A Weekend at the Coast

This past weekend we traveled a little south and a little west to end up at a small Oregon coast town staying in a hotel with three other couples. We each had our own room which was a little different than the vacation last year with this same group where we stayed in a house together.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and just kind of got settled and waited for everyone to arrive. We went down to the beach even though it was pretty windy and not too sunny out. Once everyone had arrived, we headed out to a famous chowder and seafood house for dinner. I ended up hitting the hay pretty early that night after getting up too early in the morning and the long car ride.

Friday morning we were up early and headed to the outlet mall that was nearby. Ben scored on a great deal for some new work pants and we also got some items for our baby at the Carter's outlet. Very fun. We then met up with one of the other couples and their three month old and visited a light house. It was really neat and we even got to go to the top, however we couldn't really wander around the the lighthouse very much because it was incredibly windy. We headed back and got some really good pizza on the way and then met up with everyone else. The boys started a washers tournament and we all just kind of relaxed. We then made some dinner and hung out after dinner.

Not sure what made me want to take this pic

Hub at the top of the lighthouse

Saturday morning a couple of the girls and I went back to the outlets to wander around for a bit. Once we got back, we got some lunch and it was much sunnier this day. The boys continued their washers tournament and then decided to hold the championship game down at the beach because the "losers" were to jump in the ocean so they wanted to be able to run right in. It was nice down at the beach for most of the time and then the wind picked up a little more. We watched them get in the ocean which is not a warm ocean and then we all headed back so they could warm up.

Washers championship game

Relaxing in the sand

One of the couples who is neither pregnant or has a baby made up a game for the other couples who are either pregnant or have a new baby that had categories mirroring TV shows such as "Baby Naming with the Stars," "Don't Forget the Babies," "Shop 'til You Pop," and "The Newlyparents Game." It was really fun and they had come up with some great questions. We were all laughing pretty hard through most of the game. We all ate some dinner and then I turned in early again.

The hosts of the game "So You Think
You Can Have a Baby"

Ben and I were up and out the door early in the morning after not getting much sleep due to some noisy neighbors in the middle of the night. This was definitely a nice getaway and so nice to spend some quality time with the hub. It was definitely a different type of vacation than we took with this group to San Diego last year where no one was pregnant and there was no new baby. We went a little crazier in the libation and partying department. This year was different in a good way as I'm sure next year will be with three little ones along!

9/11

September 11 to me is now a somber day. There hasn't been an hour that has gone by today that I have not thought about New York, the Pentagon, Pennsylvania and the thousands of Americans that the fateful day effected.

Remembering back a decade, I was a junior in high school. I remember glancing over at the news and seeing some clips of what was going on but it wasn't registering because I was eating breakfast and rushing out the door to school. It wasn't until I walked into my history class and saw my teacher that I realized what had happened was bad. Horrible. After school, talking to my mom, I remember her crying. Us talking about the severity of the situation and how devastating the events were.

Almost 10 years later, I visited Ground Zero. This past June when Ben and I traveled to the east coast, we went to Ground Zero. The memorial was still under construction however, being in that exact area took my breath away. All the emotions came rushing back from what I had felt and thought about 10 years before. After seeing the memorial revealed on television today, I think what they did with the space is beautiful. And just right.

To this day, seeing before and after photos or images of the New York skyline still makes me remember. Seeing any article about survivors or children who never met they dads because they died that day while the mothers were pregnant, seeing "FDNY" anywhere makes me remember.

That is what matters. Is that we remember. We continue to remember why we still have our freedom and be thankful everyday for the men and women who put their lives at risk for our safety and freedom.

God Bless America.

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Beautiful Weekend

We are here, enjoying this:

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Happy Friday and I hope you and yours have a fab weekend as well!

27 Weeks

Wow, seriously feels like I just wrote the post of 26 weeks! Well, I guess I was a little late on that one so I guess that makes sense. Anyhow, almost into my third trimester and it feels like the daily growth of the belly has begun.

Baby Center gave us a little bit of weird information this week. It said if our baby was born right now, her lungs would most likely function with a lot of medical help. Which I guess is just to tell us how developed her lungs are but also how far they have to go to be fully developed. Stay put, little girl! Is all we have to say about that! It also says she is weighing it, on average, at almost two pounds and measures about fourteen and a half inches long when fully extended. Growing so quickly but still so tiny.

I think I have been experiencing a few Braxton Hicks this week. My uterus gets very tight, which feels really weird, but I have no pain at all. Also in the past couple of days I have felt some leg aching. When I stand still for too long, I get an ache down my legs. As long as I move around a little bit, it goes away. I have also been feeling a faint, rhythmic movement which I had a hunch of what it could be and Baby Center confirmed that it is most likely hiccups. So cute!

I don't know why but I have simply no motivation to buy any "maternity" clothes. I am running out of regular clothes that fit me mostly because shirts or tank tops I have are getting too short with the growing bump and obviously any normal waistline pants I have haven't fit for a few weeks now. I walked in Target today and thought I may buy a pair of maternity jeans but I just looked at them and walked away. I think maybe today it is because it is about eighty degrees outside and the thought of wearing jeans is unappealing to me. I will give it a couple more weeks and most likely give in and buy the darn jeans. Heck, it's Washington, it will probably be rainy and cold by next week!

Seems like we are moving right along on nursery progress and I can't wait to post some pictures of some of the updates. I can't decide if I want to post in stages or just one final reveal. Which will obviously be a couple of months. I am trying to save little projects for a month or so from now so that when I start "nesting" I will have some stuff to do. As well as ferociously cleaning the house I guess. Or so I have been told is what happens. I am really excited about the furniture we just put in her room so there may be pictures of that next week.

We are headed out of town today and I am so excited for a few days of rest and relaxation at the beach!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I decided to link up again with this kind of love to voice what I love this week. I enjoyed looking at the other link ups so you should head over and link up as well.

I am loving the fact that we are headed out of town this week {well, tomorrow actually} down to the Oregon coast with three other couples. Games, laughter, relaxation, a beach, a baby and fun!

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I am loving that even though we will be out of town, the weather here at home is supposed to approach the 90s! That sure is a nice start to fall if I have ever seen one.

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I am loving how much progress we are making on the nursery. Last weekend, Ben finished painting the dresser/changing table, we got some knobs for the drawers and painted those and even acquired a cute, corner shelf. Pictures to come.

I am loving that I only have a two day work week!

I am loving these onesie stickers.

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I am loving this color of Moby wrap that I found. 

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What are you loving? Head on over and link up!

A Few Thoughts on Being Pregnant...

It's funny how you go through your life and you always have pictures in your head of what certain events or times in your life will be like. Well, at least I do. I envisioned my college experience, what fabulous career I may get, who I would fall in love with and ultimately marry. And how my pregnancy would go if that day came. I don't think anything is the way I pictured it because who in the world's life is ever what they picture?!

I think it took us a few months longer to get pregnant than either of us pictured. Which is just fine and I know that it happened when it was supposed to.

I assumed I would just have this huge belly right from the start. I don't know why I think that. I think it's because you always notice pregnant women when they are close to the end and do have big bellies so it's like I just assumed that's what it's always like. I did start to learn with some friends though that it doesn't always "pop" until later. I still have people very surprised at how far along I am. I am learning to be okay with that and embrace the fact that I am almost in my third trimester and overall still pretty comfortable.

I assumed that I would be hungry all the time and have all these weird cravings and just eat and eat and eat. Not the case. I would say, overall, that my stomach has been pretty unsettled the whole time. There was a little morning sickness in the beginning. Then when that subsided, I still could never think of anything that sounded good to eat. It also seemed and still seems like sometimes that I have a small window of when to eat and when it will settle. Not too often. For instance, yesterday I was feeling pretty good all day until we sat down to eat dinner. I felt sick. I did eat dinner but only because I knew I should not because I wanted to. And let me tell you, if you haven't already gathered from reading my blog, this girl likes to eat. I'm hoping in the next trimester I will have more of an appetite.

I didn't realize how "in my own head" I would be all the time. I think Ben might take it as, and me as well sometimes, me being moody but really I just feel so overly consumed by this little life growing inside of me that it is a lot of what I think about all day long. From how we will care for her, to how the birth will go, to how I am processing everything and then to how I am coming across to others. I have noticed it at work, too. Most customers know that I am pregnant so some days they will ask if I am "ok" because I may be being quiet but really I think I am just "in my own head." I keep putting that in quotes because a friend described that as the way she felt and I completely understood what she meant when she said it.

I have read about women and the bodily functions going a little awry here and there but I don't think anyone quite gets that until its their body. I will just leave it at that.

I never imagined I would have such an involved, caring and loving husband. Seriously, he is the best. I also really appreciate the fact that he is not smothering. It is like we have just been on the same wavelength and that he knows when I need some extra attention and knows when I am fine doing things by myself. Perfection, I tell ya.

There have been many predictable situations of this pregnancy and many unpredictable ones. I think it is so interesting that no pregnancy is the same. Even for the same woman. That is also an interesting thing to me--so many women go through labor and have babies but no one can tell me what it's going to be like for me. I just have to prepare in my own head, with Ben, reading books and stay positive.

26 Weeks

Twenty six weeks of pregnancy gone by. This week has been a little bit rougher than the previous few. I have been sick a little bit more than I had been. I haven't really figured out a rhyme or reason yet so right now I am just kind of taking it one day at a time. Making the most out of the days I feel good and trying to lay low when I don't feel well.

I really have a sweet tooth lately which is a little out of the norm for me. I usually like sweets but right now it feels like I am craving them. Whether it be ice cream, sweet cantaloupe, a doughnut, chocolate, you name it. Trying not to indulge in all of the cravings.

We are going the cloth diapering route and my mom and dad got us some diapers which came in the mail the other day. They are so cute and I can't wait to wrap her little bum in them! They also got us the diaper sprayer that will connect to the toilet to spray off the you-know-what.

Ben also began painting the dresser/changing table and a side table we will put in the room by the chair. We picked out the color last weekend and were a little nervous at first that it may come out to "neon" looking. When I got home from work yesterday and saw the first coat of paint on the furniture, I was so happy. It looked perfect and I can't wait to get it in the room.

Baby Center tells us that the nerves in her ears are more sensitive these days so she can hear us better. That is good because her dad often talks to my belly. She is also inhaling amniotic fluid which is essential to the development of her lungs. She is also, on average, about a pound and two thirds and measuring about fourteen inches long. That measurement makes sense because I can sometimes feel her on both sides of my belly at the same time. Very entertaining!

I had a weight jump at my last appointment which was nice to hear. Good to know I am on pace. My appetite is still kind of hit or miss. Sometimes I feel like I can eat a lot and other times I have a few bites and am full.

We are looking forward to a weekend getaway next weekend. We are headed out of town with our group of friends and down to the Oregon coast. It may be the last "getaway" before baby comes!