19 Weeks and counting

I never followed up with my promise of more posts last week--

in fact, I didn't post at all.

Between moving

school

midterms

and the usual cooking, cleaning, laundry

I feel like I haven't gotten a whole lot done lately.

I've entered a new world where I have to make dinner every night

because I'm feeding two boys instead of one.

Usually, I'll make dinner early in the week

and I'm so bad at cutting recipes down

that we end up eating it for the next five days

and then throwing away the rest

because I can't stand eating it again.

I haven't made larger amounts of anything

but for once, we eat it the day I make it.

and then it's gone.

It's like magic.

There is a plus and minus to this--

I throw away a lot less food....

(which makes me feel much better about buying groceries--because I know I'll use them)

but that chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting?

Gone.

In a day and a half.

Levi ate an entire row in one sitting.

AFTER eating two huge bowls of pasta with meat sauce.

In baby news, we've had a lot more action this week than the past 18 weeks combined.

After coming home from church Sunday and plopping onto my spot on the couch

 (i love that couch...it's heaven in upholstery)

 I felt such a sharp little jab below my belly button

I jumped right off said couch.

The rest of the week has been filled with lots of little pokes and twirls and butterflies

which I know aren't gas

or my stomach rumbling

or anything else I've experienced before.

It's pretty awesome

and I notice it all day long--

sitting up

sitting down

while I'm walking

not just when I'm laying on my back and trying not to move so I can feel something.

Other lovely *side effects* of pregnancy thus far:

Still have to go to the bathroom every half hour

(even if I don't drink anything...somehow)

hips and back always hurt

excessive and loud gas--NOT fun when I'm in a totally silent library

rolling over during the night is a chore

I have to sit up

then turn

then lay back down

otherwise it feels like every abdominal muscle  rips.

In general, my skin on my stomach  feels like clothing stretched too tight

and the seams are about to pop!

Have also noticed:

Constant headaches

 the worst sweet tooth of my entire life

as in...it's insatiable

and  I can't make it go away.

 I make terribly tasty treats every other night in an attempt to please the cravings

(hence the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and the lemon bars I made the night after)

but it just leads to more baking

(something Henry and Levi are perfectly fine with.)

and the usual fatigue where I sit on my butt with my mouth open and jaw slack watching something

 stupid on TV 

because I just don't have the energy to do anything else.

and of course...

The best part?

I now have to be extra careful any time I laugh

because I've noticed through experience

that I have no control over my bladder anymore.

When did that happen?

I used to make fun of my mom on road trips for this very same reason.

I suppose I got my just desserts.

I've also put on five or six pounds (in total) since being at my lowest weight during the yucky

I-can't-hold-anything-down stage.

Now it's the I-can't-put-food-in-my-mouth-fast-enough stage.

I'm seriously hungry half an hour after we eat.

but I always have that weird sensation that I'm already super full 

and I want to unbutton my pants so I have some extra room.

Crazy, eh? 

just for fun, here are more pictures of my bigger belly.

I've noticed that it's getting harder to see my feet when I stand up straight

Can you tell I'm awake and ready for the day?!

(Not so much)

and you know how I mentioned that I'm tired all the time.....?

when we got home last night I was dead tired.

So the boys made me dinner and cleaned the kitchen

while I ate 4 otter-pops and then crashed

Everything (and everyone) seems perfectly normal and healthy.

Which is exactly what we wanted--

a totally uneventful pregnancy!

Henry and Levi have been champs

doing dishes and laundry and making me dinner

Henry especially has been extremely sensitive to my needs.

Especially when I mention I'm hungry

because when I need to eat I need to eat NOW.

as in immediately. forthwith.on the double.

Like last week, when I nearly bit his head off out of desperate hunger

he bought me a candy bar and kindly said,

"Eat your fast break before you break me fast."

He's such a little trooper to have a sense of humor at a time like this....

New House!

This is going to be a super-long-lots-of-pictures post.

You may want to skip this entry if you don't want to see them all.

We are moved in and ready to go!

With the help of Jared, Jared, Levi and (of course) Henry

We shifted all our stuff from one house

to another.

And I have pictures now.

This is mostly for the benefit of family that is 2,000 miles away.

So if you think it's strange that I'm posting pictures of closets and bathrooms on this blog....

well....you're probably right. It is strange.

This is the front of our new house!

...and a strange picture of Levi wearing mini-shorts! 

(Henry's not really a lumberjack either, in case you were confused)

 

I have a cellar in the basement! And I'm showing you all our junk!

 And a linen closet! 

(I've never had one before, can you tell?)

This bathroom has a jetted tub--yeah--that's what I said...Jetted

(and all the fixtures are totally gold....

 it's that awesome) 

This is what I'm psyched about...
....a yard!

and we have it all to ourselves!

And finally.... (drumroll)

The Man-cave!

yes...that is a 42 inch monitor with two 17 inch monitors on each side.

For some reason--we really need it.

And I mean really.
 

I'll tell you what...it makes going over our budget even more suck-y

because now I see all those numbers magnified fifty times their normal size.

as if it wasn't bad enough to budget before.

 Henry really is pretty amazing when it comes to anything computer related.
It is really nice to have a husband who can pull stuff apart and put it back together and have it work.

It means we spend a lot less on having someone weird come to the house and fix it.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures

I'm not sure why some are so sucky

and others are fine

since I took them all with the same camera--

Eventually the man-cave will be turned into a nursery.

(Sorry hun)

Now that we are moved in it's time to buy some baby stuff! 

this week will be unusual because I'm planning two more posts-Including more belly pictures

so stay tuned!

17 Weeks

Well... here we are!

We've hit week 17 and we're almost through to 18.

But we still don't know what out baby is.

At our appointment Monday, the Doctor said he could see a bump

but he wasn't sure if it was a boy bump or a girl bump.

So neither Henry or I can say "I told you so!" quite yet.

On the plus side kisbaba is looking good.

Healthy brain

great heart beat

and lots of movement.

(I didn't need a doctor to tell me that)

While he was moving the wand 

(what do you call that part of the ultrasound machine?)

He passed right over baby's face and we got a good look.

He or she doesn't look so much like a dinosaur anymore.

Or a seahorse.

In fact, kisbaba looks like a miniaturized person now.

It's pretty awesome to see what's growing inside of me.

In fact, I'd say it's totally and completely surreal

especially because we didn't think it would ever happen.

We also saw ten fingers

and ten toes

So I got my wish!

the real ultrasound is scheduled for July 12.

and there will be a real ultrasound tech who will take exact measurements 

and do whatever else they do when you're that far along ; )

I'm still not sure how I'm going to waddle up there with a full 16 oz of fluid in my bladder.

especially since I have to keep it there an hour before my appointment.

I realized that's the same amount in a Dasani water bottle.

And I've been drinking about four of those a day.

Only difference is, I have to go to the ladies room three or four times before I actually finish one bottle.

I've also finally gained some  weight.

I think I'm up about two or three pounds now-

but it's hard to tell because my scale is always different than the Doctors by about 5 pounds.

Anyway-Here is the progression from last week's bump! 

(I keep trying to take these pictures by myself, but I found it's much easier to have Henry do it.)

 

It's much easier to stand and have your picture taken

 than to try to hold the camera with one hand and push the right button.

I've taken a lot of pictures of the floor this way.

We also have other very big news.

Not the baby-announcing big, but big nonetheless.

 We bought a brand new car.

 as in *built for the year 2013*

I've decided to call her Ruby.

(I'm not car crazy of anything, I just saw that the color listed on the tag and thought it was fitting)

We've been thinking about trading ours  in for a while, but we never would have guessed we could get this.

It's pretty awesome.

We had a realization about a month ago that our (previous) car wasn't very child friendly.

It was very small in the back

(and generally all over)

and we'd barely be able to squeeze a car seat behind the passenger side seat.

We've also noticed that even though our car was paid off

the *every-four-months* maintenance was costing us as much as a regular payment.

So we decided to go with it.

Turns out it's only 30 bucks more a month than our old car.

and our Subaru had 72000 miles when we bought it.

and it was six years old.

I'm not sure if this means we totally got taken for a ride with our previous car

or we got a smokin' deal on this one.

I think I prefer to think of it as the latter....

Still, I'll miss little subey.

She was a good car.

She used to get me through four foot snow drifts on the way home from work at o'dark thirty

and she'd always start...even when it was - 40 outside 

(seriously, that's how much it sucks to live in Idaho)

(I'm not even exaggerating the temp.)

I never thought I'd get sentimental about cars, but subey went everywhere with us.

We bought her here in Utah, took her to Pennsylvania

brought her back here

took her back to Pennsylvania

brought her back here

then up to Idaho

and back down six times 

and then out to Pennsylvania again

and back out here for the last time.

and then all the normal commuting back and forth from work, down to Provo, back up again, etc. etc. 

It's not hard to understand where those 50000 miles came from. 

I'm glad Henry now has a "real" job and we can't just drop everything and spend a month back home

(as much as I love time with the fam)

because that month back home means

a 38 hour drive.

straight.

only stopping for gas.

I don't miss that.

I'll fly any day-

So our new car is awesome.

and we're moving tomorrow.

and we're having a baby!

Lots of changes, eh?

Just for fun, here's how ridiculously tall Levi is compared to our new car:

I guess he doesn't look that disproportionate...

he fits pretty well in the backseat too.

(not an easy feat)

He looked almost comical in our Subaru

with his knees under his chin.

He's the only one I know that's got anything on Shaq. 

but he was always a good sport about playing the role of a sardine.

In fact, he's proven himself very useful this week.

He stayed home on Wednesday and 

washed all our clothes

folded said clothes

washed all the dishes

vacuumed the house

and packed some stuff for me.

I think I really like this being pregnant thing.

Maybe I'll do it all the time.

Now that I'm not throwing up every time Henry opens the fridge

I can enjoy everyone volunteering to do everything for me. 

Lifting heavy stuff (and not so heavy stuff)

offering to get things out of high cupboards so I don't have to use a chair

Asking me if I need a drink every hour on the hour

Or if I've eaten enough

asking me every ten minutes if there is anything else I could possibly want

But the BEST part:

(and my favorite)

the fact that Henry will now rub my hands

feet 

back

neck

for as long as I want!

Just because I *might mention that I am achy 

It has to be that I am growing a person more than anything else, because 

I've never seen such a devoted  massage-er.

I think I could get used to this. ; )

16 Weeks

We only have 166 days left!

It makes me heart warm and fuzzy with indigestion and my back ache with excitement!

This is the first week my bump looks like something other than the results of a  diet high in saturated fat and sugar,

but the pictures don't do my growing stomach justice.

In fact, I keep wearing the same three or four shirts over and over again

because they are plenty long to cover my itsy bump

and the stretchy part of my maternity pants. 

I told Henry that I think our baby will join the circus to be an acrobat.

This is because the last two days have been full of somersaults and cartwheels.

Of course, I can't see if that's what our baby is doing in there.

But it sure feels like it.

Last night we went to the movies to see "Battleship," 

and right when the Navy blows up the giant alien ship with their giant Battleship I felt a nice sharp jab behind my belly button.

I suppose it could have been the baby's appreciation for peanut MnM's...

 it's times like these that I grab Henry's hand and put it wherever I feel motion,

but it's not really strong enough to feel from the outside. 

This also makes me nervous....because I can't help but think that if I feel this much movement now,

what is my poor stomach going to feel like in another five weeks? ten? twenty?

Just knowing I have more than twenty weeks left makes me slightly ill...

We picked up Levi and Poppo from the airport yesterday afternoon

(or...Henry did at least while I fidgeted on an extremely uncomfortable chair in Art History and left to go the bathroom every half hour) 

I'm not sure what they were up to today, but they've been out of the house touring the town. 

Levi has to enjoy his last few days of freedom before he starts his classes on Monday.

I felt a little guilty when I realized his last weekend off would be spent hauling everything I own 

across a hallway that's a mile long

down two flights of stairs

into a moving truck

out of a moving truck

and into a new house.

But then I remembered that I'm going to be cooking for him

for the next two months

And this boy eats his body weight every meal.

So then I didn't feel too bad anymore.

= )

Thank goodness he's here (or I don't know how we'd move!)

Back to baby business:

Monday is the big day! 

We will (hopefully) know if we're having a turkey girl

or a turkey boy. 

Mommo already has things covered.

She sent Levi and Poppo with baby clothes and a blanket for either--

or as Henry keeps hoping, both. 

Pregnancy symptoms that have made themselves felt include the following:

Bathroom trips every half hour to forty minutes, regardless of fluid intake

constant achy back

my nice bra keeps getting smaller and smaller

--(I want pictures to have proof of this phenomenon)--

Sore, tight, crampiness as my stomach expands

never wanting anything to do with chicken--ever.For the rest of my life.

I have never hated a certain type of meat more than I hate chicken right now;

raw, shredded, cooked, grilled, broiled, you name it. 

A few of Henry's friends have asked him the following question:
"Has Kate told you she hates you yet?"

This has not been the case thus far.

I've never verbally abused my husband...as of yet.

What we have noticed is even funnier...and much less vindictive.

This has happened thrice in the last two weeks;

Usually in the evenings when I am exhausted and completely useless 

(in getting anything productive done)

Henry can say something as mundane as

"Can you pass me the salt?"

and I will laugh so hard, so hysterically, that I will start crying

and Laughing

and Crying

alternately for upwards of ten minutes. 

I laugh/cry so hard that my stomach muscles hurt the next morning like I've been doing sit-ups. 

This used to happen to a lesser extent when I was a kid

and my Dad would make me leave the table so I wouldn't choke on my dinner.

The best part is that Henry laughs just as hard as me 

(without the crying, though)

just because it is so ridiculous. 

But he makes me laugh even harder because he's laughing so hard.

It's a vicious cycle. 

We both agreed that this is a better way for the upswing in hormones to present themselves.

Neither of us are very confrontational.

And we never stay mad at each other for more than 5 minutes.

We've timed it.

(Okay-no we haven't but we really can't!) 

Give me this over constant morning sickness any day and I'll be a happy camper!

Tune in next week to find out what our baby will be!

(And to suggest any cool names since we will be thinking about this more in coming weeks!)