Saturday, November 10, 2012

27 Week Recap


I can't believe i'm in my third trimester!! I'm starting to really feel pregnant. That might sound weird, but today I told Daniel I've never felt more pregnant than I do right now, ha! Since i'm only 5 feet, there isn't a lot of room for this baby to hang out, and I'm feeling that more this week than I have before. I look back at some pictures when i thought i was really 'showing' and have to laugh....it's nothing compared to what i look like now, and i'm sure in another month I'll look back to now and realize how much bigger I could actually get!

How Far Along: 27 weeks

Size of Baby: Head of cauliflower-about 15-16 inches long and 2-2.5 lbs

Weight Gain: 14 lbs

Gender: Girl (we officially know the name and if I have time to blog this week, i'll announce it!)

Movement: All. The. Time. She is so active, and I love feeling her.

Sleep: It's okay.....some nights are better than others. I'm sleeping on the couch most nights.

Maternity Clothes: All pants and most shirts. I did find some of my old sweaters this week that i can still wear. I'm quickly learning that what fit this week doesn't mean it will fit next week!

Symptoms: Back and hip pain, hunger

Aversions: hamburgers

Cravings: chocolate, hot water

What I miss: Sleeping

Best Moment this Week: Deciding on her name! Feeling her kicks get stronger and more often. We also picked out the paint.....we tested a part of the wall tonight and it's a lot brighter than it looked in the store. So it might take some getting used to. Also getting a package from my sister with the sweetest note to our baby and several cute cute things!!


What I'm looking forward to: Having another ultrasound on Friday. We're hoping she's gained some weight and her kidneys will be perfect!

I fly out tomorrow to a nearby city for a few days. I'm excited to see some friends and for a good time of refreshment. I feel like I have so much to blog, but not sure what this week will look like, so no promises on when I'll get to post.

love

laura

Monday, November 5, 2012

Weekend Rewind

I haven't done a weekend post in a while!

Last year, Daniel and I did an 8 week intensive language class together. We had the same teacher, and quickly became friends. Our teacher has the same personality and Myers Briggs as Daniel. They are a lot alike., minus the whole Asian thing. 

A few months later, his girlfriend (our teacher's, clearly not Daniels) tutored me. 

We have enjoyed getting to know this couple over the past year, and really enjoy them. 

This past weekend, they were married! We were so excited for our friends! Except, here most of the weddings are always in the morning. So Daniel wasn't going to be able to go because he teaches Saturday mornings. One thing I might take for granted being married, is  always have a wedding date. It was very weird to get ready and go to the wedding by myself. Luckily we have a lot of mutual friends with the couple, so I had people to hang with.

Here's the groom getting ready to walk down the aisle:


Bride with her Dad (i don't think the usual custom is for the dad to walk her down the aisle)


Our friends met while teaching at a language center. The same place I take all of my classes, so my current and past teachers were all there too.


These girls are so sweet and special to me!

Daniel ended up having time to bike over to the reception. He wasn't planning on having time to come, so that's why he's not super dressed up. 


My fave face of the groom!


Us with the lovely couple!!



love

laura

Sunday, November 4, 2012

26 Week Recap


Sorry this wasn't up on  Friday. I didn't like any of the pictures we took and then yesterday we were without power, so I couldn't post.
I went to a wedding yesterday so that's why i'm  more dressed up than normal. We also had a cold front come in, so it's time to get the sweaters and long sleeves out.
I just finished Week 26 and am almost in the last trimester. So. Weird.

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of Baby: Head of Lettuce-about 14 inches long, 2 lbs

Weight Gain: 13 lbs

Gender: Girl

Movement: Some days she moves non stop, then others she will only move a little. But most of the time she is moving!

Sleep: I've been sleeping on the couch and that has helped my hip pain. I wake up a lot during the night though.

Maternity Clothes: ummm yes.

Symptoms: Dry skin, achy hips and back

Aversions: hamburgers

Cravings: Chocolate, ice cream, cake

What I miss: Sleeping

Best Moment this week: Not really sure.... just continuing to feel her probably.

What i'm looking Forward to: There is a GAP opening in our city this week, and it has a Baby Gap. I've already told Daniel he's saving A LOT of of money since I'm pregnant and can't buy anything for me. But we might need to start eating ramen noodles to make up for what I might buy for our baby.  :)

Here's a front view:



love

laura

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Preggo Ramblings

Last week, when I had my glucose test we were at the dr's for over 4 hours. We had a lot of time on our hands, so Daniel took pictures of me drinking the glucose.

I tried to prepare myself for it to taste really gross. I don't have a really strong gag reflex, but I had prepared myself to drink something completely disgusting.

I'm not sure what it is like in the States (where I hear there are actually flavors), but here it wasn't that bad. I saw the white glucose powder in the bottom of the glass, then they mixed it with lukewarm water. I know what you're thinking...lukewarm....yum. 


It tasted okay. The first 2/3 wasn't bad at all. The last 1/3 was apparently where all of the glucose was, because the last few sips were a little of a struggle. 


So here's the story on the 4D ultrasound. Again, this is my first pregnancy, so I'm not sure how things are different than in the States. But, when I had my 20 week gender ultrasound, that's pretty much all they did....told me the gender (girl in case you missed that).

So I went in last week for the 4D and to do the congenital defect check. I heard that they would do the normal ultrasound to do all the checks, then go to 4D so we could look at our little sweet pea.

So for about 30 minutes they looked at EVERYTHING!! We struggled a little thru the language to ask what we were looking at sometimes. Shocking, but there are certain organ names like kidney that I haven't learned in class yet.

Then they went to 4D for about 2 seconds, turned off the machine, then told me I was done. I was pretty surprised and asked why, and they said her hand was in front of her face, so they couldn't get any good shots. I tried to explain to them I would be happy with a picture of her foot, I just wanted to see her in 4D. But they would not have it, so they cleaned me up, I had my blood drawn for the glucose test, and then we waited for the dr. I was really disappointed!

After an hour, he told us the ultrasound technician suggested we walk around to get my heart rate up and drink a lot of water to get her to move so they could try the ultrasound again. Had we known that for the last hour we'd been waiting, the information would have been helpful. So I had about 5 minutes, so i jogged in place while guzzling water.

They tried again, and we saw our little baby!!!! We have pictures of her face, arm, and feet. In one picture you can see her little arm is raised next to her head. We were also given a disc with several short videos showing her movement.

I keep trying to figure out who she looks like, but Daniel keeps telling me it's impossible to tell. My teacher however thinks she has Daniel's nose. 

The doctor did tell us that her kidneys have a slight separation to them, and she may not be passing urine correctly. He said we'll just watch it for now, and see if it heals up or continues to separate. From everything I've read, it doesn't sound too serious and I'm not too worried about it. We are praying that Father will completely heal her kidneys and it won't be a concern at all. We go back for another ultrasound in 2 weeks. 

Random, but as I've been getting bigger Daniel gets more and more protective. Walking is our main mode of transportation, so whenever we're near an intersection or even close to a motorcycle or car, Daniel reaches his arm out to keep me safe and tried to build a barricade around me.  I joked yesterday that maybe he should just put me on a leash, and instantly he said "are you kidding, leashes have way too much give to them." I laughed so hard! It's sweet how protective it is, he takes it very seriously! 

I've never had a contraction (as far as I know), but Sarah has them all the time, and I know it's not too uncommon to feel them every so often. So if I do get a random pain or anything in my stomach and Daniel asks me what's wrong, I just say 'oh don't worry, it's just a contraction.' I mostly say this because he can't handle it and it's fun to mess with him. He gets really uncomfortable if I even say the word contraction. I probably shouldn't tease him about it as much as I do, ha!

Also random, I have one teacher who continues to bring me food and wants me to eat it during class. I do let myself eat chocolate and sweets, but I also try to control when and how much I eat. But my teacher continues to bring candy and snacks for me to eat. Today she gave me 2 Snickers and told me I should eat them right then because it was a healthy snack with protein. I ate half then said i would save the rest for later. It's still a shocker to me that i haven't gained more weight.

What is also ironic, is both my teachers daily tell me my belly is getting big. They're convinced my stomach grows everyday...but they also continue to feed me non stop. I'm trying to see this as a compliment, that they really do just care about me. :)

And just to keep the randomness going....I've slept on the couch for the last 3 nights. I wasn't sleeping at all in our bed, and the hip pain was just becoming unbearable. I have several pillows I use for my head, back, legs, and stomach. I get in position with all of my pillows and Daniel tucks me in. I've also started doing some hip stretches at night to help. Something is working, cos the last two mornings are the first ones I've woken up without any hip pain. Today everything else hurts, but my hips don't, so that's something. 

Bless you for reading this far! Tomorrow is week 26 recap!

love

laura

Friday, October 26, 2012

25 Week Recap


I just finished week 25! We had our 4D ultrasound yesterday, that is a story and process in itself. But we did get a few good pictures of HER (yes we confirmed) face, legs, and arms. We have a disc of video, but i'm having a hard time turning that into a picture, so I'll have to have Daniel help me and post it later. But she is adorable!!
Yesterday I had my glucose test and found out today that I passed. We were both actually shocked, Daniel especially. But we're so grateful I did!
Our little girl is measuring further behind that she should be and I was told to eat more and to increase my protein. So even though my tummy already looks big, I'm doing what I can to make it even bigger! I'll go back to the dr's in 3 weeks.

How Far Along: 25 weeks

Size of Baby: Cauliflower. About 13-14 inches long, and 1.4 lbs. She is supposed to be about 2 lbs right now. We're hoping she'll put on some weight pretty quick.

Weight Gain: 12 lbs

Gender: Girl

Movement: All the time. There are some days that she doesn't stop moving, then some days where I just feel her every so often.

Sleep: Up until last night, it's been pretty rough. I wake up with my hips and legs in a lot of pain....it kind of feels like when I had growing pains as a kid. But last night was the first night in a while I slept really good. i'm hoping that continues!

Maternity Clothes: All pants and most shirts.

Symptoms: A little heartburn, achy hips and back

Aversions: Hamburgers

Cravings: Chocolate, cake, sugar.....basically the bad things

What I miss: Sleeping on my back

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our little girl and knowing she is doing okay

What I'm looking forward to: Fully embracing the pink! Up until now i was holding back some because I really wanted to know for sure she was really a girl. So I'm ready to completely dive in to the pink polka dotted world!

love

laura

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Girls Nite In

Daniel is travelling this week with a few friends, one of them being my friend's husband. With the boys gone, my friend planned a little Girls Nite In at her house last night for a few of us.

We had fudge brownies, rolos (from AMERICA!), popcorn, and hot drinks (it's been a lot cooler here lately).

My friend asked us to bring some old magazines to use for a craft project she had planned for us. I wish I had taken more pictures, because my friend had set up a cute craft station and also a mani/pedi station with lotions, towels, places to soak our feet etc....It was so cute!

Our craft last night was to cut things out of the magazine-words, pictures, etc...to make a collage of "Where are We now?" So the 5 of us cut thru magazines to make our collage of where we are now-our general feeling of where we are in life, how we feel about things going on, etc....then we shared it.

This was mine:


Yes, it is already hanging on my fridge. I had my nephews artwork hanging there, so it just made sense to add mine :)

The main theme for mine was Celebrate the Season. No matter where Father has me in life, or what part of the roller coaster (up or down), I feel like I am on-I want to celebrate whatever season He has me in. Easier said than done sometimes.

The cupcake, polka dots, and Valentine stand for our little girl, who is due around V day-and how much I want her to wear cupcakes and polka dots for life, ha! Then there's the pic of the sandwich because you better believe I will be having a huge lunch meat sandwich after our little one arrives. 

I just wanted to share this, I thought it was a great idea and craft to have at your next girls nite, or just to use as an icebreaker to get to know people better.

has anyone done this before?

love
laura


Monday, October 22, 2012

My 12 pound Pumpkin

No, I am not talking about my baby, because that would be frightening. 

With Daniel being out of town, I made a list of things I wanted to do while he was gone...the usual-go thru winter clothes (see what will still fit this preggo mama), run certain errands, and also try to bake and freeze some breads in prep for baby. 

I've been good at freezing meals before, but freezing breads and cookies is a new thing to me, and I will say-I like it! 

So I waddled my way to the market to buy a few veggies and a pumpkin. My plan was to puree the pumpkin, and make some muffins and breads to freeze.

I picked out a large pumpkin and the lady told me, "it's really heavy." Yeah yeah yeah, I'll be fine. 


So when she handed me the pumpkin, I almost dropped it. It was 12 pounds!!!! I know because I weighed it when I got home. Honestly, I didn't even think I was going to make it home. I know many of you carry around your 30 lb child all the time, but an oddly shaped pumpkin is a completely different story. I had to stop several times on the way back home to readjust, and was thankful I hadn't bought some other things that had been on my list. Granted, the market isn't a full mile from our house, but it's not like it's next door either! (and yes, my right bicep was sore the next day)

So I got home, weighed the pumpkin and got to work. I cut it in fourths, scraped the seeds out, and cooked it for about an hour and a half.


After I pureed the pumpkin, my plan was to freeze the puree in one cup baggies, and leave a few cups out to bake with. However, I ran out of ziplocks, so right now I have two large bowls of puree in my fridge.

So yesterday morning I decided to make Pumpkin spice pancakes. I didn't put the sugar cinnamon topping on, I just ate these like regular pancakes-butter and syrup. Let me tell you, these were delicious!!!!!!!!!!


Since it was just me, I halved the recipe, and got about 5 large pancakes out of it. I will probably make these again tomorrow too!

I made my fave Cream of Pumpkin Soup for dinner Friday night......yummmm yummmmm. Sorry I don't have a picture, but trust me it was yummy. I found the recipe here....I've never made the croutons. 

Saturday, I went to work on pumpkin bread and muffins. I used this recipe (but doubled it), and used 5 eggs. I ground 1 cup of oatmeal and substituted that for a cup of flour. I got 1 large loaf, 2 mini's, and 12 muffins. i froze everything but one mini loaf. And for Daniel, I added chocolate chips.


Right now I also have several pounds of fruit-some familiar, some not, in my kitchen. Friday my teacher showed up with several bags of different fruits for me to try. Let's just say I really took one for the team. 

I had my teacher and her friend over last night for dinner, and received several more pounds of fruit. This time, I at least knew what they were. :) 

In other news, I've been watching Season 1 of Downton Abbey. This morning I woke up and had the thought that it would be lovely if people would start calling me "Your Ladyship." Maybe a few too many episodes?? 

What do you like to freeze?? Any DA fans out there?

love

laura