Week 16

Where: Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, Ballard (one of my favorite places in Seattle)



Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +5 lbs (no change from last week)
• Sleep : Better this week, I only had one night of major restlessness and keeping the whole family up
• Best moments : Finding a place to live! Since moving to Seattle Stephen and I have lived in a 950 sq ft condo. It is on the 5th floor of the building and only has one bedroom. While it has been a great place these last 2 years it is just big enough to house us, 2 dogs and all our stuff. I am sure people have children in places like ours or even smaller, but we are not up for that challenge. Over January Stephen has spent a lot of time looking for places for us, even through much scrutiny from me, my high standards and wish to not move out of a 5 block radius from where we currently are. On Monday we visited a nice 3 bedroom home a neighborhood over from Ballard. We knew it would be a great place to raise a kid for a while. I will save all the details for another post when we are moved in in March, but below is a sneak peak of our soon to be family of 3 home. It is in the Greenwood/Phinney neighborhood of Seattle. 
  
  
  
• Movement : Not yet
• Symptoms : My emotions were a little (Steve may say a lot) out of control this week. I am hoping week 17 I feel and act a little less like a crazy person :) I would bet to say Steve hopes this to be true as well.
• Maternity clothes? : Still rocking normal jeans with the Bella Band and maternity leggings  I'm wearing 90% maternity tops, just because I like how comfy they are. Also, they are new and all my other clothes are old. 
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Nothing new this week. For the most part I still don't feel like anything particular. Mexican is never turned down though.
• What I am eating : Most of the same as last week. Salad or hot bar for lunch when I am in the office. Dinners were mostly take out this week. We got Chinese one night and it did not go well, lots of heartburn. I might be foregoing Chinese the next few months, to my displeasure. I meal planned and made a grocery list, but never made it to the store. 
• Exercise : A few nice walks over the weekend, one with the dogs and one checking out a potential new neighborhood to live in (where we ended up getting a place!). Other than that nothing. Bad me. 
• Gender : ??? 3+ weeks and counting!
• Labor signs : Nope
• What I miss : Crying for a real reason. hahaha Or just not crying at all. 
• What I am looking forward to : Being able to think about a nursery with an actual room in mind! I have a lot of ideas, but was not able to picture them in a room until now. It is a really great feeling knowing Little P has a place that will be his/hers.

Shopping Around

I have been checking out various children's stores around town. Not looking for anything just yet, just seeing what shops there are and which ones are worth more visits. It has been fun to check out all the stuff, but has also been overwhelming! There is so much stuff out there and it can be hard to figure out what is really necessary. Luckily I have some good friends who have had kids in the last year and have baby stuff still fresh in their minds. Another thing I have come to realize is that baby stuff is pricey, its like wedding stuff. You are going to need some of it so they can just charge whatever they want really. I have never been a big resale or goodwill shopper. No real reason,I have always just prone to buying new. Babies are opening up a whole new shopping world to me. I have really taken to the deals you can find at resale shops. At first it was frustrating cause they can be a mess, but I have started a small list of things that would be best to get at these and I think going in with a plan of what you are wanting is going to be key. There are a lot of shops around town, I am going to try to keep track of the ones I visited here, for easy reference. Some are resale, some are not and some are a combination of both.

 

 

Once Upon a Time (Queen Anne) : All new stuff, pretty high end items for the most part. It was a good size store. They have a huge toy selection for all age ranges. Steve had a really great time looking at all the fun toys there are.

Childish Things (North Ballard) : This looked like a good shop, but it is small inside and has a ton of things. We didn't have anything in mind when we were in here so it felt overwhelming with all of the stuff. It was a combination of resale and new items, mostly resale. I think it could be a place for great finds once we know what it is we are looking for and how to find it in the store.

Me 'n Moms (Ballard) : This was the first store we checked out, it is all resale. We didn't spend a lot of time in here, as it was early on in the pregnancy and we just went in cause it was next to where we had brunch. I am sure I will visit this shop some more, as it is in our neighborhood. But it did feel really messy inside and I could see it being frustrating because of that.

Tottini (South Lake Union) : Loved this shop. All new stuff, higher end but still has reasonable items too. We got to check out the stroller I have picked out and almost walked out with a glider that was on sale. It was grey with white polka dots. Too cute! Steve really got into the gliders in the store and is excited to shop them now. They also had some cloth diaper options and cute wall decor that gave me some nursery ideas.

Paron's Closet (Wallingford) : This has been my favorite resale shop. It is small, but really well organized. For the first time a resale shop didn't overwhelm me. I also made a purchase! I picked up two Moby Wraps for $15 each. I am taking one to St Louis in a few weeks to my friend Bethany. Moby Wraps are $45+ new, so this was a great find. The one I got for Bethany looks never used too. The one I got looks like it had been washed a few times, but I loved the orange color. I tried it out on Yuri later that night.

 

Isn't he just so cute?! He actually loved it. I took him out but didn't take the wrap off and I sat on the couch and he climbed on me wanting back in. He chilled in it for a good 30 mins then. 



 

Those are all the shops we have checked out so far. There are a few others I have in mind and some I have seen on Yelp if we are in their neighborhoods I am sure we will pop in.

 

I can't do a post with Yuri getting face time and not post a Chewie picture as well. It just wouldn't be fair. :) Chewie's favorite pregnancy/baby item so far is the Snoogle - a pregnancy body pillow. He gets excited about it when I move it from room to room and loves to cuddle up in it alone or with you. Here he is all wrapped up in it with me on the couch.

Such a sweetheart!

Week 15

Where: Kerry Park, Queen Ann, Seattle - check out Mt Rainer on the right!

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss :  +5 lbs
• Sleep : Not great this week. I have been sick again and I was up and down most nights. I was moving so much a few nights I woke Steve and annoyed the dogs a ton.
• Best moments : This one hasn't happened yet, but later this afternoon we are going to the doctor and will get to hear the baby's heartbeat. :) Also, I just bought this super cute blanket! I couldn't resist, both Steve and I love robots.      
• 
 
• Movement : Still not feeling anything
• Symptoms : Starting to sleep uncomfortably. If I lay too long on one side my hips hurt. I can alleviate it with a pillow between my legs, but I don't usually start the night off like that.
• Maternity clothes? : At the beginning of the week I was in my normal jeans but could tell they were getting tight. Since I have been sick I have been WFH(working from home) the rest of the week, so I have only been in yoga pants. Yesterday I went to venture out of the house only to find my normal jeans do not fit at all and maternity pants are still to big. I ended up wearing my normal jeans with the bella band, but it doesn't work that great when your pants are 100% undone! Hope I can move out of this awkward stage soon.
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Neither really. I don't feel like anything most of the time. I am choosing to attribute this to being sick and hoping my appetite will return when I can shake this cold for good!
• What I am eating : Breakfast and lunches have been the same mostly as last week. Dinners have been all over the place from burgers to pb&j.
• Exercise : I bought a prenatal yoga dvd this week. Does that count? haha Maybe next week I will put it on and do it!
• Gender : ??? I am still thinking girl. Especially now, my good friend Bethany (we are 4 days apart!) found out she is having a boy today. That makes 5 friends who all have boys, 7 boys total! Someone in our group is bound to have a girl, right?
• Labor signs : nope! 
• What I miss : Fitting into any pants! Also, feeling healthy. I have spent almost every day in January so far sick :(
• What I am looking forward to : I have been pretty good about not getting too anxious about finding out what we are having, but with Bethany finding out at 16 weeks I am SO ready to know! It is probably another 3-4 weeks before we get to find out though.
 

Week 14

Where: View of the Space Needle, Capital Hill

 



Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +3.5 lbs
• Sleep : Not as good as I would like it to be. I seem to trade off nights from sleeping great and really hard to sleeping terrible, waking up every couple of hours.
• Best moments : Starting to talk baby names with Steve. We thought we would wait to know what we were having, but I mentioned it one night before bed and we had a small conversation about some names. Since then Steve has messaged me during the day when he thinks of names. We aren't ruling anything out yet, just getting together a list of prospective names. :)
• Movement : None yet. When we had our last ultrasound the tech told us the placenta is in the front, so it is likely that I will not feel the baby as soon as some people do. It will act as a cushion between the baby and I.
• Symptoms : Most of my first tri symptoms are going away. I have been a little tired this week, but nothing like I have been. I had some throwing up too, but I have been coming out of a cold and all the extra flem has been causing that.
• Maternity clothes? : I do not need to be wearing them yet, but I am really loving a few shirts I have gotten that don't bunch on the sides. They just look like they are slightly big in my stomach area. I am also loving maternity leggings. Again, I do not need to be wearing them but they are just so comfy!
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Mexican! All I want is mexican, but midwest overly creamy & cheesy mexican. I haven't found what I am wanting here in Seattle just yet. Most chains look kinda gross and nicer places are either authentic Mexican or have a gourmet twist to them. While I can find cheesy at these places, it doesn't fulfill the creaminess I am looking for. I thought I hit the jackpot Sunday with a place I know people like and had a promising menu online. We get there and its brunch all day! Dang it Seattle, what Mexican place in the midwest would have brunch? haha. We split tacos and they were really good. We will be going back when it is not a Sunday.
• What I am eating : I haven't been as healthy as I would like to be this week. Breakfast is almost always fruit and greek yogurt. I have had a lot of soup and salads for lunches, but I did have a burger and fish and chips too. Dinner is where I am loosing the healthiness battle. I only cooked one night this week, pork and asparagus. Otherwise we had bbq, fried pickles, greek, pizza and burgers.
• Exercise : None :( I really need to step it up here. I am getting really stiff hips. I need to start doing some stretching and/or yoga. I think I will look into getting a prenatal yoga dvd to do at home.
• Gender : Still don't know! I have a feeling it is a girl though. No reason why, I just feel like it is.
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : Regular cold medicine! I had to fight a cold after getting back from Christmas and being able to only take a few, not powerful meds killed me and it sure didn't make my cold go away with any amount of speed!
• What I am looking forward to : The sun is forecasted to be out this weekend. Should allow us to be outside, get some fresh air, walking and hopefully a bump picture with the mountains.
• Milestones : Getting one week in the second trimester done!

First Trimester in Review

Well we made it through our first trimester! I think overall I had it pretty easy, it was probably harder on Steve than it was on me. I had minimal morning sickness, my main "symptom" was fatigure. I would come home from work, take the dogs out, then lay on the couch and never leave until it was time to move to the bed. The weekends were not much different. I could go out for a few hours of activity then I needed to go home and nap. While I have not had many food adversions (a few seafood items I suddenly think taste fishy and buffalo wings no longer agree with me) I mainly do not think any food sounds good, ever. It is not that food makes me sick, I just never want anything. Big adjustment in our house, where I always want something very specific 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time I like Steve to choose but I shoot down most of his choices. :) All of this left Steve to take care of the house, the dogs, meals and whatever else I asked for (which can be a lot). He has been really great all 13 weeks and I have no doubt he will continue to be amazing and supportive.

 

During the few hours on the weekends I was up for going on an outing Steve and I have been going around the city taking bump pictures. Yeah there isn't much there right now, but it has been a really fun activity for us and we plan to continue throughout the whole 9 months. You might eventually see some places pop up more than once, as we have taken a few at favorite spots early.

 

Week 5:

 

Where: Downtown Ballard(our neighborhood)

 

Week 6:

Where: Gasworks Park, overlooking South Lake Union - Yuri wanted in this one

 

Week 7:

Where: Pike Market, downtown Seattle

 

Week 7.5:

Where: Kansas City, MO - WWI muesem overlooking the city

 

Week 8: 

 Where: Sunday Farmers Market, Ballard

 

Week 9:

 Where: Skee Ball at Kings Hardware, Ballard

 

Week 10:

 Where: Pinball at Full Tilt, Ballard

 

Week 11:

 Where: Outside our Condo (not my fav picture, but we were busy this week)

 

Week 12:

 Where: Piper Palm House, Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, MO (where we got married!)

 

Week 13:

Where: Fremont Troll, Fremont

Stay tuned to see where we go each week and how we are all doing.

Baby Kozlen : Summer 2013!

Stephen and I are very excited to announce (if you haven't already heard, which is probably not likely) that we are having a baby! Here is the little cutie at 12 weeks old:

 



Here is a little information about our latest adventure...

• When is your due date? : July 6, 2013
• How far along are you right now? : 13 weeks, 6 days
• Have you had an ultrasound? : Yup! 2, one at 8 weeks and one at 12 weeks
• Have you heard the heartbeat? : Yup again! at the ultrasounds (184 bpm & 162 bpm) and once with the doppler
• Sex of the baby? : No idea yet, but we will most definitely be finding out!
• Do you have any names picked out? : Not really, I have some I like but I think we will wait to find out what we are having before getting serious about it
• Is your baby going to be named after anyone? : Not that we have discussed
• Did the daddy help pick the name? : Of course he will! We will choose together
• Have you felt the baby move? : Not yet. The last ultrasound showed the placenta in the front, which can act as cushion between the baby and I, so it could be a while before I feel anything
• What was your first symptom? : I was real crabby, prompting Steve to suggest I take a test :)
• What is the baby's room theme? : No idea yet, I am not sure there will be a theme though. So far I like a lot of modern looking nursery's
• Are you ready to be a mommy? : Lets hope so! haha
• Is your husband ready to be a daddy? : for sure! he is going to be an amazing dad :)