Zoo day!

Today was a 72* Saturday in the middle of winter that also happened to be a free day at the zoo. That's a recipe for crowds like you absolutely wouldn't believe. But we decided to tackle it anyways.  ; )

This will be true of me. Also, I really love being pregnant, but how great would that be to hibernate through your third trimester?!  I don't necessarily need that much sleep but it'd be great for someone to make it socially acceptable to make it socially acceptable to lay in bed in my pjs for the entire third trimester. ; )

I commented to Christopher about how huge these camels were. Then Abigail pipes up with something along the lines of "like your belly! Mom, are the camels as big as your belly even?!"  And awesome. Thank you for that sweet girl. My belly is quite large but not as large as an enormous camel. 

Christopher took me to the Denver zoo in 2006 when we were dating. He took a picture of me with an okapi. Who knows... It could even be this same one. Anyways, I had to recreate the shot. 

Our best family picture of the day. 

Abigail was so into the map. 

We had to park so far away that we actually passed and discovered this park on the way to the zoo so we stopped on the way back to the car. Abigail loved making new friends. Brady loved this slide. 

Honey loves the geese. 

The weather was seriously amazing. Our biggest problem was getting too hot if we were in the sun too long or looking at indoor exhibits. 

On our way home, we stopped by honey's office. It was cool to see because it's been recently renovated so it's double the size that it used to be. 

Honey's office. 

And then we went to the hacking's gender reveal party. Shaylee is due four days after I am so we took a belly shot. In our pink shirts because we're both having girls! Woohoo! 

And Brady. Because he's adorable and makes me laugh all day long. 

It was a busy, but super fun day. 

Avs game

Thursday night, we took some friends to the avs game. It was a lot of fun. And our babysitter cleaned up all the toys. Cherry on top. 

Also, mark the date in the books as the day I finally got my laptop compatible with our printer!!! I went through all the steps about thirteen or so times and got this result every time. 

And when I was about to scream and cry in frustration, I called canon tech support and some kind black man helped me out and magic happened. I can print now from my laptop and my phone! 

I made toasted almond chicken for dinner. Delish. 

And at six, we were off to the game. At least half of the people present were red wings fans. It made it confusing when they'd make a call and the arena would erupt in clapping or booing or cheering. 

See all that bright red? 

With Jeff and Becky. 

How cutely is this cleaned up?!

How cutely is this girl sleeping?!

And even the toothbrushes and toothpaste. I love it. 

What a successful day. 

Sunny Friday

My day really sucked. Hardcore. I'm so glad it's over and that I can just crawl in bed and be done. 

On the plus side, something that worked out perfectly was that Brady slept in til after 11:30 and the weather was perfect so we could go to the playground and hang out outside this afternoon. It was 68 degrees. So crazy. 

Play doh in the sunglasses. 

It's a good look, huh?

Not ideal for viewing purposes. 

Brady laughed for two minutes straight when he got in the swing. He's a super ticklish guy and I think it made his stomach tickle. I think that's why he kept doing his legs all weird. 

It was probably the happiest part of my day. 

Oh the laughs. 

And the legs. ; )

The kids played so wonderfully the whole time we were there. 

Headed home to play outside some more... in the driveway. 

Abigail covered her face with her hat and said she was napping while Brady was busy sitting in her lap to do his own side of buckles. 

"You're napping? Oh."  Haha. Brady is hilarious. 

23 weeks

How far along:  23 weeks  (2.5.14)

Total weight gain/loss: 14.5 lbs... the pounds are packing on fast

Maternity clothes:  yes to maternity shirts, but not anything else.  right now it's just a game to see how long i can go before i turn to maternity g's and jeans.  also hoping i won't be too big to cram my belly into my swimsuits in a few weeks when we go to brazil. 

Sleep:  not bad at all.  i always sleep through the night and have actually been sleeping until my alarm goes off at 8:17 or whatever i've set it to.  i get a lot of sleep and some afternoons i'm fully energetic and some i seriously can barely stand on my feet or keep my eyes opened. 

Best moment this week:  this morning... getting my printer to finally work!  i can do hard things!

Movement:  the kicks and punches have been so much stronger this week!  the other night, i was sitting in bed watching tv with honey and the kicks were strong.  then honey turned off the tv and listened to a conference talk on his phone and holy crap was this baby going absolutely nuts in my belly.  so strong, the thumps were reverberating like banging on a drum.  they were all around my belly button too which was unusual because i normally don't feel movement there (and my doctor and the ultrasound tech have both confirmed that's where my placenta is) so i wonder what the deal is with that.  also, she's still lodging herself down low sometimes (on the right side still, of course) and it's still really really uncomfortable like i have to pause what i'm doing and just not move because it's kind of painful like a contraction.  i seem to be noticing that less and less frequently though so maybe it's decreasing in consistency or maybe i'm just getting more used to the ones that aren't that bad so they don't really register to me.  either way, the movement is in full swing.  i love it.

Food cravings:  i love the idea of eating, but it frequently doesn't hit the spot.  especially meal foods.  i'm still loving sweets though and there have been random things (like the cherry flavored lifesavers they handed out in primary on sunday while i was subbing abigail's class) that tasted really good to me when ordinarily, i wouldn't have cared for them.  i got a salad when we went to texas roadhouse on friday night and ate every bite of it because it was so good.  it was just the regular side salad but it had tomatoes and boiled egg, and ranch and i was loving it.  pregnant eating is just really different than regular eating.  also, i have a greater desire to eat, even if i'm not hungry and even though the food very frequently isn't satisfying.  i think i'm just always on the hunt for that moment when it perfectly hits the spot.  like the lifesavers, and the salad, and the other day when i had a few otter pops from the freezer that i'd found from who knows when, or that handful of chocolate chips, or the pringles from sunday night.  or even the roasted peanuts that they have out at texas roadhouse... i seriously never ever eat them but when we were there on friday, after i finished my meal, i wanted one.  well, specifically, i just wanted to lick the shell.  i could have gone through a whole bucket... just licking the shells... not eating the peanuts.  that's weird pregnancy stuff for me.  it's so not my norm.

Symptoms: nausea at night is bugging the crap out of me.  it's probably been more nights than not and it comes on around 4 o clock.  it's normally not horrible, but has gotten a few times to the point where i've felt like i could very possibly throw up.  it's enough that i still have a barf bag at the bottom of my purse.  several nights i've laid in bed and just had this weird traveling tennis ball through my esophagus/right side of my chest and behind my ribcage sort of feeling.  i googled it to see if it was heartburn because i'm not experienced in heartburn and i know it's common in pregnancy, but everyone said that feels like, surprise surprise... burning.  which this did not.  anyways, so weird.  but also weird that it was normally accompanied by me semi throwing up repeatedly in my mouth.  pregnancy is so glamorous.  several times, i've needed/wanted to sit down... just because.  and once (on monday morning sometime) i almost passed out.  that is seriously such a horrible, horrible feeling.  all of those sensations in my body.  but i made it to my bed actually before things got worse and after five minutes i was feeling fine (although still pretty cautious because it's always a scary feeling to get over).

Gender:  my excitement about this being a girl makes it hard to me to even imagine if this was a boy or that it could have been a boy.  we haven't discussed names anymore, but the more i think about it, the more i'm stuck on the one we'd been considering around thanksgiving.  i'm still not 100% on a middle name though.

What I miss:  not being able to eat whatever i want without gaining weight.  i'm still eating whatever i want but i'm gaining at least two pounds a week and i have mom guilt about the sugar i'm consuming because i'm sharing my body with a child.  i saw a picture of my skinny self (i was 11 weeks along i think) when i was importing honey's pictures from his phone to my computer and i was astonished at my lack of a belly.  i know i had a belly then (it popped at 8 weeks) but it wasn't apparent with what i was wearing and it seemed foreign to me that my belly was ever smaller than what it currently is.  when i'm pregnant, it's just hard for me to fully wrap my head around the "no belly" concept while simultaneously having a hard time believing how huge my belly really is.  i seriously pull up my shirt to look at my belly and am completely blown away by its size!  our bodies are amazing to be able to do this.

Milestones:  i think my baby is probably over a foot long and a pound heavy... that's amazing!
Theme: the week of... i'm still getting fatter
What's different this time around:  ehhh, i dunno.  i'm still shocked that my weight gain has been so similar so far across the three pregnancies!

Extra:  i'm at the sweet spot of pregnancy right now and it's wonderful.  not too big, not uncomfortable, not sick... just fat and happy.  abigail's preschool teacher just told me today that she didn't know i was pregnant.  ha.  whoops.  glad you noticed.  i love feeling this baby move all the time.  it's so amazing.  i'm doing a pretty good job right now at checking in with myself emotionally since i know i can be emotionally unstable (i almost cried on the phone today when i was explaining my printer problem to the canon tech support guy) and it's working well.  abigail has two hours of quiet time while brady naps so i get that time mostly to myself to read or get stuff done or just lay in bed doing who knows what.  it's helping my patience although i miss my friends and family because that's the time of day when i would normally talk on the phone to people.  i'm still feeling that nesting feeling of wanting to get my life in order before this baby comes and that's part of it... instead of talking on the phone, i'm researching online about minivans and infant carseats and how to organize whatever happens to be on my mind.  i'm trying to be a better mother to abigail though.  she's been so on my nerves lately (she's being normally normal and average, i'm just really irritable because i'm pregnant and irrational) and so i've been having to make a more concious effort in that area.  i've also found that when christopher is super playful, that bugs the crap out of me.  luckily, i can just calmly explain to him that it's not him, it's me, and i just need him to calm himself and take things down a notch.  he's been really good at not getting offended by those sorts of comments.  like last night when i told him i needed us to start cuddling and falling asleep in the middle of the bed instead of my side of the bed because then he's asleep and i'm trapped sleeping on two feet of space.  "honey, it's not that i don't love you or that i don't want to be close to you, i just need more space now that i'm pregnant and i toss and turn so much at night... i don't want to have to wake you up and tell you i need more space.  so let's just cuddle right here and i'll still have adequate room after you've fallen asleep."  really, he's a champ.

2.5.15 at 23 weeks pregnant

2.5.15 at 23 weeks pregnant

i really should have put on some makeup today.  i swear i'm not that tired or beaten down... that just how i look without mascara.  ; )

wednesday

today was an average wednesday.  it was cold and cloudy and was supposed to snow all day (it didn't) so we stayed in and played and hung out and got stuff done.

i slept til almost 9 and had a bowl of cereal.  the kids slept late too.  abigail til 9:15 or 9:30 and brady til 10 maybe?  abigail didn't lie to me about going potty so that pretty much made my day.  she came downstairs dressed and i just sent her back up to go potty and wash hands... didn't even give her the opportunity to try to tell me a lie.  anyways, we read books in my bed until it was time to get brady up and it was a great start to our day.  we got brady up and the kids got a bath and we headed downstairs for oatmeal and leftover waffles... and an apple.  because they were still hungry.

after breakfast i made a batch of powder laundry detergent and cleaned up the kitchen while the kids played in the great room.  then i sat down and put my feet up for a ballet recital.  it was spectacular and involved a lot of pretty awesome twirls.  then abigail and brady started playing princesses so i went along with that game and eventually it was naptime.  we read more books, i put brady down, and i told abigail to have a nice quiet time.  brady only napped for less than an hour and a half but whatever.  i made the kids sandwiches and we were on with our afternoon.  brady and i played baseball in multiple rooms of our house.  that tee ball bat is wonderful... we have so much fun with that.  also, playing catch.  i love that.  brady is so so cute.  perfect age.  so perfect.

i cleaned up that trailing corner of mess in my room and did some random other stuff.  i feel like i'm constantly chipping away at a to do list of randomness around the house.  is this normal?!  or do other people just sit around all day and play with their kids?  i finally organized all my visiting teaching papers from the past several months and got them all put away in a binder. and i hung up abigail's calendar and thomas wheel in her closet.  finally.  i also vacuumed the upstairs.  i feel like vacuuming always takes forever.  the kids watched my little pony until dinner time, they cleaned up the great room, and we had stuffed pepper leftovers and once again, we all loved it... especially brady.  he eats so much.  we all headed up a little before 7 and bedtime went perfectly.

i did more cleaning and whatever until honey got home after 8 and then parked myself in bed to write this post right now with honey by my side watching suits.  anyone watch that?  sarah brazee from Tennessee?  it's a lawyer show.  i watched the first episode or two with him and liked it but he keeps watching without me so now i don't care so much because i've missed so much.

maybe tomorrow i'll actually wear something other than yoga pants and a hoodie and do something with my hair other than a ponytail.  ; )  but today was still pretty nice.  these kinds of days have their purpose.

A Tuesday

I hate that I haven't been blogging like I used to. My favorite blog to read is my own. And my favorite posts are the ordinary day to day boring ones. So, here's an effort to get back to that. 

This morning I slept in til my alarm that goes off sometime around 8:15 and checked my phone and Facebook for a bit before getting myself a bowl of life. Abigail came downstairs in her pink sweats with the glittery unicorn on the front and got herself a banana while I got dressed (in yoga pants and a hoodie because I truly just didn't care) sometime around 9 and then I got Brady up and dressed (in jeans and a hoodie... Because we should all look homeless and wear sweats at the same time) and the three of us were out the door. Y'know, after running back inside a million separate times for Brady's shoes, my phone, etc. as we were pulling out of the driveway I remembered we'd left Abigail's tote bag inside but you better believe I wasn't going back AGAIN so I sent her to school with her custom tote bag that rach gave me when Abigail was born. Brady ate a banana in the car and I got Abigail to preschool only a few minutes late and with a tuition check in hand. Go me for remembering that! 

So then as we were pulling out of the driveway, Brady requested that we go to the library so we stopped by there for 30 minutes to get honey's book on hold and just a few others while Brady played puzzles with kids that kept taking his stuff away. I just watched. He never put up a fight. Just found himself a new toy until someone else took that one away. ; )  as we were about to leave, a lady looked at me and was all "hi Carrie!" which horrified me because I'm horrible with faces (turns out it's a diagnosable condition) and she didn't look even vaguely familiar to me. So then she was trying to be all chatty and was asking if Abigail was in preschool and "does she go to little blessings? and oh she doesn't? Where does she go? And how old is your little guy now? I forget his name." And stuff like that. WHO IS SHE?!  I seriously hate that I have such a hard time recognizing faces. Especially in situations like that. Good thing we were already on our way out because if we weren't, we would have had to make up some reason to book it (no pun intended... We were at the lirbary) out of there. 

So then we went to the church for the weekly playgroup. Brady actually loves it with makes my heart so happy. He pretty much just runs around the gym and plays with all the balls while I sit and talk bachelor with the other moms. Brady kept bringing me balls and asking me to shoot them in the basketball hoops. Especially the one on the other end of the court as I was sitting. But he was totally satisfied if I just threw it in that general direction. We took off at 11:45 to go get Abigail from school. And she was in a great mood when we picked her up. Normally she goes all cool teenager on me and is like "mom, I don't want to talk about what I did at school, can you just turn some music on?"  But today she told me about play doh and snack and what book they read all that good stuff. 

Except when we got home she told me she wanted to go potty upstairs instead of the powder room. And she lied about going. Twice. She really doesn't lie about anything else. Just that specific situation of telling me she went potty when she didn't. I'll admit, I'm so grossed out and completely disgusted by lying. And I was even as a child. And a teenager. And really my whole life. Lying is the worst ever and it cuts me to the core that I have birth to someone who participates in that nasty habit. It breaks out my temper like no other. But today it broke out my pregnant tears. Did anyone else put their toddler down for nap, their preschooler in her room for quiet time, and then sit in bed and cry because your kid lied about going potty?  Oh, just me? Awesome. 

As usual, we had quiet time from 1-3 and then got meat out to thaw, went potty again, played the piano a bit and headed outside to enjoy the good weather. Honey got home around 3:30 and we sat in our camp chairs and watched Abigail  (and Brady when we got up at 4) ride bikes and play with Lucy. I headed in at 4:30 to start dinner (stuffed peppers) and honey and the kids joined me 30 minutes later. I accidentally had honey add double the salt and pepper (I hate when recipes list the ingredients as total amounts and only specify that something is divided in the actual recipe part of it). But I added an extra can of tomato paste and water  and then didn't add salt and pepper to the meat mixture. It all turned out great and delicious thank goodness. Also, I learned that honey doesn't know how to do a ponytail. I was making dinner (which is already hectic because cooking is stressful for me and so is multitasking so I was a little frazzled to be juggling peppers boiling, sauce simmering, and a raw meat mixture) and Abigail told me her ponytail slid out. I told her that daddy was so great at ponytails and to have him fix it. He did a bun, she started to cry about it, he told me he didn't know how to make a ponytail, I told him to pull the hair all the way through, he did another weird and half falling out bun before I really believed him. Seriously?! I thought that was like tying your shoes. I didn't need it to look good, I just needed him to wrap a ponytail holder around some hair. I would have taken pictures and a video if it wasn't so crazy at the time. It was worthy. 

So then I did random stuff like recycling and bringing in new gallons of milk and whatever and told honey to play with the kids and clean the kitchen while I showered. I think he forgot about the kitchen part because he did a great job outruns together a beaded candy necklace with Abigail but didn't clean the kitchen. Oh well. I managed to shower and clean the shower and get dried off by the time the timer went off for the peppers. I broiled some cheese on those suckers and we all sat down to eat a few minutes later. I know it's honey's favorite meal that I make but I'd forgotten how truly yummy it is. And even I was shocked at how the kids inhaled every bite and asked for more and downed their weight in peas. It's rare for me to get thanks for making a dinner (shocking considering how rarely I make meals!) but tonight I didn't even care because holy cow these three were loving it. Then honey cleaned the kitchen, Brady and I cleaned up toys, and Abigail went potty and put on her diaper and pjs. I left honey to keep doing dishes while I put the kids to bed. Abigail said the fourth article of faith for us and prayed for us. She was thankful that she could go to preschool and that she could play with Lucy. Honey came up to say goodnight to the kids. 

I always go in and give Abigail and extra kiss after I put Brady down before I head downstairs. I told her that I didn't want her to lie anymore and she was like "yeah, daddy already talked to me about this." Ha. And because I thought she wouldn't care, I turned out the bathroom light in the hallway. Brady immediately started crying. So I turned it back on and the crying stopped instantly. I went downstairs and started telling honey. "I thought I'd turn out the light in the bathroom because I don't think Abigail really cares about it anymore..." And he interrupted me to say "no, don't do that, Brady cares."  Apparently he'd already discovered that on one of the previous times that I'd sent him up to figure out why Brady was crying. ; )  Brady is so funny. He cracks me up. 

Today was a really great day. 

22 weeks

How far along:  22 weeks  (1.29.15)

Total weight gain/loss:  12.5 - 13 lbs

Maternity clothes:  i love them.  i love long shirts to cover my bump.  jackets are starting to look funny on me because of the gus gus sort of fit.  pants are still regular... i haven't had to go maternity on jeans yet.  i use the bella band with my target skinnies but everything else i can still button.  but i feel my belly starting to get constricted on my jade jeans.  everything else is still fine.  

Sleep:  not bad.  i even have had a few pretty normal dreams.  like the one where i was at an upscale ice cream shop and was with a group of people, including emmy, and i kept getting in the wrong line and changing my mind and wasn't able to make a decision on what flavor and mix ins i wanted and emmy kept trying to help give me directions on what to do and... eventually i woke up, without ever succeeding in getting my ice cream.  ha.

Best moment this week:  not sure.  with the exception of wednesday, it's all been good.

Movement:  just same as last week

Food cravings:  it's still hard for me to get excited about eating meal foods although i like sweets just fine.  ; )  but for the last three days, i've been feeling nauseous again at night... starting around four or so.  so, i don't love food, but i'm still recent enough to the vomiting that i'm so grateful for how awesome i'm feeling these days.  as far as food that i neeeeeed.  sugared cereal.  when i wake up, it's all i can do not to jump out of bed and get a huge bowl of frosted flakes with whole milk.  sunday morning, i was about to walk out the door for church and suddenly realized that i HAD to have chips ahoy cookies dipped in milk (i normally pour a little whole milk in a creme brulee ramekin and let them soak that way) and knew it would only take a second so i could do it.  well, i guess honey had already eaten the last few and thrown the package away.  i seriously went into panic mode.  luckily, i was able to find some of those individually packaged cookies from our christmas junk food candy stash.  i shoved those in my purse and was eating them on the way to church and during relief society.  ooooo so nice.  give me sugar.  lots and lots of sugar. 

Symptoms: nausea, headaches, backaches, fatigue, irritability, a bad temper...  ; )

Gender:  my greatest joy of having a girl is that abigail gets giddy about a baby sister.  i'm so excited for this little girl.  although a little annoyed that i'm still experiencing morning sickness at 22 weeks... i mean, come on.

What I miss:  not a lot.  probably the only thing is that i feel myself being irrationally angry sometimes and i know it's from being pregnant but it doesn't make it any easier to snap out of it.  for the most part though, i feel wonderful and have a lot of energy and motivation.  but if i sit down, i'm going to get sleepy real fast.  ; )  i've taken a nap or two this week but that's all.  and only for an hour or less.

Milestones:  i'm actually getting into the mindset of being a mom of three.  i gotta brace myself!
Theme: the week of semi nesting?  in my head at least.  i made a list of a million things i want to accomplish and get in order.  carrying that out has proven more difficult, but the excitement and motivation is there!
What's different this time around:  with both kids previously, the morning sickness was gone and i loved food.  this time, i'm still working on that part.  i'm amused though that my weight gain has been so consistent between the three pregnancies.  hopefully that means i'll still end up at something normal at the end, even though i've been gaining multiple pounds a week lately?!

Extra:  i'm so anxious to get my house in order and figure stuff out sooner than later.  something about the new year happening makes june seem a lot closer than it seemed when it was december.

1.29.15 at 22 weeks

1.29.15 at 22 weeks

Summer in January

Today has been a winning day. I woke up well rested before my alarm, wasted time on my phone, had a giant bowl of frosted flakes in bed, and took a shower all before either kid woke up. 

We went to playgroup at the church at 10, which was great, but even more perfect because Abigail's preschool was rescheduled to Friday so she got to come too. Originally my costing teachers were going to come over at ten, but we rearranged and decided to meet at playgroup instead. It all came together perfectly. We got to Walmart at noon, make it to checkout by one, and got a super fast and with it check out lady. Hallelujah because I've had bad luck with the last several people I've gotten. High turnover means cashiers that don't know how to price match. Anyways, we ate lunch, got Brady down by two, and Abigail and I headed outside to enjoy some amazing weather. 

It was so unbelievably pleasant. 

Despite our entire front yard still being completely covered in snow. We live on the shady side of the street. I think I shoveled snow three times last week. 

Anyways, it's been a great day.