as of friday my OB has decided that Sunday night he will check me into the hospital ... so we could see baby girl in less than a week!
other good news ... my last day of work was friday! yay! it was a great job and a fun place to work but i am tired and ready to rest up for the labor and motherhood ahead. its really setting in how life changing this is and how much i love this little fortune cookie. we are so excited to have her be apart of the family and kick off our parenthood!
of course i have all sorts of ideas of how to spend this week - nesting, resting, and walking ... hopefully to get the whole birth thing going. most everything for baby is all ready to go and since we don't know her name yet I can't do any crafty name specific projects for her like i would like. but there are some wet bag/accessory bags that i want to quickly sew this week before she arrives, along with some christmas crafts/gifts and home projects (not too involved) that i want to get going.
i also have about three different books going on to keep me from wasting my life on the internet this week ... a natural birthing book (we shall see if i can go this route ... but i am open to options), a "how to help your baby be less fussy and sleep longer" book, and a good old southern story - "Gone with the Wind."
a fun week ahead ... including General Conference ... so hopefully i won't be too bored waiting for Sunday night to come along.
i will post a picture of the belly this week!
Monday, September 26, 2011
count down
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
baby shower, birthing class, and 34 weeks
i had a great trip out to see the family in the OC at the beginning of the month. my sister and mom threw me a baby shower and it was great! lots of fun items! baby girl has got some clothes! more than one baby girl deserves i am sure. between gifts and having girl cousins, we are really excited for the fun things to dress her up in! baby girl also has quilts and blankets galore - most are hand made and so so darling. we are really excited this little one will be kept nice and snuggly in the cold Eugene rain. and nate parents got us this sweet crib ...
i know ... i am obsessed with gray. it is just the right neutral - not too bland and boring, still a good base, but not too dominating. i just love it. i love the modern simplicity of it.
as i mentioned before, nate and i were going to be apart for 4 days for the first time since we have been married - we have our 2nd anniversary on Monday (woot, woot). i was doing fine on Thursday and Friday and even Saturday. but Sunday rolls around and i start getting sad about it. i had a hard time for the rest of the trip ... which i wonder how much is pregnancy hormones and how much were my real feelings. i haven't lived with my parents or in california in 10 years so its not like it had felt like home for a long time ... but i really really felt this time that this was not my home and that i actually did have a home someplace else ... nate is my home and my home is in eugene. i missed our small little life together and just seeing him. needless to say i cried when i finally got home at midnight on Tuesday. i love you babe.
in mom/baby health news ... this week starts the beginning of twice a week doctor's appointments - one for a mini ultra-sound to check the amniotic fluid levels and one for a non-stress test where they monitor baby girl's heart beat over a period of time. i saw baby girl yawn three times on the ultra-sound today ... her jaw was very easy to distinguish and it looked so crazy! she is moving around like crazy these days, especially at night (which makes me feel like she has her days and nights mixed up ... great). nate had his hand on my belly the other night and felt her doing her gymnastics and we were cracking up how dramatic the movements have become. we are amazed.
sleeping has headed into the challenging realm ... finding a comfortable spot is tough and sleep is starting to missed at odd hours ... guess that's all prep for when she is actually here! my nesting instincts are setting in and i have prepped the nursery for the most part. we only have one package of diapers so far (thanks Gennie) ... so i better get on that! its hard to stock up when you don't know how little or big this girl is going to be and what brand of diapers you will like! i have clothes ready to go by size all put away in the dresser and look forward to another baby shower here in Eugene in a few weekends.
we had a marathon birthing class last saturday. it was actually really good, contrary to what we had heard from friends. it was informative and good prep for us. it kind of gave us some confidence in the whole thing and was really good for nate. videos and all and he left feeling more confident in his roll of supporting me during labor and delivery ... i on the other had - being so close to giving birth - was just amazed that i was actually going to go through that. i am going to birth a baby. i feel a little more confident and hope that i can actually apply some of the stuff we learned on the big day.
in other news ... my OB thinks that the GD specialist won't let me go past 39 weeks ... we shall see what he says at my appointment next Tuesday where i will see baby girl again in 3-D. it feels to me that even just over the past week i have had a growth spurt - no, that's not a basketball under my dress these days ...
i did not intend on having the exercise ball in the picture as a reference point, but i guess it works. 8 1/2 months, I suppose this roundness is appropriate :) its especially crazy when you compare it to this 6 week shot:
side view at 34 weeks ... embracing the roundness that is me and my baby girl ... so excited to meet her!
we are also still playing the name game ... trying to decide a name is really intimidating! i know we are going to have to see her before we really decide but what if we don't know even after that?!
i know ... i am obsessed with gray. it is just the right neutral - not too bland and boring, still a good base, but not too dominating. i just love it. i love the modern simplicity of it.
as i mentioned before, nate and i were going to be apart for 4 days for the first time since we have been married - we have our 2nd anniversary on Monday (woot, woot). i was doing fine on Thursday and Friday and even Saturday. but Sunday rolls around and i start getting sad about it. i had a hard time for the rest of the trip ... which i wonder how much is pregnancy hormones and how much were my real feelings. i haven't lived with my parents or in california in 10 years so its not like it had felt like home for a long time ... but i really really felt this time that this was not my home and that i actually did have a home someplace else ... nate is my home and my home is in eugene. i missed our small little life together and just seeing him. needless to say i cried when i finally got home at midnight on Tuesday. i love you babe.
in mom/baby health news ... this week starts the beginning of twice a week doctor's appointments - one for a mini ultra-sound to check the amniotic fluid levels and one for a non-stress test where they monitor baby girl's heart beat over a period of time. i saw baby girl yawn three times on the ultra-sound today ... her jaw was very easy to distinguish and it looked so crazy! she is moving around like crazy these days, especially at night (which makes me feel like she has her days and nights mixed up ... great). nate had his hand on my belly the other night and felt her doing her gymnastics and we were cracking up how dramatic the movements have become. we are amazed.
sleeping has headed into the challenging realm ... finding a comfortable spot is tough and sleep is starting to missed at odd hours ... guess that's all prep for when she is actually here! my nesting instincts are setting in and i have prepped the nursery for the most part. we only have one package of diapers so far (thanks Gennie) ... so i better get on that! its hard to stock up when you don't know how little or big this girl is going to be and what brand of diapers you will like! i have clothes ready to go by size all put away in the dresser and look forward to another baby shower here in Eugene in a few weekends.
we had a marathon birthing class last saturday. it was actually really good, contrary to what we had heard from friends. it was informative and good prep for us. it kind of gave us some confidence in the whole thing and was really good for nate. videos and all and he left feeling more confident in his roll of supporting me during labor and delivery ... i on the other had - being so close to giving birth - was just amazed that i was actually going to go through that. i am going to birth a baby. i feel a little more confident and hope that i can actually apply some of the stuff we learned on the big day.
in other news ... my OB thinks that the GD specialist won't let me go past 39 weeks ... we shall see what he says at my appointment next Tuesday where i will see baby girl again in 3-D. it feels to me that even just over the past week i have had a growth spurt - no, that's not a basketball under my dress these days ...
i did not intend on having the exercise ball in the picture as a reference point, but i guess it works. 8 1/2 months, I suppose this roundness is appropriate :) its especially crazy when you compare it to this 6 week shot:
side view at 34 weeks ... embracing the roundness that is me and my baby girl ... so excited to meet her!
we are also still playing the name game ... trying to decide a name is really intimidating! i know we are going to have to see her before we really decide but what if we don't know even after that?!
Monday, August 8, 2011
the most photographed baby in utero
as of today - August 8th - i am 31 weeks! just a week shy of 8 months pregnant. a friend asked me the other day how far along and when i replied - almost 31 weeks she replied - "oh, only 9 more weeks to go - that's not too long" .... and that is when i started to have a mini panic. mostly about labor ... sort of about having a baby to take care of ... but mostly about labor. i have had two friends here in Oregon that have recently given birth and all i can say is whoa. but they are recovering and doing great - bumpy roads to motherhood and all. and there are all of you ladies out there reading this that have done it ... some of you multiple times! so i keep telling myself that millions of women have given birth in the course of history and certainly i can do it too. i feel blessed to be counted among you ladies and i am very excited to join the ranks of motherhood.
baby girl has been moving and shaking a ton these days, which adds to the reality that yes - there is a human being growing in my womb. the 3-D ultra sound images below (taken today) also help to solidify the reality! she is 3 1/2 pounds already (she gained an ounce this week)! she was sort of shy and had her hand up to her face the entire time we were looking at her ... we even tried to poke and jiggle her into another position without much success. this is what she was doing most of the time:
i love how you can see the definition of the hands and fingers so well! here is another shot where it's either her hand moving (so its blurry) or its the umbilical cord by her face. the other shots pretty much look like the one above or below.
i may have shed a few tears when i saw this girl's face. its so amazing how something so precious will be ours to love and take care of. i felt really really blessed to be her mom in this moment.
the reason for this super spiffy ultra-sound at this stage of the game is because i recently was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD). not awesome. according to the doctors due to my family history i most likely will have it with any subsequent pregnancies (95% chance). i of course immediately worried that my pre-pregnancy weight-gain triggered my genes and the dietitian said that she didn't really think so. she said finding out this late in pregnancy was a good sign - keep the GD off as long as possible. of course losing the baby weight and the pre-pregnancy weight before another baby is desirable for all sorts of health and happiness reasons, it will at best delay the onset of gestational diabetes. with GD the pregnancy hormones keep my body from utilizing insulin to the best of its ability.
i get the joy of testing my blood four times a day with this little guy:
and have become quite skilled over the last four days. the trend thus far is that my fasting (over-night) blood sugar is high and so is my 1-hour post breakfast blood sugar (no matter what i do or do not eat). i can get my post lunch and dinner blood sugar down though with watching my carb intake (i love carbs of course) and limiting my fruits (so mean to a pregnant lady in the summer - right?) but we shall see. i might have to go on some medication at night to help keep the morning sugars low.
so they will be monitoring my blood sugar and checking up on baby girl via ultra-sound again in four weeks ... that will make a total of 5 ultra-sounds!
12 weeks - "are you really 14 weeks? nope you are 12 weeks" vaginal ultra-sound
20 weeks - "its a girl" ultra-sound - but she's measuring a tiny bit small
30 weeks - "just checking" ultra-sound - she looks good!
31 weeks - "gestational diabetes monitoring" ultra-sound - she still looks good!
next one - 35 weeks to check to make sure she is not getting too big
nate and i joke that she is the most photographed baby in utero on the planet.
the doctors won't let me go late for fear of the baby getting too big and if she is getting too big than they will induce early (eek!) so we will have a baby by October 11th for sure. Whoa.
anyway - since i gave you a shot of my insides, i figure its only fair to give you a shot of what we look like on the outside ... here i am in all my glory with baby girl at 31 weeks:
i wear dresses and skirts a lot these days ... so much more comfortable ... so i made sure to take a snap shot of me in one ... you know - for remembrance and all. my hair is getting so long and while i could definitely use a trim, its still really healthy and feels great. my skin - as i have mentioned before - is a whole other situation ... still awful.
i have a few other updates on projects i have been working on ... crib is up and running ... finally painted the baby's dresser/changing table ... and other projects ... AND i must show you the beautiful blankets/quilts made for me by some dear friends and family ... but all of these things need some photographs first.
one final note ... i am heading to So-Cal this thursday to see family and have a baby shower (yipee!) and its going to be the first time that nate and i have been apart since we were married 23 months ago. yeah we spend all day apart at work but never all day and all night. we are spoiled i know. i think it will be fine ... just weird. we aren't much of phone talkers so this should be interesting.
baby girl has been moving and shaking a ton these days, which adds to the reality that yes - there is a human being growing in my womb. the 3-D ultra sound images below (taken today) also help to solidify the reality! she is 3 1/2 pounds already (she gained an ounce this week)! she was sort of shy and had her hand up to her face the entire time we were looking at her ... we even tried to poke and jiggle her into another position without much success. this is what she was doing most of the time:
i love how you can see the definition of the hands and fingers so well! here is another shot where it's either her hand moving (so its blurry) or its the umbilical cord by her face. the other shots pretty much look like the one above or below.
i may have shed a few tears when i saw this girl's face. its so amazing how something so precious will be ours to love and take care of. i felt really really blessed to be her mom in this moment.
the reason for this super spiffy ultra-sound at this stage of the game is because i recently was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD). not awesome. according to the doctors due to my family history i most likely will have it with any subsequent pregnancies (95% chance). i of course immediately worried that my pre-pregnancy weight-gain triggered my genes and the dietitian said that she didn't really think so. she said finding out this late in pregnancy was a good sign - keep the GD off as long as possible. of course losing the baby weight and the pre-pregnancy weight before another baby is desirable for all sorts of health and happiness reasons, it will at best delay the onset of gestational diabetes. with GD the pregnancy hormones keep my body from utilizing insulin to the best of its ability.
i get the joy of testing my blood four times a day with this little guy:
and have become quite skilled over the last four days. the trend thus far is that my fasting (over-night) blood sugar is high and so is my 1-hour post breakfast blood sugar (no matter what i do or do not eat). i can get my post lunch and dinner blood sugar down though with watching my carb intake (i love carbs of course) and limiting my fruits (so mean to a pregnant lady in the summer - right?) but we shall see. i might have to go on some medication at night to help keep the morning sugars low.
so they will be monitoring my blood sugar and checking up on baby girl via ultra-sound again in four weeks ... that will make a total of 5 ultra-sounds!
12 weeks - "are you really 14 weeks? nope you are 12 weeks" vaginal ultra-sound
20 weeks - "its a girl" ultra-sound - but she's measuring a tiny bit small
30 weeks - "just checking" ultra-sound - she looks good!
31 weeks - "gestational diabetes monitoring" ultra-sound - she still looks good!
next one - 35 weeks to check to make sure she is not getting too big
nate and i joke that she is the most photographed baby in utero on the planet.
the doctors won't let me go late for fear of the baby getting too big and if she is getting too big than they will induce early (eek!) so we will have a baby by October 11th for sure. Whoa.
anyway - since i gave you a shot of my insides, i figure its only fair to give you a shot of what we look like on the outside ... here i am in all my glory with baby girl at 31 weeks:
i wear dresses and skirts a lot these days ... so much more comfortable ... so i made sure to take a snap shot of me in one ... you know - for remembrance and all. my hair is getting so long and while i could definitely use a trim, its still really healthy and feels great. my skin - as i have mentioned before - is a whole other situation ... still awful.
i have a few other updates on projects i have been working on ... crib is up and running ... finally painted the baby's dresser/changing table ... and other projects ... AND i must show you the beautiful blankets/quilts made for me by some dear friends and family ... but all of these things need some photographs first.
one final note ... i am heading to So-Cal this thursday to see family and have a baby shower (yipee!) and its going to be the first time that nate and i have been apart since we were married 23 months ago. yeah we spend all day apart at work but never all day and all night. we are spoiled i know. i think it will be fine ... just weird. we aren't much of phone talkers so this should be interesting.
Friday, July 1, 2011
tackling the list + 6 month photos
the list is getting attention folks! i am checking things off! but then again, i am also adding things to the list ... eek! is it okay to add things to the list just to check them off? i think adding somethings - like take 6 month photos and post or FINALLY post before and after photos of your sofa - are okay to put on the list just to check them off ... but go to the grocery store or do the laundry ... your just trying to make yourself feel better. so here is the progress:
- make baby gift for a friend (must be done before July 9th!)
- finish christmas craft (i know its early but i wanted to do it before the baby comes!)
- paint dresser (need hubby's help and a sunny Saturday)
- hang two frames downstairs 7/1/11
i hung those two little dark gray frames finally ... just to finish that wall off. nate asks me all the time, "are we going to leave those frames blank?" i tell him maybe some of them but i want to but pictures of baby in a few of them.
i like how it flows from nate's korean frame that says "home is a heaven on earth," to the frame cluster with a wedding photo (and baby one day), and ends with our beautiful Minerva Tichert picture of Christ (which i don't think i ever posted since i mentioned that it was being framed ... that is how lame i am people. this is why i need a list.)
i long for the days i can paint my walls. this whole setup would really pop!
- buy 3 wall-hangers for coat rack
- hang said coat rack
- photograph paper flowers i made for baby girl's room ... to show the blogosphere 7/1/11
i made these babies - copying a friend i made while living in DC who is now a brilliant designer in Copenhagen. she made paper flowers for her wedding and all sorts of other events (including the royal wedding.) I will be putting these up in baby girls room over the crib with some paper lanterns ... a few of these flowers are pretty big and oh so fun!
- re-pot some of our wedding 'babies' (succulents) that are starting to die one by one
- put away party supplies (from the end of may - i am terrible)
- organize my dresser drawers and sort my clothes into stages (this is to give me more space and to help me get motivated to get back to my wedding size after the birth ... this is a reasonable goal)
- hang our beautiful wedding clock
- organize the under bed storage in both baby's room and our room
- start looking for 8 x 10 frames at Goodwill
- modify my downstairs curtains
- post photos of before and after sofa 7/1/11
BEFORE
now i remember why i haven't posted pictures of the sofa yet - even though it was almost 9 month ago that we worked on this project - because i haven't taken any good photos! have i mentioned how bad the light is in our house? yeah its bad. but you get the idea with how bad the sofa was before and how much better it is now. my mom is amazing. she basically re-covered the whole thing with me as her apprentice. she also made me these pillows during her last visit at the end of may. i love this fabric - i found it as a remnant at joanne's. it works perfectly with the gray and black and yellow we have going on.
- take 6 month pregnant photos and post 7/1/11
me and baby girl at 25 weeks (just over six months) i am a large human being. whew. can you believe i will be getting bigger? hopefully just in the belly area but yikes. i can't blame it all on baby girl but i try. can you believe i live with that chest either? the crazy part is that upon getting pregnant i immediately gained extra in the boob area ... right away. its shocking that there are non-pregnant ladies with this bra size and even more shocking that there are women who get fake ones this size and larger. i am all for some cleavage but this is just too much.
on other pregnancy related notes ... my skin is still the worst it has ever been and my stretch marks have migrated from the hip and thigh area to the base of my belly - fortunately or unfortunately (who knows which when it comes to stretch marks) they are in the underside that is getting harder and harder for me to see. i am also experiencing those sudden urges to pee and that phenomenon that women also describe as the baby pushing or dancing on their bladder. all of a sudden i will feel baby girl move and i suddenly have an urgent sense of needing to urinate. crazy. also ... baby likes black licorice.
- make baby gift for a friend (must be done before July 9th!)
- finish christmas craft (i know its early but i wanted to do it before the baby comes!)
- paint dresser (need hubby's help and a sunny Saturday)
- hang two frames downstairs 7/1/11
i hung those two little dark gray frames finally ... just to finish that wall off. nate asks me all the time, "are we going to leave those frames blank?" i tell him maybe some of them but i want to but pictures of baby in a few of them.i like how it flows from nate's korean frame that says "home is a heaven on earth," to the frame cluster with a wedding photo (and baby one day), and ends with our beautiful Minerva Tichert picture of Christ (which i don't think i ever posted since i mentioned that it was being framed ... that is how lame i am people. this is why i need a list.)
i long for the days i can paint my walls. this whole setup would really pop!
- buy 3 wall-hangers for coat rack
- hang said coat rack
- photograph paper flowers i made for baby girl's room ... to show the blogosphere 7/1/11
i made these babies - copying a friend i made while living in DC who is now a brilliant designer in Copenhagen. she made paper flowers for her wedding and all sorts of other events (including the royal wedding.) I will be putting these up in baby girls room over the crib with some paper lanterns ... a few of these flowers are pretty big and oh so fun!- re-pot some of our wedding 'babies' (succulents) that are starting to die one by one
- put away party supplies (from the end of may - i am terrible)
- organize my dresser drawers and sort my clothes into stages (this is to give me more space and to help me get motivated to get back to my wedding size after the birth ... this is a reasonable goal)
- hang our beautiful wedding clock
- organize the under bed storage in both baby's room and our room
- start looking for 8 x 10 frames at Goodwill
- modify my downstairs curtains
- post photos of before and after sofa 7/1/11
BEFORE
AFTER
now i remember why i haven't posted pictures of the sofa yet - even though it was almost 9 month ago that we worked on this project - because i haven't taken any good photos! have i mentioned how bad the light is in our house? yeah its bad. but you get the idea with how bad the sofa was before and how much better it is now. my mom is amazing. she basically re-covered the whole thing with me as her apprentice. she also made me these pillows during her last visit at the end of may. i love this fabric - i found it as a remnant at joanne's. it works perfectly with the gray and black and yellow we have going on.
- take 6 month pregnant photos and post 7/1/11
me and baby girl at 25 weeks (just over six months) i am a large human being. whew. can you believe i will be getting bigger? hopefully just in the belly area but yikes. i can't blame it all on baby girl but i try. can you believe i live with that chest either? the crazy part is that upon getting pregnant i immediately gained extra in the boob area ... right away. its shocking that there are non-pregnant ladies with this bra size and even more shocking that there are women who get fake ones this size and larger. i am all for some cleavage but this is just too much.
on other pregnancy related notes ... my skin is still the worst it has ever been and my stretch marks have migrated from the hip and thigh area to the base of my belly - fortunately or unfortunately (who knows which when it comes to stretch marks) they are in the underside that is getting harder and harder for me to see. i am also experiencing those sudden urges to pee and that phenomenon that women also describe as the baby pushing or dancing on their bladder. all of a sudden i will feel baby girl move and i suddenly have an urgent sense of needing to urinate. crazy. also ... baby likes black licorice.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
... she could make lists for days ...
its amazing to me how much stuff i get done at work. i make a list of things and i go at it. granted it make take a few days to cross some of those things off the list - i get interrupted and derailed a lot at work - but they get done. by the time i come home from work i am tired and lazy and have lost the motivation to work on my list of things to do at home. i feel triumphant when i actually make a nice dinner! tonight was one of those nights.
i need to make a list of the things i want to get done at home ... i am hoping that will help me kick it into gear and stop being so lazy.
- make baby gift for a friend (must be done before July 9th!)
- finish christmas craft (i know its early but i wanted to do it before the baby comes!)
- paint dresser (need hubby's help and a sunny Saturday)
- hang two frames downstairs
- buy 3 wall-hangers for coat rack
- hang said coat rack
- photograph paper flowers i made for baby girl's room ... to show the blogosphere
- re-pot some of our wedding 'babies' (succulents) that are starting to die one by one
- put away party supplies (from the end of may - i am terrible)
- organize my dresser drawers and sort my clothes into stages (this is to give me more space and to help me get motivated to get back to my wedding size after the birth ... this is a reasonable goal)
- hang our beautiful wedding clock
- organize the under bed storage in both baby's room and our room
- start looking for 8 x 10 frames at Goodwill
- modify my downstairs curtains
i need to make a list of the things i want to get done at home ... i am hoping that will help me kick it into gear and stop being so lazy.
- make baby gift for a friend (must be done before July 9th!)
- finish christmas craft (i know its early but i wanted to do it before the baby comes!)
- paint dresser (need hubby's help and a sunny Saturday)
- hang two frames downstairs
- buy 3 wall-hangers for coat rack
- hang said coat rack
- photograph paper flowers i made for baby girl's room ... to show the blogosphere
- re-pot some of our wedding 'babies' (succulents) that are starting to die one by one
- put away party supplies (from the end of may - i am terrible)
- organize my dresser drawers and sort my clothes into stages (this is to give me more space and to help me get motivated to get back to my wedding size after the birth ... this is a reasonable goal)
- hang our beautiful wedding clock
- organize the under bed storage in both baby's room and our room
- start looking for 8 x 10 frames at Goodwill
- modify my downstairs curtains
Saturday, June 18, 2011
the great state of illinois
i have never been to the midwest - i have been as far as Oklahoma but that is considered the Great Plains ... right? anyway, lets just say i have never been to the midwest as an adult and that i have spent most of my traveling time on the US coasts and abroad. lately nate and i had been talking about how living in the midwest or really anywhere would be an adventure. i really would love to live in every part of the country just to see what life is like there. visiting doesn't really cut it. you have to live an everyday life to really get the feel for a place. that is just me. will it happen? who knows! should it happen? who knows! if nate stays teaching at the university level it could happen.
but anyway ... we made our trip out to chicago and normal/bloomington, illinois this last week and had a wonderful time. it was action packed, yet a little bit low key and lazy ... a perfect combination for this lady with swollen feet and ever burgeoning belly. i seriously get noticeably bigger every few days. i feel like fortune cookie has growth spurts and i FEEL it. i FEEL my body stretching and i FEEL noticeably rounder. whoa. but i also started to finally FEEL baby girl move in my belly! just a few days ago (thursday june 16th to be exact) i was spending a lazy morning in my brother's house laying on the sofa when i started to feel a wiggly feeling inside. it happened three more times ... very distinctive movement going on in there. it was magical to say the least. sigh ... it makes the swelling and the labored movements worth it.
i digress (as usual) ... we did so much on our trip before that happened ... here were the highlights (a long list mostly for my remembrance - all images stolen from sara soelberg's blog because the nate and bethany soelbergs are not awesome about taking pictures ... we will have to work on this before baby is born) :
then off we went to the south to a small city of Normal, Illinois. it was also delightful with delightful people we love there. my brother and his family moved there last january and braved their first mid-west winter. their new found friends swore that this winter was worse than usual ... those former North Hollywood-ites are hoping that's true. they just moved into new house they just bought and it is AMAZING. a beautiful beautiful home i would not mind calling my own ... and this is a big deal because its a new house (only 3 years old) and my preference is towards old houses.
located next to Bloomington, Illinois, there are quaint downtown areas with historic districts and old homes to make me swoon. there are also beautiful tree-lined streets and two Universities in this little neck of the world. its the biggest thing between St. Louis and Chicago. here are some highlights of this part of the trip:
the vacation was wonderful and i am so glad we did it.
but anyway ... we made our trip out to chicago and normal/bloomington, illinois this last week and had a wonderful time. it was action packed, yet a little bit low key and lazy ... a perfect combination for this lady with swollen feet and ever burgeoning belly. i seriously get noticeably bigger every few days. i feel like fortune cookie has growth spurts and i FEEL it. i FEEL my body stretching and i FEEL noticeably rounder. whoa. but i also started to finally FEEL baby girl move in my belly! just a few days ago (thursday june 16th to be exact) i was spending a lazy morning in my brother's house laying on the sofa when i started to feel a wiggly feeling inside. it happened three more times ... very distinctive movement going on in there. it was magical to say the least. sigh ... it makes the swelling and the labored movements worth it.
i digress (as usual) ... we did so much on our trip before that happened ... here were the highlights (a long list mostly for my remembrance - all images stolen from sara soelberg's blog because the nate and bethany soelbergs are not awesome about taking pictures ... we will have to work on this before baby is born) :
- spent the night in seattle at the gleason's (some of the friendliest, most generous people i know) in prep for our early morning flight to chicago with my parents.
- this trip was the first flight nate and i have taken since our honeymoon in sept 2009.
- this was the first trip by flight that nate and i have taken with my parents ... we all really enjoyed it and i predict more occasions in the future.
- flew into chicago o'hare airport for the first time (for me)
- experienced their heat wave first hand, which was not so bad since we have been innundated with rain in oregon.
- met up with joe (nate's brother) and went back to his house (which his family had just moved into the week before ... we are such courteous visitors) and saw sara, libby, and jenna for the first time since last summer! so so fun!
- spent the next day at the Museum of Science and Industry with sara and the girls (joe had just started his new job) and explored space, the "smart" house (misnomer if you ask me ... we decided it should have been called the "recycled" house - which in my book is great), and an actual U-boat, and watched a cool tornado I-Max movie.
- other highlights of the Museum day included poor jenna getting car sick and tossing her cookies in a the only thing we could find to give her - a fabric bag! word up - fabric bags are not good barf bags - go figure - but that's what we had on hand. she was a trooper and of course felt much better once she had done that and we were out of the car. another bonus to this episode is that i got to see sara in action ... she is a quick and resourceful mom and i was taking notes big time.
- toured around Downer's Grove ... the cute suburb that the joe soelberg family live in and we fell in love. i could totally live there. cute houses on tree-lined streets ... where do i sign?
- the village is quite and quaint with a main street to make my little heart pitter patter. just a few short blocks from their house is the train to commute into the city (but not loud at all), the tivoli theater with $4 movies and $1 bowling in the basement - as shown here:
- there is also a library a short walk down main street which we visited with the girls and stopped in to grab a donut at a local bakery. while eating said donut we sat out along the street and listened to the oldies they were playing from speakers atop the old brick buildings. i loved it.
- we also spent a day in chicago walking the miracle mile and seeing the sights. needless to say we caught the bus whenever my feet demanded it, but i was pretty impressed with the walking i did. its hard when you know that movement is good for the body but the feet might not be able to do it. sitting for train rides and then walking for long stretches made for some swollen feet but fun was still had at the classic millenium park bean and fountains as well as Ghiradelli's:
- on the way to see steve (another of the soelberg brothers) who was the master of ceremonies at the Chicago Ragnar race we found ourselves in the middle of a "zombie walk" which apparently had no other purpose but to have thousands of people dressed as zombies and walking the streets of chicago. interesting, but really they had no cause? strange.
- we ended the chicago day with chicago pizza ... super yum! deep-dish-delish is what i say!
then off we went to the south to a small city of Normal, Illinois. it was also delightful with delightful people we love there. my brother and his family moved there last january and braved their first mid-west winter. their new found friends swore that this winter was worse than usual ... those former North Hollywood-ites are hoping that's true. they just moved into new house they just bought and it is AMAZING. a beautiful beautiful home i would not mind calling my own ... and this is a big deal because its a new house (only 3 years old) and my preference is towards old houses.
located next to Bloomington, Illinois, there are quaint downtown areas with historic districts and old homes to make me swoon. there are also beautiful tree-lined streets and two Universities in this little neck of the world. its the biggest thing between St. Louis and Chicago. here are some highlights of this part of the trip:
- drove around to view the historic districts and gawk at all the lovely old homes with porches and gabled roofs and even turrets on some!
- helped do some unpacking and organizing in the house - they let us come visit even though they had just moved into the house a week before!
- played with the kids and held the baby - ADORABLE - when he would let us (he's kinda a momma's boy)
- went to State Farm Park and rode water slides and the lazy river (okay nate rode water slides with the kids and I floated the lazy river and sat on a chair with my feet in the awesome water feature filled kitty pool ... it was awesome)
- had ice cream at State Farm Park and got a little bit of a sunburn (oh so welcome tho ... we are sooo sun deprived in the pacific nw ... at least were were until this week!)
- went to Nauvoo, Illinois and saw the temple and it is beautiful and magestic ... next time i would like to go in and do a session with my hubby.
- went to Nauvoo and took a wagon ride through the historic town of Nauvoo (i really want to go back one year for the pageant and stay a day or two).
- made a list of all the things i would like to see in Nauvoo next time when i am not almost 6 months pregnant with swollen feet
- saw a cute kids play about life in Nauvoo
- learned how to be a cooper and make a water tight barrel
- learned how to make rope and bread and weave a Nauvoo rug
- had yummy food in an old timey shop
- took a "short cut" through a few farms on the way to Carthage to see Carthage jail where Joseph Smith was martyred ... the whole scenario and the film depiction of what happens makes more sense to me now that i have seen the location.
- the town of Carthage really is a beautiful community.
the vacation was wonderful and i am so glad we did it.
Monday, June 6, 2011
random happenings
- We had a great weekend doing stuff around the house and enjoying an unstructured Saturday. Fun happenings included:
- weeded our "patch of land" (back patio) and planted three dahlia plants
- bbq with some of our favorite people
- had kebabs at said bbq
- also had s'mores at said bbq
- wore maternity shorts for the first time
- ate lots of watermelon and cantaloupe
- finished making paper flowers for fortune cookie's room (pictures to come)
- made korean food with one of Nate's students
- ate strawberry's and cool whip
- made travel plans for our trip to Chicago (we leave tomorrow night! woot woot)
- My feet have already begun to swell periodically through the day ... but now my hands have followed suit ... especially since the temperature has gotten more enjoyable (read - warmer) ... i knew this day would come ... but so soon?
- Due to said swelling i thought it might be a good idea to take off my wedding ring before we take a plane to Chicago and back this week. Call me crazy but i don't think the altitude will help my swelling.
Remove wedding ring = good ideaRemove wedding ring in the AM while puffy (even after a shower) = not a good idea
- As a result of trying to twist and lotion and floss and ice and everything else that google suggested to get a stuck ring off your finger ... my finger became dangerously swollen ... the nice people at SKIES jewelers ended up cutting it off ... needless to say this day has not been awesome. (yes it was my grandmother's ring and yes it can be fixed and no damage was done to the diamonds or the setting, the band was simply snipped and spread for my finger to slide right out. just one more milestone or marker for me to use after the baby is born i guess ... get my swelling and weight down to wedding ring size)
- i am really really starting to understand the physical sacrifice of bearing a child ... and i am only halfway through pregnancy ... reality is harsh ... yet i still feel lucky.
- On the bus home from work today there were 6+ people trying to help some teenage girl find Planned Parenthood ... it was especially awesome when she turned to me and asked if i knew where it was ... umm i have no idea ... yes my parenthood was planned, but not by an organization.
- Planned Parenthood ... it sounds like a misnomer or maybe a euphemism ... shouldn't it be Pregnancy Prevention - at least you could keep the double p initials going.
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