Family Happenings!

This month has been full of fun stuff....here's a little recap!

 We had my niece and nephew over one night while my sister had a book club meeting. They had tons of fun. We painted Easter plant pots, ate yummy pizza, and enjoyed some cupcakes from Whole Foods. Taelyn loves having friend days!



We had lots of fun coloring Easter eggs. This year Taelyn seemed to be able to do a lot more by herself. Our kit made little Easter animals (turtle, bunnies, and frogs) and she even drew the faces on them.

Sometimes we like to take silly pictures as you can see! We have been enjoying some pretty warm weather so I've been able to get out the shorts and tank tops. With Oklahoma, you never know how long you will have to enjoy it though.

I love trying out new things I see on Pinterest! I saw these pancake muffins and they seemed super easy. You just make regular pancake mix and divide into a mini muffin tin (I used a tablespoon). You then bake on 350 for about 10-12 minutes. I put strawberries and blueberries in ours, but you could also do nuts, chocolate chips, or even sausage or bacon! We dipped them in syrup and they were super yummy!

I made this board over a year ago (thank you Pinterest) and my husband and I take turns writing things to each other. My husbands birthday actually fell on Easter this year and this is what I wrote for him : ) As you can see, sometimes we are a little silly with it too!

Easter was a lot of fun this year. For one, it was Aaron's birthday...but also, Taelyn was older this year and seemed to be more excited to celebrate. We had a big conversation on why we celebrate Easter and what it was all about. She was super curious and asked a lot of questions. I love being able to have family traditions and Easter baskets and hunting Easter eggs are some of them. She was really excited about her basket and had fun looking through all her goodies. She also had a blast hunting for her eggs and even exclaimed that she "was really good at this"!

After we had fun tracking down the eggs we headed off to my parents house to join my whole family for Easter dinner. My mom went all out and made ham, creamed peas, green beans and new potatoes, deviled eggs, rolls, and a relish tray. She even made a tequila cake (Aaron's requested birthday cake) and a strawberry and cream angel food cake. Everything was delicious as always. After we ate and Aaron opened his presents, my dad took all the kids outside to play with his collection of poppers. They all had a blast throwing those things all over the driveway!

March has been a fun filled month and we are looking forward to all the fun things happening in April!

Bumpdate: 28 weeks!

Weight Gain/Loss: 11 lb

Baby Size: An Eggplant (13.6-14.8 in, 1.5-2.5 lbs)

She's starting to develop more fat, so her wrinkly skin will start to get smoother. Her lungs are mature enough that she'd probably survive if she was born now. Wow!

Symptoms: I've been having a lot of pelvic pain and pressure this week. I've been doing some yoga hoping that it will help. I've also been having a little swelling in my ankles, but usually only on the two days I work 8 hours.

 

Movement: She moves a lot! I can't keep Taelyn still long enough to feel her yet though. The midwife determined that her feet are up in my ribs, her bottom is to my right side, and she his head down!
 
Gender: A girl!

Maternity Clothes: I didn't buy anything new this week. My sister bought me some maternity khaki's from a thrift store and they fit perfectly and are so comfy!

Cravings: Chocolate and oatmeal (like Starbuck's) with nuts and raisins : )

Sleep: Sleep has been alright. The pelvic pain is pretty intense when I try to roll over. I'm still only getting up once or twice a night to use the bathroom, so that is good!

Best Moment This Week: We had our first 3rd trimester check up this week with my midwife. I'm measuring 29 1/2 weeks and she is growing perfectly! I also received my baby shower invitation in the mail today. I know with my sisters and mom planning it, it will be great : )

Taelyn: I love that she refers to Hensley as "our baby". It is super sweet. She talks about her at least once a day if not more. At night we let her pick out two books to read before bed and lately she has been picking out the baby books and big sister books : )

Dallas Trip

For the last three years, we have taken a mini vacation to Dallas in March. Dallas is close (about 3 1/2 hours) and they have a lot of shopping and restaurants that we don't have her in Oklahoma. The day we drove down we stopped at Grapevine Mills (a big outlet mall) before we checked in to our hotel.

Tae bought that little kitty at the Rainforest Café and she decided to name her Anna. She loved riding the carousel with her daddy. Look at that smile! After we got done shopping, we headed to Addison to check into our hotel. We went and ate dinner at a local Chinese restaurant and then went back to the hotel for some swimming.

Swimming is the best part of our little trip for Taelyn. She absolutely loves it. She keeps that little ring on and swims around the whole pool. We swam both nights while we were in Dallas and I'm sure Tae wished we could do it 100 times more!

The next morning we got up early and head to the Dallas World Aquarium. We had never been here before and we heard that it was a pretty amazing place. There were way more than just fish. They had penguins, crocodiles, monkeys, tons of birds, and even a big cat!

After we saw all that we could see, we headed to the Dallas Farmers Market. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more vendors, but it was in the middle of the week. We did get to walk around a bit and see the beautiful area.

After the Farmers Market, we went to the Galleria which is a really big shopping mall. We went down to the lower level and had a yummy lunch at an Italian restaurant right next to the ice skating rink. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit. We then headed to Ikea (main reason for going to Dallas this year) to buy Tae a new bed and mattress. She has been sleeping in the toddler conversion of her baby crib and we are going to be using it for Hensley (not to mention she is getting a little big for the toddler bed. I love Ikea so much and we spent a good two hours shopping. We got the bed, mattress, along with some other things and headed to load the car. We realized that the box for the bed and the mattress would not fit in the car. My handy husband ended up taking the bed and mattress out of the packaging and arranging it to fit perfectly in the back.

We headed back to the hotel and we were worn out after our long day! We didn't want to travel far for dinner, so we ended up eating at Fuzzy's which was right across the street from our hotel. They have the yummiest fish and shrimp tacos! After dinner, we went swimming again and then headed off to bed.

Here is a sweet picture of Tae and all the animals that she has to sleep with every night. This is just a reason in itself why she needed a bigger bed ; ) She always says that they help her not be scared, so whatever works!

The next morning we slept in a little, ate breakfast, and then headed home. We had a great time in Dallas, but we were happy to get home. This will probably be our last trip as a family of three!

Bumpdate: 27 weeks!

27 Weeks on our Dallas Vacay!

Weight Gain/Loss: 10 lb

Baby Size: A Rutabaga (13.6-14.8 in, 1.5-2.5 lbs)

She's practicing inhaling and exhaling with her rapidly developing lungs. It's official: Baby's showing brain activity! And her brain will keep on getting more complex.

 

Symptoms: I just cannot do the same things I did pre-pregnancy. That was apparent on our trip to Dallas. With all the walking around and staying busy, I got so worn out! There were a lot of breaks and resting for me. I've had some sharp pains in my stomach on occasion. Usually this happens in the middle of the night when I roll over. I've had some slight swelling in my ankles, but this is usually after a long day of being on my feet.

Movement: She is moving so much! You can see my stomach shift with her movements and sometimes it feels as if she is doing somersaults in there!
 
Gender: A girl!

Maternity Clothes: Well, I didn't luck out with H&M....I didn't really like much of their stuff. I did, however, find a maxi dress at the Old Navy Outlet and a cute tank top at the Motherhood Maternity Outlet while we were in Dallas.

Cravings: Salads! Fruit salad, chicken salad with grapes and pecans, tuna salad, spinach salad (had a great one in Dallas with feta, olives, tomatoes and the yummiest balsamic dressing).

Sleep: Sleeping in a hotel was a little rough. For one, we got double beds, so they were a little small to get really comfortable. Also, just being in a different bed is hard. I haven't been more ready to sleep in my own bed!

Best Moment This Week: We had so much fun on our little trip! This will probably be our last trip as a family of three. It was so great to spend quality time with Aaron and Taelyn.

Taelyn: We bought Tae a new bed while we were in Dallas (she has been sleeping in the toddler set up of her crib). We were setting up the crib and she was so excited about the baby sleeping there. She wanted to make sure we were putting it together right so the baby wouldn't "fall out"

 

 

 

 

Bumpdate: 26 weeks!

Weight Gain/Loss: 9 lb

Baby Size: A Head of Lettuce (13.6-14.8 in, 1.5-2.5 lbs)

Her eyes are forming, and his eyes will soon start to open. And her eyelashes are now grown, too. She's getting her immune system ready for life on the outside by soaking up your antibodies. She's taking breaths, too. They're of amniotic fluid, not air, but it's still good practice

Symptoms: I've felt pretty good this week! I feel I have more energy and I've had a little less bone/joint pains. Getting up from a sitting position has become hard work, and harder yet, is getting up from squatting!

Movement: She is a wiggler! She also likes my ribs : )
 

Gender: A sweet little girl whose name will be Hensley Elyse!

Maternity Clothes: Maternity clothes are definitely a must these days. I even have some smaller maternity shirts that are now seeming a little short. We are going to Dallas soon for a mini vacay and I will be making a stop at H&M in search of some maternity clothes!

Cravings: Hummus with carrots, cheese (grilled cheese)

Sleep: Sleep has been okay. I have been experiencing some ligament pain again. This tends to happen when I am rolling over at night and it is painful enough to make me wide awake!

Best Moment This Week: This is the last week of my second trimester! I can't believe how fast this has gone. We went and registered the other day and it was so fun having Tae carry around the scanning gun! We even let her pick out a few things.

Taelyn: She has been referring to the baby as "our baby" and I love it! While we were registering the other day, she asked us "what are we going to do with our baby?" Haha... She loves to tell us all the things she is going to do with the baby, such as reading to her, singing to her, and showing her all her toys : )

Bumpdate: 25 weeks!

My drink for my Glucose test

Weight Gain/Loss: 8 lb

Baby Size: A Cauliflower (13.6-14.8 in, 1.5-2.5 lbs)

She's enjoying her new sense of equilibrium -- she now knows which way is up and which is down. She's growing more fat and more hair!

Symptoms: Tiredness has returned....not as bad as the first trimerster, but if I don't take a nap during the day, it is hard to stay up past 10pm! I been having some pain in my pelvic region which is fairly new. It will pop on occasion and instantly feel better. This little girl has been loving being up in my rib cage. Oh my, does it hurt when she does this! I have to lie down or sit up really straight until she decides to move.

Movement: She moves so much these days. Tae still hasn't felt it yet, but Aaron feels her all the time!
 

Gender: A pretty little princess! Be ready for her name to be revealed soon!

Maternity Clothes: I've been on the look out for maxi style dresses since it has been getting warmer. I tried Ross, but was out of luch. I really like one from Old Navy, but have to get past the fact that it is $35 for something I will only wear for a few more months!

Cravings: Ice cold water with a straw! Salads of all kinds. I've been craving some chicken salad with grapes and walnuts...yum!

Sleep: With my occasional pelvic pain, it has been hard sleeping some nights. I'm still only getting up once to use the restroom, so I am thankful for this!

Best Moment This Week: I had my glucose test this week and as you can see from the picture above, I got to bring my own juice. It was a little hard to drink the whole 12 oz within the two minute time frame, but I did it. It didn't make me feel yucky like the Glucola tends to do (I think the protein helped with this). My midwife called this evening and my sugar came back a 98 (they want it under 130)! Yah for no gestational diabetes! My vitamin D level was pretty bad though. It was a 21 and they want it over 40. Time to start taking some supplements....

Taelyn: She loves going to the midwife appointments with us. She knows exactly where to go and loves to push the buttons on the elevator. She was a little disappointed this time because she had to go to the bathroom and missed hearing the heartbeat : ( Aaron went to take her and she said "hurry up cause I don't want to miss it", but the midwife was already in there. Poor girl!