Last week of my second trimester

I can't believe I'm almost done with 2/3 of this pregnancy. It's going by so fast! I can't get my head wrapped around the fact that there are only 3 months left before I'll see my baby boy! I've been super busy with my schooling, traveling, and preparing for Troy's arrival that I haven't been very good with the blogging.

The most recent thing that has been fun and exciting is baby Troy moving soo much! He kicks and squirms and does flips all day, sometimes all night too! Thankfully it isn't strong enough to wake me up yet but when I get up to use the restroom, he is just moving around all over! He is getting really strong, he loves to poke his foot out and say hi all the time! Todd and I were watching "Batteries not included" the other night and Troy was moving almost the entire time. He was sticking some part of his body out so far that my belly was slanted diagonally. Todd was loving it and we were probably bugging the heck out of the baby because we kept touching the spot and pushing in on it a little bit. It's so weird to see my belly move around and twitch all day. Sometimes it is like there is a party going on in there! It makes me smile though. I'm glad that he is comfy and happy in there.

My belly is starting to get so big now, it's starting to hinder my ability to do anything! haha I have to have help buckling my shoes and when I put on my pants my legs have to be open wide or else they'll bump into my belly. It's a really weird feeling but again, I love it. haha I'm such a weirdo, all these pregnancy symptoms that are supposed to be awful and I just think they are great! Well all except the back pain. I didn't think I would have any back pain at all but apparently it's about as common in pregnancy as nausea is. Didn't know that!
I love that my belly is big enough that people comment and ask me when I am due. I'm in a weird stage right now though because I can't really remember not having a tummy but then I seem to forget that I have a tummy at all and end up opening the refrigerator and bumping the door into my belly. It doesn't hurt, I just feel stupid because I don't even know my own body well enough right now to remember there's a bump sticking out of it! haha

I ran into one of my friends who is about as far along as I am and we are totally different. I look 100% pregnant and she still has a flat tummy. haha It's so crazy how people carry their babies differently! I'm taller than her too, and not by just an inch, by many inches! haha All those stereotypes about shorter people showing sooner than taller people were just thrown in the garbage. So far I have gained about 16 pounds and am feeling great other than the back pain.

I have been trying to work out and stay in good shape throughout the pregnancy but it is reeeeally hard for me. Every time I go to work out, I have to be careful to not overdo it, which makes it frustrating because as soon as I feel like I am getting a good work out, I have to stop. If I don't stop and just keep going, I'll have a sore back, tummy and basically be miserable for a few days until the soreness wears off. That has been pretty hard for me. I have been trying this new thing where I work out in the pool, basically I just kick in place for a while and it works my legs and abs out while I'm getting in some cardio, but again, I have to be careful how hard I push it because after the first time doing this little work out, my tummy was sore for like 3 days. Miserable! I still go swim laps at the rec center, but I usually only do that once a week. I love to work out, it's one of my favorite things to do, so not being able to work out to my hearts content is a little bit of a downer.

I have had a sore back for basically the past few weeks. It's a dull and persistent pain. I feel like it really never goes away. One night I was in so much pain that I finally just took a tylenol and it was magical. I felt so great and was able to sleep peacefully. Then the pain came back the next day, super fun!

Todd has been so sweet and helpful throughout the whole pregnancy, he massages me and helps me relax so I can fall asleep and he is so sweet to Troy always telling him he loves him and kissing my belly. I am so thankful for such a sweet husband, he is already such a great daddy and Troy isn't even here yet! Last night I was feeling Todd's biceps because they are sexy and I love to...haha Anyway, I was feeling his muscles and I told him how Troy is going to know his daddy just because of how Todd feels. His strong muscles and warm body and hands will be such a comfort to our little boy! (Yes, I am crying right now...haha I love my boys.)

Well anyway, back to the updates on life...we bought a dresser that I found off of craigslist. It is a REALLY cool dresser. Very well made and will be perfect for the nursery once we refinish it. We just have to figure out when we are going to do that refinishing job! The crib arrived today and I'll be ordering the carseat soon. We want the chicco keyfit 30. It's the number 1 carseat in america so we figured it was safe enough for us! The Nordstrom anniversary sale is going on right now, (yaaay!) and they have a really cute petunia pickle bottom diaper bag that my mother bought for me as a gift. It's grey and yellow and looks like a purse but can also be worn as a back pack. Super excited to be using that adorable bag soon!

I'm really excited for all of this to start coming together. I still need to buy the fabric I want for the baby bedding and curtains. I know I want the curtains to be white but I also want them to be black out curtains. I just feel like babies don't nap as well if it's not cool and DARK in their room. I'm very much into the neutral colors for everything baby, especially the nursery. I want to try and stick with lighter pastel colors or just tans and whites. I know that it'll be hard to do that but I just have a picture in my head of how I want it to be and I'm sticking to it! haha

I've been saving my glass jars from every food item I've cleaned out of my fridge. Applesauce, pickles, sundried tomatoes, as long as it's glass, I'm keeping it. I want to dye them different colors and put flowers in them for the nursery. I'm trying to make the nursery look gender neutral but I also don't want it to lean more on the girly side so I'm going to make sure there are some serious boy things in there, maybe a football or something. haha

Well that's all I can really think of for updates on the pregnancy and life. I'll post my week 24 and week 26 picture, I didn't get around to a week 25 picture but it's okay, my belly is slowly growing so I can miss one week and it won't be that big of a deal. :)

Vermont in the summertime

Back in June I was able to visit my sister, Christy, who lives in Vermont. I have been there during the fall and it is breathtaking but the summer was so beautiful as well! We went to a farmers market, strawberry picking, got some yummy creemee's, went to soccer practice, shopping, went on nature walks, swimming at lake champlain, ate at Shelburn Inn and saw all the cute animals at Shelburn farm. My favorite part was just being with my sister and her family though. Her sweet boys were so happy to see me and made me feel so loved and welcome every time I walked into a room! They are such sweet boys and I love them to pieces!

The beautiful rose garden at Shelburn Inn

When I first arrived in Vermont, Ethan immediately told me the first thing we would be doing when we got home was looking at all of his toys. I was pretty tired because I took a red eye flight and didn't sleep a wink of it so after looking at Ethan and Nate's toys, I took a good, long nap. :) There's nothing a pregnant girl loves more than a nap, in my opinion! Maybe some pizza...haha When I woke up, Ethan was right outside the door ready to play! haha He also wanted to see all my shirts that I brought so he could pick out my outfit for every day I was there. "Katie, wear the flower shirt today..." "Katie, wear the black shirt with dots today..." It was really fun to sleep in his room with him on his Toy Story sheet bunk beds, he even let me sleep with buzz one night. :) We watched Harry Potter 1&2 while I was there and I loved how into it Ethan was! I'm a big Harry Potter fan, always have been and always will be so it was really fun to be able to share it with Ethan too!

The boys in their matching hawaiian shirts from Grandma Melodee.

Nate loved to talk to me and tell me every single thing that he had on his mind. "Kee-tee, guess what?!" "What?!" "'Merica!" He is a big fan of Captain America, as is his big brother. He is such a smart little boy and I was really getting a kick out of all the different things he could say. Even if he couldn't say something or hadn't ever tried it yet, he at least gave it a go. He always got so happy and said "Keeee-teee!" whenever I walked into the room he was in. He loved playing with the Mr. Potato Head toy set and would bring it over to me saying "Poh-tay-toe." He also did this hilarious trick where you would say "Nate, do frowny face!" And he would turn his face into the most hilarious frown you have ever seen and then you would say "Now do smiley face!" And he would switch the frown to the biggest, cheesiest and crooked smile on planet earth. It was probably one of my favorite things he did because it was just hilarious. He loves to follow Ethan around and copy him.

Nate doing his "frowny face"

Christy played this game with Ethan and Nate to basically wear them out before bed time, I can't remember what they call it but it was something like whatever Christy challenges Ethan to do, he had to do it! So he was running around and jumping everywhere and Nate was just giggling like crazy and having the best time of his life trying to copy cat Ethan's every move. They are such sweet brothers. You can tell how much they love each other.

Christy was super mom, making dinner and baking and driving us everywhere. Bryan was super dad, grilling and helping lift heavy objects, all the while studying for his schooling. They sent me home with a big suitcase full of baby boy clothes for Troy because they are expecting a baby girl. Todd and I are really grateful for that! We are set on clothes for at least the first 6 months and then we can go get more clothes from them when he has grown out of the first set! :) It pays to have babies after your siblings do. All of our siblings have been giving us so many things for baby Troy that we aren't going to need much else besides what we register for! We are excited to have our baby here and feel way more prepared than we did in the first trimester.

It was so much fun to see them and spend time with them, one of my favorite things was helping them get ready for bed. We would read books, tell stories and sing songs! The boys were just the cutest things ever and I loved spending the week with them just doing whatever we all wanted to do!

Strawberry picking with Ethan!

The beautiful scenery at Indianbrook lake.

Eating maple creemee's with the boys.

Nate helping us pick strawberries. He was the taste tester. :)

Cute baby Nate loving the beach at Lake Champlain! I can't wait until we are all at the beach on the west coast in a couple of weeks. :)

Ethan LOVES sticks and collecting things. This was one big stick!

The Clark family playing in the shallows.

Helping Nate come swim in the water.

Nate learning to kick his feet!