Sweetest Little Ear of Corn

Frontal- 23 wks

Side View- 23 wks

Standard Pregnancy Pose- 23 wks

Bare Belly Squeeze- 23 wks

Back to the produce section for a size comparison of Miss Bumpkin! This week she is roughly the size of an ear of corn, weighing about 1 lb 3 oz and about 11.4 inches in length from her head to her feet. It's incredible just how hard my belly is becoming and how it changes throughout the day due to slow digestion. When I first awake in the morning I feel strangely thin, which is worrisome until I pass a mirror and realize I am definitely NOT thin! I am starting to forget what thin felt like. :) This new shape of mine takes some thought and creativeness when partaking in some daily activities. Today for instance I went to REALLY brush Wayne. The stance I typically take only was comfortable for his hind quarters leaving 2/3 of him still left to be brushed! So in came the reinforcements to rescue the grooming session. My trusty stool that has served me well these past years and especially the past few weeks. I call on it to aid in the placement of shoes and the retrieval of snacks from the higher shelves. It saved the day once again and allowed me to finish up Wayne's brushing session leaving him easily 5 lbs lighter! To think I just brushed him a couple of days ago. Where does all of this hair come from??

The Art of Juggling

I'm getting into the swing of things. Finding balance in the day and discovering a new type of productivity. Some days I don't feel as if I've accomplished much, but then reviewing the day those little daily tasks add up. Just this week I added another "ball" to be juggled. I started volunteering at Cascadia Research. The flexibility is wonderful. Knowing that I've set aside Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as days to go into the office whenever I'd like, for however much time I can afford on that given day to be a whale dork makes me feel more productive and challenges me to juggle my "to do's". It's nice to continue to work on my photo identification, since it's been something I've tried to become very proficient in these past few years. The thought of loosing ground on a skill I'd worked so hard at was a hard one to come to grips with. I am thankful that I can continue to learn. Stepping into the office has also been beneficial in me as a soon-to-be mom. There is one lady that works there, that I actually will be assisting, that has 2 young boys and has been most insightful when it comes to cloth diapers. It's nice to know a few families that have recently and are currently using the modern cloth diaper systems to bounce questions and concerns off of. She has been a wealth of knowledge and helpful suggestions.



Speaking of Miss Bumpkin. I was just speaking to Evan the other day about how I was a little disappointed that I hadn't been feeling her move about as often as I had hoped. There is a window when movement is frequent before womb room is a little too tight for her acrobatics! And I was hoping she would take advantage of this time. She seemed to really enjoy her sleep unless it was between 9-11 am and 10-11:30 pm when it appeared to be her "party time". Well, I've learned fast to be careful what you wish for. This past week she is moving all throughout the day. The way her kicks and movements feel has also changed due to no doubt her growth and increasing strength she is building by punching and kicking her mom! It seemed at first I was just getting attacked on my right side, now its coming from all sides. :)

Weekend Up North

Wayne wanting to play some more with Miss Holden (you can see her head at the bottom left :) )

Julz & I at Rosario

Gorgeous day spent with Mommasita

Soaking in the sun

Wayne playing a convincing human

Such a diva

Spring has hit the our area unseasonably early it seems this year. It so happened that our plans to spend a 3-day weekend up visiting with Anacortes friends & my mom coincided with some phenomenal weather! Friday we arrived to the Island just in time for lunch with Brooke at my favorite deli, after first making a pit stop in "The Connor" for coffee and a walk down memory lane. We stopped by Read Me A Story- an adorable children's store in town- where we found some presents for the soon to be grands. Before meeting up with the VQ family we swung by Island Adventures to visit with the office family. Great to see Shane, Sam & Tracy. Then it was time for a play date for Wayne dog and his favorite little two year old Holden! And was she excited to see him and receive his kisses!! They both share a love for Rosario Beach so that's were we ventured to for some outdoor fun involving rocks, water, downed trees, tennis balls, sea glass, apples and a great atmosphere to catch up with friends! By this hour Bumpkin was "screaming" for food and Palmer's fulfilled our desire for great food. We then made our way up to Bham to start our visit with Mommasita. To moms dismay we slept in that next day, but I think we made up for our late start by spending nearly the entire day enjoying the outdoors. We walked 10 miles (okay more like 2-3) into Fairhaven right along the expanse of water and islands in the distance. Later that night after an amazing dinner at D'Annas mom and I headed into the basement to dig out some of my baby items! The piece de resistance is my first sleeping bag- an IKEA vintage late 1980's yellow turtle! Also in the prized possessions were some clothes my Nana knitted for me that my mom has kept for me all these years. Overall is was a great weekend and some much overdue time with my mom.

Rainy Saturday Greatness

A lazy rainy Saturday made sleeping in easier after staying up past our bedtimes watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics over at Steve & DelRae's. After finding out that that Bumpkin was indeed a little girl I have been wanting to finish up our registries. Maybe a little too early, but its nice to have it "checked" off the list of things that are needing to get done- including our wedding announcements/Dave the Date for the our Celebration Party on September 18th. They have arrived and now I am in the midst of rounding up addresses. Evan & I had talked over how to tackle the sometimes overwhelming task of figuring out what we need for the baby and creating this registry.

Since Evan isn't a fan of spending hours in stores (more so that even myself) we thought it would be best to do it in sections. Wednesday we knocked out Target. Yesterday we started at a local toy store called Wind It Up Toys after first preparing Evan with a coffee from Starbucks! Then walked over to my favorite store in Olympia Compass Rose- that is one store I could live in! We created out "list" at Wind It Up and found out about Compass Roses' registry process before heading to a baby consignment shop called Little Sweet Pea. Surprisingly Evan really liked the store and within minutes found a sleeper that he wanted and just had to have. :) Melted my heart on the spot. After a few more great finds we headed over to Toys R Us, the store we both were dreading. Taking the store in small pieces, aisle by aisle we managed not to get overwhelmed, thoroughly enjoyed the experience and knocked it out!

To get that manly feeling back we drove through all the car lots on the west end! :) Upon returning home we had a quick snack before taking Wayne for a walk, which included the Hill of Doom as I refer to it in my head. :) Then is was time for our rescheduled date night at Tugboat Annies! mmmm...tasty Salmon burger while Evan enjoyed their chicken salad and a couple of beers. Topping off the night we got a text from Kyle & Emily who were in town having dinner & drinks at Fish Tale. After our dinner we ventured over to catch up with them for a couple of drinks- water for me. They then came over to our place to finally met Wayne dog and see our wedding photos. A play date is in the works for Wayne and their golden Retriever Tessa who is about 5 months old. It was such a wonderful day with my husband. I love days like these where we aren't doing anything special, but are just together.

Cutie Shoes Yes a PINK dress. This one was for DelRae.

Summertime dress that made me think of my mom.

Evan's find!

Love, love, love these booty socks!

Schottmiller Red!

I know clothes are probably the last thing we need to be buying right now since the grands are so looking forward to picking things out and not to mention all the little girls we know, but we couldn't help getting a few items that mark that we are having a GIRL!

Spaghetti Squash

There is this interesting application I have for my iPhone, called "What to Expect" from the creatures of What to Expect When You are Expecting, that provides great factoids for both mom & baby, countdowns, gestational age and even "The baby is as big as a:". Week 21 Miss Bumpkin is as big as a spaghetti squash (8 in, 1 lb.) or so says What to Expect. How strange to compare ones size to food items. Imagine if as adults we continued this trend. How many bananas tall would you be?

Front View- 21 wks
Side View- 21 wks

Bare Belly Side View- 21 wks

Standard Pregnancy Pose- 21 wks

Bare Belly Squeeze - 21 wks

Other news from this past weeks doctors visit. I found out that I am part of a lucky 10% of women who's complexion suffers due to pregnancy. I hope that going through this now will keep Miss Bumpkin from dealing with acne during her teenage years. I will be happy to take one for the team if this is the case. :) I also inquired about things I could be doing to improve my sleep since after getting up multiple times during the course of a night I would just lie there awake horribly tired but unable to sleep. The solution: Benadryl. I have taken it for a few nights with drastic improvements! I am still getting up at least once a night, but I am able to fall back asleep thus allowing me to get up earlier and feel more refreshed. I figure that I need as much sleep/rest as possible now before the 3rd trimester and Miss Bumpkins birth.

It's a .......

GIRL!!

Against the Oderman odds we are having a daughter - and I will never hear the end of how Evan was right! Since we found out we were pregnant I had this feeling it was a boy, while Evan kept saying it was a girl. Thank goodness my girlfriend Julie reminded me that there was indeed a 50/50 chance and I could quite possibly have a girl otherwise I wouldn't have been prepared for that possibility! A girl. Hopefully we won't be overrun by pink, although I bet its unavoidable. :) Miss Bumpkin will be the 4th generation of crazy Cole women and will join my niece, Jadelyn, in becoming a 2nd generation Bushwacker! Oh and I can't forget that my mom will actually know what to do with the little Miss! Upon hearing that we were pregnant my mom had exclaimed that it had to be a girl for she didn't know what to do with boys! hahaha!

Miss Bumpkin's profile

Giving the finger- just not the one we would expect...oh innocence!

Looking at her face.

Her profile with arm.

Talk about a squirmer this little one was a kicking and rolling about. The ultrasound technician had her work cut out for her as she patiently worked to get the images she needed to get measurements from. No wonder I am having a hard time sleeping Miss Bumpkin parties while I'm trying to catch some zzz's. Everything is looking wonderful and measuring right on track. The computer actually estimated the gestational date based on the measurements and it was right on even down to the day! It was so great to see her again after so long. She has grown leaps and bounds. So now comes the hard part of keeping the name to ourselves to be announced at her birth!

5 Months!

We are officially at the 1/2 way point (20 weeks plus 1 day as of today)!!! Only two more days until our ultrasound! Recently I felt the first "quickening" from deep within. Then on Thursday while watching Private Practise Bumpkin either punched, kicked, head butted or booty bumped my hand as it rested on my stomach multiple times and then apparently suffered from stage fright once Evan rushed over. Early this morning Evan finally felt a somersault of sorts. :) One of the perks of not being able to sleep through the night. It seems when I rest its party time for little Bumpkin! I've decided for the time being to refrain from taking our Saturday photos in pre-prego shirts for a while. This weeks shirt I found earlier this week. I am slowly accumulating maternity shirts as I find styles I like. Here in a couple of weeks I will have to start the search for a dress for Kayce & Matt's wedding. That's right the plane ticket and car have been booked. I am so looking forward to the wedding, visiting with old friends, making new memories and revisiting my stomping grounds!

Frontal- 20 wks

Side View- 20 wks

Standard Pregnancy Pose- 20 wks

Bare Belly- 20 wks

Spring-like Saturday

A gorgeous day inland left us ditching our plans to hit the coast for a day at the beach. Instead we packed up the car and headed north. First stop was to visit with Matt, Miss Hayden and Wayne's newest pals Homer & Herbie! After a visit before Hayden's nap we continued north to West Seattle. This area is quickly becoming one of my favorite district in Seattle. Alki Beach being its gem. With brilliant weather the crowds were out in hoards which included: bikers, skate boarders, rollerbladers, walkers, runner, sand castle builders, four-legged stick fetchers, stroller ridden munchkins and many other characters! Walking along the water we found a sidewalk restaurant for a bit of lunch. Sitting outside made it possible for Wayne to join us for lunch. He sat at attention keeping one eye on the smells coming from the table and the other on the walker bys. After lunch and a walk on the beach we headed back to Matt & Brittanys in order to car pool to dinner in Seattle. We met up with Rick & Deb at Fishermans Restaurant (amazing location and quite the feast) for Rick's Birthday! I think we surprised him with our presence! It was such an enjoyable evening with such great friends. Miss Hayden did wonderfully- such a wonderful baby! Overall it was an incredible day.

Happy Birthday Rick!!

Pit stop for food. :)

Wayne looking on downtown Seattle in the distance.

Fun at the beach.

Evan snuck this photo- I really look pregnant! This photo almost knocked me out of my seat.

Leading Gently

Thanks to my dear friend Emily & her husband Ian we discovered the solution to Wayne's leash pulling problems. The Gentle Leader. Within five minutes of slipping the leader on his head Wayne doggie was changed forever. Now my worries of walking a dog and pushing a stroller are put to rest.

Clothes Just Don't Look The Same

During this stage of pregnancy I am fortunate to still be able to wear some of my pre-prego wardrobe. However, it is still a shock to see how these clothes appear on this new body of mine. You get use to how certain clothes look & fit on your body and for me it has been shocking to notice this physical transformation through the fit of my clothes.

Mid- June 2009 during family cruise

Frontal- 19 wks

Side View- 19 wks

Standard Pregnancy Photo- 19 wks

Slowly loosing my naval.

During the past week I began aware that my naval was becoming more shallow. I imagine soon I will no longer have an "inny" and my scar, as a result of creating an "inny" from a very prominent "outie", will be very visible.

Also this week the linea nigra, a dark line that appears during pregnancy due to hormones emitting from the pubic bone to the naval, appeared in a very faint state. I had always noticed it on pregnant bellies, but never knew when or why it appeared on the swollen female form. It's really amazing the changes a body goes through when creating another life. Some are suttle while others more obvious.