27 weeks

I hit 27 weeks and the last week of my second trimester (what the what?) in Austin! And man, it was hot. But, totally incrediable and worthwhile! Those posts coming later. 27 weeks have been good to me even though now when I look at the most recent photos of myself, I can definitely see that my face has gotten quite a bit rounder. And I'm OK with that, for now. Also this week I felt the baby move on opposite sides of my belly at the same time! He is getting bigger/longer and his little movement sessions last for much longer now. Nothing hurts or jabs me, it all still feels fine. The highlight of 27 weeks has got to be when we were leaving San Antonio, walking to our car in the 107 degree heat, totally dragging ass and feeling beat, a girl at the crosswalk said to me "You have got to be the cutest pregnant girl ever." For the record, this is what pregnant women like to hear. I cannot tell you how much that sentence from a stranger lifted me!

27 weeks also meant time for my glucose screening and the dreaded "orange drink". So you can imagine my surprise when my lab offered me fruit punch, lemon lime or orange! It wasn't bad at all. Just tasted like a super sweet Sprite that had gone flat. But it was nice and cold and not a big deal. Felt a little sickie afterwards for maybe 5 minutes, but that passed. Now, let's cross our fingers I pass the actual test! This sour patch kid loving girl is a wee nervous.

See you in hell...errr, Texas

I'm not quite sure who let the pregnant chick pick a trip to Austin in late June...please pray for us. 

 Meanwhile, today I was in San Francisco using my windshield wipers on those misty hills. Sigh.

dads, father in laws and one dad to be

This father's day we celebrated it at our house with everyone and there really isn't anything better than having family over in the warm weather, kids running around and eating good food outside. Some scenes from the day:

 The perfect non alcoholic summer drink. Lemonade mixed with blueberry tea! 

Makes a pretty pink color, too.

What a great little appie. Spotted on Pinterest, naturally.

Grubbin!!! I wish this was my dinner every night. 

That little eyebrow kills me. 

a birthday brunch in the city

This weekend we celebrated one of my oldest and best friend's birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, set up by her fiance but the stinker saw us walking up to the restaurant from her taxi. Oh well!

Always time for a quick photo shoot in front of a colorful wall.

Pressies for the birthday girl. 

Temporary tattoo party! The daytime version of glow sticks. 

My new ink. 

Not today, she wasn't!

Real & Fake. The birthday girl's ode to her besties. 

vintage threads

While the little girl's clothing department is surely more fun for any woman to shop in, I have been happily surprised by all the vintage little boys clothes on Etsy. It's too bad I don't have the need to dress my guy like a little sailor, because there are tons of those outfits.

I couldn't resist. The vest and tank are on their way to me right now!

Summer is near

{California Girl Print}

We are just three days away from the first day of summer! 

And then pretty soon, this California girl is heading to Texas!

garden update.

So far the garden is off to a great start with only a few challenges. The major problem has been a mole! Cleo has killed moles in the past but I guess she is just over being the garden keeper these days.
Here are how things are going in our garden lately: (Sometimes what I like most about blogging is looking back on posts and garden posts are especially helpful for me to see in the future.)

What's new! Jon planted hops. These little suckers are actually 5-6 feet tall and grow like weeds. Those strings attach to the eves on our house! Who knew he'd be so into it? He has already brewed about 10 batches of beer and hopes to harvest the hops and use them eventually.

The new & the classic: crooked neck yellow squash and zucchini. Both have been the fastest and earliest producers. I even made flourless zucchini brownies with some zukes already.

I spy a cute little butternut squash!

I predict a pretty awesome tomato season for us. Last year was not so great, so this already looks promising. We planted 6 different ones in the plot.  And on the far side where we have our zucchini, butternut squash and cucumbers two rogue tomatoes popped up! You can see them in the 2nd photo. We aren't the cleanest gardeners, oops! It will be interesting to see what variety from last year stuck around. So I think with 8 tomato plants this year we should be rolling in them come July and August.

My basil is not doing so hot. I planted the kind on the right in April and when they didn't take off, I planted the bunch on the left. Both haven't done much. They flower and I pick them off and that's just it. Very frustrating. 

Cleo says "come again!"

How does everyone's garden's look so far?

Scenes from a bachelorette weekend

This past weekend I went to a bachelorette party to celebrate one of my good friend's upcoming weddings! She had the great idea to bring all her friends together and rent a house on the Russian River.

The deck surrounding the house.

Literally right on the water. 

I am a total sucker for marketing sometimes and I thought these were so cute! 

For the record, the white cran cosmo smelled really good. (Party animal)

Yummy brunch at The French Garden.

Decorations!!

Can your beautiful bride-to-be make a raging fire? This one can. :)

I should have glowsticks on hand for all summer backyard parties from now on. So entertaining. 

The whole group! With the soon-to-be Mrs. in green.

Good eats!

Some shots from all the good food around these parts as of late:

The most delicious pasta and pizza from our anniversary dinner at Pizzaiolo.

The most refreshing dinner, Asian Slaw with Ginger Peanut dressing. This recipe is a home run.

Yummy chocolate tart that appeared to have cheetah print dusted chocolate?!

And, sometimes all you need is a perfect hunk of bread, also from the wood-fired stove at Pizzaiolo.

24 weeks

Ok, in the grand scheme of things I feel pretty good, but for the most part, the jig is up. I am starting to feel uncomfortable. Bending over to tie my shoes really hurts my stomach, I feel like I pull weird "muscles" in my stomach if I get out of bed weirdly, it doesn't feel like a little sloped tummy anymore but a huge appendage, and my back and tailbone ache most of the day. There, now that I said that, I still love being pregnant. We went to this pediatrician event this week to try to find one. How do you do that? Just pick a doctor that is easy to talk with? They will come to the hospital within the 24 hours I give birth, so they will be there from the get go. And the vaccines and shot schedule...I haven't even begun to research that yet. So much to do, but while I am gone this weekend Jon is going to paint the nursery white and then next week we will get our ceiling light fixture installed! Progress :)

six.

{Photo by Kate Harrison}

How has it been six years? I feel like it wasn't that long ago we were starry eyed, newly in love and discussing the future and what we wanted. And somehow now we are married and with a baby on the way? This life moves too fast, but I couldn't be happier with where it has taken us.

I suppose I should stop celebrating our "dating" anniversary and only celebrate our wedding one, but with our sixth anniversary of our first date on June 6, 2006, this seemed like our golden year.

What matters before birth

I just finished this fascinating book on what happens and matters while the baby is in the womb. If you are planning on becoming pregnant, are pregnant or are looking for a gift for a pregnant friend, this is the book! As the sub-title states, this book is about how so much of our lives are already mapped out by what our mothers did and didn't do while they were pregnant with us. Here are some parts that stood out to me:

-Mothers who carried babies during 9/11 passed on PTSD to their children. The babies were "taught" in the womb that they need to prepare for the scary world out there, then when they were born, that wasn't the case and now many have unnecessary anxiety and problems with attention.

-Eating foods like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and green tea provides the baby with less chances of getting cancer later in life.

-Mothers who eat particular foods often, the babies will favor once they are given solid foods because they previously became accustomed to it while tasting the amniotic fluid.  Flavors detected in the fluid: garlic, curry, cumin, mint and vanilla.

-Overweight mothers are likely to pass on heart defects to their babies.

-The earlier in the pregnancy the mother occurs a major stress (death of a parent, war, natural disaster) the more likely the baby will be affected by it.

-Some mild stress is good, it makes the fetus' brain more mature, benefit's the baby's motor skills and mental development.

-Effects of smoking or drinking during pregnancy is far worse than smoking crack cocaine.

-Light drinking during pregnant has good results in babies when they get older. (It wasn't defined what light drinking was, could be one drink a week.They think because it makes the mom more relaxed, but they aren't sure.)

-More stress and chemicals in the world is producing more girls; the male fetus' aren't surviving as much.

-It is said that Mona Lisa was pregnant!

-Early lead exposure to the pregnant mother results in offspring with high rates of juvenile delinquency and adult crime.

-Babies born in late summer/early fall are taller and have thicker bones because their moms were exposed to more sun (vitamin D).

Up next: Bringing up Bebe.