Three Third Trimester Photos!

So, life happened, I got busy and neglected to post... for 4 weeks. I took the photos and everything except for week 30, but just couldn't find the time to sit down and write a post! Here is a recap of the past month: We had a fun trip to Washington DC with Brendan's parents where we went to Arlington and checked out the horse stables which house the caisson horses that pull the caskets during funerals. It seemed like Brendan and I both had a fairly busy week after we got home, but were able to spend some time hanging out together on Saturday. Sunday afternoon, my parents drove up from Florida via Myrtle Beach where they had spent the week celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary and they stayed with us until Wednesday morning. It was so nice having my parents around, especially because my mom made dinner when I was at work and I didn't have to cook! On Wednesday my parents and I hopped in the car and headed North to Connecticut for my baby shower, leaving Brendan to fend for himself with 4 frozen pizzas.

We had a great time in Connecticut catching up with friends and neighbors, enjoying the fall weather and foliage... and I definitely don't think that I followed the diet plan the way I was supposed to. I even got a pre-natal massage on Friday which was awesome since my back has been killing me!

My baby shower was a ton of fun, we had it at our favorite Italian restaurant in Cheshire, and got cupcakes from the same place I got my wedding cupcakes (they're amazing!). I'm so glad I was able to see my family and friends, but I just wish I had more time to socialize with everyone... and that I took more photos! I got tons of great presents and cute outfits, including Brendan's first pair of running shoes that his parents saved for us along with a photo of Brendan wearing them! My parents also got me a really nice camera so that I can take tons of photos of Luke that are better quality than ones I would take on my iPhone.

I flew back to NC on Monday and wish that I had been wearing running shoes because between flight delays and short layovers, I barely made it home. I was glad to be home though and we started our child birth classes last week, which have definitely made me feel more comfortable about my birth plan.

This past Sunday, some sweet friends from church threw me another baby shower. I will make a complete baby shower post later, but all I can say is that I am truly blessed to have such an encouraging group of people to do life with here in North Carolina!

Brendan is also in jump master school for the next few weeks, so I am going to try really hard to be a good quizzer because he will have a ton of studying to do! I'm also hoping to do some baby room projects this weekend, like finish painting the shelves I want to use for the changing table, frame some photos, and organize the closet!

Here are some photos from the past few week's festivities!

Our Trip to DC

Quality time with my favorite man... and dog

the only photos I remembered to take at the shower

Walking through cross country trails in Connecticut

Some photos from my church shower!

Baby Update!

I am almost one month into my third trimester (31 weeks down, 9 to go!) and for the most part, I feel okay. I'm a little more exhausted than the second trimester and sometimes if I'm laying down wrong, I get the sensation of blood rushing to my head. I had my glucose test last week and didn't do so hot, so I had to do another longer one last Friday (which I passed!), I also found out I'm anemic so they gave me a prescription for iron. I'm now into the part of my pregnancy where I have doctors appointments every 2 weeks until the last month, then I go weekly. In some ways, I'm happy about that because I like listening to Luke's heartbeat, but depending on which doctor I see, it's tough when I feel like they are criticizing how I'm taking care of myself since I seem to be gaining more weight than they would like me to (although I didn't gain any more weight between doctors appointments this time!).

Lately, I've been trying to hit the gym around 5:30 or 5:45 in the morning since I can't seem to fall back asleep after Brendan leaves in the morning (although the past 2 days I have failed to get my butt out of bed!), and it's really de-stressed me because I don't have to worry about fitting exercise in after work and can focus on making dinner and spending time with Brendan... an added bonus has been that I'm actually sleepy when he is now so, I don't mind going to bed earlier! Last week, while I was up in Connecticut, I took advantage of the crisp weather and walked old cross country courses I used to run in my area while taking photos of the leaves and trees every morning. I wish there were better trails in Fayetteville!

Ok so here are my past 3 photos from oldest to newest!

28 weeks and 2/3 down

29 Weeks and growing!

31 weeks and ready for a nap.

How far along? 31 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 23 pounds
Maternity clothes? oh yes, and how did I just discover maternity leggings?
Stretch marks? Not yet!
Sleep: not so much.
Best moment this week: The baby shower and passing my glucose test!
Miss Anything? not feeling like everything I eat is turning straight to fat
Movement: yes, yes, yes.
Food cravings: I have had a terrible sweet tooth since passing my glucose test since I refrained from sweets for 2 weeks
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: I feel like due to my short stature I look like I'm ready to birth triplets
Labor Signs: No, but some Braxton Hicks are showing up
Belly Button in or out? OUT
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: as long as I'm not tired or hungry I'm good... but I'm usually tired or hungry.
Looking forward to: finishing decorating Luke's room!

BONUS PHOTO: Still hopped up on sugar from my glucose test and trying to convince Brendan I need all of these candies to make up for not having any sugar for 2 weeks

24 Week Update

I'm 24 weeks pregnant, which means 6 months down and 4 more to go! Apparently it's fall here, but the only reason I can assume this is because there are pumpkins for sale, and my favorite fall drinks like pumpkin spice lattes and apple cider are available... other than that it's still 80+ degrees and therefore, difficult for me to wear all my boots that I purposely didn't pack yet although not impossible, I just wear them with dresses!

This week we are still just packing away and trying to get everything situated for our upcoming move. I'm a little stressed about it because I know that I can't really do much lifting so I will be kind of worthless on Saturday. Also, I tried to clean the tub in the bathroom last night and found it very difficult because my belly kept getting in the way when I tried to lean over the edge, I think next time I'm going to have to sit in the tub to clean it.

Brendan and I had a pretty nice weekend. He was off Friday and Monday, and although I had to work, I was able to get out pretty early. We saw three movies over the weekend which is more than we usually watch in like a 6 month span! We saw Prisoners which has made me positive I am going to attach a GPS tracker to my children, Bad Parents which is not even worth commenting about, and Oblivion which I liked for the most part but sort of confused me.

I was worried over the weekend because I didn't feel Luke kick as much as I had been feeling the previous few weeks but after researching it, I assumed that he probably just switched positions. Anyways, he's back to his normal amount of kicking so I'm not concerned anymore. 

This week, Brendan decided he would make the baby board sign... and the annoying thing is it's a million times better than mine are. Sometimes it's frustrating because he is just so much better than me at so many things; But I take solace in the fact that he can't cook so at least I keep my genius husband alive so he can continue being good at all of these random things.

Yes, that's right Luke is the length of a foot-long hot dog... also known as a foot..
I wish I could eat a hot dog right now. 

How far along? 24 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 13 pounds total
Maternity clothes? nothing new, waiting until it's not 80 degrees
Stretch marks? Not yet!
Sleep: I need to stop sleeping on my back because it's killing me
Best moment this week: staying up with my husband past 8:30pm on more than one evening this weekend!!
Miss Anything? not losing my balance for no reason and not having bags under my eyes
Movement: yes, yes, yes.
Food cravings: apple cider, too much pasta, and hot sauce
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: I ate a basketball.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? OUT
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: stressed out
Looking forward to: getting this stupid move over with

18 Week Bumpdate and Baby Fox Has a Name!

Hello! 18 weeks, and time is flying by! After getting over the shock of finding out that we're having a baby boy, I promptly planned out his nursery (post coming soon on that), ordered the crib, and really started updating my registry.

***if any moms reading this have suggestions for things that they just can't live without please comment!***

On Monday, after returning from work, I found a bat in my house which was probably the scariest moment of my life. I started calling my friends with husbands I thought might be home who could help me kill it but they weren't around. Luckily, my friend Katelyn whose husband works with Brendan came over and we put it in a box and threw it away (Abigail already injured it so it couldn't fly, thanks dog!). My take away from this experience: bats are gross, I hate them, I would not wish bats on my worst enemy, and I am thankful to have friends that will help me kill them.

One thing that has really been making mornings awesome for me this week is discovering that Coffee Mate makes girl scout cookie flavored creamers. I've been putting Thin-Mint creamer in my coffee which has made going from from having Half-Caf coffee (which I started drinking when I found out I was pregnant) all the way down to Decaf more bearable... for those who know how much I love coffee and caffeine, you know that this is a huge feat for me.

Luke is growing, and so is my stomach. ugh.

How far along? 18 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: gained 6lbs, doctor says that for my size that's good.
Maternity clothes? nothing new, but definitely using the stuff I do have. I'm trying to hold off on buying stuff since I will be most pregnant in the fall.
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: still having some problems falling asleep but once I am asleep I'm usually ok!
Best moment this week:  Finding out the sex of the baby!
Miss Anything? sushi and wine. I really miss having a glass of red wine.
Movement: just started feeling some kicks
Food cravings: still loving caramel apples, this thin mint creamer is making me pretty happy, and pasta (which I haven't actually been eating)
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope
Have you started to show yet: yeah um, my clothes don't fit.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? getting shallower and shallower
Wedding rings on or off? On!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but still self-conscious about my body.
Looking forward to: lots and lots of movement and having Brendan home for a few weeks

So we decided to name the baby Luke Michael! We named him Luke after Luke of the New Testament who was the author of the Gospel of Luke as well as the Book of Acts, and Brendan's middle name is Michael so we decided it would be nice for him to have the same middle name (we didn't want his first name to be Michael because it's too close to Michael J. Fox). We are so excited and I am trying super hard to start calling him Luke instead of baby!

Surprise Baby Shower for a Sweet Friend

Sign Courtesy  of artist extraordinaire, Evelina 

Since Moving to Fayetteville last October, God has placed us in a great church with an awesome community of believers. Around the same time that we started attending, several other young couples started attending too and we formed a small group with them and some other couples that had been going for years.

We meet every other week for a Bible Study, but in truth we hang out much more often than that. We do dinners, play kickball, watch movies, and just do life together. Over the past few months, Brendan and I have gotten especially close with two other couples Brett and Evelina and Kelly and Evan (plus one very special toddler named Ian). All of our husbands are in the army, which instantly makes things easier because there is little explanation needed when I show up at our small group and explain that Brendan is stuck at work or that he's jumping out of a plane. On top of that common bond, these people are real, they are funny, sarcastic, and compassionate. They understand that married life, especially with the added stress of the military is not easy and I don't feel embarrassed to admit to them when Brendan and I are struggling.

One of these couples, Evan and Kelly, are amazing. They got married at 19 and are two of the most Christ-seeking people that I know, when I think of Christ-centered families, they are definitely at the top of the list for me.  They have a little boy, Ian,who happens to be the epitome of a happy baby, he loves basketballs, trains, and strawberries. I constantly find myself reminding Brendan (and me) that babies don't pop out like Ian and he is almost two.

When I first really got to know Kelly, she let me know that she was training for a triathlon... while being pregnant with their second baby. I already thought she was crazy.. but she did it, and she did well! As I got to know her and see her interact with her family, and especially Ian, I was taken aback by how great of a mother and wife she was... She also happens to be one of the prettiest people, ( and prettiest pregnant person) I know. (I am so glad that we aren't pregnant at the same time because she would put me to shame!)

One of the funnest and funniest things about Kelly is how much she loves surprises. She loves them so much that she didn't want to find out with Ian if they were having a boy or girl and although they decided to find out what they were having with baby #2, they wouldn't tell anyone! Kelly also told us she was really good at guessing if people were surprising her, and once guessed that her husband was planning on surprising her by bringing out two of her best friends to visit her!

As it got closer to her due date, Evelina and I decided to try to do the impossible... we were going to plan a surprise baby shower! So after getting Evan in on the idea, we started planning... and it totally worked!!! I told Kelly the weekend before that we were having a party at our house for Brendan because he was leaving for 5 weeks, so she thought that's why they were coming over.

Since we didn't know if they were having a boy or girl we decided to do a yellow color scheme and since they already had some stuff from Ian, we just asked people to bring a gift card to either Wal-Mart or Babies R US. Evelina is like basically the best artist I have ever met, so she took care of most of the decorations while I concentrated on food. Here are some photos of the party!

This is Evan, Kelly and Ian

Decorations

Like I said, Evelina is great with artsy stuff and when she came over on Friday to help me decorate, I was blown away by the stuff she made!

this was the dining room/kitchen set up (photo by Evelina)

Evelina made these cool little paper tissue balls to decorate the ceiling

Desk Turned gift table (photo by Evelina)

Towards the end of the day, this sign was a tie between Boy and Dinosaur (which the guys wrote in as an option along with "New Dog")

And our favorite decoration, a photo of Ian telling his cousin to talk to the hand!

Activities

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of party games and neither is Kelly so we came up with two activities that are fun but not forced and you can do them at your own leisure. The first activity was called "Midnight Diapers" where we basically took sharpies and wrote funny sayings on the backs of the diaper so Mommy or Daddy could get a laugh during those sleep deprived hours. The second activity, even the guys enjoyed! We decorated some white onesies for the baby to wear over the first year... because it's always cute when babies wear clothes with funny sayings on them!

The food setup from afar and craft table

Craft Table

These little sign holders Evelina recycled from her wedding worked perfectly to put instructions in for the activities!

Photo by Evelina

Some of the onesies!

Food

We weren't sure how many people would show up so we decided to make some appetizers and Evelina made cute cupcakes with little duck toppers on them (there are still some in my fridge that I may or may not have had for breakfast the past few days). I could have gotten away with making less of most of the stuff, but we had a few people who weren't able to come at the last minute.  Here's the rundown for what was served:

Food
Fruit Salad
Caprese Bites
Spinach Dip
Cheese and Crackers
Veggies
Assorted Olives
Breaded Ravioli with Marinara Dipping Sauce
Cupcakes


Drinks

Lemonade
Iced Tea

Caprese Bites up close (photos by Evelina)

Sometimes I wish I had just a little more space on my counters.

Overall, I think the party went really well and I was just happy that Kelly was surprised and felt loved. One of the hardest things about being a military family is being away from your real family when big life events like this happen. Luckily I've found that when you create your own family wherever you move, life gets a lot easier! Kelly is due in the beginning of August, so if you remember to keep her little family in your prayers for the next few months as they transition to taking care of two little ones instead of one that would be great!!