Summer To-Do List

I am thrilled that I get 6 weeks off for summer break this year between semesters and hope to make the best of it. This summer is the "last one" in more ways than one, my last official summer break before medicine and a real job take over and our last summer before we become parents. There's a lot of things we need to get done with my extra time off and I sure hope to fill the in between moments with adventures and fun.

Summer 2014 To-Do

[+] Get out on a lake at least a few times (not to be confused with getting IN the lake, doctor's orders), potentially for the 4th of July but not necessarily.

[+] Read something that isn't a textbook. I'm thinking the newest Jodi Picolut novel, maybe Bread & Wine and even thinking about throwing in some baby books like Baby Wise and/or Moms On Call.

 [+] Go to evening and afternoon Rockies games. Baseball screams summer and I love going downtown for them.

[+] Have the upstairs carpet installed which means moving lots of furniture but it'll be worth it.

[+] Finish the little man's nursery which includes making a boy-version of this quilt and a solar system mobile, buying the rest of his furniture and plenty of other projects.

[+] Make and drink this lemonade as a substitute for the margaritas I won't be enjoying (bitterness included free of charge).

[+] Have a sweet shower for our little man and celebrate his soon arrival with anyone and everyone that loves him.

[+] Enjoy more than one fire in the evenings on our patio. We barely got to use it last summer even after all the work we did in the backyard and I love s'mores so this is a must.

[+] Register for baby classes, possibly take said baby classes (if not before school starts then after) and take a hospital tour.

[+] Celebrate milestone events with our friends, especially their showers, bachelorette parties and weddings most of all. Bring on the wedding cake!

[+] Maybe get away with my hubs even for just a quick weekend while it's just the two of us still. I can only imagine how different our lives will soon be and would love for some one-on-one time with my favorite man.

What am I forgetting? Bring it on summer, I'm ready for you! (well after my test on Monday, of course)

Baby H: Week 24

Yep, this outfit is really making an appearance. Sorry I'm not sorry. Our Sunday (which is the day we take pictures each week) consisted of morning movie watching, laundry, filling my brain with everything I could about viruses, and projects in the basement. The weather was crappy and even involved a tornado warning which meant the only reason I left the house at all was to grab Taco Bell for dinner. I'll take what I can get.

Maybe it's because the weather is starting to heat up and school is almost over (which means SUMMER!!!) but I'm having a hard time accepting the idea of not getting to indulge on Bud Lite Limes and margs in the coming months. I used to rarely drink before so it's not like this is a huge change for me but I did enjoy in an adult-beverage here and there and so this is the hardest thing I've had to give up. Coffee? I still drink it, just not as much. Sushi? Wasn't ever a huge fan so it's not missed. Lunch meat? Hit or miss whether I care or not. But I do miss booze. To the point this week where I found myself paroozing Pinterest for holiday cocktails for Thanksgiving and Christmas already. Oops!

We have our 24 weeks appointment on Tuesday and it should hopefully be pretty uneventful. Symptom wise I'm feeling great at this point. I've been diligently taking my iron supplement and hope that the effects of that start to kick in soon. Occasionally it's taken me a little while to get comfortable in bed but thankfully I've had no recent bouts of insomnia and usually don't wake up in the middle of the night even to use the restroom which is great. My ribs, especially the left side, are notoriously painful if I sit for too long but otherwise aches and pains have been minimal the last few days. I'm still craving tasty, icy things to drink so my bubba is usually filled with lemon water, iced tea, etc etc throughout the day. J and I went through the drive-thru at Sonic recently and I had to order one of the new Nerds slushes because it sounded fantastic. The first few sips were definitely tasty but this drink was just too much for me. Too much sugar for this sweet-tooth is saying something!

I've been feeling much better about getting dressed lately since I feel like I have a real baby bump to show off now. Plus the handful of items I've purchased recently have made a world of difference. Maternity shorts are pretty much the best thing ever as are extra long tanks that let me wear most of my regular shirts still without them being crop-tops. I tried on basically all the dresses I own the other day to find one for a wedding and happily, I could have chosen any one of them still, although they definitely fit differently these days. I assume I'll have to buy a few extra things to get me completely through the fall but am happy to avoid it for now. It's been quite the journey watching my body change like it has over the last five months, all for this little man of ours.

With only one more week of classes it's been really hard to get my mind focused on school so there's been lots of progress happening in the nursery. I've almost completed my collection of prints and such for the gallery wall, washed the fabric I'll be using to make a changing pad cover and a crib sheet with and we officially know what furniture we'll be buying once the carpet is installed. J also hung up shelves for books and curtain rods and has started on a DIY project of his own, a massive abacus to hang above the crib in hopes that this little man loves number just like his daddy. Now if only the semester could be done already and the carpet could be in. This momma is starting to be on full-nesting mode!

And I tell you what, it's crazy what a difference 10 weeks makes! Can't wait to add in week 34. I've said it before and I'll say it again, time sure is flying.

Thankful v9

Lately I've been thankful...

[+] for bright blooms on the front step & a new, fancy door to let in the breeze

 [+] for husband sized clothes to borrow when waistbands & tight clothes are too much

[+] for a happy pup who will always go on rides with me even if he doesn't get out of the car

[+] for the little boy dancing in my belly that makes the aches & pains just disappear

[+] for mini versions of clothes I can't seem to pass up & loving collared shirts more than ruffles

[+] for ten more days & one more exam until the end of my first year 

[+] for summer time, green grass, upcoming backyard BBQs & s'mores by the fire

[+] for husband's sleeping next to you after a whole lot of travel & lonely nights this month

[+] for motivation to get moving & enjoying it again even with all the side-eyes at my belly

[+]  for thunder & lightening shows as I fall asleep with rain to water our lawn 

[+] for a sweet pup who follows me everywhere & is becoming such a 'real dog'

[+] for summer weddings, adventures, projects & free time soon to come

[+] for the journey through life with fantastic friends & our future sons

Happy Friday friends!

It's Been A Year

We just passed the one-year mark since moving into our house and back to our home state. And oh boy, what a year it's been. Filled with celebrations, occasional downfalls, all four seasons and lots of change.

We've celebrated big events, hosted holidays and created traditions. We've had drop in guests, noise filled evenings and made lots of memories with those we care about. This house has turned into our home, such a different feeling than that from our San Diego house, that always had an air of "for now" to it. We take such pride in this house and it feels so much more permanent, so much better, just right, like home. This is where we're supposed to be, I just know it.

In the last year I've watched J settle into a work routine here and couldn't be more proud of him. He works so hard to provide for our family and it makes me beam just thinking about all his success. I have almost survived my first year of medical school and find myself thinking with fondness and sometimes dismay about all the places around the house I've cooped up studying late into the night.

I've cried tears of happiness and sadness in this house. Fought with my husband and fallen even more in love in this house. Cursed the heat because of our lack of AC and wrapped myself in blankets by the fire in this house. We celebrated one year of marriage and found out about our baby in this house.

When we first fell in love with this place I had ideas in my head about what this first year had in store. I never would have imagined it would turn out so good. Here's to year one and all that's in store for the next year!

And if you want to see what a difference actually watering your lawn makes, 

here's what it looked like last year compared to now.

Baby H: Week 23

Another week in the books and closer to little man's big debut! Assuming I don't end up going past my due date, we're officially less than 4 months till he's in our arms.

The blood tests from my glucose screening have still been lingering around this week in both good and bad ways. Bad when I got a call from the lab about a missing test result that had my medical school brain doing circles all weekend. Thankfully it was a mistake and wasn't an issue in the first place but that's definitely the down side of being knowledgeable in this area. Sometimes it's less scary to be ignorant, I swear. But on the bright side, the blood draw was able to determine that I'm anemic and I've started on an extra iron supplement along with my prenatal vitamins every day. The nurse said to be diligent about taking it every day because "it takes 4-6 weeks for you to stop feeling fatigued". And to think I only attributed my exhaustion to medical school, score! I'm also pretty confident anemia was causing my dizziness from a few weeks ago which I would love to avoid again.

Baby boy joined me again at the pool twice this week and I can already tell I'm going to be spending a lot of time there in the coming months. I've always loved the pool (being on swim team and working as a lifeguard) and can bet that my prego body will throughly enjoy the weightlessness and escape from the heat. I'm thankful that my skin has yet to have any adverse reactions or over-sensitivity to the sun so for now, bring on the tan! (With sunscreen of course!) Little man's also been asking me for lots of ice water, strawberry shortcake ice-cream bars (which are apparently hard to find around here), savory bagels and gummy candies. I've also noticed over the last few weeks that the idea of having hot coffee or other warm liquids has my stomach turning which means ice in everything, even glasses of milk!

My body must be doing a lot of stretching this week because my skin feels tight, my low back is always sore and sometimes I feel like my ribs are expanding by the minute. I also get a weird sensation in my diaphragm when I breath in as deeply as I can and sometimes when I cough. I can only attribute it to compression of everything inside that I imagine will only get worse as time goes by. I'm up about another pound making that a total of 16 from my pre-baby weight, a little quicker than I would have liked but I'd do anything for this boy. His pokes and sudden movements are still so sweet and are all over my belly now. He's still not very consistent, sometimes jabbing the same location over and over again but sometimes giving me one good push and then settling down. I find myself imagining what he's doing in there. Moving his arms and legs around rapidly? Just changing positions?

Finally, I'm excited to announce that J and I are about 98% decided on a name for our little mister. His first name is set, just working on the middle name a little. But we're keeping it a secret until his birthday, sorry! I've heard of way to many names being ruined by other people's opinions or stories... "oh that's my brother's dog's name", "I had a horrible boyfriend with that name", "that's our top choice too" so to avoid it all, we're not telling a soul. But, again, it makes it that much more special connecting with our boy with his name in mind.