My Pregnancy: Week 25

Baby's now the size of a rutabaga!

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

Well, you participated in your first family wedding this week.  My cousin, Laura, was married in the Timpanogos temple--the same temple your dad and I were married in.  It is always a neat experience to attend the temple, but this time was unique because I was thinking a lot about you.  I am so grateful for the knowledge we have of the gospel of Jesus Christ--especially for the knowledge that families can be together forever.

In other news, my energy levels seems to be on the rebound from disrupting my sleeping routine last week.  Not that getting up at 5am is any easier, but a new routine does seem to be formulating--just in time to go on vacation!

My Pregnancy: Week 24

Baby's now the size of an ear of corn!

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week.  That puts her at just over a pound.  Since she's almost a foot long, she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up.  Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop.  Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world.  Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

This has been a rough week, baby.  For starters, I started a new shift at work that requires me getting up at 5am!  I have never been much of a morning person, even before I was pregnant, so adjusting to that routine has been tough on me.  Hopefully it will continue to get easier though and the pure exhaustion I've felt most of the week will abate.

As if the anticipation (read as dread) of this change wasn't enough to throw me for a loop, I also woke up with heartburn at 2am Sunday night.  Since I'd never experienced heartburn before, I wasn't sure exactly what was going on.  An hour or so later I finally took some Mylanta and was able to get some sleep.  I was hoping it was just a fluke experience, but the heartburn returned the next night.  Granny D says that's how her pregnancies went: exhaustion, heartburn, delivery.  Looks like I'm in line to follow suit.  Thankfully, the heartburn has subsided throughout the week.

Aside from all of that, there was some good to the week too.  You still seem to be doing great.  You kick much more frequently and often forcefully enough to be seen through my shirt.  I also started thinking more seriously about how I want to set up your nursery and entered craft-mode early in the week to create these two plaques for the walls:

Yes, I got your dad to cave on the Mickey & Minnie theme AND we have decided (knock on wood) that your first name will be Leila.  The middle name is still being hashed out though, so it is a good thing we still have time!

24 weeks!

Yay for Strawberry Days!

Summer in Utah brings about one thing for most cities: a summer festival.  Every week of the summer, a different city throws a big festival/carnival.  My personal favorite is PG's Strawberry Days.  Just about every year, I go to the rodeo (with all of the other hicks that come out of the woodwork) and enjoy me some strawberries and cream.  This year was no different.

A rodeo is a fine form of entertainment.  My grandfather was a heeler in the team roping event back in the day.  Once upon a time he bought me a pretty pink lasso and attempted to teach me to use it.  Never quite got the hang of it, but it sure looked snazzy!

Possibly my favorite part of the rodeo is the pre-rodeo Mutton Bustin'.  For those who haven't discovered their inner-hick yet, Mutton Bustin' usually involves two events and the competitors are children.  In the first, young children get all dressed up and attempt to ride sheep for as long as they can.  None usually last long and the majority end up in tears.  It is probably one of the last forms of legal child abuse, but SO entertaining.

One of my first rodeo memories was going with my family and a family of friends.  All of us kids were entered into the second Mutton Bustin' event: the Cash Cow.  Here are the basics: there is a cow covered with dollar bills that is let loose into the arena.  All of the kids are then allowed to chase the cow and try to grab as many of the bills as they can.  I remember wearing my red cowboy boots, running as fast as I could towards the cow, but quickly falling to the back of the pack.  Then, before I knew it, the cow made a U-turn and I found myself with arm outstretched about to grab a bill when some kid pushed me from behind and knocked me down.  So I didn't end up with anything but the memory.

Yes, I enjoy the rodeo.  AND there were fireworks right after the rodeo this year. :)

Grateful that my loving husband will go with me to the rodeo even though the animals stuff up his nose!

This year, we participated in a bit more of Strawberry Days by going to the parade.  I'm not usually much of a parade person.  You have to leave early to find a place to park, walk an indeterminable distance to the route, stake out a spot, sit and wait for the parade, and then fight traffic once it is all over.  But I know Jason likes parades and my little brother was marching in the parade as drum major for Timpanogos High School, so I sucked it up.

My sharp-looking, talented, younger brother

And I actually rather enjoyed myself.  While we were waiting the parade, we indulged in more strawberries and cream, popcorn, french toast sticks, and cotton candy.  It was a beautiful summer morning, meaning lots and lots of sunshine for Kaysie.  Plus it was fun to support my brother and meet up with some family members.

And now Strawberry Days has come to an end, until next year!