26 Weeks

How far along? 26 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain: Not sure, my scale died. I'll have to wait for the official weigh-in at the doctors office on August 27 :/ 

Maternity clothes? Yep!

Stretch marks? nope, not on my belly!

Sleep: Pretty good. Baby girl woke me up out of a sound sleep with her kicks for the first time the other night. I loved it so much I couldn't get mad.

Best Moment This Week: Baby getting the hiccups for the first time. What a funny sensation! I also loved getting the invitation for my baby shower!

Miss Anything? Not really

Movement: Yes! She is moving all the time.

Food cravings: Still just meat. And I have really wanted Dr. Pepper.

Anything making you queasy or sick: The heat from my hair dryer. I am so sensitive to heat 
Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope, thank goodness! She needs to stay in and "cook" for as long as possible!

Symptoms: Just upper back pain.

Belly Button in or out? Flat!!

 Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy! 

Looking forward to: Karen's wedding this weekend!! My dress is something of a hot mess, but it will be a fun memory!

Here is a fun picture from work this week! I didn't realize I was looking so preggo until PR came to take our staff picture. Good times!

Sandy, Craig, Jason, and I! Yay team Career and Calling!

25 Weeks

This week has been crazy! I hit 25 weeks last Saturday. The weekend was a blur, and the week was even crazier. I started back to work this week. I am so excited about this upcoming school year. I know it will be a wild ride with a little girl on the way, but I also love what I do for a living. Here is my update for this week:

How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain: up 18 lbs. 

Maternity clothes? Yes! I wish they made maternity shoes. My feet are dying in my dress shoes. Going from no shoes/flip-flops to nice dress shoes= bad news.

Stretch marks? nope!

Sleep: I have been sleeping really well. I think waking up early and staying up late to watch the Olympics have helped me to be way tired by bedtime. I am absolutely wiped out!

Best Moment This Week: There were so many this week! 1) A woman from church blessed our little girl with so many nice items. She has a high chair, bouncer, exersaucer, bath tub, car seat, and tons of other things. I can't believe she would give us so much nice stuff. I have included some pictures of all her fun new loot. 2) I was driving to get a new shower curtain rod yesterday and I saw the most gorgeous rainbow. I literally broke down because I feel like baby V is my rainbow. And while I LOVE carrying her in my belly and am so blessed that she will be a part of our family, the rainbow made me thankful for the little baby I will always care in my heart. As hard as our miscarriage was on me, God has always been so faithful and I am incredibly grateful. 

Miss Anything? I can't think of anything I miss but I was reflecting this week when I was cleaning out my linen closet how much I don't miss getting my period. Haha. Got to look for the positives...

Movement: Yes! At our 24/25 week check-up, baby girl was SO active they had a hard time finding her heartbeat. I guess I know she is okay because she is so active, but it made me nervous too. Silly little kiddo. From what we could hear, her heart rate was somewhere between 148-152. 

Food cravings: nothing particular

Anything making you queasy or sick: The heat from my hair dryer. I am so sensitive to heat 
Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope, but I had my first Braxton Hicks this week. Crazy! 

Symptoms: Not to complain, but my back has hurt so bad from sitting all day at work. My administrative assistant, Sandy, saved the day with a lumbar roll pillow for my chair. Other than that, it is just swollen feet.

Belly Button in or out? Flat as a pancake!! This week it finally happened. Eeeek!

 Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy! 

Looking forward to: Karen's wedding and organizing baby's room.

Some of baby's fun stuff from Noel.

More baby goodies to be organized :)

Baby girl got her first present today! A crib sheet and bumper for her crib! :)

24 Weeks

How far along? 24 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain: up 18 lbs. Yes, rapid weight gain has been happening :/ I blame all the awesome food I ate when I was at home (Pizzazz pizza, Amy Joy donuts, Aunt Holly's macaroni and cheese, Jack's Deli...UGH)

Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity items. This is my last week of comfy before I head back to work next week!

Stretch marks? none on my belly yet!

Sleep: I have been sleeping really well. I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks before I start to get really uncomfortable at night. I am not sure Adam is sleeping the best, I have whacked him twice while trying to roll over with my Snoogle! Poor guy! :)

Best Moment This Week: Seeing family and being able to share a bit of our pregnancy with them! I also got registered for my child birth class and breastfeeding class!

Miss Anything? Lunch meat.

Movement: Yes! Each day she feels stronger to me. Pretty soon I think I'll be able to identify little feet and elbows!

Food cravings: Kit Kats (thanks a lot, Mom! add that to the weight gain column too)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Some smells, mainly strong perfumes and stuff.

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope. 

Symptoms: Round ligament pain, indigestion, and Charley horses. Wooo!

Belly Button in or out? Pretty close to flat. Every once in awhile it looks like a normal belly button.

 Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy! I feel really good and I am so excited that she is going to be here before we know it! I am in "all things baby" mode

Looking forward to: My appointment with the mid-wife on Thursday! :)

Cleveland Trip/Karen's Shower & Bachelorette Party

We went up to Cleveland for a few days to celebrate Karen's bridal shower and bachelorette party. It was also a nice opportunity to get to see some family! We got in Wednesday evening. Thursday we went and spent the day with my Aunt Holly and Uncle Mark. Aunt Holly was throwing Karen's shower and we wanted to go over the last minute details. After that mom, Aunt Holly, Uncle Mark and I went to the pool while Adam lounged on the deck. Mom got some cute pictures of us, unfortunately I don't have any fun ones to share. Thursday night we were able to go to Jack's Deli (Remember that craving?)to pick up corn beef sandwiches! I love unique to Cleveland food!

Corn beef on Rye with Cherry Strawberry to drink! Wahoo!

Friday Mom and I went shopping for a dress for Karen's wedding. Hopefully we found one! It's between two right now.

 Saturday all the wedding fun got underway! Here's some pics!

Me and Sissy! :) 

Karen, Mom, and I! I am a shrimp! hahaha

Karen and Bobby! :)

Bridesmaids! 

After the shower, I took an hour nap and then it was time to hit the town for Karen's bachelorette party! We had a great night and I had a blast considering I was the preggo DD. The best part was our transportation for the evening:

Halle teaching me how to start up the van! It had several keys...

YEE-HAW!!!! Watch out!

Can you tell I was so excited to be providing the finest transportation ever! (Thanks Halle's Dad for letting us use your van!)

Bachelorette with the "Bachelorette Mobile"!

Fuzzy, but Sissy and I before her big night out!

Sunday we were able to have lunch with Adam's grandparents before we left to go back to Lexington! It was so fun to spend time with them and to get to share some of our pregnancy journey with Baby girl's great-grandparents! I cannot wait for her to go up to Cleveland and spend time with them!

Adam with Gramma and Grandpa!

Grandpa, Gramma, Me, and baby girl!! :)

Nursery Update

We went and picked up baby girls furniture last Monday! I was so excited that it came in and that we were able to pick it up in the two days between Adam getting home from Guatemala and leaving to go up to Cleveland for a few days. It was quite the adventure! (Isn't everything with us?) So I thought I'd share pictures of how it all came together!

The boxes ready to go. Unfortunately that was the wrong crib in there.

Yes, you read that caption right. So Adam got the whole crib out of the box and I had a sad/sick feeling in my belly that it wasn't the crib we ordered. I didn't want to be a diva, but I sort of loved the crib we picked out. We took it back to Babies R Us the next day and when we talked to the manager she said, "Let me guess, you ordered the White Venetian Curved Crib". Yep, that was us. So we found out that there was nothing they could do to get it for us since it had been discontinued. They let us pick out any crib we wanted to make up for the error. YAY!

Adam opening the boxes!

Penelope helping with the changing table assembly.

The changing table coming together.

Almost done!

A proud daddy with his completed changing table! :) 

Furniture assembly day two. Adam tackling the crib! (Of course he had a side kick again)

Organizing all the pieces

Reading the directions!

A crib coming together!

Making sure all the bolts are nice and tight!

A daddy rite of passage complete! Baby girl has a crib!! Thanks, Adam!

Now that all the furniture is in there, I have an incredible urge to paint. It just looks so sterile. White baby furniture, white walls, white blinds.... Trying to talk Adam into sprucing up the room just a bit with a fresh coat! We'll just have to wait and see.

23 Weeks

Well, Adam made it home from Guatemala and we turned right around and headed up to Cleveland for my sister's bridal shower and bachelorette party. We don't have a picture for 23 weeks (UPDATE: Got a picture), so I'll just fill out the fun details.

Adam and I (and 23 week baby girl) with Aunt Holly and Uncle Mark

How far along? 23 weeks

Total weight gain: up 14 lbs.

Maternity clothes? A mix of some maternity and some regular

Stretch marks? none on my belly yet!

Sleep: Sleeping a lot better. I have started to drift toward being a bit more tired during the day.

Best Moment This Week: Picking up the crib and changing table!! (Stay posted for a fun picture of this)

Miss Anything? Not really

Movement: Yes! I feel lots of little kicks up by my belly button. You can see her moving on the outside now.

Food cravings: Milk, cherry frosted pop tarts!!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Meat

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: Nope. 

Symptoms: Some round ligament pain and fatigue

Belly Button in or out? Still in for now...

 Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy! I feel so good!

Looking forward to: Karen's wedding festivities and seeing my family in Cleveland!

22 Weeks

I am writing my post today with a lot of different feelings happening inside me. Three hours ago, I said goodbye as Adam left for his Guatemala mission trip. I have been dreading this week since I found out I was pregnant for so many reasons. It might be a little selfish that I would dread something as wonderful as a mission trip. I just have not been looking forward to him being gone for a week and staying alone while pregnant. Those of you that know me really well know that I found out that I was pregnant with our angel baby the day Adam left for Guatemala last year. I just remember being alone with the pregnancy test in total disbelief. That week, everything in my life changed and I wasn't able to share those experiences with Adam as they were happening. 

Now, praise Jesus that this little girl is healthy and I have nothing to fear about Adam being gone. The biggest concern for me mainly deals with giving myself a week's worth of injections. But I can do it! When I get freaked, I know baby girl is totally worth the burning pain, the bruise, and the few quick tears that fall sometimes. I think another part of me is sad that I won't get to share in the great experiences of the trip with Adam this year. I miss going and being a part of the amazing work that is happening in Guatemala. Most of all, I will simply miss Adam. He is an amazing husband and friend and each day we share together is a precious gift. I'll miss him just being around the house. I know Penelope will miss her play buddy too!

Before you think "Oh my, Kate is not going to make it though the week" I must confess there are lots of great people in my life down here in Kentucky who have offered to spend time with me and check-in with me during the week. I also have lots to prepare for with Karen's bachelorette party/shower being 13 days away! Hooray! Anyway, enough of my hormonal ramblings! I had to take the picture with the tripod today and I couldn't figure out how to get the legs to go all the way up. Hence, the sitting down poses! Haha!

How far along? 22 weeks 2 days

Total weight gain: up 11 lbs.

Maternity clothes? A mix of some maternity and some regular

Stretch marks? none on my belly yet!

Sleep: I have a hard time falling asleep, but once I do...it's lights out until morning. Unless I have go to bathroom a bunch in the night. 

Best Moment This Week: Hitting the jackpot on Old Navy's summer clearance for baby. I got her a dress and a few onsies. I got the clearance price plus a 20% coupon. She'll be styling next summer!

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my belly!

Movement: Yes! I feel lots of little kicks up by my belly button. Adam got to feel some before he left today too!

Food cravings: Milk!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Gender: GIRL!!!

Have you started to show yet: Yes! Lots of people are fascinated with the belly!

Labor Signs: Nope. 

Symptoms: Some round ligament pain and hip pain.

Belly Button in or out? Still in for now...

 Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Emotional. I was so weepy about Adam leaving and I don't even know why!! I could not get a grip. Other than that, I am happy as a clam.

Looking forward to: Baby girl's crib and changing table being delivered, getting my dress fitted for Karen's wedding, and ADAM COMING HOME!!

I love her so much!! :)