Pregnancy Photos

Do you remember this picture of Kate with my Sawyer belly? It is one of my favorite pictures ever. When we were going to Tucson my goal was to go to picture people and try and recreate this picture. Unfortunately the photographer we got wasn't my favorite and I was a little less than impressed with the outcome. But my kids still look cute no matter what so I guess it is okay!


I had a coupon for buy one, get one free so I got this one too. I wouldn't have posed myself this way...but when I saw it I thought my kids looked adorable so I'm glad I have it!

Now, after that cuteness, is it okay if I vent something that has been bugging me recently? I basically moved to Vermont and got pregnant right off. The gym I now go to I didn't join until April after that so I was already semi-showing...definitely not myself, but it wasn't noticeable to strangers. Friends, I think would have noticed, but not strangers. Recently, after coming home from my vacation and heading back to the gym I have gotten some funny comments. I have a lot of ladies tell me I look great and tell me how great it is that I'm still working out, which is really sweet of them. I have others say things like, "you are just all belly!" or "I can't even tell you are pregnant from behind!" I know their intentions are good....but I don't take these as compliments. I have known people where those statements are true and I can tell you, I am not one of those people. It would almost make me feel better if someone said, "WOW Kristen, your butt has really gotten big!" and I would sweetly say, "Why thank you for noticing, it is getting quite large. I can't wait to get back to work post-pregnancy and get it back to normal size." Ryan doesn't believe me that I would like that comment better, but I would. The worst was I had a girl, who actually works at the gym and signed me up when I joined, tell me after my vacation, "WOW, I didn't even know you were pregnant until just now!" REALLY? Last time you saw me may have been 3 1/2 weeks ago...but I was still 25 weeks pregnant. What did you think that belly was? I guess the disheartening thing is that all these people don't know what I am supposed to look like. And what I'm going to have to really work hard at to look like again. And that makes me frustrated...or self conscience...or something. Does that make sense to anyone but me? Maybe it is just me.

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Do you make countdown chains?
(days until vacation!)

or cookies to exchange?

(at a ward BBQ)

Or watch your belly grow, OH MY!!!

Is that what you do?
So do I.

Boy or Girl?

That's right, the ultrasound today told us this little baby is a baby girl! We are so excited!

We make cute kiddos

I know I am biased, but I think I have the cutest kids in the whole world. Not only are they cute, but they are cuddly and fun and just full of love. They love each other and love playing with each other and it makes for a happy Mommy!

Kate is so fun and smart. She makes me laugh all the time. I love when she talks like she is a grown up. This morning she was talking to me so fast, nonstop and following me around while I was getting dressed and she said, "I was in my room talking to my elf...I mean myself...I wasn't talking to an elf...that would be funny" and I just burst out laughing. So random! She loves to read and write and is the smartest little five year old I know. She is my buddy and I love her!

Sawyer is getting to be such a big boy! This week we got together with a group of people and there were 2 little babies there walking and crawling around and I couldn't believe how HUGE my baby Sawyer looked in comparison. I know it is because he is, in fact, not a baby anymore and he reminds me of that all the time. Sometimes I like to hold him like a baby and kiss his sweet face and he'll say, "MOM, I'm not a baby! I'm big boy!" and I'll say, "I know, you are my big, big, big, big baby boy!" and he'll say, "What you say?" like I confused him and I'll repeat it over and over. He is my big, big, big, big baby boy! He is funny and loving and I can't get enough of him.

Like I said, we make cute kiddos! So...we decided to make another!

This little baby has been an adventure for me! For the first time I have experienced morning sickness! Yippee! (blech) With Kate I had the perfect pregnancy, with Sawyer I had a few food aversions (like Cafe Rio) and this time around I have been downright nauseous and most food sounds disgusting to me. I had one night in particular where Ryan came home and found me unable to even think about cooking dinner so he started making it. Okay, that has happened more than once. But this time once he started cooking, I covered my head with a blanket because I couldn't take the smell and eventually ended up curled up in a ball on the floor crying with a blanket over my head because everything sounded (and smelled) disgusting but I was getting sicker and sicker because I wasn't eating. I kind of thought it would be a nice thing to be a little sick and prevent myself from starting to get huge from the very beginning, but it is not fun. And with this 3rd pregnancy I feel like I've popped out instantly anyway! I actually haven't gained any weight, which is crazy to me because I feel like I looked full on pregnant from the instant I saw a plus sign on the pee stick. Crazy third pregnancy! This time I have also experienced constant headaches and insomnia which only adds to my constant fatigue. And the worst thing for me is my cravings! Having recently moved I am craving things that used to be available to me but aren't here up in Vermont. Like I would kill for Chipotle. Literally.
I know I sound like a complainer, but I do acknowledge that I have known many people that have been sicker than this throughout their entire pregnancies and, if you are one of them, you have my sympathy. I am also so lucky to have a supportive husband whose current schedule allows him to work 4 days a week and be home at every night for dinner...and still loves me when he comes home to no dinner. I also have 2 kids who play independently with hardly any fighting all day long. They make my life so easy. And I have my little Kate who is old enough to be interested in this little baby growing inside me and concerned about her noticeably different Mommy. I have gotten many of these from her over the past few months:

How cute is that?
It has been interesting moving to a new place and then immediately getting pregnant and sick. I think getting into my grove in Vermont was definitely hindered by my sickness. I missed my friends. I know they all would have known I was pregnant very soon (especially those who saw me everyday at the gym...I'm telling you, this belly shot out!) and I wish I had them to talk to. But things are slowly getting better. I am lucky that I am still able to get to the gym every day and I have found classes here that I like. I come home each day too exhausted to even take a shower but it makes me happy. And things are slowly getting better.
This baby is due October 29. My birthday is in October and I'm SO excited for an October baby! And now you guys know! I feel less lonely already.

what the midwife said...

for those who are curious, when I went to the midwife on friday she said that I'm ready to go! I'm dilated to a 3 and am 70% effaced. of course, that means I can go any minute...or in 2 weeks. (I was dilated to a 3 for a few weeks with kate before she actually decided to come!) thats why I feel ready...and I am ready to go any time. I told her I wanted to be induced to make sure that my mom was going to be here for it and she said we need to schedule it ahead of time because they don't have many slots available and usually they use those for emergency inductions (like mother's with high blood pressure) instead of just elective reasons (like mother's leaving town!) so she scheduled me for this friday morning (may 2). we are hoping I won't need that appointment and that I go into labor on my own, but its there if I need it. so I WILL have a baby this week!

and for those of you who may remember, last time I was completely anti-induction because I was scared about the increased risk of c-section and the increased pain stories I had heard. my midwife told me she is comfortable inducing me because my body is so ready and most of the problems come when people are induced before their body is showing those signs. so I'm not scared! I do just keep hoping he'll decide to come on his own.

95 degrees and pregnant

so I really don't know how people survive pregnancy when they are pregnant all through the summer time. especially here in tucson. hats off to you women with fall babies!! I, personally, could not do it! today it was 95 degrees outside. on the warm side, even for tucson, for this time of year. I took kate to walmart today and as I was putting her in her carseat she was squirming so her arms wouldn't touch and saying "hot!" that really is one of the worst things about it being hot is having to get into hot cars. luckily we have the ice pack cover for her carseat that keeps it nice and cool when we're running errands. (a very good invention!)

but with all this hot weather and my tummy not feeling up to eating much today anyway I had a massive craving on the way home from my sewing class for popsicles!!

so I stopped to get some on the way home and they were delicious!

its going to be back in the 80s in a few days, but until then I have a stock pile of popsicles!!

its a boy!

congrats, you were all right! it does appear obvious, doesn't it? here is a description of the pictures in case anyone couldn't see it (dad!)

1. profile with his fist on his nose and chest
2. profile and chest
3. looking straight on (hi strongbad)
4. another proflie
5 & 6. basically she described these as if you were looking from under a glass top table and he is sitting on top of it. you can see legs and butt and....boy parts!

its nice to have the sonogram lady say "yup, its a boy", "look, there you see it, its a boy", and "this is difinately a boy". with kate, no one could say for sure it was a girl so I kept having nightmares that she came out a boy(...not that a boy is a nightmare, I just had too much pink stuff for that kind of surprise!)

so we're having a boy and I'm still trying to get used to the idea. do I have any idea what boys are like?!? no. I'm afraid that ryan will be at school all the time and come home to find his son playing dress ups with his sister and mommy because they have no idea what to do with a boy. but I am excited for this new adventure. so excited, in fact, that I bought this at target yesterday:

(it was SO hard to bypass all the cute newborn dresses though!)

the moment you've all been waiting for

the sonogram day finally arrived (after being postponed a few weeks for our lack of being in tucson!) I was more nervous than excited, which is how I remember feeling last time. ryan is adamant that we play this as a little game and not just as an announcement, so here you are. take a look and see if you can tell what we're having!

I have lots of christmas catching up to do, but I thought this took priority! have fun!

midwife visit

today I went for my second midwife visit and it was quite the ordeal! we were there for 2 1/2 hours...and considering the 30 minute drive, it took all day!

today I saw rebecca, who delivered kate. we were in for the full exam today, and she started with the baby's heartbeat....and couldn't find it! can you believe the same thing happened to jen! since she couldn't find it we stopped the appointment and she sent me over to get a sonogram done. my uterus was low and a little tipped so they couldn't do a normal sonogram...but we got some good pictures!

the second one looks like the baby has its fists to its face like it crying!! but this last one is the really exciting one. its a little early, but you can actually see what we're having in it!!!

we're expecting a strongbad!

(if you don't know who strong bad is, see homestarrunner.com)

ryan's excited because he says that means its a boy!!

so anyways, after the sonogram we went back to my midwife and finished my appointment knowing we had a healthy baby strongbad in there...and they changed my due date because I was measuring small!! it is now may 6th (see the updated baby countdown!) I'm excited because it puts it farther from kate's birthday, but it puts it much closer to jen's due date (may 8th) yeah....so that stinks!

so we'll see you in may, baby strongbad!

major food aversions

so this time last pregnancy I had absolutely no signs that I was pregnant at all. nothing!! I was feeling pretty good this time too until I started getting big food aversions. and guess what my biggest one is:

cafe rio!! how can this be?!?! we went twice when we were in utah and I was first pregnant (and no one knew) and I just felt icky by the end of the weekend from eating too much (in general). so this tuesday when mom and dad went up to mesa to go to the temple, they stopped at cafe rio in chandler on the way home and picked up some burritos for us. when mom told me on the phone I was kind of like "hmmm....I guess that will be okay" but I wasn't really feeling it. well, when she got home with it...NO WAY! one bite and I was done. ever since then if anyone even says cafe rio, I'm ready to gag. I really can't see how something can go from your favorite food to the ickiest thing in the whole world so quickly, but it has. I've had smaller aversions and times when nothing sounds good and then all of a sudden a bagel sounds good and I have to run to the store to get one.
last pregnancy I was so excited to FEEL pregnant. now I take it back.

we are pregnant!

that last post was totally a hint and totally a gift to my loyal blog readers. you got to be the first to know! (except for my mom, if you count speculation....it is really hard keeping a secret from her when we're living in the same house!!) here are the answers to your questions:

-as far as I know, the due date is around April 26.....so yeah, right around kate's birthday. I'm kinda bummed about that, but what can you do? I go to the midwives for the first time on tuesday and we'll see if they want to do an ultrasound like they did last time to determine the due date. (I was 10 days late before I finally got a positive test and that was a blood test!...it took that long with kate too, which is probably why she came 10 days late.)

-I'm feeling great! just a little tired. and its definately a must eat situation when I get hungry.

-AND, my sister jen is pregnant and due in the beginning of may...could we have planned it any closer?!?! my mom is stressing out a little about that. she's at least relieved that neither of us are due around devin's graduation the end of may!

every once in a while I'll point to my belly and tell kate there is a baby in there, but she just gets confused because "baby" means her baby doll, not mommy's belly. it will be fun when she starts to understand. so thanks for reading my blog! I'll keep you updated!

let's try this again!

so this morning we took kate to the splash park to see if she would like it a little more than last time. she's a little older and a little wiser and we were hoping a little bit more brave! and she did do better than last time!

last week when we were going to the stake center to trade in our recommends for the new barcode ones, kate was in awe of the kids running around and squealing in the gym. she just stood there and watched. she didn't want to play!! just watch!! thats basically what she did today was watch all the kids run around and have fun. she did have fun splashing in the littlest puddles

and then at the end she was brave enough to run through them...with some help from daddy!

between the splash park and the regular slide park there was a big grassy area roped off with CAUTION tape!! apparently kate likes to push the boundaries!

what a little rebel!