Fun in the sun

This weekend we had the most gorgeous weather we have had yet this year and we took full advantage with lots of outdoor time for us.

We started off Saturday Morning with a work party at our Church's Community Garden.  Katy and Zach came along which made it all the more enjoyable.  Our project primarily consisted of filling five raised beds full of dirt.

We brought the dogs along with us and as soon as we started digging Seumas jumped right in.  The little guy dug for two hours straight and only stopped when we made him take a break to drink some water.  He had the time of his life!

Don and Zach and Katy and Zach did most of the shoveling.  Caitlyn and I raked the dirt to level it out once it went into the boxes.

 On Saturday we decided to head out to Padden for some fresh air.  We did a little off leash hiking in the shaded hills.  Then set up for a lazy afternoon BBQ in the park.

Seumas got to play soccer with Don, Brandon, Noal and Zach.  This is definitely his most favorite game.  See how happy and tired he is?

Don got a new sun hat which he is very excited about.

Full of good food and zapped by the sun, we were all ready for a good nap afterwards.

Nursery Update

Don and I awoke Saturday morning (after sleeping in) to find ourselves staring down a whole entire day with no agenda.  That, I have to say, is the best way to start a weekend.  So after brainstorming a few ideas for the day, we decided to take on a project in the nursery.  I attended a friend's daughter's first birthday a few weeks ago and she took me into the nursery and gave me an awesome tip.  She had shelves installed up high around the perimeter of the room and she kept all the toys in small 12" x 12" storage bins on the shelves.  Then she would take one box down at a time for her daughter to play with until she got bored of it.  It was a great system because for one thing, you only ever have one small box of toys making a mess around the house at any given moment.  Plus, every time you pulled a different box down, it was like Christmas for her daughter, discovering new toys all over again.  And even beyond that, the practicality of the idea was perfect for us.  Since we have decided to use the office nook in our Master Suite for the nursery instead of the spare bedroom , the lack of an actual closet in the room and the unusual arrangement of space with the extra wide doorways makes for limited storage options.  So this was a great solution all the way around.  We picked out our shelves and then I discovered the most perfect turquoise storage bins ever that totally went with the theme of the room and matched EXACTLY the beautiful handmade blocks that the Buell family made for Caitlyn with her name on them.  The storage bins cost about as much as the shelves themselves, but after Don frowned at the price tag and asked me the question "how badly do you want them?" I knew my answer right away was REAL BAD.  So we set aside financial responsibility and indulged and I'm so,so  happy with how it turned out that I don't regret the decision one bit.

So it's really starting to look like a real nursery now that's almost ready for Caitlyn's arrival.  We have a  nice glider that I picked up second hand off of craigslist that will go in the back corner by the window and the dresser which we've been using as extra seating in the living room for now.  We still need to pick up a crib mattress and I would like to replace the window valances with something brown and teal and get some blackout blinds.  I have two showers coming up in the next month, one in Seattle and one at Church.  I'm sure those storage bins will fill up fast.

Oh, and Caitlyn, in case you are ever building your own nursery (a long, long, long ways down the road) and find yourself wondering what music daddy listened to while he put your crib and shelves together, the answer is 80's Hair Metal.  I hope you will be proud of this some day.

29 Weeks

Third trimester is off with a bang.  Last Saturday morning I was doing some chores when it felt like I strained a muscle in my lower abdominals.  My first thought was ouch, that can't be good.  My second thought was, crap, I have a lot I wanted to get done today.  So I took a few cautious steps and determined I could keep going and of course spent a good portion of the rest of the day doing projects around the house.  The next morning I noticed that Caitlyn had dropped and was riding a lot lower in my belly.  Like most muscle strains it felt a lot worse after two days, so Monday I decided to check in with my doula and my midwives.  After asking a few questions, particularly considering that I didn't have any other signs of early labor, they all expressed that they were not concerned but that if I wanted to come in they could do a quick check to be extra safe.  So I headed over in the afternoon and got some affirmation that cervix was still nice and closed, blood pressure was excellent, and baby's heart rate was great.  I was advised to take it easy for a few days and that a warm bath or heating pad on a low setting might be soothing.  After a few days of minimizing activity I'm feeling much better and can't wait to get back to water aerobics so I can sleep better.  Hips have been stiffening up at nights and leg cramps are becoming more regular.  Ahhh, the joys of pregnancy.  Unfortunately when I arrived at the pool for my first night back tonight someone had thrown up in the pool and the class was canceled.  Bummer! 

In other news, our good friends Katy and Zach arrived on Monday for their relocation to Bellingham!  Not only are they good people and great friends, but they are Caitlyn's godparents also and we are so happy to have them in our lives again.  They have been staying with us while they get on their feet and look for a place.  It has been a lot of fun reconnecting and catching up and we are taking delight in the possibilities and opportunities before them in this newest adventure.  Cordy and Seumas could not be more excited to have house guests.  Seumas actually has someone to play with!  This morning after Don, Katy and I had already gotten up and started into our daily routine, I caught both Cordy and Seumas sitting outside of the door of the guest bedroom just staring at it and waiting for Zach to wake up too.  He is definitely the life of the party as far as the dogs are concerned.  Won't the pups be so sad when they get their own place.  At least they will be frequent visitors!

Let the Third Trimester Begin

Tomorrow officially begins the Third Trimester.  This week at work I was entering 90 day approvals into the system and realizing they expire after our due date!

Caitlyn is growing, growing, growing.  My belly just keeps sticking out further and further.  My abs are still hanging in there so it's quite the amusing little sideways camel hump that rides a lot higher than I would have expected.  I keep wondering when things will start to drop or spread out around the middle and I really just can't even begin to imagine where the rest of this baby is going to go.  I already seem so big in my mind. 

My weight gain started off pretty slow but somewhere along the way I developed a sweet tooth and let's just say things have accelerated a tad.  I'm up to about 155 pounds now which means I've gained about 18 pounds since the start of the pregnancy and if I gain another pound a week from here on out I'll end up with a total gain of 30 pounds which is right about what I was aiming for so I'm pretty happy with that.  Caitlyn's growth continues to measure well and on track so she is clearly getting what she needs.  But I've been thinking I want to try to start keeping a food diary for the last trimester to keep better track and make sure I'm getting enough variety of all the nutrients I want to try to cram into her while she's still my little utero-captive.

Caitlyn's activity level has increased quite a bit too with lots of movement.  Hiccups are still regular, as well as distinct movements and jabs.  I also get quite a firm rolling sensation here and there where I imagine she is turning over and trying to get into a more comfortable position.  I can feel solid parts of her pushing up against the surface of my belly but still can't distinguish which parts are which.  I spend a lot of time in the evenings rubbing my belly like a little Buddha so she can get used to my touch and maybe it will be more soothing and familiar when I rub her back when she gets fussy.  She does NOT like it when I lean forward in my desk at work and wiggles around.  The girl likes her space. 

My hormones must be elevating too.  Lately I've been feeling extra affectionate and extra sensitive emotionally, both positively and negatively.

Last weekend I went home for a quick trip to Eugene which included my first Baby Shower with my family and closest childhood family friends.  It is so humbling to be on the receiving end of so much love and joy and support for this wonderful little life.  And it's absolutely remarkable to think that all of these people in my life who have loved me since I was a child, are standing by to invest that same precious love in my daughter.  Yes, Caitlyn is going to be very blessed.

I started to process more recently that I'm actually going to be a mother.  It's easier to grasp that you are going to have a baby than to realize that you are going to be a mother.   It came to me when I opened up one of my baby shower invitations which had a baby bird and a momma bird on it and I realized, 'Wait, I'm the Momma Bird!"  I'm glad I still have 12 more weeks to go though.  This Momma Bird still has some more nesting to do.

Progress So Far

13 Weeks

19 Weeks

25 Weeks

24 Weeks

I think I must be in the honeymoon phase of the pregnancy. I feel Caitlyn's kicks and turns and hiccups a lot lately which I love. Just this week I started noticing my belly actually moving with little jabs here and there. Don got to see it too. I find this so amusing and marvelous! And at the same time, I would like to thank my daughter for being a sweet little angel lately and sleeping through the night with me. Quality sleep is something I have learned to cherish and savor as I know these days are numbered.

I am also love, love, loving deep water aerobics. It took me a while to build the routine of making it to an evening class, but with a little practice, I've managed to make it a priority and am now consistently going about 3 times a week. It feels so good to be in the water and weightless. I get good cardio but without all the stress on my joints and a nice full range of motion. Some of the moves are really out of the ordinary too, like swinging your legs back and forth like a bell (think full conversion from back float to a front float but your head stays in one place), I just can't help but wonder what Caitlyn thinks is going on in there and it makes me smile.

Quality time with Don is also a huge focus for me right now. We've been cooking a lot of good meals together lately. The other night we came home from church and read to Caitlyn for about an hour and half. We've been going through the TV series Justified, and running errands together. Whatever it is, I'm deeply indulging in those moments of being able to be present and attentive to each other without a world of distractions. We have a lot to learn about being parents, but as husband and wife, I couldn't ask for anything more.

Oh, and the NESTING!!!! I was born to nest. Much progress has been made in the Early household. I made the transition to the new office a week or two ago (it's a bit of a blur now). I'm really happy with the new arrangement. It feels more like a real office for one (rather than a nook in my bedroom), so going to work actually feels like "going to work." I have a commute now, if only to the other end of the house.

With the transition to the new office we cleared out the nursery space and that's ready to assemble. We had considered painting but a small disagreement with the landlord took that off the table. Don and I are both OK with this. The finished product would have been cool, but it was starting to sound like a lot of work. As far as the nursery goes, I've already acquired a dresser, changing table, and very nice glider. We recently registered for a crib and mattress also on our Amazon Baby Registry and hoping someone may gift that to us sooner than later so that we can finish setting up the nursery (hint, hint). I'm really happy with being able to use the office nook in our master suite as the nursery area. Location wise it is perfect. However, the way the room is set up with double doors, large windows, an angled wall, and no closet, it will be interesting to see how everything fits in there. Particularly since I have a specific place I want the crib to go where we can see it from our bed.

Additional household projects have come together as well. This weekend we acquired some new shelving for our bathroom and picked up some new towels as our current supply was getting a little ragged. Plus we got some new towel hooks to go on the back of the door -- a muh more convenient location to the shower. I love the new arrangement! I think I already mentioned a few weeks ago that we acquired some new bookshelves also which have gone in the spare bedroom. Other projects I hope to accomplish today are picking up and installing some new mail slot organizers (as part of our never ending quest to keep on top of paperwork and keep the mail from piling up on the kitchen island like it always tends to do), and to finish going through the boxes of office supplies that we have yet to transition to the new office. We may also take a load of books today to the used book store after church to cash those in.

My biggest nesting project lately though has been in the category of meal planning! I finally found the perfect solution for organizing all of my online recipes and simplifying meal planning - Pinterest!!!! It is the best tool for how my mind works. I have been pinning all my favorite recipes in different categories (i.e., soups, salads, chicken recipes, etc). I also have a board for "This Week's Meal Plan." So now I can easily glance through my online recipe collection in a consolidated cookbook fashion and repin the recipes to my weekly meal plan that I want to try that week. Then it's as easy as printing out the recipes, making my grocery list, and done in 15 minutes! People keep telling me I won't have time or energy to cook when the baby comes; but I'm hanging on to the dream (delusional or not) that if I just have a really good plan, I can still make it happen.

TJ's Game Day Chip Dip

1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Turkey Chili with Beans
1 Pkg Cream Cheese
Corn chips for dipping

Heat black beans and turkey chili together on stove top over medium high heat. Warm cream cheese in microwave until soft, then add to chili mixture and cook until thoroughly mixed. Can also be made in the crockpot.

21 Weeks

One thing is for certain, the ultrasound really turned this whole parenthood thing up a notch! Finding out the gender, seeing the images of our beautiful girl, everything is so much more real and intense now. The bond is already growing so strong and I am totally falling in love with my little girl. Not 24 hours after the ultrasound, Don and I had already settled on her name and were ready to start calling her Caitlyn Iona Early. I love her name and the personality that she is already developing. I can't wait to meet her and be her Mom.

I slept until 4:30 this morning. That's pretty darn good! Back pain and hip pain started to kick in as I entered the half of the pregnancy which keeps me up at night. I'm trying lots of different things -- yoga, water aerobics, pillows, heating pads, reclining. Not sure if it's just the luck of the draw or not but the last few nights have been pretty good nights. I picked up a wedge pillow at Along Comes a Baby which is a little pillow that goes under your belly to provide some relief. It's nice because it is small and not so cumbersome. With the other pillows and body pillows, just trying to reposition them to get comfortable multiple times throughout the night wakes me up by itself. I'm sure it will become more difficult as the pregnancy progresses but I'm relishing any quality sleep I get at this point.

Working out has been harder than I want it to. It's tough when you lack the energy and the weather sucks. I finally started water aerobics which feels great. It's just tough because it's in the evenings and there are so many things that are competing for my time. But it's so important. I need to be in good shape for labor which is going to be the most physically demanding thing I've ever been through. So I'm really trying to step up my game with more water aerobics and prenatal yoga. I am so done with winter too and can't wait for the weather to turn so I can get outside occasionally and stretch my legs in the fresh air.

I find myself absolutely relishing my time with Don even more so lately. Part of it is knowing that once the baby comes, it won't be just the two of us anymore and to grab the time while we can. I am just so happy and so blessed. He has been such a wonderful husband all these years and I know he will be such a wonderful Dad. We've been watching a little TV, cooking good meals together, and even just doing errands, it doesn't matter. The thing I have been loving the most lately lately is reading to each other. We just started Lamb together by Christopher Moore. This book was meant to be read out loud. It is so entertaining, and so funny, and with a subversive dose of substance underneath it all.

This weekend the cable company is coming out to install hookups at the other end of the house so that I can switch offices. Then we will get to finally start on the nursery! So far I have a dresser, changing table, and glider, and a few cute little items to go in the dresser. I don't think we'll be painting or anything like that but I can't wait to get things in the room and have a place for Caitlyn all ready to receive her. I really worked the Craigslist sales and have a few more things to list once we finish consolidating the offices. I'm hoping I can come together with enough money for a good jogging stroller and a crib and then I will have accomplished all my Craigslist goals.

It's a Girl!

Baby Early has a pronoun now. She's a Girl! The ultrasound was amazing. First of all, she was moving all over the place and completely active the whole time, even doing an entire back flip toward the end. This despite the fact that I had actually NOT dosed myself up on sugar like I had thought I might. It was all her own doing. It turns out that active babies are actually not as easy to ultrasound. I think it takes longer to pin down all the right positions and capture the images they are trying to capture to get all the desired measurements when they are moving around so much. If it takes that much time to chase her around in the womb, I can't imagine how we are going to have our hands full when this little one learns to walk.

So in all we were in the office over an hour and I'm pretty sure the ultrasound itself lasted about 40-45 minutes. I've heard many people say that within minutes of starting the ultrasound their technician declared boy or girl. We were kept in suspense for what I imagine was more than 30 minutes as we hunted for this angle or that, measuring femurs and heartbeats, capturing feet (there were two), and seeing hands open and close. Oh my goodness, even just a bony silhouette and she is so beautiful! For a while she kept her legs crossed like a dainty little girl and I started to get worried we wouldn't get conclusive results. But eventually everything lined up and we got a clear shot. No signs of anything between the legs and the three distinct lines that they look for coming through quite clear. The tech declared "girl" with the disclaimer that these things aren't always 100% accurate. But the evidence was quite plain and convincing to me.

It started to sink in as Don and I held hands for the remaining 10 minutes of the exam and tears began to form. When the exam ended, the tech left the room for a few minutes to make us a CD and then I really let the tears go as Don and I bonded over the news that we were bringing a daughter into the world. It was one of the highlights of my life. Having trouble at the moment thinking of anything that tops it. We were forced to come back to the present for a bit then as I developed a nose bleed and had to attend to that.

As we left the lab, we decided to go to one of our newly discovered favorite restaurants in Bellingham to celebrate - Magdelena's Creperie. The first phone call was to my Mom and of course I was still crying when I told her the news. She asked if I was hoping for a girl. I told her that I wasn't aware of having any preference but when I got the news I was soooo happy. I didn't know if that meant that deep down I really did have a preference after all, or if it was just that the whole thing had become so much more real and would have had the same experience if the results had been different. Don concurred that he felt the exact same way.


The cashew shaped thing right and center is the babies bottom (butt towards the camera). You can see the femur bone in the lower leg. The upper leg is fading off into the darkness. In between the legs you can see it looks pretty vacant. Looking closely, the three little white parallel lines are what they look for to identify the girl parts.


She was opening and closing her hands right before this frame was snapped.


Is there anything cuter than baby feet?!

Big Day

To quote the infamous Disney Commercial. Last night I found myself, "too excited to sleep!" So between the wee hours of 3 to 5 I decided to get up and do what else but make a giant pot of slow simmering bean and ham soup! (Can now check that off my list of things to do today!) Don was a little grumpy being awoken by all the sounds of the chopping vegetables but I lulled him back to sleep quickly with the sound of the running dishwasher. To pass the time while the soup simmered, I also watched a touching documentary on Netflix about the puppeteer who plays Elmo on Sesame Street. What a neat life story.

So today of course is the morning of the big ultra sound. In one hour we will be at the lab and seeing Baby Early for the second time. I can't wait to see how things are developing but of course we are mostly excited to find out the gender. Not that we care whether it's a boy or a girl, but knowing one way or another we can really start to imagine this little person and what our family is going to be like. Just having a pronoun to refer to Baby Early will be huge! We'll also be able to narrow down names.

I decided to use a vacation day at work today to be able to enjoy and savor the day. Don has most of the day off too with an appointment in the later afternoon, so we got to sleep in and have a relaxing start to the morning. I'm only a little concerned that Baby Early might be shy and try to hide the goods. I've heard that happens occasionally and would be soooo disappointing to come out of our appointment today and still not know. So I've decided based on my own completely sound (I'm sure) medical assumption that I made up myself, that I'm going to swallow a teaspoon of sugar about 30 minutes before my appointment to make sure he/she is alert and active and moving around -- hopefully giving us lots of vantage points. That's right, I'm going to intentionally sugar rush my baby.

In addition to the ultrasound, today also marks 20 weeks, the halfway point of our pregnancy. Last night I had the first experience of feeling the baby kick in a very distinct and pinpointed way in a specific spot (a few times repeatedly). This is different than the general quickening fluttering I have been feeling up until this point. And it was distinct enough and strong enough that Don was able to feel it too. Pretty cool!

Time to get ready to go. . . . :)