Days 22 & 23 :: 26 Weeks

26 weeks

October 16, 2013- October 22, 2013

How Far Along: 26 weeks

Size of Baby: She weighs approximately 1 2/3 of a pound and is 14 inches in length. They say that's the size of a scallion, but I think they should clarify that it's the length of a scallion. I've never seen a scallion that weighs that much.

Total Weight Gain: I've gained 4 more pounds which puts me squarely in the "I don't want to talk about it" camp. Thanks so much.

Maternity Clothes: Yes! I finally gave up on any maternity tanks with shelf bras. There isn't a shelf bra in the world that's going to help me these days. I bought a few long maternity tanks from Old Navy and so far, I've been very pleased!

Gender: Hopefully still a girl! Unless there's a complication or I go way over my due date, we won't have any more ultrasounds to confirm the fact. However, our 19 week ultrasound was pretty darn clear!

Movement: I said tonight that I'm starting to wonder if I'll give birth to a very small shark. This girl thrashes around like nobodies business! I love it so much though. One of my very favorite things ever is feeling my baby move! 

Sleep: I'm waking up for about 45 minutes to an hour in the middle of the night, which is a pain, but not terrible. I'm not uncomfortable; I just feel temporarily wide awake.

What I Miss: Donuts. I fell out of love with them this week. Sad day.

Cravings: Frozen Kit Kats... oh my word. I can't get enough! 

Symptoms: I've noticed that I'm starting to get winded much easier than before. Walking up the stairs at a fast pace really throws me for a loop. I also had a few waves of nausea this week that weren't pleasant. I'm really hoping we don't revisit morning sickness in the third trimester.

Best Moment of the Week: I've said this before, but Griffin really loves the idea of this baby. He says good morning to her each day when I get him out of bed and squeals and hugs and kisses my belly. He also found a renegade pacifier in his room this week and tried to "give it to her now" by putting it in my belly button! Haha! Something I really love about being pregnant now that he's a bit older is that I think he understands it a little more than he would've a year or so ago. I love this picture below. I took it this week and he was trying to hug the baby as best he could. Sweet thing; I love him so much. 

Another one of the greatest moments of the week was when one of my best friends Kristi found out she's having a baby girl! These two chicks will be just shy of two months apart and I can't wait to see them together. Several of my closest friends are pregnant right now and it's fun going through this life stage together!

I'm also counting this post as my Day 22 and 23 of Being Imperfectly Intentional. It's been my goal to document this pregnancy as well as I did with Griffin's and most of that has been through these weekly updates. I know they're not super fun to read, but I've loved looking back on where I was at this stage with Griffin and comparing the two. 

This covers the twenty second and twenty third days of my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series. 

Day 21 :: Meal Planning

If you've read my blog for any length of time, it's probably clear to you that I live to eat. Tyler doesn't really care much about food and it's tragic. I literally ache for him deep in my heart.

One of the things that I'm really intentional about on a weekly basis is meal planning and grocery shopping. It's easy for me to be that way since I enjoy cooking so much.

I thought I'd share what we're having for dinner this week. I've been only cooking about four nights a week lately, leaving room for leftovers and dinner out. However, I'm cooking most nights this week since my parents are coming for a quick visit on Wednesday!

I also typically do my grocery shopping on Mondays after I pick up Griffin from school. He loves going with me and having a cookie from the bakery. I had a doctor's appointment today though so we're going to go to Kroger in the morning. He has captured the heart of the head baker there and calls him "Griffin's buddy". It's pretty sweet!

Monday: Trader Joe's Kung Pao Chicken with rice and veggie egg rolls
I had everything for this meal at home, which was helpful since I didn't get a chance to run to Kroger today. This chicken is definitely spicy but it's delicious. I added half of a bag of frozen stir fry veggies to ours and it was perfect.

Tuesday: Crock Pot Coney Dogs with potato chips and pickles 
Megan has talked about these several times and I'm finally going to get around to making them this week. I love a good coney dog and when you can use the crockpot? Sign me up! I need to write a post someday with all of our favorite crock pot recipes. It's definitely one of the most important pieces in my kitchen.

Wednesday: Warm Steak & Asparagus Salad with TJ's Orzo & Rice Pilaf and salad
This is one of our very favorite recipes. Tyler actually loves this one and always tells me so when I make it. I made it for my family when we were in Florida this winter and it was a huge hit, so I thought I'd make it when my parents are here. I always leave out the walnuts. And that rice pilaf? If you don't live near a Trader Joe's, I will happily ship you some. It'll change your life.

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie with warm cinnamon apples and green beans
This is comfort food at its very finest. This pot pie couldn't be easier and we love the combination of flavors when you combine the pot pie with a side of apples and green beans. The hardest part of this meal is shredding the rotisserie chicken. This is a great company meal that doesn't take a ton of effort!

Friday: Cheesy White Chicken Chili with cornbread
We always have soup or chili on Fridays in the fall and winter, so we're trying this chili this week. I can't vouch for it yet, since I've never made it, but I found it through a Google search. There's a restaurant in Michigan called Olga's Kitchen and they have the BEST white chicken chili. I've been craving it, so I'm desperately hoping that this tastes like a replica. No one makes white chicken chili (or bread) like Olga!

Saturday: Date Night with friends!

Meal planning really works for us. Like I said above, I rarely cook this much any more, but this is a special week. If we plan to have leftovers one night, I write that on my meal plan so I know what to expect. Even if we're just having macaroni and cheese from a box, I write that down. It helps me so much to just have a specific plan in place.

I also don't commit to making a specific meal on a specific night unless we're having company. It gives me a little breathing room to be able to switch meals if something comes up one night or during the day. Again, it just helps me immeasurably to know what ingredients I have in the house and what to cook with said ingredients.

What about you? Do you meal plan? I love to hear what different people do!

In the meantime, I'll be dreaming about those coneys tomorrow. You think I'm kidding, but sadly, you'd be wrong.

This is my twenty first post in my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series. 

Days 17-20 :: New Rooms

Well. Hello.

I've kind of dropped the ball on blogging for the last few days.

Tyler was gone for three days and I'm a little tired. I took a good portion of each of those days and started cleaning out our guest room/ office that's going to be Griffin's new room. I also started clearing out things in the nursery to make room for the baby's things.

Working on the rooms, plus single handedly taking care of an energetic toddler while pregnant left little room (or desire) to sit down and blog. He doesn't look so energetic here, does he? He's good at pretending!

It's now Sunday night and I have a quiet house. I've purged some things and am going to work on purging a lot more stuff this week. Griffin's big boy beds are coming on Wednesday and we need to sell the existing furniture in that room.

So even though I didn't blog about it, I have been doing lots of intentional preparations for the baby and for Griffin's big boy room.

I have lots of summer clothes to put away that are no longer useful. I have lots of tiny pink and white sleepers and gowns to wash. I just have a lot to do.

This sweet boy has been so good while I've been working away at cleaning and organizing. He can be a handful, but then again, so can I. 

I never wanted these 31 days to feel restrictive or binding in any way. I wanted to be intentional as much as I could and be intentional about blogging. I've done that this weekend and I have eleven more days in October to continue.

I'm off to bed, but I'm looking forward to a more substantial post tomorrow! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

This covers the seventeenth through the twentieth days of my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series. 

Day 16 :: Starting to Purge and Organize

Yesterday I wrote about my frustration with all of the clutter that we have.

Today, I finally started doing something about it.

This is how it looked when Griffin went to bed tonight. He walked into his room to go to bed and said, "Wow. So messy!" I told Tyler that it's an organized mess, which is true. Sometimes you have to make a bigger mess to get organized. Am I right?

I started small today. I went through Griffin's pajamas, his pants, and a bunch of baskets he has in his room. I set things aside to sell, to store, and to wash for the new baby. 

I typically find that once I start a project like this, I get excited about finishing and keep on going strong. I won't have a ton of time to work on his room tomorrow, but I've started. That's always the hardest part for me. 

I feel like once I conquer his room and his closet, I'll be able to start transferring things over to his big boy room. And once he moves into his big boy room, we'll say goodbye to the crib. Lord, have mercy. 

Hopefully this is just the start of clearing out our home for more space and less frustration. I've been intending to start this for probably three months and I'm excited about the prospect!

This is the sixteenth post in my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series. 

25 Weeks

25 weeks

October 9, 2013- October 15, 2013

How Far Along: 25 weeks

Size of Baby: From her head to her heels, she's about 13.5 inches in length. She weighs approximately 1.5 pounds and is the size of a rutabaga. I've never actually seen a rutabaga. Maybe I should look for one at Kroger next week. 

Total Weight Gain: I'm still hanging tight at 13 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes, I'm still rocking a maternity tunic like no one's business. I've also determined that I can't wear any more tanks with shelf bras. It's just not working for me. I picked up a few maternity tanks at Old Navy last night and I wore one today. It was so comfortable and I'm planning on grabbing a few more this weekend!

Gender: Baby girl!

Movement: She's kicking around right now! I feel like she has super active days and then laid back days. She's most definitely the most active at night. I will miss this so, so much when she's born.

Sleep: I'm still having great second trimester sleep.

What I Miss: Clear skin. Oh, how I took it for granted for 28 years. My dermatologist said it's temporary. Even if it sticks around forever, it's completely worth it!

Cravings: I've really craved soup throughout this pregnancy. I could eat a huge bowl of any kind every day. It's currently 10:30 pm and now I'm craving a bowl of vegetable soup. Mmmmm.

Symptoms: Not to beat a dead horse, but acne. Oh well. My hair isn't falling out as much anymore, which is great! 

Best Moment of the Week: This week I saw two of my girlfriends who have moved away. They're both due with boys (one in November, one in January). It was so fun to see them and their cute baby bumps. It made me so excited to see them again in January but with our babies! It's also been so fun to pick up little things here and there for baby sister. I love shopping for Griffin and it's been wonderful to have another baby to consider. Could you just die at these tiny shoes? Thank you, Columbus Day sales!

Day 15 :: Too Much Stuff

I had four baskets of laundry to put away this afternoon. That's a lot of laundry.

I loaded it into baskets from my dining room table (just keeping it real) and made what felt like a million trips up the stairs to unload it into bedrooms.

As I started to put things in drawers and into closets, I grew increasingly frustrated. I didn't have room in my closet and I didn't have room in my drawers. I didn't have room in Griffin's drawers.

This is partially because I haven't switched from summer to winter wardrobes yet. It's partially because Griffin's outgrown a size and I need to pack those things away in bins.

But it's primarily because we just have too much stuff.

Our closets are overflowing, our basement is packed, our attic is stuffed to the brim. We are welcoming another family member in about 14 short weeks and we have to switch Griffin's bedroom and change a few things in the nursery.

We have so much stuff and we don't need much of it.

I'm frustrated and I feel overwhelmed by the incredible amount of excess that we have. I need to start being more intentional about purging and keeping the emotion out of it. I'm an emotional hoarder and can find a reason to save almost anything. If Griffin wore something once and I can remember it, I want to keep it. Heck, I even saved the bandaids from his first shots. RIDICULOUS, WOMAN. You can say it. Also, gross.

See? Even Griffin is tired of all our junk.

My friend Erin has been writing a great 31 Days series on this called Creating White Space. I know that it has inspired me to start intentionally going through rooms of our house and creating more space for us to breathe. You should go and read her posts; she's done a fantastic job of talking about clearing out our lives both physically and mentally.

My plan tomorrow is to start making a room by room list of what needs to be accomplished before the baby is born. I'm also planning to schedule just 15 minutes to start going through our basement.

It's time to start putting off what I'm dreading and work on giving us more white space. I think it will be a refreshing change for all of us!

This is the fifteenth post in my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series. 

Day 14 :: Everyday Tasks

It's been harder than I thought to be truly intentional about something specific each day. That is, something that's new and intentional.

Today I was intentional. I did a lot of things on purpose.

I met with my mentor. I grocery shopped. I did a ton of laundry and folded it (don't ask if it's all put away). I took a nap. I played with Griffy. I made dinner. We took a family walk after dinner.

Lots of normal, on purpose things that are just everyday tasks.

Does it make them less intentional even though they aren't revolutionary? Of course not. Especially to my poor husband who, when I was in the throes of the first trimester, was wondering if our house would ever be clean again or if he'd ever have clean socks again. Whoops. I'll tell you, he's glad I'm cooking and cleaning and doing laundry again. I think we all are!

All that to say, I do have a list of things I want to get started on in the month of October that will help us prepare for our baby and to hopefully put our house on the market in the next year. But today was not the day to work on that list.

Today was a day to just do small but necessary things. Food had to be purchased, laundry had to be done, a nap really needed to be had. And I'm going to bed tonight feeling accomplished and ready to start a new day tomorrow.

Sometimes the small things really are just as important as the big things.

This is the fourteenth post in my 31 Days of Being Imperfectly Intentional series.