35 weeks: family time

this week, according to Alpha Mom:
Your Baby:

• Is over five pounds now, although these weight guesstimates will start getting very useless very quickly over the next few weeks.
• Since most of your baby’s organs are fully functional and major developmental milestones behind him or her, the next month is all about weight gain. And since “normal” weights for newborns these days can be anything between six and 10 pounds, it’s hard to predict how big YOUR baby will be from here on in.

You:

• Are the very picture of motherly grace and beauty. Also: waddling.
• Fatigue may be a big problem right now. You may need a daily nap, or find yourself crawling into bed by 9 pm. (I can barely make it to my toddler’s 8:30 bedtime most nights.) And while I’ve always seethed at people who love to cheerfully remind pregnant women to “Get some sleep! Once the baby’s here you won’t get any sleep!” I have to say…dude, get some sleep.

ok so yeah, i hear this all the time..."sleep now! before she comes!" um.....HOW exactly am i expected to get sleep right now? i have to sleep sitting straight up in bed or on the couch to tame the INSANE heartburn/reflux....which hurts my back...and my hips....and my shoulders....so uncomfortable and definitely not conducive to sleeping. but what's a girl to do except pop some pepcid, prop up some pillows & pray for sleep. 

everything else is going relatively smoothly. my check-ups at the doctor will now be on a weekly basis to monitor whatever it is they monitor in that little pee cup, do some blood work, check my blood pressure, check Harper's heart rate and...GULP...check for dilation. it's nice knowing that we are getting checked on every 7 days, that's for sure.

this week, we had another wedding to attend. it was great to see the whole family. we are so big and spread out, we rarely get everyone together in one place! loved it. loved it. loved it. congratulations to the sweet couple, cameron & nikki!

24 weeks: wogging right along...



25 weeks with my beautiful cousin, Joan
(missed a 24 week photo opp...but it's an early 25 weeks so I'll take it)



so what's up this week, Alpha Mom?

Your Baby:

• Is just about a foot long now. I believe it is a tradition to consume a foot-long sub sandwich or hot dog in your baby’s honor at this point. I also believe I just made that up.
• Is still very skinny looking, with translucent skin, but this will all start changing soon.
• Is officially at the edge of viability, and most hospitals would automatically attempt every possible life-saving option if your baby were to be born now.

You:

• Will undergo the glucose screening test at some point between now and 30 weeks to check for gestational diabetes. It’s done at a routine prenatal visit and involves chugging down an incredibly sickly-sweet beverage. Then you wait an hour and give a blood sample. And then you get someone else to drive your ass home, because you will be 1) passed out cold from a sugar crash or 2) howling in pain from a headache or 3) both. I brought a book to pass the time but fell asleep 20 minutes after the shot of sugar and woke up drooling on my husband, and I felt like crap for hours afterwards. But I passed! (A positive screen does not necessarily mean you have GD; it just means you have to get a whole OTHER, more-monitored test.)
• Are probably noticing more aches and pains as we come to the final couple weeks of the second trimester, particularly in your lower back, hips and other joints.
• Sciatica! Eeeeeeeeeee! Stopit!

Yup...sounds about right. Although I feel like I'm getting bigger by the MOMENT, I can't believe she's a FOOT long! We can definitely feel her kicks from the outside now and you can see them too which is funny.

Running & certain kicks in kickboxing are starting to get pretty uncomfortable for obvious reasons:

My hips get pretty sore when I run, which I would assume is normal. But I'm sad to report my running days may be numbered until February because each time I go out for a run, the more uncomfortable it gets. Plus my running has turned more into wogging (waddle/jogging as my friend Lynsi calls it) to compensate for said sore hips and a growing little girl. I'll keep it up as long as I can but I'm grateful for spin class and the elliptical because those seem to give me no trouble at all.

On Friday, I took the dreaded glucose test. For whatever reason, I was stressing this one BIG time! And of course, being a Friday, I had to wait until Tuesday afternoon for the results! Ugh. Silver lining? the test was done just in time for me to be able to have a big ol' slice of wedding cake on Saturday ;)





The drink wasn't nearly as bad as people describe it....there was no puking or fainting that some people warn you about...not even close. The first few sips I thought were actually pretty tasty! But that much sugar on an empty stomach was blech about 15 minutes into the test. Not a big deal though...

Saturday we enjoyed a wonderful wedding reception to celebrate Joan & Travis's wedding. It was great to see some family and catch up & the food was SO GOOD (priorities...).

what a ham.



don't see these guys NEARLY enough


So another great week flies on by...week 25 was a big one. I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to see how my glucose screening test went. Plus....we've picked a name!! stay tuned :)

Love,
K & baby

18 weeks: ONE(sie) LOVE



18 weeks. hello bump!






baby updates according to alpha mom:

• Is about the size of a baked potato — five-and-a-half inches long.
• Has actual cute little ears and working ear bones and can hear sounds through the amniotic fluid — similar to how things sound to you underwater.
• Is moving, moving, moving. The baby is still small enough that you may not feel every kick and punch yet, but the movements will start getting less “bubble-like” and more “holy crap, that was totally a foot” pretty soon, if they aren’t already.

-With the funeral services this week, it was a pretty somber week... but Baby & I made it through just fine together....stick with me kiddo. we've got this :) I'm still so sad that Grandpa will never get to "meet" baby bean, but I'm grateful for my faith & I believe that now that he's in heaven, Grandpa knows our little bean better than we do! I just picture him lovin' on our little one & it makes me smile (ok, and cry too but that comes with the preggo territory, doesn't it?)

"Awesomes" of the week: -All of our penta screen tests (genetic screening) all came back normal....so HUGE sigh of relief!

-I LOVE feeling the baby kick. I know I said this last week too but oh my goodness, I really REALLY do!

-check out the adorable onesies we've collected so far:


http://www.etsy.com/shop/tinytwistcreative
the funds made from this little shop on etsy help in funding this sweet couple's adoption from the Democratic Republic of Congo! check 'em out.



from mama's trip to Chicago :)



H&M



...sorry...couldn't figure out how to rotate the first two. i trust that even sideways, the cuteness is still quite evident.

"Awkwards" of the week:
-uh...my morning sickness (oh who am I kidding...all-friggin-day sickness) is back. with a vengeance. what the heck?! whoever said that the 2nd trimester is "sooooooo awesome" is full of crap. I feel just as yucky as I did in my 1st trimester if not worse....and ending pity party now.
-family in town = lots of belly touching which I am NOT a fan of. I let it slide though. this time....
-prenatal yoga kicks my butt every.single.time. seriously? how can i still make it just fine through body pump, spin & kickboxing but yoga leaves me sweaty and gasping for air?!
-nothing fits right! i'm too big for my regular clothes but too small for maternity clothes...getting ready has become an ordeal (well...more so than usual...) my closet is just one big pile of "nope. not gonna work"

 ...all this complaining but seriously, I'm feeling VERY blessed. Every morning feels like Christmas morning when I wake up, put my hand on my belly & smile....

xoxo,
K & Baby

lake trip recap

as anticipated, we had an awesome time at the lake a few weeks back. we've been super busy so i'm just now getting around to recapping. though, it was mostly just R&R the whole time so nothing super exciting to report. which is just fine with me. it was much-needed time away, spent in the sun, being lazy. we were out there for 5 days and each day looked the same, kinda like this: wake up, let jack out to go race to the lake for his morning swim, go for a run, come back and erase any good done by said run by eating a delish breakfast (pancakes, anyone?), go lay by the pool or lake ALL day, catch up on reading, drink, eat, drink, eat...


the best part was that we had NOTHING to do but lay around. no work, no chores, no obligations, no gym. i was able to just spend time with cody & his family & read a WONDERFUL book, Same Kind of Different as Me. i highly recommend it!


jack wore himself out EVERY day by running around with his new BFF's Maia & Schatzi & his old buddy, uncle tucker:





what a perfect summer vacay!

joie de vivire

another awesome article from kristin armstrong in runner's world.

http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com/2010/05/fireflies.html

Fireflies
05/13/2010 11:57 AM
An interesting thought occurred to me about photographs.

Have you ever noticed the way people, particularly women, look back at old photographs of themselves and are wistful? "Oh, I looked so young then!" "Look at my skin!" (*sigh*) "Good grief, I was so skinny! And here I thought I was heavy at the time!" "Awww, look at us, just gorgeous. We had no clue."

No one ever really mentions that just as we had no clue at the time, there might exist the possibility that we have no clue right now. Captured moments of today are the wistfulness of tomorrow. I guarantee that just as we can look back at a photo from ten years ago and appreciate ourselves, ten years from now we will look at a photo from today and think the same damn thing. How come nobody brings this up? Wouldn't this awareness bring us a certain measure of peace?

Can you imagine the liberation if we could just appreciate ourselves right now? Who we are, where we are, what we look like? If we could just look in the mirror long enough for a basic once-over and a smile-wink and be done with it? If we were too content and confident to critique?

I saw my daughters this weekend, growing up before my eyes. Isabelle sang in a kid rock band on Friday night, with a music school that teaches music by ear. She played keyboard, drums, and had lead vocals on two songs. I watched her up there, mic in hand, smile on her face, totally at ease and I wanted to scrape some of the confidence oozing from her pores and bottle it up, save it to dab on myself sometimes or anoint her later, if she forgets what she's made of. This was followed by my girls' First Communion on Saturday morning. Watching them, poised, pensive, and peaceful, walking down the aisle at church – my breath caught in my chest. Are these really my girls? When did they get so tall and beautiful? The contours of their faces are losing the roundness of youth. Their features are distinct. No longer kid paws, their hands have assumed the unique shape that I will recognize for the rest of my life. I know the next time I see them walking the aisle dressed in a white gown and veil I will say to myself, "Her First Communion seems like yesterday…" Where does the time go?

I am going to make a point of taking photographs in my mind, all the time. But not just to chronicle -I want to really see them now, appreciate them right now. I want a Polaroid memory. I want to seize the moment, hold it, take it all in…and then save it.

At running group this week Amy and I were following the pack. I asked her if she noticed how unbelievable the legs were, loping in front of us. Really, they looked more like a college soccer team than a group of 40 year olds. "Do you think they have any idea how lovely they are?" I asked her. "They have no clue." she laughed. I wanted to tell them, but I couldn't catch up without popping a lung, so I'm saying it now.

Savor yourself. Cut yourself some slack. Appreciate your beauty. Wink at yourself in the mirror. Tell your husband he has nice buns. Tell your wife she's hotter than she was yesterday. Tell your children how you see them. Tell your parents thank you. Remind your friends who they are.

After all, ten years from now, right now will be ten years ago. Moments are like fireflies. You are a runner, so go chase them. Cup them carefully in your hands and watch the glow seep through your fingers. Don't miss it.

...this got me thinking about my life in intervals of "tens" where was i ten years ago? what about 20 years ago?

well, let's see...20 years ago, at age nine i was rocking the completely awkard stage that we all go through(admit it).

seriously, mom and dad...the glasses? were they necessary? shheeeeesh. but nevertheless, life was GOOD (glasses and all). it was my second year at Flour Bluff after moving and i had made some great friends (who i'm blessed to stay in touch with to this very day! thank you, facebook). i was enjoying being on the swim team (goooo parker porpoises!) and, most importantly that was the year that Sara was born!

what about 10 years ago? i was a sophomore at UT & was livin' it up to the fullest with barbara (& our adopted neighbor) jana in our very first apt...westview! what great memories from my 19th year...

that's the year that we joined AXiD & made great friends

i also met this really cute guy named cody...

my favorite year in college...and still, life was GOOD.

so that brings us to today...29! the cute guy, cody turned out to be a keeper and i am blessed every day to be sharing this life with him & to be his wife :)

we also have a very handsome son, jack.

i'm the world's proudest aunt to 6-month aiden, who has already brought such joy to my family. i can't wait to watch him grow into a little man!

and i am so grateful to have the most wonderful friends to share great times with.


every once in a while (when i'm reeeeallly lucky) i even still get to see barbara & jana:


yep, as things change, one thing remains constant: life is GOOD.

mommy day

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37092825/ns/health-behavior/

just a little shout out to my momma! this article is sweet and reminds me just how much i appreciate my mom. i'm almost 30 (yikes!) and my mom is still one of the first people i call when i'm scared, sad, happy...you name it. don't know what i'd do without ya!

go to your "happy place"...

this weekend we went out to wimberley to celebrate my cousins' (liz, joe & erica) graduations. what a joy to go out there where i have so many great memories from my childhood. don't you just love places like that?

as a kid i remember going up there every chance we got (long weekends, holidays, summers, etc.) to go visit grandpa al, grandma anna & the rest of the family. it was always so exciting to pull up that long driveway after the 4 hour trip from corpus and look in the big front window to see who was there. with 20-something cousins there was ALWAYS somebody there! we had so much fun growing up on that river - running down to the rapids, building forts, swimming in the river, playing green ghost...it makes me smile just thinking about it!

and then there were all the holidays - firecrackers down at the river for new year's & 4th of july, easter egg hunts in the front yard, and one of my favorites -
HUGE thanksgiving dinners and then watching the UT/A&M game, followed by a football game of our own out on the flocke's lawn....



wimberley surely is a little slice of heaven that God has shared with us. sparkling river, cypress trees, rolling hills...the texas hill country at it's finest. and the memories of all the fun things we did there fill my heart with joy. but it's not the surroundings or the activities that i love as much as the people i share this place with. anybody who knows me knows how important my family is to me - obviously my immediate family but it also extends to my aunts, uncles and cousins because they are more like "extra" moms, dads, brothers and sisters to me...their presence in my life is truly one of my greatest blessings.




(these pictures are from galveston, not wimberley...but they're my favorite "cousin pictures" of all time!)

so this weekend, it was wonderful to revisit that place & the people who make it so special to me, even if just for a few hours. it's bittersweet to think about how my cousins and i have all grown up and established our own versions of "adult" lives...moving away, starting our careers, getting married & having children of our own. now we only see eachother a couple times a year (if we're lucky). but i love them just the same and i'm grateful for the short visits we do have here and there. really, just a small portion of the "cousins" were there...



but add in the spouses and the babies and the group doubles!...



...& don't worry, the family is contninuing to grow! here, we were pointing to the pregnant bellies in attendance - erica, hanna and molly are all adding to our family this year! :)

speaking of children....two of my favorite kiddos were there. my sweet nephew, aiden and i got to hang out for a bit:



and we brought jack for his first out of town field trip. i was really nervous about this...so many things to go wrong when you throw a long car ride, plates of bbq, new people, and large bodies of water into the mix. but he did pretty well and he had a BLAST in the water!






it was a wonderful day, filled with people i adore, fantastic bbq,and gorgeous river views. and to top it all off, i had a great pre-mother's day visit with my two favorite moms :)