Mother/Daughter Weekend 2013

What an amazing weekend.  Each year for the past 3, my amazing mama has given my sister {Kim} and my might-as-well-be-sister {Jenny} a weekend away.  We shop, eat, drink, and laugh - it's so wonderful.  Our first year we went to Chicago, last year we went to Minneapolis, and this year we went to Des Moines.

*Warning, picture overload. :)*

Jenny couldn't come up until Saturday afternoon, but Kim, my mom and I left on Friday afternoon.

On our way, we stopped at a wonderful little outlet mall.

Yes, I'm one of those people who enjoy beginning to Christmas shop early.  Last year, I didn't begin early - my December was not even a little enjoyable because I was running around like a crazy person {along with the masses of other irresponsible procrastinators :)}  Then to top it all off, I got extremely sick and my poor husband had to go out and do his own shopping as a result.  It was awful.  So, I've pledged that I will not be doing that again.

I made a big dent this weekend.  Thankfully, my mom and sister also have this same plan...although they both admitted, I got the most done this weekend.  :)  This is all of our packages from the outlet mall...not just mine - I didn't go out of control.  :)

After we checked in and unloaded, we decided to run to Michael's (yes, there is one literally 3 minutes from my house, but it was out of the prized gift).  My nieces are both wanting The Loom...them right along with everyone else evidently because I couldn't find it anywhere.  Clearly Friday was my lucky day because the Michael's we stopped at had gotten a shipment earlier that day!  Behold the goods...

Two people's Christmas gifts...check, check.

That night, on a whim we picked out this Mexican restaurant

I had the most delicious brisket tacos (such a strange combo I would've never put together...but so thankful someone else did!)

As you're all well aware, we're expecting a baby in April...but Margarita, don't mind if I do! {perhaps this surrogacy thing isn't so bad :)}

On Saturday morning, we headed to Buy Buy Baby - OH.MY.OVERLOAD.

We were able to find some adorable stuff in the {extremely overwhelming} baby superstore.  But after more than an hour in there, I was definitely ready for a little

After lunch we did more shopping and Saturday night, we went to a dueling piano bar - ohmygosh, it was so fun!!  :)

And this, my friends, is "Jeffy" {I'm nearly certain this isn't his real name, but whatever}.

You all, I'm telling you - he was tore up.  He was sitting at the table behind us and we became quick friends through our love of the Iowa Hawkeyes and 90's pop music.  Wow, he was ridiculous...and hilarious.  Totally made our night.

This morning, we got up and did a bit of shopping, then tried to go to Scratch Bakery...not open on Sunday's.  FAIL.

Here's where our weekend took a U-turn...Jenny lost her keys.  Not a clue where they could be...anywhere in the mall we walked all the way thru, the restaurant we had breakfast in, the parking lot, no clue.  I felt so bad for her.  Basically, she had to have her best friend grab her extra set of keys and meet her in Des Moines.  Not good at all.

Anyway, now I'm home in my quiet house getting ready for another week, feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing women in my life.  What an amazing weekend.  :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week -

12 Weeks

Here is the 12 Week Belly Pic - 10/9/13:

And the side by side from last week:

Gosh, I love to watch that belly grow!!  :)  It looks rounder this week, more filled out or something?

The baby is the size of a lime this week.

Instead of the typical picture from the internet, I picked one up at the grocery store this week and snapped a picture of it in my hand.  I then promptly got tears in my eyes right there in the produce section.  It was the first really personal moment for me with this baby and it was with a lime.  :)  The visual of that little lime in my hand was just so eye opening.  There's a baby in that belly, that baby is the size of this lime I'm holding in my hand, and that baby is mine forever.  The magnitude of that is still not real I don't think.  I'm sure that sounds ridiculous week after week - but I'm just being honest.  :)

The biggest development this week is the baby's reflexes - it's fingers open and close, it's eyes clench, and it's mouth makes sucking motions.  If Julie were to push on her belly, the baby would squirm in response - although she wouldn't be able to feel it.  :)  The baby is just over 2 inches long and weighs a half of an ounce.

In other news, my adorable sister made this for me today:

So stinkin' cute!  :)  Kevin was a little disturbed by it - but she's just hanging out on my island for now because I think she's adorable!  Perfect for fall.  Now, if Baby K is a boy - this might get a little awkward in his scrapbook....but whatever, right?!

Don't forget to cast your vote in the gender poll on the right hand sidebar!
Have a great week, friends!

Crib Bedding Overload

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions in the baby registry department - I have read and reread every single one of them and I am working on trying to figure out what's going to work for us.  :)

The more fun part of this is the decorating part - but I'm telling you, the baby crib bedding business is no joke.  Here's the deal with this nursery - it's basically being built around a picture frame my mom got us last year on Spring Break just a few months after we were approved for adoption, but months before we even began this journey with Julie.  We were walking through shops in Gatlinburg, TN and I fell in love with this sweet frame.  In fact, it brought me to tears in the store.  It was gender neutral and spoke my heart exactly.  This is the only thing I really have to base my color scheme around - whatever we decide, this must fit.

I'm sorry the quality of this picture is so terrible - I really didn't feel like getting my real camera, so I just snapped it with my iPhone camera in the poorly lit spare bedroom  :)

Because you can't really see it, I'll tell you - it's a moss green, brown and tan - I love it.

Soooooo....we've narrowed the crib bedding down to these:

Found here

Found here

Found here

Found here

I just don't know which one I like best.  I think the top one is my favorite, but I don't know.  I'm trying to avoid registering at 24 different places, so I only looked at Babies R Us and Target so far.  Anyone have opinions?  Suggestions?  I'm wide open to a little direction.  For those of you who know me in real life - I'm extremely indecisive...except that I only like what I like - if I don't like it, there isn't much changing it.

So, I'm doing what any logical person would do and asking my closest 500 friends for advice.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

11 Weeks

Here is the 11 week belly pic - October 2, 2013:

{That beam of light right there is Julie's mom giving her a little love from Heaven.   Makes me tear up every single time.  I didn't know Julie's mom - but I am SO extremely thankful to the woman who brought her into this world and raised such a loving, compassionate woman.  I am quite certain she is looking down on her beautiful daughter smiling with pride at the remarkable woman she's become} 

Here is the side-by-side from last week:

Definitely grown this week - my goodness.  :)  I love that belly - and I love even more that I got a sneak peak of what is inside that belly this week!

The baby is the size of a fig this week:

It's just over 1 1/2 inches long and is almost fully formed.  Tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under it's gums and some of it's bones are beginning to harden.  As was witnessed by this video:

{I know I posted it yesterday, but for some reason Blogger was being strange and it wasn't playing correctly}.  Anyway, as witnessed by that video, it's busy kicking and stretching - looks like it's doing some sort of water ballet.  :)  Also, this is the first week it will likely get hiccups in there from it's developing diaphragm.  None of these movements will  be able to be felt for another month or two however.

Thank you for all your sweet comments earlier this week about the ultrasound pictures - it seems like many are registering official guesses for a girl.  We won't get to officially find out until the beginning of November - but I am putting a poll on my side-bar...so feel free to join in the fun!  :)

Have a wonderful week, friends :)

Way Back When-sday

Kaitlyn & Sam - Christmas 2007

Falling in Love {again}

Falling in love with Kevin and getting engaged was without question the best time of my life.  I just love the beginning phases of falling in love...it feels like you're on top of the world.  No matter how terrible my day was, going home to him was (and still usually is) the greatest blessing of my life.  In the beginning, there was nothing to argue about, getting to know each other kept conversation interesting, and every little detail about each other was new and fresh.  As we all know, this feeling fades away a bit after some time has passed - the love is still there and quite frankly the hard times strengthen that love so I'm thankful that the new-ness fades and we can experience the high's and low's together.  But there is still a small part of me that misses that new love.  I figured I would never feel it again since I am happily married and have no intention of falling in love with someone else - but how little did I know that I would fall in love with someone else.  A TINY someone else.  I am quite sure this feeling will continue to grow and the day I get to finally meet this little blessing will rank right up there with the day I got to marry this miracle's daddy.  I could stare at these pictures all day long...thankfully I have a job and I can't think about it non-stop, but when it drifts into my mind, being able to take a quick peek makes my heart speed up and reminds me of how blessed I really am.


So yesterday, Julie went to her first ultrasound at her regular OB's office.  When she was going through infertility treatments, our Doctor continued to reference her "HUGE cysts" and had communicated that there is a possibility of these cysts rupturing, which would obviously be very painful and could create some problems for the pregnancy.  With that being said, her OB wanted to keep a close eye on the cysts and of course, while she was at it, she wanted to give us a little preview of our bug.  :)

She immediately texted me when she left the office - that baby's heart rate was 171!!  I thought she had typed it incorrectly, but it was followed up by saying that it was probably that high because it virtually didn't stop moving the entire time they were doing the ultrasound.  Hilarious.


This is a picture of it's back because it wouldn't cooperate :)

Now, if you're anything like my husband (or lots of other people I know), this looks like a big blob.  I don't know why - but I've ALWAYS been fascinated by ultrasounds and I have always been pretty good at being able to detect what I'm looking at.  But for those of you without such an amazing gift - I have labeled the ultrasound for you :)

It's in the same position for this little video - I'm sorry the quality isn't great, but let me explain the little set up we had for this operation:  Julie had the DVD from the doctor's office, she put it in her computer.  Using Dan's phone, she Facetimed me.  Using my phone, I video'd this little gem.  Soooo, the quality is about 4th hand by now :)  Anyway, it's in approximately the same position (head at the right, legs at the left) and you can see it flip forward and backward.  It's little legs keep crossing and uncrossing.  I'm in love.  I've watched it about 15 times since last night - seriously.

And my most favorite of all the pictures.....

This perfect and amazing profile.  Melt.My.Heart.

Need help deciphering?

I am so in love with this little miracle.  :)

Be back later this week with an 11 Week BUMPdate -

10 Weeks

Our first BUMPdate in real time!  YIPPEE!  :)


Here is the 10 week belly pic - September 25, 2013

We are 1/4 of the way done!  By "we", I mean Julie of course!  :)

Julie went to the doctor today and she sent me the sweetest video - if you listen closely, you can hear our miracle's heartbeat.  160 today.

Here is the side-by-side from last week:

The baby is the size of a kumquat this week {I can hardly keep a straight face while talking about this fruit, by the way...}:

It's a little over an inch long and weights less than a quarter of an ounce. It has now completed the most critical portion of it's development - but we are continuing to pray anyway!  Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function.  It's limbs are continuing to develop, but can now bend and are moving all over the place.  Although it's grown rapidly until now, in the coming couple of weeks it will again double in size!

Sorry if that bored you - but it fascinates me.  :)

Julie went to the doctor today and the official measurement shows 10 weeks 3 days (no, we are not changing our weekly BUMPdates to show this new development), but here's the most insane part of all of this.  If today is 10 weeks 3 days, that makes her due date April 20th, 2014...also known this year as:

Easter Sunday

Does that make anyone else get a little choked up?  Or just me?  All along I have given God the glory for the miracle of this journey and the fact that the most important day in the Christian calendar is this baby's due date is just more than I can take.

Lots of Love -