Dreambaby #2 Pregnancy BUMP PHOTO! (week 33)

First of all, I just want to say this photo looks nothing like me.

33 weeks!

I mean, it is me, but it doesn’t look like me. My hair is big and it looks like I have hairy ears. Neither are true. Truly. Kenton is cute! He’s drinking milk and wearing cute “big boy” PJ’s! Look at Kenton! Kenton and the bump. Divert your attention from that random face at the top. In fact, wait… here’s a better picture…

Whew. That’s better.

In other news, this 33rd week of pregnancy is also the CRAZIEST week on my calendar… here, let’s take a peek:

• MONDAY
  • 8:00 AM – set the crockpot on low, pray it doesn’t blow up the house
  • 8:15 AM – drop Kenton off with Mom for the day
  • 8:15-9:00 – drive downtown, through traffic, for first day of teaching
  • 9:00-9:30 – drive around in circles looking for parking, start to cry
  • 9:30-10:30 – park in metered parking, rush into building, utter many curses for not throwing deodorant in purse, madly make sure everything is in order for class, see that 90% is not
  • 10:30 – race down and feed meter, stop for Braxton Hicks
  • 10:30-12:00 – teach (at least this part went well)
  • 12:00 – let kids out early, race down and feed meter, stop for more BH
  • 12:00-1:00 – try to sort out university IT issues
  • 1:15-2:00 – race to appointment
  • 2:00-3:00- appointment
  • 3:00-3:15 – race to OB office for a MINOR OF ALL MINOR issues that they asked you to “rush” in for
  • 3:15 -arrive on time for OB appointment
  • 3:50 – get called back for 3:15 appointment
  • 4:00 – race out of OB office with that “I told you so” look – RACE to meet mom at 4:00 for Kenton’s swim lesson
  • 4:15 – arrive, 15 min late, to fill out paperwork for Kenton’s first swim lesson
  • 4:29 – Jason arrives to get in the pool with Kenton
  • 4:30-5:00 – wave and blow kisses at adorable son screaming in delight throughout his swim lesson
  • 5:00-5:10 – change Kenton out of swimsuit into dry clothes, race after his naked little body that escaped (twice!) mid-change
  • 5:10-5:20 – race home
  • 5:20-6:00 – serve dinner from the crockpot to mom, Jason, yourself and Kenton (the few bites he’ll actually eat, anyway)
  • 6:00-6:15 – ride with mom to event at church
  • 6:15-7:00 – “rehearse” skit for church event, when actually there is no rehearsing – only chatter with friends you haven’t seen for a while.
  • 7:00 – panic when you see 250+ people have shown up for event and you never rehearsed your skit
  • 7:15 -7:25 – perform “skit” completely ad-libbed, find power in yourself to continue when people actually laugh
  • 7:25-8:00 – politely sit through remainder of event, try to keep eyes open while suffering utter exhaustion
  • 8:00-9:15 – attempt to leave event, but are not successful for more than an hour despite nabbing a seat near the exit, catch up with friends and mom’s friends, try to keep eyes open while suffering utter exhaustion, shift weight back and forth in desperate attempt to relieve tired/sore feet
  • 9:15-9:30 – hitch ride home from Mom
  • 9:30 – LIGHTS OUT!
  • 9:30-??? – toss and turn all night, no sleeping
• TUESDAY
• • 5:40 – wake when Kenton wakes
  • 5:40-9:00 – try to stay awake, feed Kenton, play with Kenton, chase Kenton, appease Kenton, keep Kenton from torturing the dog, cry tears of joy when he shows sure-fire signs of taking a morning nap, drink more than the allotted amount of caffeine during pregnancy, pray the baby in the belly doesn’t grow a second head
  • 9:00-10:30 – Kenton naps, madly start cleaning house for guests later that evening
  • 10:30 – wake Kenton, put a smoothie under his nose because you forgot to wake him earlier and actually give him a decent snack
  • 10:40 – load Kenton (with smoothie) into car, drive to gym
  • 10:55 – drop Kenton off in childcare, celebrate the fact he actually waves bye-bye now and doesn’t cry
  • 11:00 – see an old friend and catch up for a few
  • 11:10 – show up ten minutes late for personal training. WHOOPSIES.
  • 11:10-12:00 – have butt squarely kicked by personal trainer, beg her to stop torture, give the evil eye when she laughs
  • 12:00-12:15 – limp to locker room, change clothes, deodorant (no shower, because… nah…), realize you have a crazy craving for Chic-Fil-A, also realize you left wallet at home.
  • 12:15-12:30 – rescue Kenton from child care, race home, grab wallet, head to Chic-Fil-A
  • 12:30-1:00 – satisfy craving, snicker watching Kenton blow kisses at little girls, tolerate the guy one table over telling you how your life is going to be hell for the next FIVE YEARS because your kids will be so close together
  • 1:00-1:30 – grocery shop, stop every 10 seconds, roughly, for old ladies to ogle over Kenton
  • 1:30 – hit up McDonald’s drive through for a chocolate shake, because… heck… you had a hard workout and fried chicken just didn’t cut it
  • 2:00 – get home, catch Kenton rubbing his eyes, celebrate the early arrival of the afternoon nap
  • 2:10 – put Kenton down for nap, lay down yourself and attempt to rest
  • 2:15-3:00 – lay down with eyes closed listening to Kenton alternate between playing and screaming bloody murder on the monitor
  • 3:00 – give up hope of afternoon nap
  • 3:00-4:30 – entertain Kenton, simultaneously attempt to clean house for impending guest arrival
  • 4:30-7:00 – smother husband with kisses when he gets home early to mop the floor for you, feed family leftovers, bathe Kenton, hand Kenton to husband, half-heartedly attempt to freshen up
  • 7:00-9:00 – welcome guests, entertain, eat dessert (they brought – because you’ve learned you just can’t do it all), try to keep eyes open while suffering utter exhaustion
  • 9:00 – say goodbye to last guest, race upstairs, LIGHTS OUT
  • 9:00-??? – toss and turn, no sleep (2nd night in a row!)
• TODAY
• • 5:00 – wake before Kenton
  • 5:00-6:00 – get ready
  • 6:00-6:30 – Kenton wakes, demands silly things like attention, diaper change and food – attend to those needs
  • 6:30 – Mom arrives to take care of him, offer instructions for the day
  • 6:45-7:15 – leave house, race to Starbucks, race to friend’s house
  • 7:15 – meet at friend’s house, help load car, offer outfit advice for her upcoming TV appearance
  • 7:30-8:00 – drive to TV station
  • 8:00-9:00 – prep kitchen for her segment on local TV show, offer last minute advice, remind host you used to work with her when you were just out of college, warmly accept host’s blank stare as a compliment you weren’t too much trouble back then
  • 9:00-10:00 – silently cheer on friend from off-camera as she rocks the house during her segments, take photo during commercial break:
• 
  • 10:00-10:20 – madly drive to campus, pray parking will suddenly appear
  • 10:20 – find metered parking, race to class
  • 10:30-12:15 – teach
  • 12:15 – run down to feed meter, stop for Braxton Hicks
  • 12:15-2:15 – work in office on campus
  • 2:15-2:45 – drive back to ‘hood
  • 2:45 – bang trim appointment
  • 3:00-4:00 – race home, work on this here blog post
  • 4:15 – meet mom for Kenton’s swim lesson
  • 4:30-5:00 – take Kenton through swim lesson #2
  • 5:00-5:10 – change him, hope no naked escape attempts occur
  • 5:15-6:30 – dinner out with family
  • 6:30 – put Kenton to bed, follow accordingly
  • 6:30-???? – sleep like a baby

Sheesh. No wonder I’m EXHAUSTED.

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Dreambaby #2 Pregnancy BUMP PHOTO! (week 32)

Okay, so here’s the rushed picture taken eight minutes before my OB appointment this morning, after I had been up and down all night with Kenton, who has a fever…

32 weeks!

Sorry. It’s the best I could do.

Because I feel compelled to prove myself… here’s the fever log evidence from last night and this morning:

Good times. Felt like practice for the newborn I’ll have in my arms in about eight SHORT weeks. Speaking of… after the OB appointment… I ran across the street to the hospital to do this…

It’s starting to all sink in… this baby will actually be arriving soon, despite my denying how close his/her due date is on the calendar. (It’s officially, October 17, 2012… but we’re really hoping for 10/11/12… wouldn’t that be an awesome birthday?!)

Anyway, we’re at the 32 week mark, less than two months to go. I’m feeling great – aside from my possibly broken toe from getting up/down so much last night – stubbing it on something in the dark was bound to happen. Even spotting this IN THE EXAM ROOM OF MY OB OFFICE (!) didn’t really bother me…

Really? In an OB OFFICE?!

It probably didn’t bother me too much because I (finally) maintained my weight gain this checkup. My doctor was really happy – as was I. Apparently, all of that working out is paying off! Whew!

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Staycation

Sometimes, all you need is 24 hours and a few miles.

Jason and I left Kenton with my parents overnight for the first time this weekend. And… we escaped down the road a bit to a local resort – The Camelback Inn. It was only for one night – and the drive took less than 20 minutes, but that was all we needed. We came back refreshed and relaxed. Ahhh….

We also finally got to visit a restaurant I’ve wanted to try for about five years…

La Grande Orange pizzeria. I’ve heard so many great things about this place – but, for one reason or another, we never made it there. Well, our hotel wasn’t too far – so we stopped by for dinner on Saturday night. Isn’t is awesome when a place lives up to the hype? That pizza in the top, right of the picture, is possibly the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. Roasted corn (with goat cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil) for me. Gladiator (with lots of different manly meats) for Jason, who also found a new favorite beer (bottom left – where you’ll also see a glimpse of their famous pimento dip that was TO.DIE.FOR). YUM. We loved it so much, we actually went back the next day for lunch – and ordered the same pizza. It’s a good thing we don’t live closer, we’d probably eat pizza everyday. We also perused their gift shop and picked up a little present for the new baby. 🙂

We spent some more time window shopping and gelato-savoring…

Don’t tell my doctor.

We even did something we rarely do now that we have a kid…

And I was inspired to try life as a spy.

Good times. Good much-needed times. And the kid survived! He actually cried tears of joy when he saw us (or maybe he was just sad to leave Grandma?!)… nope, tears of joy.

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Dreambaby #2 Pregnancy BUMP PHOTO! (week 31)

31 weeks. 9 weeks left. 9 – that’s a single digit, folks!

Also, this post is a day late, this photo was taken a day late, I’m basically a day late in life right now:

31 weeks (and one day)!

I’d like to title this series of photos: “Self portrait of huge pregnant lady, who is also mom of a toddler who took a break from practicing rhythmic gymnastics to show us, ‘Where’s the baby?’ resulting in awkward shot of him lifting up his mom’s shirt but she put it on the Internet anyway.” Or, something like that.

You already know that I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is going, I’m tired, I’m treasuring these few weeks alone with Kenton, I need more energy, I’m (still) working on getting the Dream ready for this baby, yadayadayada… Really there’s nothing else to add about this pregnancy right now.

So, I thought I’d an offer an update on how I’m doing in general.

Honestly, I’m in the best spot I’ve been in in years – possibly ever. I’m so enjoying the time I’m spending with Kenton. I’m still working through some emotions regarding my job loss a few months ago – but am incredibly grateful (increasingly so) that I’m no longer exposed to a toxic environment every day. My home is a very happy place these days and I love it.

I also love that I’m going back to work in just a couple of weeks! Yep. I’ll be teaching a class at Arizona State University this fall: Television Reporting. I’ve taught that class a few times before (I’ve been a Faculty Associate at ASU since 2008). However, I’ve never taught it during the day and I’ve never had a baby in the middle of the semester. INTERESTING. I hope my little future reporters are flexible and understanding!

I must admit, my water breaking mid-lecture is a growing fear. Wouldn’t that be… “memorable.” (…Sigh…)

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Bike Wheel Olympic Rings

I’ve been excited to share this project with you for MONTHS. No, it hasn’t been done for months, it’s been done for about five minutes. The closing ceremonies are on Sunday, so I kind-of waited until the last minute to actually do this project… but it’s been in my head for months.

Oh gosh, do those wheels make me happy.

As you know, we’ve been working on Kenton’s “big boy” room. It is going to have a cycling theme. So, I’ve been tossing around different ideas using bike parts in the room. I got this idea a while back and Jason initially tried to talk me out of it. Where would I get bike wheels? You’ll have to buy a whole bike (three bikes!) and just use the wheels? This could get expensive, quick. Yikes!

So, imagine my DELIGHT when I stumbled upon these beauties at my local thrift store…

Three bikes. $4.99 each. WHAT?! I know. You know what’s even better? I had a $10 off coupon. So, I got all three bikes for $5. YESITSTRUE. They all happen to be the same brand and size. The gal at the register guessed I was pregnant with triplet girls. I quite enjoyed telling here there was just one baby in my belly and these bikes were about to get stripped for an art project for my son’s room. Yep, she was confused.

I got home and could barely contain my excitement as I showed Jason what I found. He was impressed! You need to understand, Jason is a cyclist. but not only does he ride a bike for exercise and fun – it’s also his main hobby. He loves scouring eBay for deals on bikes and bike parts. Many times, he’s purchased incredible bikes for way below retail, stripped them and re-sold the parts via eBay for a hefty profit. We have an ongoing agreement… I don’t care if he spends $2,000, $3,000 or even $5,000 on a bike if he’s sure he can turn a profit off of it. He always does.

So, I had the right guy on my team to strip these girls down to just what I needed.

bike guts

6th wheel

That, my friends is the 6th wheel. I’m saving her for another fun project in the room – but you can see there the toughest parts to remove (thanks to rusty bolts) – the axel, bearings and cog. Once Jason was able to get those off, there was a ton of grease in that middle hole. We spent a couple of days going through cycles of spraying them down with degreaser, wiping, rinsing, letting them dry – before we felt they were ready for the next step…

The first step, once the wheels are successfully naked from all unnecessary parts, spray them down with primer.

Once they’re dry, which takes no time at all here in Arizona, you’re ready to apply the individual ring colors.

Since the Olympic colors are not colors I’m using anywhere else in this room, I opted for Krylon’s Short Cuts, mini spray paint cans:

Aren’t they cute?

Krylon, by the way, didn’t pay me for this post. I just researched spray paint and thought this product would be best. It worked out well. I had more than enough paint for each wheel. I also shopped around for the best price on these puppies, which I found at Hobby Lobby:

Two of the colors were $3.47 and the other three were $3.27. Not sure why red and yellow were more expensive, but still – that was the best price I found.

So, the obvious next step is to start painting the wheels/rings…

The front/back was easy. The sides, however, were a little tricky. At first, I thought the middle hole would fit over a wine or beer bottle, but they were a little small. So, I jerry-rigged three beer bottles through the spokes to hold the wheels just far enough off the ground that I could spray the entire side in one try.

Bonus – after, you have artsy painted beer bottles (which went straight back into the recycling bin!).

With all sides of the wheels painted…

I let them dry for a few hours. Again, the Arizona summer “dry” heat is fantastic for fast drying. It’s not fantastic for late-term pregnancy, but I digress.

Once they were ready, we did a quick Google image consult to check the proper order… then we simply nailed them to the wall, really close together.

Since Kenton’s big boy room is not ready for these rings yet, they are being temporarily housed in the playroom. Before we move them, we’ll be looking at different methods of hanging. This isn’t necessarily the most secure – especially for a curious little boy! Anyway, here’s what they look like right now in the playroom… so you can see the size….

Yes, that’s my little “Made in the USA” future Olympian down there chasing a ball…

We’re hoping he goes for the gold someday in cycling – but his current obsession with balls may indicate another sport interest. We shall see.

Okay, here’s the budget breakdown for this project:

Bikes = $5 ($4.99 each with a $10 off coupon)

Spray paint primer = Already had

Mini spray paints = $16.75

TOTAL = $21.75

Crazy, right?!

What do you think?! Anybody else do an Olympic-theme DIY project this week?

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Dreambaby #2 Pregnancy BUMP PHOTO! (week 30)

So, here we are… 30 weeks.

30 weeks!

I cannot believe there are only 10 weeks (roughly) left of this pregnancy. IT’S NOT ENOUGH! Where do I sign up for the elephant gestational phase of two years? Because that’s approximately how much time I need to get everything done. 😦

Obviously, I’m kidding. Who really wants to turn into an elephant when they already feel like one? I tell ya, I’m exhausted. It’s taking everything in me these days to stay vertical and try to get things accomplished. That’s another reason I’m glad I signed up for a personal trainer. That accountability is crucial for me right now.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts on what I really love (and presumably why you stop by this corner of the Internet). I have a lot to show you, but I’d rather sleep than write a blog post. Just sayin’. However, I have one project up my sleeve that is Olympic-related, which means I need to GET IT DONE and show it to you soon. I’m really excited about it! Stay tuned…

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Dreambaby #2 Pregnancy BUMP PHOTO! (week 29)

Ready to head out to Mom’s Night Out with Scottsdale Mom’s Blog last night…

29 weeks!

No, the kid did not come. It was MOM’s night out. 😉

Remember how I kept lamenting about the lack of movement with this bambino in utero? Well he/she’s made up for it. Holy cow. Constant flips, kicks and general partying in my belly. I love it.

I do not love my legs right now. They’ve blown up with purple, ugly veins. In fact, I bought my first pair of maternity support hoes yesterday. I’ll need those for a cross-country flight I’m taking tomorrow (more on that in a minute…). I’m not excited about having to wear pants and/or long skirts the rest of the Arizona summer. This is a new symptom for me with this pregnancy. My legs did just fine last time around. Grr…

Not sure if it’s related, but I am working out a TON. I love it. We joined a gym and I’ve been doing water aerobics about three times a week. I’ve also decided to take the plunge and get a trainer. I’m going to work out with her twice a week up to the delivery. The hope is that she’ll help whip me into shape (as much shape as my beach-ball-body can get in) to prep for a VBAC… and that, in turn, will help me bounce back faster this time around. I’ll do a post about my birth plan another day… but yes, I’m going for the VBAC! Wish me luck.

Now… I’m off to our nation’s capitol. I’m speaking at a conference there this weekend. Jason will be on his own with Kenton. They’ll be fine (RIGHT?!). I’m looking forward to working again, even if it’s just for two days – and having some “me” time (to be honest). I’ll have hours of reading time on my direct flights… a whole bed to my big-belly self… cable TV… and will also get to see some friends and family. And… I may even have time to catch up on some blogging! I am WAY behind… we’ve done a few projects I’m excited to tell you about!

PS – My dear friend Robyn is also pregnant with #2 and wrote a spot-on blog post about the awesomeness (not) of pregnancy. Check it out here. 

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