Statcounter

Friday, December 2, 2016

Becoming a Mom

This week I am 26 weeks pregnant but feeling like 10 years pregnant haha

All jokes aside I really do love being pregnant. I love feeling her kicks and movements (which have gotten really strong!!) Even though it's still hard for me to believe she's really in there sometimes, I love knowing that she is. She's the best part of my days and I already love her so so much. I can't wait to meet her and to have her in my arms. It's probably somewhat hormones but I get so emotional every time I think about her delivery day. I don't care how it goes and the way she comes out as long as she's healthy. These next three months are probably going to go so slow!! My belly is already getting pretty big. I'm not sure if it's because I'm short or what but it's really popping out there! Coconut oil has become my best friend being pregnant, I lather that stuff all over on the daily!!
It kind of makes me feel a little self conscious when people make comments about how big my belly is or when they say oh are you due in January?? And then I have to be like no I'm actually due at the beginning of March then people act like they feel sorry for me because I still have a long way to go! But I'm also kind of getting over everyone's comments. I've realized that every girl's body is different and how they carry babies is different too. I've wanted to be pregnant and have a baby basically my whole life so I'm focusing on being more positive and not letting people's comments get to me because having and carrying a baby is a pretty special thing.


24 Weeks Pregnant





25 Weeks Pregnant




A couple weeks ago I had a little scare with our baby. For three days I kept having pretty bad back pain that kept getting progressively worse. Then by the third day I started having really bad cramping in my lower stomach and it felt like it was getting super tight. I also had a little blood that third day and that's when I thought I better call my doctor because something wasn't right. My doctor got me in right away. I guess I had a bad bladder infection that led to a kidney infection which was causing cramping and contractions. My doctor put me on bed rest for a couple weeks and gave me antibiotics to get rid of the infections. That was kind of a scary day because she is too small to come right now, she still needs to cook for like 13 more weeks in there! Everything is fine now and she is doing great!
I had to go in early for that appointment which was at 24 weeks and Dr. Beck had to squeeze me in which made for a quick appointment. I was so bummed not to get pictures of her and to see her (My appointments are usually 3 weeks apart and I hang them all in a row so I can see how she is progressing and growing!) but luckily I get to see her an extra time this month in between my doctors appointments. Tomorrow we have the 3D/4D ultrasound tech coming to our house to do it there. I am so excited to see her and for our families to see her. Tomorrow is going to be such a fun day!

I've gotten and made way too many things for our baby but I'm all about being overly prepared than under. I still need a few necessities like a car seat and a stroller and probably a lot of other things too. We move at the beginning of January so I can't exactly set up her nursery until we do but I've definitely planned a lot of it! I think her room will be my favorite in our house which is probably good because I'll most likely be spending a lot of time with her in there haha
I'm pretty bummed but we decided not to make her crib and refurbish one instead. Wes could definitely build one and maybe we will for our next baby but it's so time consuming and with Wes having a new job and about a million other side things that he's doing, I'm just worried that it wouldn't be ready in time. You never really know when your baby will be due but my doctor is thinking about moving her birth date up and he thinks she is going to come early. So with all of that we are just going to sand one down that we bought and repaint it, it'll pretty much be like brand new!
I built a growth chart for her room and just to go in our home because I think it would be so fun to keep track of each child's growth starting from what they measure at the hospital. It will be something that I will treasure that I can take from home to home no matter where we go. I'm also building her something to keep all of her bows on. Wes and I built a huge frame, that I still need to sand and paint white, and then I'm going to put a couple of rows of string through it and then I can hang her bows with close pins or something cute! Her nursery is all in my head so far but I love it! I made a ribbon back drop for our wedding that I am going to hang behind her crib, it's the perfect colors for her room! And the last thing and my favorite part of her room so far is a painting that my friend did. It's beautiful and will go above her dresser/changing space.


This is the growth chart that I made!


This is a picture of part of the ribbon backdrop that I made for our wedding that will go behind her crib!


This is the frame that we built for all (or only some if all won't fit hahaha) of her bows. I still need to sand the whole thing and put a finishing coat of white paint on it. Then I'll hang a couple rows of string to hang the bows from.


This is my favorite part of her room. My friend made this floral watercolor painting that will hang above her dresser/changing space. 
I am so excited to see all of it come together! I love planning her room and making it cute for her. I like that most of the things we have could also be used in a little girls room too, not just when she's a baby!



Thanksgiving Day!
This year was my first time not being with my family the whole day and it was my first year not playing in the Turkey Bowl that we have every year. But it was still an awesome Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day with the Clouse side. Ate a lot, rested a lot. Then we stopped by my parents for dessert later that day. We got to hang out and see my aunt's triplets, Daniel, Madison and Isabelle plus some of our other cousins. The day was long and we were exhausted from doing the pork roast sells, like we do every year! Later that night we went and saw the movie Arrival which I highly recommend, it was so good, made me cry, shocker!!! And then we went black friday shopping at Old Navy, We scored more baby clothes for super cheap (Old Navy is my favorite place to shop for her, super cute and super affordable!) and then we got Wes a few things! 

Monday, October 31, 2016

Yosemite National Park

This last week has been a busy one! About a week ago, Wes and I went to three national parks in California and it was awesome!!

Before we stopped at any of these national parks we stopped because we saw tons of grapes on vines! It was the coolest. We tried some straight off the vine and they were so yummy!




First we went to Sequoia National Park where we got to see the biggest tree in the world (General Sherman). Not the tallest, and not the widest but basically the tree with the most wood in it. It was massive! I have never seen anything like it. Some may think, it's just a tree, but until you see these Sequoias in person you really can't quite understand how majestic and beautiful they are. There was one that we got to drive our car through and there was one that we got to walk through because it was hollowed out on the inside. So much time and history were in this park and I am really grateful that we had the opportunity to see it!



Wes climbing and exploring! 


The pictures about are of the Auto Tree! This tree got it's name after it fell over a long time ago when people would take pictures of their cars on top! Crazy that the width of a car can fit on the top of these trees without falling off. It's also crazy that we could drive our car through it!



Massive roots to hold these big guys up!






We stopped to get out and look at some of the massive trees. We I got out I say that there were bugs all over this one bush. I looked closer and they were ladybugs!! There were thousands just hanging out. It was something I had never seen before!


This place was called Moro Rock. It doesn't look that bad but I almost quit three different times. I was so out of breath, it was crazy! But the view at the top was completely worth it. At the top was a view over the whole valley! It was beautiful!










General Sherman, the largest tree in the world!









We got to walk through this tree!




Then we went to Yosemite National Park, the reason for our trip!
This place was incredible, much better than all the pictures I've seen of it. 



Bridal Veil Falls; I love waterfalls and there are so many in Yosemite! Baby was poking out in this picture to say hello :)


El Capitan
This was Wes' favorite part of Yosemite. You can't see it in this picture but while we were there we could see so many climbers up on the face of this mountain. Some were even camped in their beds along the side of the rock wall! That's crazy! I've done some crazy, scary things in my life but I will not ever be doing that!! Wes wants to but I don't know if I could ever agree to him doing that! 


 Glacier Point= the prettiest view in Yosemite! Half Dome was so beautiful! One day when I'm not pregnant I want to go back and hike Half Dome.




This scared me SO much!! I told him not to do it but he still wanted to. I told him that was the last time he could ever do something like that!!




 Lower Yosemite Falls: This was one of my favorite spots because it was just a simple walk to get to, which is kind of nice when you're pregnant and there were so many kids which made it a really fun place!




This was the cutest natural spring along our hike up to Vernon Falls.


Vernon Falls: This hike was a beast for me to hike up to! It was completely uphill and something that I could have done easily before I was pregnant, when I was more in shape that I am now. Being pregnant makes you so out of breath even just sitting sometimes haha
But the view of this waterfall was so pretty! I'm glad we took our time and made it there!





Wes and I have this tradition where we take sand from the places that we visit. Well along with our sand this time, Wes collected huge pinecones for me. We ended up taking one home and I think it will be fun to tell our kids about each jar of sand and the things we have collected from our fun trips together.


Yosemite Valley




This was our favorite spot in the park! We ended up going back here on our last day and had a little picnic and took naps by the river. It was so peaceful to just be with each other in a really beautiful place.

Baby D poking out to say hello again :)


The last national park we travelled to was Joshua Tree National Park. It was on our way home! It was beautiful in it's own way! It had the prettiest cactus trees that were massive! The biggest one in the park is 40 something feet. 







Baby Girl Clouse at 21 weeks!!!





We had our anomaly ultrasound on October 27, 2016.
It was such a joy to see our sweet girl. She is constantly moving and she showed off her swimming skills to the ultrasound tech that day too. She moves right after I drink cold water and I can tell that she doesn't like it when I wear tight pants/leggings, she kicks that area a lot when I do!- pretty soon I need to buy some maternity clothes I think!