Week 26 of Pregnancy

Our Baby:

Our little one is now as long as an English cucumber and weighs in around 1 2/3 lb.  It is starting to open his/her eyes and is starting to sense light (when a flashlight is shown on my belly… it wiggles a little)!  Hair and eye color are starting to become distinguished and it is also starting to plump!  The baby is growing by leaps and bounds and will start to gain ½ lb every week soon.

How I am feeling:

I am feeling pretty good, though I am really tired and I can’t sleep too well.  I’m also starting to get very nervous and anxious…however, I can’t pinpoint what it is.  I feel a little overwhelmed with what has to be done to the house before we get a little one here.  Our bathtub needs to be changed out, we are building a closet in our bedroom, the carpets and couch need to be professionally cleaned, the nursery needs to be painted, I still have to pick out everything for the nursery, our office needs to be moved, and the house needs a deep cleaning.  Every Friday that passes by, I start panicking a little more.  Plus, with not being able to set up the nursery, I feel so unprepared.  Just lots to do!

Physical Changes:

No real changes here except for my weight and my bigger belly.  I am up 1.3 lbs from last week, making my total weight gain +17 lbs.  My belly button is starting to become shallower and shallower.  A lot of aches and pains in my hip and leg regions are starting.  Swimming helps a bunch with relieving those plus it is a pretty easy exercise for me to do…because walking sometimes becomes cumbersome. 

What I am craving:

My diet has pretty much leveled out now and I don’t necessarily have many cravings.  I’ll sometimes crave Cheetos but that is about it.  My cranberry kick has died down a bit but it still tastes very good!

Odds and Ends:

This baby’s Aunt’s birthday is today!  Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world!

Week 25 of Pregnancy

Our Baby

This week our baby is as big as an eggplant!  Weighing in at about 1 ½ lb!  The lungs are almost fully developed and the nostrils are starting to open up which allows for some practice breaths before birth.

  

How I am feeling:

I am feeling pretty great!  I seriously do not have anything to complain about this week! 

Mike and I went swimming for the first time this summer and it felt great!  I did get a little ligament pain afterwards but I think it helped get my energy level up again.  I’ll most likely be buying a pool pass for the summer. 

The baby is kicking on a very regular basis already and seems to have a schedule set!  Kicks early in the morning to wake me up, then stops after I eat breakfast, starts again around 2 or 3, then stops for a nap around 4, tells me to eat around 7, then stops after dinner, then starts up around 8-9, and I think it sleeps throughout the night… hopeful thinking?

Physical changes:

I don’t know if I am overanalyzing things or what… my belly seems to growing at a constant pace but I feel like my hips and butt have once again doubled in size! 

My weight gain for this week was 1.9 lbs for a total of +15.7 lbs!

Things I am craving:

I’m still craving Eggo waffles and cranberry juice.  Not too much news on this front!  

Some things you don’t really know before getting pregnant:

1. You get back fat and love handles… I’ve heard moms talk about this but I never thought it would happen to me L

2. You get cellulite… I am hoping this goes away after the baby is born!  Not to sound condescending but, I never knew I valued my body so much. 

3. Once your bump starts getting large enough to tell you are pregnant… you join a secret community of pregnant moms.  You notice every single one and they notice you. 

  

Making a House your own

Growing up in a house that you now live in again as an adult can be a challenging thing at times.  I grew up in the house that I now share with my husband and we will soon have a family of our own here.  We were very blessed to have been given this house by my parents after we got married.  We couldn’t have found a house that would fit our family for the price we obtained it for (although it would have been fun to house hunt, however, with Mike and I being so picky, we probably wouldn’t have found one yet).  I did have my reservations though, and I still do at times.  A ton of memories (good and bad) were formed here from the age of 6 when my family bought this house.  There have been countless renovations, laughs, tears, love, parties, and teenage meltdowns in this house.  I’ve lived here for over 20 years with the exception of a couple of years when Mike and I moved in together.

So how do you make a house that was really always yours (but not really) a house you love and feel like it is your own?  Well we are in the process of it.  The kitchen has been updated to fit our tastes (budget friendly updates) and there are tons of pictures hanging of Mike and I.  Our garden is built (which is totally a Mike and Katie thing) and our backyard is really starting to come together.  But there are still times when, if my parents are here, I still feel like it is their house, and in some ways it will always be.  Maybe when this little one in my belly is born, it will feel different… as I am sure there will be toys and baby gadgets in every nook and cranny for a good part of the next few years.  And I won’t have time to contemplate about this issue.

My bedroom that I grew up in will now be a room that our son/daughter grows up in (at least for the next 5 years).   We have a sort of timing period on how long we stay in this house.  It is more set up to meet the needs of our children.  I’m not too happy with the school district we are in and if it doesn’t seemingly get better by the time our first child is school-aged, we will then discuss moving. 

But until then, we are making this house our own.  I really do love this house and I have made some very happy memories here.  Mike and I have started to make our own memories and I can’t wait to have little ones running around in the backyard with our two dogs, Christmas mornings, camping in the backyard, and giggles from the family room.  I think where I am going here is… Family makes a house a home and the memories that they create.

Garden Update No. 1

Last week, we finally got to plant our veggies!  

We are a wee bit late but better late than never.  Here is a list of what we planted:

~Black Krim Tomatoes

~Cherry Tomatoes

~Early Treat Tomatoes

~Carrots

~Ceasar’s Lettuce blend

~Baby Red Lettuce blend

~Poblano peppers

~Anaheim peppers

~Tomatillos

~Eggplant

~Serrano peppers

~Bell Peppers

~Habanero peppers

~Cucumbers

~Summer Squash

~Zucchini

~Watermelon

~Peas

~Cantaloupe

~Pumpkins

~Fennel

~Okra

Wow!  I didn’t realize how much we actually planted until I wrote it down!  Our raspberries are coming in nicely and I am starting to think that we need to plant a different strawberry plant next year, as we only have a few plants with fruit (but squirrels or rabbits always eat them before I get to them anyways). 

No sprouts from the seeds yet but I’m hoping to see some in the next 4-5 days.  Our seedlings are acclimating well. 

I wish we had put in a watering system but maybe that will be next year’s project for the garden. 

Our peonies have popped and instead of having them fall to the ground outside, I cut a few stems and made an arrangement for our kitchen! 

I also noticed this amazing rainbow while I was trying to get some pictures of the newly planted veggies.  The pictures really do not do this rainbow justice; I'm pretty sure this was the most amazing one I have ever seen.  It was almost turning into a quadruple rainbow.

We have ONE whole peach growing on our peach tree!  I’m actually pretty surprised we have the one due to that May 1^st snow storm.  I was noticing a lot of ants crawling around that tree about 2 weeks ago but when we got home from our trip, I found all these little ladybugs instead… and no more ants!

 

I love being outside but with the temps soaring so early this year, I'm not quite sure how much I will be able to soak up the sun.  At least there are early mornings and late nights that I can appreciate!

Happy Gardening!

Week 24 of Pregnancy

Our Baby

I’m pretty awestruck that I am 6 months pregnant already.  Time has sure flown!

The baby is as long as an ear of corn and weighs about 1 ½ pounds!  It has gained 4oz  (ish) in just one week!  Crazy… It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that we were excited that it was 1oz. 

Our little one is starting to sprout hair, though the color is not apparent yet… fitting for the ear of corn! 

How I am feeling

Much better than last week.  Around midweek I started to get my energy back and my ligament pains got much better.  I’m sleeping better, although, I am getting up to pee a lot more… maybe because I am keeping up with my water intake finally.  I think I am doing better emotionally, however, if any of you reading this know me, you know how shy I can be.  This week I have noticed that I have gone even more inward than normal.  It isn’t so much shyness as it is just a lot of thinking, mostly about the baby but about my family, Mike, finances etc as well. I think I’m just starting to prepare myself for what is coming in the next 16 weeks and how it may or may not turn everything upside down for a while. 

Physical Changes

My belly is still, of course, getting bigger.  My linea nigra is becoming more apparent and I feel like I am getting small dark spots around my mouth, which indicates the “mask of pregnancy.”   I gained 1.6 pounds making my total weight gain +13.8 and right on target.  I am kind of surprised I didn’t gain more because I have been extremely hungry this week.  Speaking of hunger…

What I am craving

Sadly, I am craving Cheetos, Cranberry juice, and Eggo Waffles (Not together…yikes).  Mike and I were at Home Depot this week and I got an overwhelming craving for a hot dog and Cheetos.  The hot dog craving went away but I had to have Cheetos.  I blame Home Depot.  I’ve gone through a box of Eggo Waffles this week (at least they are the whole wheat ones…).  Last night was the first night that I had a midnight craving for cranberry juice… drank right out of the container, which is totally not something I would do. 

All together, it has been a much better week and I’m happy to report that there are only 16 weeks left!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

When we were in Seattle, almost every restaurant we ate at had some kind of Rhubarb dessert.  We never ordered any of them but as soon as I got home, I wanted to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.  I never was one who really enjoyed Rhubarb, but maybe because of the pregnancy, the sweet tartness sounded too good.

Our neighbor in the back of us has two large Rhubarb plants in her backyard.  When I was little, Mrs. Moore, a sweet old lady lived there and would always give us some of her Rhubarb.  The lady, who lives there now, just doesn’t keep up her yard at all and it is overgrown.  I’m not even sure if she knows she has Rhubarb.  Anyways, Mike cut me some of that Rhubarb one morning and I made this crisp the next day. 

So here is what you need:

Rhubarb Filling:

2-3 cups of diced Rhubarb

1 pint of strawberries

¾ cup of sugar

dash of vanilla

3-4 heaping tsp of flour

Crisp

¾ cup of Old-fashioned Oats

¾ cup Flour

½ cup Brown sugar

4 Tbs Melted Butter

Dash of salt

Mix your diced Rhubarb and Hulled and quartered strawberries.  

Add sugar, vanilla, and flour and mix well.  Let sit for 15 minutes

Meanwhile, melt butter.  Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt. 

Add melted butter and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Put your rhubarb and strawberry mixture into a baking dish.  I used a round dish but an 8x8 baking dish should do well too.  Cover your fruit mixture with the crisp topping.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the crisp is browned and sauce is bubbling.  

Let cool and serve with Ice Cream!

Weeks 22 and 23 of Pregnancy

So… I kind of slacked off on my 22 week pregnancy update, mostly because we left for Seattle last Friday and the fact that I have been extremely exhausted ever since we got back.  So I am going to link weeks 22 and 23 together in this post.

Seattle really took a lot out of me with the walking and traveling aspect.  This week I have been really emotional and frankly worn out.  I even had to sell our tickets to one of our favorite band’s concert, Postal Service.  Wild guess, but I believe this won’t be the last time we cancel plans because of our little jelly belly.

Our Baby

Last week the baby was the size of a Spaghetti Squash (crazy) and weighed in at about 15oz.  This week, the little one is the size of a Papaya and is now 11 inches long and weighs in at about 1.1-1.2 pounds!  We have reached the poundage mark, people!  Over the next few weeks the baby will double in size again!

In Seattle, the baby was not moving much.  Maybe it was just as tired as I was or it was the different altitude or who knows.  I kept trying to make it move throughout the day because I started getting worried.  But as soon as I got on the plane… Mr/Ms. Jelly belly started moving all over the place again and hasn’t stopped much since.  I joked that we have a little homebody on our hands.

 Physical Changes

Of course my belly has gotten bigger and people now can see that I am pregnant.  Not many have pointed it out until either Mike or I say something about it.  Last week I gained 1.5 pounds making it a total of +11 pounds pre-pregnancy.  This week, I am up another 1.2 pounds making my total weight gain to date, +12.2 pounds.  Those spandex-y maternity pants/shorts are now all I want to wear.

How I am feeling

During week 22, I was very energetic and was able to get a lot of stuff done around the house.  This week, however, Mike has picked up a lot of my slack… plus he has been working almost everyday since we got back.  While I was still waking up yesterday, Mike had mowed the lawn, did the dishes, and started the mound of laundry we have collected.  And all without me even asking.  I have to give him a lot of credit here and kind of brag about what a great husband I have.

Here is my view of the belly!

The Round Ligament pain I was feeling a few weeks back, well that was nothing.  I now can’t get comfortable in any position without something twinging or aching.  I’m hoping I either get used to it in the weeks to come or it goes away for a little while before the 3^rd trimester woes start (which is only another 5 weeks away).

Emotionally, I am a wreck.  My tears can be switched “on” in a matter of seconds if something makes me upset… that has usually always been the case but it is much worse now.  I can’t even remember some of the things that have made me tear-up/cry in the past week but I know most of them were pretty stupid.  For instance, I couldn’t get a good shot for my pregnancy picture so I gave up after about 5 tries and went inside and cried a little.  That is why this post is late… I had to wait for Mike to take a picture of me.

What I am craving

I am still on a nectarine kick but cherries have now been added to my summer fruit cravings.  I am really starting to hate cooking, especially dinner, because I just can’t come up with good dishes.  As you could see in my Seattle post, I still love sweets and have to keep them out of the house or else I’ll eat way too much sugar.  I always thought that a pregnant woman in her 2^nd trimester was supposed to want to eat everything in sight… not this pregnant lady. 

What I am missing

I started missing my flat tummy this week.  I know I am not huge but I still feel like I am.  I also miss being able to walk long distances without taking a break every 5 minutes to catch my breath.  And wine… I could have gone for many glasses of wine while in Seattle and now that I’m back home, sangria on the porch sounds amazing.  

That’s all for now! 

Weekend Update: Pancakes, Farmer's Markets, and 13th Birthday Parties

Mike only had this Saturday off but it was a very full Saturday.  He has this Monday and Tuesday off but we are planning on finally finishing those garden boxes and finally planting.

Early Saturday, I really felt like some pancakes.  We didn’t have any eggs so I looked up a no-egg pancake recipe… tried it and threw away the two pancakes I made and the batter.  YUK!  

Instead of going to the store to buy eggs or even some pancake mix (like most normal people), we decided (since it was the 1^st and all… our monthiversary!) to go out to breakfast.  

We were also planning on going to the farmer’s market to walk around a bit, so Mike called up his mom and sister to join us. 

I had exclaimed earlier in the day that I wanted some rhubarb for a rhubarb crisp and that the neighbors behind us had a whole bunch that they never use.  While I was drying my hair, Mike had gone over and “borrowed” some of the “never-used-was-going-to-waste” rhubarb.  Recipe to follow…

We went to Jelly’s U Café by DU. It was pretty packed but we were able to be seated early over by the “window bar” because I was starting to get pretty hungry by that point.  I ordered the Buttermilk pancakes and Mike got The Wisco Scramble with Bacon, cheddar, Brie, and Swiss cheeses.  Yummy!

We finished breakfast and headed over to the Cherry Creek Saturday Farmer’s Market to meet his mom, sister, and adorable niece.  We couldn’t stay too long because we had my niece’s 13^th birthday party to go to.  His mom bought us two huge artichokes and we got some baby/people/dog watching in.

We hurried home, took quick showers, and were out the door to my niece’s birthday.  Let me just tell you how I feel about this birthday.  I remember her 1^st birthday party like it was yesterday (the chubby little cheeks eating cake and all)… but the fact is, I was just a couple years older than she is now at her 1^st birthday.  It made me realize just how fast kids grow up without even realizing it.  And, it almost made me a little sad because it is going to go so much quicker with my own.  

Side Note:

Here is a fun fact about our family:

                                                  My biological mom was 15 years old when my sister was born.

My sister was 12 years old when I was born

I was 14 years old when my niece was born

… and my niece will be 13 years old when my baby is born

12, 13, 14, 15.  So my niece is going to have to have a baby when this little one is either 11 or 16 (ugh… I don’t even want to think about those ages yet).  Just kidding!

Another fun fact:

             My mom was 27 when she had me, my sister was 27 when she had my niece, and I will be 27 when I have this baby. 

Anyways, my sisters gave my niece a great 13^th birthday party full of teenage fun… karaoke, dancing, and of course lots of presents!  I had never seen my niece the way she acted yesterday… so grown up and really funny!  She is usually pretty reserved when she is around the family but get her friends into the mix... and she becomes so outgoing and talkative (well, she is always talkative though :)). 

Today is her actual birthday so… Happy 13^th Birthday, A! I love you!

Here’s to a full Saturday of pancake cravings, farmer’s markets, and 13^th birthdays!