31 Weeks!

September 5th!

Baby girl is the size of a small clawed otter this week! So cute. She's close to 17 1/2 inches long and weighs over 3 1/2lbs now. She keeps piling on the cute baby fat she'll have and her immune system is nearly ready to fight all on it's own! 

How's Mama? I've been pretty tired this week. Lots of naps when I get home from work. I can also tell that she's up squishing my lungs now because it's a lot harder to catch my breath when I go on walks. We've started to be able to feel little body parts poking out of my belly and she'll continue to play back with us some when we poke her. lol. I thought I *might* be having Braxton Hicks contractions this week and that was confirmed at my appointment this week. Crazy! They dont hurt- well most of them dont. They mostly feel like the top part of my uterus is getting tighter in a band. I usually starts to feel like she's poking her butt out but then a whole band around my belly will get hard. Only every now and then are they uncomfortable. It is definitely getting harder and harder to sleep. Lots of pee breaks in the middle of the night and overall discomfort. So I'm just tired a lot more. That's okay though :D Honestly, I'm just thankful my back doesnt hurt anymore- that was probably one of the more annoying pregnancy problems I had for awhile.

How's Daddy? Doing good! Still working on projects around the house when he gets home from work OR he takes care of me. Sometimes both. He's an amazing husband and we are so lucky to call him ours. He gets to feel baby girl a lot now and pokes at her to get her to play. Sometimes she's shy and other times she'll play back. I cant wait to see them interact when she comes out :D It might be the most precious thing ever. Work is super busy for him. They are still trying to complete the renovation project in his auditorium at work and he has a ton of other video projects he's working on. I know he's overwhelmed in every area of his life right now, but man he sure is a trooper and I am beyond thankful for him.

This week: This week John and I both got our hair did. LOL. Which meant we got to spend some time with the lovely Kala :D We also had a baby appointment Friday. Unfortunately, John didnt get to make this one either- so it was the first one I went to by myself. It was totally fine and took all of 20 minutes. haha. I got kick count instructions to keep an eye on how baby girl is, my blood pressure was perfect! YAY! I didnt gain ANY weight- in fact I lost a lb. I was very proud of this because I had kind of overdone it and dont want to be too much bigger than I have to be. I was also measuring a week ahead- which I was told is normal at this point to measure a week or two in either direction. Finally, baby girl seems to be head down- I had them check even though it was still a bit early- but my doctor thought she was head down. We'll know better next time! Oh! and her heartbeat was perfect. Y'all dont even know how big of a blessing that was to hear :D Why? Well....

That morning on my way to work, I was only about 2 miles from our house getting ready to turn right onto HWY 42 from a back road. I saw a big box truck/large moving truck (not really sure what to call it) pull out of a gas station that was not too far from where I was. Usually they are going so slow you can pull out in front of them. This guy gunned it and then proceeded to turn onto the back road I was on. I remember thinking he was rude because he didnt use his blinker, otherwise I could have gone if I had known he was turning. Then I realized he was going WAY too fast and I watched as his truck tipped over. THE ENTIRE TRUCK WAS FALLING OVER. I thought for sure he was going to hit me. He didnt, but I heard a loud crunch behind me. Y'all there were no words for how panicked I was. I jumped out of the car as fast as I could. Nobody else had pulled over to help yet, so I waved at a truck I saw on my way to the car behind me, while I was trying to dial 911. On my way back to the car I froze thinking- oh no. Whoever is in that car, could be dead. I might see a dead person. The truck had landed on top of the car and slide off. I just knew I was about to see the worst sight of my life, but I ran over anyways. Miraculously, the man driving was fine. I asked him if he was okay and if he was alone and he said yes, so I proceeded with my 911 call. I got so lucky and had waved down an off-duty volunteer fire fighter and EMS guy (same person). He might have been stopping anyways, but I'm not sure. I was in full blown panic mode. We decided later that I had a panic attack. I called John after 911 and couldnt get words out. I was hyperventilating and just couldnt process everything fast enough. Y'all. I was driving the mustang. Do you know how close I was to dying. The truck would have for sure crushed me and my little girl. My roof would have provided no protection. I was literally feet from it being me. The fire fighter that stopped came over to me and did his best to calm me down. He was like, you cant have this baby today ma'am. You need to calm down. Between him and John, I was finally able  somewhat. The guy in the other truck ended up being completely fine too. Talk about a miracle. So many miracles in this morning. I had so many of the fire fighters come up to me and tell me how lucky I was to be alive (I dont know why they thought saying that to an 8 month pregnant lady was a good idea) but it's so true. I was so lucky and so incredibly blessed to not be hurt at all. To not have witnessed someone else pass from this earth and to be able to help however I could. The Lord definitely had me and little girl wrapped in His arms that morning. Needless to say my blood pressure had to be through the roof and I was worried about how my panic attack impacted her. Luckily, I had my doctor's appointment that afternoon and everything was perfectly fine. Praise the Lord. :D

Over the weekend, John and I KNOCKED OUT SOME HOUSE PROJECTS! I was so proud of how much we got done! John did some incredible work in the garage and got rid of the cabinets we didnt need! We can even park a car in there now! Almost both!! We also got the power washer up and running and both worked on power washing the house some. I cleaned out our entire laundry room and organized it. It's not exactly what we want, but it's exactly where it should be right now. What we want is an entire other project that will have to be completed another time. Right now it just needed to be cleaned and organized. John also added a top to the washer and dryer so stuff stops falling behind! It's very useful! I cleaned the bathrooms as good as I can without bleach and John took care of the yard. It was incredibly productive and we were both pretty proud of ourselves :D 

Office closet was a hot mess. And now our dining room is even more of room as well as the whole entire office. :D You gotta make a mess to clean a mess, right? 

 Left side before with all the crap in the middle

 Right side before

 SO much better and there is a car in there! I'll try to get another picture in the daylight :D

Saturday night we went out to celebrate Mitch's birthday. The whole JoCo crew went to Deep River and got to spend some time together. I got to meet the Northrups baby- Nick- and held him for awhile. Afterwards, some of us went back to the Weavers house for a fire and s'mores! 

Yay!! for a productive weekend, good week, and healthy baby!

30 Weeks!

August 29th

Baby M is the size of a platypus this week (minus the tail)! She's about 17 inches and close to 3.5lbs! At this point it will start to get harder to gauge how long she is and how much she weighs, so even more than before it will be guesses :D Only time will tell! Baby girl is going to start losing her lanugo this week (the "furry coat" she had on to keep her warm before she grew some fat:D). 

How's Mama? Feeling great! It's getting a bit more challenging to sleep, so I'm tired. But at the same time I still have more energy than I have yet. So I'll take it! :D Other than that, just soaking up her sweet kicks all day, every day :D 

How's Daddy? Doing good too! He has gotten to feel even more kicks and can see her move some, which is pretty cool :D He's in daddy-go mode and has been really working hard on the garage! 

This week: John and I actually went to Williamsburg for the weekend. If you dont remember, about this time last year when we were getting ready for our big West Coast road trip I got roped into buying a vacation at Bass Pro. Yes, the vacation included a time share presentation. Well before we were pregnant, we were going to use it to go to St. Petes, Fl! in March. Then we decided to go to Puerto Rico in March and moved it to Sept. Well then, we found out we were pregnant and our schedules didnt make sense to move the trip again. Well, we decided to save as much of our vacation time as possible for when the baby comes and decided that St. Pete's was just too far to go for the weekend. The only location close to us that had an opening was Williamsburg, so we decided to move it to there. Honestly, when it came time for the trip this past weekend, we didnt even really want to go. We wanted to stay home and get stuff down around the house. But, we went anyways. We both were glad we did. It was a nice chance for our to-do list to not get in the way of enjoying some down time together. So Friday off we went! 

First, we stopped in Richmond. We hit up The Veil Brewery first. It came HIGHLY recommended by numerous people. John said it did not disappoint! We'll have to take another trip some time when I'm not pregnant :D Next we stopped at Starbucks. THE PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE is out! I also got some pumpkin bread- the baby was hungry :D We stopped in to visit Stone Brewery- the East Coast version just opened recently! Having been to the one on the West Coast, we had to stop in! Definitely not as grandiose as the West Coast one, but it was still very nice. It just opened, so they still have a long way to go! We sat outside and John enjoyed his beer and I enjoyed my PSL. It was wonderful :D The weather was PERFECT. It was the calm before the tropical storm/hurricane (whatever it was) was supposed to hit the area. (It only ended up raining a little). lol. But we enjoyed our time together and watched the sunset. It was awesome. Then we headed off to Williamsburg! 

The Veil!

Stone Brewery- East Coast :D

Enjoying our drinks :D

The beautiful sunset

 Me and Baby Girl :D

Our first stop was to check-in to our hotel. This is where things start to go downhill. When we arrived, we were greeted by a very unpleasant woman working for the BlueGreen Vacation Company I signed us up through (so sorry again John!). She informed us that we were not actually staying in the hotel I was told and that our presentation time was 8:10am the next morning. I had been told by numerous people that we would get to choose our presentation time. John's one request was not to get up early Sat :( So he was NOT pleased. Mix that with how hateful the lady was and we were both pretty unhappy. We went and checked in at our hotel and then found our room dirty. We called them to come clean it while we went to dinner. Even though we were both in a bad mood we decided to make the best out of it anyways. Our dinner that night was DELICIOUS! I had some interesting shrimp and grits and John got a burger. The sides were amazing. I would go back. :D

Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn to sit through a painful presentation. I'll do my best to keep this short. When we arrived we were paired with a sales rep who started to give us their spill of information. Some guy (maybe a supervisor?) came and sat down and listened to him too. We hope the guy was new- he was the only one we didnt want to throat punch). We let them know how dissatisfied we had already been and did not plan to spend any money. Of course they are trained to combat this and it was just annoying. Then we got lead to a presentation room. The presentation was supposed to last 45 minutes. 2 hours later- not even kidding- we were done. The entire presentation was about how we should live our life and the guy spat out ridiculous study information and stats about vacation. Nothing about the actual vacation package they were trying to sell us. Then we met with the supervisor guy again and he continued to try to sell us. John kept letting him know as politely as possible that we were not interested in any way. Finally, he got the point and walked us out. It was ridiculous. John- I am SO sorry I made us sit through that and I promise you I will never sign us up for one again. Now it's in writing and you can hold me to it :D

After our little morning adventure, we headed off to get brunch. We had the most amazing food. John had a delicious homemade chicken biscuit and I got biscuits and gravy. I could eat it all over again. NOMS. Then we headed back to the hotel and put on some football and took a nap. It was much needed. Because of the "tropical storm" Williamsburg had closed Colonial Williamsburg and other attractions. We were really fine with this- it was a great excuse to be lazy and relax. lol. After our naps we decided to venture out and try a few breweries in the area. The first one we went to we sat outside and talked about baby girl names FOREVER (nothing much came of this though. sigh). The next one had a shuffle board table and we played a few rounds against each other. It was a lot of fun.  I had a girl(about our age) come up to me in the brewery and tell me how beautiful I was. It was so incredibly nice and made me feel so good. :D After our games were over we went and got dinner at a pizza place close by. We decided we wanted to hurry through dinner so we could make it to putt-putt before they closed. Our waiter was HILARIOUS (we were the only ones in the restaurant and he kept making jokes about the wait times. haha). We enjoyed him very much and the pizza too! Then we were off the putt-putt. It was Blackbeard themed! Random, but awesome. John swears we tied. I never saw the score sheet. :D 

First Stop

 Shuffle Board!

This man cracks me up

Putt-putt! Scary pirates!

 Always making me laugh

 Being ourselves

 I love him so much 

 Baby had to be silly too!

 Not sure who is scarier...

Sunday we got up and got breakfast in Colonial Williamsburg and decided to walk around it and check it out for a bit since the weather was so nice. Brunch did not disappoint again! Williamsburg is definitely not short of good food! Afterwards, we headed back towards home. We stopped to get the Carter from the in-laws house and ended up staying and eating dinner with them. It was nice :D 

:D 

 Lots of carriages!

 Finally got to pet a horse!

 Colonial Williamsburg was very neat :D

Monday- on our extra day off (YAY!) we started more house projects! Well John worked in the garage and I cleaned out closets! Fun stuff. haha :D 

Anyways, it was a great week :D

29 weeks!

August 22nd

Baby girl is the size of a New England Cottontail Rabbit this week! She's about 16 inches and weighs about 3lbs! She's getting so big :D Her movements are definitely getting stronger too! Less room mixed with getting stronger? She likes to kick after I eat and a LOT in the afternoon and then again in the evening. Daddy gets to feel her then and he got to feel some good ones this week!

How's Mama: I feel GREAT this week! That whole boost of energy thing in the 2nd trimester never happened and I wouldnt exactly say it's happening now, but this is the best I've felt in a long time. Which sounds weird because I'm also the biggest yet. lol But I'll take it! Maybe it's all the exercise :D I won our step challenge this week! I was NOT going to let Brad beat me again, which required 20k steps on Friday....BUT I WON! :D I have started to notice that I get out breath much easier than before and things just take me much longer in general. It can be frustrating. Heartburn and constipation are the other not so fun things of the week. BUT baby girl is just dancing away in my belly and it makes it all worth it :D I also got some baby snuggles in a few times this week. I just cant get enough of sweet Mason!

How's Daddy? In LOVE with Mason! He also cannot get enough snuggles from Mason and it's the cutest thing in the world to me. He's gotten to play some with baby girl which is also adorable. He's starting to get busy again at work :( But still gives his all to us at home. He's been so great throughout this whole pregnancy. He's going to be the best dad.

This week: Was full of baby snuggles! Duh :D John and I also went registry shopping!! Our registries need some work for sure, but at least we started it! We went to Buy Buy Baby after work one day (makes more sense since we both work out that way.) Well the lady we got was SUPER annoying. I didnt know if I was just hormonal, hungry, tired (yanno pregnant things), or if she was just that bad. John is great about being honest with me, and she was just that bad. She wouldnt SHUT UP. It took us 45 minutes to get the dang registry gun from her all because she wanted to share her life story and insist we name our kid certain things. Honestly, by the time we finally got away from her, I was ready to leave. We walked around some and scanned some things in. John has also ruined me. He's taught me to research EVERYTHING (and he should have!!) but without reviews, we didnt know what to even register for. LOL. So we left shortly afterwards and went and got dinner. We tried a new place called Brew and Que and omigoodness. It was delicious. I will definitely be going back. The burnt ends were the best, by far. 

Friday, I had my first appointment without John. He had a work project that he couldnt leave for :(. My mom came though! She really wanted to come to one and we figured that would be a good one since John couldnt come, that way I'd have someone with me :D The appointment was pretty quick again. I got my Tdap shot and mom got to hear little girls heartbeat! I think she really enjoyed it and it was nice to have her there. My blood pressure wasnt high, but it wasnt perfect either so I need to watch it. Apparently, I also need to slow down on the foods. I guess all those double cheeseburgers from McDonalds caught up with me. haha. Honestly, I think I was super swollen from walking almost 4 miles already that day, but we'll see what the scale says in two weeks. In the meantime, time to reign in some of the sweets :D Friday night we took the Kinlaws some dinner and got more baby snuggles :D 

Saturday I woke up and was really feeling terrible. Stupid Tdap strikes again. A few years ago when I got it, I got a 103 fever,aches, chills, etc. I warned the doctor what happened last time and they said I should be fine this time. Nope. I could barely get out of bed. I ended up sleeping until about 3pm (I'd wake up every now and then). I ended up getting a fever and called my doctor. They said everything would be fine since it wasnt high and to take more Tylenol and add Benadryl to the mix. John was a sweetheart and went and got some for me. I could barely eat but forced some food down so baby girl wouldnt starve. Then I went back to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night in a pile of sweat and felt TONS better. I guess I sweated out my fever. Thank goodness. 

Sunday, I felt SO much better- not 100% but a lot better and more functional. It was Josh's 30th Birthday! So while John took Josh out to play some birthday disc golf, I cleaned the house and made some food to take to the Kinlaws. The Mortons made the meat (brisket, ribs, sausage, and bbq!) and I made the sides (corn pudding, mac and cheese, green beans, and carrots). The food was all amazing. It was also a great time with friends! We had cake and brownies for dessert (dont worry, I only had a little :D), got some baby snuggles of course!, and then headed home to start the week. I hope Josh had an amazing birthday! We kept it small for now since Mason is so small, but he has a big Oktoberfest bash planned for Oct and I am very much looking forward to that too!

Welcome to club 30 Josh! It looks quite good on you :D 

HELLO 3rd Trimester! 28 Weeks!

August 15th!

HOW ARE WE ALMOST ALREADY THERE?! I thought I JUST GOT PREGNANT?! :D 

This week baby girl is the size of an echidna (not the cutest animal). She's about 16inches tall and weights about 2.5lbs! She is starting to pack on the fat (OMG little baby rolls!).  She's also dreaming! What can she even have to dream about right now?! So neat :D 

How's Mama? I'm doing great! Tired, but that's to be excepted. I've been keeping up with these Fitbit challenges and have been walking A TON. I'm not sure if it's from the walking or what, but my back is mostly gone- PTL! and my pelvic pain is easing up too. I have had this weird shooting pain in my groin area, but I feel like it might just be little girl pushing on my bladder and it hurting? Otherwise, still doing well on my weight gain and getting bigger! Oh TMI- consitpation is a real thing. I think I made the mistake of increasing my iron without increasing my fiber. Yikes. I need to fix that asap. Baby girl is still kicking up a storm these days! I love it so much. It is definitely my favorite part of being pregnant and I will miss it the most. Especially, our games. I poke you and you poke me back games. haha

8 weeks vs. 28 weeks!

How's Daddy? Doing great too! Still struggling with the sleep thing, but I think we'll both struggle with that from now on. At least on some level. lol. Daddy has been working hard, taking care of mama, and working in the garage! 

Starting to come together!

This week: We were still on baby watch for most of the week, but at the end of it our sweet little Nephew- Mason Alexander arrived!!! He will be getting another post :D BUT HE'S HERE! 

John was completely in love.

Look at that face. He's perfect.

The rest of the week was pretty dull in comparison. haha. We did go to BJ's solo show at the Lincoln Theater Saturday night. We went out to eat beforehand and then went to the show. We had a nice little date night :D. We are definitely getting old though- all those young college kids were rather annoying. haha. At one point I got really hot, so I went to go outside. It was even hotter out there. I needed something cold ASAP. I totally skipped the line and asked the boys in the front if I could just grab a cup of ice because I wasnt feeling well. One look at my belly and they were like- OMG yes! The bartender freaked out a little and was concerned I was about to go into labor. They gave me 2 cups of ice. haha. It helped tremendously and kept me cool the whole show. I was cracking up hard at how freaked out all those boys were though! LOL. 

27 Weeks!

August 8th

Baby girl is the size of a Fennec Fox (minus the tail) this week! Or a bunch of bananas, whichever is easier for you to visualize :D She's about 15 inches long and weighs over 2lbs! She's opening and closing her eyes with ease now and her brain is rapidly developing. She has started to enjoy kicking me whenever she gets hungry, so I think she's readying herself for the outside world on that front. haha :D She's moving even more these days and I'm just soaking up all the love :D

How's Mama? Doing great! Definitely waddling some now- or so I've been told my multiple people (thanks!). LOL. Nah, it really doesnt bother me. I have this huge belly and I'm not used to it. Between that, my pelvic bones hurting, and my back, waddling has been unavoidable :D A few of us have started a Fitbit challenge, so I've been walking more and doing a lot of yoga and those things have definitely helped with all of it! So I'll have to keep all of that up. Sleeping is getting more difficult. But otherwise, I'm feeling great these days! Oh, my newest and worst craving yet is a double cheeseburger from McDonalds. Y'all, it's all I want. and they are SO bad for you. I might have had 4 this week. haha :D 

How's Daddy? Not sleeping great because Mama isnt sleeping great. lol. Usually, I can sleep right through his snoring- it's never bothered me before. We've always joked that God blessed me with deaf ears when I sleep. However, these days since I'm so uncomfortable and tossing and turning more, the snoring bothers me. Which makes me toss and turn more, which makes him and it's a whole thing. We had a baby appointment this week and downstairs from my doctor is a sleep study office, we popped in and got some information for him. We've known he's had sleep apena for years, it's probably just time to do something about it before baby girl gets here. Otherwise, John's just busy at work like usual and powering through getting our garage done! He's been working so so so hard for us and words cannot describe how thankful I am to him for it :D John's also been getting new equipment in at work and has been having fun trying out the new cameras as what not! He got to snap my picture with one of them! OH! He also played photographer for me and Krystal, we thought it would be fun to get one last best friend preggo picture together before Baby K comes:D Eventually, we'd like to take one with me preggers and her holding her baby and then another one with us holding our babies together. I think it will be adorable :D Thanks for humoring us John!

This week? Ummm, my baby brother got MARRIED this week. But let me start with other stuff first :D Krystal was supposed to be due on the 8th! But Baby K has decided to hang out a little while longer. Krystal came over Monday and we watched "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It's such a cute movie and we've been meaning to watch it her entire pregnancy. Leave it to us to wait until the due date. haha. John and I had wedding stuff we had to do most of the rest of the week. He did manage to work in the garage some and I went and picked up my dress for the wedding! God Bless the lady who tailored my dress because if she hadnt wanted to wait to alter it- I dont think it would have fit. All she ended up having to do was take in the bust and shorten the straps. The dress was snug around my belly and just long enough. PHEW! Good thing the wedding was Friday, cuz I dont know if it would have fit next week. haha. Thursday the festivities began!

Thursday, John and I worked half days and then had a baby appointment! It was a sweet little break to get to hear her heartbeat before all the crazy of the weekend started :D I had my glucose test and met with the doctor. Everything was great! My blood pressure was perfect, her heartbeat was strong, I'm measuring on time, overall- great appointment. It was my first appointment meeting with a male doctor, so I was a little nervous. ANNNND leave it to me to wear a dress to the appointment. Usually, I have on jeans and pull the maternity part down so we can listen to the heartbeat. How do you do that with a dress? Oh man. lol. This doctor was about to see my goodies- I just knew it. Luckily, he gave me a cover and was honestly one of my favorite doctors we've seen so far. He was just so authentic and nice and made me excited and less nervous about delivery. Dr. Yoon was awesome. Friday I actually got a call while we were getting ready for the wedding and was told that I PASSED MY GLUCOSE TEST! No gestational diabetes for this mama! I has been so nervous about it since I was overweight before getting preggers, but phew! So happy! They did tell me that my iron was on the low side and I needed to start eating more- that I can do! :D After the appointment, John and I had to stop and get food and then we headed to rehearsal. The rehearsal went great and then we all went to Red Bowl for dinner. It was a nice time to get to hang out with some family and meet more of Britts. 

Friday was WEDDING DAY!! I cant wait until I have pictures to share. I got up early and went to Kala to get my hair done. She did an AMAZING job. I felt SO beautiful the entire day:D Between her hairdo and my makeup- I felt so pretty with my sweet bump! I thought I would feel huge, but I didnt! Just felt awesome :D While I was getting my hair done, she had another client in her studio that was a L&D nurse at Wake Med! I might have her when I go into labor! She was super nice and I asked her a lot of questions. Between her and Dr. Yoon, I felt much more ready for baby girl to come :D After hair, I raced home and John and took off for the wedding. I was supposed to be there at 12, but got there a little late. We spent the next two hours getting ready, taking pictures, and getting Britt ready. Mom and I gave something to Christopher from Daddy too. All the tears. My dad would be so proud of the man Christopher has become and I know we all wish he could have been there. Enough of that because I will cry again. The wedding was beautiful. and my baby brother is married. I cant even believe it. After the wedding we took more pictures and then headed to the reception. When we get pictures in, I'll give more details about everything. But we had a great time! John, baby girl, and I danced and then baby girl and I danced some more! People thought I was about to pop or trying to get her out. haha. NOPE. Just having fun. Plus, she wanted to dance with her uncle at his wedding some :D After some cake (some of the most delicious cake I've ever had in my life, EVER) and more dancing, we wished them off! Then it was time for this Mama to go TO BED! haha

The rest of the weekend was recovery and John working in the garage. lol. I worked in the house- it was TOO hot for me outside :D Still on baby watch for the Kinlaws too! Cant wait to meet you baby K!

Garage progress! John's cleaned out that entire side and started hanging things!

Week 26!

August 1st

Baby girl is the size of a Slow Loris this week! I didnt know what it was either, but he's super cute in the picture! She's over 14 inches tall and weighs about 2lbs. Baby is packing on fat now, so she can be that chunky, squishy little baby! Her eyes are open again and she can detect light. She's kicking up a storm, which is just so wonderful :D

How's Mama? I'm doing well! Just tired! Growing a human is tough work. My pelvic bones still hurt like woah and my back is still bothering me- A LOT. Pretty sure I pulled a muscle pulling weeds and it's just taking forever to heal. My app says I could be having Braxton-Hicks contractions, but I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary.  Hopefully, I'm helping with all the water I'm drinking! I'm peeing a lot, had some difficulty sleeping, but otherwise I am doing great :D I am LOVING how much baby girl is moving. It makes me smile every time and warms my mama heart so much. 

How's Daddy? He's doing great! He's been able to feel baby girl a few more times now. She's shy though and likes to stop moving when Daddy puts his hand on my belly. Either that or she likes the warmth and it calms her. I hope for that one! Hopefully it means Daddy will be able to soothe her easy on the outside world. I wont be surprised if that is the case though, John usually has a sense of calm about him that can be peaceful for others :D 

This week? John had the great idea of prepping a few meals ahead of time for the week to help us not eat out so much! I dont know why I didnt think about it. I used to do it all the time. lol. It was extremely helpful and definitely reduced how much we ate out. We did go to Red Robin one day because I was craving a burger. He didnt even question me, just said "where do you want it from!?" haha. I got the Chili Chili Cheeseburger and omg. Now I want another one. Like now. :D August 2nd was our 14th year dating anniversary! It's hard to believe we've been together so long, but harder to believe I ever lived without him :D The weekend was filled with house projects, wedding prep (OMG MY BROTHER IS GETTING MARRIED NEXT WEEK!), and paintball for John! The guys went for Chris's bachelor party. John did not make it out unscathed. He has a nice big ole' bruise on this bicep. haha. 

Saturday I went to help my mom and sister with some wedding stuff and we got our nails done. When I got home this was happening: 

John did ALL of the laundry, ironed, and cleaned the house while I was gone. He's seriously the BEST. 

25 Weeks!

July 25th

Baby Girl is the size of a Prairie Dog this week! Alan! Alan! haha :D If you dont know what I'm talking about, please watch this link. You will not regret it. :D Anyways, Baby M has developed her sense of balance and she can tell which is way is up and which way is down! She's about 2lbs now and 14 inches tall :D

How's Mama?: I'm doing pretty good! My pelvic bones still hurt and mostly it hurts to get up and down and roll over in bed. I also pulled a muscle in my back, which is isnt awesome, but it will be fine :D Sleeping has been a bit of a challenge too. Honestly, after all the throwing up of the first trimester (and while I definitely still have some of these other symptoms) I feel like this pregnancy has been so great. Growing a human isnt going to be comfortable, but what my body is doing, I would say I've had it pretty good.  I feel very thankful to get to experience life growing in me. I know that not everyone gets to experience this and so I am incredibly thankful God let me have this precious little miracle. Baby girl is kicking up a storm lately. She's just dancing away. :D 

Probably the craziest things this week are how much my super sniffer (as Carter would call it) has dramatically increased. I can smell EVERYTHING. Even more so than before. It's crazy. I also keep having the crazy dreams. I've always been one to have vivid dreams here and there. I guess for a lot of women they start during pregnancy? I've definitely had them before (usually when I'm on my period) but they have definitely increased. This week I had one of the scariest dreams of my life. Actually, it's probably THE scariest. Have you ever seen the movie It, based of a Stephen King novel? I saw it when I was much younger (Mom, why did you ever let me watch this movie?!) and I have not thought about it since. It was terrifying and I hate clowns because of it. Well, I dreamed the clown was coming to kill me. Every time I got away, he would find me again. It just kept happening over and over and it felt SO real. Poor John woke me up because I was crying in my sleep. Most of my dreams are not scary, but man this one was awful! Here's to hoping there are no more scary clown dreams in my future!

How's Daddy? He got to feel baby girl kick again! It's not hard or often and really she's a shy little one and wont kick when his hand goes to my belly. I'm starting to wonder if she's comforted by the warmth of his or something. But it's almost automatic. She'll be kicking and kicking, here comes daddy's hand, annnnd nothing. It's quite frustrating. Honestly, it makes me feel a little lonely. It's hard to explain. I just want John to be able to enjoy her as much as I get to! Daddy has also been a trooper this week. Talk about crazy hormones. There are no words for how out of whack I've been. He really should have sought shelter. Instead, he toughed it out and just continued to be nice to me. lol. He's such a good man. (Y'all I was crazy hormonal. It was not pretty)

This week: This week was the usual grind. Just busy with being on call for me and John was busy at work. They are redoing their entire auditorium at his work and so he's been keeping busy with that. I did get my  hair done this week! It was lovely as always. Check out the fresh do in the pic above! Kala did it a little lighter this time with some highlights and I LOVE it. So does John. I'm really happy with it :D Kala always does an amazing job though :D 

The week wrapped up with OUR SUMMER PROGRAMS ENDING! Praise the Lord. No more on-call. Phew. I survived another summer. haha. They ended on Saturday. Sunday John and I went out with Mortons and Kinlaws and Hillary to celebrate Kristian's birthday! We went out on the Morton's new boat and had a great time!