28 Weeks

(Hope you enjoyed all my Reiko pictures last week.  She's adorable isn't she?)

(The pleats in my dress are helping my bump look bigger than it actually is.  It made me think I have a cute bump.  And yes, I still wear my slippers in practically every picture I take.  They're just so comfy!)

How far along? 28 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 19 pounds. Gained 2 pounds this past week!

Maternity clothes? I think I figured out why I dislike the idea of wearing maternity clothes (maternity pants mostly).  I don't like the idea of wearing them because they are one step away from wearing "mom jeans"...the bad kind of mom jeans.  They might be comfy with their waist bands that go up to your chest, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they are essentially a socially acceptable pair of Mom Jeans.  I realize that yes, having a child IS going to make me a mom, but that doesn't mean that I have to wear Mom Jeans.  With that said, I did wear my pregnancy jean capris this past week...they weren't so bad.  Dan assures me that when I get bigger, I won't mind wearing the clothes and they'll actually fit me better then too.  Here's to hoping he's right!  Other than that, still rocking my sweatpants, leggings, all my normal shirts (just letting them stretch over my expanding body), dresses, and yes, my husband's old t--shirts for bumming around the house. 

Stretch marks? None!

Sleep: These bathroom breaks are so annoying!  They disrupt my wonderful sleep and I feel bad when I disturb my adorable sleeping husband when I get up in the night to take them.  I try to be my most quiet/stealthy but being graceful and quiet was never a gift that was given to me by God.  I always trip over something...even if there's nothing to trip over.  The doors creak.  And my squirming/jostling to get out of bed is enough to wake my snoozing hubby.  Sorry dear!  I think he's getting used to it though because he's waking up a lot less than he was during my pee breaks.  Our favorite thing to do before bed though, is to watch and feel little Baby Koch move in my tummy!  It's absolutely crazy!  He's the most active when I lie in the bed and watching him wiggle and kick is not only amazing and special but it's also super cool. With both of our hands on my tummy while we lie down and feel him move, we talk to our little man and tell him our dreams for him and how excited we are for him.  It's our way of saying good night to him and we'll see him in the morning (when he kicks me to wake up).

No weird BM dreams this week.  I was boating in a yacht around Cuba (normal right?), eating food, keeping intruders from coming into our home, was a ninja, etc.   I have interesting dreams.  They keep me entertained.

Best moment this week: Going to our first baby class!  We have lots of classes lined up and our first one was a Newborn Care class and I was so happy to go to it with Dan.  We got to meet other pregnant couples and learn how to care for our little nugget once he's born.  We even got to practice diapering and swaddling on a fake baby.  It was Dan's first time ever practicing diapering (how a person goes through 27 years of life without ever diapering a child is beyond me) so I am very happy to report that his diapering skills passed with flying colors.  Yeah Daniel!  He was also a very good swaddler.  We learned ways how to soothe our baby, clean, feed, etc.  Much of this stuff we already knew from experience (finally something I knew more about than Daniel!) but it was very nice to be exposed to lots of good material for how to take care of our little man.  The more we know and the more we prepare ourselves, the better we'll feel about our chances of helping our kid survive with us as parents.  Getting our first class under our belts made pregnant Jackie feel sooooo much better.

Miss Anything? Since school has officially started for my kiddos (that I watch) and for U of I (we live right outside of campus), I have to admit that I was missing school a bit.  I'm in the middle of getting my Master's in Secondary Education but I'm taking a year off (or longer...who knows at this point?) for something more exciting, having our little man!  But since the area is now infested with cute little freshies and U of I's Greek life is being celebrated in full force, I can't help but miss college.  The quad, the community, coffee and lunch dates with college friends, and the scheduling of classes (not the classes themselves, just the routine of going to them.  I'm weird I know).  For all my fellow college alums out there, you would be lying if you said that you didn't miss college.  I can't wait for football games and tailgating.  I'll be missing some of "more fun" aspects of tailgating but Dan and I have made sure to schedule a few football games in our next few weeks before the baby comes.  I'm excited to raise our little man up to be a hardcore Illini fan!

Yepp!  Our tickets to our make-shift Dad's Day football game because the real Dad's Day football game happens to be scheduled right around my due date.  How inconsiderate are they? 

I'm also missing hamballs.  So Julie Jones (my mommy and soon-to-be grandmommy), if you're reading this (I know you are), send your favorite daughter (that's me.  take that sisters!) some of your delicious hamballs.  Please and thank you!  When I make them, I make enough for approximately 1 million people and my fridge just doesn't have the capacity to hold that so I'll need you to make me some.  Okay?  Thanks mom!

Movement: As mentioned earlier, Baby Koch loves to move at night.  He's still pretty active during the day but the night is when he turns on his rocket boosters and flips away.  He's slowly creeping up my stomach so he can make more room for himself.  I've been quite impressed (surprised mostly) at how far he moves around (width-wise) my stomach.  He's definitely making some moves on my outer ribs.  I swear this kid thinks he has free reign to my entire body.  Just absolutely crazy!  Growing a child inside of me continues to amaze me everyday.  Just wow!  Also, he did kick my bladder at church this past week.  Mommy was not happy about that one.  I thought we had this talk young man.  No more kicking Mommy's bladder, especially when Mommy is trying to get her worship on.

Food cravings: MILK!  Dan has been making fun of me (he's actually really impressed) about how much milk I drink on a daily basis.  My only response, "It's just so darn good!"  Momma loves her Prairie Farms 2% Milk.  Nothing is better.  Milk goes with anything and everything.  I chug that stuff like it's my job.  So good!  I also managed to get myself back on Pinterest (dangerous!) and found some more amazing recipes I just had to try (mainly because I was literally drooling while I looked at them).  Since I was in a major chocolate fix this past week (wait, how is that different than any other week? Whatever...), this recipe was moved to the top of my "YOU NEED TO TRY THIS" list. Let me just say the words and you'll understand why.  Brownie....Batter...Dip
Not only could I eat this amazing dip (because it didn't have eggs) but I inhaled it like nobody's business!  It didn't last long....at all.  And it did not disappoint.  In case you're wanting the recipe, here it is: Brownie Batter Dip
I made many other delicious things including an amazingly spicy Jambalaya but I don't think your spice buds could handle the heat of my recipe.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Had a horrible side cramp this past week which infected my whole body and made me super queasy.  No idea why.  But after a loving massage by my husband, some stretching, and a long bath, the queasiness went away, but the cramp didn't.  Woof!  Here's to hoping I don't get any more of those side cramps.  That was miserable. 

Have you started to show yet:  Yepp!  Finally starting to move into the "She's not actually fat!  I think she's pregnant" phase. (jeez it's only been about 7 months!)  Just wanting the big bump...stat!

Gender: Growing baby boy!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Rib pain, heartburn (ugh!  the ugly beast is back!), lower back pain, and the unglamorous "gas" symptom.  The rib pain/cramp was the worst symptom this past week.  No matter what I did, it would not go away.  At times it was rather debilitating and caused me actual pain...not just annoyance.  But I was able to power through it after it subsided from its 2-day stint in my body. UGH!  My husband also wasn't too fond of my "gas" symptom but my response was, "Hey...it happens."  Sorry dear!  He's seen me at my best and my worst so a little gas actually doesn't phase him.  Although I've very comfortable around my husband, there's just a few things I don't want him to see and a gassy Jackie is one of those.  He'll be getting a back rub for dealing with unglamorous Jackie this week for sure.

Belly Button in or out? I don't think it'll ever pop out but I'm willing to be surprised.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Besides going to our first baby class this past week, Dan and I received our first piece of baby room furniture!  This might not excite you but it excites me!  It was a wonderful bookshelf from his parents that match the rest of the set for our little man.  When the FedEx man rang the doorbell with this huge package, I about died.  I tried my best to not open it until Daniel got home but I did do a little picking at the package to find out that it was indeed a bookshelf!  Since I'm not as mechanically inclined as my handy husband, I let him put the bookshelf together.  I was his trusty assistant who handed him screws, took pictures, and put the knobs on the drawer for the shelf.  Basically that was a long story to say that I've been one happy pregnant lady this past week.  Everything is coming together so nicely and we're slowly making headway to prepare for little baby Koch.  No freak-outs this week.  Dan and I even had a bbq with some great friends to show them our new place.  Now on to the next week!

Look how handy he is!

Ta-da!  Bookshelf!  Thank you Mary and Kenny!

Dan humoring me as I tell him to stand by his handiwork.  (Note the half-hearted smile/scowl)

Looking forward to: Our first baby shower!  Dan and I are headed to Iowa this next weekend to visit my extended family.  We feel extremely honored that they're having a baby shower for us this weekend as well.  Dan and I (and little Baby Koch) are extremely blessed to have family and friends who love us so much and want to help us celebrate our new addition to our family.  Little Baby Koch is so loved and he's very excited (I'm his mom, I know these things) to be shown off (via baby bump) to all the Smiths and Hammerlys this coming weekend.

Anything Else: I totally scored some amazing finds at garage sales this past week and I have to share.  I stumbled upon the motherload of tools garage sales and quickly captured a few of these gems for my hubby's workshop. (A couple of my favorite items got sniped by some lady investigating the sale as well.  Grrrr!)  Since I gave them to him, he's been in his workshop making me all kinds of cool stuff (like a new set of bag boards to get ready for tailgating and football season!) and he's set to make even more cool stuff for our little man.  I felt like the coolest wife ever to surprise him with all sorts of fantastic tools.  I honestly couldn't believe the quality of the tools (and the price!) I found and the amount of tools I found at this sale.  Gosh!  Nothing is better than scoring big at a garage sale!

27 Weeks!

How far along? 27 Weeks - Baby is as big as a Rutabaga (What is a rutabaga?  I feel like it's some veggie that my grandma used to mention that she ate way back in the day...and it was never heard from again. I guess it means the baby is almost 15 inches long.   Yay for a big growing boy!)

Total weight gain/loss: 17 pounds. Still eating well though. 

Maternity clothes? UGH!  When I was home this past weekend, my older sister made it clear to me that it was time for me to get maternity clothes because she refused to zip up a dress for me because my knockers were too big to fit in it.  Talk about a blow to my self esteem.  (all in love though)  So on Sunday, my wonderful husband took me to the store (I wasn't happy about it but I was beyond grateful that he did) to get my first official maternity clothes.  I got two shirts and one pair of jean capris.  Gosh if they weren't so comfy I'd be complaining more.  I just really hate the idea of wearing "maternity" clothes mainly because of the God-awful stretchy belt that accompanies all maternity pants.  It's not cute.  It's definitely not sexy.  I feel like I might as well don a mu-mu instead. The clothes we got aren't hideous but I'm still having a hard time realizing that yes, I should probably start wearing them instead of trying to squeeze my sausage body into my normal clothes.  I did wear the pants this past week and I didn't die.  (They were pretty comfy. ugh!)  I think I'll do better with this whole maternity clothes dilemma once I get a big belly.  Then I'll feel like I deserve to proudly wear the clothes.  Still waiting on the big belly.  I'm starting to enjoy the whole wearing-my-pants-unbuttoned-with-a-pregnancy-wrap-over-them thing.  I am still wearing my sweatpants and many of my husband's old t-shirts (but that's not new).

Stretch marks? Still none...knock on wood

Sleep: Loving sleep!  Not loving the million bathrooms breaks I take.  And I will share an embarrassing moment I had the other night.  I have vivid dreams.  Very vivid.  So vivid that many times I can't tell the difference between my dreams and when I wake up.  Well the other night, I was dreaming that I was having a BM.  Terrified that this might actually be happening in real life, I woke myself up, silently searched my side of the bed (to make sure it really didn't happen), and then took a real bathroom break.  I did NOT want to be that wife and have that awkward conversation with my husband at 2am about why we needed to change sheets.  Thank God it was just a dream.  Terrifying, embarrassing, but still just a dream.  My pregnant lady friends in aqua aerobics told me that dreams like this are actually quite normal.  I'm going to choose to believe that they're telling me the truth and that I'm not crazy.  But other than the weird dream I had, I'm sleeping pretty well.

Best moment this week: Seeing Reiko.  It's been 10 years since I last saw my Japanese sister and I about died when I saw her this past weekend.  She looked exactly the same, sounded the same, and everything about her was the same.  We literally picked up right where we left off.  She is the cutest thing anyone has ever seen.  I still can't believe she chose to come back to visit my crazy family after the year of crazy we put her though.  She's one strong Japanese woman to go through that Jones experience.  She spent 10 days visiting my family and on the last weekend she was here, my dad, my sister and her boyfriend, and Reiko all did a Warrior Dash.  It's a 5K through a muddy obstacle course.  Reiko was convinced she was going to die but she made it through it and became a warrior.  (She probably never wants to come back and visit us again)  Then after that we had an end-of-summer/Going away party for Reiko with many family friends who knew Reiko 10 years ago.  Then on Sunday, we had to take her to the airport and say good-bye again.  She told my parents, "Thank you for choosing me 10 years ago" and how much we meant to her.  You can't not shed a tear when you hear things like that.  I love my Japanese sister Reiko and loved catching up with her.  She loved touching my belly and told me everyday how excited she is to be an aunt to little baby Koch.  My kid is going to be the luckiest kid in the world to have Reiko as his aunt.  I really hope I don't have to wait 10 more years until I get to see her again.  (I hope we didn't scare her off too bad) 

(Now time for a montage of Reiko pictures)

 My sister Jill and my sister Reiko after finishing the Warrior Dash.

I was trying to stay clean.

 My warrior family

 Reiko was pretty excited to have finished the race

 The fam (minus Jenny) saying goodbye to Reiko

 Cute Aunt Reiko feeling Baby Koch kick. I wish she was back already.

(Sorry I caught you on a blink Reiko)

 Baby Koch is a growing!

Mom and Dad with their favorite Japanese daughter.

Miss Anything? Beer...plain and simple.  My family is notorious for spending our evenings on our back porch, drinking beer (or scotch, or wine, or anything else), eating cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, and other hors d'oeuvres till the wee hours of the evening.  I was still able to sit outside, eat my food, and shoot the bull with the fam but I was missing my beer.  And yes, I still wish I could have a Woodchuck right now but that won't happen for a few more months.

Movement: Little Nugget Koch is getting so much stronger!  It's kinda amazing!  He's just loves kicking and flipping.  Dan and I are so amused by how much he moves my belly around.  Dan said he's kicking to much because he's trying to make more room for my bigger belly to come.  I just wish he would stop using my bladder as a trampoline.  It doesn't matter if I just went to the bathroom, if Little Baby K decides to jump on my bladder, I have to make a quick escape for the bathroom.  I do notice that he is extremely active in the morning, right when I wake up.  I think it's his way of saying, "Time to get up and feed me!  If you don't then I will do flips and kicks until you feel like your bladder is going to explode."  Some sense of humor that kid has.  I do love knowing that he's continually getting bigger.  It only makes me more excited to meet him in just a few short weeks!  Momma and Daddy love you so much little guy!  Please leave my bladder alone for the time being though.  Thank you!

Food cravings: Pasta and ice cream!  I don't feel like I need to explain myself.  I never thought I'd be that girl who would secretly take a spoon to the freezer, dig it into ice cream, guiltily look around to make sure no one is watching/judging, then repeat until I got my fill....but I am.  I found myself doing that a few times this past week and just when I thought I could get away with it, I decided to come clean and admit it.  Hi my name is Jackie, and I'm an ice cream'aholic.  This is where you all say, "Hi Jackie" and accept me for who I am.  It's not a problem though.  I can stop whenever I feel like it...I just don't want to stop right now. 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Hot dogs seem to gross me out.  I made sure that my kiddos weren't eating those this past week because I did not want to prepare them.  I did get grossed out when I was making sandwiches for my kids this past week and one told me they wanted bologna on their's....ewww!  I made them their sandwich but Thank God I chose to eat a PB&J instead.  Holding that bologna in my hand was not a pleasant experience.  It made me think, "I know weird stuff goes into this piece of "meat" but I should probably not look at the back of the package to find out what it is".  Yuck!

Have you started to show yet:  Dan said my bump is starting to look more rounded like I want! Yeah!  It's still not as big as I would like it to be but it's getting there!

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: None.  I hope I don't get those braxton hicks contractions.  The idea of having contractions before little Koch is really ready to come out just scared me.

Symptoms: Rib pain, lower back pain (especially in the morning), leg cramps, the occasional bout of crazy hormones, etc. No heartburn this week (I probably should have with the amount of tomatoes I ingested via pizza, pasta, and salsa).  O yeah...and clumsiness.  I'm dropping stuff like it's my job.  Frustrating because then I have to bend over and pick these things up.  Not fun either!

Belly Button in or out? Dan said he thinks he saw the end of it which means my belly is finally getting big enough that it is stretching and forcing my belly button out!  I hope I don't get an outie but I do want that big belly!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I think I might have been overly happy this week.  We registered for baby classes and that makes me ecstatic!  I no longer (at least until the end of writing this post) feel overwhelmed like I did last week but I feel like things are coming together nicely.  My kiddos started school this past week which makes me sad I won't get to see them everyday like I did but it will give me time to finish my school work (from last semester. eek!) and really concentrate on getting baby Koch's room together.  Dan and I sorted through some of the baby clothes we already got which made me about pee myself with joy because I just kept picturing a little Daniel (that's not baby Koch's name but it's easier to picture a baby Daniel than a baby Jackie in baby boy clothes) wearing these cute clothes!  There were only two things that made me sad this past week and one was realizing that baby Koch isn't (most likely) going to be here before Halloween so I won't be able to dress him up in an awesome Halloween costume this year.  Sad!  Yes, I'm going to be that ridiculous mom who dresses her child up in awesomely ridiculous Halloween costumes while they are young enough to not have a say in what they wear. (bahahaha!)  I also mentioned that I got sad when I had to say good-bye to Reiko because it means it'll be a long time (I pray that it's not) until we see her again.  Other than those two things, I'm a pretty happy pregnant person this past week.  YEAH!

Looking forward to: Going to our first baby class at the beginning of week 28!  It's about how to make sure you keep your newborn alive...or something to that extent.  I'm very excited to start classes to prepare us to be parents.  (although I feel as though God has been training me to be a parent the last 10+ years of my life through watching all the kids I have over the years but this is different.  This is my child I have to prepare to be a parent to.  I don't get to hand him over to his parents at the end of the day because well....I am his parent.  So I want to make sure that I'm (We're) preparing ourselves in whatever ways possible to be the best parents to our little man as possible.)  I'm so excited to love on my little man more than he knows.  I'm fully confident that God will prepare Dan and I to be the exact kind of parents he wants us to be.  Thank you in advance God for blessing Dan and me with this amazing bundle of joy.  Can't wait to have a whole gang of Kochs to add to our little family!  

26 Weeks

I'm a really bad pregnant lady...I've been having major body issues (it's the hormones, I swear!) so no picture of me this week.

How far along? 26 Weeks - Baby is as big as a head of lettuce!

Total weight gain/loss: 17 pounds. Still haven't gained a pound for a few weeks but I'm okay with that.  I know that I'm eating well and so is the nugget so me gaining weight isn't that big of a deal. 

Maternity clothes? I proudly wore my maternity swimsuit to aqua aerobics class again.  The ladies call themselves "floaters" because the idea of being in an aqua aerobics class makes them feel old.  It looks like I'll be losing 3 of my ladies in my class.  You get kicked out of class (metaphorically of course) when you give birth because the class is for expecting mommas only.  3 of them are due any day now so I had to say goodbye to them this past week.  Other than the swimsuit, I'm wearing my normal clothes, just the flowy stuff, sweatpants, leggings, dresses, tanktops...not much different than my normal summer clothes anyways.  I'm beginning entertain the idea of getting actual maternity clothes though....beginning to....not quite there yet. 

Stretch marks? Proudly no!

Sleep: Sleeping very well.  Back to taking multiple bathroom breaks in the night. Ugh! Little sore in the mornings.  Still dragging in the morning.  I was never a morning person so in that sense, nothing has changed.  My crazy dreams have subsided for the week but I did love my one dream I had that I woke up and thought it was real.  It dreamt it was Christmas and all the wonderfulness that comes along with Christmas was here...including snow!  I was rather upset when I woke up and promptly asked Daniel, "Is it really Christmas?!?!" and he replied with a laugh, "Umm No!  First it needs to be Fall".  Drat!  It's not that I disslike Fall, in fact I love Fall, I just really love Christmas.  There's only like 130 days until Christmas...not that this girl is counting or anything.

Best moment this week: Having a weekend to relax with my hubby.  He's so awesome.  He dealt with me as I persisted that we needed to add "homey" touches to our place by hanging up pictures, putting up shelves, making me things in his workshop, etc.  We even made homemade salsa, stewed tomatoes, lasagna, and more.  Our house now feels more like a home.  We have practically everything out of baby's room so now we can start filling it with stuff for baby K.  I just loved being able to relax with him and watch the Olympics closing ceremony.  Kinda sad that it's over but it is now Shark Week so I've been able to transition my television watching with ease. 

Miss Anything? Yes, yes I do.  When Dan and I made meals on our chips and salsa, I was sad to not have a real margarita to go with it.  I made myself a non-alcoholic strawberry margarita that wasn't too bad but it was still missing that something special in it...and that my friends was tequila.  Nothing says "summer" like fresh chips and salsa and a big ol' margarita.  So sad.  But like I said, my kiddie marg wasn't too bad, it just would have been better with an adult kick in it.  Since I'm still dying in the morning, I could use coffee.  I also made these amazing cookie-brownies (which I promptly loaded up with chocolate and caramel sauce along with heaps of Prairie Farms ice cream) but it was so painful to not eat the batter.  Brownie batter is by far one of the most amazing inventions of all time.  I like it more than brownies themselves.  I had to use all my will power not to dig my hand in the batter.  I believe I even said a few prayers and thanks to divine intervention, I actually made it through this adventure.  Every last bit of batter made it into the pan and was baked.  Not that there's anything wrong with this, but usually only about 1/2-3/4 of the batter actually makes it into the pan.  I'm adding brownie batter to list of things I intend to immediately shove my face full of upon giving birth to my son.  On this list includes: a margarita (don't worry I'll make it a small one so I can still breastfeed my kid), a beer, hard cider, and a Jimmy John's ham and cheese sandwich.  This list is still ongoing. (Gosh did I just mention hard cider?!?  With summer ending and talks of Fall exploding on facebook, I'm really craving a Woodchuck.   O man does that sound good right about now!  Nice, smooth, crisp, hard cider. YUM!)

Movement: Little Baby K loves flipping!  Dan and I love watching my stomach move (it's kinda weird but super cool!) as he kicks and flips.  We can't distinguish body parts yet but it's honestly the coolest thing ever to watch my stomach move as the little guy swims around.  We're pretty entertained by this miracle.  Dan said it just makes everything so real and I couldn't agree more.  Baby K is a pretty active nugget but he's most active around the noon hour ("Mom, I'm hungry...FEED ME!) and right when I first lay down to go to sleep (probably preparing us for the lack of sleep to come when he gets here..."haha you will never sleep again!").  He's still bothering my ribs at times but not too bad.  There was one day this past week that was really painful on my ribs and I tried to stretch the pain out to no avail.

Food cravings: Mexican food!  Chipotle, chips and salsa, tacos, margaritas (N/A of course), rice and beans, and enchilidas.  I loved all the flavors and all the spiceyness of the food!  Mmm mmm mmmmm!  I also indulged in ice cream, brownies, cookies, and anything chocolate.  Yum!  (I did eat well balanced meals too...don't worry nutrition police)  And yes, I'm still craving (and guzzling) milk.  But that's not unusual for me.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Meat is starting to weird me out.  It hasn't made me queasy or anything but the idea of it seems unappetizing sometimes.  I mean if I had to choose a meal to eat right now, it would probably be pasta without meat.  I'm still getting my meat and protein though, so don't worry.

Have you started to show yet:  My burrito  bump is going strong.  I'm hoping it'll move from burrito to watermelon fairly soon.  Not that there's anything wrong with a burrito (burritos are delcious) but I would like my bump to become a watermelon anytime soon.

Gender: Sweet baby boy!  We should probably start thinking of names for him so I can stop referring to him as nugget.  We're going to keep his name a secret from everyone (including our families) until he's here. hehehe

Labor Signs: No, thank you!  Keep growing inside me, little man, until you're absolutely ready to come out.  Although we can't wait to meet you, stay inside until you're ready.  Please and thank you.

Symptoms: I think my aqua aerobics class is helping with my movement.   I may also just like getting in the water and floating (ooo giant bathtub!). No heartburn this week. Yeah!  Lower back is still sore.  Ribs have been seeing some action.  I've heard that pregnant women tend to be forgetful about some things and I'm going to choose to believe that is true.  Therefore I'll blame my forgetfullness on the pregnancy.  I've been struggling for words when I talk.  I'm constantly forgetting words, things I need to do, if I did something already, names of people, etc.  I've always been a...how do I say this?...not gracefully or physically coordinated person (clumsy...klutz) but I've noticed my reaction times are getting even slower than they already were. Ugh!  I'm constantly dropping things but that's nothing too new.  I also heard the increased clumsyness is a symptoms of pregnancy so I'm going to blame my clumsyness on that while I can.

Belly Button in or out? Still wondering if my belly button actually has an end.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I'm pretty happy for the most part.  Having a relaxing weekend with the hubby definitely helped.  I will admit that I did have my biggest freak-out so far this past week.  The idea of school starting back up for everyone, but me because I'm taking a year off (which I'm actually happy about contrary to my hormones), summer ending, o we have a child coming in 3 months and our nursery isn't close to being complete, etc. kinda got to me.  I know we have plenty of time left to prepare but my hormones (probably in combination with the chocolate) said to me, "Jackie, you must freak out because you are not ready."  And so I did.  Sorry Daniel.  I owe him a back massage.  He's probably ready for my hormones to get back to normal.  But other than the rage-o-momma moment I had one evening, I've actually been pretty upbeat.  Making homemade salsa was definitely a highlight too.  Everything came from our garden (minus the limes).  Chips and salsa are definitely one of those snacks that you can turn into meals...and so we did.  I'm sad to see that since it's the end of summer that means our garden is dying and I won't have my fresh supply of basil, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  Now I'm going to have to start paying for produce at the store. UGH!  Who does that?  Don't worry, we froze a bunch but I'm still upset that our garden is at its end stages.

Looking forward to: Going home this weekend and spending time with my family.  I'm also excited about seeing Reiko who I haven't seen in 10 years!  I'll post pictures of us next blog so you can see how adorable she is.  I'm also looking forward to Christmas...but that's in a few months so I have plenty of time to get excited about it. lol

O btw, today marks the beginning of my 3rd trimester!  Wohoo!  Only 3 more months (91 days) until we get to see baby Koch!  Gosh!  Where did these past 6 months go?  This is all getting to be so real!  I already consider myself to be a mom and Dan to be a dad but in 91 days, we're really going to get a mega dose of parenthood.  I'm so ready...but completely not ready...to be a mommy with Daniel.  Guess this means I should probably catch up on my sleep in the next 3 months before I won't be getting any.

25 Weeks

(photo courtesy of Aidan and Ella...the handwriting is practically a dead ringer for mine though)

How far along? 25 Weeks - Baby is as big as cauliflower!  He's over a foot long and approaching the 2 pound mark.  It just blows my mind that he took ~22 weeks to gain 1 pound and within 3 weeks he's gained a whole other pound!  This kid is going to be putting on some serious weight and fast in the next couple weeks!  Babies amaze me!

Total weight gain/loss: 17 pounds.  Didn't gain a pound last week but I didn't lose any either.  We had our doctor appointment last Thursday and baby Koch is hitting all the growth points he's supposed to.  When we first got the chance to listen to his heart beat, the doctors had to search for 15 minutes for it and it was quite faint.  At this past appointment, they barely put the heart rate device thingy up to my stomach and you could hear a loud "BOOM BOOM BOOM".  The doctor said, "That's one strong heart beat!"  Of course my kid has a strong heart beat...he's actually getting to eat food now!  His heart rate was perfect at 144bpm.  What a stud he already is.  Anyways, that was my tangent on how my son is developing just fine so I shouldn't be concerned that I didn't gain a pound this past week.

Maternity clothes? I did wear that dress I bought at the maternity store this past weekend to show off my little burrito bump.  People were so happy to see that I was finally able to show off the bump.  I started my maternity aqua aerobics class this past week and decided I would wear my maternity swim suit to the class.  I had major bump envy when I walked into class.  Granted two of these ladies were about to pop (aka due anytime within the next 2 weeks) but their bumps were adorable and I couldn't help but be envious.  Wearing a lot of my leggings, sweatpants, and dresses because they're more forgiving.

Stretch marks? No stretch marks.  Still lotioning up.  I logically know that none of these goofy lotions will actually prevent stretch marks but that doesn't stop me from thinking that if I do put all these lotions on that maybe they might work.  Yeah...I'm a bit crazy.

Sleep: I slept like a bear all weekend, mainly because we were up really late with all the fun wedding stuff.  I danced my little heart out and wore myself down.  So needless to say, I slept pretty well.  I'm down to just 2 pee breaks a night but during the day is a different story.  And yes, I'm still having really weird dreams.

Best moment this week: I would have to say the wedding.  I felt sooo good at the wedding and the days leading up to it.  I actually got to eat all of my dinner and a piece of cake.  (I got to the cake table late and all the red velvet pieces were gone so I had a hissy fit/heart attack and 'my night was ruined'.  I went back to my table and sulked for a good 5 minutes before my amazing husband came galovanting to my table with a magnificent piece of red velvet cake!  He went on a quest all over the room amidst 500 people to find me the last piece of this holy red velvet cake.  Once captured, he made a bee-line for me and presented me with the trophy.  My mood suddenly changed and I made sure to give my handsome knight a kiss of gratitude)  After cake, I went back to the dance floor only to be dragged on the stage by the bride because apparently I embarrassed her at her bachelorette party (who me??  would I do that?  umm  YEP!) so I had to do the honors of playing the tamborine for the band while she got the way cooler cow bell.  Needless to say, we rocked the snot out of the cow bell and tamborine.  As the night dragged on and my shoes kept getting stuck to the dance floor, I could tell that little baby Koch was telling me, "Mom, I'm rather tired.  It's time for both of us to go to bed."  Fine son.  So around 1am, I gathered up my handsome husband (who served as the Best Man) and a few other stragglers and we headed back to our hotel where we slept like bears.  My only wish was that I could have partaken in some celebratory wedding wine/beer/cocktails but it wasn't a big deal.  I had a fantastic time without it.  Soon, Jackie, soon.

(This is at Dan's brother's wedding.  Isn't he the most handsome groomsman you've ever seen?  Well this is the only photo we apparently took together all evening.  I must have been glued to the dance floor more than I thought.  Sorry for the poor quality of the pics, but you're probably used to that now. Maybe next week I'll get an updated picture of the bump.)

Miss Anything? Beer, wine, cocktails, and especially coffee.  I could use a little go-go juice in the morning because I'm dragging.  Guess that means I need more sleep so I won't need Go-Go juice.  I did find myself salivating when the prego ladies at my aqua aerobics class talked about wine (I like this group of ladies.  They talk about babies, food, and especially beer and wine.  We are going to be close friends!).  One lady said she had a few sips of wine for dinner the night before and I asked her intensely, "How did it taste?  Tell me everything!".  She said it was a delicious Pinot Noir and went into detail about the flavor profile.  She assured me she only had a few sips and that was it.  (So don't go thinking she is a booze hound)  As much as I would love a full glass of vino, I don't think I can bring myself to do that while baby Koch is inside me.  He's too precious to indulge in just a sip.  I'll get my wine soon enough.

Movement: The little nugget has started kicking my ribs!  He does it ever so gently though...for now.  I noticed that my ribs were aching the other day as I had to take deeper breaths because it was getting more difficult to take normal shallow breaths then I realized he was kicking me.  Not very nice, son.  I'm okay with the flutters and flips but please leave mommy's ribs alone.  I need those too!

Food cravings: Chocolate cookies, chocolate brownies, chocolate cake, chocolate shakes, chocolate cheesecake....or just regular bars of chocolate.  The chocolate bug bit me hard this week.  I gave in to some (a lot) of its temptations.  I already told you the story about Dan saving the day by finding the last piece of red velvet cake at the wedding.  Thank you again dear!  And as usual, I'm guzzling my milk like a champ.  Dan was traveling this week for work so it was pretty clear how much milk I, alone, go through in a week.  And the answer: over 2 1/2 gallons. (and that was technically only for 5 days)  It's just so good.  Thank you yet again God for creating milk for us.  It's just so yummy and delicious.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Not this week!  Just yummy and delicious smells!

Have you started to show yet: I call it my little burrito bump because it looks like I ate a few too many burritos.  The bump is growing though!  I still have a huge case of bump envy though. This was especially evident to me when I was staring at all the pregnant ladies' bumps in my aqua aerobics class. Like I said, I know that a few of them are ready to pop but it doesn't stop me from thinking their bumps are so adorable.  I do have to admit though, that I had my "moments" this past week where I was hysterical complaining one second that my bump isn't big enough then 5 second later that I'm getting too big.  This little momma is having body issues.  I blame the hormones because clearly I'm the most rational person on the planet but at the moment, all my level-headed'ness has gone to the birds. It's definitely the hormones.

Gender: Baby Koch is a boy!  All the Koch's were pretty stoked about adding another boy to the family.  

Labor Signs: Nope

Symptoms: My lower back is still getting sore.  My ribs have started to see some action.  I had a couple moments where it was difficult to breath because of the rib action.  I had the heartburn thing again....weird.   Also, turning and twisting it difficult especially when I'm trying to get out of bed in the morning.  Guess that means I should just stay in bed. 

Belly Button in or out? Still very cavernous

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I was ecstatic this past weekend....borderline hysterical....when Dan's brother got married to the gorgeous Meggie.  I cried during the ceremony (who doesn't happy cry at weddings?).  I had a little ridiculous freakout that was the cake incident.  I already acknowledged my hormones are causing me to have body issues.  I might have shed a tear or two during the Olympics this past week.  So basically, I'm a hot mess.  I'm not in control of my body and hormones right now so just go with it.  In fact, the best thing to do when dealing with me is probably just to feed me...preferably chocolate or ice cream.  Other than the ridiculous moments I had, I was a pretty happy camper.  I'm a much happier person when I get a full 8 hours+ of sleep and I got pretty good sleep this past week so overall I was pretty happy.  Now what would make me even more happy is finally getting started on this whole baby room thing.  

Looking forward to:  Sleeping in on Saturday.  Haven't slept in on a Saturday in a while.  Looking forward to putting up some final shelves in our new places and finishing unpacking (crossing my fingers that we can actually get it all done this weekend!)  Also looking forward to going home next weekend and getting to see my Japanese sister, Reiko. Reiko was our Japanese foreign exchange student 10 years ago and we've still kept in close contact with her.  This is her first trip back to the states and I'm beyond thrilled to get to see her!  I knew we would be lifelong friends at the time because she loved ice cream as much as I do, she loved to cook with me, she laughed at my dumb jokes and always kept me laughing, and she was always down for ordering pizza.  Everyone knows that if you can find people who love food as much as you do, you will become lifelong friends (1st grade rules...share food,  make friends).  I'll have to post pictures of adorable Reiko and me next blog.

Anything Else: Hmmm....after much pressure from my sisters (who are making shower invitations), Dan and I have decided on a theme/direction to go in for little baby Koch's room! We didn't want something too baby'y. We're practical people who like simple, cute, and understated. It was harder for me because I know that any bedding or fabrics we choose for the baby's room, that these items won't be clean and cute for long. Babies are dirty creatures and I know that if we had gotten some cutesy animal themed bedding that the animal's head would be stained from baby juices (puke, poop, pee, etc.) in about a week. So therefore I wanted a cute patterned fabric that can stand up to baby juices rather than whimsical baby animals. But below are some rooms we agreed would serve as inspiration to the direction we want to go in. Simple.

The following 3 images are via Roomzaar.  I like the colors and the simplicity of the room.  This room was done for twin girls.  Dan and I are having one boy.  This room is to serve as inspiration.

These next two images are more along the lines of almost exactly the direction we want to go.  We love the dark brown furniture and the cute, yet understated patterns.  I also liked how they maintained the same color yet mixed up the patterns.  I like the combination of different patterns, textures, and fabrics.  Simple. Baby. Practical.  These images are also via  Roomzaar

Gosh I can't wait for our little nugget to come!  As soon as we start getting our act together for the baby's room, I'll post some pics.

24 Weeks

How far along? 24 Weeks (no picture this week..sorry!) Baby is as big as a Cantaloupe! Jeez that's beginning to be huge!

Total weight gain/loss: 17 pounds.  Making good progress.  It's steady progress and that's what my doctor likes to see.  Much better than losing 20 pounds like I did at the beginning.

Maternity clothes? Still haven't worn my maternity swim suit but I'm thinking I might wear it soon.  I did buy a dress (at the maternity store. ugh!) to possibly wear to my brother-in-law's wedding this weekend so we'll see if I actually put it on or not.

Stretch marks? No.  But I'm beginning to find shaving my legs (and lotioning up them afterwards) super annoying with my belly (not that it's big or anything, just that it is inconvenient).  Okay, so I've always found shaving to be annoying.  This growing belly is just making things more inconvenient for me.  Gosh I can't wait until it's winter when I can wear pants all the time.

Sleep: My dreams are still trippy but I'm sleeping well.  What's really killing my sleep is the Olympics.  I DVR them during the day so I can fast forward through the commercials and boring parts when I get home and then I still try to stay up to watch the rest of them...yeah...it doesn't quite work as well as I would hope.  I'm still way behind on my DVR'age and they are getting in the way of my sleep but I just can't turn them off.  They're so addicting.  Dan tries to spoil some of the events for me but I try my best to tune him out.

Best moment this week: Finishing the tail end of our unpacking process.  The baby's room is starting to actually look like we could turn it into an actual baby's room instead of a box storage area.  Now we just need to get the stuff that goes inside the baby's room.  That will come with the next few months though.  My sisters have been harassing us to choose a theme for the baby's room and Dan simply replied to them, "Tell them the theme is 'baby'." We're not what you would call 'theme people'.  We're more "make-it-work" people.  (That was a Tim Gunn impression for you Project Runway people) We're both decorationally-challenged so picking out a theme for our baby's room might be more difficult than you think.  The good news is that we are at the tail end of unpacking (obviously not done yet) which means we can FINALLY get started getting on preparing for the little nugget instead of just talking about how we're expecting.

Miss Anything? Coffee, beer, wine, cookie dough, cold cut ham sandwiches, you know....the usual.

Movement: He is getting stronger everyday!  He loves to flip, kick, jab, turn, etc.  Basically he's preparing to be in the Olympics in some type of sport...just not ping pong (let's get real, that's not a real sport and you know it.  There are a few others that are questionable as well but I won't get into those).

Food cravings: Sesame chicken, burritos, chocolate, but mostly DAIRY!  Momma loves her dairy products (cheese, butter, milk, cottage cheese, cream cheese, ice cream, whipped cream, yogurt, etc.).  God thank you for making dairy products so delicious and thank you for making sure I'm not allergic to them.  Every time I open the fridge and see that gallon of milk, I don't hesitate to pour myself a few glasses of it.  Gosh it's so good.  There is a reason God described Eden as a land of milk and honey...because milk is THE best beverage in the world and with it comes all the other amazing dairy products that He wanted to bless the world with.  God is so good.  Thank you for cows! (I think I made the right decision by marrying a man who's family is dairy farmers.  Winning for me!)

Anything making you queasy or sick:  I did pretty well this week.  No bad smells...except the rotting potatoes that were in our kitchen cupboard that we discovered after we came back from vacation.  Whoopsie!  Rotting potatoes rank up there with some of the worst smells in the world.  Therefore it was a candle type of week in the Koch household because it takes special efforts to get rid of that rank smell.  Woof!

Have you started to show yet: As you saw in my last post, the bump has arrived!  It looks like I ate a burrito more than a child but I'm sure it will get there soon.  I'm doing my best to make sure it develops at a healthy rate.  But if you saw the pictures from last week you can see why my bump frustrates me a little.  It's stuck under my belly button because I'm so tall so I feel like it looks more like a "B" than the cute "D" belly that adorable pregnant women get.  I keep having to reassure myself that it will come. It's getting bigger this week so I'm preparing to show it off at my brother-in-law's wedding this weekend if I can.  

Gender: We're adding more boys (well boy, singular) to the Koch legacy.  If you saw some of the adorable pictures of my hubby in my previous post then you would have seen that he only had brothers growing up...and now we're are continuing this tradition by having a little baby boy.  Dan coudn't be more excited.  I just need time to prepare myself for the different'ness that are boys.  I only had sisters growing up so this boy thing is going to be different for me.  Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of experience taking care of other people's boys through babysitting and the like but I was always able to give them back at the end of the day.  My child will be mine...obviously...full time.  I can't give him back so I need time to prepare on what to do with a boy.  It's so weird to say that.

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: I've noticed my lower back is starting to get sore.  I must be carrying a load in the front or something.  I also think I've started to have heartburn?  I've never had it before but I think that's what it is.  I could be making stuff up though.  I'm dying to start my aqua aerobics class next week though.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I was sad to have come home from Montana to flat land so now I'm in depressed mode.  Where are my mountains?  Why am I surrounded by corn and soybeans?  Gosh it's so hott here!  etc.  I'm surviving I guess.  I wouldn't mind if we packed up and moved out there though...well I would have to make all of our families move out there with us because I wouldn't want to travel back to visit them.  So until I can convince all 1 million Joneses, Smiths, Kochs, and Cannons to move out to Montana with me, I think I'm stuck in flat Illinois.  At least I'll have my son to keep me company soon.  Overall, I'm a happy camper.

Looking forward to:  I'm looking forward to our next baby appointment which is on Thursday to hear how our nugget is doing.  But I'm also pretty excited for Meggie and David's wedding this weekend!  Gah!  It's going to be so much fun!  Not only do I get to gain another sister this year, but I also plan on dancing my heart out.  It's going to be like a repeat of Dan's other brother's (who got married in April) wedding but I'm actualy feeling well this time so I'm excited to get to chat with friends and family and party to the wee hours of the morning.  I do believe something ridiculous like 500 people (not kidding) will be attending this event so talk about a party.  Meggie and David are perfect for each other and gosh I just can't wait for them to get married!  More girls!