Half Baked Model in the Making (Gender Reveal): Week 20

We've officially reached the halfway mark of pregnancy and that in itself seems crazy.

So the big questions is, is our little mini a girl or a boy? (My mom had the day off and begged to be a fly on the wall during our ultrasound so she could look between the legs, swearing secrecy!!!)

The ultrasound tech confirmed:

...........Drum roll please...............

It's definitely one or the other!

I hope I didn't get your hopes up (even Dr. B begged a little for us to find out, since he's anxious to know as well), but despite completely disagreeing on what we THINK Cotton is (I say girl, Patrick says boy), we both totally agree on staying team Green (hence our green shirts, if you didn't catch that subtle hint)!!!!

Positioned breech, sucking on his/her hands and stepping on my bladder between cat naps, sweet Cotton was teasing the ultrasound tech and not cooperating with her plans by only looking directly into the camera the entire time (dare I say modeling already?), so we get to have a bonus peek in 3 weeks to view the heart chambers more closely. I even tried the coughing trick to coax him/her into moving around, but he/she just rotated towards my spine instead, then back at the camera again.

We found out I have an anterior placenta, which basically means there's a cushion between my tummy and the baby, so he/she has to kick really hard for me to feel it and even harder for Patrick to feel. Work, baby, work!

Even crazier than this part of our journey being halfway over, my uterus is already larger than a cantaloupe!! I'm about 100% positive a solid night's sleep is far from reality for me, forever more. All my favorite sleeping positions are now either too uncomfortable or contraindicated.....but I'm kinda okay with that if it means Cotton is healthy.

And other than requiring a bit of concealer for my dark circles and a pair of eye speculums to hold my lids open at work (no, seriously, Patrick even found me sleeping in the car in our driveway this week because I was so tired I didn't feel like walking inside and up the stairs to bed), I'm as healthy as a horse. I even managed to only gain 4 pounds in the last four weeks (hello, that's quite an accomplishment over the holidays, people!), which is exactly on target (and puts me 4 pounds heavier than the heaviest I've ever been, requiring a little mind adjustment.) Why don't they just put duct tape over those scales in the office they require you to step on and write on the tape, "You look beautiful"??

As far as what I'm craving these days, this week it seems to be color coded. One day for lunch I had half an avocado, creamed spinach, a pickle spear, and a few slices of a green apple......bringing us back to the refrigerator.

 Our fridge just got one picture fuller this week, and we are elated!!!!

A Belated Ugly Sweater to You and a Question

What do you get when you combine a bunch of crazy little kids with a bunch of crazy big kids? The Carruth, Hintz, Winkelman, Kwiatkowski, and Fontenot annual post Christmas Christmas celebration, White Elephant Exchange, and Firework Show (that scared one of the dogs to the point of running away causing half the night to be spent  trying to find it {unsuccessfully}, only for it to return hours later covered in mud and grime) .

This year we switched things up and added an Ugly Sweater Contest, but only the adults who were cool enough to participate were photographed. 

A few ugly sweater facts: 

1. My friend Jessica handcrafted my sweater, and not only did Santa's beard manage to photobomb my crotch, but also could be found in the bedroom, decorating the driveway, hanging out on the kitchen floor and probably anywhere else I went that day. He just wanted to share the love. (Don't worry, I only wore white pants in the winter in the spirit of bad outfits.) 

2. Please take a moment to appreciate the fact that my sister in law has a three dimensional cardinal on each of her shoulders; I think she would have won the contest had she not moved the gigantic fake poinsettias from their original positions (over her tata's). 

3. Laura learned that you can't just buy an ugly sweater anymore. You actually have to add more ugly stuff to make it extra hideously personalized. I think that's why she's not smiling.....

4. My father in law wore a Bill Cosby sweater with a sign that read "I don't have an ugly sweater, so I wore this ugly sign" (spelled with lots of backwards letters and such). 

5. Patrick's picture face counts towards his ugly sweater points. 

I don't think we actually announced a winner, but Patrick and I won the best gift at the White Elephant Exchange. We've used our Whirley Pop 3 times already this week while finally finishing the last of Breaking Bad!!! It was soooooo good (the homemade popcorn and the series ending)! 

What Netflix series should we watch next?

Advice, Anyone? : Week 19

Not too much to report this week. We are basically just counting down the days to our anatomy ultrasound, and I'm starting to think it's going to be extremely difficult to turn my head and look away when they check for parts between the baby's legs. 

Patrick stares (key word being "stares") at my belly A LOT and just smiles. It's really cute. And while on the belly subject, it's not so internally tight anymore. I think my ligaments finally called a truce. 

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but for the last few weeks I've been struggling with pregnancy induced dry scalp......or dandruff.....apparently they are two different things and are treated differently!! Who knew? I've never dealt with this issue in my entire life and not only is my itchy head driving me crazy, but I have no idea what I should actually be doing about it. Aveeno didn't work, so I moved on to gentle care Head and Shoulders but it makes my hair feel dry and I'm scared it's just going to ruin my color. 

'

I'm completely open to trying new methods from anyone out there who's been there and done that or knows more about hair than I do, so please share if you have any advice for me!!!

I Have a Problem

Hi, my name is Kayla and I have a problem. 

It's called C.A.D.D., crafting attention deficit disorder.

The fact that I'm feeling a lot of pressure from the 4 parties I'm helping plan (that will all be happening within the next 1-2 months), isn't making my disorder any more manageable. Each party is adding a crafting project or two on to my already pending list and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. My biggest obstacle is getting excited about starting one, then jumping on to another one when that particular project gets too challenging or scary, leaving the house and my mind's to-do list a complete mess.

I'd like to say the placental shunting is a strong contributor, but let's face it, I've done this same crap my entire life and now it's only amplified. The pregnancy brain has, however, really affected my short term memory.....like when I ruined my classic Coca-Cola pants by leaning up against blue paint that I JUST finished brushing, like a complete dummy.

(source)

Here's to hoping I finish everything by their deadlines and stay sane in the process, especially when what I REALLY want to do lately is lay in bed with my feet propped up watching Netflix while eating cheesecake!! Wish me luck!

A Tad Squooshed: Week 18

My belly feels really huge and tight right now, oh so tight, but by looking at my pictures, it doesn't really seem to look any bigger, so either I'm wearing a very slenderizing outfit or maybe things are just expanding on the inside and therefore causing me to feel squooshed. Besides the tightness and not being able to bend over quite like I used to (it makes me have to pee and feel out of breath), there's only the occasional pinch or ache of ligament stretching, otherwise, I feel amazing. 

I know two things for sure, when I'm hungry it's extremely urgent, and when I'm full I'm quickly too full and it feels awful. I'm still buying avocado's by the bag, but have added bananas paired with half a toasted english muffin topped by crunchy peanut butter and honey. I don't know which I enjoy best, so I just have both every single day. 

I'm feeling little Cotton move more and more, which is super exciting. Sometimes I think I can even feel a faint little bump or flip instead of a flurry. 

Workouts are going great. I'd rather avoid diastasis recti (splitting of the abdominal muscles) if at all possible, but want to stay strong, so now that it's getting later in the game I finally did my research on what type of abdominal work to avoid and modifications to exercises normally done while laying flat (which I received a nice compliment on by an instructor who noticed this week)!!!

I'm not sure if you'd call it "nesting", but I've been working really hard on getting some projects finished, rearranging the house, and purging of things we don't need (with the help of my love), so I scheduled a much deserved beauty day (hair, massage, and facial) with a couple of coupons that were going to expire. It felt amazing and rejuvenating........once I finally made it there........I accidentally locked myself out of the house with the wrong car keys in hand when trying to leave for my appointment and had to wait outside for Patrick to come and rescue me. The text he sent me after I called him said, "Help is on the way, dear. Help is on the way!" with a picture of Mrs. Doubtfire included.

I received the most expensive Tshirt I'll ever own in the mail yesterday, so I figured I'd show it off. It doesn't look like it would have cost $100, but at least it's soft!! (It's all about focusing on the positive things.)

The Magical Blanket

Looking back at our years together, we realized we'd never actually gone out (besides sleeping over at a friend's house) for New Years Eve and if there was ever going to be a year to do it, this would be our chance!

I'm a big advocate for not driving on such occasions (working in a trauma ICU will do that do ya), so I did my research to verify the trains would be running extra late to and from Dallas.

kpLOVE was ready to crash Big D NYE, which is Dallas' Victory Park version of the New York Times Square annual celebration. It's actually the biggest party in the central time zone and televised in multiple states. 

The weather has been off and on Spring-like lately, but every time we want to participate in an outdoor event, it's apparently a requirement for the temps to plummet so low that 3-4 layers of clothing become a vital part of survival.  

It's a good thing I had my disposable princess tiara and ostrich feather (Full disclosure: I just had to Google "ostrich" because I had no idea how to spell it. You don't even want to know how difficult it was for the search engine to figure out what I was trying to ask. You may think it's an easy word to spell, because you're already looking at it, but trust me, it's tricky. And then I laughed, not at myself, but at the hilarious pictures of ostrich faces staring straight at me as a result.) to help keep me warm, given my sweater was way too short.

Food trucks lined the event entrance and we took our pick, eventually agreeing on the familiar Korean truck I grew to love earlier this year. Strangely enough, I was dying for some ice cream, but the design your own ice cream sandwich truck was missing, which probably had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was freezing outside and I'd be the only dummy placing orders.

We walked around to check everything out and eventually decided it was time to get comfortable against a barricade right smack in the middle of all the action, which is when we discovered the special powers of our beloved picnic blanket. 

People did as people do, and started to follow our example as space allowed, except no one else had what we had, a blindingly bright red and yellow blanket that screamed, "WARNING! I'm HERE," to everyone in feasible distance. Actually, no one else had any blanket at all to shield their butts from the winter saturated concrete floor. 

We sat there, just the two of us (three if you count Cotton), surrounded by a sea of bustling feet, for the next few hours just talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company while critiquing the performances of the night's entertainment, until 20 minutes out from the stroke of midnight. 

Standing up, we found ourselves in shock and awe at just how many people had squeezed around the comfortable space cushion our magical blanket had created. 

We'd sensed things were getting tight, but even still, passerbyers would tiptoe over corners to carefully avoid stepping on our nest and apologize if they got too close, then do a double take and tell us how jealous they were of our set up. 

Sure enough, as soon as we packed up the blanket, our territory disappeared along with it. 

We were okay with that though; time was inching closer to the big finale.

I always kiss my hunny with a purpose, but kissing him to begin a new year requires extra special attention......

......like squooshing all the features on his face in an aggressive but sweet manner, so he knows I really mean it. 

It was such an enchanted kiss, fire works started launching above our heads and everyone got to reap the benefits. 

The colorful display of midsky explosions was spectacular, especially since I missed The 4th of July.

When it was time to head home, we met our only obstacle for the night. It was truly the closet I've ever been to being caught in a mob and the closet I ever hope to be. With only enough room to breathe, I would have been scared for my life had everyone been angry and violent instead of laughing and joyous. We didn't even have to walk; we were literally being pushed along in the massive assemblage of people that seemed to be neverending.

But eventually we made it out safely, to the cozy comfort of our bed, where'd we'd spend half of the next day just sleeping in and enjoying life. 

We'll Never Let Her Live it Down

I was finishing up a long stretch of work over Christmas Eve and Christmas, so tired would be just one word to describe my demeanor, but on Christmas morning, despite already being up all night, I had a short burst of adrenaline.

A Christmas Story was playing in it's usual background noise marathon fashion, and Dusty was patiently waiting on the couch when I was greeted by the tantalizing aroma of smoldering pork weaving it's way through the house and out the back door. Patrick had got up early to make an entire breakfast spread.
Warm, full, and excited, we exchanged gifts, which made it even harder to force myself to sleep all day, since I was ready to use the Nesspresso I unwrapped!! Patrick got a rice cooker for making sushi, and Dusty, parts to his beloved jet ski. That afternoon I woke up to the most wonderful news of being On-Call (which thankfully lasted all night!!!) and a classic Christmas day meal (slaved over by my truly dedicated husband). The evening would be spent watching as many Christmas movies as possible while sipping fancy espresso. 

The following weekend we pretended it was Christmas all over again at the Carruth's.

Everyone got exactly what they wanted (we cheat by drawing names and handing out wish lists).

No more toys for our oldest niece, she's moved on to bigger and better things (I made her something to hang her scarfs on, per request).

I could barely squeezed my eyes closed that night in anticipation of going to get my favorite breakfast burrito (an Elephante from Lolita's) the next morning. Truth be told, I fell asleep in about 3.7 seconds, but I was indeed really excited....................

  .................I even got to see my Vanessa (two of my favorite things about Waco all rolled into one)!!!!

Then off to Nana's house we went, where Santa has an actual chimney to crawl down and fill our stockings that had been patiently waiting for our arrival. 

Nana's are all about bribery, which means they dangle presents in front of your face to make you pose for cheesy pictures in front of the Christmas tree (When we were younger she bribed us through countless rolls of film with the promise to take us to TILT for some game playing.)

Peeking over the mountains of wrapped gifts, we started to look pretty spoiled.

One by one, we took turns opening a single present, so we could pay attention, give individual thanks, appreciate the moment (a tradition we adopted from the Carruth's house).

This of course, required a great deal of self control and effort on my father's behalf. I told him not to cry, but men will be men. 

I found my mom an almost perfect sign for her craft room in their new house a few months ago and made it 100% perfect with a little paint, "Your crazy is showing, you might want to tuck that back in FLAUNT IT!!"

Don't be fooled by Patrick's Solo party cup's appearance, it's actually made of porcelain.

Nana wasn't concerned with opening her gifts; she was more fixated on taking pictures of our every move......

.....Like when all the women wore our chicken hot pad lid grabbers as hats, but couldn't actually get together for a photo because Allison was hopping around the room in agony with a muscle cramp while we all laughed at how ridiculous she looked.
It was silly times and a day filled with probably more "That's what she said" insinuations than any one day should be accustomed to.

Speaking of silly, how about that one time when I came up with the brilliant idea to surprise Patrick with a really nice travel acoustic guitar for his birthday and Christmas, got the whole family in on it, and managed to keep it a secret against all odds until 5 minutes before he unwrapped it? I'll never forget the look on Patrick's face when he heard Nana say, "And Patrick, I gave the money for your guitar to Kayla."
"I got a guitar???" He squeaked as he flew off the couch and out to the car to retrieve the gigantic blue box.
At least I had it wrapped in a box inside another wrapped box, adding to the suspense for a extra nano second longer, and blew him away with a Little Martin instead of a Baby Taylor. But I don't think we'll ever let Nana live this one down.

And just something to think about, does anyone notice anything oddly different about my stocking? Maybe even a few things that make it stick out from the bunch?

Feeling Those First Tiny Flutters: Week 17

I thought I felt Cotton move for the very first time at exactly 16 weeks and 0 days, but brushed it off as really weird gas until talking to a couple of veterans who convinced me otherwise. Two days later, I know for sure it was definitely quickening because I was so startled by it, I dropped everything I was holding on the floor. All was quiet for the next 5 days, and then the little vibrations made a reappearance. So far he/she seems to either really like (or dislike) strawberry Starburst candy canes and second helpings of spicy queso!!

I'm obsessed with eating avocados straight out of the shell with a little sea salt and lime juice. OBSESSED, I TELL YOU.

All my tailbone discomfort had angrily turned into sciatic nerve pain, but seems to be warded off (so far) by staying active in the gym. I can tell a big difference in how my body feels after skipping a couple of workouts. If my own comfort's not motivation enough, I read a few articles (here, here, and here) on advanced brain development in newborns whose mother's consistently worked out during their 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy (no one cares about the 1st trimester because it turns even the best of us into slugs). Despite modern medical research, I'm still fighting the hard-core wive's-tale-believers and old-school-way-of-thinkers out there on how much my body and the baby can handle.

The process of gathering things for the baby has officially begun. I got a Baylor Bears T-shirt for Christmas from the In-Laws that was a few sizes too small, so we're saving it for Cotton, and my mom and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to gather some gender neutral fabric so she can have plenty of time to sew us some receiving blankets and burp cloths!!

After lots of uterine growing pangs this last weekend, my belly is really starting to present itself to the world. My mom even poked it and sounded surprised that it "felt hard".........(shaking my head).

And as a tradition, Nana always gets us a new ornament for the tree. This year's is pretty special.

When He Gets Close To Me....

.............I shiver.

The most amazing man's birthday was on Sunday (my husband's). Sure, I may be biased, but for good reason. 

He knows just how important the power of touch is. 

He also is aware of how equally weighted verbal language can be if used in the right way.

He's a man of integrity in love, in life, and in work.

He has a vulnerable heart, in the best way possible.

He'd sacrifice the very last thing in his possession if it meant making sure I had everything I needed to be happy.

He's a family man.

He doesn't just tell me I'm beautiful, he finds a way to make me feel it, inside and out.

To celebrate his coming to and staying in this world, I surprised him with a double date reservation, Carrie and Ryan were also celebrating their wedding anniversary, at Season's 52. Laughter and food is always a good combination. We only made too much of a ruckus a couple of times, as evidenced by the stares from neighboring tables who obviously weren't having as much fun as us. Even better, a sweet friend of ours is a manager there, but was off that night, and made arrangements to surprise us with a bill sans the appetizers and desserts we indulged in!

*Sorry you had to buy your own birthday card (since I didn't have any cash and my debit card had to be canceled, thanks to Target's security breech) and gave it to you two days late (my bad), and that the Cowboys lost (again), but I hope you had a birthday to remember for years to come. 

(Vickie got Patrick and Amy a cookie cake to commemorate last year's epic grammatical icing failure.)