Employment changes....

Well.... my last day of work will now be July 9th.  Yes.... that is only 6 work days from now (for me).  Yikes!  This isn't due to anything going on with me, medically or otherwise so don't freak out! :-)

The mom of the family I nanny for has been unhappy with her job since not too long after she started it.  She was looking for another job, and trying to hold out until August 20th (which was my original last day)... but she just can't / won't do it any longer.  I completly understand!  I have worked at least one job where I have had to make that decision.  It is no fun, but sometimes it's necessary.

The silver lining?!  Why am I not freaking out?!  Well.... while it would be nice to continue to have full income until August (like we planned on)..... we will be fine.  AND.... I will qualify for unemployment because I'm technically being laid off.  If I had just quit in August like I planned, I wouldn't qualify for unemployment.  So we'll have some income!

Plus, I have no clue what the next month or two will bring for me.... With the GD, there are a good amount of unknowns, and the ability to just go to the doctor's office when they need me to, etc., will be wonderful.  Plus, I'm starting to get slightly uncomfortable, and unable to move around quite like I did before.  Not a huge change, but I'm just more tired more often.  Taking care of 3 kids while preggo is / would be hard work!

So..... as of July 10th I will be unemployed.  I plan on crafting (a ton!), cleaning (when I have the energy), making Jimmy dinner EVERY night (so excited!), and keeping up with the busy schedule we have ahead of us!  I also think this will be a great opportunity for me to focus on the crafting and photography I've really been wanting to get into more, to see if it's something I could do on the side to make some money when I'm a stay at home mom.

I'm not going to be stupid and think it will be easy... money will be tight.... but we'll make it, and I think it will be a nice change for me!

So if you have any crafting / photographing needs come July 10th or after - I'm your girl! :-)

'til next time!

29 weeks!!!

Well.... I meant to blog about the baby shower we had this past weekend..... but I'm a slacker!  I'll get to it later this week hopefully, but we had A TON of fun!

Today marks 29 weeks!!!  That means only 11 left 'til we get to meet this little guy (maybe less!?).

Here's a picture of me today.  They say you get tired in the third trimester and I'd have to agree.  I'm tired.  And my body is tired.  But when we go to bed?  I'm wide awake!  Ugh!

Here's what babycenter.com says about Colby at 29 weeks:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

It's totally true that he's growing.  I can see changes in my belly almost on a daily basis.  And the last two or three days I've been hungry just about 24x7.  This is slightly difficult while dealing with the restrictions of my Gestational Diabetes diet!  And I've had heartburn most of that time too.... it's a brilliant combination!

Oh... and there have been some changes with regards to my job.... but I'll put that in another post!

Hiccups!

Well, since I've been awake since 5:20am today due to more awful leg cramps... I figured I'd write about the fun experience we had on Wednesday night before I forgot about it!

Every night, Jimmy and I like to listen to Colby's heartbeat before we go to bed - and we say "goodnight" to him.  Now you would think this would be getting easier since he's getting bigger and there's less room in there.  It's not.  I think he's stubborn.... plus sometimes I think he uses the doppler for target practice and punches / kicks it like crazy. 

Wednesday night was no exception.  He was moving around, and we just couldn't find his heartbeat (we got the cord sound, but not the thump-thump).  I was about to give up, but as usual, Jimmy put his hand on my belly and said "c'mon Colby".  Then he said "wait, is he kicking right now?"  I focused on that area, and realized it didn't feel like kicks.  Too soft.  And too rhythmic.  I told Jimmy I was pretty sure Colby had a case of the hiccups!

Figuring that was about where his chest was (where Jimmy could feel the light bumps), I put the doppler there (as that would mean his heart was nearby!).  Not only did I catch the heartbeat (love that thump-thump), but we also caught what sounded like the hearbeat but slower, and less thumpy... timed perfectly with the "kicks" (that we were now 99% sure were hiccups)  Pretty sure we could HEAR his hiccups! :-)  The combo of the heartbeat and the hiccups was hilarious.

Yay!  Hiccups are a good sign 'cause that means he's practicing swallowing / breathing.  I've had one other time before that when I was pretty sure he had a case of the hiccups.  This morning as I was playing around on my computer (trying to be quiet so I don't wake mom-in-law or sis-in-law)... I think he had a quick case of them again.... and he was definitely practicing his dance moves in there.  While I don't really like being up at 5:20am on a Saturday..... I do love that it meant I got to feel our little guy movin' and shakin'. :-)

We have our co-ed baby shower / baby party this afternoon.  Thank you to our awesome friends Will and Dawn for putting it all together - when they're expecting a baby ANY MINUTE! :-)  They are the best.  We have family in town, friends headed this way, and it should be a bunch of fun (and I'm hoping Dawn has some embarrassing games for Jimmy to participate in!) :-).  The fact that all the wonderful men in my life are willing to play along and even come to a shower is pretty awesome!  Can't wait to see my "little" bro playing baby shower games!  And my dad!  And my father in law! :-)

Okay.... that's all.  Can you tell I have lots of energy and I've been up for over 2 hours with nothing to do!?

28 weeks!

Well, today was a good day.  Today is our 3 year wedding anniversary - and I hit 28 weeks which by all books / anyone you ask is guaranteed to be the beginning of the third trimester!  Some people think it starts sooner..... but no matter what, there's no mistakin' we're into the final stretch!!!

Here are a couple photo updates:

Today.... 28 weeks!

Sunday.... 27 weeks, 4 days (I think the belly looks bigger / rounder.... but I also look more exhausted (the picture was taken around 11pm after our drive back from Portland).

What's Colby up to this week???

How your baby's growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

 

27 weeks!

Well, today marks 27 weeks!  Here's what babycenter has to say about this:

How your baby's growing:

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

I think I actually felt Colby having the hiccups last night.  He was being super crazy and active as I was trying to fall asleep, and at one point it felt like little hiccups (very consistent movement).  Didn't last too long, and of course stopped when I put Jimmy's hand on my belly! 

We are so excited for this weekend - Jimmy's parents are going to be in Portland so we're headed there to see them, and I get to have pedicures with a good friend of mine, Karie, who is also pregnant (she's due in July!) who I haven't seen in forever.  Then I'm doing a maternity photo shoot for her with her hubby.  Yay!

Speaking of.... I did a maternity photo shoot for our good friends Will and Dawn this past weekend.... guess I'll have to share some of those photos!  I'm working on a photography website / blog... so hopefully I'll have that up and running soon and can just share that.

Okay... time to sign off.  Going to try to take a bath tonight before bed because I woke up with the WORST cramps I've ever had in my legs this morning - both legs.  Supposedly a nice warm bath before bed should help.... we'll see!

Finally..... last update for today (I think)

All this talk about Colby coming early, etc., made me realize I never formally mentioned on here my plans for the future.

I have talked to the family I nanny for, and have told them my last day of work will be August 20th.  This is kinda crazy 'cause I realized today at the doc's office that's only 9.5 weeks away!  Eek! :-)

Jimmy and I decided on that date because it gives me 3.5 weeks before my due date to relax (haha), craft, clean, and get ready.  That way if he comes early (which I guess is highly likely), I'll still have a little time off.

It's possible I would end work a week earlier...... we'll see how I'm feeling / how things are looking / etc.  I have to take the 13th off work for a Baby Shower in Portland, and have a doc appointment on the 12th, so it just starts getting annoying to deal with my schedule!

After baby gets here, our plan is for me to stay home, at least for a while.  We hope we can do it financially.  We know we can do it for the short-term.... and are hoping it will be something we can do until we / I decide I want to go back to work, or....?

I'm kinda hoping that I can start drumming up some photography business (even if it's just a little), and maybe sell some crafty stuff on etsy.com to help supplement our income.  We'll see!

So exciting to think that only 9.5 weeks from now we'll be so close to meeting our little guy that I'll be done working and just prepping for his arrival!!!!!  Eek!  So excited!

GD implications...

As promised.... this is what I learned today about the implications of Gestational Diabetes (GD) - for the next 13ish weeks 'til Colby is due....

• GD can cause high birth weight (this I knew already, as the baby's blood sugar might be high, which can cause them to get big).  This tends to be "fixed" by the diet, etc., but it still can happen.
• GD can cause growth restriction - and thus low birth weights (this I didn't know.... haha.  both sides of the coin).
• GD can cause stillbirth.  Not good.
• Just because my blood sugars look good when I'm testing doesn't necessarily mean Colby's are perfect as well (interesting... didn't know that!)
• With all this in mind, doctors like to start keeping better tabs on GD mommies as they get closer to their due date to make sure they can catch any warning signs of the above things happening.
• At 32 weeks and 36 weeks (and possibly after that too) I will have growth scans / ultrasounds to check on Colby and see how he's growing.  This is crazy, 'cause 32 weeks is only two appointments away!
• Starting at 32 weeks (and I can't remember if it will be every appointment or just some, or even more often) I will have to do Non-Stress Tests (NSTs).  This involves me being hooked up to a monitor and listening to Colby, checking for contractions, and checking fluid levels around him.  They usually monitor for at least 20 - 30 minutes. 
• Dr. B said that the information from the NSTs and the growth scans helps them get a better picture of what's going on in there.  Again, since my blood sugars can look fine but maybe his aren't, this is important.
• Around 36 weeks I think they'll monitor even closer.  36 weeks is when I start going in once a week - and is a time that they tend to see babies go a little crazy with the growth, etc.
• Dr. B said most GD mommies don't make it to their due date.  I let this slide, then asked more about it later.  Basically he said that they keep an eye on the mama and the baby, and that it gets to a point where the baby will be just fine outside the womb, but if they spend more time in there the risks of complications (low or high birthweight, stillbirth) go up.... so depending on growth and my cervix, he expects me not to go to my due date.
• Point blank he said "I likely won't want you to go all the way to your due date".  I'm sure when Dad reads this he'll be like "ask for September 9th!" if they want to induce.  Haha.

Interesting stuff.  I'd be okay with him coming early if he's ready to come out.  We're ready to meet him! :-)

27week doc appointment

Well, I had another appointment with Dr. B today.  Went pretty good.  Here are the highlights:

• Doc was happy with my blood sugars - 100% fasting within range and 95% of my 1-hour-after-eating were within range.
• I'm only up 2lbs for the whole pregnancy.  This wasn't news to me, and I actually asked him about it 'cause it seems ridiculous and slightly worrysome.  He said he was fine with it - that baby seems to be growing just fine and as long as I'm not starving myself or anything, it's okay.  Still very strange to me.  I know many preggo people who hate me for this.... but I gotta say it's a little stressful!
• Blood pressure was 118/64 - good!
• Talked about my kidney stone.  He was glad it passed, and put an order in for me to see a urologist at some point (probably after the kid gets here or something) to talk about the analysis of this stone and if there are any tips to preventing them in the future.
• Measured my belly - he didn't tell me "how many weeks" it was measuring, but said it looked just right.
• Listened to Colby's heartbeat.  As he does at home, he was wiggling around and using the doppler for target practice, which we both laughed about.  Finally got a chance to hear it for a good amount of time and Dr. B said it sounded just fine.
• Talked about the implications of GD.  I think I'll do another post for this, 'cause it's going to get long (not that I'm known for short posts).
• I'm slightly anemic (which is normal for pregnancy), so I've gotta start taking iron supplements twice a day.  Add that to all the other pills I take! :-)
• Next week's appointment isn't necessary, so I see Dr. B again on 7/7 - the day after he gets back from his vacation in France - and I'll be 30 weeks!  Eek!

Mmmm.... a cucumber!

Well..... we eat tons of cucumbers!  Yum!

26 weeks today!  Here's the info about Colby / Eggo:

How your baby's growing:

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

And, here's a picture of me today.  Not good quality... but you get the idea!  I've got a possible maternity photo shoot to do this weekend for a friend (yay!), and a baby shower!  Eeek!  Got some crafting to do before then..... and a bunch to do before we head to Portland the next weekend!
 

Me at 26 weeks!

Super cute!!!

Okay.... I don't spend nearly as much time in the kitchen as I'd like to, or I should.... but I feel like that will change in a few months....

Anyways... I also feel that if I had a cute apron like the ones sold here - Flirty Aprons - I'd probably end up in the kitchen EVEN MORE!!!!!

This one's my favorite..... but I love almost all of them!

I can't even imagine what Jimmy would say if he

came home and I was actually cooking - and wearing

 a cute apron like this one!!!

100 days!!!

Time seems to be flying by!  Today marks 100 days in the countdown to Colby's due date!  I have been looking forward to hitting double digits since the start - and I remember celebrating going under 200 days.  Now we're at day 100.

Like I said, I've been planning the celebration for day 99 for a long time - and I didn't even realize it will fall on my 25th birthday - tomorrow!!!!  Double celebration!

While Jimmy and I technically celebrated my birthday Friday night with dinner and a movie (the movie wasn't necessarily my favorite, but the experience was nice).... I think I'm going to try to convince him we should go out to dinner tomorrow night too.  Just to celebrate both events!!!

Eek!!! :-)

Oh, and here's a couple pictures Jimmy took on Saturday, at 25 weeks, 3 days.  The one where I'm laughing is because Jimmy had just made a comment about me groping myself.  Haha.

Tag... you're it!

Well... my friend Dana at Hancock Heir tagged me in a fun photo blogging game - so here goes! :-)

Here are the rules: Go to your photos -- the 8th folder -- the 8th picture -- tell the story.  I'll tag 5 blogger friends at the end - I'd love to see you play... and anyone else that wants to, feel free!!!

So.... my picture:

And the story....

This picture is from last fall - September 19th to be exact.  My family (Dad, Mom, Brother, and Sister) came up to visit Jimmy and I for the weekend - to celebrate my dad's birthday (Dad's birthday is 9/9). 

Well, my dad is a fan of The Beatles, so we decided to get him Rock Band: The Beatles for his birthday.  My family came prepared to play - with guitars, drums, and one microphone.  We rocked out ALL DAY on Saturday.  We realized partway through that one microphone just wouldn't do.... and wanted another wireless mic.  So.... my mom was sent out on the mission to find one (after we had checked the Target in town, I called, and the only place that had one in stock nearby was a Target about 15ish miles away).  She drove up to get it, and a 6lb bag of gummi bears (and maybe one or two other things).  The gummi bears were requested - but the quantity was a bit of a shock when she got back!

We rocked out all night.... made probably 5 batches of different kinds of salsa (my family had TONS of tomatoes and peppers from their garden), at gummi bears, and just had too much fun as a family.  The picture above is my sister and I ROCKING out (obviously!).  The pictures we have from that night are just hilarious - all of them.  At one point our whole family was a band.  :-)

The next day, the gummi bears also became ammo for a gummi bear war thoughout our house - yep, they were being thrown about.  This turned into a game where my family decided they'd hide gummi bears around our house before they left - I mean everywhere.  In our stemware, on bedposts, above doors... everywhere.  I'm including a couple more pictures, and even though I took the story farther than just the picture above, I couldn't tell the story of that picture without a better understanding of the whole weekend.  My family said it was one of the most fun weekends they had ever had! :-)

Peppers - ready for a salsa fresca.

A gummi bear pyramid my sister made.

Gummi bears in our stemware!

Okay... I'd love to see the following blogger friends play the game:

Danielle at The Lemos Family Blog

Jen at Vivid City

Fallon at The Fallon Family

Alicia at Cappola Twins

Andreea at AR Photography

Can't wait to see the pictures and hear the stories!

Sunday night's adventure

Well... as I alluded to in my last post.... Sunday night was a bit of an adventure.  NOT in a good way.

As we were sitting on the couch, getting close to bedtime, I couldn't get comfortable.  I had a bit of an ache in my back on the right side.  I had Jimmy rub my back a little - which helped some.  I figured it was from sleeping on an air mattress in the middle of the woods the night before!

When we headed to bed, I was still uncomfortable and feeling a little bit worse.  I was annoyed, and hopeful I was wrong when I thought "this kinda feels like a kidney stone" (I've had two before).  I got into bed, had Jimmy rub my back a little more as we laid there, got up to go to the bathroom a couple times, and then took some Tylenol.  As I laid in bed, I told Jimmy I wasn't sure, but that possibly it felt like a kidney stone.  Of course, he was concerned.

Those of you who know me know I'm a planner, and I like to be prepared for things (thus us ending up telling people Colby's name, etc.).... so of course my first thought was - if I was going to end up having to go to the ER later, I should put a sports bra on now so that I didn't have to do that on the way.  haha.  Jimmy should've known at that point..... but he was unaware.

I finally said I couldn't get comfy enough to sleep, and that I thought I maybe should go get checked out (again, at this point, Jimmy would maybe get that I was in a pretty good amount of pain - but also keep in mind I am very stubborn, and have a pretty high pain tolerance when it comes to REAL pain).  So he suggested I Google whether I should go to the ER or to Labor & Delivery.  Now, in my mind I was thinking "I'm pretty sure I just need to get the eff out of this house now, honey... I don't care what Google says"..... but again, stubborn Kim prevailed and I googled "severe back pain during pregnancy.... or something like that.

I then told Jimmy I thought we should head that way, and that I would call the nurse line to find out which one I should go to (since the buildings are right next to eachother).  I grabbed a plastic bag from the pantry (because I know I puke when in massive amounts of pain - and from prior experience (kidney stone #2) I learned to also check the bag for holes!), and called the answering service for my OB.  The OB on call got back to me within five minutes.  His advice?  Drink water.  I almost laughed.  We're past that point, buddy.  I told him I was pretty sure I was headed in to get checked out - should I go to L&D or the ER?  He said either would be fine - that they'd both do the same thing - IV fluids and pain medicine, check on baby, and do an ultrasound to look for stones.  He figured L&D might be better since the ER might send me to L&D anyways - so we headed there.

Less than two minutes after I was off the phone with the doc, I apologized to Jimmy for what I knew was coming.  Sure enough - I made use of the plastic bag - three times.  At this point, Jimmy was like "seriously?!  You're in that much pain?!  You need to tell me that!  I didn't realize it!  Now I'm worried!"  haha.  whoopsie.  I have since been told by multiple people I should probably give him a bit of a stronger warning when I go into labor! :-)

So we make it to L&D - park in 1 hour physicians only parking - and then the waiting begins.  They would've preferred I check in at the ER first.... but got me checked in over the phone.  Finally I get taken to a bed.  Then I wait as the nurse straps on the monitors (for baby), asks me one million questions (no joke!), leaves approximately 20 times....  Now keep in mind, they checked me in at midnight.  At that point I had been in pain for at least an hour.  The peak of the pain was when I used the plastic bag in the car - but I was still in pretty good pain (and laying on my back / side... awesome!).  Around 2am (or so - possibly later), after MANY requests for pain meds, an IV, anything, I finally got them.  My veins suck (always), and so she tried going into my left hand with no luck - and had to go in the right hand - with luck after digging around, for the IV.  At this point, the pain was just a dull pain, but I didn't want to refuse the pain meds because they had gotten pretty busy in L&D and it might be another hour before we'd see the nurse again!

(Jimmy told me many times that if I stopped acting so tough and actually showed them I was in pain, they may have helped me sooner.... probably true..... but.....)

Since I now had my IV and some pain meds, Jimmy realized our car was still in the 1 hour parking, so he went to move it.  Of course, that's when they came to get me for the ultrasound.  The tech started the ultrasound - focusing on all my organs, etc., (with a few peeks at Colby on accident - he's just getting big and kinda in the way!).  Jimmy showed up, and the tech finished looking at my organs and then said he'd give us a little peek at the kiddo - yay!  one good thing came out of this stupid situation!  So we got to say hi to Colby.... who had been very active when I was in pain (maybe to tell me "I know you're in tons of pain mommy, but I'm doing just fine in here!), and on the monitor, but at this point looked, well.... a bit drugged.  :-)  The tech asked if we had found out the gender - and I told him at last check he was a boy... hoping that hadn't changed.  Sure enough - he saw boy parts too :-)

I was wheeled back to my spot in triage, and promptly forgotten about for another hour or so.  I finally determined I REALLY needed to go to the bathroom (maybe from the IV fluids they had finally gotten in me!?)... but of course my nurse was literally nowhere to be found, having been whisked off to help out a lady who was about to have a baby.  I didn't have a strainer (ick!  straining pee!!!), and I was about to burst.  Finally another nurse came in and let me use the bathroom.  Phew. 

At some point the OB on call came in and told me they couldn't see anything on the ultrasound, and that my urine came back fine, but that can happen even if I have a stone.  Drink fluids, blah blah blah.  Fast forward to 4:15am (okay, fast was the wrong word there..... nothing happened fast... they were slammed - I think 6 or 7 women came in during the 4.5 hours we were there in VERY active labor).  We finally are too antsy to keep waiting, and ask what we're waiting for.  The nurses have no clue, and wonder why I haven't been discharged.  Awesome.  Finally, I'm discharged with a prescription for some pain meds and another drug that helps relax the urinary tract or something.  We head to Walgreens to fill the prescription, then to Denny's 'cause we're both starving, seeing as we've been up almost a full 24 hours at this point.

We slept 'til noon or so, I took the pain meds on Monday, and we both took the day off on Tuesday.  I didn't take pain meds on Tuesday, just had a dull ache all day.  Tuesday night I caught the stone - and put it in tupperware 'cause they forgot to give me anything to put it in to take to the lab (haha, go figure!).  Wednesday I was exhausted, but came to work anyways.  We had a low-key day! :-)

So... that was the adventure.

I have to say that being in L&D was pretty surreal.  I think it sorta freaked Jimmy and me out a bit.  I mean, we know we're going to go there eventually, and I'm going to be in labor, and we're going to have a baby.  But neither of us have ever been around a woman that's actually in labor - like real life labor, not labor in the movies or on TV.  It was crazy to hear women breathing through the contractions, obviously in a lot of discomfort, and nurses talking about 5 or 7 or even 9 (I think that was the max I heard) centimeters dialation.  Just crazy.  BUT, now we know where to go.

Oh, and if another person says "well now you'll really be prepared for labor" or "now you can compare the two", I may just have to smack them upside the head.
1.  This was my THIRD kidney stone.  I think one was sufficient for any comparisons that others deem necessary. 
2.  At this rate, I will need to have two more kids in the next two years before I have my next kidney stone... not going to happen.
3.  Even if the pain is equal - or even if birth is more painful - at least childbirth has an awesome reward at the end.... a baby.  Not some itty bitty rock candy looking stone that you have to strain outta your pee.

So yes, I can compare the pain... and I'm increasingly confident that I'll be able to at least breathe through the early parts of labor...... but many women go through childbirth without the "luxury" of having something to compare it to...... I would give anything to be one of those women!

That is all - and that was a long post - I'll be amazed if ANYONE made it through the whole thing!

25 weeks!

Well, it's been an eventful week!

First off.... yesterday I hit 25 weeks pregnant!  Yay!  We're almost down to double digits in the countdown to the due date - crazy!

25 weeks:

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Here's a picture of a rutabaga - for weight comparison! :-)

Saturday we went camping with Will and Dawn about an hour outside Leavenworth (past the town, of course, so we could stop and grab some cheese!).  We had a ton of fun, although I have to say that sleeping on an air mattress in a tent at 6 months pregnant is not something I necessarily want / need to do again (though I shouldn't be complaining.... Dawn did it at 8.5 months preggo!).  Getting up to pee in the middle of the night (twice) was also an adventure!!! :-)

We camped, hung by the fire, went mushrooming, and just had a great time hanging out with friends.

The boys cutting wood for the fire

Kai being adorable

Jimmy and me - I look like a fat cow in this picture.... awesome.

The Skinners - Dawn, Will, and Kai

There are many more pictures.... but I'll stop now! :-)

Sunday we headed back through Leavenworth, stopping for more cheese and lunch, then headed home.  I was looking forward to a nice night of sleep in my bed.......... but I guess my body had other plans (see next blog post).

Oh, and a couple 25 week pictures - one is from the camping adventure (so technically 24 weeks, 4 days), the other is taken with my phone yesterday.  Guess Colby's growing.

24 weeks, 4 days - proof that when                                           25 weeks - 6/2/10

pregnant, even black isn't a slimming color!