I wanted to share it anyway because I thought it was pretty cool! I found a word-cloud generator here and used it to make a little wall art for munchkin’s room. Of course, it’s in the shape of a horse… just wait until you see the rest of the room!

Apparently, baby girl has been getting creative too- she somehow went out, bought a card, and mailed it to me for Mother’s Day. It’s pretty interesting that her handwriting looks identical to my mom’s and that she already knows to shop at Hallmark!

We are having a little baby GIRL!!!

I was almost surprised when the ultrasound technician said “girl”, just because so many people have been saying “boy” for so long! We are so excited to welcome a beautiful little princess to our family. I can’t wait to meet her and kiss that cute little forehead!

During the ultrasound, she was moving a TON! As soon as the machine started, we could see her ROLLING! She definitely gave the technician a run for his money. I’m glad he was patient and got a picture of her face for us, though! We probably saw her in 4-D for about one minute. I’ve always thought those pictures are so weird and blobby, but she still looks pretty cute!

After our appointment, we went on a shopping date to Target (we still had some really old gift cards… possibly from our wedding, even)! I think I was singing my own made-up song “We are having a little baby girl!” the entire way there! It was so much fun to look at all the colorful, ruffly, PINK clothes they had. To make it even better, everything I got was half-off, with the exception of one dress.

I decided that I wanted to make cupcakes with pink filling to deliver and surprise some of our friends on Saturday. (I got the idea from here). The silly poem on the card was all my own creation, though!

It was so much fun to see everyone’s faces when they bit into their cupcakes and saw PINK!

About 135 days to go!

How big is baby? About 10 inches long from head to toe!
Maternity clothes? Still not needing any at all! But I am pretty excited because I ordered three maternity tops that were on sale, plus I had a coupon, plus free shipping! What a deal! They haven’t arrived yet, but that’s okay because I’m really in no rush for them.
Sleep: Depends on the night. If I try to be responsible and go to bed earlier, I sleep worse than if I had just stayed awake until I couldn’t anymore and crashed. My right hip is also starting to hurt a little just from sleeping on my side.
Best moment this week: Munchkin kicking hard enough that I could feel it on the OUTSIDE of my belly when my hand was there! He/she is getting so STRONG! Hopefully Michael will be able to feel it soon too!
Movement: TONS! Baby moves for probably half of the day now. I love it!
Food cravings: Poptarts, Starbursts, chocolate ice cream, pizza… why can’t I crave healthy things?
Miss Anything? Having energy!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Cooking chicken isn’t my favorite thing anymore.
Gender: We find out on FRIDAY! Chinese gender chart says girl, baking soda test says boy! The majority of people we know are guessing boy. Guess we’ll see who’s right!
Belly Button in or out? In!
Exercising? Still running, and hit a personal record high for total miles last week- 22.88!
Mood: Happy! But the tears can come on quickly these days… like when watching a commercial with babies in it, or even “Say Yes to the Dress”. Yep. That really happens.
Looking forward to: Big ultrasound on Friday!

Can you tell that someone has a sweet tooth? Chocolate muffins, chocolate cookies, chocolate Poptarts, chocolate Dairy Queen Blizzard… Cravings, you say? What?

1 & 2: “Mini Panda” (the Beanie Baby) joined our panda family this month. Michael’s parents were cleaning out old stuff and found him, and if you know me, you know it’s obvious that he’d end up at our house… Don’t confuse him with Panda or Baby Panda.

3: One of my very favorite parts of the day is saying good morning to my piggies. Usually when I go to fill up their pellet bowl, I look up and their little noses are right there, waiting!

4: We had a cold, rainy, GROSS day here and Maggie definitely had the right idea- eating breakfast under her blanket!

1. Michael putting together baby furniture! He ended up doing the vast majority of it by hand!

2. Subway date

3. Sunday nap. Ain’t he cuuuute? Haha!

1. My first wire-wrapped ring (a rose)!

2. The Elders unexpectedly dropped in, and one of the first things out of their mouths was “Can we hold the pigs?” They hold them every time they’re at our house.

3 & 4: Mini golf date with my buddy this past weekend!

So there you go… hope you enjoyed the nonsensical ridiculousness!

Here he is crossing the finish line!

While we were waiting, Jeffrey tried to make Michael a crown/necklace out of dandelions. Not bad work, Jeffrey! Sadly, it somehow got left behind and forgotten once Michael came, so he didn’t get to wear it.

We also just had a lot of fun family time, which of course includes spending time with the puppy!

Kevin even made the famous family dip (which I’ve never had, and actually still didn’t try…) Apparently it calls for a lot of ONIONS. Just look at poor Kevin.

Brothers chowing down! Looks like all of Kevin’s onion-suffering paid off.

We had a mini barbecue, too. Jeffrey and Lelia always have lots of fun together, even if they are just squishing raw hamburger meat.

They also had a 5-minute photoshoot. We were supposed to have a real, actual photo session, but as you cannot actually see in these pictures, it was POURING down rain all day long! So we were limited, but just look at those model faces!

This is what happened behind the scenes. Don’t think they’re serious models all the time!