baby journal: week 28

David and I have been having a little debate about how far along I am.  By all accounts, I am 7 months pregnant (which sounds sooo much better than 28 weeks btw).  BUT, according to everything I've ever been told, pregnancy is only supposed to last 9 months.  But my doctor says pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.  But one month = 4 weeks and thus 40 weeks = 10 months (??) And since my due date is November 14th that means I'll be pregnant for three more months, right??  I'm confused.

After a tough induction into the third trimester (cankles//traveling//sunburns), things have started to settle down and my most prevalent complaint now days is sleep.  Why oh why are you so illusive?  There were two sweet, sweet nights in a big queen-sized bed in Michigan where I slept blissfully through the night.  I have yet to recreate said miracle, but it was amazing.  Most nights my body pillow and I do the tango while I debate about if I'm hot enough to actually have to get out of bed to turn the A/C up or not.  I wouldn't call it restful, and it makes an afternoon nap unavoidable, but such is life.

Baby boy has also decided to start crowding my abdomen, making for weird feelings at the top of my ribcage and shortness of breath an ever present reality.  It's kind of hilarious sometimes when I lie down to "go to bed" (ha! see above) and I'm more or less panting like a dog.  We get a good laugh out of that.

Dave and I also decided that the best idea for a 28-week pregnant lady is to hop in a Suburban full of my sister's college necessities and drive 10 hours up to Utah for Labor Day weekend.  I'm not saying I regret it (they had me sittin' pretty in the backseat with a million pillows and a footrest), but after 9 hours of bumpy roads, my bump was beginning to get a bit sore...hopefully baby boy is a fan of roller coasters.

smitten with the mitten

After soaking up rays on the coast we went half way across the country to hit the lake!  And, oh boy, Lake Michigan, you stole my heart a little bit.  With two out of us four siblings living in the Midwest it was us coastal Toblers turn to come out eastward.

We had a rough time getting there though.  We hit up a red eye Friday night (Saturday morning?) that got delayed - let's just talk about how that is cruel and unusual punishment.  All you want to do is jump on the plane and sleep, but we had to wait a bit.  Le sigh.  Once we got up in the air it was just a gamble whether we'd make our connecting flight.  With my belly and lovely red cankles we must have been a sight running - hobbling? - through the Minneapolis airport to our next gate, but, somehow, we made it *whew*

One of the first things we did in the little town of South Haven (on not very much sleep mind you) was ogle at all the beautiful fresh produce at their farmer's market.  Holy cow!  It was gorgeous!  And those peaches?  Every bit as delicious as they look. 

^^ Hello.  I just want to eat all of those colors. ^^
Also Michigan has the best blueberries around.  Hands down.

Once we got settled in our little beach house the first thing we did was hit the beach, and I gotta tell you, I might be sold on this whole lake thing.  Whenever I've done lake time in the past it's always been from a boat, but sitting on the shore doing the whole sand and wadding and floating thing?  It was kind of lovely.  And to not leave sticky and salty plus not fighting the waves to get out and enjoy the water?  I dunno, it was just kind of delightful.

Do you see a trend in these photos?  Holy moly, Hazel Michelle, you stole the show little lady.  She was just one baby with nine adults to dote on her - life was rough.

I can hardly handle that picture of my dad holding his little sleeping granddaughter, and that last one with her feet buried in the sand?  My heart.  It melts.

^^ One of my favorite pictures from our trip - something about lighthouses and my boy in a sweater, I think ^^  Also it was crazy windy and the waves were going nutty (on the unpictured side of the jetty), so it's kind of a miracle we aren't soaked in this shot.

We also celebrated our third wedding anniversary whilst out east which was relaxed and lovely.  We made plans to celebrate in earnest early in September with a mini babymoon to Laguna Beach so this was more of a day marker and a time to snap a few pictures for posterity.  It was perfect.

Biking and beaching were my two favorite things we did all week.  Aren't you impressed two 27-week pregnant ladies biked all around South Haven?  You should be.

Not pictured is a crazy summer storm that hit Tuesday afternoon and almost took us with it.  We picked up our bikes in town right before the deluge, but us three bike riders caught some of it on our way home.  We only were out in the gale for a few minutes, but my shirt and hair were soaked through by the time we got back.  We played games inside, sipped hot chocolate and watched the lake get frothed into a real storm as signs got pulled free of their tethers and the sound of the rain on the windows became deafening.  At one point the rain was coming down so thick and fast you couldn't even see outside.  And then...the power got knocked out!  It came back on in 45 minutes or so, but it was quite an adventure.

Our little 85-year-old neighbor, Loise, said they haven't had a summer storm like that in a really long time and she was pretty sure Michigan was just trying to show off for us.  Well, hey thanks Michigan.

^^ On Wednesdays we wear red and blue ^^

^^ Ice cream at Sherman's Dairy Bar - a local favorite in town.  Word to the wise: order the baby size. ^^

Last year we got shirts to commemorate our family get together in Balboa and this year we kept it up! A silly tradition, perhaps, but I kind of love it.  We all wear our Balboa shirts and, I'm wearing my Michigan shirt as I type this!  The shirts say Great Lakes, Great Times.  Truth.  We even got a matching onesie for Miss Hazel which she was wearing 5 minutes before this picture was taken and, most conveniently, blew out her diaper in.  Atta girl.

After taking our matching shirt picture, the group was whittled down to just the fab five.  Turns out other people had work and stuff to get back to.  Thanks Ernie for letting us have a few more vacation days to enjoy!

Without the other kids around - and especially baby Hazel - things got pretty quite around the house.  We finally made the trek out to the lighthouse for me (thanks guys), and we visited a cute neighboring lake town for dinner one night.  Plus did I mention that Michigan has a million black-eyed Susans blooming all over?  Seriously.  Everywhere.  They were gorgeous.

 
And then, all too soon, it was time to head home.  South Haven, you are pretty darn adorable, and, if I have my way, we'll see each other again soon.  Consider me smitten with the mitten.

nemrow family vacay 2014

The end of summer and I have had a little bit of a love/hate relationship.  Love because both of our big family vacations where slated for the end of August, but hate because it's August.  The end of summer!  It's always bittersweet, and made more especially so because we don't get all the autumn magic here in Southern California - so it's just kinda the end of summer lovin' without the hope of crisp fall air and chunky sweaters.  But I digress.

For the Nemrow family's get together this year we headed down southward to cozy up in San Clemente for the week, aka: my favorite beach.  Besides the fact that burned the heck out of my shins and feet (eek!! not fun), we had a jolly time and even more fun running around all over the place with nieces and nephews.

Introducing Ethan to the ocean for the first time was kind of the cutest thing ever.  He was really hesitant at first, but he warmed right up to it in no time.

This is basically how we set up camp every day: a bunch of chairs and umbrellas.  My legs strayed just a little too far from that shade...

Meeting baby Abby for the first time was definitely a trip highlight - isn't she gorgeous??  Christy and Jake welcomed her into their family about a month earlier and she was such a little darling.  Asking Jaden how to say her name was equally cute: "Aabbb" was about as close as he could get ;)


Also having a little newborn to hold was kind of the best thing ever after I fried my legs.  I was shade bound anyhow, so baby girl and I watched everyone play in the waves - ok, she slept, but I watched everyone.

 I try to get a brother picture at most family trips - I need to work on getting a girl picture too...

 Thank goodness for big floppy hats and longgg wraps.  Save that virgin skin!

Jadon was just small enough where the waves were too crazy for him - but the sand, oh man, that was where it was at for this guy.

^^ Before said leg frying (or probably in process of...) ^^

What with having family vacations back to back we had to cut our time a little short with Nemrows to get some travel time under our belts for our next trip.  We took an impromptu family Christmas card picture after dinner (my favorite way to do it - no stressing about outfits and hair) and said our goodbyes.  But the next time we see these folks we'll have a babe in arms!!  Hello, that's crazy times.

Apparently, stripes was a common theme... (and don't mind my red, puffy, Flintstone feet - bless Christy for cutting them out of the Christmas card)

Thanks for the best time Nemrows!  Getting to hang with you guys is one of the highlights of our summer!

baby journal: week 27

This is a sneak peak of the gorgeous maternity pictures my sister in law snapped for me to document little bean and I whilst out eastward.  We had a great time trying to hide my sun scorched legs and showing off baby boy.  Fun times.

The craziest thing that happened this week is that I am officially in my third trimester!!  Holy moly, where does the time go?  Can't believe we're in the final chapter of this whole thing and yeah, maybe we should get that nursery put together, huh?

An update on my Flintstone feet: elevation, foot massages (bless you David), and drinking absurd amounts of agua did the trick.  I now have ankles again and fingers crossed it stays that way till baby boy comes. 

My first official act as a 27 month along, third trimester pregnant lady was to take a 4 hour red eye flight to Michigan - smart, huh?  It actually was pretty painless as I slept for two hours, got up to walk the aisles, and then slept the next two hours, but it was still pretty humorous.

Whilst in Michigan I was much more liberal with the SPF and didn't get toasted a single bit, but oh did my shins peel.  That was delightful.  Baby and I discovered we liked biking around little South Haven - perhaps mostly because it was very flat terrain - and floating on my tummy out on a raft out on the lake.  That felt heavenly.  Cousin baby Tobler is also the size of rutabaga (has anyone ever actually seen one of those?), and it was fun to compare bumps with Kristin for the last time before babies come!     

baby journal: week 26

(Let it be known that this is probably my most favorite bumpin' picture we've taken thus far - just sayin'.)

This week we headed down for part I of a two part, two week, two family vacation series.  Part I belongs to the Nemrows and beautiful San Clemente, California aka: my favorite beach pretty much ever.  Just can't beat it. 

Sadly, this picture is the calm before the storm.  I'm normally really, really good when it comes to sunscreen (burns = so not worth it), and as you can see, my alabaster skin is on the glowing side of the spectrum.  Read: it hasn't seen much sun since last summer (or who knows when).  I was good and lathered up my arms, back, face, chest, shoulders, wore my hat, sat under the umbrella, all those good things...I just kinda missed my legs.  Sigh.  They got toasted.  Most especially my ankles.  I should have documented the damage, but it was not a pretty sight.  To justify me a little bit, apparently while pregnant you become more susceptible to the sun, but that didn't help ease the pain.

I woke up the morning after this picture was taken in such crazy, tight, ruby red skinned agony that David had to help hobble me over to the loo and back.  No fun.  Also, no fun is when your pregnant ankles decide to freak out and become balloons because of your traumatic sunburn.  Hello kankles, you are real.  Plus I just got a manicure and painted my toes a lovely shade of violet which clashed quite nicely with my tomato sausage feet.  Moral of the story?  Cover up kids.  Being burned in the pits.   Thank goodness for aloe, numbing spray, and the really nice concierge lady who sent a bagillion pillows to our room so I could prop up all my puffy extremities in peace.

Ah pregnancy, you are so glamorous.