Baby E: Weeks 26 & 27

During the past two weeks the baby has occasionally turned into a ninja with special skills at fitting his body parts underneath my ribs. He especially likes to do it when we’re shopping for some reason. It’s great fun to walk around Lowe’s and Walmart while holding your ribs and trying to massage it, hoping that will make him move😩. It doesn’t work, by the way. I can’t imagine how much more painful that will be when he can’t move as well and when he starts kicking even more. He really needs to cool it if he wants to be my friend. Aside from the assaults to my ribs, I’m feeling pretty good and start my third trimester next Wednesday. I saw the doctor this week and she checked his heartbeat, which was good. I didn’t do my glucose test this week because she was late coming into my appointment because she was stuck in surgery and I had to leave so that I wasn’t late for yoga. I’m going to do it in a couple of weeks when I go back for my ultrasound. My feet and ankles have been swelling so she told me signs to watch for Preeclampsia but said I’m not showing signs now. She told me to rest with my feet propped above my heart to help with the swelling. She said as the weather gets warmer that will probably get worse 😥. Blah. I can’t complain though, aside from a dry patch of skin on my face, I’ve had a really good second trimester with hardly any nuisances. Other than the task of bending over getting harder by the day 🙄. I need one of those grabber things that I used to see commercials for that were advertised for older women and men. They totally missed a market. We give the girls a Kong toy when we leaved that has one of the peanut butter/coconut oil treats I make for them in it to keep them occupied. The only problem is that every time I go to look for them to fill them, they are almost always under the couch, which requires me to get on the floor to retrieve them. A grabber would be so helpful. Actually, them not knocking their Kongs under the couch would also be super helpful. Sigh. Sophie went to the doc this week, too, because she was due for vaccines and needed some flea and tick medicine. I’m grateful that there’s a lyme vaccine because we have found severals ticks on the girls and some on us 😡. I HATE ticks. Philip says I can spot ticks like I do four-leaf clovers because I see brown ticks our brown dog while out on our walk and pull them off of her before they even attach. Sansa was SO mad when I took Soph in my car and left her at home. She barked at me several times with her real, audible bark. Once Soph finished with her doctor I came and picked up Sansa and took them for a ride down to work. Mollie was the only one still there so she got to visit with them  🙂. Soph was standoffish as she usually is with other people but Sansa explored the whole place no problem. She just ran around from room to room seeing what was there. I deemed the visit successful because no one pottyed on the floor. 

She has the biggest tongue ever. 

We celebrated Easter last weekend at my brother’s house and Philip and Kate included the baby by painting an egg on my belly. Having someone paint inside your belly button is strange. The egg turned out good but I wish it would’ve been a bit bigger so that my stomach didn’t look huge in comparison 😂🙄. Philip wore his Bob Ross Happy Trees socks for inspiration. I had been waiting for about a month to make my Paula Dean Ooey Gooey Butter cake that one of my yoga friends brought back for me from Paula’s restaurant in Myrtle Beach. I can’t even tell you how delicious that cake was! I’m pretty sure it’s rich enough that it’s not meant to be iced but I wanted it to be festive for Easter so I put Rainbow Chip icing on 2/3 of it. Coen and Philip aren’t big fans of icing so I left some of it un-iced for them. Everyone thought it was great so if you’re looking for a crowd pleasing dessert, I highly recommend her mix! After they painted my belly Kate and Link wanted to hunt for eggs so we helped Haleigh and Coen hide them. Since our girls didn’t get to participate we created a dog friendly version for them later by hiding their treats around the living room. Sansa loves finding stuff (especially us during hide and seek) and Sophie isn’t as good at it but she understands what’s going on. Sometimes we have to nudge her in the right direction so Sansa doesn’t find them all first 😉. 

Yesterday was a long but successful day as we had a community baby safety shower at work, an event where we provided lots of great information to expectant women and moms of babies under one. I spoke about prenatal and postnatal health and feeding infants and toddlers. I’m always a little nervous before giving a presentation but I think it went well. The only part that was bad was being the last speaker before lunch and having to talk about feeding 🤪. There was so much going on yesterday with so many events happening: Plant a Pizza at the Wetzel Co. Museum, meet and greet local authors at The Book Store, National Drug Take Back Day, prom, and several others. Even our milk expired yesterday 🤷🏻‍♀️. If you were bored you really missed out. 

After our event I was so tired that I did nothing for the rest of the day, other than take a walk with the girls. They love going so much and it’s good for me to get the exercise but the further along I get, the slower my pace and the more it wears me out. Last week during one of the warmer days I attempted to start cleaning up our storage building a bit while Philip mowed the yard. The shelves that we worked so hard on to organize it were a mess with tools strewn everything and totes of yard sale stuff in front of everything, making it next to impossible to get the lawn mower out. I still have a ways to go but the tools are looking much better, at least. I was so exhausted when I finished that night and my back hurt worse than it has before. I made a bad decision earlier that day that wouldn’t have been bad if I had not overdone it so much outside. The sweeper hadn’t been run in longer than I care to admit so in order to make sure it got done, I made some homemade carpet powder with baking soda and essential oil and sprinkled it on the couch, ottoman, chair, and floor. When I finished up outside, all I wanted to do was take a relaxing bath to loosen up my back but I still had to vacuum 😭. So my plan worked, I had no choice but to do it, but the timing was terrible. Anyway, now you know how to force yourself to vacuum if you’ve been avoiding it but choose your timing wisely! 😉

The girls have been enjoying the warm weather and playing outside quite a bit. Putting the fence in the back yard is one of the best home improvements we’ve made because I love watching them run and have fun. Soph had a bit too much fun the day that Philip mowed though. Do you know what happens when a white dog runs and rolls in freshly mowed grass? 

THIS. 

🙄. She is lovingly referred to as Little Shit in our household and it’s so fitting. 

Sansa getting a rare moment to love on her momma and baby brother. 

This picture cracks me up. She’s such a nut. 

“How may I help you?”

I laugh when they lay with their face all squished up

She’s always gotta be touching someone 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

She looked so comfy 😃

We thought she was done with this 🙄. She doesn’t do it often, at least not when we’re looking. (I made her move after I took the pic 😉). 

Trying to get mom’s attention. 

Being bored because it was raining outside 😔. 

The only time she behaves is when she’s sleeping. We love her anyway ❤️. 

I will have some repurpose projects to share with you next time! 😃

Baby E: Weeks 24 & 25

Spring has finally sprung and I have the four-leaf clovers to prove it! Well, actually I have a few pics of four-leaf clovers I found, not the actual clovers. The total is 13 so far. I pick them and lay them on the kitchen table and then they dry up and I throw them away. I used to preserve them with tape on index cards but then I got too many and didn’t care anymore. I’m really good at finding them, if you didn’t know. Saturday was so beautiful and I was so happy to finally be able to spend some time outside preparing the garden for more dirt and fertilizer, which we’ll put in next weekend. My first round of seedlings are doing very well but my second batch didn’t take. I think it’s because I used different soil the second time. So the garden will have a slow start but that’s ok. I just can’t wait to have fresh veggies in our yard! While I thoroughly enjoyed working outside yesterday, I overdid it a bit and my back hurt all evening. Don’t worry though, I went to sleep a little after 9 last night, woke up at 8 am to eat, and then went back to sleep until 11:15. My back felt great when I got up. I’m going to miss all this childless sleep soon, I know. He made it a bit difficult to till the garden yesterday because all the bending got him all worked up. He also wasn’t a big fan of my waist belt, aka fanny pack, being across the bottom of my belly. I told Philip that and he said, “That’s my boy, we don’t like fanny packs” 🙄🙄🙄. Whatever. You may not like them but when you have no pockets and want to listen to music on your phone, they’re a must. In fact, he wasn’t impressed with my entire ensemble yesterday. I made him take a pic so I could ask Marsha if I looked like a hot mess with Philip’s shirt, my hair all crazy, and my fanny pack. She was curious about the shorts sticking out of the bottom of my over shorts and I told her I’ve taken to wearing Philip’s boxers. They’re like biker shorts on me and I love them. My legs are thicker and starting to rub together, especially when I’m moving around a lot, and they help keep the friction down. I have no shame in my pregnancy wardrobe game 😉💁🏻‍♀️. 

I’m sure in a couple of months I’ll wish life was as easy as it is now even though I feel as though everything is hard now. I’m not used to having this belly yet and I still try to squeeze in between things to find out that I can’t suck the belly in. Grocery decisions are beginning to be made according to shelf placement. We love cinnamon Life cereal but it’s on the bottom shelf at Walmart. There’s a 50/50 chance we’re getting some if I’m shopping alone. Campbell’s tomato soup is also on the bottom shelf. There was only one can left, clear in the back, when I went shopping the other day. This may be our last can of soup until sometime in August if Philip doesn’t come with me. I’m glad it’s finally flip flop season because putting on socks and shoes is overrated. Unfortunately, I have to wear them to walk the girls but my usual pair are tied loosely enough that I can just slip them on without untying. I’m still doing yoga at the moment and most days I can get through it without much problem. Forward folds are getting shorter and there are no prone (on the belly) movements in my routines anymore. I ordered a bolster pillow for supine (on the back) poses so I don’t have to lay flat. Usually during yoga I don’t feel him too much, he’s probably just confused as to why I’m swishing him all around, but last week he kicked while I was doing some balancing poses and that was amusing but distracting. There are always chairs available at both places I teach classes so I’m going to have to start putting one by me, just in case I need to hold onto it. I’m still able to make it through the routines but there are many more water breaks and I start sweating before the warm-up is finished 🥵. My endurance is definitely tested. Yesterday while gardening I got winded and couldn’t even fully enjoy my Maroon 5 jam session because I can’t really sing and work at the same time anymore 😕. Aside from getting tuckered out more easily than normal, I don’t have many pregnancy complaints right now though. I don’t have any crazy food craving or aversions (except for coffee, I still can’t stand to drink it 😭). I’m typically even-tempered, minus a few grumpy days here and there and being slightly over emotional about dogs I see on the internet. Seriously, there is one at the Pleasants County Humane Society right now that was found with her two puppies and they were asking for people to boil some chicken and make white rice for her because she had a horrible case of diarrhea and a stomach full of worms. That poor momma dog was having such a hard time and still taking care of her pups and if that’s not admirable, I don’t know what is. I’m just happy she’s getting proper care but I couldn’t stop thinking about her all day after seeing her picture on FB. Someone please adopt them and ease my heartache lol. 

Anyway, speaking of pups, my two have been enjoying the sunshine and being outside and Sophie has the grass stains to prove it 🙄.

She looks like she’s smiling. This picture cracks me up 😂. She is impossible to keep clean! 

Sansa was sitting up on the couch (like people, as we like to tell her) and Soph came and inserted herself underneath Sansa’s legs. 🙄

Always wondering what big sister is doing 🤦🏻‍♀️. 

Always having to be touching someone. She claimed Sansa’s tail, apparently. 

If Sansa is ever missing, check the nursery. We’ve taken to calling it her room because she sleeps in there so much now....

When she’s not on the couch, of course. 

And then there’s this sleeping baby. She’s so freaking cute. 

🙄🤷🏻‍♀️😃

That’s all for now. My next appointment with Dr. Carlson will include the dreaded 28 (27 for me) week glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. Totally not looking forward to that! We’re almost to the third trimsester. I think it will start going by faster now that the weather is warmer and I’ll have more to do outside. I ❤️ spring! 🙂