31 Weeks!

So at 31 weeks I feel comfortable rounding down to telling people that I have two months to go. Two months, nine weeks...same difference. Though I am certain that BabyGirl will want to stick around longer than those nine weeks. My nephews liked to come late and my mother said all of her babies were late late late. Hooray (sarcasm).

New with the baby:

She should be about 16 inches long and weighs over 3lbs. Babycenter said to imagine carrying four navel oranges. She is extremely active and feels like she is doing somersaults in my belly. I love feeling the movements but its kind of uncomfortable when she is actually stretching out in one side of the belly or the other. Its a constant pressure there and it feels like she is trying to get out.

New with me:

This past weekend I felt some throbbing pain in my legs. I wasn't sure what caused it. I hadn't spent an extra amount of time on my feet that day. It did feel like they were super swollen but they didn't look that way. Who knows? I felt better Monday morning. The books etc say that I could be experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions now. I'm not sure if I am, but I have felt something that reminds me of menstrual cramps. They don't hurt but its kind of ache-y. Could be them?

Running & Exercise:

Thursday: Swim 20 minutes & BodyPump - first time back in the pool in awhile! Not so bad!

Friday: Nothin'

Saturday: Run/Walk 35 minutes

Sunday: Walk 30 minutes

Monday: Elliptical for 20 minutes and BodyPump class

Tuesday: Walk 50 minutes with Murph (confession - was supposed to be a swim day but I didn't want to mess up my hair!)

Wednesday: Run/Walk 40 minutes with Murph

The weather is fantastic in Charlotte this week. They are calling for temps in the lower 80s on Thursday and Friday. I have Friday off from school for Good Friday so I will be finishing up some wedding invitations and working out in the yard. Only a month left of school and internship. I am looking forward to the freedom that will come with these things falling off my plate!

More Nursery Art

My very very talented friend, Karen, has painted BabyGirl an amazing collage. Karen has always done some painting of murals etc for people's homes on the side and she offered to do some artwork for me. I gathered some inspiration for what I wanted from a few different photos that I saw online and Karen was able to create my vision on these canvases that I got from Hobby Lobby. It turned out so beautifully and she came over on Monday to hang them up. I am very impressed with how we (well it was mostly her, I supervised) put these canvases up with minor mistakes. Here they are!

measuring and lining up the canvases

the finished product over the bed!

the artiste with her work! she would like me to point out that she did not do her hair and was not ready for a photo shoot :)

Thank you, thank you Karen! It turned out so great and I am so excited to have them as part of my nursery!

Last Trip Before Baby - Chapel Hill

Three weekends in a row of out of town trips! We just got back from visiting Chapel Hill, NC where Rick's sister, Mary, and her husband, Andy, live with their three children. They had just moved into a new house and this was our first chance to visit it. It was also our first time to meet their youngest, Emerson, born in January! She is too cute! A bonus to the trip was that another one of Rick's sisters, Christine, was able to be there with her husband, Ed, and their three children! Christine, Ed and family are going to be North Carolina residents this summer as they are moving to Chapel Hill from Chicago after almost twenty years. We are so excited to have the Kobsik clan all in North Carolina.

Rick got to play golf on Saturday with his bros-in-law and we all in all just had a great time being with each other. I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures as having six kids running around can keep you on your toes. But here are a couple of very cute ones...

Lilly, Brigid and Emerson - currently the only girl cousins. BabyGirl will make four!

Rick has his hands full with Emerson and Ciaran

Growin and Growin

30 Weeks - Only single digits left

growin', growin', growin'

Some big things have gone on this week so I thought I would start with those!

• Monday - found out that I passed my three hour glucose test that I took last week! I was mostly sure that I had once I didn't get a call from them on Friday but just in case I ate all kinds of sweets this weekend!
• Tuesday - had dinner with Marc & Chris. They wanted to treat us for my helping with their wedding invitations. They didn't need to do that but it was a nice perk to be able to hang out with them. We went to Liberty and had some amazing food...and I got to watch them have some amazing beers. I consoled my beer-less self with their awesome baked apple tart. Yum!
• Wednesday - big thing! I put my two weeks in at Piper Glen where I have worked for almost five years! I have been so busy with my side business, rkDesigns, that I really feel the crunch with everything. Cutting one thing out of my busy week is going to really help. Also I want to make rkDesigns a more official business before BabyGirl comes along so that after she comes I can have a business that I can do from home. My last day at work will be April 8th. Now that I finally made the decision to make the separation from there, I almost wish it could be tomorrow!

New with baby:

BabyGirl should be approaching 16 inches and almost 3 pounds! I can tell she is definitely taking up more room in there. I can play the "what body part is this" game now. I can feel a hard round head or butt pushing out in different parts of my belly. I like rubbing it and feeling her push back at me. I know I'll miss these little movements when she is on the outside. It really is a pretty special feeling. Though sometimes she seems to stretch out the 'wrong' way and I'll have to do some bends to make her settle in a good way that feels better to me.

New with me:

Not much to report. I've gone running again and things are definitely not the same. There will be some very strong twinges in the ligaments that run from the belly area over the hip bones to the upper thighs. These will make me stop and walk a lot.

Exercise and Running:

Thursday: Ran to the post office and back - so about 25 minutes. This was the first time running in a long time and it went pretty well. Things are definitely feeling different now. I am sooo sloooow.

Friday: Nothin' - well we did have to walk really really fast through the airport to make our flight

Saturday: Run 30 minutes - this felt pretty darn good

Sunday: Nothin' - walk around the outlets?

Monday: Run 10 minutes and 20 minutes of biking

Tuesday: Took Murphy and his friend Rocco for a 50 minute walk

Wednesday: Run 3 miles very slowly - took me almost 36 minutes -not a record.

Nursery Project - A Mobile

I am VERY proud of my latest project for the nursery. I made BabyGirl a mobile for over the crib.

I bought a mobile that is intended to hold photos and I modified it by taking off the clips. I then made ten different pinwheels in two different sizes to hang off the different arms of the mobile. I had already hit up the Hobby Lobby for ten different patterns of scrapbooking paper. I cut those down to size and adhered them to each other so that when I bent the pinwheels into shape, the different patterns showed up nicely.

I actually ended up hanging the pinwheels from the mobile by embroidery thread. I think that's the first time I've used that thread - I am certainly not sewing on any buttons - just ask Rick!

We put a small hook in the ceiling and strung up some fishing line (that I made Rick run out and get ASAP!) to hang the mobile.

here it is hanging over the crib

closer inspection

extreme close-up!

I feel like quite the Martha Stewart with the successful completion of this project! I hope it doesn't self destruct or anything and lasts till BabyGirl is at least one!!

Sunburned in Florida

This past weekend Rick and I flew down to Fort Myers, FL where my parents live. We were the last of the visitors to arrive. My sister, Debbie, and her husband, Carsten, and their 5 month old son Maxx were there from Stockholm. Also already there was my brother, Gary, his wife, Renata, and their almost two year old, Lukas. They were in from Milwaukee, WI. Almost the whole family was together. My sister, LeeAnn, was unable to make it down. We missed her greatly.

We arrived Friday and stayed until Monday afternoon. It was a nice visit with everyone especially since it was my first time to meet Maxx! Lukas is also a lot more trouble than he used to be. At 22 months he is into EVERYTHING! He always has a smile on his face though. Whether crying or whining he's got that smile!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E in a cute package named Lukas!

Cool baby Maxx - Grandma is behind there somewhere

Maxx thinks Auntie Becky is the BEST

See - his shirt says so!

We went to a beach near my parents house on Saturday. The air was still pretty chilly though the sun felt great. With the cool air I didn't think much about sunscreen. Big mistake. I got so toasty on my chest, the tops of my legs and arms. Geez, what kind of mother will I be if I can't take care of myself?!

Debbie, Carsten and Maxx "lovin' the sun"

Grandma "walkin" Lukas

before burn - you can tell by the horrible glare off our white bodies! :)

building a sand castle for a very unimpressed Lukas

We played in my parents pool and we got to visit with my cousin, Deana, and her husband, Matt, and their kids Jacob and Abby. Later that night we even saw my great Aunt Mickey! It was quite the family affair.

Jacob, Abby and Deana with Lukas

Saturday night also, Debbie set up a mini baby shower for us! It was so cute how she decorated the table and the surroundings. She bought all the decorations in Sweden and took them all on the plane with her! My family's gift to Rick and I was the stroller that I had picked out. I have picked out the BOB Revolution jogging stroller. A little fact - the world record for pushing a stroller in a marathon was set with a BOB Revolution! To present us with the gift she bought a jogging dolly stroller and taped the BOB logo to the sides. I can't believe they make miniature jogging strollers! We had to leave the stroller at my parents but made them promise they would bring it up when they come to visit in May/June. We got very cute outfits from everybody and Debbie passed on some of Maxx's gender neutral outfits. BabyGirl is not going to go naked that is for sure!

The cute display

Look at those balloon babies!

cute, cute cute!

On Sunday we went to Club in my parents neighborhood for Sunday brunch. SOOOO good! The weather wasn't as great so we spent some money at the outlets down the street and just hung out with everybody.

The gang out in front of Kelly Greens clubhouse after brunch

Monday was of course better for weather because Rick and I were leaving. We went over to Sanibel Island and had lunch at a very cute place called Gramma Dot's. Its in a marina and their seafood was great. Oh and their key lime pie was pretty darn great too! We spent some time walking on the beach and got quite the dolphin show. There were groups of two or more of them swimming about 10 feet from the shore. I tried taking pictures but really just took a bunch of pictures of the water before I realized that I should just watch the real thing.

drivin' Dad's 'vette over to Sanibel

outside of Gramma Dot's

Sanibel Beach and Lighthouse

look at those sun lovers!

We had to leave right after that. I made sure that I took a picture with Renata before I left. Our baby girls are due six weeks apart from each other. She'll probably have a scheduled c-section before her due date and I'm sure that my baby girl will feel nice and cozy in there for a couple of weeks post my due date. They'll probably end up with birth dates that are pretty darn close!

Renata and I sportin' the baby girl bellys

Week 29 - Ugh, Sugar

Ugh I am writing this as I sit in the waiting room for the lab where I am taking my 3 hour glucose test. I found this VERY thorough explanation of the different tests and why we take them and a breakdown of the numbers. This time they had me drink twice as much of the sugary drink as last time. So a whole 10oz this time. It does not get better the more you drink. The last time I thought it was okay at 5oz. Near the 7oz mark, I was NOT liking it. I have to tell you that twenty minutes after I finished the drink, I feel like I am going to ralph. (sigh) This is all worth it right?! BabyGirl is going crazy in there...she must like the sugar.

Anyways...on to the funner stuff...

New with the baby:
According to BabyCenter.com I have a butternut squash in my belly! She should be about 2.5lbs and a little over 15 inches. Her lungs continue to develop and so do her bones. She is extremely active in there. Sunday night as we were trying to fall asleep, she did her acrobatic routine for a good 40 minutes! It was comedic.

New with me:
I've been getting a lot of "woah" comments when people catch sight of the belly. Yes, thank you. I know I'm large - I think that's what happens at 29 weeks. I don't need to hear comments about how my baby is going to be a big one ...and "geez, how much longer do you have?". (sigh) I've been sick with my cold/sinus infection and got antibiotics from my general practicioner on Tuesday. I cannot have this sinus pressure ANY MORE! It feels like I have been punched in the face. I've never had it this bad before. I've been reacquainted with my good friend the neti pot. Man that thing is weird, but great. I haven't been working out much since the weekend and have been using all my extra time to try to sleep. Try being the operative word.

Excercise (a whole week of no running - very strange):
Thursday: nothing
Friday: Walk for hours and hours around Savannah
Saturday: Bike for hours and hours around Tybee
Sunday: nothing
Monday: BodyPump
Tuesday: nothing
Wednesday: Walk for 30 minutes with murph



Had dinner with my friends Stephanie (due end of March) and Katie (due end of June) on Monday. I guess you could call it Pregnant Ladies' Night Out! It was good to catch up and talk baby stuff. Here we are:

St. Patty's in Savannah

Well it was almost St. Patrick's Day anyways. Rick, Murphy and I took a mini trip to Tybee Island and Savannah, GA this past weekend. I had been to Tybee before but never had gotten a chance to look around Savannah and so thought it would be a good trip to take BB (before baby).

We left Thursday afternoon and stopped in Pooler, GA (20 minutes outside of Savannah) to visit with our friends Scott and Kristy Huntley - and their son Dylan. We had some pizza with them and Dylan got some kisses from Murphy before we kept on truckin' to Tybee Island. My friend Tara's parents - Dan and Cathy - rent a house on Tybee and they were going to be gone for the weekend. They let us stay there and watch Newman, their black cocker spaniel. Murphy and Newman got along alright but Murphy is very possessive of his people. He doesn't like it when the other dog gets more attention than him.

Friday after a long walk with the dogs, we drove into Savannah and walked ALL around. It was a good 5 hours of walking stopping only for lunch really. We explored River Street and the mini squares. I learned that Savannah was the first planned city in the United States. Its founder, Oglethorpe, laid out the city in a grid with 24 squares for people to congregate. I guess 21 of them still exist today. In preparation for the St. Patrick's Day festivities, they had a "greening of the fountain" in Forsyth Park, which is the largest park in Savannah. There was quite a crowd there.

Posing on River Street

Outside the Six Pence Pub

Greening of the Fountain

I did really well walking all around...even went up and down the steep steps that take you down to River Street a couple of times. There was one meltdown around lunch time. I was just done walking and why don't we just stop and eat something! Rick was on pins and needles until we got to a restaurant. It ended up being just a panic decision - probably not the best restaurant in town but at least it was a seat and some food. One interesting thing about Savannah is that you can get a to-go cup for your beer. You can walk around with a plastic cup full of your favorite beverage. This amazed us and Rick did it as much as possible.

We had to take a picture of his to-go cup!

Saturday morning, we took another walk with the dogs and then had breakfast at the 'world famous' Breakfast Club. They catered the Kennedy wedding! It was delicious. We then took a couple of Dan and Cathy's bikes all around the island. I haven't ridden since a couple of weeks after I found out I was pregnant. I felt very safe on the beach cruiser style of bike. We rode for a few hours probably, getting on and off quite often. We went to the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse (178 steps!) and visited Fort Screven. It was such a nice day.

Tybee Island Lighthouse, Rick at the top

View from the top, and me on the way down - look at that belly!

At Fort Screven/Tybee's Historical Museum

Tybee also had their own St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday afternoon. I was very impressed with how long it was. We actually got tired before the end of it and went back and hung out with the dogs for a little bit. Another dinner at the Huntleys that night and we left Sunday morning to get back to Charlotte.

With our beautiful new Tybee Island St. Patrick's Day shirts, and me with the only N/A beer on Tybee! I wanted a to-go cup too!

It was such a great weekend. It wasn't good for the cold that I was brewing but I am thinking it was totally worth it.

Off to Fort Myers next weekend!

28 Weeks - Tired, Just Tired

picture taken at my friend Shannon's bday party on Friday the 5th - notice my O'Douls!

New with the Baby:
Still about 15 inches but is up around 2.5 lbs. Supposedly she can blink her eyes which now have lashes. They also say that she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. Cool! BabyCenter's fruit/veggie comparison is a Chinese Cabbage! That's in weight I guess.
She has been super active the past few days. I swear she is doing some acrobatics in there. Before I got out of bed the other day, I laid on my back and I felt her shift around in there and could feel something round and large poking out of my belly! a butt? a head? :) That was really neat, I hadn't yet been able to feel her through my belly.

New with Me:
This may not surprise you but I am doing too much these days. School, work, internship, side business (which is going gangbusters!), coordinating weddings on the weekends, exercise, being social, growing a life in me -- I am pretty tired. I know that having a baby will in no way be a "break" but I almost see it as such. I will be able to let a couple of the balls I have in the air drop (i.e. work, school, internship) and I can focus on the few things that I am really excited about - family, friends and my own business. I know I'll be busy as all get out with the baby but joy of joys there won't be as many different things to worry about.
I am starting to feel the beginnings of a cold AGAIN. Do you think it could be because of what I just said above? Naahhhhhh! This has cut down on my exercising which also doesn't help with my mood.

Running & Exercise (sigh):
Thursday: 20 min elliptical and BodyPump
Friday: nothin
Saturday: Run 3 miles with Murphy, Tara and Annie - this felt better! But I was glad to be done at 3 miles.
Sunday: nothin
Monday: BodyPump and walk with Murphy for 30 minutes
Tuesday: Cycle class and walk with Murphy for 30 minutes
Wednesday: Walk with Murphy for 30 minutes

Miscellaneous:

• Went to my friend Shannon's bday gathering on Friday night! She had a great showing and it was great to catch up with some friends
• Saturday - I had coordinated my first wedding since last November. It went really well! Then I had to go to work at Piper Glen and then met up with some friends for another bday celebration. We then went out to watch UNC get beat up by Duke in basketball which is never a good thing for many a Carolina fan. This year its not a surprise though.
• We're headed off to Tybee Island which is right outside of Savannah, GA on Thursday for a long weekend. I don't have my regular class schedule this Friday so it was my one big chance for a getaway!

What a failure!

This morning I went in for my one hour glucose test. This is actually a screen for Gestational Diabetes. I showed up at my doctor's office for my 8:30am appointment and they took me back for the regular weight check (eh, it was alright), pee in a cup and my blood pressure (very good). I met with the nurse practicioner and we listened to the baby's heartbeat. She was holding strong at 145bpm. I don't think BabyGirl likes the noise of the monitor. The last couple of times, she has kicked up at the wand. Its pretty funny. The nurse practicioner also measured my fundal height and I was measuring right on track. She tried poking around to see if BabyGirl was head down yet and she couldn't tell yet.


a picture I found online of the exact drink I had today!


They gave me about 6oz of this very sugary drink. It tasted like a melted orange flavored popsicle to me. Then I had to go and wait for an hour in the waiting room outside the lab for an hour or so. There were two other women in the waiting room who were there for the three hour test - meaning they had failed the one hour test. I knew one of them from the Junior League and we talked. I kept thinking - please don't let me fail this test! Well....when I got back there, they took my blood and put a bit of it into one of those little blood sugar monitors. The nurse there told me that they were looking for a level of 135 or less. The monitor went around and around and came back with a 148!!! Wah!

I felt like I was in trouble at school and being sent to the principal's office. I had to schedule the three hour test for next week - Thursday the 18th was the best day for me. I then had to report back to my doctor's office. I got called back and met with the nurse practicioner again. She just gave me the instructions for how to get ready for the next test. Sounds like getting ready for it is similar to getting ready for a marathon - major carbo loading! Now this is something I can get behind. Supposedly they want me to flood my system with glucose for the three days before the test and then fast twelve hours before the test. Interesting.

So really I don't feel like a failure. However, I am majorly bummed that I have to take the three hour test. Three hours?! What am I going to do for three hours?! I read today that 15% of women will fail the one hour test and of that 15%, only 15% actually have Gestational Diabetes. If I do happen to have GD, then I know it will be fine. They put women on special diets to control the diabetes and hopefully keep the symptoms away from the baby. Sometimes medicine is necessary to help maintain proper blood sugar levels. Well if I have to go on a special diet then it will help with keeping that extra pregnancy weight off towards the end. See! A silver lining!

Just keep growing, growing, growing

I can't believe how big I have gotten all of a sudden. I have gotten a lot of comments from people at the gym and even when I went to Hobby Lobby!

look at this belly grow.....

***Just found out today that my brother and sister-in-law are expecting a girl in July! Two baby girl cousins a month apart! How fun!

27 Weeks - Entering the 3rd Trimester

Third trimester?! I can't decide if I want to celebrate or panic. I go in between the two emotions quite frequently.

New with the baby:

BabyGirl should be about 15 inches long and about 2lbs! AlphaMom.com says along the lines of teddy bear sized. That makes me smile. I can't wait to squeeze her! Her eyes should be able to open and close now. Also her lungs are immature but could survive outside the womb with medical care. Hooray for viability!

New with me:

This week has been hard. Up until now I had been pretty smug about how smoothly this whole pregnancy had been going. This past week showed me what it really could be like. Nothing is horrible yet but a few things going wrong and I was hating life on Friday and Saturday. Starting Thursday afternoon I felt like I had something stuck in my throat. This item was also making my stomach feel icky. This was all manageable though. Then Friday all day, that item came back and my stomach was so upset. I also started to feel very sore ribs. Like I had been tackled and I was bruised. I chalked the lodged item up to indigestion...but the ribs were a mystery until I got on the trusty Google. Turns out rib pain is a common side effect of pregnancy. Lovely. It could be BabyGirl kicking me or it could be just that things are getting moved around in there...its just something that I'll have to get used to. It is feeling much better now but there are twinges here and there when I take a deep breath. Saturday I went for a five mile run and at the end, a ligament in my leg was so painful that I could hardly walk! What did I do?! A lot of the books and articles I have read mention that while pregnant, my body is creating a hormone called Relaxin. Relaxin loosens joints and ligaments which make my body ready for labor but also makes me more susceptible to injury. Boooo. I rested a lot the rest of the day on Saturday and by Sunday I was feeling better.

woah baby! 27 weeks. Murphy had to join in on this picture!

Running & Exercise:

Thursday: BodyPump & 20 min elliptical

Friday: Run 4 miles with Murphy, Meredith and April - hooray for running friends!
Saturday: Run 5 miles with Murphy, Tara and her dog Annie. Felt pretty good but even better to be done...but then the dreaded ligament pain!
Sunday: I walked to the bar to meet our friends and back...that counts right?
Monday: Nothin' - was up to 1:30am the night before doing work and that doesn't inspire me for a 5:30am wake up call.
Tuesday: Cycle class - some things are really hard in cycle class with the belly in the way! Lifted upper body a bit and then walked Murph for over 20 minutes.

Wednesday: Tried to go for a run but my ligament pain was too great...Murphy and I ended up walking for 40 minutes. I refuse to think that this might be the end of my running!

Hospital Tour:

• We went on the Expectant Parents tour of the hospital where we will be giving birth. We met our good friends Katie and Jarrett who are also expecting and due on June 28th. I have to admit that I thought it a bit surreal that I will actually be using the labor and delivery rooms that they showed us. They were actually a lot bigger than I thought they would be - but I guess a lot of people come in and out of those rooms. There is a TV and DVD player in every room. CD player, shower and a chair that turns into a bed for the "coach" as our tour guide said. She also showed us the nursery where there were a few babies then the post-partum rooms. My friend Tara, had given birth in November and I got to see her room then. She was in the corner of the building so was given some extra room - I wonder if I can request that room. Otherwise the other rooms were adequate. At the end of the tour, our guide said it wasn't part of the official tour but if we wanted to see the operating rooms then we could. Morbidly fascinated I followed her. The operating room looked like it does on the TV shows. Big and bright with lots of equipment. I wonder if I will be seeing it again in June.

*Running & Prengnacy: I liked this woman's account of running through pregnancy.

Too Cool - Spell Your Name on Flickr

I just ran across a link to this Spell with Flickr tool on a website that I frequent. Its too cool because if you come up with a letter you don't like, then you click on it and another option shows up! I had been thinking about doing something like this on my own - going around Charlotte and taking pictures of the letters that make up the (multiple) names that we have in the running for BabyGirl. This seems a whole heckuva lot easier! Though doing the work myself would mean more in the long run wouldn't it. In the mean time it has been fun to spell everybody's name in our family and see all the different letters!