Week 25

Where: Portland, OR - park near the river and Saturday market 

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +19.5 lbs (felt like a huge jump from the last time I was on the scale, but I haven't been on the scale in 2 weeks)
• Sleep : Been pretty good this week. Falling back to sleep faster than normal when I wake for bathroom breaks. Until Thursday night when I came down with a terrible cold. Lack of sleep then was from not being able to breath. :(
• Best moments : Great weekend in Portland. It was nice to get out of town and away from the unpacking. We just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Plus it was nice to spend a lot of time outside and walking around. 
• Movement : Yes. She seems to like to move around in the morning when I first wake up and then a lot at night, mostly around bed time. She is pretty chill during the day. 
• Symptoms : The joint pain I had been having in my lower back has settled down. Only feeling it after long work days this week. 
• Maternity clothes? : Yup! Occasionally I will wear a non-maternity top, but I love some of my maternity tees a lot.
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Nothing new here
• What I am eating : Salads, pasta, chicken sandwiches, heirloom tomatoes with balsamic (yumm!), lots of seafood over the weekend, some bar food, donuts
• Exercise : Lots and lots of walking in Portland!
• Gender : Girl. Although I had a moment this week were my head started spinning thinking what if they were wrong and we don't have a name for a boy or any boy things! It was only a moment, but it could happen right? hehe
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : This weekend I missed having a beer. Portland, like Seattle, is a great beer town and we spent a good amount of time at some places that would have been nice to sit with Steve and have a drink. Including watching the Sounders match. Watching sports is fun, but not as fun drinking water. :)
• What I am looking forward to : Baby shower on Saturday! It will be fun to celebrate this little girl and to see friends and family. Also, when we are back from St Louis we are going to be getting a start on the nursery. It is all taped and ready for Stephen to start painting.
  
  
  Other Happenings:
  Like I said we were in Portland over the weekend! Here are a few pictures of the weekend.
  
  Voodoo Doughnuts is a must hit in Portland. Generally there is a line wrapping around outside the building and I like doughnuts, but not enough to stand in a long line for them. Luckily for us we were up at 8 am and went by on our walk with the dogs and there was no line(its a 24 hr operation).
  
  
  
   Just love the sign!
  
  
  Our picks. My favorite was chocolate, rice crispies and peanut butter. So good!
  
  
  
  Portland China town entrance.
  
  
  
  All 3 of us got bike clothes. Me the yellow shirt, baby girl the onesie and Stephen got a new bike jacket. 
  
  
  
  Sunday before we headed out we took a drive to the Columbia River Gorge. It was a beautiful day and we got some great views. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We stopped at some falls. This was the largest fall, Multnomah Falls. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We stopped for lunch and this is how we found the dogs in the car. They had a great time in Portland, but were wiped out and ready to get home. 

Week 24

Where: Ship Canal/Lake Union, Fremont, Seattle, WA (Happy St Patrick's Day!)



Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : I have no idea again! I forgot to get on the scale yesterday morning and today I am in Portland, OR and our hotel room didn't come with a scale. :)
• Sleep : The begining of the week was terrible, but the end of the week has been much better. I often think I just wear my body out so much with bad sleep taht eventually it just gives up and lets me sleep really hard for about 2 days before going back to waking up all the time.
• Best moments : Had a fun and semi relaxing weekend, celebrating Stephen's birthday. Pictures way below. Also, video chatted with some of my girlfriends this week. It is always nice to see their faces. Some of the kiddos joined as well. They are all getting so big!
• Movement : Pretty much the same as last week, movement but not a ton. She makes herself known a few times a day but isn't partying it up in there yet.
• Symptoms : Tired from lack of good sleep. Also, had more indigestion this week than I have had in a while.
• Maternity clothes? : Yes! I bought a few more things last weekend too. Just a couple more of the Gap body shirts. They are my favorite and Gap had everything 30% off. I couldn't pass that up :)
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Nothing new here
• What I am eating : We cooked at home one night! haha yes just one, but hey more than the last two weeks. Stephen made burgers on his new grill he got for the house. We also had some chineese food, small plates at a dinner out, greek. Lunches I had chicken sandwiches a few times and some salads. Breakfast was fruit and greek yogurt pretty much everyday.
• Exercise : We walked a lot around our new neighborhood last weekend. So much that I ended up pretty sore from it. I think I am pulling my shoulder's forward or something strange when I walk a lot.
• Gender : Baby Girl still!
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : This is harder than I thought each week. I haven't been missing much. I've been fairly stressed out, so I guess right now I miss being able to have a drink to just relax and calm my mind. I'm just always thinking of what is next for everything lately.
• What I am looking forward to : This weekend. We are currently in Portland, OR. Stephen had to work here today, so I tagged along and am working from his office as well. We are going to do some small hikes around the Columbia River Gorge area, if the weather cooperates, and we have some things we want to look at here for the nursery. No other plans, we hope for it to be a relaxing, fun weekend and I think it will be!

 

Other Happenings:

 

I was all over deals this weekend for baby girl. Got all of the above clothes at Goodwill for a total of $8! The jeans(Baby Gap), jean jacket and Cardinals (brand new looking!) onsie will be for when she's a little older. The white onesie and leggins(Gymboree) she will be rocking this summer. 



Saturday our new neighborhood was having a kids gear sale at the community center. We got up and walked down for the opening. We did not have a plan and were a little overwhelmed, but we did end up getting some good items and saving well over $100! Pretty good for two first time parents having no clue what they were looking for. haha! I picked out some stuff while Stephen held it or looked up on his phone to see how much items originally were. I forgot to take a picture of all our deals, but here is a book we picked up:

Haha! We loved it and it was just $1. We also got a bounce seat, a bebepod(its a bumbo) with trays, a newborn cloth diaper and a man looking Skip Hop diaper bag for Stephen.

Saturday evening we went to the Sounders vs Timbers soccer match for Stephen's birthday. We had great seats!

 

It was pretty cold, but I kept semi warm in his new Sounders hat from his mom and dad. It's so cute, I might have to claim it as mine!

Fancy dinner at home Sunday, as an early bday dinner. Dungenous crab ($4.99/lb! told you all over the deals this weekend. haha). As part of his birthday gift I cracked half of his crab for him. I am slightly better at it than he is, I have years more experiance in crab cracking. :) I will say he does do a good job, he is just slow at it. So by me doing half of his we are finished eating at the same time. 

Tuesday night we had a night out in the city after work. We went to a National Geographic Live lecture, K2 Danger and Desire on the Mountain. The speaker was the first and only woman to have summitted all 8,000+ meter peaks in the world, unassisted with oxygen. The talk was about her 14th peak, K2, and the journey to do it. It was pretty neat and inspiring. We also had great seats, up in one of the "fancy people" boxes.

Week 23

Where: Oh god I hate this picture! We were busy moving Saturday, unpacking Sunday and didn't take a picture. This one was taken last night, so 23 weeks and 6 days. I needed a shower. This is at our new house.



Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +14 lbs (taken at the doctor on Wednesday, I forgot to get on the scale this morning)
• Sleep : Off and on. I would have a good night, then a bad night. I woke Stephen up a few nights with my water drinking. I wake up really thirsty a lot of nights, which then leads to more waking up for bathroom breaks.
• Best moments : As every week I get to go to the doctor, hearing that she is doing well and getting to listen to her heartbeat. Also, (not baby related) coming home from work and not having to take the dogs out on a leash and down an elevator while they freak out. Just walk to the back of the house and open the door, they run out and can go themselves!
• Movement : Starting to feel more and more. Still not a ton of movement, but I feel her everyday now.
• Symptoms : Is "crabby bia" a symptom? haha It has been looking up towards the end of this week, but I haven't been in the best mood.
• Maternity clothes? : Got a new maxi dress in the mail this week. I haven't tried it on yet though. I also want to get a couple more Gap t-shirts then I think I will be set for the rest of the months. I love the few Gap shirts I have and I am wearing them all the time, so I think a few more are a must.
• Food cravings or aversion's? : Back to wanting Mexican a lot, ate it like 3 times this week
• What I am eating : Mexican, chicken, girl scout cookies, pasta salad, pizza, gyro, burgers. Need to start cooking again! I did get the kitchen in order this week, so hopefully next week sees more at home meals.
• Exercise : We took a walk around our neighborhood last night, but other than that nothing. I've still been exhausted from the move & stress this week.
• Gender : Little Girl!
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : Being rational. haha Like I said this week's symptom was crabby bia. Hoping to feel better next week. Also, (not baby related) having a microwave. Our new place didn't come with one. I need to get one asap, cause reheating in the oven is ridiculous.
• What I am looking forward to : Stephen's birthday! I love birthdays and I love to be able to make sure his day(weekend) is special. His weekend wants include building a mock fence and going to Home Depot. I do not think this sounds special so I will be adding in a few things I think he will like for him. Saturday we are going to the Sounders vs Timbers match. Big rivalry, it will be a fun day.

Week 22

 

Where: Century Link Field, Sounders Opening Day Match, Seattle



Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +13 lbs (no change)
• Sleep : Terrible this week. I attribute this weeks bad sleep to stress though. I've had a lot on my mind lately from work to moving to the baby. Hoping after we are fully moved into the house I calm down some.
• Best moments : On Tuesday we visited a daycare we really liked. Daycare has me stressed out big time and for some reason this one calmed me down, a little. We really liked the individuals who ran the center and they have a very high retention rate of their teachers. Both of our favorite parts of the center is the outdoor space and outdoor time they spend. Not just playing too, they use outside to learn various things. Even the infants get to go on walks, they have a 6 baby stroller. We are on their wait list, so now we just have to wait to see if in September our name comes up.
• Movement : She's in there, she doesn't always make herself known but she has been starting to a little more lately. We have discovered she really likes music with horns. She was pretty quiet one day until I watched Stephen's video of his commute to work. Check it out for yourself here. She went nuts and he was able to feel her really good again. We were pretty excited she has good taste in music and likes Jurassic 5. Then one day to work she rocked out to the ever popular Thrift Shop by Macklamore (shout out to Seattle!), which features a horn most of the song.
• Symptoms : Pretty crabby this week, see above comments about stress and lack of sleep
• Maternity clothes? : Yup. Pretty bummed though today when I went to put on my maternity maxi dress and it shrunk length wise about 6 inches after first wash :/ Think this might mean I need to buy at least one more maxi dress
• Food cravings or aversion's? : I have been wanting nice salads this week. Although I haven't been ordering them when we are out. I also randomly bought french onion dip and ruffles for lunch yesterday.
• What I am eating : Out all week due to having no kitchen - pizza, mexican, salads, whole foods premade items, burger, ruffles & dip, chicken salad, rolls
• Exercise : Does moving houses count?
• Gender : GIRL! And we are about 95% sure she has a name, don't bother asking us though cause we aren't going to tell you :)
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : Hmm being able to remember everything. This post becomes harder and harder each week as I try to remember all that happened since the last week. I also keep forgetting things, like I am constantly leaving the house without my phone, my wallet, last night I left my purse at the house when we went to dinner. Baby brain seems to be kicking in hard this week.
• What I am looking forward to : Being moved into the house and starting on the nursery! We bought paint this week for the walls. That will be step one :)

 

Other happenings:

 

The move out of Ballard has begun. I am very sad to leave the place we have called home for the last two years. We have made great friends who live in our building and we have enjoyed all that Ballard has to offer. I know I will find happiness in Greenwood/Phinney as a neighborhood and our friends will be close (although not as close as walking down a flight of stairs). I am already glad to have more space and we aren't fully moved in yet! Here are some pics of the house we are renting:

Master bedroom & me trying to convince Stephen that there is no way our headboard/frame will fit with our ginormous bedroom furniture. He eventually agreed and headboard went to the basement.

Baby girl's room. She has a better closet, I might have to take some of it up with Steve's clothes. haha These orange walls will soon be tan.

 View of kitchen/dinning area from the back of the house.

 View of kitchen/dinning area from the other end. You can see the back deck out those doors.

Living room. Love the two large windows.

Not shown is a third bedroom space that makes up the upstairs. We are going to have it be a craft/game/reading/play room. There is also a basement and a garage.

Chewie loves the deck. He also really enjoys running from the front room to the deck with his new toy carrot (shown in the picture above). He could not be happier to have a house, yard and deck again. He seriously smiles and glows with happiness when we bring them over.

Yuri likes the house too, but is really worried about change. Here he is on the front porch with me, nervous about the happenings of moving and where we are going next. "You are taking me with you right?" He always seems to be saying in nervous whines.

Chewie again loving getting to be outside and watch what is happening on the street. This dog was never made to be a condo dog.

 

Home Depot run to pick out paint for the nursery! We went with Candied Pecan, a beige/taupe color. Just need to get this move completed and Stephen can start painting. 

 



I got some fabric samples I ordered in the mail this week. I love them all. From left to right the first three are my favorites. The more pink one being my top pick, but of course it is crazy expensive so we will see. Going to go to some local shops as well for fabric samples. Hope to have some choices picked out for my review board (Holly, Ellen, Leslie, Nancy, etc.) to advise on at the end of the month. :)

Week 21

Where: Gasworks Park, Fremont, Seattle, WA

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +13lbs
• Sleep : Meh. I haven't slept that well this week. I get a few good hours in and then about the second time I wake up to use the bathroom I end up wide awake. I spend the next 2-3 hours tossing and turning. Poor Steve, a lot of the time this wakes him up too. At least then I have a buddy to talk to if we want.
• Best moments : Spending time with my parents. With each of us living on different ends of the country we do not always get to see each other very much. It was good to have them around. Mom and I also registered at Babies R Us while she was here. I was glad we got to do something baby oriented together too.
• Movement : She is starting to move around some more. I don't feel her a ton, but every now and then she makes herself known. Last night, after we had dinner, she was really kicking(punching?) in one spot. I let Steve know and he was able to feel her for the first time. It was really exciting. She would stop until I would start talking, then she would start it back up.
• Symptoms : Bad sleep, using the bathroom a lot more and I also have some small back aches. It is usually just at the end of long days and I feel it when I go to lay down.
• Maternity clothes? : Yup. My two pairs of jeans seem to be stretching out after just a few wears. I am starting to think they aren't the best fit. I am torn between if I should try on a different brand and get some new ones or just tough it out for the next 19 weeks.
• Food cravings or aversion's? : I haven't really listed any aversions yet, but I do have some. They are a few things that pre-pregnancy we ate a lot of. Banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) sound terrible to me. They are one of the most tasty things ever (cheap too!) and the thought of eating a baguette really turns me off. One other is something we used to eat once a week, shwarma plates from Mr Gyros. The last time we had this I felt really uncomfortable afterwards, so this is more remembering that feeling than the sound of it that turns me off.
• What I am eating : Oh man we ate a lot this week. With my parents in town we went out to a lot of good and nice meals. Crab club sandwich, fancy dinner with tons of small plates, Serious Biscuit, King's burgers, another nice dinner of crab cakes & clam chowder, sausages and chicken livers, just to name a few of the things we ate while they were here! Since we are moving we have also been eating out a lot. Not being the healthiest this week, but I am still having a lot of fruit.
• Exercise : Some small walks and a good one on Tuesday with the birthday boy! Chewie turned 6 this week!
• Gender : Baby Girl! (also my favorite thing to call her right now)
• Labor signs : none
• What I miss : A good nights sleep. Hope I can get one in this weekend when I know I wont have an alarm set.
• What I am looking forward to : Moving! We got the keys to our new rental house last night. We are going to take some things over this weekend and move our storage unit. The big move wont happen until next Saturday though. We are also going to go look at paint for the nursery!

 

More happenings:

 

My Parents were in town!

 

 

I mentioned we ate a lot :)

 Lunch at King's Hardware, one of our favorite spots.

 Birthday dinner part 1 at Staple & Fancy Mercantile.

Birthday dinner part 2 at Ray's Cafe. Thanks for the new shirt Ellen!

 

We took advantage of having my dad in town and had him take a few shots of us together. We don't have any of both of us from the last 21 weeks! Here are just a few:

Thanks Dad!

 

This post is getting long :) But I cant go without posting pictures of the birthday boy. Chewie turned 6 on Tuesday!

 After a nice walk around Ballard we went to the corner bar to celebrate with a beer and water :)

He loves going to the bar. He just chills in the booth the whole time. Happy 6th birthday buddy!

 

Ok one last thing :) I stoped during lunch one day in Marshall's and picked up these goodies. The purple & pink one will be going in the nursery. I am not sure where the black & white will go yet. We will have to see how we set up the new house. Thought they would be good for baby girls toy's. :)