Our New House

little feet

These cute little feet are in my ribs and it's so uncomfortable.

I try to move them...she just kicks back. Kyle says "ground her"....ha! She must be very comfortable with them tucked in that little pocket. For now I adjust my sitting positions and wait for those little ones to stop wiggling.

9 weeks and counting...

9 weeks and counting until my actual due date, who knows when she will arrive! As I mentioned in my last post we are now seeing the doctor every two weeks. That means more updates as the clock has started to tick. I nearly died when I asked the nurse how much weight I had gained since the last appointment. Needless to say the doctor isn’t worried at all, “Your blood pressure and weight look great.” I’m just shocked.

Everything looks good, 31cm, good heart beat and we’ll see you in two weeks! Here’s another terrible picture, but a picture nonetheless. I need to get better about taking pics long before I’m ready for bed and look like I’m going to fall asleep.

How far along: 31 weeks
Total weight gain: 24 lbs. (3lbs in two weeks, eeek!)

Maternity clothes: a given
Sleep: lots of sleep less nights, an occasional restful one

Best moment this week: talking with friends about birth….it’s getting so close. I’m feeling really pregnant these days
Movement: the acrobatic session she had while I was trying to go to sleep on Monday night
Gender: Female
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks are becoming more frequent, at least one a day
Belly Button in or out: in
What I miss: being able to paint my toes, easily shaving my legs…there is a basket ball I can’t get around. Guess I’m off to get a pedicure!
What I am looking forward to: my first baby shower on Saturday, moving into our new house and getting the nursery set up!!!!!

Kelly's last day!!!

Congrats to Kel on her last day as a Social Worker. It's been a long time coming and we are all so happy for you and excited to hear about your next adventure!

Baby Momma update

How far along: 30 weeks
Total weight gain: 21 lbs. (4 lbs in 5 weeks)
Maternity clothes: yes, some are getting too small?!
Sleep: good nights and bad nights

Best moment this week: the feeling of two feet under my right ribs, really are her feet, thanks to Dr. Imperial’s confirmation!
Movement: A lot, I know when she is napping. She likes then I’m in a recline position, more room to move around
Gender: Female
Labor Signs: pretty sure I had a Braxton Hicks the other day when Kyle and I were running errands…strange feeling!
Belly Button in or out: in, but it is getting very shallow!
What I miss: regular bras, a cold cut sandwich
What I am looking forward to: baby showers and getting the nursery ready

Well after the last appointment when I gained a lot, I was pleasantly surprised to have gained 4lbs in 5 weeks. I have to admit, I was carefully watching what I stuffed into my mouth. I was a little worried after I was in Milwaukee for a week, lets just say isn’t not the healthiest place to eat…

We had an appointment last Thursday and all seems to be going well. I still feel great, and love being pregnant. My belly measures 29cm which is exactly where I should be (1cm for each week). Her heart beat was 130 which is normal and we have graduated officially into the 3^rd trimester. We don’t have any more ultra sounds, but are now seeing the doctor every two weeks. What that really means…the count down is on!

We start our Childbirth prep class on April 7^th. We were supposed to go in March, but thanks to my new job and being in training for a week we had to switch to April. I’m very excited about them, Kyle is too, except how long they are. Three hours a week for 4 weeks. The doctor also recommended BabySafe class, so it looks like we’ll have another night of baby prep to add to the April schedule.

I know I’ve promised pictures in the past, and this time you really get them.

More Chicago pictures

The Cove traveling maternity sweatshirt...I'm finally filling it out!

Hysterically laughing

Beautiful day in Chicago..the sun was out

Trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard

Cheers!!!

Up close on the train

A little break while shopping

waiting for the train

train pics...

Amazing Friends

Everything seemed normal in my life...not like my friends and family had been lying to me for months. It was a Thursday morning, I had a yearly eye exam appt and lunch plans with a rep I used to work with. I got out of my eye appt and check my email via my phone. My rep had emailed saying her boss was coming into town unexpectedly, and that she was going to have to reschedule lunch.

No worries, Kelly had asked me earlier in the week if I could do lunch on Thursday. So I responded to Dawn and then called Kelly. Meanwhile, it’s about 10:45ish by the time I get home and Kel said “I’m in the neighborhood, so I’ll be there in a few minutes. I need to print some things off and then we can go to lunch…maybe brunch.” I’m thinking, that is weird, it’s a work day for Kel and she wants to do brunch? Okay, whatever, I didn’t question it. I get home and Kel arrives. She is putzing around what I now know was wasting time and trying not to look obvious.

Earlier, my mom had left town that morning and called to tell me she needed me to sign for a package she was expecting from UPS (I never answer the door). So after Kel and I talked for a few minutes, the door bell rings. I told her I don’t answer the door, and then remembered I needed to sign for a package. So I went to the door, peeked out the window and didn’t see a UPS truck, but knew I needed to sign for this package, so I opened the door……

Standing there on my mom’s porch was Jaime, not the UPS man. I looked at her and said

M: “What are you doing here?”
J: “Surprise, you have two hours to pack, we’re going to Chicago!”
M: “What?”
J: “You have two hours to pack, we’re going to Chicago!”
M: “What are you talking about? (I turn to Kelly) “Are you going?”
Kelly: “No”

The conversation went on…”What? Who? Now? How? When? Where? What?...I couldn’t believe it!!! My cove girls (Erin, Hunter, Jaime and Teresa), along with many, other people pulled this off like pros! They had planned a surprise baby shower trip to Chicago! I HAD NO CLUE, not the slightest!!! Literally everyone in my life knew about this trip, including Dawn, the rep that I was supposed to have lunch with! I called Kyle and he just started laughing…”you have incredible friends”….I KNOW! WOW!!

How they did it, I’ll never know, lots of planning obviously, but what I did know is that Jaime was throwing a baby shower that Saturday with the Bunco girls. Some cover up!!! She had been so vague about the shower, I just decided to go with it, and show up at Jaime’s when she told me to. Needless to say, there wasn’t a shower at Jaime’s house on Saturday.

On to the weekend…I had two hours to pack and leave with Jaime for the airport. I grabbed my suitcase, asked her what the weather was going to be like and if I needed dressy clothes. I don’t have that many options, so it took about 30 minutes. Kel left and Jaime and I left for lunch at the Cricket. We had a great lunch, as the shock sunk in, and were off to the airport.

Jaime and I haven’t had a good track record at the airport and I’m proud to say that we had a good experience this time and made the flight. I just couldn’t believe I was on a plane with Jaime going to Chicago to have a weekend of girl time! Even as I sit here today, three weeks later, I can’t believe it!

Jaime and I met up with Teresa and Hunter at baggage claim. There was a running scene, lots of squeals, OMG, hugs and I just can’t believe this. Of course, they had all been planning on this trip, like we normally do, so really I was the one who was shocked. We went outside for our ride…Erin. She pulled up right away and we were off for a slumber party weekend in Chicago.

Thursday night is Erin’s trivia night, so we dropped our stuff off at Erin’s place, cleaned up a bit and went to trivia. Our name was Phen and the Cove (a slight variation from their normal team name). Erin’s friend Christine joined us. We had a great time, lots of answers we knew, some not so much and guessed correctly, or we got the answer from this very intelligent table that wasn’t playing, but should have been. We came in third overall! We walked home (this bar is in her neighborhood) and proceed to sit around and talk for hours, finally getting to bed around 2:00am! Yikes, it had been a long time since I’d been up that late, especially being pregnant, I can hang!

P-Hen and The Cove

This bar just happened to be Vols bar...Hunter was very excited!

Friday was jammed with shopping all over downtown Chicago, The Bean, Michigan Ave, Old Town Oil, back home for a taco dinner and then to Guthries, a local bar to play board games. We literally shopped allllllll day long! Chicago has such great shopping and stores that aren’t in Colorado. Lots to add to my maternity wardrobe, especially for work. My all time favorite European shopping spot, H&M now has maternity, I had to stop in!

We always do cheesy poses....got love it! It all started on the road in UWP!

Our next stop was Old Town Oil and we took the bus to get there! For those who don’t know, I HATE public transportation, so it was a bit of a stretch for me, but the bus was clean, packed with people and all in all, it was fine. I had been to the oil shop before and love it, such a unique experience. Hunter, Teresa and Jaime didn’t really have any interest, and kept asking, we’re doing what? Tasting oil and vinegar? They turned their noses up at it until we got there….and then it was like a party in the oil shop! They all bought oil, nearly two boxes which each = 8 bottles!

Jaime trying to decide what kind of vinegar to buy

We then hopped in the Brown Line to get home for taco dinner. At this point, Teresa had figure out that she had lost her ID…She had it to get onto the plane, but couldn’t figure out where it was from there. So after dinner, we went to Guthries to play games, but they card at the door and since T didn’t have an ID with her birth date, it was a no-go. Our plans changed, probably for the better. We made a stop at Trader Joes….another store I love that we don’t have in CO…picked up munchies, wine, beer and goodies for Kyle. We stayed in talking, laughing hysterically and finally getting to bed about 2:00am, again!

Saturday was just as packed, we slept in a bit and then went to Brunch at Bongo Room. This place was delicious and had such a fun environment. I would highly recommend this place for anyone who is going to Chicago! It’s a foodies delight with a very unique menu that is fabulous! This is where the girls had a little baby shower for me. It was so sweet, a few tears and just wonderful.

The rest of the day we did a little Chicago neighborhood tour, shopping, eating, getting our eyebrows threaded and then home again to get ready for dinner. Side note…treading is done in the Indian culture and it is the coolest experience. They take a thread, like what you would sew a button on with and shape your eyebrows. It’s so cool and doesn’t leave you red for hours afterward. At first Jaime was the only one who had it done, then we all did…cultural experiences!

It was Chicago restaurant week and we had reservations at an Italian restaurant that Erin has heard great things about. It was authentic Italian and delicious! Our waiter had a strong Italian accent, which made the evening even better. Three courses, wine and decaf coffee, we were full and happy. We took a cab, squeezed into a cab rather, to the movie theater to see Valentine’s Day. A great Saturday evening, dinner, movie and girl talk! After squeezing into another cab to get home, we proceeded to stay up yet again until the 2:00am hour.

We forgot to take a picture at dinner, so it happened at the theater

Sunday…this amazing weekend was coming to a closeL We slept in, had breakfast at Erin’s house and then headed to the airport. I truly have amazing friends! It was so much fun and I was exhausted!

It took me nearly a week to recover, but it was so worth it! Thank you to my girls!!! Love you so much!

President's Day Weekend

We headed to Aspen for a nice long weekend with Patrick and Leslie. It was a nice weekend just hanging out. Of course we shopped…it’s hard not to do in Aspen. Friday night we tried to get into Matsuhisa which is the restaurant by Nobo, the famous sushi chef…joke was on us. It also happened to be Valentine’s weekend, so trying to make reservation a week in advance wasn’t enough. We ended up at Double Dog, this great locals place that is fairly hidden. Great food!

Saturday we went snow shoeing….I showshoed at 6 months pregnant at about 9000+ feel above sea level. I know all the books say you need to be careful in high altitude or don’t travel to high altitude, but we live here…so 9000 ft isn’t that big of a deal. I will admit I was totally out of breath on the way up. The rest of the gang was so sweet to wait for be periodically when I had to stop to catch my breath. The two mile trip back to the car wasn’t nearly as bad…mostly downhill. Leslie and Patrick hadn’t snowshoed before, so it was fun for them to try it out.

A few times during the ski season, Aspen Mountain opens the “sun deck” at night for dinner and dancing at the top of the mountain. We decided it would be fun, so we bought our tickets and headed up the mountain around 5:30. Nothing like really not listening to the books…we were at about 11,212 feet, and had a great time. The ride up on the gondola was windy, dark and cold. They provided blankets, thankfully! Once at the top, there were tons of people dancing, eating and enjoying the warmth of the fire place. It was fun to be up there at night. The ride down was much faster and less windy.

Sunday, Valentine’s Day, we relaxed, we in to for a bit and then Patrick and Leslie headed home. Kyle and I stayed until Monday morning and then headed home. It was a fun, relaxing weekend!

Hanging around town; the base of Aspen Mountain

Patrick and Leslie snowshoeing

Kyle got in over his head

Snowshoeing 6 months pregnant!

The whole gangRiding up to the top of the mountain for dinner

Rich & Penny's Wedding

It’s been a crazy 6 weeks and all things that have happened deserve their own entry, so here goes….

The first weekend in February, we had the pleasure of going to Louisville for Rich and Penny’s wedding. It was wonderful beyond words. The bride and groom looked beautiful! It was wonderful to see all of Kyle’s friends as we hadn’t seen most of them since our wedding. We spent time eating, drinking (water for me), hanging out until ungodly hours of the night/morning shooting the breeze. We were all staying in the same hotel, which is always fun. There were a bunch of people up from Nashville for the wedding, so nearly the entire gang was there.

You all know how I love the food, cooking, baking, etc….so of course there are a couple of restaurants in Louisville that has been on The Food Network many times that I had to try. Kyle hadn’t been there in years and we went for brunch on morning. Lyn’s Paradise Café, it rocks! If you are traveling through, it’s a must!!! I love southern food, and thank goodness I don’t live there because I’d be huge. I had one of the dishes they are famous for, French Toast. It did not disappoint!

They have this cute little store in the front of the restaurant where I picked up a cook book, Southern Biscuits...I have a new found love for them in the last year, and working in high altitude with all these nearly sea level recipes, makes things interesting.

Our hotel was next to a strip mall that happened to have the second restaurant that I wanted to try. It’s not exactly a restaurant, but ice cream shop, Graeters. Kyle, Andy…everyone has talked since I’ve know them about this place so I had to try. Preston accompanied me, my ice cream loving friend. It was awesome! Again, another stop to stop for an afternoon snack, or dinner for that matter! The Chocolate Peanut Butter is fabulous!

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Rich Smith!!!

Here are a few pictures that captured the weekend, not great pics, but something to look at!

Melissa and I at the rehearsal dinner

The beautiful ceremony

Bride and Groom's first dance