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House Guest

Friday, May 29, 2009
We are lucky enough to have a house guest staying with us this weekend. I believe that she will even be there before we get home tonight. She has medium brown hair, is always happy, and pees on the carpet when she first sees John (because she is so excited). Yep, that's right, Darby's coming for the weekend.

Our first task of the evening is to take all three dogs to the dog park and tire them out! I have to remember to bring bug spray today since the gnats were so thick last night!

Darby has stayed with us a few times since she was just a puppy, it is really funny to see how she reacts with our dogs. When we go to the park she either follows Nora around out in the woods, or tails any other golden retriever that is there.

The only thing that makes me nervous with her is that it is wood tick season. Our dogs are relatively easy to search for ticks, especially with their short hair. Darby's hair is a lot longer and she is pretty squirmy, hopefully the Advantix does its job!

Week 27

Thursday, May 28, 2009
We have reached week 27 today, which is the final week in the second trimester. I wish I could say that it will be all down hill from here, but I have a sneaky suspicion (fueled by my swelling ankles) that I'm in for a challenge this summer!

The swelling, that seems to only happen on work days (too bad there are five out of seven of those each week!) is called edema. I guess that it happens because fluids build up in the body tissues due to increased blood flow and pressure on the vena cava (huge vein in charge of the lower body).

The way that the doctor or growth charts measure the baby changes this week too. Instead of the crown-to-rump measurement it switches over to a head-to-toe measurement. This week the baby should be around 15 inches long and just over two pounds.

The baby has been able to hear for the last couple of weeks from inside the womb, but reports say that at this point the baby can often differentiate and recognize the mother's voice (does that mean that I talk too much)!

Sunburn

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Do pregnant women usually sunburn easier and worse than non-pregnant women?

I have never had a sunburn like the one that I am nursing right now from Monday. I hope that this doesn't continue for the rest of the summer, or else I will have to buy a case of SPF 40 sunblock!

John's Nephews Say the Darndest Things

John has two nephews that we spent some time with this weekend. Cole is five and Alex will be four in July. It seems that these two may be some of the most excited people in our families, and are trying to patiently wait for baby Kate's arrival. Here are some funny things that were said by these two over the period of two days:

Cole when I was pushing on my belly trying to get the baby to kick: "Don't hurt her!"

Alex: "Are you going to poop the baby out?"

Cole: "She must really like cheeseburgers!" (After eating dinner that night she was kicking like crazy!)

Cole: "Did you know you are going to be a mom soon?"

Alex when asked if baby Kate could play with boy toys: "No, she's a baby girl!"

I'm sure that she will grow to idolize these two, who will for sure teach her some naughty but definitely funny tricks to play on Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. : )

Peyton Elizabeth Senn

Thursday, May 21, 2009
Chris sent these pictures from the hospital, we are lucky enough to be visiting this little girl tonight after work!

Reese Louise Lietha

Here are some pictures that I pilfered from Facebook, we haven't had a chance to see her in person yet but we are hoping to soon!

Baby Kicks

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
This morning John was reading a booklet sent to us from our insurance company. He was shocked to learn that you should feel ten or more kicks within two hours, during the baby's active times.

Our baby, during her active times (which are starting to become more scheduled) can usually kick or move 10 times in about 10 minutes or less. When she is active, she is really active!

I guess John must have thought I only felt her once or twice during the day.

This is definitely the reason that pregnant women lose their train of thought or forget things, it is pretty distracting to have a baby kicking you and moving around inside your belly. It amazes me so much every time that I feel it that I don't think I will ever get used to it or be able to ignore it. Thank goodness I can sleep through it!

Reese Louise Lietha

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
My amazing friend Heidi and her husband Craig just welcomed their first baby into the world.

Reese Louise Lietha
6lbs 14oz
19 inches long

I'm just guessing that she is just as beautiful as her mama!

Kristen Graduated!

Monday, May 18, 2009
This weekend John and I made the trip to Duluth to see my sister Kristen graduate from college at UMD.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the working class!

Giving In

I have finally bit the bullet and purchased some maternity shirts. I have been wearing the pants now for a while just because comfort is a big thing for me these days. Anyways, I was always shocked at the prices of maternity clothes, go figure they were never on sale. I suppose that they know you will have to buy them so they figure they can charge whatever they'd like. There is a point though were one must break down, give in and purchase some fun, tent-like shirts. Thankfully I had a coupon from a friend for 20% off, which definitely helped!

It is kinda hard for me to spend a ton of money on something that I will barely wear, but I suppose I can save them in a box when I am done this time for my next pregnancy.

Posture

Friday, May 15, 2009
I am a person who will readily admit that they have very "bad", "lazy" posture. There have been so many times that I have thought to myself to do yoga to help this, but just never got around to it. : )

Now I am reading baby stuff about posture and here is what I found, through this pregnancy it will only get worse! And here is why:
  • the baby's weight causes your lower back to sway as your center of gravity shifts forward
  • your stomach muscles stretch as baby grows, becoming less able to contract and keep your lower back in alignment

Well now I have an excuse, don't I? : )

Baby Peyton

Thursday, May 14, 2009
We get to meet baby Peyton on Sunday, I can't wait!

Also, little girl Leitha better plan on making her appearance sometime soon, I can't wait to see her either!

Week 25: Beginning of Month 6

We have officially hit month number six, which I guess means a lot of growing is in store. I only have four maternity tops right now that I wear when I am sick of wearing tight clothes, I'll probably have to go shopping soon. : )

This month the baby is about the size of an eggplant, yum again!

In some pregnancies at this point the baby's heartbeat can be heard from outside of the belly, without the special tool that the doctor uses. Capillaries are forming through her body right now which are giving her skin a healthy pink glow. With the added fat that is being stored her skin is now becoming less transluscent, thank goodness!

The Baby's Hearing

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
So I guess now would be as good of a time as any to start working on my foul mouth! I realize as a mother, swearing is probably not such a good thing to pass along to the baby/toddler/etc.

Though we do have some time before we really have to worry about that, the baby can hear things like the air that I breathe in and push out, my stomach gurgling, voices (she should be able to recognize mine and John's at birth, probably Puller and Nora's too since they bark so much), and loud songs such as honking horns or sirens. In other words she definitely could hear the concert, lucky girl, especially since she will get to hear another one tomorrow, I can't wait!

Week 24

So since it is the last day of it I suppose I should post about week 24. It has been a very active week for the baby, sometimes I swear that she doesn't ever stop moving in there!

This is the point where the belly button on the pregnant mom starts to disappear. Mine isn't gone yet but it is getting shallower, if that makes sense. The baby is about 8 1/2 inches long and around 1 1/2 pounds. I guess that from this point on that babies should gain on average of 6 ounces each week.

Baby Kate's face is now fully formed which includes eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. At this point we wouldn't be able to tell her hair color since there is no pigment in it yet and the hair is white.

Dog Park

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
We are lucky enough to have a dog park located about 2 1/2 miles from our house. I would guess that once the warmer weather comes we take the dogs there at least twice a week, and they love it! I took the day off yesterday and decided to run them over before dinner since they would be in their kennel all night due to the concert. I got a couple of pictures of them just for fun.

Puller at the Park

Beagle Butt Shot

Nora at the Park

After the grocery store, trying to get at the groceries that I bought!

The Concert

My first experience at a Bruce Springsteen concert was so great! (Minus the drunk guy behind me smacking me on the top of the head during his air drum solo and then grabbing my head to pull it back to apologize.)

I can't believe that he played for so long, and without an intermission. I hate intermissions, so this was one super impressive thing for me! I only knew about half of the songs that they played, but they are so entertaining that it really doesn't matter. This was more than worth the $35 that we spent on each ticket, I will definitely have to see them again some time!

Peyton Elizabeth Senn

Monday, May 11, 2009
Yesterday afternoon my friend Chris and her husband welcomed a new baby girl into their family, Peyton Elizabeth Senn. (Isn't that one of the cutest names ever?!)

Peyton's stats:
Birthday: May 10, 2009 - arrival was at 2:30 pm
18.5" length
6 lbs 5 ounces

We can't wait to meet her!

A Baby is on its Way!

Sunday, May 10, 2009
My friend Chris and her husband are currently at the hospital waiting to see their new baby girl for the first time. Congrats guys!

Saturday Menu Change

Friday, May 8, 2009
If you know me, you will know I am obsessed with food/recipes/etc. So of course my first menu had to change since I have been thinking of the best way to do this dinner since earlier this week. So here is the finalized menu for Saturday night:

Chicken, Beef, & Shrimp Kebabs
Pasta with Goat Cheese and Roasted Asparagus
Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Angel Food Cake (not homemade) with Strawberries and (homemade) Vanilla Whipped Cream

How does that sound?

Baby's Progress per Doctor

Thursday, May 7, 2009
Our baby girl is growing right along schedule according to the doctor. Supposedly my uterus is now three fingers above my belly button, which is where it should be at this point.

The placenta is attached to the front of the uterus. This doesn't mean anything bad for the baby but means that for now it is normal to only feel her kicking and moving around in my lower abdomen instead of higher. I won't feel her higher until she gets bigger, and has less room to move around in there.

Other than that, everything else is great! Next appointment (4 weeks) I have to do the one-hour glucose test. This will test if I have gestational diabetes, so I better lay off the cake!

Gaining Weight

This morning I had my week 24 doctor's appointment at 8:45, which is nice because it actually gives me almost an extra hour to get ready and relax in the morning.

These last couple of weeks I have definitely been feeling "fatter". This probably has nothing to do with the cake/candy cravings that I constantly have and have been giving in to! : )

I decided to start working out again, I know I should have been doing this all along but got lazy and took a break, so I went to the gym and worked out this morning. I was really nervous to step on the scale before my appointment and almost didn't look.

So far in this pregnancy I have gained 8 pounds. Which to a non-pregnant person sounds like a ton, but to my doctor is amazing, I guess... She told me that at this point women are usually around a 15 pound weight gain and that it is good to be conscious of how much weight I am gaining. Of course she told me to be careful not to let my heart rate get up too far when working out, but other than that she says I am right on track!

This news definitely lets a HUGE load off of my shoulders!

Concerts

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
I am lucky enough to be going to two concerts in one week! Crazy!

I am going to Keith Urban with my mom and sister next week on Thursday.

And

John and I just got awesome tickets for Bruce Springsteen on Monday on www.stubhub.com!

I would recommend checking out the website if you are looking for tickets to anything. It is basically the ebay of tickets!

Mother's Day Menu

We decided yesterday that we are going to have Mother's Day at our house this year on Saturday night for dinner. Of course I started planning what we would make almost immediately, here is what I have come up with so far:

  • Kebabs (Chicken, Beef, & Shrimp)
  • Grilled Veggies (Zucchini, Mushrooms, Peppers, Tomatoes)
  • Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
  • Berry Trifle

Strange Woman

Monday, May 4, 2009
On Friday afternoon I left work a tad early (for mental health reasons), and decided when I got home that I needed to work off my frustrations, so what did I do? I cleaned and rearranged the garage! Yay! (Ever since we got the truck it has been a tight squeeze to get both cars in the garage, so this definitely needed to be done.)

While I was working away, this woman started walking up the driveway to talk to me. I have no clue who she is, which is weird in our neighborhood since everyone is pretty friendly and I figure I could pick the majority of my neighbors out of a lineup if necessary : ) Anyways, the dogs were out so she didn't make it too far up the driveway before they attacked her/begged her for attention.

This stranger had the gall to tell me that I shouldn't be working in the garage and lifting things, and then ask me how far along I am. (Let me remind you again she was a STRANGER)

I told her that I was 23 weeks, I still have no clue how she could even tell I was pregnant. I also told her that I am not lifting anything over 30 pounds, and then she kinda just walked away.

Later I pointed her out to John and he had never seen her either, she was still kinda just wandering around the neighborhood, we'll have to keep our eyes out for her...maybe she is a baby snatcher! : )

Baby Showers

I have now been to two baby showers in less than a month and they were a blast! It definately makes a difference to be pregnant with a little girl while both of the showers that I went to were for friends that are also having little girls (as far as we know)!

Anyways I just wanted to let both of them know how much fun I had!

Emily

Baby's Name

Friday, May 1, 2009
As you all can see the poll is now closed. Based on the results, and our opinions as future parents of course, the baby's name will be...

Katherine Adele Taylor

a.k.a.
Baby Kate

But, as the parents we do reserve the right to change our minds on the name. For example, if the baby came out looking like a Brunehilda, then of course we wouldn't be able to call her Kate. Or if she came out as a he, then Kate would also probably not be too appropriate! : )

Thanks everyone for voting!