25 weeks

Baby is the size of an eggplant!

Let your spouse put an ear to your belly -- he might be able to pick up baby's heartbeat (no stethoscope required). Inside the womb, the formation of tiny capillaries is giving baby a healthy pink glow. Baby's also soaking up your antibodies, getting the immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and baby will soon perfect the blink -- perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes.

Yesterday I had my 25 week appointment and everything went well. I passed both my glucose and iron test with flying colors! I was worried about the glucose test, because if you have gestational diabetes sometimes you have to be induced and sometimes inductions can lead to C-sections. So, one less worry off my plate!

Also my weight was up yesterday at the office, but when I stepped on the scale this morning at home it was down 5 lbs. The nurse said most people were higher than usual yesterday due to the high heat and humidity. So, lets hope it stays down!

The OB said next time she'll see me is at 28 weeks and then we will start our 2 week appointments after that. Eek!! We are getting closer!! I still have so much to do!!

I watched the movie The Buisness of Being Born this past weekend on Showtime and it really made me think about what type of delivery I want. I am freaked out that all the interventions they do can lead to a C-section. I'm not saying I want to go totally all natural, but now I am rethinking getting the epidural as soon as I can, trying to labor at home as much as possible, etc. I also have read lots of ladies' birth stories and I realize not matter how much you plan for it, it doesn't always go your way. So I am trusting in God to guide me as to which way he wants his baby to come into this world safely!

Holy Heat!

My plants are LOVING this hot weather and sun! Check out the difference:

June 5th:



June 22nd:

I swear my sweet potato vine grows by the foot on days like this one!!

Garden Crashing

We visited my grandparents over the weekend, and my grandma has a lovely garden!

Mostly everyone was doing work cleaning up this huge tree, but I took some time to explore around.

Holy hostas!

I love this.

Lazy Days

I have been trying hard to be productive, but it has been so hot here this week!! This heat makes me feel so sluggish and lazy!

So I've been trying to take it easy with the shades drawn, the AC on, listening to some orchestral music, and snuggling with my equally as sleepy kitty.



How can you resist him??
He is begging you to take a nap with him!!

So while I wait until my OB appointment in a few minutes (while digesting my lovely Glucola, yum!) here are a couple update pictures of the basement. It has been slow going, and I'm anxious to see it done before I have a house full of people for my baby shower on August 15th.

The cabinets are all in, and we just need to hang the doors, crown, and handles. The island is secured and pretty darn awesome! I will have lots of storage for all the fun things I plan do down there...crafts, gift wrapping, going insane from crying babies....jk on that last one!

Here is a close up of the island-there are also some shallow cabinets on the other side. Tomorrow countertops should be installed!!

Here is the beginnings of the theater room platforms. We are trying to figure out a way to rig lights underneath the steps because at the home show I totally biffed it and fell down the steps in a theater room! Granted, in that room you entered from the highest step and went down and this one you go from the lowest to the highest, but still...Scott is very concerned! The whole way home he kept talking about how our room will have lights on the steps.

It's nice to know the big guy is concerned for my safety! :o)

Gardening

Let me tell you, gardening is one of my very favorite hobbies. But, with this pregnancy I just feel like I haven't been up to it as much as I usually am. Maybe I am trying to do too much? Maybe I need better time management?

I have a whole list of projects to be done in the yard and I can't believe it is already the middle of June! One big project I wanted to accomplish this summer was the digging up and replanting of my front bed. This project was way way too much work for a pregnant lady! Trying to dig up and move huge plots of ornamental grass? Forget about it! I think we only got 2 successfully transplanted because it was such a pain. Anyway...watch for updates on that as soon as I get it finished!

Which will probably be a while, knowing me. :o)

So to hold you over, here are some photos of plants that are actually looking good right now in my yard!

Enjoy!

I got this wild coleus for a pot on my deck. I love the little bright green border that goes around the edge. Is there anything more perfect than green and purple together?

I also love the heart shaped leaves on this sweet potato vine in the same pot on my deck. What can be happier than a bunch of hearts greeting you while you water them in the morning?

This is my favorite hosta with it's wrinkly leaves. I like that it almost looks like a quilt. This was a hosta my grandma gave me out of her garden. When I planted it, it was seriously 1 leaf. But now it is probably two feet across and it even withstands my beatings with the garden hose.

Here is a different leaf on the same hosta. I love how each leaf is just a little different than the next.

One of my goals this year was to start a cutting garden in an area I have by my patio. Would you like to know the status on said garden? Barely functioning! I have two daisy plants (one of which is dying) and then I picked up this bright zinnia for about $4 at Lowes. It is so bright and happy and I know that zinnia's love hot sun so hopefully it will give me lots more flowers by the time summer is over!



How are your gardens doing this summer? Thriving, I hope!

24 Weeks

Here is a 24 week picture of me:

Yay! I got this great dress from Gap Maternity and I've been wearing it alot. It is so hard for me to find clothes that fit and look nice!

It has been humid here today and I finally turned on the AC. I just went outside to work a bit and it was unbearable!! :o( I will have to remember to do my work earlier from now on.

Home Builders Expo

Last weekend, Scott and I attended the Des Moines Home Builders Expo in Johnston. There were six houses that local builders built and the public could tour. This is always the highlight of our summer! I think this is the fourth year we've gone.

Here is the first house we looked at:

I loved these rocking chairs on the porch! Also you can see a closer up view of the exterior of the house-it was a mix of brick and stone. Neat!

When you walked into the living room there was a huge wall of windows! Wow! Also, I like the nautical details in the master bedroom. I thought it would be fitting for a lake home or vacation home.

The whole house had these little controllers in each room which did music. All the rooms had in ceiling speakers too. Very cool! Our house has wiring for a whole home surround system but...yikes. That is a lot of technology for me to handle! But, wouldn't it be great to have NPR going throughout the whole house when I am here all day by myself trying to get things done?? Yeah!

The next picture is kind of a heritage collage in the office. 1. I love photo collage. 2. I love old pictures.

Wouldn't this be great to do? I love the old map of the state of Iowa in the middle.

And here was the best part of the whole house...a pool!!!

Now, keep in mind the day we went to the home show was probably the hottest day of the summer so far and this pregnant lady was swollen and hot! Nothing looked at good to me right now as the pool. I really wanted to jump in!

Also note the "pool house" in the left of the picture. Yes...a pool house. They had a little kitchen with a big fridge and a toilet/sink in it. Pretty cool!

This part was a sun room with doors that could open up to the patio. When the doors were open you could then drop the screens so you would have a screened in porch. This was delightful! The whole time we were looking at this we kept saying, "Why didn't we think of that??"

Maybe a future addition? In like 30 years?

Ahhh....

First Day of Summer!

Today is my first day of summer vacation! It was great!!

The day started out with some plant watering and I thought it would be a nice time to take my obligatory plant pictures since it IS summer and all.

Here is pot number one with grass, coleus, sweet potato vine, creeping jenny and a little sedum. I think it will look nice once the grass grows a bit and the coleus fills out.


Close up of the creeping jenny, perhaps one of my favorite plants. So cheery!

Here is pot number two also with grass, coleus and sweet potato vine. You can barely see the coleus but I promise they will grow fast now that it is getting hot out! Also, that grass needs to settle down a bit! It's all floppy.

Activity number 2 on my first day of summer: garage sale-ing! I didn't have too much luck with finding things I wanted to buy, but I did pick up a couple pairs of fuzzy baby jammies for winter and also found this sweet jem for Scott:

You are right folks-- that is like a first edition Hyperlite wakeboard! It even had fins on the bottom like a surf board! I totally wanted to buy it, but it was 30 bucks and I knew it probably sucked so I thought a picture would be just as awesome!

Tonight we also celebrated the end of the year and our principal leaving at a local bar in town. It was a beautiful night and fun to see people cut loose after school is out.

There was a hula hoop contest and one of our teachers won! She donated her sweet prize to our principal and we all signed the back for him to take with him.


Pretty cool huh?

How was your first day of summer?

Last day of school

One of the fun things of the last day of school?



Creating the hugest putty ball after taking down all your posters!

...okay, I'll get to work now. :o)

22 weeks

22 Weeks!


From now on, my fruits/vegs will be on a monthly basis! :o( So this is for the rest of month 5! Month 5...can you believe it?? The clock is ticking and now we are on the backside of things!

Here is what baby has been up to:
Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop.

I have been feeling some movement, although my doctor said it might be a while before they feel strong because I have an anterior placenta (sounds scary, but just means it is in the front and not the back so the baby has to kick hard enough to be felt though that also...okay, enough talk about that!).

In other good news...today is the last day of school for students! They are all gone!

I still have to come back for a workday tomorrow, but still it is weird that they are all done!

It has been a great year and I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I had some wonderful students and I know they will be successful in the future! Hopefully they remember all that good stuff I taught them! :o)

It is also sad to see the staff I've worked with for four years go back into town now that our sharing agreement is over. But, it is nice knowing they won't be far away at all!

And now...time for summer!! Yay!!