Family

Merfbaby the English Cucumber

Merfbaby is 26 weeks!

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About 14 inches long and 15 weeks to go!

How I’m Feeling: Waddle, waddle. My bionic ankle is a little stiff and swollen, mostly due to the strange weather. I’ve had some aches on the ride side of my tummy. It’s worst in the morning when I’m rolling over or getting out of bed. It feels like a burning right under my skin, lots of stretching happening! I’m more tired in the evenings especially if I’ve been busy around the house after work. Last night I was busy cooking and baking in the kitchen until 10pm! So I slept awesome last night :)

Belly/Weight: My belly button freaks me out. I hate if I touch it, it feels so strange. Clothing rubbing doesn’t bother me just yet, but I might have to stick a band-aid over it when it starts sticking out more. I’ve had a brown line on my tummy for a few weeks and it seems to be getting darker. I’ve also noticed that my tummy bumps into my desk at work more often now. Sorry, Merfbaby!

Life Changes: Getting dressed in the mornings is becoming a fun task. I normally stand when I get dressed, but now I need to sit on the bed to put my pants on. So fun. Putting lotion on my legs is funny too, my tummy hits my leg when I bend over which is a funny feeling.

Movement: Sometimes I feel him roll over! It’s so crazy! It’s like when you ride a roller coaster and your tummy flips, but you don’t expect it at all. I make a funny face when it’s happening because it’s such a crazy feeling. His kicks are mostly soft, just letting me know he’s ok in there. But every now and then I get a big smack! If he’s going really crazy when I’m sitting on the couch at home I’ll pull up my shirt and watch my tummy bounce. I’ll have to take a video when he’s going crazy sometime.

Sleep: I love my ear plugs. Seriously, they save me. If there’s any noise that’s bothering me I pop them in and I’m off to dream land. I’ve taken to “love patting” Merfman on the hand when he starts snoring, poor guy. But I try to hold his hand after so make it less traumatic when I wake him.

Cravings: Nothing major this week, but In N Out always sounds good :) We were talking about ice cream shops at work this week and someone suggested milk shakes…so, obviously we had to make that happen! My craving’s enabler (our PA) made a run for shakes and all was well :) I was only able to drink about 1/3 and I had to put the rest away, too sweet!

Exercise: I got some gym time in! Yay! Less and less of my work out shirts are fitting so I’m having to wear larger cotton shirts, ugh…working out in cotton is awful. I’ve been pretty busy around the house, up and down the stairs so that counts as a work out, right?

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week:  Momma-son showed me a few things from my baby shower decorations! So cute! And it’s a theme I’ve never seen for a shower, I can’t wait! I’ll have to take lots of photos, I know it’s going to be adorable.

On My Mind:  This was such a sad week for so many families. Between Boston and now Texas there’s so much pain all over the country. I also read about an abortion doctor on trial for doing awful, horrible things in Philadelphia. And hearing about that 8 year old boy that died from the Boston explosions wrecked me. I was in my first trimester when the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary happened, so I’ve had a heavy heart for much of my pregnancy. So many families have lost loved ones, and it makes me realize how blessed I am to be starting my family and that I can’t take one second of it for granted.

Family

Merfbaby the Rutabaga

Merfbaby is 25 weeks!

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Weighing about 1 1/2 pounds about the size of an average rutabaga.

How I’m Feeling: Round. My tummy is sticking out so much more this week, it’s pretty obvious that I’ve moved on from the “is she pregnant, or just packed on the lbs?” I’ve still had some lower back pain so I’m trying to stretch through that. I find that it’s difficult to get into a comfy position on the couch, and I end up switching positions several times. Getting up off the couch is also getting a little harder. To get out of bed I roll on my side, hang my feet off the bed and push myself up with my hands. It’s almost impossible for me to use my abs to pull myself up.

Belly/Weight: Belly is getting bigger! It’s crazy to look at sometimes. I can still see my feet, but probably not for much longer. No stretch marks  but I HATE the way my belly button feels. It’s so icky! It’s still an innie, but the top part is pushing out a little and it feels numb and strange, I hate touching it. I’m not looking forward to it popping out. Yucky.

Life Changes: Maternity pants are no fun. I have one pair of jeans and I’m starting to despise them. I’m so much happier and more comfortable in a dress or work out pants. People raved about maternity pants, and yea – I get that they fit, but that’s about it. They sag and fall down, boo. My work out pants hit me right across the lower part of my tummy so I normally tug them down and wear them low. I really like wearing dresses with cardigans, I’m hoping to get some more skirts that I can wear post-baby too. Old Navy has some cute ones, it’s just dumb how expensive all the maternity clothes are! I have two “maternity” shirts and the rest of my shirts are normal. I don’t want to spend money on a bunch of clothes I’ll only wear for another few months. At least with dresses you can wear them after the baby, and with the weather warming up I think I’ll be happier in them. Kelly got me a great pair of lululemon work out capris that fit me perfectly, he’s said I’m allowed to buy another pair and I may have to take him up on the offer. Yes, they are expensive, but I’ll wear them long after Merfbaby arrives.

Movement: All kinds of movement! I don’t think he likes it when I lay on my back, even for a second, so he starts going nuts kicking. Sometimes I poke my tummy a little at night before bed so feel him move before I go to sleep. He surprises me sometimes when his kicks are hard, it takes my breath away a little.

Sleep: I’ve been sleeping hard the past few days. I still wake up in the middle of the night a few times, but I’m feeling rested when my alarm goes off in the morning. I had a depressing thought the other night…at 3am during my nightly potty break I wondered when the next time I’ll be sleeping through the night will be? Um, never. I’ll be up every night from now until Merfbaby arrives, and THEN the fun starts! Maybe when he’s in Jr High?

Cravings: Waffles! I really want an Eggo waffle with syrup. Funny, huh? I may have to make waffles for dinner tomorrow :)

Exercise: We walked around a lot on our vacation, but I haven’t been very active this week. The wind was blowing really hard so I didn’t get my afternoon walks in. And sleeping has sounded so much more enjoyable than a 7am spin class. I did my share of “vacation eating” over the Babymoon, so I’ve been good about getting back on track with lunches and dinners this week though.

Favorite Pregnancy Moment this week: Noticing how much bigger my belly is! On Sunday before we left the Babymoon Kelly took some bump photos and I was amazed at how I really look preggo now. It’s crazy! Our Babymoon was also really amazing. We talked a lot about Merfbaby and our future and all the things we’re looking forward to.

On My Mind: Nesting. Our kitchen is coming together. Merfman has been working hard all week getting things done. The house is a little upside down, but we’ve managed to cook dinner every night. I’m getting anxious about clearing out some clutter and getting the nursery started so I think I’m going to start to work on that over the weekend. Since Merfman is off work for a few more weeks I can have him help me move furniture :)

Family

Babymoon Recap

So if you follow me on the big 3 (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) you’ve probably seen all the photos from our Babymoon last week :)

I just wanted to recap and review how wonderful our trip was!

We woke up Thursday morning, packed our bags, got the house in order and made our way out of Burbank. We had plans to stop by a granite showroom on our way out of town to pick out the new countertops for our kitchen. I’m not a huge fan of granite, I don’t get what all the fuss is about, but I know it’s great for re-sale value. Every HGTV show has people that gush over granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Whatever floats your boat. So we’re doing granite. We left the showroom with two options and price ranges and decided to discuss it over lunch. I was getting hangry so Merfman knew just how to make my little heart go pitter-patter…

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Grilled cheese, fries and a chocolate shake from IN N OUT. I was a very happy girl. We talked about counter tops and came to a decision, you’ll have to wait and see what we picked!

After lunch we got back on the road and headed toward Ojai. We arrived almost exactly at check in time and got settled into our amazing room at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa.

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The view from the balcony of our room

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We spent time every day sitting on the balcony enjoying the amazing view. Each night we would turn on the gas fireplace and enjoy the cozy room. I told Merfman that this trip confirmed that I need a few things in our someday dream home…a fireplace in our bedroom, a balcony off the master and an amazing view. Easy, yea?

Thursday night we had dinner at the outdoor Oak Grill Restaurant. And we ordered this lovely for dessert:

6755_10151846960474848_1416749129_nIt was a peanut butter chocolate-something and it was yummy!

Friday we slept in and headed to the Spa after an early lunch.

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We had booked a couple’s massage. Deep Tissue for him, baby-mamma for me :) It was AMAZING. I haven’t felt that comfortable and relaxed in months. When you’re preggo you can’t lie on your back since it affects the blood flow to the baby. So, they have you lay on your side with a pillow under your head and one under your opposite leg with a wedge under that. The pillow under your leg helps keep your hips open to take the stress off your back. I wanted to live in that position forever. It was so cozy and comfortable. Pregnant women can agree, finding a comfy resting position is hard!

That night we had dinner reservations at the fancy restaurant, Maravilla.

I got a virgin Pink Moment. It was lemonade, cranberry juice and whipped cream. So fun! The “pink moment” is an Ojai term for the time of day when the sun is just behind the mountains and the ridge turns a pretty pink color.

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For dinner I had the diver sea scallops. SO good.

 

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We had an amazing meal topped off with a very “sweet” dessert

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We ordered the creme brulee and the staff wrote Happy Babymoon! on our plate :)

Saturday we had no plans other than wanting to get off the resort for dinner. We slept in, ate breakfast on our balcony, took naps and spent some time reading in the shade by the pool. It was a wonderful relaxing day. We asked for dinner recommendations off property and were directed to Boccali’s.

60642_10151850334204848_711330944_nWe wanted something casual, local and low-key. And it was perfect! I got the veggie-lasagna and it was crazy good.

For dessert we saved room for their famous strawberry shortcake

305948_10151850378319848_637512094_nIt totally lived up to the hype.

Sunday we grabbed a quick breakfast before checkout and headed home.

Our Babymoon was wonderful, and I stopped several times throughout the trip to savor the memories and amazing views. It was so wonderful to spend time together, relaxing and catching up. No distractions, no emails, phone calls and work to occupy us. I really wanted to take multiple mental photos to look back on in the coming months when we’re up to our elbows in diapers and running on little to no sleep.

Also, I can’t say enough nice things about the staff and people we met on our trip. Our waitress at the Maravilla (Kate) was amazing and so very nice. She even took the time to write us a note with recommendations for fun things to do in town during our trip. The staff at the resort goes above and beyond to make your stay special. I also noticed any staff member you passed while walking the property always said “hello” or “good morning/afternoon/evening” I’m sure it was company policy, but it was a personal touch I really liked.

It was a trip to remember and one we’ll always look back on as our last vacation as a family of 2 :)