Fun with Isaiah

I was using PhotoBooth today at the studio to keep Isaiah happy. Fun happened.

26 Weeks

How far along? 26 weeks
Weight gain: 21 pounds
Baby is the size of a(n): Eggplant
Food cravings/aversions: Cereal is awesome. And chocolate.
Sleeping: As everyone keeps telling me, Bentley's preparing me for little sleep after he's born by kicking while I'm trying to sleep and keeping me up. Especially in the mornings. He's gonna be a morning person like his dad.
Milestones: Bending over is officially difficult. Some of my regular t-shirts that I bum around in during the evenings are too short. And I visited our daycare this week! I felt like it was my first "mom thing" to do. We're having daycare two days a week so that I can hopefully get some work done at the studio. I don't want full-time daycare because I don't think I could handle being away from the little dude that much. We'll see how it goes! The daycare seems like it's going to be great, we know the couple - her hubby teaches 2nd grade at Adam's school, and she has a degree in early childhood education, so I'm pretty pumped about it!
Weird things I read online: Baby weighs about 2 pounds and normal weight gain for mom by this point is 16-22 pounds, and I'm in that range. Woohoo! And Bentley's eyes are starting to open this week. Weird. I wonder if he can see anything other than darkness?
Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: For the past week and a half, I've been getting pains at the top of my uterus that feel kind of like a bruise. They only happen if I'm standing or walking for an extended period of time, but it still made me a little nervous. I called my doctor and they said it sounded like normal stretching/expanding pains, but that the top of my uterus is probably more sensitive to it because of the surgery I had, which makes sense. I'm thinking of investing in one of those belly supporter things for when I have to photograph weddings because the pain tends to go away if I lift or support my belly with my hands.
Things I'm struggling with trying to decide this week: cloth diapers (though I think we'll end up doing disposable), vaccinations, using the BirthCare Center or the hospital, epidural vs. no epidural. So many decisions.

My Lazy Boys

Just wanted to share a couple super cute photos of the boys. This was one morning when they were not ready to get out of bed.

The big guy got a bath this weekend, and his daddy decided to use my conditioner on his fur. He's the softest cuddler ever now!

I forgot to take a belly photo again today. It was kinda a busy day at the studio...so I will try to remember tomorrow.

And lastly, Adam and I are on a strict budget since we got slammed with taxes, so we've been eating in for all our meals. I cooked the past two nights in a row! I don't know if that's ever happened before. Wowow.

Eggplant

Lindsey makes me wallpapers for my computer according to what size the baby is, using that size of fruit/veggie, whatever. The one she made for the eggplant is pretty cute:

AND...this time next week, I'll be in my THIRD trimester! How crazy is that?

Love Story: Part 8

It sounds exhausting now, but somehow, Adam and I found a way to see each other every weekend while I was at K-State.

I became so comfortable with that two-hour drive, stopping in Abilene for gas and a Dr. Pepper, singing my heart out to Incubus (strangely, my favorite band). I started to know the landmarks, if I didn't make it to the bright red barn by such-and-such a time, I was driving too slow.

There was one time that I remember so vividly. I'd been having a bad week. It was Wednesday or Thursday, and I wasn't going to be able to see Adam til the weekend. Talking to him on the phone just wasn't enough. I was walking back from class one day, and as I rounded the corner to my dorm, I looked up, and Adam was sitting on the porch of my dorm, waiting for me. He'd brought supper. He needed to get back, so he didn't stay more than 10 minutes.

He spent 4 hours in a car for 10 minutes of time with me, just because I was having a bad week.

Ohhhhhh....I just had to marry this man.

November of my freshman year was our 2 year anniversary. I still couldn't believe I'd made it two whole years in a relationship. Whoa.

I came back to Wichita for the event, and we got all dressed up and went out to eat at a super fancy restaurant. Adam gave me a little silver necklace with a cross, and once again, he must have good taste in jewelry because I still wear it every day. I even wrapped it around my bouquet stems at our wedding because I wanted it close (but couldn't wear it since it didn't go with my dress...).

I'm sitting here, wracking my brain as to what else we did on that anniversary, and I can't remember. So I got online to ask Adam if he remembered, and his response? "I think that was the anniversary that I took you on a surprise trip to Russia."

I can always count on him. :)

After the holidays, Adam's family invited me on a vacation to Florida. I was SO excited. I still remember the dates. January 4-11, 2004. So much uninterrupted time with my man! It was going to be awesome.

Our flight got in to Florida late that evening, and Adam and I planned a short detour trip down to the Everglades to go camping with his brother and his wife. We drove all through the night. We finally got to our spot, set up the tent, and it was miserable. Muggy, hot, mosquitoey. Ugh. Adam tried to take a nap in the tent, but there was no way I could sleep in that miserable-ness. He was unsuccessful too, so he got up and we decided to take a little boat tour on the river. That was awesome. We saw all kinds of crocodiles (or alligators...I don't know the difference) and took lots of pictures. By the time we were done with our tour and got back to camp, the decision was made to forget the Everglades and head back to Orlando, where the rest of the family was staying (in comfortable, air-conditioned rooms).

We spend the next several days having an AMAZING time. We stayed in a condo that was all decked out and had a jacuzzi tub. We went to Universal Studios and Disney World. We visited the beach and attempted getting in the cold cold water. We even went to some dinner show about pirates and I got to compete in the show and have my picture taken with a pirate!

(I had to throw this picture in...look how skinny I was! I just can't believe it. This will be my motivation photo after the baby's born, I think.)

After heading back home from our trip, we had a blissful, event-free year. I came home for the summer and got a job doing lawn care/maintenance for a nursing home, while taking college classes in the evenings. Adam worked for the City of Wichita and saved every penny so he could graduate debt-free, so that when we got married, we wouldn't have that burden.

Oh yes, we were talking marriage by this point. You know how you just know? We just knew. There was no one else. Everyone said we were too young.

What did they know.

In the fall of 2004, I moved back to Manhattan. It was really hard, once again. And once again, we began our weekly trips back and forth. I lived in an apartment with 4 other girls. My best friend Rachael (you should remember her by now!) lived with me, and her boyfriend lived 2 hours away in Kansas City. So we bonded over our long distance love and nightly phone calls. She ended up marrying him too. :)

Many of you know that I'm a wedding photographer, and the story of how that all came about plays into our love story a little bit. At the end of my freshman year, before I came back home for the summer, I was trying to think of a cool summer job. I was an art major and wanted to do something that I could put on my resume.

I had a random thought: wedding photographers would need extra help during the summer since that's their busy time, right?

So when I got home that summer, I went through the Wichita yellow pages and called just about every photographer, asking if they needed help for the summer.

No one did.

But a few of them kept my info, just in case things changed.

I ended up with the lawn care gig that summer. Not so much art-related, but we all pay our dues.

Fast forward. It's January, 2005. I get a call from a Wichita photographer, asking if I'm still interested in a job. I said YES! I was already driving back to Wichita every weekend to see Adam, so I could just work while I was there and then keep that job for the summer. She wanted to meet me, see a portfolio.

I happened to be taking a darkroom photography class at K-State that semester, and I'd been getting all A's. My teacher loved me. His name was Adam. So I asked this teacher-Adam to help me put together a portfolio of my best work. I was so nervous...this was a job in the creative industry! I just HAD to get it.

That week before my weekend trip home for the interview was a tough one for Adam and I. I don't remember the exact issue, but we were fighting. I think the distance was just wearing on us and I was being a stupid girl and saying stupid girl things. The phone call the night before I was to come home didn't go well. I told him that I was so mad at him, I didn't even want to come home at all that weekend.

"But you have that interview this weekend, you have to come home, right?" Adam says.

"I guess. I'll just talk to you later." Hmph.

The next day, after I finished classes, I began my drive back to Wichita. I was still in a bad mood, still being a stupid girl. I called Rachael.

"Adam's making me so mad, and now I have to spend the weekend with him, and act like nothing's wrong, and I just don't even want to drive these whole two hours..." and I'm just an annoying, oblivious, dumb girl.

"But you have that interview this weekend, you have to go home, right?" Rachael says.

"I guess. I'll talk to you when I get back." Hmph.

I spent Friday evening with Adam and was reminded why I loved him. It really was the distance that was getting to us. Once again, I was the stupid girl who insisted on living so far away from the most amazing man ever. It's always my fault somehow. (Don't tell Adam I said that.)

Saturday morning, February 5, was my big interview. I got dressed up, arrived early and drove around the neighborhood so I wouldn't be TOO early. The interview went well...the photographer's only concern: me living in Manhattan and coming back every weekend to Wichita. I assured her that I came back nearly every weekend anyway, since my boyfriend lived here. "Well, what if you two break up?" she asks. "Not going to happen," I say.

She didn't get it. He wasn't just my boyfriend. No one got it. Boyfriend wasn't the right word for what we had. That had annoyed me for awhile. People who'd been dating a week and barely knew each other were called boyfriend/girlfriends. We had so much more than that. Dumb. Whatever.

Adam and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening together. As I walked out the door of my parents house that afternoon to head over to Adam's, my dad was sitting on the couch, and he asked what our plans for the evening were. He had a peculiar grin on his face. I told him I didn't know, probably just the usual dinner and renting a movie or something. I left.

At Adam's, we did plan to go out to dinner, and I was getting hungry early. I kept bugging Adam.

"Where are we going to eat? Can we go now?"

"Not yet Gina. Just hang on."

"But I'm huuuuuungry. Let's just go. Why can't we go?"

Fine. We finally went. Little did I know that that particular evening would change the rest of my life. Change the course of history. :) Adam would no longer just be my "boyfriend."

To be continued...

25 Weeks

How far along? 25 weeks
Weight gain: Okay, here goes...whoo whoo (those were deep breaths)...20 pounds.
Baby is the size of a(n): Eggplant
Food cravings/aversions: While in Branson, I was loving sweet potato fries and pizza. Since I've been home, I've been trying to eat healthier, and my turkey sandwiches and carrots for lunch have actually been really good! Plus I've discovered sugar-free chocolate Snack Packs. YUM.
Sleeping: Still not the greatest, but it could be worse.
Milestones: Adam's able to feel the baby move a lot easier now. Since last Friday, he's felt him quite a few times. I've also been having a lot of back pain (which was inevitable because I've always had a weak back), so I've been seeing a chiropractor. We'll see if it helps. He told me I shouldn't use a heating pad, which was the only thing that was helping! Bummer.
Weird things I read online: He's starting to prefer one hand or the other - so he's already becoming a lefty or a righty!
Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: There was one evening where I felt like my belly was almost vibrating. I kinda wonder if he had hiccups. I haven't felt it since, so I still don't know for sure. It's really becoming more evident how big he's getting because I'll feel him move on both sides of my belly. He also doesn't like it when things encroach in his space. Like if I'm too close to my desk and it's digging into my belly, or if I have my laptop (or a dog) on my lap and part-ways on my belly, he starts kicking it.

Sorry Mom

I forgot to take a belly photo yesterday.

It was kind of a hectic day...Adam and I finally went to Babies R Us to finish registering, and then I finally had a photo shoot! It'd been too long since I'd done any shooting, and I had a great engagement session.

Anyway...I will take one today and post it ASAP! :)

Branson Babymoon

I'd never been to Branson before. It was...interesting, for sure. I thought it'd at least be a somewhat normal town, but nope! Tourist Capital, USA. Lights, signs, billboards, food, and TRAFFIC. So we did Branson Adam-and-Gina-style and probably skipped out on the things most people go for. But we had a great time! Which is what counts.

We left Sunday afternoon and after we hit Aurora, MO, our GPS took us some funky way that ended up being very cool. Very scenic, lots of hills. We got to our hotel, which was a Lodge around 7pm and checked in. It seemed dead. No one was anywhere, not in the hotel, not on the roads. We realized we'd come in the off-season. Plus, it was a Sunday night, probably not a big night for all the crazies.

We headed out to find a restaurant and, unbeknownst to us, went the wrong direction. We found one non-chain restaurant, so that was where we ate. It was BBQ and also very dead. Our food wasn't fantastic, but we got some really good blackberry cobbler for dessert. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and I put on my maternity swimsuit for the first time (what fun that was). Adam's face said it all when he saw me in it. Beached whale maybe? We went to the hot tub and since preggos aren't allowed in hot tubs, I just put my legs in. We don't need documentation of the maternity swimsuit, so here's our hotel room. Looks a little 80s, but it was actually pretty nice. It even had a jacuzzi tub that I used but the jets were placed in strange places that weren't conducive to a back massage. :(

The next morning, we slept in a little, but the little guy isn't letting me sleep in a ton these days. He needed a restroom and FOOD. I soon discovered that our hotel did NOT have breakfast. GASP! I was cranky. We quickly showered and headed out to find breakfast. After Adam's first restaurant choice - Dockers, was closed, we found another little dive that had a buffet. Mmmm...french toast.

Our next stop was the Titanic Museum. We went on a 90-minute self-guided tour with headsets that had audio clips about different things. It was very interesting and very sad. The museum was located inside a building built to look like the ship, in half-scale. So we got to use the Grand Staircase! We touched an iceberg, and felt what 28 degree water is like...you could time how long you could keep your hand in it, and I didn't last long. It was crazy to learn all about what happened with the sinking and the timeline of how it all took place. Also crazy to see items that were recovered from the ship. Didn't realize we were about to get run over in this photo...

Next up was the Hollywood Wax Museum. We had...a little too much fun here. When you first go inside, they make you stand in this scene that looks like you're being crushed in the grip of King Kong and they take your picture. The guy taking the pictures kept trying to get people to scream out loud, like they were really being taken by King Kong. Everyone was too cool to actually do it. Everyone except my husband. On the count of 3, he screamed at the top of his lungs and even made a few people in the line jump. Way to go. We didn't buy the photo though. But we got lots of others!

 

 

After all that crazy fun, it was time for a late lunch. We went to McFarlain's, a restaurant that advertised sweet potato fries. I'm a sweet potato fry NUT. I could probably eat them every day. They were amazing.

Next we went to see the Alps, an IMAX movie. It was really cool, it was a documentary about a guy who was determined to climb the Eiger mountain because his dad had died trying to do that 40 years earlier. There were lots of crazy shots from the top of the mountain and flying over it. Sweet.

My baby (I like being able to blame everything on him) needed a nap after all that, so we headed back to the hotel and I slept awhile, while Adam enjoyed cable tv (which we don't have at home). We made another trip to the hot tub and got in the pool too. The pool was very heated, the perfect temperature, and felt great on my aches and pains.

After we changed and got ready, we headed out to find pizza. That was what I wanted. We found pizza, but it was not good. Think Cici's but about 10 times worse, inside an arcade, mini golf course, and kiddie play area. GROSS. Oh well, it was pizza.

 

Then we headed back to the IMAX theater to see the new Matt Damon movie, Green Zone on the giant screen. Sounds like a good plan, right? BAD idea. If you haven't seen this, it's filmed as if the guy holding the camera is just walking around, not stabilized on anything. Which might be okay on a regular screen. But on this giant screen, and for a person like me who gets motion sickness relatively easily, this was not a good combo. I got so nauseous and sweaty, I kept having to look away. As soon as I'd look back, it would start all over again. Since we were in the middle of a row of people, I didn't want to make a scene of leaving, so I laid my head back, closed my eyes, and took a nap. One of the advantages to being pregnant: being able to fall asleep almost anywhere. I got a pretty good nap in, and Adam woke me up when it was over. 

We left Tuesday morning to head back and had a pretty uneventful trip home. Which was good! I love road trips, and I had a heating pad going for my aching back, so we were set. When we got home, I picked up the puppies from Adam's parents (thanks for dog-sitting), and Axl has been glued to my side ever since. He's such a big fat mama's boy, but I like it, so it's okay. :)

One more thing checked off the pre-baby checklist...and I'm nearing the third trimester. Weird!!

Weight...Ugh

I'm going to be brutally honest: I'm totally struggling with the whole weight gaining thing. I've heard such a wide variety as to what's "normal" to gain when you're pregnant, but every time I get on the scale, the number blows me away. I've heard people say 'wait til the end...you'll be gaining a pound a week!' but I feel like I'm already doing that! Maybe more! I'm not eating crazily, but I'm not watching calories either.

And then I struggle with the fact that I'm being selfish. Gaining weight is good for the baby, so I shouldn't be so superficial about it. It's just such a hard feeling to get rid of when you've been viewing weight gain as a bad thing for the past 10 years!

Help me out here...if you've been pregnant, please leave me a comment to let me know how much weight you've gained. I've heard from women who've gained 15 pounds and women who've gained 50. What about you?

And yes! We're back from the babymoon. It was great. Lots of photos to come, hopefully sometime tomorrow.

24 Weeks

How far along? 24 weeks
Weight gain: I don't want to talk about it.
Baby is the size of a(n): Ear of corn, foot-long hot dog
Food cravings/aversions: Loving oatmeal for breakfast lately. I don't know that I've really had any actual cravings. Maybe Dr. Pepper. But I always crave that. I've been eating a lot of salad for lunch, and I might be developing an aversion to that.
Sleeping: Not a fun time. I got sick this week, which has made it even worse because I couldn't breathe through my nose and had a really sore throat. Plus hip pain and back pain...I finally took some Tylenol PM one night, which helped, but I hate that medicated-drowsy feeling.
Milestones: I've been looking forward to this week for a long time! FINALLY, at 24 weeks...if baby was (God forbid) born now, there's a chance he'd be able to survive in the real world. It'd be a lot of hospital time, but this gives me some peace of mind even so!
Weird things I read online: His eyes and ears are fully developed, so he now has a sense of equilibrium and knows if he's upside down or right-side up. Though, he's running out of flipping room in there, so he'll probably just have to be content with kicking me (which he's doing a lot of). He weighs 1 1/3 pounds and will gain half a pound in the next week!
Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: We had the super cool sonogram. I still haven't been able to play the video because the DVD we got won't work on a Mac. So Adam will have to mess with it on his school computer. I'm also having some near-constant back pain, so the heating pad has become my new best friend. But on the awesome side, I've seen my belly move on its own quite a few times. One night, Adam came in the house to find me sitting on the couch staring at my moving belly. He came over and poked Bentley and then Bentley poked him back!

Our Little Movie Star

One of our close friends, Ryan, does echo cardiograms for a living. At his office, they also have sonogram machines, and so he offered to do one for us after hours. We headed over to his office last night and got to see little Bentley! (That's his stage name until we can tell you all his real name.)

Ryan took several photos and even recorded parts of the sonogram so we can see him moving around. I'm pretty sure he was sleeping most of the time because he didn't move nearly as much as he did at the 18-week sono. We caught him sucking his thumb, curling up and stretching out, and flexing his little bicep for us. That was hilarious. The weirdest part was seeing him kick me on the screen, and feeling it in my belly at the same time.

We saw the umbilical cord which I think Bentley was playing with, and it looked like intestines all curled up...kinda gross. Adam even got to sonogram me for awhile, but he just kept trying to poke the little guy with the wand to wake him up. :) The photos aren't super clear, but here are a few anyway. Thanks so much Ryan! And thanks for coming along Melinda!

His amazingly handsome profile. And I think that thing in front of his face is the umbilical cord, not an arm.

Here's another cute little profile shot with his top lip sticking out. I love that!

And here's a shot of him flexing for us. His arm is on the left and his leg is on the right - his back is to us.

Saturday Excitement

Nikia and Sam's little boy Isaiah had his first birthday party!

And Ryan and Kelsi got engaged and we attended their engagement party right after he proposed!

23 Weeks

I can't tell you how much I wanted to Liquify (make skinnier - for all you Photoshop illiterates) my fat arm. But for the sake of keepin it real, I didn't. Hmph.


How far along? 23 weeks
Weight gain: 15 pounds. Ish. I had a giant weight gain this month and it's freaking me out. Salads for lunch from here on out...
Baby is the size of a(n): Papaya, still. One website said he's the length of a Harry Potter book...yessss!
Food cravings/aversions: Eating a lot of cereal, and drinking a lot of grape juice. Pizza always sounds good. And I've been giving in to my craving for Dr Pepper from Sonic - the styrofoam cup, the awesome ice...mmmmm. Don't judge.
Sleeping: Tossing and turning a lot. This belly needs support when I'm laying down. Had a crazy dream last night about photographing a wedding and my camera battery dying during the middle of the processional. Ugh! There was another dream that his nursery was being decorated in purple checkerboard and frogs.
Milestones: I don't think there were any. Movement is becoming more definite. Sometimes instead of just poking me, it's like he'll kick his foot out and hold it there. It's weird. My belly was measuring ahead at my appointment this week, and according to our sonogram from last month, baby would be due June 29 instead of July 3 (my official due date). I'm hoping for a June baby!
Weird things I read online: He can suck his thumb (and not just put it in his mouth like he had been). His skin is developing faster than his fat, so he has old man saggy skin. :)
Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: I got nothin. This was an anti-climatic week. Which is probably good. :) Stay in there, happy and healthy, little boy! Well, here's something, though it's not baby related. We went to see Wolfman this past weekend with some friends and it was HORRIBLE. Don't go see it. On my top 10 worst movies ever list.