28 Weeks – Take Two

Welcome to the third trimester! This week snuck up on me. We have less than three months now until this little boy is due to arrive. Any time in the next 9-14 weeks we’ll have him in our arms which is both exciting and completely terrifying. Ella seems to be more excited by the day often cuddling my belly saying she’s giving her brother hugs and kisses. We ask her if she loves him and she enthusiastically says yes! We’ll see how long that lasts after he’s outside of my belly and stealing her undivided attention.

Weight Gain to Date: Exactly 15 lbs. I was actually pleasantly surprised it wasn’t more. I feel like we’ve been growing like crazy the past few weeks.

Belly Button in or out: It’s pretty much flat at this point or ever so slightly an outie. Ella thinks it is hilarious to push it in and watch it pop out. It’s a fun new game we’ve started playing. Pretty soon I may have to do the band-aid trick so it doesn’t look like an oddly placed third nipple.

Baby Size:  Sprout is still the size of an eggplant but has grown a lot! He weighs somewhere between 1.5-2.5 pounds and measures almost 15 inches from the top of his head to his heels.  As of our 26 week check-up we’re measuring right on track.

New Developments:  He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through my belly. He’s also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world. It seems to me that he can hear in there fairly well these days. He moves to the music when I’m driving to and from work and likes when Josh talks to him.

Cravings:  Ruffles with French onion dip. So salty, so delicious. Also popsicles. Now that the weather is consistently nice and even on the verge of hot, I want popsicles all the time.

Food aversions: Nothing major to report here. It usually hits me all of a sudden, like mid-chew which is totally gross because I have to get whatever it is out of my mouth immediately.

Feeling: Heavy. This past week for the first time I felt really front heavy. I noticed it after I had been carrying Ella around while making dinner. It’s much better now, but it was pretty uncomfortable. It reminds me that I really need to focus on my posture and probably not carry Ella as much as I do. She is just so cuddly lately I can’t help myself but to love her koala grip on me.

Sleep: When I started this post a few days ago, I had been having a good run of sleeping. Then the past few days happened. I think I’ve been sleeping maybe 3-4 hours/night. Usually I’m too hot, or this baby is break-dancing in my stomach. Sometimes I just can’t turn my brain off and start thinking about all the work projects I need to complete before I’m on leave. That then leads to what I feel like I need to do to get our house ready. Weekends have been for napping when Ella is napping. It’s been great.

Movement: All over the place. Sometimes they are really big and sometimes I swear he’s just tickling me. This little stinker isn’t quite head down yet. In fact, I swear he is in there sideways. I really hope by my next appointment he is head down. I’m spending some extra time on all fours (get your heads out of the gutter) to help encourage him to move to where he needs to be.

Maternity Clothes: Love them, well for now. I’ve picked up a few more pieces to try to get my through the rest of the spring and summer. I don’t want to buy a ton because after this baby we’re calling it quits to our baby making days, but a girl needs some options. I’m absolutely loving the jewel tone blues and greens that are out right now.

Running: I’m going as long as I can. My mileage is averaging about 10-13 miles/week over the course of three runs. I’ve done 10 miles so far this week. In addition the running, we’re taking those after dinner walks around the neighborhood. Ella and I went walking with Claire last weekend and covered about 6-6.5 miles. I ran about 2 extra miles that evening before my body was like, ok, enough.

Name: New entry this week because I’m being asked about it a lot. We haven’t chosen the name yet, but we’ve narrowed it down quite a bit. I made an insane spreadsheet, shocker I know, which helped get the names organized and allowed us to see the names all written out. As I said the full names out loud, I was able to eliminate several names. I picked my top five favorites and am awaiting Josh’s top five to see what matches we have. It’s funny, some of the names I originally really liked, did not make the cut and others I was on the fence about did. I’m sure it will all change in about five minutes.

For Comparison (28 weeks last time)

Thursday Ramblings

One of these days I should set a calendar of posts I want to do so that by the time I get around to them it’s not several weeks later. Eh, blogging is just for fun anyway right? Nothing too exciting has been happening so here are some random rambling for your Thursday.

1.  I love that the weather is consistently nice. This leads to wonderful things like eating outside and after dinner walks with my family. There is a trail around our neighborhood that is almost exactly three miles. We’ve been walking it every night, with the exception of Tuesday. I made Josh agree to yog (yes, I know it’s jog but it’s an on-going joke) with me so I could work up a sweat. Though it doesn’t take much these days. Obviously we had to stop at the park so Ella could swing and I could hit the bathroom. It’s my new favorite part of our evening routine.

2.  Ella’s teachers put her hair in pigtails for the first time this week. I hadn’t even attempted because she has about five hairs, but they were able to work it out. When she woke up the next morning she demanded them again. Poor Josh had no choice but to figure it out on his own. He said it took a good 15 minutes and there were some tears, but he did it! Even and everything. So impressed.

3.  Ok I lied, something exciting has happened, Ella decided she wants to be potty trained. It is like she woke up one morning and said, I’m a big girl and I want to use the potty all the time. She has been going consistently at school and pretty consistently at home. I think she really digs the additional praise she gets at school because she’s the only one in her class actively potty training. I’m trying not to get my hopes up that she’ll be fully trained by the time her brother is born, but man that would be amazing!

4. Is anyone else excited for a three day weekend because I am! Granted much of it will be spent driving to and from Nebraska to visit the Van Kirks, but we’re looking forward to it. I think every weekend should be a three day weekend.  I’m excited for Ella to see her Omaha-based cousins. I’m very curious to see if she plays with Ximena this time around or still wants to hang around Maya who just turned four this week. I think we may even do a Rave Run with Jim and Nancy.

What are your plans for the long weekend?

Enjoying Spring in Colorado

The bright blue, cloudless skies, mountains towering in the distance, and a gentle breeze that cools it off just enough to not break a sweat while basking in the sun. Ah, Spring in Colorado is a beautiful time. For a moment the grass is green, flowers are blooming and the trees are finally getting leaves. It felt like the warm spring I look forward to every year was never going to arrive with the weekly snow storms we’d been having.

Arrive it has, in grand fashion. It was a no brainer when Josh asked me what I wanted to do over Mother’s Day weekend. I wanted to be outside soaking up the sun and enjoying how green everything is before the typical summer drought is upon us.

Saturday morning we leisurely ate breakfast and got ourselves ready for our first spring hike. I requested that we go to Chautauqua Park in Boulder for a late morning hike followed by lunch as my official Mother’s Day celebration. We arrived just before the masses of people who were finishing up post-graduation brunches with their families.

As we headed up the trail into the Flatirons, we talked about how beautiful it was and laughed at how much had changed since the last time we hiked to the top. How fast the years fly by!

Ella loved talking about all the big rocks and trees while she stuck her fingers in Josh’s ears and played with the ponytail she insists on having.

Finally we got just high enough that we were the only people on the trail so it didn’t matter that I was getting a bit winded and slowing down.

We all started getting hungry so we decided it was time to head back down towards the park. Once we got to the flat portion of the trail we decided to let Ella ‘hike’ on her own. Talk about one excited girl. Everyone we passed she said, “Hi, Ella hiking.”

She walked for a good quarter mile before she took a little stumble. We didn’t realize it at the time because all she said was owie and asked to be carried, but she got her first skinned  knee. 

She was a trooper. We got her all fixed up with a band-aid and treated her to some ice cream while Josh and I enjoyed lunch at a new restaurant on Pearl Street. I don’t think anything is more refreshing after a hike than fresh squeeze lemonade.

When we got home Ella and I both crashed hard. We slept for a good 2.5 hours before getting moving again to go do a little shopping.

I’m already looking forward to our next family hike.

Title9 Mother’s Day 9k+ {Race Recap}

Instead of sleeping in on the one day a year when it’s a given opportunity, I was up at 6 am making myself peanut butter and banana toast. Pre-race breakfast of champions. Much to my disappointment our Sunday paper wasn’t in our drive way for me to enjoy as I ate my toast in the still silence of the early morning hours. The Today Show had to due.

For some reason as I got myself ready to head to Boulder a wave of anxiety came over me. I still can’t pinpoint what exactly it was that was making me nervous but I was definitely anxious as I pulled out of my driveway and headed to the reservoir for the Title 9 Mother’s Day 9k+.

Once I arrived I was ready. The weather was perfect if not a little too warm for my liking, 63 degrees or so at the start. Two pre-race potty breaks to try to prevent excessive stops along the course were a must. I lined up in the back of the 9 min/mile pack and put on my support belt. This drew some questions from the women around me who congratulated me on running while pregnant.

We were off. Well the people way in front of my were off. I was stuck behind walkers. Frustrated, I did some weaving to move from a walk to a run. Once I found my stride I was feeling good. I was even feeling slightly bad ass as I passed people up the first hill on the course. That was until two women passed me with their strollers.

The first three miles and two biggest hills flew right by. To my surprise I didn’t even need to make a pit stop. I grabbed water at the two water stops I passed. I turned off the road we were running on back towards the reservoir. I knew Josh and Ella were going to be on the course soon and the rest of the course was fairly flat. Around mile 3.6 I had to make a quick stop. I stopped my watch so I could see how long it actually took me.

Just about a half mile later, I saw my family!

Ella came running at me yelling mommy! I loved it! I ran over, gave her a big hug and a kiss then sent her back to Josh.

At this point I was starting to get hot. I kept going but started slowing down a bit to make sure I didn’t overheat. With little shade and the temperature rising, I needed to be cautious. It was also around mile 4.5 that my feet started feeling a bit numb. This was a new and very strange feeling. Luckily it went away as soon as I loosened my shoes that I’d tied extra tight to make sure I didn’t lose my car key.

I hit the last water stop at mile 5 and could almost see the finish line. I was ready to be done. I was hot and getting tired. I made the final turn off the dam and onto the street that was lined with husbands wearing kids, pulling wagons and pushing strollers. It was so cute and kind of funny to see all these dads managing the kids while mom ran.

The course support was just what I needed at the end of the race. I picked up the pace a little bit and cruised through the finish line. Just beyond the finish line were Josh, Ella and Lucky waiting with hugs and high fives.

I grabbed Ella off Josh’s shoulders as I walked through the shoot collecting Boulder Ice Cream, oranges and Luna bars. Ella was super excited about the finishers necklace and the oranges until she realized she had the option of ice cream.

After enjoying some ice cream we got Ella face painted and stopped to dip our toes in the lake before heading home.

My unofficial results:

Time: 58:41  Distance: 6.1 miles  Average Pace: 9:36 min/miles

My official results showed that I lost about a minute at the porta potty and hugging Ella. The distance is also a bit longer than the ‘official’ distance though the website said it as a 9k+ because the course was actually 6.1 miles as my watch showed.

Official results: Time: 59:48  Average Pace: 9:54 min/miles

I was pleasantly surprised by how this race went. I had no time or pace goal. I simply wanted to be able to finish the race without walking the majority of it. I was shocked when I looked down at my watch to see I was maintaining a sub-10 min pace. The race was fun and the scenery beautiful. I just wish I’d been on top of it enough to pack a picnic lunch for us.

It may just become a Mother’s Day tradition.

Snapshots of Mother’s Day Weekend

Our camera is currently holding the pictures from our hike hostage because our cord is missing. So here are a few shots from our phones of the weekend:

The Flatirons (where we hiked) from the Reservoir where I ran.

Mommy and Ella at the finish line!

Our little butterfly put her toes in water to cool down after the race.

My cuddle bunny who I tried to force to smile, only to find out she was being so lethargic because she had a fever. Way to go mom!