Bumpdate: Week 32

How Far Along: Thirty-TWO weeks!

Total Weight Gain: Doctor's appointment was cancelled so I don't know...

Maternity Clothes: All shorts and some shirts

Gender: Boy!

Movement: Constant, comical movement! It's to the point where you can really see the movements and I find this incredibly entertaining.

Sleep: I figured out the cause behind last week's lack of sleep - apparently when the tornado caused our power to be out for a few days the thermostat reset the schedule we had it on so around 2am it was letting the house get up to 76 degrees! Holy hotness that was not going to work! I realized this during one of my 3am wanderings throughout the house in hopes of quietly entertaining myself... I was relieved to know it wasn't just a serious hot flash. We have it cranked down from 11pm on now and I'm back to sleeping like a little lamb!

What I Miss: I should delete this question - life is good! I have way too many wonderful things going on right now to even think about what I don't have. I'm not missing a thing!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Maybe this is weird, but we start our labor and delivery classes on Monday and I'm really looking forward to that! Every little thing - decorating the nursery, registering for showers, doing the laundry with little tiny clothes - makes it more real and I, in turn, get more excited!! Also, I'm kind of weird about wanting to know every single thing about what I'm getting myself in to - whether it's buying a house or having a baby, I want to understand what is going on. The more educated I am about literally having a baby, the more at ease I will be when it's go time! Or at least that's what I keep telling myself...

Cravings: Anything sweet. My sugar intake has to be off the charts right now.

Aversions: Not a thing!

Other Crazy Symptoms: I get pretty light headed if I don't snack regularly (ie when I come out of the self-induced sugar coma, my body gets all confused), but other than that I feel really good for only being a month and a half out. So thankful to have a healthy, happy pregnancy!

Daddy Update: Sweet Daddy has been working way too hard lately! He starts his hardest rotation of his last year of residency in July and he's trying really hard to get all loose ends tied up before Cooper gets here so he won't be distracted by work stuff and will hopefully get some time to get used to being a dad. My precious husband is such a good man - I've been working on the nursery like crazy lately and we've had such a hard time finding the perfect rocking chair. It's been my #1 frustration - they either don't have it in a color I can use, cost as much as my kidneys, or they just look weird. I spent the weekend with my mom and Brandon searching high and low for the perfect chair with no luck. Saturday evening Brandon had a work event to attend and he stopped at a few stores on his way there and located the perfect chair (and flirted with the little lady who owned the shop until he got a bargain!). I don't know many men in the world that would (a) tolerate wandering from shop to shop with their wife and mother-in-law on their one day off and (b) go into a store by themselves in hopes of being helpful. He's a keeper.

Best Moment of the Week: This weekend was so great! Friday night we had a little belated Father's Day fun with a date night at the movies. Saturday my mom and I hit some great estate sales (one of my favorite things to do!) before meeting Brandon for lunch and more shopping.

That afternoon my mom and I registered for little Cooper. This was a task I had been really dreading because it all seemed very overwhelming, BUT with the help of a few fabulous friends who sent me their list of registry recommendations and one seriously handy review book, we were able to knock it out with no sweat! (This was one of those times when my serious OCD came in really handy! I had combined recommendations, categorized the lists and used the book as a reference to know what brand I felt best about and if something was really necessary or not... I plan to share the list as soon as possible in case their are others out there that need a little help and then I'll update it as I learn for myself what comes in handy and what isn't required!) Sunday Brandon and I listened to a great service at LifeChurch and then spent the afternoon with his family hanging around the pool. Seriously, weekends don't get much better than that!!

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Bumpdate: Week 31

Well, unfortunately a bump pic just wasn't in the cards this week... Sorry!

How Far Along: Thirty-ONE weeks! Nine to go!!

Total Weight Gain: Ironically (unless my husband did this to keep me from absolutely losing it, which is a possibility...) my scales flashed "Low Battery" at me and then proceeded to turn itself off this week. It's either Brandon or God - I think they are both trying to keep my sanity in tact.

Maternity Clothes:Yep - all shorts and some tops... I'm still sneaking in regular dresses but they are getting smaller by the day. I think at some point, I'll probably do an entire blog over maternity clothes - what stores I had luck with, where I found the best deals, how I managed to sneak in a few normal clothes and my love for accessories!

Gender: Boy!

Movement: Like a chicken with it's head cut off. (I never really realized how gruesome that saying was until now... eww.) He moves non-stop! I haven't had his position checked yet but I'm pretty positive little man in not head down being cooperative, he's still flipping and rolling away!

Sleep: Well, I am thankful that I enjoyed the last 7 months of sleeping like a champ because I'm afraid that may have come to a screeching halt this week. I've been waking up each morning between 3am-4am and cannot go back to sleep until around 6ish. Sleeping has NEVER been a problem for me so this is a complete shock! I just wake up hot, typically uncomfortable and thanks to allergies, coughing my head off. Nevertheless, I'm taking full advantage of this free time and am getting a lot of reading in!

What I Miss: Looking normal in a swimsuit. Ha! This weekend we ended up at the lake celebrating Father's Day and I haven't had time to pick up a maternity swimsuit yet so I just put on my most conservative suit - let's put it this way "conservative" is not a word I'd use to describe it's fit this summer. Sorry to anyone and everyone that happened to see me!!

Funny bathing suit/belly story: So we were all swimming around the boat dock and I was just laying on the tube trying to get a little sun and our littlest swimmer (she's almost 2) swam up to the tube and I lifted her on it with me. She turned to look at me smiling and saw my bare belly... her eyes got huge and she said "WHOOOOA!" Bahahaha, if you ever need a little honesty, just ask a kid!
 
What I'm Looking Forward To: Since we ended up at the lake, we didn't get all the things done that we had on our list so this weekend we are getting registered (which I find incredibly overwhelming!) and hopefully we'll find the perfect chair. We went to buy one earlier this week because the best little baby stores in OKC was having a sale but unfortunately none of them really just made us think "Perfect!" so we passed. Back to the drawing board! BUT the nursery is really starting to come together and it makes my heart very happy!

Cravings: Chocolate around the clock.

Aversions: Nothing much.

Other Crazy Symptoms: It looks like I have a light brown shade of lip liner on, but a little lipstick covers it pretty well as long as I put it on kind of sloppily. The tired is coming back with a vengeance - even to stand up while cooking just feels kind of exhausting so I've been sitting on a bar stool working away. I did try to "hop" up onto the kitchen counter to sit while I sliced a kiwi - let's put it this way, I'm not "hopping" anywhere for the next few months! Hilarious awkward moment.

I keep forgetting to mention this weird symptom... I have one fat armpit. Weird, right?! It's oddly puffy! Not only is it fat but it's also turning this dark shade so it always looks like I haven't shaved, but I have I promise! So I asked my doctor about it recently because I, of course, get a little paranoid about blood clots and he assured me that it was nothing to be concerned about but that I most likely had some breast tissue that had stretched to under my arm and it was just normal increase in size that would go away. Nevertheless I now have an armpit paranoia and you will not be catching me raising my right arm...

Daddy Update: Dad is doing great! We celebrated Brandon's first Father's Day this week - I had made plans to take him to a movie he's been wanting to see and fix him his favorite dinner, but at the very last minute he decided he wanted to go to the lake so we made a massive change of plans and did a little road tripping! He very sweetly shared his day with my Daddy and fun was had by all.

Best Moment of the Week: I think the best part of this week was getting to spend a weekend at the lake with nothing to do but relax and enjoy my sweet family. We stayed at my parents' lodge and it was so nice for everyone to be under one roof and two minutes from the water! I am so excited to have a sweet baby to share these fun times with, but I am cherishing every single minute of being a family of 2. Life is good!

 

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

Bumpdate: Week 30

How Far Along: THIRTY weeks - where in the world has the time gone!? We are almost to a single digit countdown...

Total Weight Gain: 24 pounds... finally got to those scales.

Maternity Clothes: Shorts and a few tops

Gender: Boy

Movement: Nonstop. Every time I climbed in an airplane this week the little man worked his way up to my left ribs and pushed with all his little might. Thanks son.

Sleep: I think my internal clock is way off from traveling - I am tired early but wake up, like eyes wide open at 5:30am. Hoping to get my night owl normal back...

What I Miss: We've been back in Oklahoma for a few days now and I'm missing some gelato! BUT it's really nice to have mexican food again so I'll live.

What I'm Looking Forward To: This weekend we have a full agenda - picking out the rocking chair, registering for showers and it's Brandon's first Father's Day!

Cravings: I don't "crave" anything in particular because pretty much everything sounds good! I am chugging water like a crazy person - can't get enough to drink!

Aversions: None that I can think of.

Other Crazy Symptoms: My belly button is still trying to decide if it's in or out, pretty much changes by the minute. I'm starting to notice a little swelling in my feet which I didn't have until I got home this week - thank you Oklahoma heat. And last but not least, I'm afraid the tired stage is returning. I'm doing my best to hold it off, but I feel like my energy comes in bursts - I'll be super productive and then ten minutes later I'm exhausted just driving my car. Nevertheless, I am not complaining - I feel good, I don't hurt, Cooper and I are healthy and happy!

Daddy Update: Each week it gets a little tiny bit more real for Brandon. He wants to watch my belly move constantly (which isn't a problem because the kid never holds still) and I think the fact that the nursery is starting to come together bumped up his excitement quite a bit. He's already making internal to-do lists of things he wants to do with Cooper - truly adorable!

Best Moment of the Week: The nursery! It's FINALLY underway!! I've been getting so anxious about the fact that we hadn't even touched it and then this week in a matter of 48 hours our "storage" room became a full blown nursery - new paint, new carpet, furniture, the works! I can't wait to show pictures, but I'm trying to hold off until it's complete so we can have a grand reveal! I'm super excited and so very pleased with the progress! (Shout out to my parents for (a) picking us up at the airport at 1:30am and (b) pulling an extreme nursery makeover! You guys are so crazy good to us and we are greatly appreciative!)

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Bumpdate: Week 29

How Far Along: Twenty-nine weeks!

Total Weight Gain: Still haven't seen a scale, but based on the ridiculous amount of gelato I've been consuming I think it's safe to say we are seeing an increase in pounds!

Maternity Clothes: All shorts and some tops

Gender: Baby BOY!

Movement: At this stage in the game, most people are doing "kick counts." Basically you are supposed to lay still for an hour and count the kicks/movement. Once you get to ten, you're done. I can get to ten in about 3-5 minutes... Active little man!

Sleep: Like a rock! While traveling we typically try to stay in rooms that we can get for a good deal - we literally sleep and shower there so no need for fine luxuries... Until this trip! So thankful that my sweet husband wanted to make sure his pregnant wife got a good night's sleep and splurged for one wonderful room after another!

What I Miss: Chips and queso... I always miss chips and queso when traveling! Ha!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Typically you are sad for a vacation to end, but this is the one time I am so looking forward to getting home! When we get back in town we are doing MAJOR nursery work and then showers start and then Cooper ARRIVES!! So many things to look forward to...

Cravings: Gelato and pizza, pizza, pizza! Cooper is one happy little man in Italy!

Aversions: The nasty fish and other assorted seafood that is just sitting on ice at the front of each restaurant... Eww.

Other Crazy Symptoms: My crazy symptom may be that I am feeling so good! When I was in Italy five years ago, we almost died of a heat stroke and this time it's cool enough for a light jacket... We have been walking for miles and miles each day and I feel wonderful!! We even knocked out two days worth of hiking between my favorite villages of Cinque Terra! I am so thankful that I've been blessed with good health throughout this entire pregnancy...

Daddy Update: Daddy is so, so good! Cooper is getting big enough that when he moves you can see it from across the room so Brandon has been really enjoying watching him squirm. In addition to his normal taking care of us, Brandon has lugged his luggage and mine all the way across Italy without complaint and has done everything possible to make sure that I am well taken care of. He's such an awesome husband, I can't wait to see him as a dad.

Best Moment of the Week: Everything about this week has been so wonderful! We have had the amazing opportunity to see all of Italy and while that is so fun and exciting the best part by far is getting to spend weeks of time with my precious husband with no distractions. The crazy schedules that are jobs require have always made us very appreciative of our time together, but when you know that your status of "just the two of us" is about to change drastically it makes the alone time even a little more sweet. So happy we were able to squeeze this trip in before our precious son arrives.

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Bumpdate: Week 28

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: Couldn't give you a very accurate guess as I haven't seen the scales in weeks

Maternity Clothes: All shorts are maternity and a few shirts. 

 

Gender: Boy

 

Movement: Lots of movement

Sleep: Still sleeping very well

What I Miss: Not much of anything!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Spending another week in beautiful Italy with my handsome husband!!

Cravings: Gelato and strawberries

Aversions: Fish - its everywhere here and they don't fry it up like we do at home. Grosses me out!

Other Crazy Symptoms: Thankfully I haven't had any new symptoms lately. I was worried I would swell up like a balloon on this trip but so far the swelling has remained at a minimum. 

Daddy Update: Oh daddy has been hard at work on this trip! Poor guy has to carry both our luggage and Italy is COVERED in stairs! He has been so precious for doing all the heavy lifting, taking such good care of me and never making me feel like an inconvenience. Love this sweet man. 

 

Best Moment of the Week: This has been such a wonderful week for us - we've seen truly incredible sights, eaten delicious food, walked a million miles holding hands and slowed down enough to really talk and enjoy each others company. Life doesn't get much better than that! Cooper pulled his weight on the third day of our trip when we arrived to tour the Vatican and realized we would be waiting a minimum of 4 hours to get in. It was the longest line I've ever seen in my life! We started looking for alternative options - pay for a group tour and then once they got us in, ditch them (there is nothing I hate more than seeing sights in a crowd of 30 people all huddled together, drives me crazy) or we could pay a hefty price to buy a fast pass to the front... We were leaning toward coughing it up for the fast pass when this complete stranger walks up, still not sure if he was supposed to be selling tours or if he was just hanging out at the Vatican or what, but he tells us we shouldn't pay because in Italy a pregnant person never has to stand in line. He said we should just walk straight to the front of the line and point out my belly to the guard. We weren't sure if he was jacking with us or what but we tried it and holy smokes, it worked!! Best trick ever! We have been cutting lines ever since - its awesome! Good work Baby Cooper!

 

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Bumpdate: Week 27

**Ciao! We are currently in Florence, Italy and it occurred to me that I never set the schedule for posting the bump dates while I was gone because I didn't get the pictures uploaded before we left! So, in order to not fall dreadfully behind, I'll be posting a bump date here and there so that I don't get too far behind and then I'll go back and add the corresponding picture. 

How Far Along: 27 weeks

Total Weight Gain: Holding strong at nineteen pounds

Maternity Clothes: Any shorts or pants and the occasional shirt... All dresses are just a size up and flowy these days.

Gender: BOY!

Movement: My precious little Cooper was very aware of his momma's stress level this week and gave me non-stop reminders with his little punches, kickes and flips that if we were safe and his daddy was safe nothing else in the world mattered. He moved more in the three hour drive from my office to our house immediately following the tornado than he's ever moved before. I was very thankful for his help in keeping it all in perspective.

Sleep: This week hasn't been the best for sleep but it's been all tornado related not pregnancy.

What I Miss: The chaos that occurred on Monday has so put my priorities in order that I have ZERO complaints. We are healthy, happy and blessed.

What I'm Looking Forward To: VACATION! The hubs and I are headed to Italy next week and I am so ready...

Cravings: Anything sweet - chocolate, ice cream, snowcones... I could go on for days!

Aversions: Nothing.

Other Crazy Symptoms: Same 'ol, same 'ol... Nothing new this week!

Daddy Update: Daddy is good!

Best Moment of the Week: This week has been a hard, stressful week. We are heartbroken for our community as the tornado has wreaked such havoc on so many lives. In the midst of the it all we were truly humbled by the out pouring of love that so many showed us, never before have we felt so blessed. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and offers to help, we are so grateful.

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27-28