Babymoon

Mark and I went to San Diego for three days for one last horrah together before our twosome becomes three. We stayed at Tower 23 in Pacific Beach for the first night, what a treat!

Yes, water came out the ceiling to fill up the tub. Awesome.

Brooke and Hank live just a couple of miles away from the hotel so we got to go out for drinks (virgin please) and appetizers with them. It was great to see them doing so well. The next day we got up early and went for a walk on the promenade by the beach, watched the surf, picked out what beach houses we'd want to be ours one day, shared a breakfast burrito and got some coffee.

 

Then it was off to Sea World for the day. It was a Friday so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We had the best time going from exhibit to exhibit, hitting everything there was to do and of course going to the Shamu show.

And I only got kicked off of one ride. A British ride operated looked at me wide-eyed and asked in his accent, "Wait, you're in the family way, aren't you? I'd never heard that phrase before but guessed he was asking if I was pregnant so I said, "Yes." He quickly whisked us out of line. It was part funny, part embarrassing. We've been referring to me being "in the family way" ever since. So we settled on a ride I could go on, a gondola going across Mission Bay and back.

We traded the beach for the city our second night there and stayed at our of our favorite hotels, Hotel Solamar in the Gaslamp District. We had THE BEST burgers at Bare Back Grill, a New Zealand inspired bar/restaurant.

The next morning we got up early and explored Ocean Beach before meeting up with Josh and Sara and Sara's two year old cousin who was staying with them. She took quickly to calling Mark "Daddy," which we all got a kick out of.

We were supposed to stay in SD Saturday night too but we started to get antsy to get home and start on the baby's room so we canceled our reservations for that night and made plans to see Danielle and Gabe on our way out of town. After seeing their place and catching up a bit we headed home to tape of the room, cover the carpet, buy paint and get to it.

Crack kills.

We couldn't be happier with the finished product and hope Ava loves it too!

7 months

This is the belly these days:

Her pink and chocolate brown room came out perfectly! We just love it and know she will too. It looks like a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and makes us hungry every time we go in there. It's completely bare right now, the month of April will be about buying and assembling furniture. But her closet is already pretty well-stocked and this is before any baby showers.

 

[Ava Baby, we promise to get the surf board out of there before you arrive.]

After putting all her miniature clothes on miniature hangers I stood back and just stared. It was a sobering sight. One of those moments where it just hits you like a ton of bricks, "This is really happening, isn't it? Whoa." I showed Mark when he got home from work and he did the same thing, just kind of stood there and stared without saying anything. I asked him what he was thinking and he said slowly, "That's a lot of pink... she better be a girl." Agreed.

Baby's got new moves too. She has traded her spastic kicks and punches for slow rolls and big stretches. It's the weirdest sensation. My stomach drops like when riding a roller coaster when she does a full roll. She must be running out of room because she stretches her arms and legs at the same time, really using her elbows and knees for leverage. I feel her and see her all the way to the left and the right of my belly.

I'm starting a four-session Prepared Child Birth Class on Monday evening. Mark can only go to the last session so I'm a bit bummed about that, but I'm excited to learn more about this whole process. As soon as you get this pregnancy thing down, it's time to learn about the "big event" and what to do after this little alien arrives.

Warning: May Contain Photos of a Pregnant Lady in a Bikini

Mark surprised me with an incredible mini-vacation in Laguna Beach. It was one of those romantic, every girl's dream, "I'm not telling you where we're going, but you'll need a bathing suit and a fancy dress" kind of weekends. We stayed at the gorgeous Laguna Inn and had dinner at Las Brisas, one of our favorite restaurants. We read by the pool, had breakfast delivered to our balcony, took walks on the beach; holding hands like sixteen year olds, went in search of the perfect mocha; and found it at a boutique french bakery, went tide-pooling, toured the artist community beach town, spent hours lying on the bed watching in awe as Ava twisted and turned; contorting my belly into all sorts of entertaining shapes, and slept with the sliding glass door open listening to the waves all night. It was perfect. 

 

We were in desperate need of it too. The phrase "two ships passing in the night" describes our marriage all too often. With Mark not leaving the house until midnight to start a shift some nights, to coming home from shifts at 3:30am other nights, it's oftentimes hard to connect. Some weeks our only form of communication is text messaging and my half-asleep nods to acknowledge he's getting into bed, forget about "How was your day honey?" It's rough, but God always seems to provide sweet time for us together right when we feel like we're barely hanging on by a thread and need it the most.

Prenatal yoga, Smart Ass Husbands and Mini Bathing Suits

I've been fast-walking a lot for exercise but finally hit up a yoga class at the gym the other night for the first time since I've been pregnant. Yoga for a party of one is challenging enough, but holding poses with a squirmy basketball firmly attached to your front is 1) not that fun and 2) just straight comical. Not to mention being in a room made up of mirrors for 90 minutes. Ugh. 

I'm four days away from starting my third trimester and the (albeit minor) aches, pains and general discomfort of pregnancy are starting to set in. I don't complain about them often, but when I do, Mark thinks it's just hilarious to respond, "shouldn't have eaten the apple..." without even looking up. It's funny now, but I have a feeling it will be much less so in the labor & delivery room.

And this...

 
Now I just need my water baby to get here so I can dress her up and take her to the bay!

6 Months

Wow, the difference in the belly between the fifth and sixth month is quite marked, check it out:

 

She's kicking, punching and flipping like crazy these days. I first felt her little flutters on Thanksgiving Day, those sweet butterfly kisses have turned to strong punches and kicks. Mark, my mom and Becky have all been able to feel her move. She kicks and punches Mark's back when we're spooning in bed, much to our entertainment and delight. I don't think we'll ever tire of marveling at how active and strong she is.

She's responsive to sounds now too. Mark had a horrible cough all last week. His coughing fits actually woke her up before they woke me up. But don't worry, her kicking made sure I didn't miss out on the party. When we talk to her and say her name she gets active. She knows Mark's voice and my voice and laugh. I was at my women's small group the other night and we were all cracking up about something. The cackling really got her going. I think she wanted in on the girl time. She goes especially crazy before bed and right when I wake up, even if it's just waking up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, which happens a few times a night, it must be very exciting for her.

Music either calms her down or makes her active, according to what kind it is. I've been putting one earphone up to my belly and the other one in my ear every morning for a couple of songs. The other morning I just kept thinking how surreal it was that if someone asked me what I was doing at that moment my answer would be "Oh, just listening to music with my daughter."

Ava Shay, you're already entertaining your mom, dad, grandma, and good friends, cracking us up and amazing us on a daily basis. You are a true joy and all we get more and more excited about meeting you every day.

Extreme Baby Room Makeover

We're painting Ava's room this weekend. "Sweet 16" pink, with one accent wall of "Chocolate Cupcake"  brown. Yes, we did kinda choose the colors based on their names. I like pink and we both like cupcakes!

This is her bedding, but her crib will be dark wood and placed against the chocolate brown wall...

with these vintage bird cage decals hanging over it.

 Ava means bird. Sometimes, when Mark's talking to her in my belly he calls her "Ava bird." It's really cute. 

He felt her really move for the first time last night. Each time I've had him hurry up and put his hand on my stomach to feel her move, she's either stopped and he's not patient enough to wait until she's active again, or it's been faint movements, so faint that he's not sure if he's feeling her or imagining it because he wants to feel her. Last night was unmistakable kicks and punches. Strong ones. His eyes got huge and his face lit up. It was so fun to watch his excitement.

Baby.doc

I just found this document named "Baby" in my personal folder at work. It's dated August 16th, 2010. Very funny to look back on 5 months later as I sit with a growing belly in my lap...

Baby

Reasons to have one now:

1. I want one
2. We’d be younger (otherwise it’s waiting until Mark's done with residency, that's 2 more years before we'd have one)
3. I want to have one while we’re in our Roycroft house. It’s perfect for a baby (big enough, friends in our neighborhood with kids for support, great park, great places to go on walks, great neighbors nearby)
4. A lot of my friends are pregnant or have babies/kids (the Errecarts/ the Swansons/ The Boyds/ The Davis'/ The Whitacres)

Reasons to wait:

1. Mark would have more time off when he’s done with residency
2. He’d be making more $
3. I’d have more flexibility in my job after being there longer

Apparently having a baby now won by one reason (despite one of the reasons to wait being highlighted, which you'd think would count for something). Probably the first one. It's a pretty good reason.