Traditional Fall Fun and Corn Maze

Since we've been married we have created our own little family fall traditions. One is that we always go to a corn maze. Over the past few years we have been to a few and I haven't been impressed. A few of our friends have told us about Barton Orchards in NY and how great it is. I was excited to find out they had an orchard as well as a corn maze and several other fun fall things. So last Saturday we made the one hour trip north to the orchard. It was a beautiful day! I can't believe how warm the weather has been for this time of year. At one point I was curing myself for wearing jeans.

There is a lot to do at the orchard and we got there a little past noon. We were both hungry so we went to look for food. I was shocked that so many people were there. I shouldn't have been though, it really was a gorgeous fall day and this is the place to be on a gorgeous day in the fall. We had to wait almost 45 min to get lunch. It was worth it to me because I got a pepper/onion sausage wedge with LOTS of spicy deli mustard, which is my new favorite. Honestly, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We had out lunch while listening to a live band play some beach boys, the atmosphere was great.

After lunch we walked around and went to check out this family fun area. It did look like a lot of fun for kids, but for the two of us it wasn't that exciting. Maybe when our kids are a little older. Then we went to the corn maze. As mentioned we had done a few and none have presented a challenge. This one however was 5 ACRES... so we knew it would be a different story. They gave us a little packet with a word game in it. (You had to find all the word stations to find the missing letters in the mystery word. Then it had a section where you had to do 9 crayon rubbings that you would find in the maze. On the back was a map of the maze, but you could only see it when put under a viewing station found somewhere in the maze. I was very ambitious at first and wanted to find all the word, rubbing and look out stations in addition to finding our way out. It was clear after about 20 min that our objective was simply - find your way out. This maze was HUGE! We saw several people hold a flag up to signal they needed help, we were determined to at least do it on our own. I think we did pretty good. We applied some strategy and made in out in just over an hour or so. 

As we exited the maze we could smell the warm, homemade apple cider doughnuts. We had been waiting all day to get them. Our friends told us they were the best donuts (I never know which was way is the most socially accepted way to spell doughnuts) they had ever had. I had a hard time believing that, because donuts happen to be a weakness of mine, I've eaten my fair share of out of this world donuts. I wasn't sure how these would add up but I was excited to have one. They sold them in dozen, half dozen and single form. Our friends had asked us to get them a dozen. I even called to confirm that she really wanted a dozen donuts for two people. Mike and I were only getting a half dozen and one single to eat on the spot. I should have known by the size of the line that the donuts would be good and I should have gone with the irrational part of my mind that said "get a dozen." Oncortunanly, after 30 min of waiting in line I got half a dozen for us and the single. Since mike was waiting in line for a milkshake else where I had to walk over to meet him. The donuts I had gotten were still warm and I started to eat my half of the donut n the way to meet Mike. HOLY MOTHER of DONUT GOODNESS!! It was the best donut I had ever had. It was a cake donut, but still light and not to dense.  It almost melted in your mouth, if you had the will power to actually let it stay in your mouth before swallowing it all in one bite. So good. Mike might not have gotten his equal share, but I figured the baby needed her taste too ;) We debated getting more but didn't want to wait in the long line again. It was probably for the best though. I'm trying really hard to watch what I eat when it comes to junk food. 

Mike spent the next 35 min waiting in line for a milkshake that turned out to be less than mediocre. While he waited on his shake I checked out the orchard. I didn't like that they made you buy a bag and pick a minimum amount of apples, I only wanted a few so I decided to opt out of the apple picking part of our trip. Maybe next time. 

We headed home shorty after Mike finished his shake. I got some hot apple cider for the road, even though it was 75 and a cold bottle of water made much more since, it's all part of the experience. It was the picture perfect fall day. OSU was even kind enough to have a by that week so I didn't have to rush home to watch them. Seriously a great day. I love our little family traditions. 

Months 5 and 6

  

How far along: 27 weeks and 1 day
Total weight gain: 22 lbs.
Maternity clothes:  I ordered a TON of clothes online this week and am anxiously awaiting on them to come. I need maternity work pants and jeans ASAP!
Stretch marks: Not yet
Sleep: Normal
Best moment of this week: Finding an awesome sale on baby clothes at baby gap with Amanda!

  Miss anything: Being able to breath out of my nose normally all the time.
Movement: Lots kicks and punches. I can see the baby when she moves now and it is kind of freaking, but mostly cool :)
Food cravings: Peanut Butter and chocolate anything. I don't give in to this graving often because its so unhealthy but I do really want it all the time. I also love sour/spicy/salty things more than normal. For example I prefer deli mustard to regular mustard, I want banana peppers on my salads, I love pita chips and popcorn. I try really hard to not eat the things I crave as often as I crave them though.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Driving Mikes car makes me sick. I can't stand the way it smells.
Have you started to show yet: Please!
Gender: Girl
Labor signs: Nope
Belly button in or out: in, but slowly changing

 Wedding rings on or off: I don't wear my wedding bands becasue they are to tight so I just wear my engagement ring.

Looking forward to: Snuggling our little girl and dressing her up in darling little clothes!

Week 27:

My thoughts on breast-feeding include giving it my best shot, being open to what is most realistic. I know it will be hard and I hope that my body will be able to produce enough milk for baby.

Some discomfort I'm having right now includes frequent stuffy noses.

The way I deal with it is wearing nose strips to bed and always having tissues handy.

For breakfast, I'm often in the mood for half a whole wheat beagle with natural peanut butter and a banana.

For lunch it is usually a salad or left overs

My favorite snacks are pita chips with string cheese, skinny pop popcorn, apples, grapes, peach applesauce, chobani yogurt and edemame.

For dinner I just eat smaller portions or I feel very uncomfortable. 

My perfect day includes no work, no class, no babysitting, baby clothes shopping with Amanda, a dinner date with Mike, being caught up with school work so I don't have to do homework, a clean organized house,a good work out and an episode of Scandal or Once Upon a Time.

Baby, about true love, I think its accepting someone the way that they are. Seeing past all their flaws and finding the good intentions of their heart. I don't think true love is meant for just husband and wife, but for family and close friends as well.

  

Week 26: 

This baby seems more real than ever.

The baby's room is coming along. Dresser is finished, bookcase is painted, brib put together... it's coming along.

My Birth plan includes trying to go natural and avoiding and epidural. And possibly a water birth, but I don't think my practice does that.

Worse case sceanari, I'm planning on just going with the flow and doing what feels right at that time.

Baby, when it comes to religion I want you to know, that I have a testimony of the church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. I know you are only on loan to us while you are here on earth for you are a child of your Heavenly Father.

Week 25

My feelings towards my partner this wee are grateful, loving, emotional. But secretly I wish he would frequently acknowledge my sacrifice to bare his child :)

I never realized how much I loved peanut butter until I got pregnant.

During the day, I'm working hard and trying to stay organized. At night, I'm ready to crash, but my constant stuff nose can make this hard.

My perfect meal right now is almost anything I'd normally want with a chocolate peanut butter milkshake for dessert.

Baby, I think our most important decision for you will be all of the decisions we make as we try to decide which parenting methods will work best for your personality.

 

Week 24: 

When I'm on the move, I feel slower than normal (like when I was trying to keep up with Bryant at the OSU game) but I can still move quick if I need to. 

The temperature I need right now is cool with 0% humidity.

I'm wearing my belly abnd all the time these days.

I've started thinking about the birth. When I do, I'm most focused on hot to avoid the process in general. So far I have only been about to come up with the stork delivering the baby to me option. Some say that its to late for that.

Baby, when it comes to the important things in life, more than anything, I hope you choose to keep the Lord and your family close. 

Week 23:

Right now, exercise consists mostly of my normal workout which is only 35 min on the elliptical, 3-5 times a week.

Lately, I've been thinking that what makes someone a good mother is patience, understanding, desire to be a good mother and obviously unconditional love.

When I'm with other peoples kids, I notice nothing really. I don't see much of my friends with my current schedule. 

And having a flay stomach seems like forever ago to me.

Baby, when it comes to college someday I hope you go to a school that is affordable because I'm not paying for college :) J/K - kind of. I hope you take college seriously and excel. 

Week 22:

When people touch my belly, it's... no one is really touching my belly.

Stretch marks are still a non issue, give it time.

When people make comments about the size of my belly, my response is "Thanks, I sure don't feel as tiny or as great as you say." or I say nothing, because what do you say when someone tell you that you are getting big? lol.

Other than patience and compassion, my plan is come what may and love it.

Baby, I don't expect youo to be perfect, I'll support you by telling you how wonderful and loved you are. Encouraging you to do the things that make you happy and loving you even when you make mistakes. I will do my best to show love in all I do.

 

Week 21:

The Baby's movements feel like a swift kick in the bladder

I'm buying this baby not much yet. I should probably change that, even though I have no idea what I'm suppose to do with it all.

My parents are acting like everything is business as usual, and it makes me feel like they don't remember I'm having a baby. Then again, I hardly remember I'm having a baby.

The things I am most excited about this week is feeling her get stronger and stronger.

Baby, I'm not perfect. Something I'm working on becoming better for you is putting things into perspective and not being so stressed all the time.

It's a Girl

 
 When we started tell people we were expecting one of the first questions they asked was "Are you going to find out what you're having." When we said "yes, most certainly" we got mixed reactions from people. I was honestly surprised to find that so many people do wait till the baby is delivered to find out what they are having. While I can completely appreciate and understand there reasoning for waiting, that's so not my personality. I want to have everything picked out and cute and ready to go.  When it was time to schedule the anatomy scan (where you find out the gender of the baby) I realized it wouldn't be till the end of the summer. That was far to long to wait. I wanted to be able to tell Mike's family in Utah that summer and I wanted my family to be apart of the gender reveal festivities. I was planning to go to Ohio the first week of Aug and would be leaving the day that I turned 17 weeks. I had read that you can get a gender reading as early as 16 weeks so I asked my dad if we could use the ultrasound machine at the hospital where he works.

The ultrasound tech agreed and we made an appt for the day before I was to go home. I felt a little sad that Mike wouldn't be in the room with me when they told me the gender of the baby. So I devised a plan to make it as fair as possible. When I had the ultrasound I looked away when they started looking for the gender. My dad and the tech were not allowed to use gender words and I was not allowed to have the faintest idea at what it could be. My mom and sister were in the room with me as well. My sister had to play my game with me and look away. My mom however would not play my game. "This is my first grand baby and I this is the only ultrasound I'll be able to go to so I want to see everything." I didn't argue with her, and she was able to be in on the secret. So both my parents knew before Mike and I.

During the ultra sound the tech and my dad thought they were about 60% sure they knew what it was. Before they ended the appt they went back to look one more time. This time they got a clearer image and decided they were 85% sure. So I knew whatever they told us wasn't 100% until we went to the scan at the hospital ion Stamford, but that 85% were pretty good odds.

My mom wrote the gender in and index car and stuck it in an envelope. We took it to out local bakery and asked them to make a cake that was colored either blue or pink depending on the gender of the baby.

That night the whole family sat down to dinner together. This was tricky to arrange with the work and sport schedules of my sibling. It was a fun family dinner. After we finished eating we facetimed Mike who was at home anxious to hear the news.

We both thought it was going to be a boy. Mike thought that way because he really, really wanted a boy first, as most men do. I thought it would be a boy only because I had spent the last 14 weeks trying not to get my hopes up. I really wanted a girl first. I have been praying for a girl first since before I was married. I didn't want to be disappointed if it was a boy though, so I just told myself it was a boy.

Right before I went to cut the cake I had my dad give Mike his version of what he saw on the ultrasound. While he was talking he said "I can't be 100% sure because it's still very small." I took this as, it was a boy but his manhood was still very small." My mom made a face that said "you just let it slip" and I vocalized that I felt like he just ruined the surprise. As much as I had prepared myself for a boy I still felt like pouting at that moment. Maybe because I thought it was a boy and maybe because I was sad the surprise had been ruined right before I cut the cake. I didn't feel like cutting the cake anymore. Pregnancy hormones. No one else could stand the suspense so they had me cut the cake.... and it was PINK. I was so excited! My mom had tried to trick me and I played right into it. I was so thrilled to have my girl first. Mike was shocked to hear it was a girl, but after the shock wore off he was excited as well. In the end all we really wanted was a healthy baby, the gender doesn't matter. We would be happy with any child we were blessed to have, boy or girl.

 Katie refused to admit it was a girl. She still calls the baby a "boy." Maybe next time Katie. Also please note the goofy faces the girls are making in these pictures. First KT is making a face at Mike on the ipad, then Lizzie is making a face at Bryant who was taking the pictures. Silly girls. They will be the funnest aunts, I know my daughter will adore them, as will they adore her.