Mini-Coop is a …

23 May

Baby!

I’m pretty stoked that we’re not having a puppy, an alien or a seahorse. We are indeed having a baby. Our little one has two legs and two arms, a great looking heart, some good looking kidneys and the cutest little nose.

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Mini-Coop was wiggling all over the place, the tech would try to snap a picture and then baby would change positions. The ultrasound technician estimated that baby weighs about 15 oz (at 21 weeks)! Almost one pound! It was AMAZING to see baby’s tiny arms, legs and organs. The spine was super weird looking, and we also got to see one of the many punch/kick combos that baby has been delivering to my insides.

But, I know you just want to know if Mini-Coop is a he or a she… so I’ll let this cupcake tell you (Daniel had some GLUTEN FREE cupcakes made by BabyCakes here in Lexington, KY)

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(Gluten-free Blackberry Cupcake with a PINK frosting filling!)

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It’s a GIRL!!!

I’ll admit, I cried with a mouth full of cupcake.  I had thought pretty much the whole time that little Mini-Coop was a boy, so it was a little bit strange to think of the baby as a SHE! We couldn’t be more excited though, but we haven’t thought of very many girl names, so we need to get to work on that pronto!

Little baby girl Cooper, we are so glad that we got to see you today. Seeing your little arms and legs made everything even more real. Your cute button nose will receive hundreds of thousands of kisses, and we can’t wait to actually meet you! Stay nice and cozy in there, and we’re so glad to know that you are OUR little GIRL!

-Mommy and Daddy

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Mini-Coop: 20 Weeks

22 May

Baby is the size of a banana!

Well friends, this is the 20 week recap and tomorrow comes the big gender reveal! Everything is still going smoothly! Daniel and I took a trip up to Cincinnati this past weekend to go house hunting, and we are happy to say that we’ll have a place to live! We’ll be renting the bottom half of a duplex in the Oakley area. I’m really excited to start exploring our new city. The realtor we were working with showed us tons of great parks and I can’t wait to take some walks there later this summer (and with baby once he or she arrives!20weeksIt was really surreal to think that the house that we’ll be moving into is the house where our baby will be born. I’m also excited because the baby/guest room will have carpet, so there will be plenty of soft surfaces for playtime! Silas is also super excited about having carpet in the house, he loves to bury his nose as deep as possible in the carpet when we visit family! I’m glad our new place will have hardwood in the front room and in the dining room/kitchen as well. I love hardwood floors!!!


How I’m Feeling

Still doing just fine! I had a little bit of SI joint pain (lower back/hip area) one evening, but I made a rice heating pack and did some stretching and it felt SO much better! I just poured some rice into a cotton sock and tied a knot at the top. Then I microwaved it for 1 minute and put it on my back. Easiest almost-instant heating pad. Besides some very minor aches, I’m still feeling great!

The jeans I’m wearing in the picture below are probably on their way to the storage box, they fit, but they are NOT comfortable. I got a few new shirts at Target this week, just regular v-neck shirts from the WOMEN’S section (not the Juniors or whatever that other section is called). They’re long, they’re soft and they look better than my current (5 year old) t-shirts with pit stains.
Little mini-coop is still kick-kick-kicking away. As I type this (on Monday night), kiddo is bumping all around! I’ve had the chance to let a few others feel baby moving around, it’s just too cool not to share! He/she is most active in the mornings around 10 and in the evenings after dinner, but especially around 8pm.

Workouts

Walking still feels great, elliptical not so much, and biking is good on some days. It’s really strange, but my body definitely knows that it doesn’t want to be pushed too hard. Daniel and I visited the hotel gym when we were in Cincy, and I hopped on the elliptical for a bit, but that got uncomfortable (mainly because the machine was too big and it caused my posture to be pretty poor), so then I hopped on the bike, but the higher resistance just made my body say “NO!” It’s not painful or anything, and I’m not like extremely winded when this “NO” happens, but it’s just this weird all-over feeling of “I should take it easy”. So I turn down the resistance and go until my body says stop.
Weight lifting still feels great! I’ve dropped weights on a few things, just because the weights I was using just felt too heavy. But I aim to do about 15 reps of each exercise, 3 times through. Biceps, triceps, lats, seated rows and these great resistance band chest stretch/rear fly thingamajigs.

2021week


First Pregnant Crying Experience

Daniel and I went to a restaurant called Rock Bottom Brewery in Cincinnati and I was asking the waitress what the “Catch of the Day” was. She said “salmon”, but since there were two other salmon options on the menu (pecan-encrusted and Asian), I asked how this special of the day salmon was cooked. She said (rather shortly) “with olive oil and butter”. I asked if it was just plain, just the oil and butter, and she told me “yes”. Well, when my salmon came out, it had a little mound of breadcrumbs on top. I’ll preface this by saying that I probably should have been more specific about asking if there was any breading on the fish, but she seemed like she didn’t want to answer any more questions, so I didn’t. Anyways, after the waitress had dropped off our food, I nearly started crying. I was mad at her for not telling me about the breadcrumbs, and I had this weird sad feeling that she didn’t tell me the whole truth. But, I sucked it up, brushed off the breadcrumbs, and had a good dinner.

And then at dinner, I started to tell Daniel how I have been starting to feel more connected with the baby. I was just telling him how sad I would be if something were to happen to the baby, and some big fat tears started rolling down my cheeks. I think it’s funny because up until this point, I haven’t really been any more or less emotional than normal, and those two “crying” episodes happened within like 20 minutes of one another. Ahh hormones.

We also had a doctors appointment after our ultrasound, but I’ll just include any nuggets of info from that appointment with the gender reveal :) See you tomorrow!

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Gender Predictions for Mini-Coop

17 May

Our big ultrasound is just around the corner (on Tuesday!) and I though it would be fun to take a few “gender prediction” tests. We’ve had most people tell us we’re having a boy (but we’ve also always talked about how we’d love to have a little boy, so we may have swayed their votes!) We’ll be happy with a boy or a girl, but I’ve been picturing a little baby who looks just like Daniel’s baby pictures for a while now. Let’s hope baby COOPerates and shows the tech his or her stuff!

 

Toddler Daniel and Toddler Holly

We actually decided to have the tech write down the gender and put it in an envelope. Daniel has some special reveal planned, and all I know is that it involves cupcakes from BabyCakes (they make GF cupcakes!!!) I’ll try to put up a post on Wednesday with details of the reveal, and hopefully with the gender of our little Mini-Coop!

JustMommies Gender Prediction Quiz: 75% Boy

Chinese Gender Predictor: Girl

Old Wives Tale Gender Predictor: 64% Boy

Gender Prediction Quiz: 60% Boy

Parents.com Gender Predictor: Boy

 

Most of these quizzes asked if I’m carrying “high” or “low”, and that just made me laugh because unless it’s the end of the day, it doesn’t look like I’m “carrying” anything other than some extra lunch. I guess I’m carrying low though, I feel all of the kicks and punches WAY below my belly button.

Anyways, that was a fun little doo-dad and we’re excited to see our real Mini-Coop on Tuesday!

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Mini-Coop: Week 19

14 May

Baby is the size of a mango! (About about 6.0 inches long and weighing in at about 8.5 ounces)

Time is flying by! I just hit 20 weeks today (5/14/2012), and it’s crazy to think that this pregnancy is half-way through! (This picture is actually the first day of 20 weeks!)

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Baby REALLY started moving this week. After I eat a meal, mini-coop does all kinds of flips and kicks. I wish I knew what was kicking me- a leg? An arm? His or her rump? It’s pretty nifty. BUT- I would be lying if I didn’t mention that the little kicks and bumps were kind of annoying at times. For example, it’s not really fun to have baby playing trampoline on your bladder during a car ride. And it’s a little weird to have a little “baby fireworks” show going on inside during class. Most of the time though, it’s really cool to know that there’s really a baby in there!

How I’m Feeling

Knock on wood, but this pregnancy has been pretty easy! Aside from a few aches and pains on certain days, I feel GREAT! I’ve stopped running, my SI joint really starts to hurt after a few minutes. Using the elliptical feels a little weird on some days too, so that might be the next thing to “go”.

My appetite is about normal, but when I eat something every 2 hours, I feel best.

We traveled to Indianapolis (for the second time this spring!) to see our friends Jake and Katy get married. It was wonderful catching up with old friends and enjoying an absolutely beautiful wedding!

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Workouts

I also started summer class this week, French. French is HARD, but I just want to get as many classes out of the way before our little mini-coop makes his or her entrance to the world. It’s REALLY nice to have a different schedule, because I have at least 2 afternoons per week totally open. I’ve gotten in some good weights workouts, but it’s funny to see my weight lbs dropping (10lb bicep curls are just TOO heavy!) I’m doing a lot of walking. Because my class runs 5 days per week, that pretty much guarantees that I get in 5 40 minute walks each week (it’s about 20 minutes from our house to campus). I’d like to take Silas on a few more walks each week (since he can’t come to class), but we’ve enjoyed going to the dog parks in the warm springtime evenings!

In other news, Daniel is enjoying being finished with school, he’s working part time at Starbucks for a few months until his real job starts! He’s been so helpful with getting everything ready- he’s got a to-do list a mile long! We’re pretty thankful to have a little more time together than normal, and we’re both looking forward to a different pace of life when we’re up in Cincinnati.

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Well, nothing else to report. We find out the sex of baby Coop next week (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I’ll be back with a reveal and a 20 week recap!

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Mini-Coop: Week 18

5 May

Baby is the size of a sweet potato!


Well, our due date changed a little bit, Mini-Coop is now due to make his/her appearance on September 30th (instead of on the 28th). Can you believe this marks the beginning of the 5th month?!?

18week

How I’m Feeling

Still doing super! I had one day where I didn’t feel so great, but work has been pretty busy for the past two weeks, and I didn’t sleep well at all the night before. Just goes to show how important sleep is! This was our finals week, so our schedules were a little bit weird, but we’re done with the Spring 2012 semester!!! Yippee! And Daniel is done with his undergrad! I’m married to a UK Graduate!

I’m taking classes this summer, and those start on Monday. I’m looking forward to my “summer schedule” of class and work, I have a few days with a large chunk of time in the afternoon, so I’m hoping to get into a more regular exercise routine! And I’ll have time before classes in the mornings, so Silas and I may try to get in some regular morning walks (I know he would LOVE that!)

Silas also got a haircut this week- this pup is pretty miserable when the temp soars over 80 degrees, so we decided to shave him down. He looks so cute!!! (And Ashley pointed out that he looks kind of like he did when he was a pup!)

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We had a doctors appointment this week, and everything looks great! Baby Coop’s heart is beating at 140 bpm (compared to 153bpm 4 weeks ago and 167bpm 8 weeks ago)! My appointments are so quick and painless- urine sample, weight, blood pressure, any questions? All done. Next visit, we’ll finally get a belly measurement, so there will be one more step added to visits. I know I should enjoy it while I can, I hear the 3rd trimester visits can get rather… invasive. Our big ultrasound will be on May 22nd or 23rd, and we couldn’t be more excited!!! Not only are we excited to find out if little Mini-Coop is a he or a she, but we’re looking forward to seeing little fingers and toes and all other little baby parts.

Pregnancy Stats

Weight Gained: 2lbs
Pants that don’t fit: 2 pair
Bathroom trips at night: down to 1 or 2, THANK GOODNESS!
Number of salads consumed this week: 5
# of naps desired vs. # of naps taken: 3 vs. 1 (we need to work on that ratio…)

Oh… and because I think pregnancy weeks/months are confusing, here’s a handy dandy chart!

(source)

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More Things my Grandpa Says

3 May

I should be finishing up studying for my history exam, but I needed a breather. Here are some funny e-mails my dad forwarded me from my grandpa! (If you missed it, here is part 1 of “Things my Grandpa Says“)

“New Invention”

My new invention is brown toilet paper that smells like roses and contains nit. phors. and potash. watch for it in your local stores !

K.A. M.R. M.T.

all came see gran. ma. Much discussion and excitement. C.Ann wants picture of my rooster painting. Am mailing it Wednesday. Adobe reader wants to install ” updates ” Should I let them ?

(Initials are my siblings initials, except I like how my sister, Catherine, is referred to as K.A. and C. Ann).

Just two little nuggets of wisdom and enjoyment for your Thursday!

Mini-Coop: Week 17

30 Apr

Baby is the length of an onion (5.1 inches long and 5.9 oz)

Oh, just a note, each post is written about the previous week. I wanted to be able to recap my actual experiences with each week! So we’re at 18 weeks now, yippee!!!

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How I’m Feeling

Still doing great! Belly is growing, but most of my clothes still fit, which is pretty nice! We have a checkup at the end of week 18, and we get to schedule THE ultrasound where we’ll find out if little baby Cooper is a she or a he!

A perk of being in the second trimester- I only have to go to the bathroom 1 or 2 times per night (instead of 6 like in the first trimester). Yippee!

Workouts have been great- lots of walking,  a good weights session at the gym, and mowing the yard! I’m so thankful that my body is still feeling so good!

7vs177 weeks vs 17 weeks
(I still kind of think it looks like I’ve just been eating lots of donuts! But I promise, there’s a baby in there!)

Favorite Pregnancy Websites

I have some “favorites” as far as pregnancy websites go. I like to use TheBump and Baby Center for weekly updates (that’s where all of the “baby is as big as a…” come from)! There’s also a great website called babble where moms-to-be and mommies write hilarious posts on everything from pregnancy expectations to hilarious (and inappropriate) things their 2 year olds say in public.

I also really like re-reading pregnancy recaps from some of the regular blogs that I visit: Emily from Daily Garnish, Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point, my friend Ashley, and my friend Melissa (who just put up an AWESOME post about why she chose a midwife).

With all of that being said, I don’t really like reading too much about EVERYTHING that is going on with our little one. I mean, women all over the world get pregnant and have babies, so I’m pretty sure my body knows what it’s doing. I could get super stressed and worried about every little thing, but it’s not worth it! I’m enjoying the ride so far, and I think it’s probably good for expecting mothers to sit back and let their body do whatever it wants to!

Check out the Mini-Coop tab up top! That’s where all of the pregnancy posts are being collected!

See you next week for our 18 week recap!!!

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Mini-Coop: Week 16

21 Apr

Baby is as long as an avocado!

Thanks for all of the support with the news about our upcoming MOVE! We’re so excited and blessed to be where we are right now!16week

How I’m Feeling

Great! Again, nothing to complain about! I started wearing a BeBand from Target to keep some pants up. It’s this awesome elastic tube that well, keeps your pants up (even when they’re unbuttoned). I’m definitely starting to “feel” pregnant, meaning that my belly just feels different than it ever has!

My bellybutton is changing shapes already, even though there’s not THAT much pushing it out.

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Workouts

Man, working out feels SO GOOD! I did “overdo” it on one day though. On Saturday, I did a weights routine in the morning, and then I went walking with my friend Ashley, and we went to church that evening. Just that much activity had me begging to lay down around 8pm. Granted, I haven’t done that much activity in one day in a while, so I’m sure my body would probably be ok if I did weights and a 20-30min walk!

I’ve also been doing lots of planks. It feels so good to engage my core (without doing actual ab exercises, here’s why I’m staying away from crunches).

Foods

Still loving to cook over here! Tuesdays have been deemed enchilada days! I used this recipe for Turkey & Black Bean Enchiladas from Skinnytaste (but I subbed in pinto beans for the turkey and corn tortillas for the flour).

Another winning recipe was a Sweet Curried Tuna Salad from Cooking Light and a Apple-Broccoli Slaw salad from the same book, but I can’t find the recipe online. It was bascially a package of broccoli slaw, 1.5 c. chopped apple (I used a green apple), and a dressing of lite mayo (3TBSP), apple cider vinegar, a bit of sugar and salt. I had to double up on the sugar and the vinegar, because as the slaw sat overnight, the flavors were barely detectable. I don’t know if I’d make the slaw this way again, but, we really liked the apples mixed in there! I think we’ll just tweak the dressing a bit to make it have some more PUNCH!6vs16

Week 6 vs Week 16- what a difference 10 weeks makes!

Well, there went week 16 without a hitch! Excited to see what week 17 brings!

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Mini-Coop: Week 15 and Life Updates

16 Apr

Sorry for the delay in a post! We’ve been living it up this weekend! First up, the Life News (and then baby-talk)

WE’RE MOVING TO CINCINNATI!!!

Daniel graduates in May, and he’s been applying for jobs, graduate programs and the like for a while now. He has some great interviews, and he was offered a position at one of the companies he applied to! We really weren’t thinking that we would be moving, but Daniel loved the company so much (and got a TON of positive feedback from employees at the company during his interview), so after his interviews, we were really hoping that he would be offered a position, and he was!

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God has some mysterious ways of working. If you had asked us 6 months ago where we would be this summer, we definitely would not have said “pregnant and moving”. BUT- God has coordinated and orchestrated these big events in our life so perfectly, that we can only give our thanks and praise to Him! We’ll be moving up at the end of the summer (I’ve got a few summer classes to knock out, I’d love to get as many classes out of the way before mini-coop arrives!)

We’re pretty excited to have “normal” lives (aka not both of us in school, working 1 or more part-time jobs), and although our time here in Lexington has been great, we’re ready to start our “adult” lives!

Ok…. now on to baby talk :)

Baby is as long as a navel orange!

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HOW I’M FEELING

Still feeling great! I did take one pregnancy-emergency nap this week (I had to skip a class, oops!). But I’ve felt really good! I still kind of hit a “wall” around 8 or 8:30pm, and I’ve just got to lay down. But, I don’t really mind, it’s been really nice to kind of unwind earlier in the evening anyways! There’s been an obvious change in belly size this week, so that’s pretty exciting :)

I’m also very thankful that my appetite is normal. I still get pretty hungry every 2-3 hours, but as long as I have snacks with me, all is well with the world! I’ve been devouring veggies this week too, it feels SO GOOD to put greens, beans, and TOMATOES into my body!

WORKOUTS

Workouts have been so much more satisfying! I think it’s really cool for me to know that whatever exercise I’m doing is definitely benefiting TWO people! How cool is that?

Total miles walked this week: 17 (with some running)

I got to take a lovely brisk walk with Ashley and baby Lydia on Saturday! It was so great to have a friend to talk with, and Lydia fell asleep right away :)

I also put together this weight lifting routine for myself, my muscles have been asking to be challenged, and this workout was great. I used weights that were challenging at the last few reps, but I made sure that I could keep good form throughout the set.

10 rep x 3 sets of each:
Leg Extension
Leg Press (2 set double leg press, 1 set single leg press)
Hamstring Curls
Bicep Curl
Tricep Extension
Bent-Over Row
3x45sec planks (elbows)

Have a great week!

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Mini-Coop: Week 14

7 Apr

Baby is as long as a lemon!


We’re officially in the second trimester! I cannot believe 1/3 of this pregnancy is already over! (Well, I can believe it since we didn’t know for 6 weeks that I was pregnant.) This week (much like the last) wasn’t really characterized by any particular symptoms! Whoo! I had a few restless nights, but it wasn’t anything a few early nights couldn’t help!

14weekindivHow I’m Feeling

Aside from those few restless nights, great! I’ve enjoyed taking some long walks this week and I’m glad that spring has sprung! I also did this awesome upper body workout that my pal Kate at A Healthy Passion posted!
I grew out of my first piece of clothing. I had purchased this dress back in October/November and I was hoping that it would be my “summer wedding” dress, but… I can only zip it up about halfway. My pants are starting to feel a little tight around the rear, but they still fit!

 

Food Likes this Week

I am so glad that my normal appetite is back!!! We made a boatload of homemade pico de gallo last weekend and I couldn’t get enough of that tomato-ey/oniony/limey goodness! That salsa went on eggs, on rice cakes, on rice and on salads. Delish. I am also LOVING lemons/limes right now! My favorite accompaniment to lunch has been a spinach salad dressed with some olive oil, lemon juice and salt. It’s hard to believe that nary a vegetable passed my lips for almost 2 weeks in the beginning!

Other Updates

We visited the doctor this week, baby’s heart sounds great at 147 beats per minute (it was 163bpm 4 weeks ago).

Total weight gain at 14 weeks=0 lbs.
I’m back at my “pre-pregnancy” weight! I lost a few pounds when I was first pregnant (week 6-12), but I’m back up to where I was!

I have like 4 pregnant friends right now! We’re all pretty close together in due dates (I think we start in Mid September and go through Mid October). It’s so exciting to know other ladies and their husbands who are going through the same things!

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