33 Week Belly Post

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Size of baby: He is now just over 4 pounds and measures over 17 inches long - babycenter.com says about the size of a pineapple

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I don't know but it feels like a WHOLE lot!

Maternity Clothes: Nothing seems to be comfortable except yoga pants these days...my tummy is getting bigger and bigger by the minute.

Movement: I've posted a few videos of our little man squirming around because he is active 24/7!  I watch my belly move back and forth and up and down, the weirdest is when it changes shapes and I all of a sudden have a mountain on the right side :) 

Sleep: Sleep is becoming increasingly more difficult.  I can no longer get comfortable at night because my hips and back hurt constantly, and the only way I can sleep is if I have 2 pillows between my legs, something to hug, and preferably a pillow shoved up against my back...excessive I know!

Symptoms: The worst symptom I'm experiencing right now is my hips and groin hurting...everything in my pelvis is relaxing and causing me some discomfort.  I'm having to stretch more so that everything stays loose and limber for labor and delivery!  The only other thing I can think of is getting tired again like I did in my first trimester.

What I miss: I miss being able work out like I used to...rather than losing my breath just walking up the stairs. 

Cravings: Still no real cravings - I do feel like a little caffeine is needed some afternoons which I normally never do.

Best Moment this week: The best moment this week was meeting my beautiful niece Mackenzie McClure West...she is absolutely awesome!! :)

Here is another picture to really showcase the serious belly that's growing:



Mommy's first Diaper Change

If you have an aversion to babies then this is certainly NOT the blog for you!  I got to spend 12 hours with Amanda and Mackenzie in the hospital and she was sneezing up a storm...I managed to snap some video and catch a few of those super cute sneezes :) 

My Crazy Baby

Here is another quick video of my crazy baby moving around after lunch :)

Best and Worst Chicago Weekend!

I planned a trip to Chicago this past weekend because a bunch of my sorority sisters were getting together to reunite and hang out.  While I planned on attending the event, I was always really planning on being in Chicago for a VERY different reason.  My sister Amanda was pregnant and due August 24th, but I was hoping she would go into labor a few days early and have that baby while I was up there.  Everyone thought I was joking around about that baby coming early when i was in town, but she must have known I was coming because sure enough Friday morning Amanda went into Labor!  She told me in the morning she felt "crampy" and I knew she was in labor but tried to hide my extreme excitement.  I hopped in my car around noon and headed up to Chicago (as planned) and got a text in the car that said they were headed to the hospital.  As I visited with my friend Lauren and her beautiful baby Lillian I was told that Amanda was already 6 centimeters dilated and we would be having a baby by 10 pm!

The rest of the evening was spent with my cousin Megan "babysitting" our little cousins Holden and Billie (babysitting is in quotes because the kids went to sleep and we just ate pizza and hung out).  I was anxiously checking my phone for updates every few minutes and by 10pm we got the news that Mackenzie McClure West was born at 8:15pm weighing 6lbs 13 oz!!  I was bummed because visiting hours were over but planned to be at the hospital FIRST thing in the morning.

Ryan and Amanda didn't get much sleep that first night and I went to the hospital so I could keep Amanda company while Ryan went home to get some uninterrupted sleep.  I couldn't keep my hands off that little girl...we did a lot of snuggling and picture taking.  I was responsible for sending pictures to the entire family and keeping everyone updated as much as possible.

After spending the night at their apartment with my mom and getting them as organized as possible the next day I got in my car to head home.  This is where the best weekend of baby snuggling and pure love turned from amazing to absolutely HORRENDOUS.  It took me 3 hours to get about 3 miles on I90/94 west in Chicago...8 months pregnant with only a quarter tank of gas.  I had to turn my air conditioning off because it was draining my gas so I was sweating with nowhere to go for over 3 hours.  I was calling Dane, my dad, my mom ANYONE to help me find an alternate route but ultimately I just had to wait it out.  After 2 pretty serious hysterical pregnant meltdowns I made it out of the traffic and my usual 3 hour ride home from Chicago only ended up being 7 hours...

On a lighter note here are a few pictures of little Mackenzie :)

First time VERY happy Grandma!

We are all very smitten with this little one and can't wait to meet her little cousin in just a few weeks!!



The Little Man Squirming/Kicking

This is what I deal with every day, but haven't really been able to capture on video yet.  After I eat the little man goes crazy and squirms/kicks me until it's time for him to nap again :)  Unfortunately I'm wearing a patterned shirt today which makes it a little more difficult to see.  The first video he outright KICKS at the beginning you (pretty easy to see) my stomach jumps - the second video he is just squirming so you have to watch closely.  I'll put a different color shirt on the next time so it's easier to see.

You might have to watch it in full screen to catch it better.

Enjoy! :)

30 Week Belly Update

How Far Along: 30 weeks

Size of baby: He is now almost 3 pounds and measures 15.7 inches long - babycenter.com says about the size of a head of cabbage

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have a doctors appointment next week but last time I was up about 15 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Sticking to mostly dresses and LIGHT cotton clothes because it's been in the 90's for the past month!

Movement: Baby doesn't have as much room as he used to, but that doesn't mean he has slowed down at all!  He is squirming and kicking every hour which is to be expected at this point.  While on the plane from Ft. Lauderdale to Pittsburgh this past Friday I had my arms crossed resting on my belly and baby kicked so hard my right arm actually jumped.  It not only hurt, but startled me and I'm sure the person sitting next to me thought I was crazy when I let out a bit of a squeal :)

Sleep: I can't seem to get enough!  After traveling for 2 weeks straight I have been sleeping like a baby in my own bed.  For some reason the past two nights when I roll from one side to the other I hiccup (it's really bizarre), I think baby is causing acid reflux when I lie down.  The other thing I've noticed is that my hips are starting to hurt at night if I stay in one position for too long, most likely because at this point my ligaments are starting to loosen but who knows!

Symptoms: My tummy has been itching the last few days...I'm not sure if this is caused by my skin stretching or if I'm just simply itchy.  My belly button is popping even more than before, when I look down from the top I can see the top of my belly button poking out.  I had a long necklace on the other day that I had to take off because it would rub up against my belly button and it was seriously freaking me out/uncomfortable!  It's so hard to explain the feeling when something brushes what is usually on the inside and now poking out!  Also, as my tummy gets bigger my back goes out of whack quicker so my chiropractor has been a MIRACLE worker in the past few weeks as I'm sure she will continue to be until he finally comes!

What I miss: I miss being able to wear normal clothes and I miss being comfortable!  The other thing that I miss is having a nice cold glass of white wine when the weather is so steamy...it's pretty painful watching Dane enjoy a glass after work :/

Cravings: I still haven't had any real cravings - I'm working on eating as much protein and as much calcium as I can so that baby is smart and strong when he comes out. 

Best Moment this week: The best moment this week would have been sitting at my cubicle watching my tummy move back and forth as baby squirmed around! 

First Baby Outfit!

So baby is scheduled to come in the next 10 weeks and I have surprisingly not bought a SINGLE thing for him.  We are in the process of getting the nursery in order, ordering the furniture, etc but haven't purchased anything myself for him.  While at Marshalls picking up some undershirts for Dane I was browsing the clothing aisle and couldn't pass up this cute little outfit :)

There is a little tractor on the jacket that says "I Dig Mommy" :)



July National Sales Meeting

Twice a year in January and July our company travels for a National Sales Meeting.  After arriving home on a Sunday from Mexico, I managed to drag my butt into work on Monday and was BACK on a plane Wednesday for our meeting.  This year at the end of July they decided to send us to Hollywood, Florida...and surprisingly it was cooler in Florida than it was in Indiana when we left!

We arrived around 1pm with plenty of time to kill before our welcome dinner at 6:30 so NATURALLY our group went out to the pool bar to eat lunch and have a few drinks (I was really throwing back those waters!). 

View at Lunch time!



Who would have thought I would be at the beach twice in two weeks!?

Unfortunately they made this meeting shorter than usual only lasting from Wednesday through Saturday and I had a wedding in Pittsburgh planned so I had to leave early on Friday.  Don't you worry, I was there for the first day of meetings and most of the second day and good thing because this year's opening act was absolutely outrageous! (you can't tell, but I'm actually being VERY sarcastic).  Every year they have an opening act of some sort for our big meeting.  In Scottsdale they had an amazing Native American dancer come in and dance to drums and do some really fantastic stuff that was so fun to watch...this year was not as enjoyable.  There was a turn table on the stage as well as three musicians and the head of our group announced the act by saying that "because we were in the business of being creative, our opening act was a display of creativity"...

As soon as he walked away from the microphone the turn table started spinning and some SERIOUS house music or techno started pounding in the room so loud that the glasses on each table were shaking and moving!  The three musicians played along to the outrageously loud music with their violin, bass, and electric clarinet...and the best part came in waving his hands!  I thought he was a mime, but it turns out he was an artist they hired to paint to the insanely loud music.  The music was so insane and it lasted for such a long time I actually started to have a panic attack and almost walked out...baby was not loving it either!

All in all our meeting was great, I can never complain about an all expenses paid trip!  I left mid way through the last day of meetings to hop on a plane to Cleveland, OH and then on a little propeller plane from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.  I am not the world's greatest flier...but I managed to keep it together in the tiny plane!



Amanda is Going to be a Mommy!

I'm back tracking a little bit because we had Amanda's baby shower before I left for the babymoon but I wanted to make sure I was filling everyone in!  Two of Amanda's good friends from up in Northport (Carolyn Heidrich Ziebarth and Kasey Kruse Wakefield...you have to include their maiden names or no one knows who they are!) decided to throw Amanda a shower in Chicago and were so gracious to allow me to pitch in.  Kasey and I did a lot of the planning from Indianapolis and it was a lot of fun going to pick out invites, cupcakes, favors!  We drove up to Chicago on Friday evening and stayed with Carolyn since she was hosting the shower and managed to eat delicious Chicago pizza while making food for the next day.  Usually when I visit Chicago I stay with family so while I was SO thankful for Carolyn's hospitality in letting Kasey and I crash at her gorgeous home it was definitely weird to be in Chicago and in a new place!

Saturday morning Kasey and I woke up bright and early and managed to get all our errands done before it turned 90 degrees outside.  We only had to go around the block a few times since neither of us know the Lincoln Park area as well as we used to (those damn 6 way intersections really screw with you).  We put together a spread of chicken salad sandwiches, smoked salmon sandwiches, veggies, fruit, cheese (of course), champagne, punch, you name it!

Of course Amanda was late for her own shower, but in all fairness her friend Michaela was in town from St. Louis with her beautiful little boy Parker and they had to drive all the way from the boonies where Amanda lives :)  Here are a few pictures from the shower, and you'll notice that unfortunately my mom and the soon to be FIRST time grandma is missing!  My grandmother went into the hospital 2 days before the shower and because my mom is up there taking care of her she wasn't able to leave and come down.  We were all very bummed that she wasn't there but she'll be there when it counts in just a few short weeks!!

Here are the two preggos (we actually had two other preggos at the shower as well)!

 

All the fun gifts!  We all pitched in and got Amanda her stroller which she was very excited about.

Good Friends!

This is everyone who came to the shower that spends their summer in Michigan :)

Kasey was so good with the video!

The Wielands!

You can't tell but there are actually three people pregnant in this picture!  My cousin Lauren (in the black dress) is 20 weeks pregnant and I swear to you she did NOT look like she wasn't pregnant at all!  I should also mention the cute little peanut in the picture on my cousin Melissa's hip is Amanda's friend Michaela's baby Parker :)

Mexican Babymoon

Dane and I decided after a year of being married with a baby on the way that it was time to get away and do a little vacation just the TWO of us.  It just so happened the only time I had available to go was squished between a weekend in Chicago for Amanda's baby shower and a week in Florida for work. 

We started our week away by getting up at 3am so we could make our 6am flight.  Once in Houston, TX we had an almost 4 hour lay over which was BRUTAL! 

This is how I spent the 4 hours:

Our flight from Houston to Cancun was uneventful (minus me grabbing Dane's arm due to turbulence and the jerk that was sitting in front of us) and upon arrival and getting through customs we headed outside to find our shuttle. 

Upon walking outside, this is what I experienced:

Who knew that they would have a bar outside for people to grab a drink before getting on the shuttle!  Good thing though, because Dane and I didn't realize it was going to take almost 2 hours to drive to our resort.  I have to say it was the LONGEST 2 hours of my life after traveling all day because we rode with a guy who did not stop talking for more than 3 seconds the entire trip!  Once we got there we checked in and found out we got an ocean view room and after dropping our stuff off we promptly walked straight down to the beach to get a little sun (even though it was after 5pm).  The resort was enormous and we absolutely could not have had access to a more beautiful beach.

We originally thought we would do at least one excursion while we were down in Mexico, but after the first day of relaxing on the beach we realized we didn't want to do anything else but relax!  Dane was required to wait until at least noon before having his first beer since it was all you can eat/drink :)

Don't worry I didn't drink that beer...I was just holding it for Dane :)

We were allowed 3 a la carte dinners while we were down there, so we scheduled them as soon as we arrived.  Ironically we arrived in Mexico and our first a la carte dinner was at an Italian restaurant!  The food was good but I was hoping for some authentic Mexican cuisine!  The next night we tried the Mediterranean restaurant which we were not very impressed with (the "salad bar" consisted of fried fish sticks and other food that is most definitely not Mediterranean).  After a disappointing dinner the night before we had reservations at the gourmet restaurant on the resort which turned out to be AMAZING.  We started dinner with a small appetizer plate (bruschetta and a piece of shrimp), a fig salad, chicken broth and vegetable soup, Dane got the salmon and I had the grouper, and everything was finished off with an amazing apple tarte (which surprisingly Dane ate!!). 

The sun was setting and we ran back to our room because it was so beautiful over the water:



I'm including this picture because you get a good idea how much my tummy is growing!

We managed to avoid getting TOO sunburned, but we didn't avoid it all together.  We got a little toasty the first day and then spent the rest of the week alternating between sitting mostly under the shade of the umbrellas at the beach and swimming in the ocean. 

We alternated between THIS...

and THIS

 

Our trip back started at 2:40am on Sunday and after 2 plane rides and sitting in an airport all day I could barely walk off the plane in Indianapolis because my ankles were so swollen.  I managed to get home and barely eat dinner before I was in bed at 7pm trying to recover.  Although it was a pain to travel as long as we did it was an amazing trip that I am so glad we got to experience!  Next time I won't be pregnant and can have a margarita and maybe go on a snorkeling excursion!