An Adventure!!!!

We finally went on an adventure worth writing about!!

This is a re-write from a letter I wrote to my non-interneting grandma, so pardon my rambling while I sort through things. Like most of you, we enjoyed a long President's Day weekend, and like every other human (and a few dogs) in Oregon, we were out at the coast.

It. Was. Beautiful.

We went to Brookings, OR for the long weekend. With the boredom setting in, we've been dying to get out of dodge. Jeff's Dad has a friend who owns a house over there and invited us to come stay. Wowzer! It was beautiful!! It was in the 70’s every day and almost no wind. Poor Jeff wanted to surf while we were over there, but it was never really windy enough, there was hardly any surf. But we did do some other fun things! Our good friends Matt and Amy were exploring the coast on their way up to Seattle, before they ship out for Japan on Thursday. We got to enjoy dinner and breakfast with them, and while neither was long enough, we were thankful at one last chance to spend time togther and say goodbye. I had no idea when I said "see you later" it would only be three weeks until we saw them again. The Air Force has given us such an incredible extended family, I can't believe how many wonderful people we can count as our friends.

We took Caleigh to the beach for the first time and dipped her tiny toes into the ocean. She’s quite the water baby so she enjoyed it, even if the water was chilly. It was so warm outside I don’t think she minded. One day while we were over on the coast, we drove down to Crescent City, California to visit and go to the Redwood Forest. It was so neat! We visited an attraction called the Mystery of Trees (I am all about this touristy kind of stuff), where we paid $30 to hike through some of the forest and take a sky tram up to a lookout. It was so beautiful. You could see huge trees for miles, and then the ocean in the distance. Couldn’t believe the weather, especially for the Oregon coast. Brookings has a pretty good gig though,

they've got that extra warm river due to the Chetco River down there. Gorgeous!

Caleigh finished her second week of swimming lessons last week, so we’re halfway through with those. They’re only half an hour, and really all we do is sing a few songs and then splash around in the water, but the teacher gives her toys to chew on, and she loves just being in the water. She’s the youngest of the four kids in her class, but by far the best behaved. She’s such a laid-back baby, nothing really bothers her. The teacher always wants to hold her and swish her around because she can't believe how chill my baby is. She gets it from her mama. (Not. She totally gets it from her Dad.)

I can’t believe how fast she’s growing. She now fully uses rolling over as a mode of transportation, and has started to kind of army-crawl on her knees and elbows. I'm learning quickly not to leave her alone with anything I don't want her investigating, because she'll wriggle her way right over to it and pull and yank until she gets what she wants. We’re planning another trip to Corvallis next weekend so Jeff and I can run a race, we're trying to get back into doing this kind of thing. And Corvallis comes with a convenient baby sitter. It’s another long weekend for Jeff, and we're looking forward to it!

That wraps up our weekend and this post, and the Peanut girl is now up from her nap and grunting for my attention in the other room. Better hop on over there and get her fed.

Take care my friends!! <3

32 Weeks: 8 Months Down, 8 Weeks to Go

Oy! This is definitely going faster than I'd previously thought.

Could be because we've been relatively busy the last week (camping! yay!) but also because the reality is setting in that there just isn't that much time before Peanut arrives. I was telling Jeff just today that there are all these things I want to do this summer now that we're back in Oregon, but I'm starting to realize our baby-less weekends are limited in number, and the second half of our summer in Southern Oregon is basically shot with a newborn. So much to do, so little time!

Perhaps my eagerness to do some of these things is contributing to my fabulous attitude (yes, I said it, I had a fabulous attitude) about things like going camping 31 weeks pregnant. Not a lot of women would sleep on an air mattress in a tent in the woods when they're as pregnant as I am, but I am so excited to be back in Oregon and be able to do these things I've grown up loving to do, that I really can't complain. Here are a couple photos from our camping adventure this past weekend at Lake of the Woods, courtesy of Jeff:

We had SPLENDID weather the whole time, which is pretty unusual when camping in Oregon, especially this early.

(Yes, June is "early" in Oregon for summertime activities. The water is still waaaaaaayyyy too cold to swim in, and it still gets pretty cold at night. Late July/early August is the ideal time for outdoor activities.)

We're hoping to get in at least one more camping trip before Peanut comes, if we can find the time. And if we feel inclined, and think we can make it work, we may try to take her once after she's born. That's a big MAYBE though (I can hear my mom laughing at my naive intentions...)

In other news, as of yesterday, we're officially 32 weeks pregnant, or eight months, by my math. That means we've got eight weeks left.

Eight. Weeks.

That's 56 days. IF she makes it to her due date.

Wowzer. It's coming faster and faster. Here's the 32-week pic:

I feel freakin' HUGE and I know I don't have it quite as bad as those smaller girls with smaller torsos (yes, Tiff, that's you).

I don't expect my shape to change too much more, but I'm sure the bump will get a bit bigger. At roughly 17", Peanut is just about at her birth length, but still has another few pounds to pack on. Hopefully not the additional 4.5 my mom is predicting. I don't want a heifer for a baby, for obvious reasons.

This Sunday will be Jeff's last Father's Day before he's a "real" father (his words, not mine) and I think he's excited. He'll be the best Dad, and I'm excited for our Peanut girl to have such a great Daddy.

Not much else in terms of updating, I'm scheduled for my ultrasound next Wednesday at the 33-week mark, so I may have some more accurate measurements of our little nugget after that. Right now, it's pretty much just averaging what all my different books and phone apps tell me in terms of her stats. It'll be nice to know for sure. I'll try and post a pic of the ultrasound too if they give me one. Just seven weeks before her due date, I imagine she'll look pretty baby-ish. We shall see.

That's probably about it for today, if I think of anything else exciting to share with you, I'll come back with another post!

Happy Thursday!

Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle

Phew!

I warned you I'd be busy, and I guess I was right. I was a couple days late taking this week's bump photo, and here I am basically three days away from the NEXT photo, writing my actual post. It's been a busy week and weekend!

Here's the pic for this week: (more specifically, for week 19)

Credit for my lumpy shirt and the armpit shot goes to Jeff. He tried to "style" me at 12:45 am after we came home from Assignment Night on Friday. Needless to say, he wasn't completely sober. He at least did a good job of taking a steady photo.

So here's this not-so-little bump, getting bigger and bigger. I'm starting to feel like its "too big" and then I remember that I'm almost five months pregnant and nearing the halfway point. That just seems crazy. Sometimes it's bigger than others, but for the most part, it sticks out like this. Baby bumps...they're so random.

Another random thing: people's fascination with it. I'll be clear here in saying I don't mind when people (that I know) touch it, I just don't really understand why they want to. Peanut still isn't very big (although growing more and more each week), so basically what they're feeling on the other side of a firm belly is my insides (read: GUTS!!!!!). Its also strange because, as I've said before, your body changes so fast that it can be hard to wrap your head around what you look like. People ask me if they can touch my belly, and it's almost as though I've forgotten there's anything there to touch.

Oh! Right! Because there's a baby in there!

Got it.

I don't mind, although thankfully everyone who has touched it thus far has been a friend of mine. I don't know what I'll do or how I'll react when/if a stranger just reaches out and touches me. That's just odd. I'm not stroking your arm, weirdo, quit touching my very-much-still-attached-to-my-body baby bump.

I'm anticipating at least one of these when I make the flight home to Oregon. The bump will be larger and I'll be travelling alone, this feels like a scenario that screams "YOUNG PREGNANT WOMAN ALONE - PLEASE TOUCH MY BABY BUMP!!"

Ugh. I really hope that doesn't happen.

In other and perhaps much more exciting news, I believe I have now identified what it feels like when Peanut is moving, and have felt him/her on and off since Friday morning. Its a strange sensation, movement inside your body totally independent of you, but also a relief. I was starting to imagine the worst-case-scenarios. Jeff was quite excited, but I think it'll become even more real for him when he can feel Peanut in there moving and shaking.

I've got another pretty busy week coming up, and am hosting a baby shower Saturday for my dear friend Tiffany and her daughter-to-be. Prep for that alone will probably occupy most of my time. I'll work on being better about taking my bump pic on time (and posting it on time), but expect a no makeup, frumpy outfit, frizzy-haired mess. That's my standard day-to-day look, haha.

Until next time, my friends!!



COUNTDOWN TO THE GENDER SONO: 7 days, 21 hours, 35 minutes

Island Life

Aloha!!

I admit-I've been a bit of a slacker again this week. But I have a good excuse this time, I promise!!

We're in Hawaii!!

Wednesday was the official 12-week mark, but we spent the day traveling (and going to bed at 7:30pm). And besides, would you choose writing a blog post over sunbathing?

Me either. 

Here are some quick photo highlights of our trip so far:

Toes in the sand!

Paddle boarding (is the bump showing?)

Can't beat the sunset!!

Dinner for two.

Haven't had a chance to take our 12-week bump pic yet, and at this point, it might be more of a food baby. What can I say? Vacation makes me hungry. 

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Aloha!!