23 Weeks & Memorial Day Weekend

Today I am 23 weeks pregnant with little Annabel Brynn.  

Size of baby: Annabel is the size of a large mango (11 in long & over a pound)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have no clue.  Probably a lot.  I was on vacation last week!

Maternity Clothes:  I'm in all maternity clothes now except for some dresses.  I can wear my old t-shirts, but am not comfortable in anything else pre-pregnancy.

Gender:   Sweet baby girl

Movement: She is moving a lot, but is very low.  I was reading over what I wrote about being pregnant with Adeline at this point & I said something about her kicking around my ribs.  Not close at all this time!  She's way low!

Sleep: I'm sleeping a lot better, but I'm still waking up with a stuffy nose a lot and not being comfortable much past 6:00am.

What I miss: I wanted to parasail so bad on vacation, but I felt like I shouldn't do that. 

Cravings: Right now it's anything healthy & not fried.  I pigged out on vacation, so I'm really trying and wanting to be good this week.

Symptoms: Still the rapid heart rate like with Adeline after meals and when I get hot.  I'm sure that will stick around until Annabel is born.  Some days I feel great and others I'm completely exhausted.  

Best Moment this week: Jon got to feel her move for the first time a week or so ago.  We loved that.  I smile at every movement.

Jon and I were talking about it in the car last week that he thinks I'm smaller this time around than I was at this point with Adeline.  I think it's just because Annabel is a lot lower.  By this point with Adeline I felt like she was constantly pushing on my ribs & lungs, but Annabel is still sitting right on my bladder and kicking very very low.  I hope this is okay.  

It's Memorial Day Weekend, so that means a long, relaxing weekend at home.  We haven't done much relaxing, but we've definitely enjoyed being at home.  Yesterday we skipped out on church and got a lot done.  I know that's terrible, but I think it's okay to do every now and then.  Jon thoroughly washed my car, mowed the lawn, & cleaned off the back patio.  In the meantime, Adeline and I went to Ozark Natural and bought lots of veggies & goodies for her, then I spent the majority of the morning cooking, storing, & freezing those veggies.  Adeline took a nice long 3 hour nap while I read my book.  I'm so excited to be hooked on a good book again.  It seems like a long time since I've wanted to read on my down time rather than sleep or clean up.  :)  It's Ape House by Sara Gruen, the same lady who wrote Water for Elephants.  Uncle Shane & Aunt Juliet came over for dinner and we grilled hamburgers.  Adeline enjoyed snuggling with her Uncle.

After Adeline went to bed, Jon and I had a little couch date watching a movie.  I love evenings like that!

Today we got up & headed to Hobby Lobby & Lowe's for a little project I talked Jon into doing. 

After lunch we got in a little sprinkler, sliding, swimming time.

Now Adeline is down for another nap, Jon is slaving away on the project, and I'm about to curl up with my Kindle again.  I've so enjoyed all this down-time, but I think we'll all be happy to get back into the routine of life tomorrow.  

Memorial Day is also all about celebrating and honoring those who have served our country so bravely.  We bought Adeline a little patriotic outfit while on vacation that I intended for her to wear today, but somehow it got packed with my parents' stuff and is now in Texas.  I'll leave you with this little patriotic cutie from last July 4th!

Final Vacation Post - Days 8 & 9

We left Alabama Friday morning around 10:00.  We ate lunch along the way with my parents, then we decided to stop for the night in Vicksburg, MS.  My parents only had about 4 more hours to go, so they went ahead.  From lunch to the hotel, Adeline decided to sleep for the first time in the car for the whole trip.  Even though it was only 30 minutes, I'm glad she got a little nap.

We got to the hotel around 4:00.  It felt kind of silly stopping so early for the night, but we were all ready to get out of the car and knew there weren't many other places to spend the night along the way.  The pool at our hotel was under maintenance so we got to go to their "sister hotel" in the same parking lot to swim in their indoor pool.  Jon and Adeline had a blast.

We went to a few stores at their very small outlet mall, had dinner, then made a quick trip in the Vicksburg National Military Park.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We got there 30 minutes before it closed, but I wish we had gone straight there when we first got to Vicksburg.  We could have spent half a day there.  I love history and the rolling hills and beautiful landscape were breath-taking.  Adeline and Jon had a fun time checking out the cannons.  :)

We tried letting Adeline sleep in the bed with us again since we didn't want to unpack the pack & play, but it wasn't working.  She kept crawling between the two of us giggling & saying, "Mommy, Daddy" and kissing us.  It was hilarious, but we were tired and it didn't seem like she was going to sleep anytime soon.  Jon hurried to the car & got out the pack & play.  She was asleep within 5 minutes of putting her in there.  Why won't she snuggle?!?

We left bright & early this morning for the long & last leg of the trip.  We stopped once for lunch & once for gas and made it home around 3:45.  Adeline took another little nap sometime in there.

We had such a fantastic vacation.  It was so great to spend a whole week with my parents.  Adeline got so attached to her grandparents and we all enjoyed having each other around.  All week long Adeline really wanted to call my dad something, but couldn't say "Pappy."  By yesterday morning she had decided to start calling him "NeeNee."  Hopefully that won't stick and she'll learn Pappy pretty soon.  :)

Thank you so much, mom and dad, for such a great week!  We love you both so much!

Although we all had a great time, it's good to be home.  We took the dogs on a nice long walk this evening, had a yummy dinner, and now we're all getting ready for bed.  I think Adeline might miss the sand, though.  

Thursday - Vacation Day #7

Today was our last full day in Alabama.  We started off the morning with a dolphin-sighting cruise.  We had to wait a while before the boat departed, so Adeline entertained herself with some Baby Einstein.

It was pretty hot on the boat before we departed and I was starting to feel pretty miserable, but once we started moving out on the water it was much cooler.  We saw several dolphins and even managed to get a few pictures.  These dolphins were following behind a shrimp boat hoping to get a free meal.  We saw one baby dolphin that the guide said was probably only like 6 months old.  It was so cute!

Afterwards we had lunch at the shopping center where Jon and I went to the movie last night.

My mom has been wanting to "Build-a-Bear" with Adeline since she was born.  When Jon and I saw it last night we figured vacation would be the perfect time.  I don't know if Adeline is quite old enough to grasp the whole concept, but she enjoyed it, nonetheless.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the condo, doing laundry, and packing up.  The weather is kinda nasty with high winds and rain, so we didn't feel bad about not getting back down to the beach.  However, Jon did a bit more boogie-boarding.  :)  Adeline rocked her baby for a while, then her dolphin.  She is such a cutie and growing up so fast!

This has been such a great vacation and we've all enjoyed it thoroughly!

**Addendum:  Jon and I just went for a moonlit stroll on the beach.  It was very romantic and relaxing until I noticed all the HUGE little white crabs scurrying around everywhere every 20 feet or so.  I was so terrified that one might run across my foot that I made Jon carry me past every one that we saw.  He was laughing so hard at me that I thought he might wet his pants.  I told him that crabs are just like giant spiders.  This made him laugh even harder.  On our way back to the condo it started lightning and sprinkling.  We made it back just in time to sit on the porch and watch a beautiful lightning storm out over the water.  What a great evening for our last night here!

Wednesday - Vacation Day #6

Today was fairly low key.  We spent the morning at the beach and pool.

Adeline helped destroy Jon's sand castle village.  :)

It didn't seem like Adeline was too into the beach today.  After about an hour or so of playing, she crawled into Jon's lap & snuggled with him for a while, then crawled over into mine for some snuggling.  After about 10 minutes she looked up at me & said, "Bye bye.  Clean up."  

After Adeline's very short nap, we headed into Pensacola, FL to the naval base for an IMAX movie.  She and Jon had been watching a preview on our computer at home for Born to Be Wild.  Adeline was fascinated by the animals.  When we saw that it was at the IMAX and only 40 minutes long, we thought it'd be a great first movie for her to see.  We had no idea until we got there that the IMAX is on the naval base in a museum.  We got to explore a couple airplanes before the movie started.

Adeline did great at her first movie.  She sat in my lap very still the entire time and made appropriate animal sounds every now and then.  However, I don't think she could have lasted much more than 40 minutes.  Afterwards we headed back into Alabama for dinner at Bubba's with a very fussy, tired little girl.  

Jon and I had talked about having a date night sometime while we were on vacation & it dawned on us today that it had to be tonight.  Tomorrow night we'll be packing up to go home, so it was now or never. We let Nana & Pappy put Adeline to bed and we headed out to see Water for Elephants.  I absolutely loved it and was so glad it followed the book closely.

As far as my foot goes, we soaked my leg in vinegar before dinner, then during the 2 hour movie I sat with it propped up.  Now it's feeling much better.  I'm so grateful!

Tuesday - Vacation Day #5

Today we slept in again (isn't that what vacation is for?), then we headed to the zoo.  Adeline had a blast, but it was hot and I was miserable.  I walked through about half of the zoo, then I went to sit in the car with the AC on.

My ankle still isn't much better and I spent the ride home from the zoo crying.  I hate feeling like this on vacation & feeling like I'm holding everyone else back from doing fun things.  My sweet husband looked up some homeopathic sunburn relief & made a trip to the store for some things for that along with a few goodies he knows I like.  He really did a great job cheering me up.  

This is how I spent the 2 hours that Adeline napped.

When Adeline woke up, we spent a little time at the beach & pool, but not after I made sure we were all completely covered in sunscreen.

We met one of my mom's high school friends who lives here for dinner at a yummy Italian seafood place called Grazie.  Yet again, I'm stuffed!  :)

See the difference in my feet/legs?  I've never had swelling this bad before.  I really hope it goes down soon!

Monday - Vacation Day #4

We all slept in a little later than usual this morning and had a lazy start to our day.  Adeline & Pappy got some snuggling & reading in, and Adeline enjoyed playing in the mirror.

Today I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible.  My left leg just kept getting redder & redder all through the night and I woke up with a big, red, swollen leg & foot.  I covered up as much as possible and we headed to the outlet mall a few miles away.  We all went and took separate cars because knew Adeline wouldn't last a whole shopping trip.  We shopped for a little while, then it was lunchtime.  We decided to try out Lambert's...home of the throwed roll.  It was a really neat restaurant with delicious food, but we all ate way too much.  They walk around throwing hot, fresh rolls at you, along with coming by every few minutes offering you things like fried okra, black-eyed peas, boiled cabbage, macaroni with tomatoes, apple butter, molasses, & I don't know what else.  This is all in addition to whatever dish you order.  It was such a fun atmosphere.  Our waiter came up to us with what appeared to be a pitcher with tea & acted like he spilled it in my dad's lap.  It was fake, but it made us all jump.  So much fun!

Then the boys & Adeline headed home for a nap while my mom & I went back to shopping.  This is what my foot/leg looked like about halfway through shopping....

By the time we got home my ankle was completely gone and I had braided indentions all along my feet. I can usually slip these shoes on and off & the straps barely touch my foot when I have them on.  Jon had to unbuckle them to get them off my feet.  I propped them up on the couch with a bag of ice & some aloe vera and now they're feeling a little better.  I'm hoping it's much better in the morning.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the condo and I never stepped back out in the sun again.

Jon took these when Adeline woke up from her nap.  After she had her snack, they spent some time on the beach.

This was taken after dinner while we were showing the men what all we bought today.  Adeline likes wearing her Pappy's hat.