TGIF!

Friday + Payday = happiness.

Another week here and gone. And oh how it went so fast! I'm having a hard time with the fact that today is the last weekend of July already. Slooooowww down, time. Seriously. I miss the days when summer seemed to last forever. It seemed like such a long time from when school got out to when it started in August/September. I remember being excited to see what people looked like when we went back to school. Did we really change that much during that short amount of time?! I also remember being SO bored some days. Whining to my mom, I'm sure, how bored I was. If only I could feel that again. I can't remember what bored feels like!

This weekend: think it's going to be another busy one. Tomorrow a possible trip to Tacoma--waiting for Joe to decide on that one. Sunday I have a baby shower (not mine) and then my sisters birthday. The only thing I want to do tonight is come home after work and have nothing to do or anywhere to go. We'll see if that happens!

Happy Friday!

Countdown: 11 weeks

What to Expect.com Update

Baby is almost 17 inches tall now, nearly as tall as he will be at birth, and close to three pounds. This weight will nearly double--or come close to tripling by delivery time. His wrinkled skin is smoothing out as more fat is deposited under the skin surface. This fat, called white fat, is different from the earlier brown fat that your developing fetus accumulated. Brown fat is necessary for body temperature regulation while white fat actually serves as an energy source.

Space in your baby's living quarters is now at a premium, so you'll be feeling jabs and pokes from elbows and knees mostly. But those kicks will be more vigorous than before because your baby is stronger and excitedly responding to all sorts of stimuli--movement, sounds, light and the food you ate half an hour ago.

I'm still feeling great and feel so lucky to have had such a smooth pregnancy. Being with Ashley on Monday made me feel bad for complaining about my back, a non-baby related injury. I still have mild heart burn from time to time but that's about it. I've given in and started taking Tylenol for my back though. The pain was just too much to handle---I feel guilty about taking it but it's helping so I think it's worth the guilt that comes with it!

Tonight we're having dinner with a friend I traveled around Europe with. Her and her husband just moved to Longview and are expecting their first 2 months after us. They find out this afternoon what they're having, I can't wait to hear! Girl or boy, it's another little playmate for Baby ____!

Happy Thursday!

Virgin daiquiris and episiotomies

Last night I went for dinner with Ashley and Tera in good ol' Castle Rock. Ashely is 4 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy and has been on bed rest for the past few weeks but she escaped for dinner. It was a 4 hour dinner and we covered everything from babies to husbands to local gossip. Perfect! Seeing Ashley made me realize our little boys will be here soon. She's already got her hospital bag packed! I don't even know what I need to pack for the hospital! Joe and I really need to get busy, we don't have that much longer! So nice having someone who is going through all the same things though, Ashley even has the same doctor as I do. I see lots of play dates in our future!

Other big news: Joe and I got our stroller over the weekend and also got our glider ordered. Two more things marked off the list! Last week I also got to make a visit to the labor and delivery floor. I fell last weekend camping and last week started having bad back pain. I called my doctor and the nurse came back on the phone and said, "Don't worry but doctor wants you to go check into labor and delivery." WHAT?! It was 10:30am and I was at work. I didn't even know where labor and delivery was at the hospital! I went and checked myself in and got monitored for an hour. They said baby looks absolutely perfect. As for me and my back pain? Not sure about that. They think I might of pulled a muscle when I fell. Thank goodness baby is fine but mom is hurting! It hurts to walk. I didn't think I was going to make it out of bed yesterday! Massage tonight. I'm hoping for a miracle!

Happy Tuesday!

TGIF

Hello, Friday! You came so fast again. For the first time ever I wish you would take a little longer to get here. I mean, this is the last full weekend of July! I still catch myself writing June on things. Summer is quickly slipping away and I feel like it hasn't even started....

Last night we ended up going to the Black Bears baseball game. Clary's has a "party suite" for 2 or 3 games and there were 12 tickets and no one wanted to go. Kim and I had been wanting to go and since Joe was working (he really, really doesn't like baseball), we went for it. We were the only 3 in the party suite---which was basically just a roped off area with a tiny table and a few chairs. It was fun though, even if we did get there after the 4th inning and left before the 6th!

This weekend: up in the air! Maybe some golf, hopefully some yard work....and definitely a trip to Portland. Need to finish nursery furniture shopping. We're on the hunt for a glider now. Also need a changing table/dresser. I think we've decided on one, just want to make sure it's "the one." The one that goes with our crib is too big for the room.

Happy Friday, have a great weekend!

Babysitting adventure

Yesterday afternoon my sister called to see if Joe and I would want to babysit Sophie for a few hours at our house. My answer, of course, was YES! I already had dinner ready to go and it happened to be one of her favorites, pulled pork. Imagine that! We all love it!
She sat at the table with us like a big girl and did so good! It's amazing how much she has changed just in the last few months. She went on a kitty hunt (he was hiding and never came out to visit her), fed the fish with Uncle Joe and explored every square inch of our house. After dinner we took her to the park and then for a vanilla cone at McDonald's. It was so much fun! I've decided that when I have my baby, my sister and I are going to need to do baby swaps---I don't want to give up my one-on-one time with Sophie! She was having a blast running around and playing but then she found one of our DVDs. It had pictures of the characters on the front and one of the characters hair resembled my sisters. Sophie brought the DVD to me, pointed at the lady and then her lip started quivering. I think she saw it and realized that they were gone. She started bawling and saying, "Ma ma, ma ma, da da, da da..." She cried in my arms and let me comfort her but it was the most heart breaking thing I've ever seen! She loves her ma ma and da da, no doubt about that!

In other news, THIRD TRIMESTER today. Wow. This has all gone so fast!

Dinner success!

My in-laws stopped by yesterday on their way home from the Oregon Dunes. I wanted to have dinner for them but since I knew I had to work until 5 and they'd be at our house around 4, it had to be something simple. Pulled pork sandwiches it was! And this was the best pulled pork yet, thanks to the three ingredients above. My sister has a recipe she uses and said it had various ingredients besides the sauce but since I didn't have the exact amounts I just winged it. Mixed chopped onion, brown sugar, yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar and worchestire. After that I added the meat to the crock pot and brushed with a mixture of the super spicy Stubb's BBQ sauce and Sweet Baby Ray's. Turned it on to cook before I left for work and it was good to go when I walked in the door. SO. GOOD. This is definitely my favorite meal. Oh, and the Texas Champagne...can't get enough of it. Each bite of my sandwich is doused with it. The in-laws loved it too---even the pickiest of eaters, my father in law. A dinner success! And a great evening spent with them!

Oh, and the best thing about this pulled pork? Even though all four of us had sandwiches, we still have enough for dinner tonight. Yes!

Post-It Note Tuesday

Nothing says summer like skinned knees

What a great weekend! We went camping at Cresap Bay with my sister and had such a great time! The weather was cool but warmed up enough on Saturday to take the boat out and soak up the sun while it lasted. Sophie LOVED the water! It was so much fun watching her splash around. Only bummer about the trip: I fell. Second spill in the past two weeks. This time I skinned my left knee. So smooth. I think I fell especially hard on my knees to try to avoid hitting my tummy on the ground. Baby is fine, knee is not! I had skinned knees all of my childhood---guess I just wanted to remember the sting of hydrogen peroxide. And having the scab stick to all clothing. I'm so mad it happened! And I don't even have a cool story to go along with it. I was simply walking down to the boat and next thing I know I was on the ground!

After all of these years I still love camping. I really love everything about it, even waking up on the ground because our air mattress had a slow leak all night wasn't that bad!

A few pictures from our fun weekend.....

Mmmm...glucola!

Yesterday after my doctor appointment I had the pleasure of drinking this tasty concoction, Glucola. Or pure, orange flavored sugar. I had my glucose screening test and had to drink this in 5 minutes while the lab tech watched. Then I had to go back to the waiting room and wait an hour and then get blood drawn. It wasn't as bad as some of the other stuff I've had to drink, like barium sulfate, but it was still pretty tortorous. And I think a big shock to my system. I'm not a soda drinker---or any sugar beverage drinker for that matter. After the test I felt like I could go run a marathon and then about 25 minutes after that I was so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open. Hopefully that means my body metabolized the sugar fast and I'll past the test? We shall see!

Post-It Note Tuesday

Making progress

We made some progress on the nursery this weekend! We got the call that our crib has arrived last week and it put us both in panic mode.....we don't have that much longer to get things ready! We took off for Portland as soon as I got off work on Friday and did some shopping/looking. Saturday we woke up, went for breakfast and got busy on house projects. Mom and I washed windows inside and out (thanks, mom!) and Joe and dad tapped the nursery and got it ready for priming and painting. It's amazing how much faster things get done when there's a team!

While the primer was drying we took a break and went golfing. It was so much fun! My first time and I loved it. We played 18 holes---it was the par 3 course but still---I felt pretty good about it! Beginners luck? Perhaps. Can't wait to go again though! After golf we went for dinner and then Joe and I got busy on the room again. We have a vision for the room so it's just a matter of finding the right stuff and putting it together. Here is the work in progress:

Still have a lot of touch up to do. We decided to leave one wall the brown color that it was when this room was our office. Can't wait to see it really start coming together. I feel less stressed now that we've at least got the painting done. Bring on the crib, changing table, rocking chair and all the adorable things we've found at Etsy.com---we're getting ready for your arrival, baby!

My latest addiction...

zulily.com! I love waking up and seeing what the daily deals are! I've bought several things including a high chair for more than 1/2 off, some maternity clothes and a few other baby things. Such great deals! If you want to sign up, let me know and I'll send you an invite. Then I get $10 (if you buy anything) and then you can do the same with your friends!

Wordless Wednesday

4th of July

Joe and I at Joanna and Abe's. Notice Joe's glasses...so patriotic! And the Polaroid, love it!

What a weekend! It was busy from the time I left work on Friday till I went to bed last night. And I loved every minute of it. It was quite possibly the best 4th of July weekend in a long time!

Saturday was the 2nd Annual Cardboard Boat Regatta at the lake. It was a blast! Joanna's husband took 2nd place out of 50+ boats! Joe wants to have a boat next year. I hope he does! Mostly because I want to ride in it during the parade! :)

Abe's awesome boat, the Banana Slug!

Sunday we went to Joanna and Abe's for a BBQ. So fun! She is the best hostess! We ended the night at our friend Robby's house. I went to my sisters to watch the fireworks, Joe stayed at Robby's and watched from the roof. The view from Kim's house was amazing! We ended up getting home after 1am. Haven't stayed up that late since.....I can't remember. It took a toll though as I ended up sleeping in until after 9 yesterday. Haven't done that for longer than I can remember either!

I've decided that Longview is a pretty fun place to be on the 4th of July. So many fun things going on, so many traditions! Can't wait for next year!

25 weeks!

Not many new developments this week...baby is just gaining weight and growing! Apparently he's also growing more hair.

I'm still feeling great! Only minor complaint is slight heart burn in the afternoons. I feel so lucky! I've also noticed my energy has started to dwindle but I don't think I can necessarily blame it on the baby. Staying up later because it's light out so late has a lot to do with it, I'm sure. I've also been waking up a lot more during the night. Last night I woke up to baby kicking me on my left side. It's so crazy to be able to feel all of his movements!

Maybe one of these days I'll have something non-baby related to blog about?!

Happy Thursday, Happy July 1st!