last vacay before babay

JP and I got to spend a full week at the lake for our last hoorah before Parker makes her arrival.  It was so perfect and relaxing.  I literally thought I was going to cry on Thursday when I knew it was coming to an end.  Even though it rained a lot while we were there, we were still able to do a lot.  We slept in everyday, made breakfast, worked out, watched movies, fished, baked...heaven.

We have the cutest dog in the world.  (I really think that)

We picked out a dessert from one of my many pinterest recipes that I've been wanting to try.  Strawberry cream cheese cobbler it was.  JP loves strawberrys and I had very high hopes for this dessert.  Especially since I don't bake.

Even though it looks delish, I probably wouldn't make it again.  There was just something a little off with hot strawberries.  (we still ate it all)

We also went shopping over at the outlets in San Marcos and had lunch with JP's brother, Kevin.  Here are a few things I picked up for P.  I was highly disappointed that the Janie and Jack outlet didn't have their fall and winter out yet.  Maybe I will make another trip down before she comes.  Who wants to drive me?

We also drove to a town close to Austin one day to pick up our new "adult" camera.  (Long story)  But it was totally worth it because we found a P. Terry's on our way back.  JP's brother loves P. Terry's so we wanted to see what the hype was about.  Probably the best burger ever.  Thin patty and so fresh!  I'm almost sad that we tried it because now I will crave it.

Overall it was such a great vacation for me, JP and Max.  I wish we had one more week!

Thank God for AC and Iron

What a Monday...

I got my test results back yesterday...no gestational diabetes, but I am anemic which is very common later in pregnancy.  Maybe she is pumping iron.  Haha, no?  I hope this is why I have been so tired AND is to blame for so many dang leg cramps at night.  I'm hoping that once the iron supplements and steaks kick in, I will get some energy back.

(Dramatic alert)

Then, on my way home, I decided to take 75 instead of the toll to save 5 bucks.  Like a good girl, I checked my traffic app just to be sure it looked good.  All green...75 it is.  Well, the app lied.  Wrecks and stalled vehicles everywhere.  75 was a parking lot.  I despise this highway.  AAAANNNDD on top of it, my AC wasn't working...in my new car...what the heck!?  Talk about a pissed off pregnant woman.  A typical commute home on the toll takes about 45 minutes.  Well, 40 minutes into my trip today, I was just hitting 635 WITH hot air blowing in my face.  So, I hope cops don't read my blog, because what did I do?  I jumped in the HOV lane.  I shun people that get in the HOV lane that are not HO.  Big pet peeve.  I am a rule follower, but I didn't have a choice.  I was freaking out that I would get caught.  I'm sure this didn't help my sweat situation and my already rising blood pressure.  I rehearsed what I would tell the cop the whole time I was breaking the law in the HOV.  I was gonna need to start with some tears.  I knew that wouldn't be a problem at this point.  And then I was totally gonna pull out my pregnancy card and milk it for all it is worth.  I figure I've earned it.  "I'm so sorry officer, but I'm 7 months pregnant, my AC isn't working, and I am literally cooking this baby right now.  Did you know that it is very bad on a baby when a mother overheats?  A baby CAN'T sweat!  I just want to get home...blah, blah, blah"  Glad I didn't have to go there, but I do wonder if it would have worked.

When I walked into my house, I looked like I had run a marathon.  My face was beat red and my sweaty hair was stuck to it.  I'm getting hot just writing this.  Anyway, I peeled off my sweaty clothes, treated myself to some ice cream and cooled off rather quickly.  How did people live before AC?  Thank you Willis Carrier for that gem of an invention.  Happy Monday! (they need a sarcasm font)

Independence Day

26 Week check up

Before we left for a 4th of July lake weekend, we had our monthly check up.  I had my glucose testing this go round.  This is where they test for gestational diabetes.  I was so worried I was going to fail this test because I forgot to "eat light" before my appointment, but seriously, it was at 1:00 pm.  If you want me to eat light, give me a morning appointment.  Anyway, if you fail, you have to go back in for a 3 hour additional testing.  I did not want to fail!  Results to come.  Everything else looked great.  Strong heart beat, my stomach is measuring perfect, and I've gained ten pounds now.  I asked when I would get a sono again and apparently everything looks so good that it's not required anytime soon.  I mean, I'm glad that we are healthy, but I need to see what tricks my little tumbler has learned so far.

Lake

We headed down to the lake after our appointment with Mark and Ashley.  I was super excited for this trip.  Fourth of July is my favorite holiday!  It was a much needed relaxing, long weekend.  I was excited to have someone there that goes to bed before me.  (I hate being first to bed)  At around 9:00 each night, Ash would start asking if it was bedtime yet...which earned her the nickname of Number One Loser for the weekend.  She actually kind of gave herself the name.  Mark tucked her into bed the 1st night at 11:00 and she said to him, "I don't want to be the number one loser."  JP claimed the title when he snuck off to bed at 10:00 the last night.

Mark and Ash couldn't get over how much good food there was.  Potato salad, pasta salad, banana pudding, peach/blueberry pie, steaks, scalloped cheesy potatoes...you name it.  Debbie and Aunt Pam are really good cooks.  So Ashley and I decided we would try to learn a couple of their tricks.  We will be testing out our new skills on our lake trip next weekend.  (Breakfast sandwiches anyone?)  My favorite cooking lesson of the weekend came from Aunt Pam.  Take a shot before and after you cook...makes cooking more fun AND if it's bad, it won't taste as bad.  Makes sense to me!

Here's a couple pics from the weekend...Ashley's travel buddy

Mark got ahold of my pregnancy float.  Shout out to Krista for this amazing purchase.

Cheers...for most

Banana Pudding...amazing

Nursery Progress

Another crazy weekend has come and gone with my parents.  It was exhausting, but we got so much done.  I did have to sit down and take a lot more breaks than usual.  My back can't go as long as it used to.  The guys worked around the house, but they also had some fun too.  They both had gift cards to Cabelas and went shopping Saturday.  JP came home with two camo outfits for Parker.  Talk about playing on my heart strings.

Mom and I were on a nursery mission.  We found random knick knacks, a lamp, and ordered a glider from Buy Buy.  The chair I wanted was on the floor at Buy Buy, but it had 2 rips in the back.  It was discounted, but not enough for the work that would have to be done on it.  Per usual, mom saw an opportunity to get a deal.  She argued with the sales lady that it should be even cheaper because the rips weren't even on the seams.  The lady wasn't playing mom's game.  She wouldn't budge.  I'm pretty sure this irritated mom because she was still yelling out to the lady, "...and there's black all on the side over here!" as she walked away.  I thought it was comical that mom's deal making skills didn't work for once (even though the deal was for me)

Our main priority was to pick a paint color for the nursery. Fail.  Have you ever tried to pick out paint with two overly anal fastidious people?  I had decided that I wanted to try a color since her furniture is white and the rest of the house is so neutral.  This task included 3 trips to Lowes, 2 to Home Depot, 1 to Sherwin Williams and lots of paint samples on the walls (9 to be exact)  And have I decided on one yet?  Nope.  Trying to pick a teal/mint that isn't too blue or too green is proving to be difficult.  JP is not much help either.  Poor kid is color blind.  JP walked in after Mom and I had just finished painting the first sample on all four walls.  He looked around and said, "well I'm not gonna be much help.  These all look the exact same to me."  Awww, that's because they are.  Anyway, her bedding should be in this week, so I am hoping that will provide some guidance.

Her room is really coming along.  I think we are going to attempt to paint it ourselves.  That way if I hate it and want to change it, I won't feel so bad since we didn't pay someone.  I can't wait for the finished product!

I have also started shopping for little Miss.  I am trying not to buy too much because it is all summer stuff right now.  Who knows what size she will be next summer.  She could be really long, or chunky, or tiny.  Target has the CUTEST stuff.  I wanted to buy it all.  Here's a couple of my fav purchases...these shorts better fit!

When do fall clothes come out???

24 weeks...

This weekend we went to the lake with JP's college friends. It was a good time but let's just say things got a little crazy. I am trying to be a trooper, but 4:30 am bedtimes are wearing on me.  I was literally a zombie on Sunday. We make a quick trip to Whole Foods for some necessities when we got back. I had to hold onto the cart for dear life. I felt so weak and delirious. I then proceeded to leave the groceries in the hot car. JP remembered them at 10:30 pm. Oops.  I seriously couldn't function though. 

I don't know how many more lake trips this preggo can handle. Plus, sitting out on the lake festivities is making me jealous. I just want to wakeboard and enjoy a glass (or bottle) of Santa Margherita.

My parents are coming in this weekend to help with stuff around the house and the nursery. Yay!  It was originally just going to be my mom but dad won an AR 15 last weekend and he is dying to go try it out. Side note, my dad is seriously the luckiest person. He has won two trips, $1,000 to a jewelry store in Plainview, a mountain bike, and now an AR. I told him not to be surprised if someone called and told him he's won a spa package or shopping spree to North Park. Going forward, I am putting his name on all raffles/contests.

Anyway, I hope dad realizes what he is actually getting himself into.  I, of course, have a to do list for him and JP. (hang fan, assemble crib, build extra shelves in nursery closet, up lights in front, and clean the carpets -if I'm lucky). I'm totally ignoring the fact that JP called me a slave driver the other day. Mom and I also have a lot to get done for the nursery. Let another marathon weekend begin.

Pregnancy updates

Parker is moving like crazy...all the time. We can even see her moving now. I'm also trying to gain a few lbs.   At our last doctor's appointment (22 weeks) I had gained 6 pounds. The doc isn't concerned yet but she said a few more snacks wouldn't hurt. Twist my arm and add a cookies and cream shake to that order.

my first piece of advice...

Register with a friend.

First of all, I can't thank Sara and Ashley enough for going to register with me.  I cannot imaging doing that without Sara's expertise.  Plus, it made for lots of laughs.

I picked Ashley up and we met Sara at Buy Buy Baby.  Even though Ashley and I left before Sara, she still beat us there.  Somehow, whenever Ash and I go somewhere we always get lost.  Even though we know where we are going.  It never fails.  Anyway, for the first time, I took advantage of "Expectant Mothers" parking (mainly because Ash made me)

When we walked in, Sara was on her crutches.  We quickly convinced her she needed a wheel chair and the sales lady grabbed her one.  Props to Ash for being our pusher.  (minus the multiple run ins with random items/isles/people/carts)

I, of course, was completely overwhelmed.  Like, this baby thing is really happening and I have to pick out all this stuff and I have no idea what it is even for!  Once we got started, we actually (well maybe just me) had fun.  The sales lady kept coming back to check on us.  I'm pretty sure she thought we were crazy.  We were laughing every time she walked up.  

Seriously though, some of these baby products are comical.  I mean, the name alone...

And then there's The Windi.

Let me just explain this product.  It's a catheter that you stick in your baby's butt that instantly releases excess gas.  Do people really use this???  I was curious so I looked it up on Amazon.  And YES!  People LOVE The Windi.  90 reviews and 4 stars.  I giggled at every review I read. (so mature)  I think I'm sold on it though.  If JP Parker ever needs gas relief, I will give Windi a try.  I'm sure I would laugh the whole time too.

Ashley decided to try out some of the products too.

Overall, I would say we were very successful.  I've also been adding/deleting products on my registry all week.  Lots of reading reviews on Amazon. There is so much to learn!  Thanks again to Ashley and Sara!  

We have a name...we think

We JP kept putting off the name discussion.  We finally sat down last week to talk it over.  I had a list of about 20 names that I've written down over the last 5 or so years.  Yes, us girls are crazy like that.  I had narrowed the list down to my top 5 and asked JP to pick out his tops names too.  He narrowed his to 3 names that were all also in my top 5.  Talk about good team work!  We talked over the final 3 and semi-officially decided on Parker.  JP wasn't sure about this at first.  He doesn't really get the whole boy name for a girl.  But I've been calling her Parker since we found out it was a girl and I think it has grown on him.  He doesn't want to make it official in case we change our mind.  Putting it on the blog doesn't make it official, right? I also just ordered a large P from RH...oops.  Hopefully Peyton or Presley will work if Parker is a no.

Nursery

I got started thinking about the nursery last week.  This was so hard for me at first.  The more I looked online, the more ideas/styles I liked.  Thanks to Ashley for helping me settle on something.  I don't know how many pictures and links I sent her for another opinion.

Anyway, I decided on mostly neutral stuff with pops of teal/mint and coral/salmon.  I ordered a dresser and changing table yesterday.  It could be in next week so I have a lot to get done.  Her room still has junk in it and I need to pick a paint color and schedule the painter.  I really hope it all comes together as I picture it in my head.  I think Parker will love it.

Pregnancy Updates

Parker's little flutters have graduated to punches and kicks.  I wish I could see what she was doing in there.  Hopefully she's already practicing for the 2028 Olympics.  I plan to teach her a front roll before she's walking.  The Olympic individual all around championship title is ours.  JK!  I'm not going to be one of those moms that live vicariously through their children.  (However, I am still a little bitter that mom wouldn't let me go train with Bela Karolyi after the 1996 Olympics)

I digress.  Back to updates.  I really can't believe how easy this pregnancy thing has been.  I don't want to jinx myself, but I have felt great.  I have a feeling this might change after I'm pregnant through the hot summer.

This weekend

JP and I have our to do list ready to go for Saturday.  We haven't been home many weekends so we need to take advantage of the weekends we are in town.  We are also having a much needed date night Saturday.  Love me a good steak.

JP (and Mark) then fly out to Boston early Sunday morning for work.  They will be there until Wednesday.  I've already made lots of plans for me and Ash.  Sunday - church, Garden Ridge, Brunch, and ...wait for it...Register.  Yes, Diaz agreed to go register with me and Sara.  I recruited her by convincing her that I needed someone to push Sara around while she told me what to scan.  Plus, I figure it will make registering more interesting with Ashley there.  She already asked if we would be pushing Sara around in a shopping cart.  For those who don't know, Sara has a broken leg and we will be using a wheel chair (if she still has it) not a shopping cart.  Should be interesting!  Stay tuned for pics.  Happy Friday!