Hawaii Five-0

We're leaving tomorrow for what will be a really, really fun weekend in Indiana with lots of bloggable events and pictures, so it's time to throw my last catch-up post out there to the interwebz.

About two days after we got back from our last whirlwind trip home in late May, we left again for our vacation in Hawaii.  We booked our timeshare week on Kauai many moons ago, back before we knew we were 1.) both changing jobs, 2.) moving to Denver, 3.) having a baby, and 4.) potentially selling a house and potentially closing on the Tuesday we were in Hawaii.  So needless to say, even though our trip didn't come at the most convenient time, we're glad we got to go back to our honeymoon spot for a week.  It was just the relaxation time we needed in the middle of this crazy season in our lives.


We ate at some great places:

Scotty's BBQ in Kapa'a - our very own Scotty's Brewhouse in Indiana sent them a shirt, apparently

One yummy dinner of many.  Other great places we dined were The Tavern (twice), Duke's Canoe Club, and CJ's Steakhouse. 

We ran a race:

He and his running buddy, which he blew by in the end.  It was pretty funny...my race was over already so I got to witness the fight to the finish in all  it's glory.  That's my husband, folks.  She is supposedly some really good runner who lives on the island, so he knew that for the sake of competition he couldn't let up and let her cross through the finisher's gate first.  He beat her.  I'm glad, because frankly I find her thin frame and super tiny little sports bra a bit intimidating.



This was an 8-mile race and a 5k held at Haenlai Bay on the Saturday we were there, with an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. Since Brent wanted to do the 8-mile run, and I really like pancakes, I decided to register for the 5k.  As we were sitting there eating our pancakes and chatting, Brent stops all of a sudden and says, "They called your name!".  HUH?  I mosey up to the awards table, where they hand me a second place age division medal.  I've never come remotely close to placing in my age division, but here at 24 weeks pregnant they're handing me a medal.  My question to the five women I beat that day is this - what were you doing back there?  Seriously, what were you doing?  I was just running for pancakes and finished the 5k in 40 minutes and something.  Note for the future - enter little bitty races.  They're easy-pickin's for award medals, apparently. 


We visited the Waimea Canyon:

I had bronchitis and stayed in the car the last time we were here, so it was nice to take in the view in 2011.


We putzed around the island visiting random things, like waterfalls, lighthouses, etc:

Love those Kauai roosters!

And we hiked the Nepali Coast:

Our plan was to make it to Hanakapi'ai, where the trail goes down to a beach. 

We were almost to the beach, but ran into some wet, slick rocks while descending.  Brent fell down one of them and bruised up his leg, I almost bit it a few times, and that's when I stopped and said "Lindsey, you're an idiot".  Activity #345 I guess you shouldn't do while pregnant - hike down precariously slick rocks.  We turned around at that point.  On the way back I met a woman who looked about six months pregnant as well.  I told her, "Be careful!  Really, the rocks are slick, be careful!"  She thought I was crazy. 

We love going to Kauai and will probably go back in another five years or so.  It's such a relaxing vacation.  It's worth the flight over and back...even with a strange headwind that increases your already long flight time by more than an hour...really. 

75%

Yesterday marked 30 weeks of pregnancy, which is also known as 7.5 months pregnant, and is also 75% of the way there.  My brain works in percentages, and 75 sounds pretty darn good to me.  It's a passing CPA exam score, it's almost mile 10 in a half marathon, and if you're waiting on an apple pie that takes an hour to bake - it means you only have 15 more minutes to wait.

How far along: 30 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain: 17 pounds

Maternity clothes: Primarily, but still hanging on to a few regular tops..and the dress I squeezed myself into today, as a side effect of moving this weekend and not having my clothes put away yet.  Our goal everyday this week has been to just make it to work with clothes on until we can put ourselves back together this weekend.  That poor dress.

Feeling: Good!  I solved most of my terrible back pain problem yesterday.  It's time to stop wearing heels and find a new desk chair. 

Sleep: I added another pillow to my nest and my sleep has been pretty good.  I have a harder time falling asleep now because I can't turn off my mind - to-do lists, visions of crowning heads (time to stop watching the natural birth videos on YouTube, I think!), etc. are filling my head - not sugarplums. 

Food cravings or aversions: I very specifically requested the Minute Maid frozen lemonade from the can this weekend.  And chips. 

Best moment of the week:  There were quite a few over the last two weeks:

1.) Had my 30 week appointment yesterday with another new doctor in the practice.  Finally, on the 5th try, I found one in the practice I really liked.  I've had a hard time adjusting to the concept of just being a patient of the practice and not having a doctor to call my own.  Let's hope he's on call when Lima Bean makes a grand entrance. 

2.) I got my glucose test results back and I am fine.  Apparently eating three slices of apple pie the day before was not enough to throw off the test.  I am relieved!

3.) Moving into a house.  We all feel more at home here than we ever did in that apartment.  Puppa is much happier and isn't diving behind the toilet anymore.   

Movement: Consistent movement every day. There was either a head or a bottom trying to desperately escape through my upper torso on Monday at work. 
Gender: Can't wait to be surprised in ten weeks or less!

Labor Signs: n/a

What I miss: Being as active as I would like.  I feel like such a slug some days, especially before I figured out the back pain thing and would have to lie down after work instead of walking the dog or packing/unpacking.

What I'm nervous about: We're starting to question if we know how to care for an infant.  Of course we don't!  We need to get a book or something.   
What I'm looking forward to: Coming home for a visit in about a week! 

Milestones and new this week: The bebe is 3+ pounds now and fattening up. 

Happy Anniversary

July 7th - my favorite day of the year.

28 Weeks

How far along: 28 weeks, 1 day

Total weight gain: 17 pounds

Maternity clothes: Primarily, but still hanging on to a few regular tops.  The people who see me everyday probably wish I would stop. 

Feeling: Pretty good.  I can't complain.  Well, I could, but it really wouldn't be very fruitful.  I'll leave the whining until weeks 37, 38, 39, and 40. 

Sleep: Excellent!

Food cravings or aversions: No aversions, that's for sure.  That's also apparent by my weight gain between weeks 24 and 28.  My current love is that apple pie I posted about this weekend.  Oh my. 

Best moment of the week: Getting my adorable baby shower invite in the mail and having another good doctor's appointment yesterday.  The baby's heart rate is still steady (at a high 147), my blood pressure is normal, and I got "ooohh, ankles are looking good!" twice in a row.  It's the little things.
Movement: Consistent movement every day.  I've been able to notice my stomach moving with it now.

Gender:
*I say boy

*My dad says boy

*Brent doesn't know so I'm swinging his vote to boy
*My masseuse last week told me that she just has an innate sense about these things and she says girl.  Yeah, I guess she can just clear her mind and put her hands on someone and guess it right.  If that doesn't tip me over the edge to girl, I don't know what would!

*All Chinese gender charts = girl

*The Mayans determined the sex of the baby by taking the mother’s age at conception, and the year of conception. If both are even or both are odd… it’s a girl. (27 and 2011)

*Heart rate has ranged from 160 to 147 in the later appointments, making it high...girl

*I feel like I'm carrying high, mainly because it's felt like the baby has been on my lungs for awhile now.  Girl

Labor Signs: n/a

What I miss: Lifting heavy things, running, not having people at the grocery store question if the bags they're giving me are too heavy.  Seriously people, the bags aren't too heavy.  I'm just pregnant.  And I don't need a special parking spot, either.  Brother!

What I'm nervous about: I find my thoughts drifting frequently to what I think labor will be like.  Heaven help me if I start watching One Born Every Minute again.  I'm choosing to live in blissful ignorance for awhile longer, that maybe a band of angels will come and gingerly extract the baby without any further ravaging of my body.  While playing harps.  And feeding me grapes.
What I'm looking forward to: Moving to a house in 9 more days.  No more living next to UpChuck. 

Milestones and new this week: I start going to the doctor every two weeks now.  The baby is just baking away, weighing in around 2.5 pounds and still working on those lungs.

"Purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain..."

We had nothing special planned this 4th of July weekend other than several possible ideas and a potential invite to watch fireworks from a co-worker of Brent's.  It was nice to not have plans but a little bit of a bummer to not have our usual slate of July 4th activities.

A weekend with nothing to do sounds like a great opportunity to get a pedicure and enjoy a coffee to me!  And that's just what I did on Saturday morning.  Brent came with me and shopped for some new running gear while I got the pedicure, then we took a spin through Best Buy to look at DSLR cameras.  Blog friends who have a DSLR - what brand/model do you own and do you have any advice for me before we buy one?  I know that it takes some work to take really good pictures and it isn't just about the camera, so I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to commit enough time and effort into learning how to use my camera to make it worth the purchase.

On Saturday afternoon we took Bonnie up to the top of Lookout Mountain for a little bit of hiking and just to have something to do.  We had planned to go to Buffalo Bill's grave but decided it was a better idea to try that another day when she wasn't with us.

We weren't totally sure where we would go on Sunday, but thought it would be a good chance to see another part of the state and do something Colorado-y.  We booked Bonnie for daycare at Hobnob so we could be gone the whole day and not worry about letting her out and then left for Colorado Springs right after early church.

Did you know that Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" while she was visiting Colorado Springs in 1893?  For real, look it up.  Brent made me aware of this fact during the sermon at church and how fitting our trip was.  I'm a lucky woman, folks.  Not only can he tell you what happened in any sporting event from 1983 through now, he also apparently has a good grasp of American folklore.

Everyone else apparently had the idea of visiting the natural beauty that inspired the song, because it was so hoppin that we couldn't get a parking spot close to the pedestrian walkway that winds through Garden of the Gods.  We didn't even attempt Pike's Peak - all the cogs were full and the road traffic would have made it a very long drive up the mountain.  We ate lunch at The Mason Jar (where they actually had sweet tea!) and then drove by the Olympic training facilities on our way to the next attraction - The Broadmoor resort.

Besides being a very nice resort, spa, and golf course with lots of shops and a really pretty lake in the middle of the campus, the Broadmoor also happens to be the host of this year's US Women's Open.  We saw a few golfers checking in (none we recognized) and parked in the garage among the massive fleet of Lexus vehicles there to shuttle the golfers.  Practice rounds started today and we're considering driving back down next weekend to catch one day of the tournament.  We'll see! 

We visited the Air Force Academy on the way out of town...

I made my Star Spangled Apple Pie when we got home but ran out of time to bake the pie before fireworks started.  We didn't really feel like driving to any of the firework sites and fighting through crowds of people after a long day in Colorado Springs so instead we walked right out of our apartment door and up Table Mountain with chairs and our little dog, back from a very busy day at Hobnob.  We thought we'd have a pretty good view of several local firework shows which turned out to be the case.  At one time, there were five sets of fireworks happening simultaneously, and it was almost a little distracting.  It worked out perfectly though, because only about ten other people had the same idea we did and we got to try the Fireworks Sampler Platter for next year.  The verdict was that Commerce City had the best show, followed by Lakewood, and we shouldn't waste our time going to see them at Invesco. 

I found something to add to my list of "Things You Should Not Try When You're 7 Months Pregnant"  - #35: Walk down the side of a mountain at night without something stronger than a cell phone light.  It was tricky...and that was with Brent carrying both the chairs and all I had to manuever was the dog.

Today we enjoyed not one, but several pieces, of my inaugural attempt at pie-baking:

My affection for this pie is borderline unhealthy.  I also just realized that I'm taking my glucose test tomorrow...greeeaaaat.

I wasn't as productive as I should have been (maybe because I just wanted to lie around and eat pie all day), but we did hang out at the pool a bit and managed to get enough done to muddle through another work week.  Well, providing I get the load of whites in the washing machine tomorrow since Brent only has enough shirts to last through Wednesday.  We like to cut it close and live on the edge, what can I say?   
  
Happy 4th of July!  Hope you all had a great weekend - we missed you!

Modern Day Baby Jessica

Send a rescue crew to Golden, Colorado - my West Highland Terrier is stuck underneath the recliner.

She was having a freak out about a loud noise, and somehow burrowed herself underneath the recliner.  Her head is caught over a metal bar and her leg appears to be pinned as well, so we can't lift it up to free her.  Hmmm.  She's not struggling yet, so we're going to give her a few chances to free herself before calling the fire department.  Okay, we're not really calling the fire department...but I may need suggestions depending on how long this goes on.

What a nut.

Back Home Again in Indiana

Brent and I made two trips home in May - one for the mini and Mother's Day, and another to pack up our house.  It was great to be home! 

Mini/Mother's Day Weekend

We signed up for the mini last year, long before we knew what this year would hold for us.  After I started my new job in April, my hope to come home this weekend was squashed about 20 minutes into my first day of work because I was told I would instead be going to Boston on Mother's Day.  I was really bummed, because 20 weeks of pregnancy and moving across the country be damned, I was going to do that race. Not very quickly, but I really couldn't stand to miss it.  Then the whole thing worked itself out and we couldn't go to Boston after all, and bada-bing bada-boom, there we were in Indy.  Brent took the day off and flew in that afternoon, landing just a couple hours after me (and giving me plenty of time to enjoy some Patachou cinnamon toast and pick up the rental car). Perfect timing. Brent and I carbed up with the Sinders that night at Bravo and prepared for our fifth and sixth runnings of the Festival 500 Mini Marathon, respectively.

Mom was walking it this year and I think the only reason she came down to put herself through the torture was to keep me from being an idiot and hurting myself or the baby by doing more than I should. After I got pregnant I started running only 3, and very rarely 4, miles at a time, so obviously I was in no shape to run it. Neither Mom or I were overly crazy about getting up that early and being out there for almost 4 hours in the back of the pack, so we called in for reinforcements - Christi, the super-motivator.

Our finish time, including two bathroom stops for the preggo, was 3:46, which we didn't think was all that bad. It went really fast and we had a good time, but I will always stick to my opinion that walking all 13.1 is more brutal than running it. Think how many more steps you have to take the slower you go, and how much longer you're out there? It's been nice to have a break from running and not training for anything right now, but I cant wait to get back out there in October and work on dumping my baby (er, and pre-baby) gut and whittling away at my PR. I even told Christi during the race that I may be ready for another marathon in 2012. Running.is.sickness.

Notice the corral on that bib? E. Thats right - the only year my previous time was good enough for preferred seeding. To put it in perspective, Brent the super runner always starts in B. Would I have been out of my league in E?  Perhaps.  We tucked our tails and went back to the W corral where we belonged, but I hope some day to reach the top middle of the pack again.  All I know is it's going to take a lot of time pushing our new BOB stroller to get back into the E corral, but I'll give it my best shot.  It's rumored that women are better runners after having a baby because their pain tolerance is higher.  That theory makes sense to me!   

After lunch at Bazbeaux's with Christi, Jay, and Peanut, we headed home to Kendallville where Dad and Grandma were just getting in from Florida that evening.  We were pretty tired but we stayed up late visiting anyway- and I think Maddie was especially pleased to have our company without a little white dog accompanying us. 

We continued on with our Mother's Day tradition of eating lunch at Joseph Decuis in Roanoake the next day.  Another great meal and fun times with my family!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our second trip home in May was a tiring whirlwind of hard work and 34 hours of sitting in the car.  We thought we were closing on our house in early June, so we had planned to fly home over Memorial Day to pack up the house and get ready for the movers to come.  After a delayed inspection and other general ridiculousness, flights got too expensive and we were going to have to drive it.  If there's one weekend when you shouldn't plan to fly into Indianapolis, it would be Race weekend.  Duh.  We realized around noon on Thursday that we would NOT be selling our house and that we would NOT need to leave in three hours as planned to drive to Indiana, but we packed up the car and terrier anyway.

Mom and Dad came on Saturday and helped us tear through the house putting things in boxes, and shared the burden of making 15 trips to Lowes and U-Haul for more packing supplies.  Dad may have ended up making most of those trips.  We took a break on Saturday night for a birthday grill-out.  The Steinbergs stopped by to visit and the Sinders came over for dinner, so even though it was a really grueling weekend I got to see some of my favorite people on my birthday.  The May Queen was satisfied.

A big thank you to Mom and Dad - we never would have gotten it all done without them!

Brent and I had to finish off nearly half of a DQ ice cream cake by ourselves on Sunday night before we left for to go back to Denver...shucks. 

 

Bonnie loved being home and hung out in her yard the entire weekend, actin' a fool.  I feel bad that she doesn't have a place to run here and is always on a leash. 

Avian Stare Down

   
And then there was the drive home on my birthday.  There's nothing like sitting in a car for 17 hours while a dog keeps trying to jump in your lap and the winds in Kansas are about to blow you off the road.  It may be awhile before I'll do that again without being sedated first. 

I did at least have a jug of sweet tea as some sort of consolation.   

We also made time to check off the last Presidential Library on I-70 while we had the opportunity on the way home - Harry Truman's.  It was much cooler this time so we were able to stay a little longer without fear of coming back to a Hot Dog in the car.  Very cool library!