32 weeks

Tomorrow I will be 32 weeks pregnant with our lil' boy! It's amazing how quickly this pregnancy is going by! It's surreal to think that our lil' guy will be here in less than two months! The closer it gets, the more excited we get to see our son face to face and cuddle with him in our arms! According the http://www.babycenter.com/, he weighs approx. 3.75 pounds and is approx. 16.7 inches long. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair and his skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth!

I'm feeling the normal changes that happen during the 3rd trimester....becoming more uncomfortable and dealing with more fatigue, nauseousness, heartburn, braxton hicks, sore body (kudos to my thoughtful husband who gave me a gift certificate for a prenatal massage for my birthday!! I'm so excited!), and moodiness. Lovely! These "negatives" are so minuscule though compared to the awe of feeling our baby move inside of me and knowing the ways that God is masterfully forming him right now. I am so blessed to be given this gift of carrying a child! Here's a picture to show you how my lil' basketball is turning into a giant watermelon! :)

From Tim

Oh, how I am so blessed and how I love these two beautiful girls! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of them (sorry if you have already seen some of them).

teagan dancing after hiking a trail in colorado

brooke enjoying some coffee from her favorite colorado coffee shop

teagan enjoying Cross Bar X

mommy giving a beautiful smile while Teagan does her "Silly Face"

she loves to climb

a little time on the beach with her sweet shades

mommy daughter shot

probably my favorite pic of all (feeding the fish at the cabin)

another feeding the fish shot

french press photography

As many of you know from previous posts I've written, my sister, Tara, has been a gifted "hobby" photographer for many years. Some of my favorite pictures of our family...and especially Teagan, have been taken by her. After a lot of thought, prayer, and dreaming (and lots of encouragement from us!), she has ventured out into turning this hobby into a profession!! We couldn't be more excited for her! She is still keeping her part time job as a pastor at her church (not to mention her full time job caring for her two precious boys) but is integrating this into the mix as well. Check out her website: www.frenchpressphotography.com
- I especially love the "welcome" section explaining why she chose this business name and I'm a little partial to some pictures of a cute lil' someone displayed throughout the site. :)

If you know of anyone in the Cincinnati area looking for a creative and gifted photographer...tell them about French Press Photography....or, if you're from the West Michigan area, feel free to book her since that means she has to come and visit. :)

Reading

I love books! I love it when Mommy and Daddy read to me but I am also getting good at "reading" back to them or to my baby and bears. I am quite the story teller!! I am getting very good at telling Mommy and Daddy what certain things are when they point to pictures. They think I'm really smart!!
My mommy and I love to go the library and pick out books to read. Today I checked out "Goodnight Moon!" I also got to visit the turtles and fish in the aquarium there. I love visiting them and continued to tell them "bye bye" all the way home (my mommy said they couldn't hear me anymore but I think they could). I'm also very excited to share that I am now officially signed up for the "Kids Summer Reading Program" at my library! For every 15 minutes that Mommy or Daddy read to me, I get to color in an object on a piece of paper that was given to me. Once I color in all of the objects, I can turn it in and get a PRIZE!! Yipee!! I already got a cool bookmark and pen and a summer pass to Dutch Village just for signing up!! :)

Up North

One of my new favorite places to be is "up north" at the cabin. My Oma and Opa own this cabin in the woods and my mommy spent her whole life going up there and helping Opa hunt (well, just sitting with Opa...she always felt sorry for the deer!), having bonfires, playing in the woods, riding four wheelers and making lots of fun memories during gatherings with friends and family. I love being outside so this was right up my alley! I went up there with just Mommy and Daddy and Bailey a couple of weeks ago and I got to meet all of the animals in the cabin (for some reason, they only showed me their heads....I'll have to talk to Opa about that), feed the fish and talk to the decoy ducks in the pond, go on a long walk, sleep in the bunk room, eat Mancinos pizza, collect rocks, and have lots of fun playing with Mommy and Daddy! I can't wait to go up there again sometime soon!





I got very excited when feeding the fish with Mommy!




feeding the fish (while giving the signature "tongue in the corner of my mouth whenever I'm concentrating" look I inherited from my daddy)!

Life

My mommy is taking way too long to update this blog so I decided to update it myself! Because we've been so busy the past couple of months, I'm planning to do little updates all week to give you a taste of what I've been up to lately! I hope you enjoy it!

I had fun celebrating Tulip Time in early May! I loved smelling the tulips, taking walks downtown and watching all the fun people (and doggies!) that were there. This was my first year attending Kinderplaats, a special event for young kids during opening weekend. I was able to watch people dance and sing on stage, pet a miniature horse, see lots of neat inflatable toys/slides (I'm too little to go on them yet...I think I would have gotten way too scared!), carry around a balloon, see a firetruck (not my daddy's though), and even get a tattoo! My tattoo said "I love Camp Geneva." My mommy and dadddy thought I would like having this (fake) tattoo rubbed on my hand, but sitting on my mommy's lap while the ladies grabbed my hand felt like what it's like to be at the doctor's office so I cried really hard. :( Besides that traumatizing event, I had a lot of fun!! :)

Preggo

It's interesting how much less this pregnancy "consumes" my mind like my pregnancy with Teagan did. I feel a little guilty at times about this but I honestly think it's because I feel like I just did this (okay, I DID just do this!). :) Overall, I'm grateful for the familiarity of being pregnant and for the reduced anxiety of all the unknowns that can come with having a baby....although the anxieties surrounding having two kids under two does plague me from time to time! Despite feeling more nonchalant this time around, my excitement and anticipation for our baby boy has been growing each day! I just got back from a local consignment shop where I got some good deals on boy clothes (and maternity clothes!). It felt strange to be shopping in the boys section but fun at the same time. Also, one of the biggest reasons for my growing preoccupation and excitement for this pregnancy is all the movement I've been feeling. I'm at the point now where my stomach is moving when he kicks and squirms. I love it! This has made everything so much more "real" for Tim and I! Also, I'm finally starting to "pop" so my wardrobe has changed almost completely over to my maternity section (which secretly I don't mind since I think these clothes are cuter than my regular ones...is that strange?). :)

Teagan has been really into babies lately which is sweet to watch. Unlike the past, she did really well last week when I held my baby nephew for a long time. She was really into "petting" him and saying "hi" in a cute, high-pitched voice. She also likes to take the baby blankets in her bedroom and lay them over her stuffed animals (and occasionally Mommy, Daddy, and her sippy cup...at separate times of course). We talk about how this makes them feel warm and cozy. She usually follows this by giving them kisses. ;) Along with increasing her nurturing side, she's also been keeping other kids (and occasionally Bailey) in line by telling them "no no" when they're doing something that we don't allow her to do. She's going to be a great big sister! :)

In reflecting on my pregnancy thus far, it's been much the same as when I was pregnant with Teagan. My first trimester was full of yuckiness...mostly just really nauseous and fatigued. I didn't want to get off of the couch but this apparently is not possible when you have an active one year old. :) No, I never throw up (so many people ask this question!) :) but there were times I think I would have felt better if I just did! :) I had a lot of cravings that first trimester....really healthy ones like McDonald's cheeseburgers, jamocah milkshakes from Arby's, ramon noodles, and pizza. :) My second trimester has been much smoother for which I am grateful and those cravings are still there although they are less (and now sweet and sour hamballs have been added to the list!). Of course, there are still bouts of nauseousness and fatigue but they are more manageable. I'm also experiencing some pain around my tailbone area (aka upper butt muscles). This is most likely from a combination of the pressure of my uterus on the tailbone along with tearing or straining those muscles (probably from a 4 mile walk I did with a friend...boo to being out of shape!). This has caused me to have some pretty intense pain when I get up from a sitting position or when I'm sitting on a hard surface. My doctor referred me to physical therapy but our insurance doesn't cover this so I'm planning to just bear through it and hope it doesn't get to the point where I have to sit on a donut pillow everywhere I go. :) Another interesting aspect to my pregnancy right now (at least I'm blaming it on this!) is my nighttime grumpiness. Don't know why, but every night around 9:00pm, I start to get really crabby. Poor Tim! I need to learn to just go to bed and not put those around me in misery! :) I hope this is truly just a part of crazy pregnancy hormones and will pass soon (it is, right?!)! Sorry to those who come in contact with me during these evening hours!

Nonetheless, through every phase, good or bad, I am reminded of this glorious gift that being able to carry a new life is. I don't ever want to take this for granted and am humbled that God has blessed me with this role!


Here's what our lil' guy is up to right now:

22 WEEKS:
"At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily (www.babycenter.com)."