Houston Shower :-)

We had our first baby shower with our friends and family in Houston this past weekend and it was SO much fun!

Patrick and I hadn't really been back in a long time to just see friends, it was always just to deal with more house drama, so we were looking forward to seeing everyone.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but we were too busy talking with all our guests!

Amanda and Debra hosted it for us at La Madeline, and they did such a great job!  We had yummy snacks, and sweet cupcakes made by another dear friend, Allison Wiggins (Again, NO pictures - boo!)

We had friends from my parent's old 'hang' out group, from my first neighborhood growing up in the Woodlands, our Coppercrest crew, our band directors and so many more friends.  To say we are blessed to have so many that love us is an understatement.  Not that the gifts matter to us, but we literally couldn't fit anything else in the car on our way back to Dallas.  Cohen's room is littered with bags and cards from people that love him already!

Picture OVERLOAD!

Here is me with my hostess(es).  Amanda had a family emergency and had to leave super fast and early so she wasn't in the photo-op.  Her Dad is doing much better, and we wish him the best!

 I think Patrick cracked a joke and Debra laughed....but I like the picture and you can see the mounds of diaper cakes, gifts and balloons behind us!

Opening gifts and chatting...

 Our Ole' Coppercrest Camp! We were so excited to see them and have them there.  After the party, we stopped by for a little bit to catch up on the neighborhood drama and details on our house.  Its always hard to go back and then have to leave. :(

Amanda dutifully taking notes on our gifts - such a great time!

 Band director buddies, time to chat and get caught up! We were so glad ya'll came!

 My favorite balloon ;-)  I have really gravitated towards the whale or sea life theme for Cohen, especially in his cute clothes and towels.  Maybe I have Maui on the brain???

Thanks again to everyone!  We miss you already and can't wait to bring Cohen to meet his Houston family!

30 weeks!

Marination Time: 30 weeks, meaning no longer in the twenties - I am officially 8 months pregnant today, holy cow!  Even more shocking is my weekly count down is now 9 weeks and 6 days...if you count the week early induction, we are looking at 8 weeks and 6 days.  HOLY COW! I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

Fruit/Size this week: Head of lettuce (18 inches, 3.2 lbs) And yes, it feels like a bowling ball of salad resting on my lower body and pulling on my back. I'm super excited that he's growing and healthy - and also super excited that this extra weight is just temporary!

Maternity Clothes: We started school this week with professional development, flute camp, and high school band leadership camp, so my comfy summer wardrobe is obsolete.  I'm finding most of my fancy/school appropriate tops are too short or too small...same with my 2 pairs of slacks.  I'm trying to be creative with borrowing clothes as I will only be wearing these for another 8 weeks.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Movement: This is still my favorite part!  I think he has been head down this week as his kicks and shoves are really high and near my ribs.  A couple days ago I rested my cell on my belly and it was dancing! Also, Cohen gets hiccups at least once a day.  They feel like little tiny kicks at 10-second intervals...maybe my own personal metronome!

Cravings: Sleep!  I've reverted back to my first trimester non-sleeping habits.  I am able to fall asleep just fine at 9:00pm but 2:00-4:00am is my awake hours.  It may be the anxiety of starting school again, getting closer to his birth, the job situation, or random other little things.  Guess I'll be used to those nighttime feedings, though!

Annoyances:  The physical limitations of being pregnant. ;-) Its annoying to try to do dishes, laundry, feed the dogs and have to sit down afterwards!

Belly Button: Flatter and Flatter... more stretch marks on the side of the belly than on the front.  I'm waiting to see if they will make it all the way around.

Highlights: I am feeling bigger movements this week.  Its reassuring ;-) and we are in the home stretch! We have a couple showers coming every weekend for the next 3 weeks, so I'm excited to see all our friends and family.  Not pregnancy related, but Patrick and I made it through the first month on his adjusted salary and it feels really good to still be able to pay our bills.  We've been much more creative with our meals and finding/using coupons.  Dave Ramsey would be proud! Oh, and our first shower is this weekend in Houston.  I honestly am more excited about seeing everyone than actually having a 'formal' shower.  Its been WAY too long since we've been back to visit, and I am just over the moon to get to see everyone ;-)

We started our two week visits to the OB this week.  It won't be long until we are seeing her every week! 

Blessings!

Cici and Petco Shower!

Huh?  What did you say read?

Yup, that would be my parent's chosen names for 'grandma' and 'grandpa.'

Cici - My mom's first name is Cindy, so this seemed to fit well.  Plus, I think the word grandma or grandmother is just too much for her to take in.  I really think she's still in shock that I'm pregnant...and that she will be a Cici!  Anyway, someone at the church shower found this logo...we didn't even think about the pizza joint. I think I will make a knock-off shirt for her to wear ;-)

Petco - This one is a bit more difficult to explain.  My dad is part Czechoslovakian, so his parents have a very heavy accent.  His given name, Peter, translates into roughly Pet-Co...something we have been calling him for a while as a nickname.  The name just seemed to fit when we were

So my mother's church wanted to honor these first-time grandparents with a small shower.  We drove up to Tulsa on Saturday (July 21st) to be there with them.  It just so happens that was Mom's birthday as well, so we had double the reason to celebrate!  It was so sweet and nice to see everyone, and boy, her church LOVES her!  She had over 50 people there, and enough gifts to fill the car plus some.  I think she is all set!

Here is picture overload!  Sorry!

Me and my parents (Cici and Petco)

The Cake!  If you can read it, it has their names in yellow icing in the center!

An action shot of the church parlor- early on: I stopped counting when we had to put more places to sit.

Me and my lil sis, Laura.  Audrey couldn't make it because it was a Saturday, and you know what hairdressers are doing on Saturdays!  But we missed her!

I guess they were really excited about whatever gift this is!

More precious gifts - we were so spoiled!

Proud future-parents ;-) I still can't believe Cohen will be here so soon!

When we got home, mom had to sort everything out in the living room.  In fact, she made the grand-baby room in less than 24 hours complete with everything put away.  Now she's just waiting for the baby!  

Anyway, New Haven UMC was beyond gracious for hosting and showering our family with such love.  It was fun and we are so blessed ;-)

Have a great week!

29 weeks!

Marination Time: 29 weeks!  Last weeks in the twenties - I CANNOT believe I just started my 30th week of this pregnancy.

Fruit/Size this week: Butternut Squash - about 3.1lbs and a bit over 17 inches long.

Maternity Clothes: Yes and yes.  Getting anxious about finding professional clothes that are comfy to wear when we start work next week.  I've got plenty of tanks and shorts for marching band, but not a huge amount of larger-your-in-the-third-trimester-hugeness dressy clothes.

Movement: Yes and yes.  Sometimes my belly dances on its own, especially at night before bed.  I've also noticed its uneven sometimes when his butt/back is all balled up on the left or right side.  Weird!  Movements and kicking are my favorite part of being pregnant!

Cravings:  Less hungry than last week, but still in need of a protein meal every 3 hours or so. Its over 100 degrees here so I've been sucking down water (and dealing with the bladder issues that go with!) so that may be helping.

Annoyances:  This HEAT.  I am OVER the summer months ;-) The back-aches after I've been on my feet too much or lifted the laundry. Also, the nesting instinct is going crazy.  I've organized under the sinks, my makeup and nail drawers, my scrapbook room, and made/addresses all my occasion cards to send out over the next 2 months.  Guess my brain knows that once school starts there will be NO time left to nest!

Belly Button: Not a lot has changed since last week. Still a flat inny!

Highlights:  I passed my glucose test with flying colors!  Bring on the ice cream and sno-cones, my friends! Also, my mom's First Grandmother Shower is this weekend in Tulsa.  Can't wait to see what she gets - hopefully I'll have that blog post up soon.

Blessings!

28 weeks!

Marination Time: 28 weeks 4 days (today)  Picture was from 28 weeks exactly!

Fruit/Size: Cohen is the size of a Chinese Cabbage! He is around 17 inches and 2.9 lbs...and I can tell that this past week my belly has gotten way bigger and is heavy to carry around.  I am anxious to find out how much he really is based on an actual growth scan.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, but since its summer time I have been living in bra-tanks and yoga pants.  I don't know if my true work clothes will fit once we go back to school ;-) but here's to hoping!

Movement: Yes! Cohen is wide awake at 3am, 6am, 11am, 5-6pm and 9-10pm.  He's scheduled like his mama.  I have felt him have hiccups this week!  Sometimes he has them twice a day and Patrick can catch his evening bouts.  We had a bit of a movement scare (see further down) this week because he has been so regular...but everything is fine!

Cravings: I have been hungrier this week - waking up in the middle of the night to eat goldfish or granola bars - and I really think he had a growth spurt that was all baby.  I am still loving the summer time sno-cones, ice-cream and watermelon.  Most days I have cereal (raisin nut bran) for breakfast.  Yum!

Annoyances: The cough/gag reflex thing is getting ridiculous. I probably cough/throw up about three times a day, and its always worse at night.  Trying to take some heartburn meds to help, but so far it doesn't take the gagging away.  It scares people - like when I visited Andrew and Kinsey, he gave me a hug and then I starting my not-breathing-can't-speak-cough and turned to Patrick to say, "I think I killed your wife!" Doc says that will go away in September...

Bellybutton: Flatter and flatter every week. I found my first stretch mark on my lower left side. BOO.  So I've been double slathering coconut oil and mustela on the budda belly.  If I'm like my mother, I will have stripes by the end of this pregnancy.


Highlights: Getting to see my college roomie, Kinsey, and her one month old son, Henry.  He was ADORABLE.  I can't wait to have them meet up!  We have also gotten to see family ALOT the past week and spend a couple nights at the lake.  It doesn't get better than that.  We had our glucose test this week, but don't know the results yet.  As soon as I do, I will post!

Lowlights:  I'm including some negatives this week because we really have had some challenges occur.  Last Thursday (right after my 27 week post) we found out Patrick's job was being cut.  We have had to make some scary financial and emotional decisions this week and are really trying to trust that God has a bigger plan than what we currently have.  On the same day I was having some serious concerns about Cohen's lack of movement.  We called the doctor and did everything they said : Coke, orange juice, sweet snacks to do a kick count.  He was at a 3 after an hour and they said go to Labor and Delivery.  Long story short, our little drama king was fine.  We did get to hear his heartbeat for hours and see him yawn on the ultrasound machine, so it was worth it!

I'm thinking I might use these pictures to tell people I'm in labor - my hair and makeups all done up pretty and my belly bump isn't gross yet ;-)

Have a happy week!

27 weeks!

27 weeks!

Here is a long awaited update.  I have gotten rid of the other blog and will hopefully catch on to Blogger soon.  So far it doesn't have nearly the coolness factor of Wordpress, but it does have one MAJOR plus - no viruses!  I went back and forth with this company who ultimately said I would need to daily rid my site of viruses or pay $500.  Uh huh, like THAT was going to happen.  So here I am, back at blogger.  Hope it works out all right!

Marination Time: 27 weeks and officially in my LAST trimester!

Maternity Clothes: Growing out of the shorter shirts and really finding yoga pants and shorts are my summertime preference.  I borrow Patrick's t-shirts most days when I am just hanging around the house.   I am also really dreading trying to fit into maternity clothes once school starts back up.  

Fruit/Size: Cohen is the size of a head of cauliflower (16 inches and 2.5 lbs)

Movement: We have a schedule:  2-3 am when I get up to pee, 6:00am when Daddy leaves for work, 11:00 am when Mommy eats lunch, 5:30pm when Daddy gets home, and 9:30pm when its time to sleep.  This has been pretty regular for the last 3 weeks.  The drama:  Last Thursday Mr. Cohen decided to take a full day's nap = major anxiety for mamma.  We tried EVERYTHING to get him to move; orange juice, caffeine, brownies, water, food, laying on my left side, etc.  Ultimately the doctor wanted me to go to labor and delivery to be checked out.  Well, our little drama boy waited unit they hooked up the ultrasound monitor and BAM! kicking away like crazy.  Needless to say I felt silly and overprotective, but the nurses were very nice and said I had done the right thing.  Thankfully we got another ultrasound and go to see him kicking, breathing (amniotic fluid) and yawn!  He was folded in half which may have hindered me feeling his movements as much, but I could feel his hiccups all evening afterward (probably all that sugar!)

Cravings: Dr. Pepper, Sno-cones, nothing too specific this week.  I have really noticed not being able to eat large meals any more, so I get hungrier faster and have to eat less.

Annoyances: The weight, the weight, the weight.  The maternal fat stores in my arms and my face is getting that double chin.  Ugh.

Belly Button: In but stretching...so its shallow.  Super weird!

Highlights: Getting to see Cohen on the surprise ultrasound in L&D.  Having friends to lean on when we found out Patrick was laid off this week.  Really starting to plan invites for a baby shower.  Getting some scrapbooking done for Cohen's baby book!

20 and 21 weeks!

20 and 21 weeks:

This month has flown by- with the ending of school and all the concerts/contests/family functions we blinked and realized I am almost completely through my 5th month!  Fortunately we remember to take our weekly belly shots on Thursdays to document my growth.  I am really feeling huge and bloated all the time.  I hate that my face and arms are showing the swelling and the added weight truly is uncomfortable.  Several times in the past few weeks I have questioned how overweight people can live with that added weight.  It is a burden to move around, to breathe, and to generally exist (read between the lines....I WANT MY BODY BACK!)

Here are this week(s) update:

Marination Time: 21 weeks

Maternity Clothes: Yes.  I have grown out of most of my medium tops and will be wearing larges for a while.  I am saving the mediums for postpartum when this belly shrinks a bit.  I bought my first swim suit from Target to wear to the lake and have also decided that flawy dresses will be my outfit of choice this summer!

Fruit/Size: Cohen was/is the size of a small banana, just under a pound.  I took a picture of the app on the exact day that we were 20 weeks and it was still mango-type baby.

Movement: Really most of this update will be in the 22 week post ;-)  I feel him move sporadically and usually on my left side.  When we went out with friends to BJ's for dinner he flipped after I consumed a root beer.  It was the WEIRDEST feeling!  My stomach turned and it kinda tickled.  I'm sure as he gets bigger this will be the norm.

Cravings: Dr. Pepper, Chickafila, Sleep, savory-type foods, Braums' Rocky Road ;-)

Annoyances: Waking up at 3am and taking a few hours to get back to sleep.  Also, the swelling and added weight are annoying.

Belly Button: IN.  This week I started to notice my belly getting a small dark line all the way down.  I guess this is called the line negra.  I showed mom this past weekend and she said she had one with all three of us, and it got darker as the months went on.  Its strange how hormones affect even skin color!

Highlights: Getting to the end of school, sharing preggo insights months with 4 of my preggo friends (3 in my sunday school class and Kinsey!), feeling Cohen move more frequently, running our first 5K and getting to the lake (more posts to come!)

Here are the dreaded belly shots...

Anatomy Scan (20 weeks)

Anatomy Scan Appointment:

Update from our doctors' office today ;-)  And a true MOM moment for me!

Lil Cohen is measuring a few days ahead, but the doctor isn't going to change the due date just yet.  We will just keep our fingers crossed that he is strong and healthy a few weeks earlier!

Today's appointment was pretty lengthy.  I had the usual pee test, weight check, blood pressure (110/60) check before the sonogram.  She checked all the important parts of his anatomy.  (These figures are really for me to remember, so skip over them if you want to!)

Measuring 13 ounces!

Head is normal size and looked like a football to us.  Lets hope the head is on the small side for an easier labor and delivery!

We got to see his full bladder, all 4 chambers of his heart, his cerebellum and she measured his Nuchal Fold, which came back normal as well!

She turned on the color monitor to watch the blood flow in his umbilical cord.  It was really neat to see the new red blood and the old blue blood pumping!

His heart rate is still the same - 154.  Patrick recorded it on his cell phone.  Cohen was wiggling a bunch by this point so the stenographer had a hard time finding and staying with the pulse. Ha!  Looks like we have an attention span issue like me in the family ;-)

She took a picture of his profile and says he looks like me.  Don't know if that is the case, but I smiled anyway.  I think I'd rather have him look like hubbie!

And, I don't know if you can read the upper right hand on the photo, but she agrees that Cohen is definitely still a BOY.  Time to pick out paint colors - (Thats a whole other post in itself).

Blessings!

My First Mother's Day

My First Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day 2012

I really don’t feel like I deserve to celebrate this holiday this year- I haven’t done any of the hard work!  My pregnancy has been a breeze and I don’t know that I feel like a momma yet.

But, nonetheless, my adorable husband wanted to make a big deal of the day.  So here’s what we did for my very first mother’s day ;-)

We, I mean Cohen and I, woke up early.  Then we got hubbie out of bed because we were STARVING as usual.   I had a card from Cohen on my nightstand that had my gift inside.  Cohen let me choose between two charms from James Avery for my bracelet and I chose the one below!

We got dressed up for church and then went to Mimi’s for breakfast early.  I didn’t want to fight the lunch crowds, so we thought we would go early.  It was still a 20-minute wait, but the stuffed French toast was worth the wait!  Plus, we bought muffins to bring to our Sunday school class to celebrate with them – we have 4 expecting mammas in that group now!

If Cohen’s gift wasn’t enough, my favorite hubbie spoiled me a little more that afternoon.  I am a Vera Bradley lover – for SURE – but I really have not felt like I wanted a baby bag from them.  I have been researching the Kate Spade, Coach and JuJuBee bags for several months.  Since we have a Coach outlet right by the house, we decided to go and look to see if I liked any of them ;-) Well, little did we know that not only did they have my bag, but it was $50 off for the holiday!  Wahoo!  So…..here is my other gift ;-)

I’d say I was spoiled rotten this year. How was your mother's day?

19 weeks!

19 weeks: 4 d blog

I know there is still some controversy on having unnecessary procedures during pregnancy.  For our family, we have decided that seeing our little boy is both a reassurance and positive emotional experience (especially for this mama!)  Plus, our friend Angela does the scans, is super supportive, and is just as excited as us to see Cohen grow.

Our first scan was at 15 weeks to determine gender.  Our pregnancy is not considered high risk, so our doctor will only perform 2-3 ultrasounds the entire time.  As many of you know, I am not the most patient person (lol) so finding out the gender in LATE MAY just wasn't going to do.  See our gender post here.  We found out at that appointment that Angela's boss was closing the clinic.  She squeezed us in the last day they were open, so we have some great 20 weeks pictures of our little man!  These photos were taken on May 11th at 4:00pm - we are 19w1d along here.

WARNING:  Photo overload!

At this point his skeletal system is turning from cartilage to bone.  Must be all the cereal and milk mama is drinking!

And because this is the ONLY time its ok to show private parts of my kid, Cohen is DEFINITELY still a little boy.  Kind of showing off a little early...why do men feel the need to do this?!?! Cross your legs, son!

This is my absolute favorite photo from the session.  You can see his face so clearly and really see his little baby BODY!  I am still in shock that this little being is inside my tummy ;-)

Here are all ten fingers - guess we don't need to count those in the delivery room!

We love our little Cohen.  Blessings!

19 weeks – halfway there!!

When I woke up on last Thursday morning, my preggo app on my iPhone read..."Congratulations, you are HALFWAY there!"  Even though this whole counting weeks, days and months gets confusing, I'm still not sure how 19 weeks completed, in your 20th week can count for halfway?!?!  Anyone else think the math is off?  40-19=20?

Anyway,

So hubbie took an adorable belly shot to commemorate the smallest I'll be for the next 20 weeks- ha!  I actually really like the photo.  My belly is shadowed on the wall and looks....well...pregnant!

So here is the week's stats ;-)

Marination Time - 19 weeks, 6 days

Maternity Clothes - Ugh.  At this point my belly isn't big enough to hold up the pants so they sag quite a bit when I walk.  The shirts I have are starting to fill out and/or be too small.  I'm beginning to really hate the way they fit in general.  This summer I intend to have a love-love relationship with my yoga pants and hubbies oversized t-shirts! A little TMI alert here- I finally broke down and bought larger bras.  Its amazing how much more comfortable the girls are when I get home!

Fruit of the week/size - Our little baby is the size of a small melon.  He has been that way since week 18.  I guess this is because this week is the last week they measure from crown to rump.  Next week they measure from head to toe, so little Cohen will be the size of a small banana!

Movement - Yes!  More and more!  He only kicks me on my left side.  After our ultrasound last Friday, we figured out why.  His body is laying horizontally with his head down towards my spine on the right and those little feet on the left.  Patrick was able to feel him kick on Tuesday before our running class.  First time that Daddy got to feel!!

Cravings - Actually, my hunger has gone way down this week.  I get full really fast and nothing but water and junk food sounds good.  I have been eating lots of cereal and milk for breakfast and dinner ;-) Guess its better than a hamburger!

Annoyances - I think I'm with the rest of the teachers right about now.  School in general is a bit annoying.  Kiddos are so DONE for the year and with the end in sight its been challenging to be really motivating for them.  They are wrapping up their core classes and with our spring concert still a week away, its like pulling teeth to get them to practice.  11 more days....but who's counting ;-)  My feet are swelling so I'm supposed to stay off of them (all you teachers laugh with me!).  Summer will hopefully help those as well!

Belly Button - Still in - LOL.  I am smearing stretch mark cream all over that belly though!  Fingers crossed that it works!  Has anyone had success with this brand? It came highly recommended.

Highlights:  Mother's day (post coming soon!), our last 3D ultrasound with Angela (again, for another post!), really feeling Cohen move more and more.  Also, I am really enjoying getting out to run/walk but it hurts my hips ;(

Have a great week!

Our First Home

Auctioning our First Home:

Today was a much harder day than I had ever anticipated.  We knew it was inevitable, and we knew it would be today, but it was still really hard.   Being the negative person that I am, I can't focus on the 'we are going to get better from here' and instead find myself focusing on the 'what I wish it should have been.'

Today our first home, our Coppercrest house, was auctioned.

See, last fall we came to a crossroad in our lives.  We decided that paying two mortgages for 3 years was just about as much as we could take.  Combined with demon tenants, a lousy housing market, and an even lousier economy, the $80k invested in 36 short months was too much.  So we sought legal advice, hired our lawyer, and pursued help from the bank.  Most of you know the story from here...the bank could care less about our house or our little family.  Their bottom line was so important they didn't even bother to tell us that our request for help had been denied.  In fact, we found out about the auction via a letter - not through any of the communication we so carefully put together to try to help them understand.

So here we are - waiting to see how much someone paid for our home.  Our brand new wood floors, paint, fence, patio, roof, water heater, and AIR CONDITIONER...probably sold for pennies on the dollar.  Our first home, our first dreams, bring home both our fur-babies, our first neighbors; all gone with the words "SOLD - to the highest bidder."  It makes me sad, makes me regret moving, makes me regret buying the darn thing in the first place.  Patrick says this is just the beginning of a better journey - an ending to a really hard chapter in our lives.

I still grieve all that could have been.

Here are a few of my very favorite memories...

Our neighbors - you guys are THE BEST. We miss you soooo much!

The parties we would host...and then hang out on the front porch until the wee hours of the morning!

Our first house blessing- - Mom prayed over it and us with all our family and friends.  It was such a special day - January 2007

Hurricane Ike destroyed our house, but we rebuilt with said awesome neighbors. (and notice the pile of debris in our front lawn? we used that for kindling our fires during the entire next year's parties on the driveway!)

We will miss you 1334 Coppercrest...