To My Baby Kangaroo 3.30.14

Here we are at week 18 already. I'm so ready to start your baby registry, but am holding off until we know your gender.

This week you are about 7 oz, 5-1/2" long, or about the size of a bell pepper. (A large bell pepper - most are not that size!)

No new symptoms this week. I was unable to work out for most of the week because of the nagging cough I had. I went back to the doctor on Thursday and as I expected, I have a sinus infection. (Maybe if the weather would make up its mind and stop changing so much I wouldn't have any issues!) The doctor put me on a Z-pack, a 5-day antibiotic. Tomorrow is my last pill. I'm feeling better, but still coughing. Last night was the first night in over a week that I didn't wake myself up coughing.

Friday I took a personal day from work and went shopping and ran some errands. I was tired of mail-ordering maternity clothes and the local selection is not very good. So I drove to St. Louis and found lots of goodies in an Old Navy Maternity and a Motherhood Maternity. I also stopped at a Babies R Us and bought some items off a friend's baby registry - their shower is mid-April. 

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To my Baby Kangaroo 3.23.14

Week 17. This week your cartilage is forming into bones, your sweat glands are developing, you're about 5" long and about 5 oz.

This week I didn't have any new symptoms, but I did come down with a rough cough and sore throat that started on Wednesday morning and I'm still suffering through. I've been sleeping on the couch so I can keep my head elevated.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I heard your heartbeat again. At our next appointment, in four weeks, we'll have another ultrasound and hopefully find out your gender. (Woohoo!) And then I can start working on the baby registry and we can start thinking about names.

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To my Baby Kangaroo - 3.16.14

Where is time going? I am four months pregnant today (holy cow, we're almost halfway there!). This week you are the size of an avocado (4" long), and your ears are developing. (Speaking of avocadoes, for breakfast I had a bacon, egg, cheese, and avocado sandwich - delicious.) Soon you'll hear me talking to myself, and singing to myself in the car. You'll hear your dad, and you'll hear our favorite TV shows (NCIS, Intelligence, Blue Bloods - I sense a police/crime theme...).
This week there is a big consignment sale for baby and maternity stuff. We don't have your room started at all yet, but I'm hoping to find some furniture for your room soon. The list I have for the sale this week: a baby carrier (hopefully an Ergo), a nursing pillow, a dresser/changing table and some maternity clothes for me. I'm hoping for a couple skirts or dresses, workout clothes, shorts and casual shirts to wear in the garden and while doing housework. In about a month, I figure we'll start our baby registry - by that time we should know your gender. And hopefully by then we'll start working on your room. Right now it serves as a spare bedroom/storage/office.
I wonder if Freddy, our border collie, knows I am pregnant. Sometimes he stops and looks at me and I think he's asking me a question. My biggest fear is that you'll be allergic to dogs and cats like your dad is. I hope you don't inherit that from him; I want Freddy and the farm cats to be your friends.

My symptoms this week?
I still have days where I am so hungry and nothing seems to fill me up. Several days this week I had cravings for really salty potato chips.
Finally, maybe, starting to look pregnant instead of chubby - really depends on which clothes I am wearing though
Headaches - Friday afternoon and most of the day on Saturday. I've started taking Tylenol within the first sign of the headache instead of toughing it out for several hours, and it seems to help.
I think I've gained weight, but I haven't stepped on the scale this week. My workout pants are falling down below my belly when I work out
My buttcheek still hurts
Plantar fasciitis flared up again in my right foot. I've been icing it the last couple days and making a point to wear arch-supporting shoes. Not sure if this is pregancy related, but since my cardio consists mainly of fast walking and stationary biking, it may be the result of my fitness routine.

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We flung poo

Oh yes we did. Dad brought over the manure spreader, full of composted cow poo, and spread it on the garden.

Only other gardeners will understand how exciting this is. Here's to a successful, over the top, tomato harvest this year!

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Baby Kangaroo 3.9.14

This week you are about 4" long or the size of a large apple or navel orange. Your lungs are developing and your arms and legs are continuing to grow.

My symptoms this week?
Increased hunger - I usually eat breakfast around 615 and a snack around 10, then lunch at 1130. Several days this week I had breakfast at regular time but by the time I got to work at 8, I was starving! So I packed a few extra pieces of fruit this week.
Insomnia - this has happened on and off for several weeks. I'll get up at midnight for my first pee and then won't be able to sleep until 2am. Sometimes I lay in bed and try to fall back asleep but other times I know it's hopeless and so I'll get up and read on the couch.
Stuffy nose, and my nose bleeds almost every time I blow it
Not sure if this is a pregnancy symptom but my buttcheek muscles hurt if I sit for a long time. It's whatever muscle runs vertical, typically just my right cheek (I know, weird)

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To my Little Kangaroo 3.1.2014

This week, week 14, you are the size of a lemon - a big lemon, about 3-1/2"long. You are able to suck your thumb and your systems are functioning - you're peeing, making bile, and making blood cells. Which may explain why I now get up twice a night to pee instead of once...

This week's symptoms? I was really thirsty. Friday this week I didn't drink as much water as I should have and I didn't have time for snacks. Around 3 pm a killer headache started. Tylenol never works for me, but I took 2 extra strength and my headache subsided. It came back Saturday afternoon, even though I paid attention to my water and food intake. But the weather was weird this weekend, so maybe that is part of why I had such intense headaches. 

I recently asked my Dad to take a look at the rocking chair that Grandma Betty has. She always had it in her kitchen when I was little and rocked all of us grandkids to sleep in it. Grandma said the chair belonged to my Great Grandma Bohnsack, and that it was from her house in Bugtown - a house that is no longer there. Anyway, Dad is hopefully going to repair and maybe refinish the rocking chair so I can put it in the nursery. That's really the only thought I've given to nursery furniture so far...

I had a craving for a beer this week. This is going to be a long 6 months, and a longggggg summer.

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Seedling Update

Almost all the pepper seeds have sprouted. Except for the poblanos. Brand new seed - the garden center even had to order them because they were out - and only 4 of the 12 seeds that I planted have sprouted. I was telling the Hubs this, and he said I say this every year - that the poblano seeds are always slower. So I guess next year I will start the poblano seeds a week before everything else.
Yesterday I transplanted the cauliflower and broccoli into larger containers. I left two per container, but I planted them deeper so they aren't so leggy. I've never had much luck with brassica transplants, so we'll see how it works this year. They may be one of those vegetables, like tomatillos, that I have to buy plants for.
Next weekend the garden calendar says to start tomatoes! I'm really excited because I got a package of heirloom blend seeds that has all different colors and sizes of tomatoes. I don't typically like "grab bag" style seeds, but I've never met a tomato I didn't like, and I figured this would give me a chance to sample several varieties to see if there are some I want to specifically grow in the future.
Yesterday I raked some of the straw in the garden to the edge, so that when we get manure from the farm we don't have as much prep to do here. The straw came from when the Hubs poured the concrete floor for his shop. It was getting cold at that time, so we insulated the curing concrete with tarps and straw. After the concrete cured, we had 6 or so bales of loose straw and I suggested we put it in the garden area to use as mulch this year. Genius idea! It wasn't even hard to move because the straw was on top of the tarps, so we pulled the tarps down the driveway and dumped the straw in the garden. Surprisingly the straw hasn't blown away, even though we've had a couple crazy winter storms that blew shingles off the roof.
Looking forward, I'm a little anxious about our baby kangaroo's arrival. I know, we have about another 6 months until the baby arrives. But I'm thinking about his/her arrival in the middle of garden harvest season; I'm going to need extra help weeding the garden, harvesting and processing the vegetables. I'm also making a list of meals I can put in the freezer ahead of time and meals I can have ready to put in the crockpot for the first several weeks. My ideas so far:
Lasagnas - both a bechamel sauce and a red sauce variety
Stuffed shells or manicotti or canelloni
Meatballs
Turkey burgers - mixed up, preformed and frozen
Enchilada casserole
For the crockpot - fixings for roasts, pulled pork, stroganoff, and chicken noodle soup

Also looking forward to fresh veggies from the garden!

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