Adventures in La La Land

1. I forgot a couple cute parts to the gender reveal story . Lucy never asked how the ultrasound tech knew it was a boy. And when she was looking at the pictures later, the tech wrote "it's a boy" on the money shot. Lucy read, "It's a boy!" but didn't ask what the picture was of. Haha. Whew. Explanation avoided! I can't wait to hear the questions that arise when she helps change that first diaper . . . As we were leaving the doctor's office, I told Lucy I wanted to stop at Target and get a "little brother" outfit, so we could use it to reveal the news to Grandma and Aunt Niki. Lucy said, "No! I want to tell them!" And she actually did it. She exclaimed "It's a boy!" to everyone who asked. So sweet. 2. I pulled out the fall bins of Lucy's old clothes for Lena, and put away some of Lena's outgrown stuff this week. And I got a little sad that no one will wear those adorable outfits again. Thinking of a...

After much anticipation, we finally had our big ultrasound yesterday. I've waffled this entire pregnancy between thinking it's a boy and a girl. This pregnancy has been very different than my other two - I was sick, I've had all kinds of bleeding issues (which has nothing to do with the baby's sex), and the baby's heart-rate has been consistently lower than my girls' ever were. So that made me think it was a boy. But I just couldn't picture having a boy and my intuition was telling me girl. I'm usually a believer in a mother's intuition, but this time it was flat out wrong! Haha. I wasn't crying. That's just how my eyes look. Haha. I was lucky and got in for a semi-early ultrasound at 9:45 am, instead of having to wait all day. We let Lucy take the day off of school so she could come with us. She's been looking forward to it for weeks, but when it came time to leave Lena at Niki's house, Lucy melted down, saying she wanted to s...

Lena was not in the mood for pictures today. And I don't know what is going on with my hair . . . Baby is the size of a banana this week. How Far Along? 20  weeks - halfway!! Total Weight Gain : +4 (!) this week, +7  Maternity Clothes?  Jeans, yes.  Sleep : Night sweats, psychotic dreams, takes forever to fall asleep, trying to stay off my stomach and missing it. Best Moment This Week : Strangers noticing I'm pregnant.  Movement : Starting to feel a lot more. And it's getting stronger - definitely more than taps and pops now. I'm feeling it all over the place too. Down low, up by my belly button, on my sides. (S)he is getting big and wiggly! Food Cravings : Nothing specific. Food Aversions : Nothing.  Gender : Tomorrow! Tomorrow!!! My official guess is girl. I'll be shocked if it's a boy. Labor Signs : BH getting stronger What I Miss : Being pain-free  What I'm Looking Forward To : Finding out gender, feeling stronger movement, the girl...

1. We had a busy week. Actually, it's been a busy month. And our weekends are booked for the next 4 weeks! So unlike us. It's mostly fun stuff, though, so I won't complain. Last night was our small group Halloween party. Justin was a party pooper this year and didn't dress up, but the girls and I had fun: Some bees and a grumpy Sofia the First. Cupcake time! Silly snapchats on the road.  2. I have been having so many ridiculous dreams lately. I'm actually kind of amazed at my brain's capacity to think this stuff up. Haha. They're so detailed and convoluted. And they last for hours - or at least that's what it feels like. They just keep going and going and getting weirder and weirder. One this week was like a crazy soap opera. There were all these people who were secretly sleeping with each other. I was pregnant and didn't know who the baby's daddy was. Finally it came out that it was my best friend's husband. (Who is someone ...

Baby is the size of a mango this week. How Far Along?  19 weeks Total Weight Gain : +1 again this week, +3 total Maternity Clothes?  Jeans, yes. Shirts, not really. Although I noticed my regular sweaters are working hard to stretch over my belly. But my maternity shirts are still a little too big. Sleep : Well I did my best to skip my nap this week . . . and ended up asleep on the couch by 5:00 every evening. Can't win. Best Moment This Week : Feeling movement. Movement : About the same. Really wanting to feel more - and higher. It's still so low. Justin did feel it for the first time this week. That was fun. Food Cravings : Chocolate.  Food Aversions : Nothing.  Gender : We find out one week from tomorrow! The suspense is killing me!!  Labor Signs :Just a few BH here and there.  What I Miss : Being able to take good drugs for headaches.  What I'm Looking Forward To : Finding out gender, feeling stronger movement, the girls being abl...

1. Lucy had her first field trip this week. We went to Klackle's - the local orchard that is the  place to go. We've never been there before because it's expensive and we're cheap, but Lena and I each just had to pay $5 (the school paid for Lucy). All 3 of us got a bag of apples, a pumpkin, a donut, a cup of cider, and free reign [rein?] of the place. I think you usually have to pay individually for the rides and activities, but we could do anything. It was a tiny bit cold, but could've been so much worse, and the girls loved  it. Their favorite part was definitely the carousel. Lena's too short to go on it by herself, so I had to go with her every time. Whew. Apparently when you turn 30, spinny rides start making you nauseous. 2. I finally bought Lucy a Halloween costume this week. Lena is still young enough that she doesn't care, so she will be wearing something from the dress-up closet. I did look online a little bit for Lena and was flabbergasted onc...

Lena insisted on jumping the whole time. Lucy's covering the "1" in "18" and I don't feel like this is a good representation of how big I really am. This is from last night. Baby is the size of a sweet potato this week. How Far Along?  18 weeks, 1 day Total Weight Loss/Gain : +1 this week, thanks to birthday week. ;-) +2 total Maternity Clothes?  Jeans, yes. Shirts, not really. Justin bought me some cute ones for my birthday, but they're still too big for now.  Sleep : I've really been trying to skip my afternoon nap and it helps me sleep a ton better at night. Best Moment This Week : Feeling more and more movement. Movement : Yep. Still very low. I feel it most when I'm sitting at a 90 degree angle or flat on my back in bed. Love it. Food Cravings : Restaurant food. Food Aversions : Nothing.  Gender : We'll find out 2 weeks from today!  Labor Signs :Just a few BH here and there.  What I Miss : Being pain free. I had one bl...

1. It's birthday week!! Did you notice? ;-) Here's the photo recap: I didn't cook all week. I did bare-minimum cleaning. And I ate so much good food. (Really, I eat junk all the time, but don't usually spend as much on fast food.) At one point this week, Lucy said, "You sure like taking pictures of your food." Lol. 2. This morning, Justin and the girls brought me breakfast in bed: Last weekend, we celebrated my Grandpa's 90th birthday and my dad wrote "Happy Birthday, Grandpa" on the chalkboard. Lucy erased "Grandpa" to add my name, then kept a running countdown of how many days until my birthday. :-) Also, a word about breakfast in bed. After 10 years of marriage, Justin and I have this great arrangement where I buy canned cinnamon rolls when I go grocery shopping and tell him, "I want breakfast in bed on my birthday. There are cinnamon rolls in the fridge. No earlier than 10 am, please." That way, I'm no...

Well, folks. I did it. I completed my year-long goal of reading 30 books between my 29th and 30th birthdays (with 5 days to spare, thank you very much). When I turned 29, I noticed a lot of my peers creating "30 Before 30 Bucket Lists." Well, I'm not very adventurous so I decided just to challenge myself to get back into reading. I used to be a voracious  reader (which is why I use words like "voracious") but life got busy, I got lazy, excuses, excuses. Not only, did I challenge myself to read, I challenged myself to read something outside of my normal genre (inspirational fiction - aka Christian romances). Originally, I just asked for recommendations and ordered them from the library. Once I ran out of recommendations, though, I found myself grabbing random "general fiction" books that fell pretty comfortably into my wheelhouse without the "Christianeese." So I made myself this list: 7 Christian Living Books 5 Non-fiction 18 Fiction: 5 ...

Affiliate Link Amazon Synopsis: All of us want to raise good kids.  And we want to be good parents. But what exactly do we mean by “good?” And is “being good” really the point? Mother-daughter team Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson contend that every way we try to make our kids “good” is simply an extension of Old Testament Law—a set of standards that is not only unable to save our children, but also powerless to change them. No, rules are not the answer. What they need is GRACE. We must tell our kids of the grace-giving God who freely adopts rebels and transforms them into loving sons and daughters. If this is not the message your children hear, if you are just telling them to “be good,” then the gospel needs to transform your parenting too. Grace-based parenting seems to be the parenting trend of my generation. Part of me balks at anything "new and revolutionary," but most of me thinks this is actually a really Biblical idea. This was a very complex bo...

That shirt's getting pretty small! Baby is the size of an onion this week. How Far Along?  17 weeks Total Weight Loss/Gain : Haven't checked. Maternity Clothes? Yep. I got 2 new pairs of maternity jeans from Kohl's and finally retired my regular jeans for good. I was happily surprised that both pairs of jeans I ordered online actually fit. Maternity jeans are so weird, and the size options are small, medium, or large. Still wearing mostly regular shirts.  Sleep : Can't make it through the day without a nap, but then can't sleep at night. Vicious cycle. Best Moment This Week : Hitting my sweet spot. The nausea is gone, the sciatica is gone, I'm not in terrible pain yet. Actually feeling pretty good and enjoying it while it lasts! Movement : The taps and pops are getting stronger. I notice it often enough that I start to get worried if I don't feel it for a while. Food Cravings : Restaurant food, chips, pop. Not craving sweets nearly as much as I...