Monthly Archives: August 2012

37 weeks

Posted on by
5

How big is baby? Almost 6.5 lbs and about 21 inches according to the book.
Maternity clothes? Still mixing it up a little, but mostly maternity, yes.
Sleep: I think I had one good night of sleep this week.
Best moment this week: Spending so much time with family, having a great birthday party with friends, and surprising Michael with his birthday presents, cake and cupcakes! I was also happy to hear today that I’m still about 1.5 cm but now 75% effaced, and baby dropped from station -2 to -1.
Movement: Limited space does not limit this kid! I keep feeling her try to stretch, but it isn’t working out so well anymore!
Food cravings: Just chocolate!
Miss Anything? Sleeping, not feeling sick, and running faster! I am super slow these days.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I’ve just been feeling super sick in general. Nausea, flu-like symptoms, achiness, and exhaustion. Thankfully, the midwife said that if I keep feeling so bad and we get to 39 weeks, we can schedule an induction for 40 weeks since my cervix is so soft. So I guess I will have a baby in the next three weeks, one way or another!
Gender: Girl.
Belly Button in or out? Flat.
Exercising? 20 miles RUN!
Mood: Anxious and ready to go!
Looking forward to: Hopefully meeting this princess SOON!

an ice cream birthday

Posted on by
Reply

On Saturday, we celebrated Michael’s birthday with a BIG party! I knew that I wanted to do an ice-cream-themed party for a while, and when I mentioned it to Michael, he was all for it, of course! (You have to be an ice cream junkie to be part of this family… no joke!)

When I originally planned the party, I didn’t realize that Michael’s whole family would be here for it, but I’m so glad they were- it was a lot more fun with them (of course!) and my mom-in-law helped me a whole lot with the cake and cupcakes. I don’t think I could’ve finished all of it without her!

We made “hot fudge sundae” cupcakes, inspired by these. And yeah… I think they tasted even better than they looked!

We also made this ice cream cake (based on the design of this cake here). It was double fudge brownie and mint chocolate chip with homemade whipped cream on top; dyed blue. The bits around the edges are crushed up waffle cones, and the three “ice creams” are actually just cupcakes jammed into cones with buttercream frosting on top!

I think he was pretty surprised with all of it!

I think this party was even better than last year’s- more friends showed up, and everyone stayed a lot longer this time, too! We took a group photo, of course.

And there had to be a silly one, too! There are a lot of weird hand motions going on in this one and I’m not sure what that’s all about…

I’m glad we have such fun friends! Happy birthday Michael!

the boppy

Posted on by
3

Some people say they couldn’t live without one, and other people say it’s completely useless. And then there are people who want one, but don’t want to spend about $50 for a simple pillow (*ahem*… me…)

So, I made my own! It cost me almost nothing to make the pillow itself (my mom-in-law had given me some sturdy corduroy fabric when I first started sewing, and for some reason, I already had two bags of poly-fil stuffing in my sewing stash… doesn’t everybody)?

If I don’t like it or use it that much once baby gets here, I don’t have to feel guilty, since it was practically free and fun to make, anyway. I made two covers for it, both flannel on one side and fleece on the other, so it’s super soft!

I did end up buying a waterproof cover made for a “real” boppy, and it fits perfectly, so my pillow is true-to-size!

I used this pattern here, so now you can make your own, too!

happy “quarter of a century”, buddy!

Posted on by
Reply

Today is Michael’s birthday! Happy birthday, old man! 🙂

Here he is, wearing the new polo my mom sent him and the Hokies sweatshirt I surprised him with (all his old ones had holes in them!)

I think I might’ve been even more excited for him to open his presents than he was! I woke up in the middle of the night (when he was fast asleep) to set them out on the table and hang a birthday banner and balloons to surprise him.

My mom also sent him the LDS Children’s Songbook! He is the pianist for Primary (basically, the kids’ class at church), and has talked about getting one these music books for at home too, now that we have a piano. The kids’ songs are some of my very very favorites, so I can’t wait to hear him play!

We’ll have a real party on Saturday, with family, friends, cake, and ice cream! (What could possibly be better?) He has one more gift coming in the mail, too- Mario Kart Wii!

Happy 25th, pal! I love you!

36 weeks

Posted on by
Reply

How big is baby? 20.75 inches long and about 6 lbs!
Maternity clothes? Yes please.
Sleep: Getting less and less of it lately!
Best moment this week: Finding out I’m already 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I know that it doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s coming any time soon, but hey, it’s progress!
Movement: She’s still crazy. She moves her bottom from one side of my belly to the other, and she will push her little fist against my hand. I can’t wait to hold her for real!
Food cravings: Chocolate! Mmm.
Miss Anything? Sleep.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I never realized that morning sickness could come back in the third trimester, but it definitely has. It’s still not as bad as back in the beginning, but it’s there nevertheless.
Gender: Girl.
Belly Button in or out? Flat!
Exercising? 20 miles (ran about 18.5 and walked 1.5).
Mood: Happy, excited, tired, and hoping this little girl comes soon!
Looking forward to: Seeing family this weekend and having Michael’s birthday party!

35 weeks

Posted on by
4

How big is baby? 20.25 inches long and over 5.5 lbs!
Maternity clothes? Almost always.
Sleep: Generally either really good or really bad.
Best moment this week: Hearing the doctor say that if I went into labor any time now, they wouldn’t try and stop it because babies generally do great at 35 weeks (and any drugs they would use to stop labor have side effects)! Of course I’m still hoping to make it to 37 weeks but it’s just so exciting knowing that she could come anytime and be okay.
Movement: Despite how cramped she is in there, she is still dancing and wiggling. She has also started poking her little heels out on the right side of my belly. Crazy baby!
Food cravings: None!
Miss Anything? It is getting a little harder to move around…
Anything making you queasy or sick: Yes! I almost feel like I’m back in the first trimester, but it isn’t quite that bad (and I hope it stays that way). My toothbrush, some foods, and even an algae-filled pond have turned my stomach. Bleh.
Gender: Girl.
Belly Button in or out? Part of it is in and part of it is out… weird.
Exercising? 20 miles, mostly run, but some walked. I just had a really hard time last week and did what I could. Thankfully, I’ve had a few good 4-milers this week!
Total weight gain: Still sitting at about 14 lbs.
Mood: Excited and getting impatient to meet our daughter! I am also very happy to say that I have checked many things off of my baby-related to-do list lately, so I’m feeling a little more ready.
Looking forward to: Michael’s birthday and spending time with friends!

a picnic, cookies, and silhouette weekend

Posted on by
Reply

This weekend we had a lot of random fun! Michael had a work-sponsored family picnic on Friday, so we kicked it off with that! I’m not really sure why he made this face when I told him to show me BOTH of the sandwiches he ate…

There were even snow cones! I’m still partial to Italian Ice, though.

We also made some sugar cookies together. We have a “ding-dong-ditching game” going on with our friends who live down the street, and they got us last week… so it was our turn. We had already been thinking of making some treats, anyway, so that was just extra motivation! We ended up dropping them off at a few friends’ places, but sadly, a lot of them must’ve been out for the evening because hardly anyone was home.

We made sugar cookies, dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. Mmmmmm. Of course we had to make some strange shapes, like trains, dinosaurs, ducks, bunnies, and cats!

While Michael was at church meetings yesterday, I played around with my camera and Lightroom. I’ve seen quite a few photos like this one, and it was pretty fun to recreate it myself.

34 weeks!

Posted on by
1

How big is baby? Book value of about 19.75 inches long and almost 5 lbs! (Although I do wonder how much she actually weighs… both our moms are guessing she’ll be in the 6.5-ish lb range at birth, so I guess we’ll see)!
Maternity clothes? Yes, but I did wear a regular dress to church this week!
Sleep: Mediocre on most nights… I did have one really bad night with lots and lots of bathroom breaks.
Best moment this week: Figuring out that Michael can hear Munchkin’s heartbeat when he puts his ear on my belly. SO COOL!
Movement: She’s spunky! When I told Michael that, he said “just like her mommy!” It’s so weird that there is a whole new little person that will have some of my qualities. Watch out everyone!
Food cravings: None really! Except maybe a Macado’s sandwich…
Miss Anything? I don’t think so.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not eating makes me feel weird.
Gender: Girl.
Belly Button in or out? Flat, I guess? it depends on how she’s sitting in there, and if i tense up my stomach muscles, I can actually make it pop out! Freaky.
Exercising? Ran 20 miles this past week, but I have to be honest, it’s starting to get hard to lug my big ol’ body around for 4 miles at a time. I might have to start running 2 and walking 2 soon.
Mood: Tired but soooo excited for her to come so soon!!
Looking forward to: Finishing up some sewing projects for our little princess. And… Kevin is coming!

And just for fun, here’s a side-by-side belly comparison. (You can click to see it bigger. And week 14 was apparently very windy! Haha).

street fair!

Posted on by
Reply

This weekend was the town’s big end-of-summer street fair. There are tons of crafts to look at and lots of food to try, along with live music. It’s a pretty fun time!

Unfortunately, this was also the weather’s weekend for a big end-of-summer RAINSTORM! We ended up hiding under a lot of awnings and tents, but it was almost fun trying to dodge the storms.

I guess this is his “I’m-waiting-patiently-under-an-awning” face.

Part of the waiting was actually enjoyable because we got gyros! I am obsessed with Greek food and this new restaurant had a stand out there, so we just had to try it! I think it might even top my favorite Greek place, but I probably need to try it again for it to be a fair assessment (hint hint Michael…)!

These tall robot guys were walking around at the last fair… but I made sure we got a picture with them this time! I don’t know how you get hired to walk around on stilts all day, but it sounds like a pretty fun job to me!

And despite the torrential downpour, none of the humongous splats of bugs on our windshield from driving up to the lake last weekend were washed away. Bug guts are pretty durable!

insta-jam for july!

Posted on by
Reply

Well, the insta-jam last month was HUGE, and this one is so small! Consistency is not my forte.

1: Homemade pulled pork sandwiches! It was my first time trying to make these, and they turned out sooo good. Mmmm.

2: I made my first sheet cake- red velvet! It turned out delicious! We were also out of muffins for breakfast, so I made those on the same night. I was a baking-machine!

3: I’ve been stocking up on basic things by using coupons, and my how our food storage has grown! It makes me feel good to look in our pantry and know that we could survive for a little while if there was some natural disaster or something.

4: M&M cookies we made together using this recipe. They turned out so good and it made a whole lot of dough for just two people, so we ended up freezing some of it and having cookies another night!

1 & 2: Michael took me out to this Chinese buffet that he went to with some people from work. He kept raving about how good it was… and he was right! It was seriously the best Chinese buffet I’ve ever been to. Mmm.

3: Sometimes running can make a pregnant lady’s body sore… and a bubble bath can feel sooooo good. I was actually taking quite a few bubble baths the week before we found out we were expecting, just because I felt so sore after my runs, even then! (It was also January, in the mountains… and FREEZING! so a warm bath felt heavenly)!

4: I surprised Michael one day by visiting him for a “picnic” at work on his lunch break. He was so happy to see me, and it was fun to see his new workstation, since I haven’t been there since he went full-time.