Baby Shower

This post is super late, but better late then never right? Good thing baby girl can't ready yet, don't want her to think that way. hehe. Anyways, Easter weekend Stephen and I hoped a plane and headed to St Louis. My sweet family threw me a baby shower. It was a wonderful time, got to visit with many people and celebrate the soon to be new addition to the family.

 

My sister & mom put together a great day, with the help of my aunts, mama, cousins and mother in law. All of the decorations were so great, the food delicious and the company delightful as always. :)

Me with my mom and mother in law.

Aunt Nancy and I :)

Jessica and I :)

Family! Thanks ladies for helping out with the shower. I had the best time!

Kozlen ladies :)

 

Sisters! Ellen spear headed the shower and she did a great job. Everything was amazing.

Old friends! So great Holly was in town too, so she got to come celebrate with us :)

BFFs :) Love all these ladies and their little men!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate! I can't wait for everyone to get to meet our baby girl.

Week 26

Where: Fisher's Restaurant, Belleville, IL

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +19.5 lbs, no change
• Sleep : So, so. I was battling a cold most of the week that made it hard to sleep. 
• Best moments : My mom and sister threw me a wonderful baby shower. It was so great to celebrate baby girl and spend time with friends and family. More to come on the shower, it deserves it's own post.
• Movement : Yes. I can tell she is getting bigger too. She spent all of Friday moving around in all kinds of new places.
• Symptoms : I had a rough week, body wise I was a mess. So it was hard to notice any pregnancy related symptoms. I said I was battling a cold, well on top of that mid week I rolled my right ankle. This caused me to fall to the ground and bang up one of my knees pretty bad. Don't worry I am alright, just sore and scratched up. My ankle was fairly swollen but it is going down each day. It wasn't my worst rolled ankle to date. ha
• Maternity clothes? : Well with my fall I was down a pair of pants. I ripped open the knee on one of my jeans. Thank goodness it wasn't my favorite pair! I had a coupon to Gap, so Friday after work I decided to go and just look. Well I walked out with 2 pairs of jeans to replace my one tore pair. :) They were on super sale too!
• Food cravings or aversion's? : I wanted pizza pretty bad this week. We decided Friday night to try out a place in our new neighborhood that we heard was really good. It was SO disappointing  It for sure didn't satisfy my craving. Will have to try for pizza again next week. 
• What I am eating : Pasta - my mom brought me my favorite pasta all the way from New Jersey over the weekend. Sal's Penne Vodka, no pasta anywhere compares to it. I ate it for a few meals while in St Louis. 
  
  Steve also grilled for us a few times this week, sausage and peppers one night and steak, mushrooms and sweet potatoes another. Breakfasts were the same as always - greek yogurt, oats, fruit. Lunches were mainly pasta, salads or chicken sandwiches. 
• Exercise : Did some light, short neighborhood walking and we went to Ikea (counts as exercise these days, plus that place is huge)
• Gender : Girl!
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : My family! It was so great to see almost everyone (missed you dad!) over the weekend. We are a long ways from all our family most of the year. We love getting to see everyone. I know it is going to get harder over the next few years when we have a little one. Everyone will need to start making plans to come visit us more often :)
• What I am looking forward to : The sun! When we got back to Seattle the weather was amazing. I was convinced it was here to stay until next winter. Unfortunately the forecast changed to rain all week :( Also, child classes start next week! We are signed up for a variety of classes, but the main one is a 6 week course, once a week. 

St Louis Weekend Get Together

Last Thursday I took off work and headed to St Louis for a much needed long weekend with friends. 12 years ago I headed to the University of Missouri - Rolla and made the best friends I could ever imagine having (I also met my husband, added bonus). These ladies below, plus a few that aren't pictured, seriously are one of the best things in my life. We have been through everything you can imagine, good and bad, together. I know no matter what I need, a laugh, a cry, someone to just listen to a rant these girls will be there to do it. Not only have we all been friends for 12 years, not a day goes by that we do not talk. We have an insane email history since graduating and each day at least one person is sending out an email - from just saying hi to needing advice to what we are eating. I could go on and on and on about them. Instead let's just recap a great weekend.

 Some of the lovely ladies of my life + a few of their little men.

I have mentioned that all of my college friends have boys. Here are 4 of them, from left (youngest) to right (oldest): Lou (Leslie), Desmond (Nickie), Phillip (Kara) and Hudson (Lauren)

I love to see how they interact with each other. 

Most of our weekend was spent hanging around Kara and Steve's house (Thank you again for having all of us!). We made lots of food, ate, drank, played with the kiddos, chatted and played some games. I never laugh as hard as I do when with them. We did venture out of the house one day. A couple of us hit up some baby stores and then we all convened at lunch for Mexican. 

Bumps at El Mags! From left to right: Bethany due July 2, me due July 6 and Amber (Stephanie's sister) due July 17. Can't believe how close together all our due dates are!

Park time after lunch with the guys. Hudson and Phillip tolerating more of our picture taking of them. Lou was there too, but sleeping. Phillip had his first swing experience and we all took a nice walk around the park.

Later in the evening we had a surprise baby shower for our friend Molly. Molly lives in Virginia. We all sent gifts to a friend of hers there and her husband snuck around getting them wrapped and setting Molly up to the computer where we were all waiting on Google+ to have her shower. She was so surprised  It was super fun. Technology really is amazing. 

Then the boys got in their St Pats gear and we made them do more photo shoots. :)

Baby K went home with quite the loot as well. He or She got some sweet gifts from his fraunties (friend+auntie). Spoiled already :)

And I purchased some cloth diapers. A small selection of the types I like to make it easier when I am searching around town here or online. Leslie also is letting us borrow her stash of infant size ones and Yuri has been sniffing at them and trying to figure out what they are. Wonder if it is cause they smell like a baby? 

It was such a great weekend. I am glad I was able to take the time to go for this long weekend. Being with them really does something for the soul. Looking forward to the next get together already!

Week 18

Where: The Ballard, Unit 504, Super Bowl Sunday - Go Chiefs! :)

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +7 lbs (no change)
• Sleep : Better, still waking up a few times a night to go to the bathroom
• Best moments : Taking 2 vacation days and spending them with my friends. I think I will just do a separate recap post on how awesome it was. :)
• Movement : None still. I wish it would come soon!
• Symptoms : I have had some pains in my side. I am pretty sure it is just my round ligament. It is infrequent, so I am not concerned. We go to the doctor this week, so I will double check there.
• Maternity clothes? : I'd say I am wearing them 90% of the time, not that I fit into them all that great yet.
• Food cravings or aversion's? : I have mostly been wanting Mexican still or fish and chips. I never turn down either of those.
• What I am eating : I am a few days behind in this post and after spending the last part of week 18 on vacation I really cannot remember what I had. I do think I did fairly well on vacation. We had a ton of food out all of the time and I snacked a lot but I had a ton of fruit and veggies(with dip) most of the time.
• Exercise : I finally did my yoga dvd! It is a little slow for me and I can still do a lot of the poses without the modifications they are doing, but I am still going to try to do it a few times a week.
• Gender : ? getting closer to finding out!
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : Being close to the people I love. This includes family, but after an amazing weekend with friends I hate being so far from all of them. A good number of my close friends live in St Louis now and I wish I was around to visit with them more. Do not read the above and interpret this as I want to move back though. :) If asked, I can say with certainty that I do not want to move.
• What I am looking forward to : Doctor's appointment this week, we love getting to hear the heartbeat and this weekend we are taking a cloth diapering class. I know quite a lot, but when I talk to Stephen about it it is like I am talking a foreign language. So I thought it would be a good idea for us to go where someone else can explain it to him. It will be our first baby class.

Week 17

Where: Lake Union, from South Lake Union. It was a really gray day, a little harder to tell the bump in this week's picture.

Week Recap ~

• Total weight gain/loss : +7 lbs
• Sleep : so so, some nights were restless and others I slept really hard. 
• Best moments : Scheduling Stephen and I for some classes. I spent a lot of time reading over all the options here in Seattle and after talking to a Seattle friend that had her baby this weekend, I decided to just go with a package of many classes at the hospital. I have us signed up for a couple of those right now and I also found a class on cloth diapering we are going to in a few weeks. I know a lot about it, but when I talk about it to Steve I can tell it sounds like gibberish. So I thought it would be a great idea for us to take a class where he can learn and ask questions. 
• Movement : I still think none, but I have been trying to convince myself that I am feeling stuff when I am laying in bed at night. Pretty sure it us all in my head right now though. :)
• Symptoms : None really. I was fairly tired later in the week, but it was a long work week. 
• Maternity clothes? : Same as last week. Friday I did wear maternity jeans to work. I love that I have a pair of flare jeans again, it has been a while. I did not love that every 30 mins, even if I was sitting, the crotch would wind up half way down my thigh. haha. My stomach just is not big enough yet to keep them up. I know people wear the bella band with them, but I think it would just be too much stuff on my stomach. So until I pop I will just be yanking them up!
• Food cravings or aversion's? : None this week
• What I am eating : I can't really remember a lot this week. Like I said it was a really long week. I know I had a salad, soup, fish & chips, mexican and one night we cooked butternut squash gratin and honey balsamic chicken. Both super yummy. I was not very healthy this week I do know that. 
• Exercise : None
• Gender : ? We have a date to find out, 2/21! I scheduled the ultrasound this week. 
• Labor signs : None
• What I miss : This isn't pregnancy related, but I am missing the sun! It peaked out some on Friday and it just made me want it to stay! Everything you hear about Seattle weather is true, but generally very over exaggerated  It hasn't rained for a couple of days, but it has been foggy and gray out quite a few days in a row lately. I am very happy that this baby will be born in the summer and we can enjoy the best months of Seattle weather together. 
• What I am looking forward to : Next Thursday! I am flying to St Louis for a girls weekend. Fourish days with the best friends a girl could ask for. Plus there are quite a few babies around now, some I haven't had the chance to meet yet. It will be fun to see everyone's kids together and interacting. One of the best things that ever happened is meeting these girls. We all went to college in Rolla together and have been the best of friends ever since. These days we are scattered all across the country, but we still find ways to see each other throughout the year, as well as email each other daily. Thank goodness for technology! That is enough gushing for now, I am sure I will do even more next week after being with them. :)

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.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Steve and I (Chewie & Yuri too!)

2011 was a pretty big year for us, who knows what 2012 will have in store. We do know a few things: we are going on a 18 day trip to Ecuador in April, we will be getting back into shape, we will be experiencing more of what this wonderful city has to offer. We hope: to have more visitors so we can show off this place we love so much, to get to spend some short trips to see friends and family members and to not have to go to any funerals this year.

While 2011 had a few sad moments, we lost too many loved ones this year, it had a ton of awesome moments. Steve and I were so busy this summer that I stopped documenting everything we were doing on this blog. So here is a short recap of a few things we did this year...

We made a huge life decision and Steve took a job that moved us to Seattle, WA.

We rented our house in Olathe, KS sold over half our possessions and made a huge move accross the country.

The move allowed us both to take amazing road trips(separately) with our best friends.

I quit my job and then found one quicker than I was expecting.

We visited West Virginia for Rebecca and Randy's wedding. We had a great time getting to spend time with family members we don't see very often. It also was Steve's first time in WV so we did some hiking and saw the bridge and gorge.I got to go and visit with some of my girlfriends in Omaha, NE for Molly & Ben's wedding reception. It was a good time, as it always is with my friends.

Yuri went swimming and loved it. Chewie hated it so there are no pics of him.
We did a good number of hikes. This one is from a 4 mile hike to a mountain lake. Steve got in and said it was so cold he felt his heart stop! It was so beautiful. Too bad I broke one of my toes hiking the 4 miles back to our car.

We took up some water sports. There is so much water here it is hard not to do something on the water each weekend. We did stand up paddle boarding in the sound and once in a lake.

We kayaked a lot also. This is us kayaking through the arboretum, which is really cool with all the lilly pads and secret passages. You even go under highways to get to it.

We had visitors this summer too. Steve's parents and Jessica came out to visit, as did Ellen and my mom and dad.

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary with dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in town.

We got to experience the Cardinals World Series Game 6 win from downtown St. Louis, with two of our best friends.

Goodbye 2011 we had a great time!

Happy Birthday Steve!

The same weekend we went to St Louis and hung out with Allison, Holly and Co. Steve's mom threw him a birthday party...a 30th birthday party. :) It was as few weeks early, but it was a great opportunity to all get together.

And hang out with good friends.

And family.

Steve even had a cake with candles to blow out. Whens the last time you had a candles on your bday cake? haha

And we all found out that Steve is apparently famous, because he appeared on the cover of the March issue of Men's Health!
It was a busy, but great weekend for us. A perfect chance to get to see so many people we love and care about before we move and are not able to make the journey to see everyone so often.

Old Friends

Steve and I ventured to St Louis a few weekends ago since our days being so close to friends and family are numbered. It worked out well because my oldest friend was also in town with her husband and daughter. It was my first chance to get to meet little Ariana. She is so cute. You will see for yourself below.

The weather was really nice for the first time in a while this weekend. Allison and her family decided to go to the zoo. Steve and I tagged along. Neither of us have been to the zoo in years. If you have never been to the St Louis Zoo it is a must see. And a huge plus is it is FREE! The zoo has been updated in almost every section since we had last gone as kids. It was always nice back then and now it is even nicer.

Me outside the penguin house. You get so close to the penguins here it was awesome!

Allison and I in our usual pose...holding hands, standing close, me with a cheesy smile. Haha

Allison and her beautiful little girl, Ari. Shes going to give them trouble when shes older cause she is just so cute!

Ariana and her grandma at the zoo. It was nice to get to hang out with Allison's family while in town too. They always were like a second family to me growing up.

Not only did I get to hang out with Allison, I also got to spend some time with another good friend, Holly. Allison and I met Holly in high school and the three of us became bffs. We went out for wine and food, along with Francisco Allison's husband, in Belleville on night. I hadn't laughed so hard in a while. It was great reminiscing and catching up with them.

I am so glad Steve and I went back for the weekend and I was able to spend some time with old friends.