Our Babymoon to Colorado

This past week, Isaac and I headed to Colorado for a fun little trip before baby boy comes (nope, still haven't decided on a name). We both really enjoy being active outdoors and find the mountains to be absolutely gorgeous. Our trip did NOT disappoint. :-) 

On Tuesday, we flew out early to Denver so that we would have the whole day to start off our vacation. We picked up our rental car and headed to Four Friends Kitchen for brunch. Isaac got a breakfast burrito that had chorizo in it, and I got the chilaquiles. Near the end of the meal, we switched--I'd have to say I liked his better. Chorizo is my fave. 😍

We then adventured closer to downtown and went to Blue Sparrow coffee. A friend of ours owns a local coffee shop here in Tulsa and he suggested this coffee shop to us. It was tiny, but super cute. It was fun to see them selling our local coffee shop's beans in the store. Afterwards we checked out the REI in Denver and then headed to Estes Park for a few days.

My aunt and uncle have a house in Estes Park on a mountainside that overlooks the valley. Holy moly it was beautiful. And the weather!!! In the mornings it was around 50 degrees and only got to about 80 degrees. I was in heaven. Tuesday afternoon we checked out the town and then spent the evening with my family. Wednesday morning we packed snacks/lunch and headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking. It was tough hiking pregnant, but thankfully we took it slow and rested a bunch. It was COMPLETELY worth the hard work. We went on a hike that went by 5 different lakes. Gosh, it was so great.

After hiking, we showered up and took naps and then headed back to check out the downtown again. Dinner was with my aunt and uncle (she did a GREAT job on meals...I liked having someone plan and prep meals for us!) and then we headed to one of their friend's house for fireworks. Watching fireworks while wearing pants and a jacket was a new experience for me! ha (Tulsa is in the upper 90s/100s right now). We even had a group of elk walk right by us during the show. 😂 

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Colorado Springs. On the way, we stopped in Denver for a second breakfast (our first didn't keep us full) and coffee. If any of you guys live in Denver, I highly recommend the breakfast tacos from Illegal Pete's. They were cheap, delicious, and customizable. I got mine with egg, potato, chorizo, black beans, cheese, and pico. Isaac got one with bacon and black beans and one with chorizo and pinto beans and a green chile gravy. We split an iced latte from Little Owl Coffee. 

We then hit the road again and got to Colorado Springs. That afternoon we got groceries for packing lunches for the rest of the trip (it was cheaper and easier for us so that we could just bring them with us and not worry about the timing of meals with whatever we were doing) and then headed to Seven Falls. We hiked more that afternoon, checked into our little Airbnb, and then got dinner at the Skirted Heiffer. I'd heard good things about it and saw that it was on Guy's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Meh, we weren't impressed. The menu sounded great, but we both thought they were just greasy diner burgers. 

Friday we woke up and got coffee and breakfast at Switchback nearby. We split a bagel sandwich and toast with goat cheese and a blueberry/blackberry spread. Both were delicious! I ate mine with a milky latte :-). Afterwards we headed out for a different hike at 7 bridges (which thankfully was free this time...did you know you have to pay to hike sometimes???). By that end of that day, my body was worn out! We chilled out the rest of the afternoon and split dinner at Cerberus Brewing Company. The lamb sliders we got were 👌🏻. Went for a walk and ended our evening with ice cream from John and Josh's. 

Saturday we got up, had coffee and breakfast (notice a trend?) at Good Neighbors Meeting House and read for awhile. (Side note: I read Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers on the trip, and although it was heavy and really sad, it was a GREAT book.) We went to the pioneer museum for a few hours and then headed back to Denver for our flight. Outside the security area was an area with turf and games. We had time to kill, so we checked it out and found out they had corn hole, bocce ball, and badminton. We played several rounds of corn hole and unfortunately, I was not the victor. 😩We then headed through security (well, it was more of a slow crawl) and then hopped on a plane to come back home. Our trip was SO beautiful, fun, and relaxing, and Isaac and I are already planning when we can go back next with our family of 3! :-)

Did you all do anything fun for the 4th of July?

We're having a......(gender reveal)!

Hello everyone!! How are you? I feel like it's been forever since I've been on here. Pregnancy has made me quite a bit less motivated to do everyday life things, and I'm having to accept that it's okay not to do everything if I don't have to. I used to be someone that put so much of my worth and effort into what I accomplished...I'm grateful to have grown over the past few years--it was always so anxiety provoking and shame producing...

Anyways, I have officially made it to 20 weeks and a few days (when you were a kid, did you tell people you were "7 and three-quarters"?? I feel like pregnancy is like that for me)!! This past Friday we had our 20 week scan and found out the gender. Ya'll I was so freaking anxious and nervous on the ride there. I thought I just might get sick or wet my pants 😂. I've found the overall OB experience to be very rushed. My appointments are only about 5 minutes long. So getting to see the baby for like 20 minutes was such a fun experience for me. Not to mention getting to see the baby in detail--we got to see the profile, the heart, the brain, baby's arms and legs, etc. It was such a great experience...

Which leads me to the gender. We had contemplated not finding out during the ultrasound, but wanted to be 100% present without being afraid of seeing something that would give us a clue. Finding out the gender helps us to better connect because we no longer have to call Baby "baby" or "it", and we get to make dreams about Baby's life, and plan the nursery...and buy clothes 😉. 

We're having......

A BOY!!!

Friday night we had our parents over for dinner and the reveal. We bought blue poppers and wrapped them in brown paper with "Boy or Girl?" written on them. We had them vote what gender they thought we were having--2 and 2. Here's the video of them finding out (my mom is the precious one who hugged my mother in law. 😂

We had our parents over for dinner to reveal the gender of our first child.

Is this outfit not the cutest?!?

We're so excited about this little boy joining our family and providing so much joy over the years to come. For those of you interested, I figured I would share my pregnancy experience so far.

Food cravings/aversion

Thank GOODNESS my food aversions have gone away! It seems so silly, but not wanting or enjoying some of my favorite foods and experiences was really sad for me. Around week 17 or 18 I started to want coffee and desserts. And I've finally moved away from eating asiago bagels with eggs for breakfast everyday. I haven't had many food cravings, but still want more carb-based meals. I DO put cream cheese on a lot of things, which is new for me, but I'm really enjoying it. I've also craved hot dogs--which is not me. I usually think hot dogs are disgusting. And yet, every time I see one, I want one. Pregnancy is SO WEIRD!!

Body image

Honestly, body image has been pretty rough throughout the pregnancy. I've had so many expectations of what my body would do or what it "should" do, and reality has been very different for me. I assumed I would have this "cute little baby bump", but instead have just gotten wider everywhere. Guys, my love handles are growing like weeds!! 😂I've heard there is this belief that women should only gain weight in their belly during pregnancy, and this could not be further from the truth! Sure, that may be some women's experience, but it's not the typical woman's experience. Our bodies need to gain 8-12 pounds of fat simply for reserves for baby during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Apparently this is deposited mainly in the love handles, hips, and thighs as DHA is stored in love handles. DHA=fat for brain development. I'm starting to think our baby boy is going to be very smart with all the DHA I'm apparently storing! 😉

I read the "Does the Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat" book, which was helpful for bolstering my confidence in my body and my experience. I've also had to remind myself that everyone's experience is different. And just because so and so hasn't gained weight in her lower half and isn't showing yet, doesn't mean that my body is wrong for gaining weight and showing. We're just different. Different doesn't mean better or worse. I also had a conversation with my OB about not discussing my weight with me. It was good for me to be able to draw those boundaries so that I can protect myself in the future. 

Look at that sweet face profile!! 😍

Other body changes

Thankfully the nausea has gone away for the most part. I'm still dealing with acid reflux on a daily basis (for me it's not burning, but more of a relaxation of the stomach and esophagus, resulting in the feeling that food is coming back up....sorry for the graphic detail😳). And I have to be careful about the foods I eat for my stomach. It's just more finicky and I have to be careful about my choices. I love apples right now, but they kill my stomach, so I have to be choosy about how much and what other foods I eat them with. Other changes include my eyelashes falling out, so that's cool...and I'm now feeling the baby move and kick. It's the GREATEST. I absolutely love feeling him kick because it really connects us. Isaac has even been able to feel him, which was such a neat experience for him. 

Exercise

Continuing to move my body is really important to me. I want to be physically fit and have endurance for the labor, because I know it is going to be strenuous and difficult. I want to be sure that I'm continuing to move my body so that it is more ready for this. However, just because I'm continuing to move my body, doesn't mean it looks the same as it used to. I've scaled it way back. Partially because I don't have the energy to do what I would have in the past, and partially because things just feel weird. Running is a form of movement that is NOT comfortable for me. I don't like the way it feels for Baby to move up and down each time I take a step. So I've been doing a lot of walking and then have done weights on my own or a weight lifting class. But being aware of how my body feels at each time is something I'm really conscientious of. 

I'm sure that as the summer progresses and it continues to get hotter (how is that even possible), I will take advantage of the pool at the Y. I'm thinking floating and swimming will feel great on my body. 🙋

And that's all for now. Thanks for celebrating with us!! :-D

I've got a secret to tell you...

I've got a secret that I've been keeping for awhile that I'm excited to finally let you in on.

These past few months have been pretty rough. Not emotionally rough, but physically. I've dealt with a lot of fatigue, nausea, high food aversions, an expanding wasteline, and general feelings of blehness...Yep...I'm PREGNANT!!

Tomorrow I will officially be 13 weeks and out of my first trimester. Phew!! You have no idea how glad I am that it is finally here. I'm FINALLY starting to feel more like myself, which is such a breath of fresh air. Who knew you could accomplish so much when you actually have energy and don't want to vomit?!?

We actually found out when I was only three weeks pregnant (um, say what?? how is that even possible? that's actually really only one week of being pregnant 😳). I was noticing some body changes (I think my chest size doubled overnight) and I had to pee ALL the time. Then when I didn't start my period, I thought something might be up. I took a dollar store test on Sunday, and when it was positive, rushed to the store to get a second. Sure enough, it was positive too! I cannot even describe how sweet Isaac was when I told him. He was ELATED! For the next few days every time he would look at me he would just smile and then come over and shower me in kisses. So precious. I'm not going to lie, it came as quite a surprise to me. And I freaked. Isaac and I knew we wanted to start a family in the near future, but I was training for "one last half marathon before having a baby" and wanted to have a full year of private practice under my belt before having a baby. But the Lord obviously had different plans, and I know that this child is going to be the best blessing ever.

So what has pregnancy been like for me? Like I said above, not super fun. I pretty much had nausea 24/7 from week 5-10 and am still dealing with it off and on. I'm such a pansy when it comes to having the stomach bug, and that's what it felt like for me all the time. I didn't want to do ANYTHING. I've taken a LOT of naps over the past few months. And there have been many nights where I've gone to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. Oh wait, it was that way before I got pregnant 🙈. 

Y'all, it's CRAZY what happens to your body during pregnancy. I knew that we don't have much control over our bodies, but pregnancy has really magnified that for me and it's something that I'm having to learn to go with the flow with. Nausea and fatigue? Of course I knew of those. But heartburn in the first trimester?? And night sweats? Oh dear, what else do I not know about?!? 😳I am having to constantly learn my body as it changes from day-to-day and respond accordingly.

Which brings me to food. Food has been tricky. I went from being extremely nauseous and not wanting food to being extremely hungry (you know the hungry where you feel like you're gonna vomit? that kind of hungry) but still having major aversions. It made eating really difficult. And really unenjoyable. Guys, I have lived off asiago bagels for the past 7 weeks. I have had at least one a day because it's about the only thing that sounds good. I've also discovered quite a love for sweet tarts 😉. At first it was a little concerning that I didn't want a single vegetable (barf) and that the only things I thought I could stomach were white (or sour candies)--bread, tator tots, french fries, etc. But then I realized that it is no big deal. So I don't eat vegetables for 12 weeks! Not gonna kill me. I am so incredibly grateful that I have incorporated intuitive eating into my life, because without it, the last few months would have been incredibly stressful. I knew that at some point, I would want to eat vegetables and fruits again. I knew that I would want more fiber-rich foods. But I had to give my body time. And I am so grateful to say that I AM wanting some veggies now. I'm really grateful that I have been able to give my body what it needs when it needs it without second guessing how it is that I'm hungry 2 hours after eating breakfast. Or that I essentially want dinner leftovers as an evening snack. These past few months have been such a blaring example of how freeing intuitive eating is for me. It's hard to understand my ever-changing body, but I have given myself grace for the times when I haven't met its needs exactly (example: overshooting hunger and then going to bed and having acid reflux--unenjoyable for sure, but it doesn't mean I'm a failure).

My lifeline....

One half topped with avocado and pepitas, the other half with cream cheese, egg, and chicken sausage

As far as body image goes? If I'm 100% transparent, I was trying to come to terms with my body still changing before finding out about the pregnancy. So with pregnancy, I've experienced a lot of bloat and my waste simply getting thicker. It's been difficult not to have clothes that really fit my body. But I am learning to accept my rapidly changing body size/shape. My body is changing for incredibly good reasons--it's growing a human. But to be proactive, I bought this book after seeing that Kylie Mitchell read it during her pregnancy too. I've only read the first few chapters, but it's really nice to know I'm not alone in what I'm experiencing or feeling. It has also been super empowering to read. Guys, our bodies can accomplish so much and that is something to be thankful for and proud of!

Well, that's all for now! I plan on doing some pregnancy updates in the future. I don't really know what my fall will look like or the months after having baby, but I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

Caio!!