27 Week Pregnancy Update

I can't believe I am officially in my 3rd trimester! Here I am at 27 weeks pregnant, looking mighty huge. I actually don't feel like my belly has grown much this month, but you should hear the comments everyone is making about it! You'd think I was carrying triplets, the way people have been exclaiming over the size of my bump.

My belly always sticks out a lot when I'm pregnant, maybe because of weight gain, maybe because I have an extremely short torso, maybe because that's just how my pregnant body looks. I don't really get offended by the comments, but it does get old hearing them. Just for fun, here I am at 28 weeks pregnant with Ryan:

And 28 weeks pregnant with Lucas:

And another fun comparison: Big Ryan, Little Lucas

And Little Ryan!

I did my 1-hour glucose test this week and everything went fine.  (With the exception of my veins being so small they had to draw the blood from my hand. Ouch! Then my blood just stopped coming out altogether so the tech had to dig around in my hand for a while to get enough blood. Double ouch!) My blood sugar level one hour after drinking 50 grams of glucose was a healthy 81.

Not much else to report this week. No real food cravings or other symptoms. I'm just feeling achy and old and tired, but that's pretty normal these days.

Watsonville Beach Vacation

Last Tuesday we packed up and headed to Watsonville for a mini beach vacation! We rented a house near the beach with my sister and her family. We shared the house for 3 nights and had a lot of fun playing and relaxing (as much as you can relax when you're on vacation with your kids!).

 

We were the first ones to arrive. We scoped out the house.....

 And then immediately headed down to the beach. It was freezing!

I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The beach was deserted, so it was just the 4 of us enjoying the overcast beach. At one point a bunch of dolphins swam by! Here is a video of the boys getting acquainted with the water.

The next day all of us (4 adults and 7 kids) packed up lunches and headed down to the beach for 4 hours. It was overcast and windy but slightly warmer than the previous day.

At one point the dolphins swam by again, and we even think we spotted a whale way out in the ocean. There were a few other people on the beach but we pretty much had it to ourselves.

A couple of the kids buried Josh in the sand....

 So naturally Lucas tried to bury himself.

Unfortunately we were pretty dumb and didn't really cover ourselves up with sunscreen. My boys didn't burn at all, but most of the rest of us did. That night was a very uncomfortable night of sleep.

The next day we were too burned to return to the beach. So we drove a short distance to see the redwoods! My parents had joined us by this point.

We did the 1-mile loop through the redwood trees.

Lucas started off on his Daddy and cousin Josh's shoulders.....

Then switched to a back carrier....

And finally he fell asleep in my arms while I carried him through the forest. He was heavy but the surroundings were really nice and peaceful, so it wasn't too bad.

On our last morning we packed up our things and waved goodbye to the beach before heading home. Until next summer!

Early Morning Rides

My boys have become obsessed lately with riding their bikes. Every time we go outside they run straight for their bikes and start racing (or crashing into each other). It is often the first thing they ask to do in the morning. We are up around 6 most days and by 7am every day they are begging to go outside and ride their bikes.

So lately I've been saying "Ok why not?". I quickly get us dressed and we head out for an early morning ride. Sometimes it's just in the backyard, but the other day we rode around the neighborhood. I forgot how nice it is to breathe in the fresh morning air and get in some exercise at the start of the day.

Lucas always sticks his tongue out while he rides his bike. I think it's so cute!

 

Do you get out early in the morning with your kids?

25 Week Prenatal Appointment

I met with my midwife today for my 25 week prenatal appointment. Here are my stats:

Weight Gain: 28 lbs
Blood Pressure: 106/58

Interestingly, I am now at the exact weight that I was at when I first got pregnant with Ryan. I'm sure glad I was able to lose that extra weight before having babies number 2 and 3! The midwife was very happy with my progress and the baby's growth. I asked her about all my aches and pains and she gave me the answer I was expecting....very typical when having your 3rd or 4th baby, especially when they are close together. My ligaments are very loose and that is why I am having this discomfort. I am even hearing and feeling popping sounds in my pelvis when I roll over in bed.

We reviewed the results from my 20 week ultrasound. Baby is measuring right on track. She was breech during the ultrasound, but it is too early to be concerned about her position. The midwife did note that my placenta is anterior, which may make it harder for me to feel the baby kick. I'm having no problem feeling this little girl kick, although it is always on the right side.

I did a little research online and found that an anterior placenta can also explain why it has been so hard to hear her heartbeat. Basically, the placenta is attached to the front of my uterus instead of the back, which is more typical. So the placenta is in between my belly and the baby. My research online also revealed that an anterior placenta makes it harder to determine the baby's position, and can also make it more likely for the baby to be in a posterior position, or "sunny-side-up". Eeek! I do NOT want to give birth to another baby who is facing up. One time was painful enough.

Shoe Monster

Does the shoe monster visit your house? He visits ours quite often! It seems like every time I need to go somewhere, the boys' shoes are missing. We have a designated spot for all of the shoes in Ryan's closet, yet they always disappear.

When we are going outside I search the house high and low for the shoes. Half the time I find them in strange places....the furthest corner of the backyard or inside the bathtub. Other times I finally give up and send the boys outside without shoes on. Our neighbor has even given Ryan the nickname of "Shoeless Joe" because he is playing outside so often without shoes.

How do you keep track of your kids' shoes? Does the shoe monster come and hide them in hard-to-find places? I am so tired of searching for shoes!

Aching At 24 Weeks

I took this quick photo last week when I was 24 weeks pregnant. These days I am feeling incredibly sore and achy. I definitely never felt this way with my boys. It's like my whole hip/pelvis area feels like it's going to break in half. Rolling over in bed hurts really badly. Walking often gives me shooting pain from my sciatic nerve. Laying on my side for more than a few minutes makes my hips ache. I feel like an old lady! I'm going to talk to my midwife later this week about all my aches and pains. I'm pretty sure she's just going to say this is normal with subsequent pregnancies, since everything is loose and stretched out and moved around inside of me. Or something like that.

Clearing Out My Freezer

One of my goals before we move next month is to eat most of the food in our freezer. I'm sure there is a way to easily transport cold food when moving, but it just sounds like one more thing for me to worry about. So my goal is an empty freezer by the end of the month!

I organized everything in our garage freezer so I could see what I have to use up. Here is a picture of it right now.

I quickly realized that we have a lot of food to eat. So I made a list of all the meals I could prepare using what we have on hand, with the exception of fresh produce and cheese. I did this same thing back in October of last year in an effort to clear out space in our freezer and same some money, and it worked really well. I blogged about it here.

Here is the list of meals I came up with based on what is in our freezer and pantry. Freezer Meals are meals either I or a friend in my freezer meal swap have already prepared. I will also be getting 3 additional freezer meals next week at our monthly swap! (And swapping out those aluminum foil meals on my top shelf)

Chicken Enchiladas
Pan Fried Chicken Breast
Pesto Chicken Penne Casserole (Freezer Meal)
Shredded Chicken Burritos (Freezer Meal)
Chicken Tamales from Costco
Chicken Sausage and Pepper Hoagies
Ground Beef Spaghetti
Burgers
Tacos
Beef Enchiladas
Crockpot Chili (Freezer Meal)
Trader Joe's Beef Lasagna
BBQ'd Tri-Tip
Minute Steaks
Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Salmon
11 Bean Soup w/ Homemade freezer bread
Pesto Minestrone Soup
Homemade Cheese Pizza

That is a solid 20+ meals to last us until early September. Too bad my boys will only eat approximately 5 of those meals!

More Big News

I have a pretty big announcement to make today. We are moving! Many of our close friends already know, but I thought it was finally time to announce it to the world. You know, before we actually move.

The subject of moving first came up when we started thinking about where we would send Ryan to Kindergarten in Fall 2015. None of the options around here seemed ideal. In fact, we were both starting to feel like Newark and the Bay Area in general were no longer a great place to raise our kids. We both grew up here and have seen it change a lot.

My sister and her family live in Rocklin, about a 2-hour drive north of here. We have visited them many times up there, and appreciated how family-friendly the area is. We started browsing houses online and got pretty serious a few months ago. We felt like moving while pregnant would be easier than moving next year with an infant, so when an ideal house popped up, we went for it.

And now we are moving in a month! There are many good things to be excited about....living a couple blocks from a great elementary school and park. Living 5 minutes from my sister and the boys' cousins. Exploring a new town and making new friends. Lots of adventures are ahead of us!

But at the same time, there are many things I will seriously miss about Newark. Mainly, my parents, who live just 5 minutes from us now. I also have some incredible friends here who know me and my boys so well. Leaving my family and friends and the place where all my memories have been made is going to be really hard for me. But we are trusting in God that even though the adjustment of moving may be hard, it will ultimately be a good choice for our family.

I have started the process of packing up our house. The boys have been "helping" me as best they can, by climbing on top of boxes and opening them back up.

I have been packing about 1-2 boxes per day and really taking the time to go through our things and get rid of anything I can. I don't want to move stuff that we don't really need or love. Every time I look at our stack of boxes I feel very accomplished. And then I look at the rest of our house and realize there is still so much to pack!

So that's my news.....both exciting and bittersweet. Let me know if you want to get together one last time before we move next month!

Boys and Sticks and Trees