Bumpdate: Week 23

How Far Along: 23 weeks and counting...

Total Weight Gain: Don't know, didn't check, can hardly stand to get on a scale...

Maternity Clothes: No, but I did go pick up some fun new summer dresses! I had quite a few from pre-pregnancy that have transitioned nicely and then this week I got really lucky and found a ton of fun summery dresses for a steal of a deal that should hold me over for quite a while!

Gender: Boy

Movement: Oh yes! I saw him kick for the first time this week and it was so fun! The first time I felt him move I thought it was the most amazing feeling in the world... until I had my hand on my belly and he kicked it and then I realized, no, that was the most amazing feeling in the world... until I was looking at my belly and it shot out in one spot at the same time as I felt him kick, and THIS my friends, I know is the most amazing feeling in the world. I am sure of it! And people tell me it gets nothing but more amazing from here on out - I can't even begin to imagine...

Sleep: Still loving every minute of it! Although it is getting more and more difficult to roll over. Ha!

What I Miss: Not. A. Thing. Life is good!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Next weekend we are going fabric shopping for crib bedding and I'm pretty excited to get that underway - fingers crossed we find what I'm envisioning in my head!

Cravings: Still all carbs - pizza crust, bread and chips. So unhealthy but I can't get enough of it!

Aversions: Nothing much...

Other Crazy Symptoms: None that I can think of!

Daddy Update: Brandon has just been on a mission lately to get things done before Cooper gets here... I'm LOVING it! He has become the ultimate list maker and each weekend we get to work on one thing or another... it's not always baby related, sometimes it's just stuff that has to be done - mow the yard, deep clean the kitchen, etc - but it's been really fun to feel like we are getting things accomplished together! Work is always so much more enjoyable when you knock it out as a team!! He's on a roll folks!

Best Moment of the Week: Cooper attended his first Thunder game this week! We owed my brother, Zac, tickets to a Thunder game as it was his Christmas present and we hadn't had a time when our schedules all worked until this week so we THUNDERED UP! The game was an absolute nail biter, as most playoff games are... but the Thunder came through with the win and we had an absolute blast! I so look forward to the day I get to (hopefully) tag along with Cooper, Brandon and Uncle Awesome to fun ball games... It's going to be fun!!

After the game, we took Zac by the Brandon's clinic so we could introduce him to little Cooper via ultrasound. The little man wasn't too cooperative until right toward the end when he turned and looked directly at the doppler! Because it isn't a 3D/4D/whatever-high-tech-ultrasound-takes-pictures-of-your-baby-looking-like-a-baby machine it instead made the little guy look like the freakiest skeleton/Beetle Juice character ever! We all three pretty much screamed and then cracked up!

Unfortunately the best picture we took at the game... Haha!

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

Love & Marriage: Making Your Marriage A Priority

Date night at an outdoor concert

We are in the third week of Love & Marriage link up! If you missed the earlier posts, you can find Week 1: In the Beginning here and Week 2: For Better or For Worse here. I've really enjoyed writing these because they have really made me sit down and think... I take a stab at  what I think works best, what the hardest parts are, etc and then then I ask Brandon to see if we are on the same page or if I'm off chasing rabbits. So far - same page! Yay! It's nice to know that you are both thinking along the same lines about your marriage...

 

As for making your marriage a priority... The questions raised were along the lines of how do we keep our marriage interesting? How do we focus on us? How do we keep from being distracted?

One of Brandon's favorite things...
He's happy when I go even if I just sit there and work on my sun tan!

Well to be real honest, I'm not the least bit qualified to answer this... Ask me again in nine months when I've got a 6 month old on my hands! Currently our biggest distraction from our marriage is our crazy schedule - between Brandon's ever-changing residency calendar, my nine million law school events and my I-can't-stop-myself habit of planning a party/get-together/dinner date/whatever every week, we end up with a surprisingly small amount of alone time.

 

Date night at the movies

I have a wise friend who once told me, "If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." I couldn't agree more! The devil does his very best to keep us so crazy busy... Just one morning at home sounds so incredibly tempting, even if it means missing Sunday morning church. I selfishly look forward to a night Brandon is on call so I can be home all by myself and have no interruptions while cleaning, doing laundry, etc. And worse of all, on the few off nights that we are home at a decent hour we sit in front of a tv to eat dinner while watching our "shows" - that's great for conversation, let me tell you! 

Boomer Sooner!

Having realized how quickly we can loose touch with each other, we've done our best to focus on a few things in order to combat the busy disease.

Rylee is our only car time distraction allowed!

#1. We try to ride in the car together as often as possible - no phone calls, radio or social media allowed. Sometimes this means Brandon drives home from OKC only to turn around, get in the car with me and drive back, but we think it's worth the extra gas. Obviously, there are exceptions, but we do our best to be in the car together without interruption. Since we started dating, the 2.5 hour drive to my hometown was always something we looked forward to... great discussions occur while you're sitting still!

We love a little get away to the lake...

#2. Go somewhere and just get away! Right now the only thing that has slowed us down on this one is our number of days off and, you know, it costs money to go somewhere... I realize that in a few months with Cooper's arrival, packing our bags and hopping on a plane won't be nearly as easy but it is our goal to continue to get away from the craziness that is life. We try to schedule some sort of get-away every quarter. It doesn't have to be an elaborate trip to Europe, we've loved mini-road trips to Dallas or just staying the weekend at my parents' lake cabin! Just go someplace where you can be with your spouse and enjoy each other's company. I think you could ask either of us about our favorite part of traveling and we'd agree that it's the thrill of walking around some place new holding hands, talking and just being together.

Reminder on my phone that Brandon secretly set so that
I would know he was thinking about me while he was at work.

#3. Flirt with each other. I realize this sounds obvious, but I truly believe so many couples flirt, start dating, get engaged, get married and then just go through the day-to-day... Last time I checked there was no rule against flirting with your spouse once you were married! Flirting doesn't have to cost money! I can't tell you how giddy I get to find a little love note propped up on the kitchen sink! Send a sweet text in the middle of the day... Bake a delicious treat for you hubby just because you know he loves peanut butter... Plan a surprise date... ASK your husband to help you not throw like a girl and then go play catch in the backyard... Google "Rick Reilly articles," read a few (they are about sports, but you'll enjoy them promise!) and then surprise your husband by being able to have a somewhat intelligent conversation about the Masters or the NBA playoffs... Take off those yoga pants, put on some make up and try just a little... When you're just sitting around watching tv, go cuddle on the couch even if it means you don't get to sit in the most comfortable chair! I promise that not only will he appreciate your efforts, but he'll most likely return the favor. {MEN if you are reading this - stop at the grocery store and bring home some tulips. They don't have to cost a fortune or even be in a vase, it's the thought that counts! Make your wife feel special!}

See our smiles? They are there because we're waiting to board a flight to paradise!

#4. Pray for your marriage. There is ALWAYS room for improvement... Pray that God shows you ways you can be a better spouse. Pray that God strengthens and blesses your relationship. Pray that God opens communication or takes away any barriers that you and your spouse have that prevent you from being the best wife/husband possible. Pray that through your marriage you will be an example for others to see Christ's love for us. Just pray, pray and then pray some more! Remember that there is no person, thing or hobby that should trump your husband on the priority list other than God. He is our #1. Your spouse is your #2.

 

 

Again, I don't claim to know it all... I claim to know very little! But these are the things I believe... You have to be willing to work hard on your marriage, it is worth it! It isn't always easy, but typically the best things in life don't come free of charge. Brandon and I work hard every single day - some days it's definitely easier than others... but don't give up! Life is not always a fairytale and nobody ever should have told you it was - we have things that we struggle with, things that we fight over and things that try to cause us harm, but if we keep our priorities in order life together will always be good at the end of the day!

 

Be Blessed!

Raegan

Gender Reveal Brunch

 

 

Well, somehow I have let this post slip wayyyy through the cracks! Oops. Seriously guys, this pregnancy brain thing is for real. So, before I mentally check out again, let me fill you in on our gender reveal shindig!

We held a little gender reveal brunch at our house so that we could share the joy of learning whether Baby King was a girl or a boy with our families. We had the ultrasound on Thursday and kept our eyes away from all monitors so that we wouldn't be able to cheat - not that I would have known either way since I can never tell a thing about the ultrasounds until our doctors starts pointing and naming parts, but Brandon has quite a bit of experience and he would've known had he looked! But he didn't, I made him promise... And I tried my best not to count how many keys the doctor hit while typing BOY or GIRL. I may have a problem with over-analyzation of all things, can you tell?

We had my sweet friend, Cassie, make a cake and dye it either pink or blue on the inside. When we cut the cake, the color would tell us boy or girl! Cassie, is so incredibly talented, I truly can't sing her praises enough!! I couldn't really figure out what I wanted this cake to look like so I deferred to her expert opinion and sent her a picture of the invitation as a reference to the look we were going for. Wow, does she deliver?! The cake was a-dorable! If it hadn't held a secret that I was DYING to know, I probably would have never cut it.

Don't know where that food table picture ended up - I definitely took it!
But here's a little mantle pic instead!

We decided on brunch food because, well, I was planning the party and I really like brunch food! Ha! We had a waffle station with different toppings - strawberries, syrup, peanut butter, nutella and of course, whipped cream! Lots of other bite sized snacks - banana bread with cream cheese filling, muffins, brownies, homemade cinnamon rolls, chocolate and peanut butter fudge, egg casserole and fruit and other yummy goodies to be dipped in the chocolate fountain. But hands down, the most delicious thing of all was the cheddar biscuit ham sandwiches! Oh, they were a winner! I'll have to share the how-to on those in a Recipe Monday... you won't want to miss it, trust me!

The afternoon went off without a hitch and when it was finally time to cut the cake, the moment we had all been waiting for, Brandon was happy to do the honors! To be absolutely, 100% honest - we couldn't care less what color the cake was. Boy or girl, we already felt so incredibly happy and blessed that we didn't "want" one gender over the other.

 

We have spent so many hours and days praying for this little baby already - Praying that God would give us a sweet tiny miracle when He believed the time was right. Praying that he or she would be healthy and happy. Praying that we will be the very best parents we can possibly be and that when we do mess up, because let's face it it's inevitable, our child will show us grace and love. And more than anything, we have prayed that God would show us how to raise a baby that loves Him and serves Him and constantly strives to be like Him. So honestly, girl or boy, we knew God would give us exactly what we needed... and He did, He gave us a bright blue slice of cake! BOYYYY!

We were so blessed to have so many of our family members from near and far come to celebrate this exciting day with us. *I was unable to get pictures of everyone, but below is a pretty good sampling! We understood that planning a little shindig on a Saturday right in the middle of the day would keep some people from being able to attend, but little did we know how amazing everyone would be in their efforts to be there! From rearranging schedules to just spending their Saturday on the road, our family absolutely rolled out. It was overwhelming and humbling to see our home fill to the brim with the people we love and adore the most, all so excited for us and our sweet little baby. Cooper is already loved by so, so many... it just brings tears to my eyes to think about! Thank you, thank you, thank you to our sweet families for being so excited with us. We are truly honored.

 









"Pops"
My dad wore blue because he had a "good feeling!"
 



 

Cooper's "Uncle Awesome"
My sweet brother, Zac!



"Great-Grandparent Names Still Undecided"
My Grandma Tena and Papa Paul

Brandon's Aunt Edith, Uncle Jim & Sandy and cousin, Andrea





My beautiful cousin, Haley



"Aunt Ashlee" "Grammy" and "Big Cousin Brooks"
Brandon's sister-in-law, mom, Aunt Kim and nephew



My best friend from high school, Ashley and her husband, Sean



"Grandmother Whose Name is Still Undecided"
My mom and my bestie Sheridan's mom, Lynn
 

Brandon's best friend from high school, Jordan and his oldest son, Lane





"Aunt Ashlee, Uncle Caleb, Daddy and Momma"
Brandon's little brother and sister-in-law



"Big Cousin Blake" and "Aunt Callie"
My precious cousin Callie and niece, Blake

Be Blessed!

Raegan



Bumpdate: Week 22

How Far Along: 22 weeks and counting!

Total Weight Gain: Fifteen pounds...

Maternity Clothes: That's still a negative, although I did buy a belly band this week. I'm undecided on my feelings toward it. While it is somewhat helpful, it hasn't been as wonderful as everyone led me to believe. Maybe my expectations were too high? On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 4ish.

Gender: Boy, all boy!

Movement: Still wiggling away! Brandon has this new fun thing where he pushes on certain spots on my belly (pretty much smashing it in) and Cooper will give him a quick kick. Poor kid, his parents are already annoying him and he isn't even born yet!

Sleep: Still sleeping like a champ.

What I Miss: I must admit, I miss my summer shorts. I tried them on this weekend and it wasn't a pretty sight. Kind of bummed me out...

What I'm Looking Forward To: I finally get my new mom car in next week! We were supposed to get it about two months ago and (abbreviated long story) they ended up having to special order a new one so I've been driving a loner all this time (granted a very, very nice loaner - thank you Mr. Bob Moore). I'm not at all complaining, the dealership has been very good to us, I'm just looking forward to finally getting to drive a car that belongs to ME!

Cravings: Nothing too serious. I've been pretty low maintenance on cravings, with an exception of the day I drove half way across Oklahoma for a particular convenient store bread sticks. I am still a big fan of all things pizza... actually pretty much any carb will work. I find this so weird since I've never been much of a bread fan and now I'm all about some bread, crackers, chips, you name it!

Aversions: Nothing I wasn't grossed out by before being pregnant.

Other Crazy Symptoms: The side pain is finally subsiding a little... or maybe it's just been replaced by added soreness in my back. Either way, it honestly isn't too bad. Slightly uncomfortable, but nothing I can't live with. Randomly, my gums are back to bleeding every time I brush my teeth... or sometimes just out of nowhere. This seems odd, but I've read that this is pretty typical.

Daddy Update: Brandon has been so stinking adorable to watch through this entire process and I know it's going to only get more and more precious! This week, Brandon's older brother and his wife welcomed their first little boy into the world, Aidan. (All three King brothers got married in less than a 6 month span and now we are all having babies less than five months apart! What can we say, we love a party!) Even though we are about six states away and haven't got to meet Mr. Aidan personally, Brandon has been beaming with pride for his big brother Chris. He was so excited as the texts starting coming to notify us that the little man was on his way! It warms my heart to watch him have such joy for his brothers and I can only imagine the level of emotion our little Cooper will bring!

Our new precious nephew, Aidan.
Is he not the most beautiful baby ever?!

Best Moment of the Week: One of my favorite things about this week was that we finally kicked off our very first small group! We had discussed starting a small group with a few of our precious friends and the timing never quite fell into place... Well, we finally gave up on having the perfect time and just went for it! In case you don't know what a small group is let me elaborate briefly - basically it's where you meet once a week with the same group of people to build/strengthen your relationship - your relationship with each other as friends and your relationship with God. It's kind of like Sunday School, but on whatever night of the week you choose! Anyway, this was my favorite moment of the week because Brandon and I truly value these friendships and we so greatly desire their presence in our lives! We need friends who will love us even when we drop the ball and who will hold us accountable when we need to be called out. We want friends that when we move back to my hometown will be “our people” to come visit in OKC. And we, very honestly, covet friends who we can trust to pray us through this new adventure of parenthood! After just one evening of hanging out in our living room, I felt so very encouraged and humbled... Knowing that "our people" are covering us and Baby Cooper in prayer is such a wonderful feeling! And we are doing the same for them!! I am so excited to grow with my dear friends...

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

Recipe Monday: BBQ Chicken, Apple, Bacon, Cheddar Quesadilla

RECIPE MONDAY:
BBQ CHICKEN, APPLE, BACON,

CHEDDAR QUESADILLA

 

 

Alrighty, so here is the ol' quesadilla recipe that I promised last week. I know quesadillas aren't exactly cutting edge cooking by any means, but who doesn't appreciate an EASY and super delicious recipe?! I know what you're thinking, "Apples? I don't know about that..." Trust me, this won't disappoint! Don't leave out the apple!

 



What you need:
2 Small Chicken Breasts (cooked & shredded)
1/2 C BBQ Sauce
4 Burrito-Size Flour Tortillas
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (No specific measurement)
1 Apple* (chopped)
Bacon** (cooked & crumbled)

*I recommend pink lady apples for this recipe and any other time you want a sweet and tangy snack. Never was a huge apple fan until I started eating these! Yum!

**Just go buy the Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits, seriously it'll change your life.

 

How many get to eat: 4 full grown people...

What you do:

Mix the shredded chicken with the bbq sauce. I just added it until I thought it looked like the amount of sauce I wanted - the 1/2 cup is merely a recommendation, use as little or as much as you'd like!

Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray and add your two tortillas. The best way to do it is by propping one against the other so that only half the tortilla is cooking at a time... This also helps you keep from over-filling it like I'm prone to do.

Spread your cheddar cheese on the bottom, again as much or as little as you prefer. NOTE: You will add more at the end so don't get too carried away!

 

Next spread on the chicken...

Then add the chopped apples...

Then comes the bacon (the more the merrier in my opinion!)...

And finally finish it off with a touch more cheese!

At this point you can go ahead and fold the propped up part of your tortillas down and adjust your heat to medium. Cook until the bottom side is golden brown, then flip and cook until second side is gold brown. (I occasionally used the spatula to smash them down just a bit to make sure it was cooking all the way through.)

 

Remove from heat and place on a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges... I did my best to wait 5 minutes, but patience isn't exactly my strong suit so I cut them up a little early and it worked out just fine. I also served this with a small dipping bowl of BBQ sauce in case someone wanted more of a BBQ-ish flavor than I did!

Hope your family loves this one as much as we did! I made it one night when we came in late, I was tired and we were starving - it was the perfect solution! And as a bonus - very little clean up! Yay!!

Who should get the credit: iowagirleats.com

Be Blessed!
Raegan