7 Months!

Yay! The third trimester officially begins this week (28 weeks). Trenton is about 2 1/4 pounds and measures about 14.8 inches. He is the size of a chinese cabbage or an egg plant. He is blinking his eyes which now have lashes! And, with his eyesight increasingly developing, he may be able to see the light that filters through my womb. 

Ok, now i'm going to vent a little bit. Other friends/acuaintences whom are pregnant have said that it almost disgusts them to read my posts becuase it seems like I am having the perfect pregnancy and that everything is so great when theirs has been pretty rough... truth is it's not all roses but I guess I try to look at the (HUGE) bright side.... I'm making our baby boy!!

Everyone warned me this would be the hardest trimester and i'm already feeling it physically and emotionally. My hips and lower back are so bad now that turning over in bed and each step during the day is painful. I bring a heating pad to work now and try to do yoga/stretches as much as possible to stay warm and not get too tight. I am really looking forward to my body feeling like myself again, when getting off of the couch didn't hurt. I feel pathetic. I am a little worried for the next pregnancy as i'm chasing Trenton around and trying to pick him up with this kind of hip pain. I have always had some hip problems (like my momma) but this is extreme now that all my joints and ligaments are all loosened and spread thanks to the relaxin hormone surging through my body. I have had pain since about 13 weeks and it just keeps getting worse. If any of you have any genius ideas to help get some relief im up to try anything.. I have gotten massages, done yoga, bought tennis balls to roll on, made shaun massage me, ice/hot therapy and the occasional tylenol when it gets unbearable. The more I stand and do things (go to the market/mall, clean the floors, lift things etc.) the worse it is, obviously. But, it is just not my personality to just sit all day ;-/

Making a child is sure hard work! Friends have asked me if I enjoy being pregnant and I have found that to be one of the hardest questions to answer... Of course I love that I am creating our son inside of me and feel so blessed to be able to do so, I love feeling him throughout the day and each milestone we cross together but I don't LOVE feeling like I have gained 300 lbs and not having the energy like my old self. Not being able to work out like I  used to, eat everything that I want (mainly sushi- gosh i miss it), lift anything I need to, have social drinks, wake up one day without pain, bend over normally, see my toes etc. is not easy. Those of you whom have kids know exactly what im talking about. Not to mention all of the other lovely symptoms that comes along with pregnancy. My body is not mine anymore, and for good reason but its not an easy transition mentally and emotionally. In addition, it is a rollercoaster of emotions.. so much excitement, anticipation, love, anxiety, impatience, fear, frustration.. it's crazy. I try to remind myself to count my blessings and not complain becuase overall, compared to some, I know I have had a great pregnancy.. aside from the hip/back pain.

That all said, in about 83 days (hopefully no more) we will have our first son.. and I know all of it will suddenly be SO worth it. I feel like I just complained this whole post but in reality I would do anything for him and will do it all over again to have another child.. and another, and another :) It is such a special thing to be a woman and be able to have children. I don't want to take that for granted for one second. We are so excited, we can hardly stand it.

Thanks again for reading..

hugs, Tay.

Nursery Progress

Good Morning!

Over the weekend we decided to put together the crib and "make" the glider.

We figure, any day now we could get the call from the bank (on the shortsale house we are buying) and could be moving so we want to have it all set up in case we are still in our apartment when the baby is born and if we move before we don't have to build it all too! So, we moved out the "office" and built the "nursery"! After much grumbling and grunting from Papa Engle everything was built and we love it! He grumbles but he is so handy and loves projects.. just wants me to know that it's hard work I think ;-) 

I SO appreciate him and all he does, couldn't do any of this without him (literally, haha).

Here's a couple pics of his masterpieces :)

We love the sleek/modern design of the crib and that it has a drawer for extra storage. I looked high and low for a crib with a drawer that I liked, on most cribs that is just wasted space! Seems crazy to me and I LOVE my storage/organizing. However, most of the cribs with drawers have this awkward space in- between the mattress and the drawer so that you can see into the drawer, it is so wierd. So, I ordered some fabric that will coordinate with the rest of the nursery later, whipped out my hot glue gun and made a quick/no sew crib skirt then velcro'd it to the spring mattress holder (or whatever that thing is called). Turned out great and hides that awkward space, not to mention, gives it a pop of fun color :)

Next, the glider. Long story short, Gliders are rediculously expensive!! I could not for the life of me find one that I liked without paying $600+. With everything else there is to buy for the baby and the new house soon I couldn't get myself to spend that on a chair. Soooo, the search continued and I came across a couple of blogs where the couples had bought regular chairs and made them into gliders (becuase of their same frustration) by purchasing the glider hardware and putting on the chair. GENIUS!!! But then, finding the chair I wanted at a great price was another issue.. until I came across a couple who had modified this Ektorp Jennylund Ikea Chair! (click to see how they did it)

DOUBLE GENIUS. Thats all I wanted.. a simple, white, slipcovered, upholstered chair that rocked and swiveled. So, I bought the chair & the glider parts online.. took a nap and Shaun built it! We love it.. and all for under $300. YES! Done.

Turned out cute didn't it? Would you have ever guessed Ikea? That place has EVERYTHING.

We like to sit in it and pretend we are rocking Trenton :) The rocking motion nearly puts us to sleep, no wonder babies like it.

With the Crib and Glider in the spare room now it all feels so much more real. We just can't wait until there's a cute lil baby boy in there to make it real!

Welp, onto another week.. oh how I really dislike  love Mondays :)

But, that just means another week closer to our baby boy!

Have a good one. TTYL xo 

hugs, Tay.

27 Weeks

Well, I am just now getting around to this weeks' post so I'm actually 27 weeks and 5 days today.  

Ahhh, the second trimester is coming to a close this week! 

YAHOO, let's get this show on the road!

Trenton is just about 2 lbs and 14.5 inches... apparently the size of a large Rutabaga (whatever that is, haha) or a head of Califlower.

It is unbelieveable to me that anything that big could fit in me.. and is still getting bigger. Mind Blowing.

He is sleeping & waking at regular intervals and opening and closing his eyes!!

If we could see him now we would be able to see his hair color and eye color.

The brain is very active now and the lungs are immature but developing rapidly at this stage. He now gets the hiccups as he learns to "breathe" taking in fluids through his lungs. At first I didnt know what "that new feeling" was so I googled it and then I noticed the rythmic patterns and put it all together.. they are hiccups! Too cute.. such a funny feeling. Apparently it is a sign of a healthy baby going through all the proper changes/growth stages. Sure can't hear that enough!

I wanted to get a better picture when we were all dressed up for Blaine Templeton's wedding that was on Friday but let's just say the photo didn't turn out great. I looked like a big purple oompa loompa. Hopefully, I didnt really look that way.. yikkees. Was still such a fun night, so happy for our good friend Blaine and his new beautiful wife, Kacy. Thanks for including us in the celebration, Templetons! I was actually able to get a little jiggy with it :) ... was a great work out. 

We swear each day I get bigger now. He is growing at the rate of about a 1/2 pound a week.. thats a lot! The countdown is on.. I already feel like I'm going to pop so I hope this last trimester flies by! 

I'll leave you with a funny picture of my (what was a) belly button. Now it's as flat as can be.. and sometimes sticks out a little. The little hole above my belly button was where I had a belly button ring once upon a time. It just looks so funny.. doesn't it? 

Happy Sunday Funday!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the afternoon. 

hugs, Tay. 

6.5 Months (26 weeks)

Hi Ya'll, Sorry i'm slacking on blogging lately..
We are 26 weeks today! Only 98 days to go!.. we have made it under the 100 day mark.. SO CRAZY.

As you can see from the straight belly shot to the right, I have definitely grown since he has started to plump up. He is now about 14.5 inches long and 1 2/3 pounds. He is now inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid which is important for the developement of the lungs.

As far as symptoms go; ichy belly, lower back/hip pain (still), loving cupcakes, milk has started to come in (SO WIERD), feeling lots of movement, not sleeping very well.. all the usual.

The last Dr appointment (24 weeks) went really well. I am gaining weight at the appropriate rate, the heartbeat is strong, he is moving and growing consistently and all looked good & healthy. The next Dr appt is at 28 weeks and I have to do the Glucose test to test for Gestational Diabetes. I have to drink this lovely orange sugar syrup and hour before the appt then get pricked exactly an hour after to see how my body has processed the sugar in my blood. I feel icky just thinking about it but it will be over soon.
I've been collecting more things for the nursery and trying to get organized as much as possible. But, the wait for the bank to approve our offer on the house is getting frusterating. Patience has always been a challenging thing for me :).. The hope is they approve it and we are in just in time for Trenton to grace us with his presence, but we are sure cutting it close! Baby shower stuff is starting to come up too which will be fun. I've been trying to build a registry on Target.com when I see or hear of items that Mom's rave about. So much stuff! Trying not to register for all the little things though.. enough is enough :)

Not much new news.. I feel like we are in waiting mode right now; waiting for the house, waiting for the baby, waiting to put together a nursery, waiting waiting waiting. I'm not good at that.. did I mention Patience isn't my thing? ha.. But, we are getting more and more excited about how close we are to meeting our baby boy.. It gets more real everyday. We cannot wait for the holidays this year :) All in all 2012 has been a BIG year for us and we feel so blessed for everything that has/is happening in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week. Wish we could be in Idaho with my family visiting the rest of the fam and staying on beautiful Hayden Lake! So jealous.. Thinking of you all.. love you xo

Thanks for reading!

Hugs, Tay.