Prego Brain

I've heard the stories from moms-to-be before me of Prego Brain, so I kinda knew what to expect. It started a few months ago, I don't really remember when (ironic, huh?), with difficulty completing my thoughts. I knew what I wanted to say, but could only think of words 'beside' the word I was looking for. Evan has been entertained by this, but thankfully, has become able to understand what I'm trying to say and finish my sentences.

However, I feel like a whole new version of Prego Brain rared its head this week, and what a week it was! I've felt my memory slipping, so I've started putting everything on my to-do list on my phone whenever the thought comes...even at strange times. So, thanks to my list, my week started out well with Monday being very productive. Then the rainy weather came, which I love, but greatly reduces my energy and productivity.

So, on Wednesday, a day and half into the cold, rainy weather, Ava and I bundled up in rain gear (i.e. raincoat over her pajamas) to go pick up some soup for me for lunch and come right back. I get all the way to Cool Greens, park, and am about to get Ava out when I realize...I don't have my wallet in the car with me. no ID. no money. Great! I called Evan to tell him what I'd done, and thankfully he had just left work on his lunch break with a buddy, who dropped him off to rescue me by buying and having lunch with us. I felt embarrassed that I got to the restaurant with no money and guilty that I stole Evan away from lunch with work friends, so of course, I cried. Prego Brain at its finest! I'm still so thankful Evan came to my rescue, and I couldn't humbly say thank you enough that day.

Then, today I woke up with a sore throat, which started to show up last night. I took my vitamins, ate breakfast, rubbed Thieves oil on my feet, then decided I would diffuse someThieves oil by putting a few drops in boiling water. I put the kettle, with water in it, on the stove to boil and turned on the stove (so far, so good). When it started whistling, I picked it up and started to pour it in a mug...without pressing the 'button' to open the spout. So instead of pouring out into the mug, the water arched out of the little whole that makes it whistle and got the counter and most everything on it wet. Great! I figured out what I did, cleaned up my mess, and poured the boiling water in the mug with the oil to diffuse.

Then, later today, after Evan got home, I put the mug with the cooled water and Thieves oil in the microwave to reheat to a boil. I went to the bathroom and left Evan getting lunch ready right in the front of the microwave. I kinda assumed he would hear the microwave and checked on it and I thought I'd be back quickly, so I didn't mention it. While I was gone, evidently there was a loud KERPLUNK that took Evan's attention to the microwave to see a stream of water flowing out of the microwave. Evidently 4 minutes on high was a little too long...oops! However, since Thieves can be used for cleaning when diluted in water, I decided to wipe out the microwave covered in the steam. Our microwave is now cleaner than it has been in a while!

Now, if Prego Brain would take a break, I'd be a much happier camper...although I'm glad it can provide comedic relief to my hubby!

Pregnancy is Expensive

This is one of those things I wish I had fully understood before getting pregnant--pregnancy is expensive!! I'm not even counting the costs of anything for baby yet.

• Prenatal care & labs
• Announcement cards
• Increased food intake
• Pickiness of food
• Ultrasound 
• Maternity clothes
• Birthing classes

It all adds up! Since we're planning for a home birth, it all comes directly out of our account, no insurance help (we were able to get a reimbursement from our FSA for bloodwork). It makes me very thankful we are at our current state financially and that we planned for this, otherwise it would be tough to swallow. Now I just need to figure out how to work Baby Boy into our budget...because I've already started buying some things!

One fish, Two fish, Pink fish?? Blue fish??

Baby Lathrop Gender Reveal

While searching for Gender Reveal ideas on Pinterest, I came across this Dr. Seuss theme, and loved it! I've been thinking in rhymes, and seeing yellow, red, and blue, even when I close my eyes, for the past few weeks. I've had a lot of fun planning, buying, making, and setting up for this party. Everything turned out great, thanks to my mom and Evan's parents for helping us set up Saturday morning!

 Tissue paper balls hung from ceiling to represent Truffula trees and all the Seussical Foods!

 One fish, two fish, goldfish

Schlott's Knots (yogurt covered pretzels)

Skipper Zipp's Chips and (Fruit) Dip

We had a 'voting' station before the food where they signed a yellow piece of paper in blue or red (typical Dr. Seuss colors) with their vote of boy or girl. Then, they could take a blue fish or red fish with them. I meant to get all of the blue fish and all the red fish together and take a picture, but I forgot.

 Truffula Berry Pancakes (Blue was colored and flavored with blueberry puree, and the Pink was colored and flavored with strawberry puree.)

 If I Owned a Zoo Animal Crackers (pink, white, and chocolate ones dipped in blue)

Bagels brought by a friend...they were a hit!

Chippendale Mupp Tails (sour gummy worms)

Bippolo Seeds (m&ms)

One fish, Two fish, Baby fish

Sneetch Treats (mini Hershey's bars with HE colored blue and SHE colored either pink or red)

 Circus McGurkus Pink Lemonade (Strawberry Lemonade)

We had various Dr. Seuss on the tables for decoration!

I also had a kids' table with a few books, Dr. Seuss flashcards, stickers, hats to color, and a picture of The Cat to put the hats on.

And for the big reveal:

One foot, Two feet

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Baby Boy Feet!!

Valentine's Day 2013

 Valentine's Day 2013=Best Valentine's 'Day' Ever!

 First, we got to go see and love on Valentine's baby, Norah Breninger!

 

While we were loving on her and her parents, Valentine's dinner was cooking at home and ready we got home. Good thing since we were very hungry and the Thunder-Heat game had already started. (Evan was very sweet for missing some of the game to allow me some baby-time!) On the menu was:

• Maximized Living's Roasted Veggie Lasagna,
• Detoxinista's Flourless Chocolate Cake (mmm!!), and
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries

  

Then, on Friday morning, Evan 'made' pancakes (from batter already done) for breakfast, I got a haircut, then we went to see our sweet baby for the first time! We were both so excited about this ultrasound this week that we didn't really pay attention to Valentine's Day. It was amazing to see baby move, hear the heartbeat, and be comforted that everything is developing well and on schedule. We had the ultrasound at Ultrasound Unlimited; the owner/tech was a very sweet lady that explained everything we were seeing and what she was checking on.

Seeing baby made this the best Valentine's Day ever!!

Valentine's Day...years past

Valentine's Day 2007

(Evan and I were dating, but Alpha had Spring Sing practice that night, so I went out with the girls.)

  

Valentine's Day 2008

(Our first Valentine's Day after getting married. Evan win! He brought home roses and completed my collection of Gilmore Girls Season DVDs. Second best Valentine's Day Ever!!)

 Valentine's Day 2009

(I don't really remember what we did that year...and of course, Evan doesn't either.)

I couldn't find any pictures from Valentine's Days from 2010 or 2011, so those years must not have been too special.

 

 Valentine's Day 2012

(Date night at Vintage! Yummy food, but I was getting over a cold.)

Prego Summary...so far

Thursday marked 16 weeks, so I thought I'd do a little summary thus far. It might be more practical to wait until 20 weeks, but at that point, I'm thinking I'll be consumed with finding out if this little baby is a boy or a girl.

We found out Oct. 27. 

I started wondering when I was in Nashville, TN visiting the Dunn family Oct. 20-23, and I mentioned that to Evan when I got back. Saturday morning, October 27, I woke up earlier than Evan, which is not unusual, and decided to go ahead and take a test. Three minutes later, I saw the symbol I had never seen before. I was so excited I took it straight to wake up Evan. I held it a few inches from his face (because he's blind without his glasses), and said, "Can you see it?" It took him a little while to wake up and comprehend what was going on. *** I read up about this little sesame seed-sized baby that is now a part of our life.

Weeks 3-4. 

The couple of weeks after I found out, I felt kind of crummy. Food wasn't sounding good, and I felt nauseous in the evenings. Foods that were sounding good were cheesy--grilled cheese, macaroni & cheese, etc. Thankfully, sweets were no longer as appealing...for a few weeks. It kind of makes me wonder if I still would have felt crummy if I hadn't known I was pregnant at that point. But, I made it through a girls' weekend to Dallas, and a trip to Kansas with mom without anyone finding out.

Majority of 1st trimester.

The pregnancy symptom that has affected me most is fatigue. I was so tired, I would take "pre-sleep naps" as Evan calls them. I would finish dinner, then sit on the couch to watch tv with Evan and gradually get more horizontal, until I was sleeping. I would usually fall asleep around 7:30pm, or during the first quarter of a Thunder game, and wake up around 10pm, around the end of the Thunder game. Then, I would be awake for about an hour, then head to bed for the night and sleep all night. This was a regular occurrence every weeknight, except for Wednesdays when we'd go to church, then I'd usually crash as soon as I got home those nights. This continued through about Week 14. I kept waiting for that surge of energy I heard and read about that supposedly comes 2nd trimester. I still don't feel energetic, but I'm definitely not as tired now at 16 weeks. I also had some serious lower back pain around weeks 9-14, but it has since eased. I've also had a couple of killer headaches, thankfully it's just been a few.

Telling our family.

The stars aligned to bring Evan's parents, both of my parents, and my brother to our house for Thanksgiving lunch. When lunch was ready and the prayer said, we handed out cards to "thank them for coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year." They opened the cards, and our moms squealed while my brother sat staring at the card with a mixed look of confusion and disbelief before he finally asked, "Wait, I'm going to be an uncle?" Later that evening, we got to skype with Rachel, Evan's sister and tell her. However, we swore everyone to secrecy until around Christmas so we could tell some cousins, grandparents, and friends in person.

Midwife.

I started doing research on midwives basically the day we found out, but I got overwhelmed quickly by how many there were to choose from. I printed out info about each of them and read it bit by bit over a few weeks. I hit about 10 weeks, and we still hadn't made a decision, so I started emailing a few midwives. The first one said she would be out of the country over the summer, so she recommended Susan. I emailed her and set up a time to meet with her. When we met Susan for our first ever midwife interview, she made us feel very comfortable and at ease. She answered every question we had fully, and asked us some questions in return. She even suggested a few more questions when we didn't know what else to ask. When we got home, Evan and I talked about how we really liked her, but we felt like we should interview a few more, just to feel like we made an informed decision. I emailed another group of midwives, but didn't hear back from them for 4 days. In the meantime, Susan emailed to check on me to see if I had any more questions and if we had made our decision. Her email checking in on us solidified it for me...she's the one. The only hesitation is she has another mom due in early July. We went for my first appointment Dec. 21st, where we went over paperwork, had blood drawn, urine test, and attempted to hear baby's heartbeat. I was so comfortable and relaxed with Susan that my blood pressure was on the low side of normal, which has been semi-high at every other doctor appointment. We're looking forward to the next 6 months getting to know her more.

That brings us to now. My next appointment is Mon. Jan. 21st, and hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat for the first time!!

Things I Want/ed to Blog About

I have this running list of things I want to blog about that I haven't gotten to yet. Yes, most of them are from this past summer. Maybe I'll do some mini-posts on each of them or maybe they'll just exist as ideas in this post or maybe a little of both.

• Camp Impact (June 2012)
• Vera Bradley Opening Day (June 2012)
• Arkansas trip (April & June 2012)
• 4th of July 2012
• Ava- wobble video at chiropractor & getting a strawberry for being cute at First Watch
• Vintage Coffee Shop
• Spontan-u-ous Saturday (July 2012)
• Food: Fried "Rice", Roasted Veg Pizza, and many more new recipes
• Cow Appreciation Day (July 2012)
• Texas trip (July 2012)
• A Day With 3 Kids (July 2012)
• Olympics (July 2012)
• Letter Activities (Fall 2012)

Some of these need to be explained and documented in a post!!