What a restorative week. We went on what felt like a secret getaway to Whistler, B.C. I say secret since hardly anybody knew where we were. It was kind of fun. I can't wait to write about our trip and the great food we were blessed to try. It was quite timely also, as Arthur and I have been struggling through this new season of life we're in. We haven't stopped pursuing the Lord through our trials, but it's been a challenging time, to say the least. I had been praying that this vacation would be a retreat for us to unplug, talk, pray and grow in spiritual intimacy, and it definitely was. I hope to be able to someday soon write about what the Lord is teaching us, but I don't have a clear enough picture just yet.
This was a big week for LB, who is now the length of a bell pepper and weighs around 7 oz. AND is wiggling around like a crazy person! I feel wiggles all throughout the day now and can almost always tell the difference between twitches and the baby. I even felt my first gentle kick on our drive home from Whistler. We were singing Kings Kaleidoscope worship music all the way down the mountain, and during a particularly fun whistling part, I felt it. This is my favorite part of pregnancy so far and it definitely makes it feel much more real. I find Papa K trying to sneak a feel any chance he can get, but I keep telling him that I don't think he'll be able to feel anything for a few more weeks. So I've been trying to include him by telling him every time I feel something and even flicking him with my finger to give him an idea of how hard/gentle it feels. I'm sure he won't love this as much when it turns into a full on punch...
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| LB at real size! |
On our way up to Whistler, I scheduled a stop in Everett to take a look at and potentially buy some cloth diapers I found on Craigslist. The woman was selling a "lot" of 10 pretty used bumGenius 3.0s that I was thinking I could take out the hook and loop (velcro) and install snaps, 7 brand new bumGenius 4.0s, and 10 very gently used small-sized Fuzzibunz for $200.
At the very least I knew I was interested in the new bumGenus 4.0s since I already have those on our registry and she was selling them for about $4 less per diaper than retail. This is a good deal in the cloth diapering world! But I wasn't so sure if I wanted to go through the work to install snaps in the older 3.0s that were already losing elasticity, or if I really needed small-sized cloth diapers. There will be more to come on our cloth diapering buys, gifts, decisions and research, but for now I will say that we ended up getting the 7 new bG4.0s and the 10 small Fuzzibunz for $150. This seemed like a steal to me. I can't wait to start playing around with them now that I have them in hand to practice!
We also stopped for the night in Bellingham to visit Arthur's dad and break our driving up a bit. My Grandma Bev lives in Bellingham as well, so we made sure to stop by and say hi to her while we were in town. She was so excited to hear we were stopping by because she said she had a baby quilt that she has been waiting to give to us! She plans to make a more formal one for a shower gift, but said this was meant to throw on the ground for the baby to play on. Some of the squares are corduroy, which will probably be fun and tactile for LB. There are also lots of animals we can teach him/her all about. She even unknowingly used the same material that she put on the back of my "blankie" for this one. I thought this was so cool.
Later in the week we had our second Centering class. You might remember me mentioning after our last one that I wasn't so sure if this is the best fit. I won't lie, I still don't feel like I'm getting much new information from Centering, but Arthur and I both agree that the socializing we get and the few morsels of new information are definitely worth it. I did learn that I've gained 6 pounds so far. I thought I would be closer to about 10 by now, but I know I'm eating healthy and getting enough food, so no worries here. We also got to hear LB's booming heartbeat again. It was going strong at the usual 156 bmp. I'm really hoping we get into some "meatier" topics in future classes. Nonetheless, here are some new things I gleaned from this weeks discussions:
- I shouldn't be sleeping straight on my back at this point. However, all I need is a pillow under my hip/upper leg to tilt me ever so slightly to either side. I have been so worried about this since the very beginning that I've almost exclusively been sleeping directly on my side, which isn't always comfortable. The idea is just to get your uterus off the central artery that it can block blood flow through when you lay on your back.
- You can fly in an airplane until 36 weeks.
- Any sex position is fine, so long as the woman is comfortable.
- You can sometimes get a free doula in training through Bastyr if you are needing one at the right time. Just call them and ask. Although I would rather have someone with more experience, I thought this was a great tip!
- If you are planning to use childcare/daycare, the wait lists are crazy long and you probably should have put 10 deposits down on your top choices way before you were even pregnant. Nuts!
- Nanny shares are a good childcare option that might even cost less than daycare.
- The infant/child CPR class really is necessary to take. In my personal research, I found that the class at Swedish is just infant CPR, while the class through Parent Trust is infant and child (up to 8yrs) CPR—more bang for you buck!
Speaking of sleeping, my back is becoming more of an issue and was irate at me for sleeping on foreign beds throughout our travels earlier in the week. The night we got home, I figured all would be back to normal, but it was actually the worst night of back-pain yet. I always find that when I come home it takes a day for my body to get readjusted to my bed. Why is this? It's so weird. Anyways, my back is doing better now, but I've begun sleeping with a fortress of pillows around me. Much to his dismay, Arthur only claims about 1/3 of the bed now with all my pillows.
I think yoga is going to be great for my back, but sadly I haven't had any time to go. I'm hoping next week will be the week! We did get a small hike in while in Whistler and lots of walking. I'm not exercising regularly enough though and need to kick it up. We are just sooooo busy lately, leaving me with hardly enough time to even cook dinner. I'm hoping for lots of sunny walks during the upcoming holiday weekend!
Baby K got so spoiled this week with cute outfits! Papa K is known for the silly and fun t-shirts he always wears, so he secretly ordered onesies to match some of our favorite shirts. I almost died out of excitement when I saw these. I absolutely cannot wait to put our little bean in them because they remind me so much of him. Counting down the days until I can take pictures of them together!
Our friends Ellie and Matthew also got Baby a hilarious outfit. Around family, we usually call LB "Shark" because Arthur joked forever about naming a boy with the middle name of Shark—yes, after Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. So Ellie found this awesome shark onesie for Shark to wear! We love it and them to pieces.
We find out the gender soooooo soon—June 4!!!! Girl or boy?!
ps: Do you like my haircut? This is technically a week 19 change, but we take belly shots on the weekends, so you're getting a sneak preview!
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