bumpdate: 20 weeks

I'm halfway through this pregnancy! It has flown by so far but we have just as far to go before we get to meet this sweet little babe!

At our 20 week appointment I asked approximately two million questions and our midwife answered them all very patiently and thoroughly. We feel really comfortable and at ease with our choice in healthcare provider. She said the babe is growing perfectly and is right on track. The baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy and at this point there are no concerns with the pregnancy...phew!

I am still feeling really good and full of energy. I've been able to continue running but will probably switch to swimming for the winter months...running on the ice seems to increase my odds of eating pavement. Speaking of eating, I'm still not a fan of bacon but I'm not having any real cravings either, unless you count pizza but that was a preexisting condition.

We haven't started getting the baby's room ready yet, but it has been on my mind and I think we'll start working on it after Thanksgiving. We may have some holiday guests and it's always nice to have a bed for people to sleep in.

Oh, have I not mentioned we found out the gender?!? Here I am toying with your emotions referring to him/her as "the baby" this whole time... Alex was dying to find out so we went to the Ultrasound Zone in Glen Carbon. On the drive there Alex kept going back and forth whether or not he wanted a boy or a girl and was giving pros and cons to each. He was finally put out of his misery when the ultrasound tech said...

october in pictures

October has always been the start of our busy season. Almost every weekend is busy and our week nights are full too. It doesn't seem to slow down until after the new year in January, but we wouldn't have it any other way. This month I took a lot of pictures, so enjoy these snippets of October!

We celebrated Atley's 1st birthday in Salem

 

We made it to16 weeks

(Don't tell anyone but we found out the gender!!) 

We went to the first game of the NLDS and watched the Cardinals bring home their last win of the season.

 

I had been looking for my Grandma's fudge recipe for quite awhile and finally found it...read the last line on the recipe. It makes me laugh and miss my Grandpa even more.

Our high school students went to Homecoming and we got to stop by and see them before they danced the night away.

We finally made it to Ikea for a day date and Alex was a happy shopper.

Jansen stopped by to see us on her birthday! Happy 2nd birthday sweet girl!

 

Becky, Dad and I went to the Greater St. Louis Dental Society fall CE's together.

 

We ended the month by taking our High School students to Black, MO for a fall retreat- more details to come soon.

 

We had a great October and can't wait to see what November has in store for us! Alex is quite excited for Thanksgiving and I'm ready to the holiday season to begin.

 

 

happy friday

This was the week that wouldn't end. It started out rough on Monday and just kept coming...but it's finally Friday and Alex is home! He spent most of the week in Cleveland with Progressive learning and being schmoozed (at least that's how I look at it). While he was gone it reiterated that I was not designed to be alone and need companionship. Moose was good, but his communication skills need a little work.

This weekend we plan to rest and recover. On Sunday we plan to go to our niece and nephew's birthday party. Other than that we don't have a lot of exciting plans. Next week looks to be just as busy if not busier, plus we'll get to celebrate Alex's golden birthday!!

I hope you have a great weekend and for your reading pleasure I found a few interesting links to share. Enjoy!

Tips to make small talk a little more bearable.

50 Weird facts about the human body

Let's move to Mexico

5 Benefits of taking a cold shower...other than the fact that you're cold

Eat this, not that: Breakfast edition

 

Have a happy weekend!!

 

 

unplugged

Before Alex and I left for our trip to California, he called Charter to remove cable from our plan. You see, we only had internet for a long time and paid $39/month. We decided to add cable and our bill went up to $95/month. After a few months of having cable we realized we didn't use it like we thought we would and so Alex called to have it removed. They would happily remove cable from our plan but our internet would now be $65/month....Alex wasn't ok with that plan.

They told him there was no way to get it back to $39 so after negotiating and trying to get them to back down, Alex got fed up and canceled all of our services ALL OF THEM...Then he called me and told me what he'd done. Since we were leaving the next day it didn't really bother me since we wouldn't be home to use the internet anyway.

Fast forward to today and we still haven't chosen to get a new internet provider. We have a tiny TV and bunny ears set up in the basement to watch the news if we want to, but it's a temporary solution.

Since I'm not distracted by browsing Facebook or Instagram and watching Netflix I've noticed a few things.

1. I watched way more mindless TV than I thought I did.
2. I really enjoy reading and going to bed early.
3. We don't need as many distractions.
4. Alex and I talk more
5. I like to go for evening walks with Moose
6. We both fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer since we aren't watching TV before bed.
7. Moose likes all the extra attention.

We will get the internet back eventually, but I hope that we don't use it as much as we did.