Weeks 22, 23 & 24

Man what a busy few weeks it has been.  Time continues to fly by and I continue to be amazed with how fast this pregnancy is going.  The last weekend in July, Charlie and I got away to the cities (Minneapolis) to spend some time together.  Charlie rarely gets weekends off and it just so happened that he had Friday, Saturday & Sunday off this specific weekend so I told him I didn’t care what we did or where we went, but we were going to leave town.  We decided to head up to Minneapolis to just relax and do some shopping at our favorite place-the Albertville Outlet.  We were hoping to watch a baseball game too, but they didn’t have any home games that weekend.  So, we sent to the Medford Outlet and of course Cabela’s on our way up, tried a new stir-fry restaurant which was awesome (oh that was a rule for this trip by the way, we couldn’t eat anywhere we had eaten before we had to try a new place), then we quick hit IKEA that night yet before they closed.  The next morning we woke up and drove to the Albertville Outlet where we spent most of our day.  To be honest, neither of us are big shoppers, but we had so much fun as we spent most of our time “baby shopping”.  We picked out a few outfits for a girl, a few outfits for a boy, some that could go either way and then some of the essentials like onsies, bibs, blankets, etc.  I now have a new store…Carters!  They have the cutest baby clothes and they had great deals going on too!  Charlie decided he can see why people find out whether they are having a girl or boy now because he said it would make shopping way easier and cheaper.  Other than that we hit a few other stores and got a few things for ourselves and then headed out for the day.  On our way back to the hotel, we stopped and ate at a really cool Mexican Restaurant called Ol’ Mexican.  The architecture both inside and out of the restaurant was really cool.  It had the old brick looks with wrought iron fencing inside and little water falls.  We aren’t real fancy eaters, we tend to go for more of the fast food/grill and sports bar type of restaurants, but this was something fun for a change.  We had a nice meal and spent a lot of time just talking and catching up with each other.  With our schedules it gets hard sometimes to keep up with what’s going on with each other’s lives as we often only get maybe 30 minutes over a lunch break or so, so to be able to sit down and eat together for as long as we want was great!  After supper we made our way back to the hotel and threw on our suits quick to make it down to the hot tub (no I did not sit in it, just put my legs in J).  The next morning we slept in, enjoyed continental breakfast and a hit Babies R Us where we spent a couple hours putting together a baby registry.  Who knew there were so many baby items out there.  It was a little overwhelming, but it feels nice to have it done.  We should be set now as we have registered at Target, Wal-Mart & Babies R Us.  After Babies R Us we just picked up some pizza at a little to-go Italian place and made our way home.  I love little getaways with the hubby.  They always seem to go by way to quickly, but I think it’s good for a marriage when you take time to just get away just the two of you.

 

The Monday we got back from the cities we had our 22 week ultrasound with Dr. Anderson.  Once again everything looked great.  Dr. Anderson reviewed our ultrasound report and said everything was still measuring on time so our due date of November 28, 2013 should stay the same.  It’s crazy how much over the past few weeks we have been feeling this little one move now.  It was when I was about 20 weeks along or so when I first could feel little flutter like feelings but wasn’t quite sure if it was baby or not until we had our ultrasound and when I could feel the movements we were seeing on the screen I then knew that what I had been feeling was our little one.  We were at a wedding a few days after our ultrasound and Baby Z. was really kicking or moving pretty good, so I grabbed Charlie’s hand quick and put it over my stomach.  He was pretty excited and amazed at what he was able to feel.  Some people may have wondered what was going on or why I was having him touch my stomach but I didn’t care, it was too exciting.  I often catch myself just staring at my belly for a bit to watch it move or just hold my hands over it because I love the feel of all the little movements.  It’s truly amazing how God creates a child in the womb from being so microscopic that you couldn’t even see it if you tried to eventually feeling and seeing all that he has developed over the 9-10 months while in the womb.

Last week was an extremely busy at work for me as we had a three day Jury Trial.  I love trials as it’s a change from the normal routine and it’s fun to see the case all come together in the end, but boy are they a lot of work and they create long days.  This mama found out that a 15 hour day is plenty long for her.  I was shot by the end of the week and just ready to relax.  When I got home from work one night last week, I had the coolest surprise to come home to.  I got home from work just a few hours late this specific night and when I pulled up I noticed all of my sisters’ and parents vehicles parked behind the house near the grove (they were obviously trying to hide them J).  We were to have singing practice that night so I knew they were going to be in town, but practice was going to be at Kasondra’s house so why they were all at our house confused me.  I was so shocked when I walked in and there in our nursery was my family and hubby hiding.  While I was in trial that day they all surprised me and pretty much completely put together our baby room.  From only having the sheet rock up and a layer of mud on the night before to them finishing mudding, sanding, texturing, painting, putting together the baby crib and furniture and decorating the room it was literally put together in pretty much a day.  I was pretty stressed that week with all the hectic trial prep. going on and when I saw this I honestly just had to hold back tears.  I was so happy and thankful.  I couldn’t believe that they did that for me.  It was just a relief.  I know we still have a few months, but I have been dying to get in that room and get the drawers organized with the clothes and diapers and all that fun stuff and now I can!  I feel blessed to have such an amazing family.  

 

  

    

 

  

 

 

 

To follow up the busy trial week…Thursday night we went up to Sioux Falls to help my sister Kansas and her husband get set up for a garage sale they were putting on that weekend to raise funds for their upcoming adoption.  It was nice to get to spend some time with them and help them out as they’re always so willing to help us out.  Then on Friday and Saturday we spent some time at the Zomermaand Reunion Campout in Paulina.  We get together as extended family for this every year and it’s always a good time.  We spent time fishing, swimming, floating, going on walks around the pond, golfing, grilling and catching up around the bonfire.  I love how close we are with both of our families.  Then on Sunday I was privileged to share my birthday with my sweet little nephew Huntley who was baptized that morning.  It was a very nice baptism and his mama sang a beautiful song during the service.  We shared lunch at the church and then headed over to Kasondra and Jeff’s house for a bit to hang out as a family after.  Once the family had left, we went back home, took a quick nap, headed to church again and then went over to a friends’ house that night for a couple hours to hang out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said it’s been a crazy few weeks, but I think things may start to slow down a bit more soon.