Bumpdate: 24 Weeks

 weeks 5-12 ::: week 13 ::: week 14  ::: week 15 ::: week 16  ::: week 17 

          ::: week 18 ::: week 19 ::: week 20 ::: week 21 ::: week 22 ::: week 23 :::

How Far Along? Six months pregnant....which sounds like a lot! 24w, 4d - due October 15, 2015

Gender: BOY!

Weight Gain: 13.5lbs - I'm nervous that Chicago is not going to be good for the scale but it is what it is.

Maternity Clothes: All pants. I tried on the loosest shorts I own and they don't even come close to buttoning! I bought that shirt in my picture from Gap because it was six dollars and super comfy, and I tried on like 20 pairs of maternity shorts and I hated every single pair. I like my shorts to hang loosely and all of the shorts felt tight and made me feel awful, so no go on the shorts!

I'm also really trying to get over the idea that repeating outfits is a bad thing. At this point, I really can't care that friends have already seen a dress in a picture, or that I wore the same blouse to a wedding shower as I did to a baby shower....I'm working with a limited amount and I'm just going to rock the same things over and over again!

Nursery: We went with the Honest dresser. I think I''m going to switch out the knobs which is the aspect of the dresser I don't love to iron pulls, similar to the image below.

Movement: We got lots of shows this weekend which was really fun. Some of his kicks hurt but I don't care...and this was the first week that we could see kicks under my clothes (if I pulled it really tight).

Symptoms: The heat has arrived this week in LA and when we are outside walking for long periods of time my feet feel swollen! They don't look swollen but they feel it and it's annoying! 

This week I also noticed a pretty big surge in my appetite. Since the beginning, I haven't felt like my eating habits had changed much, but this week I felt famished after two hours. 

And, this one is weird, but church is the hardest hour of my week (symptoms-wise!). I have no idea why, but I am just so light headed and uncomfortable in church and this is 3rd week that I've felt this way. I brought my water bottle this time which helped, but its a long hour of feeling like I could just pass out. I don't feel like this any other time, so I don't know if it's just hot in there or if it just the still standing, or what the deal is but I'm about 1 week away from sitting in the back pew and just not standing during mass!

Sleep: I've actually been sleeping really well this week (except for last night). I've been tapering off my water intake at 7pm which has really helped reduce the amount of times I get out of bed (from 10 to like 5 or 6). I still toss and turn a lot but overall this week sleep was pretty dang good.

Joel: We spent a lot of time feeling the baby this weekend which was fun. On Friday night I screwed up the dinner I was supposed to make and in a fury rage, I just pulled the plug and ordered pizza. We always get the same order (black pepper, mushroom, half sausage) but randomly I decided to throw jalapenos on there. Joel said it was the first weird pregnancy craving thing I've done.

 
Workouts: SEVEN! I felt like I had to make up from last week's zero! Went to the gym 3x, 2 long neighborhood walks (3miles-ish), 1 spin, 1 pool. I know it's going to be a lot harder to get my workouts in while I'm in Chicago so that helped motivate me too.

Mood: VERY prickly. I think with the stress of leaving for Chicago for a few weeks every little thing has just about sent me over the edge.

Cravings: Apparently jalapenos.....and peanut butter, coffee, and tequila 

What I Miss: With all of my bad moods, I kept saying I really wanted a tequila on the rocks with lots of lime which is my favorite summer drink ever. 

Random Things: We got some really cute hand-me-down clothes from my cousins who had a baby exactly a year from when we are due. Roscoe also had round 2 of "stop barking" training and while it's not gone (nor will it ever be totally be), we're seeing some improvement.

Best Moment This Week: All of the kicks have to take the cake (again)....maybe most of all is that the baby seems to wake up with me. As soon as I start stirring in the morning, so does he and it feels like tired, morning kicks which is just really precious.

Looking Forward To: CHICAGO!!!! I can't wait to see my family, I can't wait to tell them the baby's full name (although I think they know it), I can't wait for them to feel the baby kick, I can't wait for boat rides, the neighborhood festival, fireworks, visits with my nieces (and meeting my newest niece!) and nephews, a trip to Wisconsin, s'mores, everything.....These next two weeks are going to be glorious.

Four on Friday

 ::: 1 :::

Our Monday night started out with a bang since we celebrated our two year anniversary. We kept things simple and stayed home to celebrate. Joel had prepped dinner for us over the weekend, so when he got home from work we were able to just enjoy. We started with a fondue (we dipped apples, french bread, and asparagus) and then had some of the best crab cakes I've ever had.

Joel bought the crab in shell and pulled all of the meat out himself, so the crab cakes were like 95% crab meat which was amazing. We went for a walk after our amazing dinner, watched our wedding video, and talked about our goals for our 3rd (how is that possible) year of marriage. It was perfect.

::: 2 :::

We booked our babymoon!! We had tossed around a lot of ideas, but when we finally decided what we wanted out of the time; rest, relaxation, romance, pool time, and good food....we decided that we really didn't need to fly anywhere to make that happen. Instead, we're going to drive about 45 minutes south and stay at Terranea in Palos Verdes. The resort looks beyond indulgent and I'm already so relieved that we decided to go this route.

::: 3 :::

 I'm actually really enjoying putting together the baby's room slowly but surely. I know I could go click crazy at PBK and have the whole thing done, but I've been liking finding random things here and there and crossing my fingers that they all work. I found that cute wooden whale at World Market this week, and I'm kind of obsessed with the dresser from Honest Co. that I stumbled upon on Pintrest. My biggest worry with the room is that I have a lot of wood colors going on (espresso, white, and now maybe this) but there isn't any way around it so c'est la vie.

::: 4 :::

 

We leave on Wednesday for Chicago! I'm so excited to spend some time at home. Chicago in the summer is amazing, and 4th of July weekend is by far the best of all to be home for. I'm a little anxious about splitting up my time, but it again...it just is what it is. All of Joel's family will be home, all of my family will be home, and it already stresses me out that we can't give each family 100% of our time. If you live away from your family, you know how it goes, but I'm trying to mentally prepare myself (and our families) so that I don't get over the top stressed while I'm there. There's just never enough time.

Oh and before Wednesday, I have two friends in town, about 17 loads of laundry to do, a house that needs to be cleaned, work that needs to get wrapped before I take a week off, and 14 other errands that need completing before we can head off. Wish me luck!

Nashville Recap

I'm going to be honest, I was actually really anxious before this bachelorette party in Nashville. I wasn't sure how much fun I was really going to have traveling, being pregnant, and handling the 100 degree weather with 100% humidity. 

To make matters worse, the week before I left, I got a nasty cold that I still hadn't totally kicked before it was god time.

I was nervous that this was going to be some kind of pregnant girls hell, but spoiler alert: I had a freaking blast.

I woke up Thursday morning and sent the bride-to-be Sara this text of my last prep meal before the craziness began...

The flight to Nashville was just under four hours and I was more than comfortable. I met a cute couple on the flight who was traveling with their new baby. It happened to be that we had the same doctor and hospital, so she was filling me in on all of the need to know details. 

I did get a chance to change my seat from middle to aisle, which is an absolute must for me now that I have to use the bathroom all the time. I used to not mind sitting in the middle, especially because I would always snag like the 4th or 5th row, but I happily took my aisle in row 14 and enjoyed being able to get up as much as I wanted.

When we landed at 7pm, I met a few of the girls that had arrived early for dinner at Bakersfiled near our hotel (Hyatt Place Downtown), and then went back to the hotel to welcome the Bride! Some of the girls went out for a drink around midnight, but I went back to my room and met up with them in the morning.

Friday during the day we walked downtown to get a feel for the city. We popped into a bunch of different shops before we made our way to Broadway for lunch.

   

We landed at the rooftop at Acme around lunch time and grabbed a bunch of tables so we could hang there for a few hours. It was sweltering, but thankfully not overly sunny, so we had a blast just catching up and meeting fellow bachelor/ette parties! And my O'Douls had never tasted so good!

 

After lunch we went over to Tootises just a few blocks down to dance and listen to the band that was playing. 

The talent in Nashville is unreal.

Being sober in Nashville bars is about the best place to do it because the music and dancing is seriously so much fun, you don't even feel like you're missing out on anything.

 And, we definitely got use out of the selfie stick!

We popped into a few other bars before we made it back to the hotel to freshen up. That night we had dinner at Rippy's which was perfect for our big group even though the food was standard bar food.

 

And then after dinner, we hit up Wildhorse for line dancing! 

 

We all had SO much fun. If you get to Wildhorse early, you can take some basic lessons so you don't look like a total goon on the dance floor. We were all total beginners but most everyone kind of got the hang of it after a few hours. 

We were mesmerized by the people who really knew what they were doing. Especially the couples....I could have watched them for hours. 

From there, some girls kept the partying going, but I was with "early" to bed group and we called it a night a little after midnight.

Saturday our big activity was renting a pedal travern. We walked to into The Gulch neighborhood to load onto our transportation for the morning and then hit the ground running.

You basically ride around on this mega bike, listening to great music, drinking beer and dancing through the streets of Nashville. It was a freaking blast.

 

Our driver was awesome too, which made it even more fun, and we decided to stay on the bike to play flip cup instead of visiting the bars that they stop outside.

It was a great activity for a bachelorette party and it was actually kind of a workout! We rode around on the bike for just about two hours and Nashville has more hills than you would think! 

  

We walked back to the Gulch for lunch at Party Foul and then took Ubers back to our hotel so that we could catch a nap before round two! 

Sara's maids of honor brought tons of stuff to decorate the hotel room with, so we kicked Sara out to help them create a bachelorette oasis! 

And they were so cute, everyone was given little bottles of vodka, but for me and another friend that is pregnant they had thought ahead.

Not a detail was missed.

We played tons of fun games, had a blast in the room, and then took a bunch of pictures  before we hit the town.

The Bridesmaids

We left around midnight to go dance and get Sara on a mechanical bull at Tequila Cowboy! 

Sunday morning it was really nice not to wake up with a hangover! I've forgotten how not fun those are, but the girls rallied after bagels and coffee and then everyone had to say their goodbyes.

 

Since Joel's family lives in Brentwood, I scheduled a later flight so I could sneak in some time with them. 

We celebrated Maggie's 3rd birthday, had pizza and cake, and just sat outside on their gorgeous patio catching up on all of life's happenings.

Then after dinner they drove me to the airport and I was homebound.

 

I got in Sunday night around 11 and Joel was nice enough to pick me up and put my exhausted self to bed. 

It was such a great trip....so much fun to be with all of my college girlfriends and pick up like no time has passed at all. I am so lucky to have these girls in my life and it was just a reminder of how special friends are that share certain seasons of life with you. We could have laughed and reminisced for two weeks straight and it's only been five years since college!

Bumpdate: 23 weeks

 weeks 5-12 ::: week 13 ::: week 14  ::: week 15 ::: week 16  ::: week 17 

          ::: week 18 ::: week 19 ::: week 20 ::: week 21 ::: week 22 :::

How Far Along? 23w, 4d - due October 15, 2015

Gender: BOY!

Weight Gain: 13lbs

Maternity Clothes: Jeans and a few shirts here and there.

Nursery: The ottoman arrived and I love it! Plus, over the weekend Joel put together a mini dresser for the bottom of the closet. Come July I've got to order the glider and find a dresser!

Movement: I was so busy this past week that I didn't get a ton of time to sit and watch his shows. It's a much different feeling when I'm standing vs. sitting, but a few times this weekend I would be standing and he would give me an aggressive kick that would stop me mid-conversation. Amanda and Sara got to feel him kick this weekend too which was cute.

Symptoms: I haven't been able to kick this congestion/cold thing that I've got going on so that's been lousy. Sleep was tough this week too since I was at a bachelorette party from Thurs-Sun.

Sleep: We went line dancing on Friday night and I drank like 4 giant cups of water while we were at the bar around midnight. When I got home that night and laid in bed, I kid you not I had to get out of bed every 15 minutes. It was horrrrrrrendous because I was so beyond exhausted, but it's par for the course I guess.

Joel: We missed him this week! Joel was away for business the first half of the week and then I went to Nashville the second half of the week.

Workouts: I don't think any! Wow, that's not good - but we were super active in Nashville...between the dancing and lots of walking, I got almost 15,000 steps each day I was there.

Mood: I had a blast in Nashville but I'm paying the price now.

Cravings: Salads because I need them after a lot of indulgences lately.

What I Miss: My non-cold infested self and solid sleep.

Random Things: I didn't get to spend Joel's first "Father's-Day-to-Be"with him, so we weren't able to make too much of a to do out of the day, even though he does deserve it. I did get him a Vineyard Vines button down and a mini version for the baby. I'm giving it to him tonight so I'll have to report back later on his reaction. Also, I thought this was a pretty interesting comparison of 2 months difference.

Best Moment This Week: Seeing all of my girlfriends. They loved on the baby SO much...they were all so cute and they always let me cut the bathroom line which was much, much appreciated.

 

Looking Forward To: A quiet week, getting back to feeling 100% and keeping things healthy until we leave for Chicago next Wednesday!!!!

Two Years

Two years ago, on this exact date, June 22nd, I married my soul mate. 

I truly do believe that Joel is my soul mate. He is exactly who I need, and who I want, to do every minute of life with.

I am proud of the relationship that Joel and I have, proud to call Joel my best friend, and most of all proud to call Joel my husband.

Cheers to a new year filled to the brim of health and happiness.

NashVegas

Ahh! It's wheels up to celebrate my dear friend Sara's upcoming wedding!! I'm so excited to see my best college girlfriends, listen to some live country music, and just enjoy a little change of pace for the weekend, and most of all, celebrate Sara becoming a MRS!!!!!

circa 2009?

Here's hoping the sobriety and heat don't bother me toooooo much ;) Although, there are few things I wouldn't do for this girl, so bring it all on!