…to Heather Drive! The blog is two years old today.
Thank you to all of you who continue to support the blog by visiting, reading, and commenting. It is much appreciated and means a lot to me. Keeping up with it has been difficult for me lately, but knowing all of you are out there keeps me coming back to post.
Most exciting of all is that approximately two months from now, we’ll be adding a new member to the Heather Drive family! :)
I hope you all have fabulous weekends.
I don’t know how I could possibly be small, as I feel absolutely huge these days.
30 Weeks Pregnant
As I’ve mentioned, I’m now in the stage of pregnancy during which I visit the doctor every two weeks. The appointments are very quick–urine check, weight check, blood pressure check, belly measurement, and a quick listen to the heartbeat. Questions. Then we’re on our merry way.
My last appointment was on Friday, July 2, and I was 28w5d pregnant. At that appointment, I was up 16 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight, and my belly was measuring right on target at 29 centimeters (your uterus is supposed to measure as many centimeters as you are weeks pregnant).
Today, two weeks later (well, 11 days in this case), I was up two more pounds (I’m up a total of 18 lbs., if you’re keeping track). It’s normal to gain about 1-2 lbs. a week in this stage of pregnancy, so that’s normal. When the doctor came in and measured my belly, she said it was 29 centimeters. I didn’t think much of it at all, as it’s only one centimeter off from where I’m supposed to be. So, no big deal, right?
Well, that’s what I thought, until she looked at my chart and said, “You know, I’m actually going to send you for a growth ultrasound. Even though you’ve gained two pounds, your belly hasn’t shown any growth since last appointment. I want to make sure the baby is growing as it should, and ensure that the baby has enough fluid.” Since I’ve been measuring RIGHT on track throughout this entire pregnancy and I have all of a sudden fallen a bit behind, there is a little bit of concern.
Cue the internal mommy panic! My doctor was very nonchalant about it, so I feel *pretty* good about the situation, but still… it’s so much nicer to hear that everything is perfect. Also, my ultrasound is scheduled for next Wednesday (more than a week away), and I know that if there were something really wrong, there’s no way they would let me go that long.
Even so, I’m having mommy guilt. All afternoon, I’ve been thinking–I wonder if I’ve done something wrong. Am I not eating healthy enough? Am I not drinking enough fluids? I keep waking up on my back in the middle of the night… is that restricting blood flow to my baby? In my mind, surely I must be causing this to happen. My common sense tells me that my doctor is just being extra cautious, but GAHHH. I just want to know that everything is OK.
On the bright side, we get to sneak a peek at the baby again. I wasn’t expecting to have another ultrasound at all, and since we haven’t seen the little one since 19 weeks, it’ll be interesting to see him/her again. I’m crossing my fingers that everything looks beautiful and we don’t need to go through this again! Until then, I’m counting down the days until next Wednesday.
In other news, we started our birth preparation classes last night. The class is only three weeks–we’ll go for three consecutive Monday nights for 2.5 hours. Last night, we talked about some of the basics: some of the symptoms we’re all experiencing this late in pregnancy, the stages of labor, the way babies come through the pelvis, etc. We also worked on the first breathing technique, and did a relaxation exercise. It was interesting and it’s nice to be reminded/reassured of things, even if I’ve heard or read about them before. The class was made up of seven couples, including us. Two of them actually have the same due date as we do, so that was kind of funny.
Also at my appointment today, my doctor felt around to try to determine the position of the baby. I’ve been suspecting the baby is head down and that his/her back is on the right side of my belly, as the right always feels more firm than my left. I also feel most of the BIG movement on my right side, so I figured that just HAD to be the back/butt side. It turns out I was right! She said that the baby is still capable of flipping him/herself around at this point, but by 34 weeks, they like the baby to be in a consistent head-down position. I’m pretty sure my baby is already there, but there’s really no telling what some of those big movements are that I feel.
Going by the books, baby is about 3 lbs. now, and his/her eyesight is developing. Brain and lungs continue to develop as well, obviously! But we’ll get a better idea of our baby’s actual size after the growth ultrasound next week. Baby remains active; I feel him/her moving around much of the day. Still amazing!
Oh, and I’m totally celebrating the fact that I’m in the 30s now! Only 10 weeks to go. I feel like the next big milestone is 35 weeks… hopefully that will be here soon. :)
Not surprisingly, Michael and I were two of the first people up this morning. We came down to find my mom at the kitchen table, though. We relaxed a bit while everyone else gradually made their way from their rooms, but after that, everyone was bustling around.
First, Marie and I made breakfast. I cooked up some pancakes (with the blueberries we picked yesterday, AMAZING!), while Marie did the bacon. I also heated up the hand pies in the oven. We all sat down for our feast, and then it was time to start loading up the cars to head out.
Michael remembered to snap a few photos of the newly-renovated house before we left:
Ah, it is so beautiful! I love it so much.
Then, we took our traditional photo beside the White Meadows sign (new sign this year, though–it’ll take some getting used to, I think!):
Unfortunately, Susan and Vinny’s kids weren’t able to join us this year. It’s so hard coordinating everyone’s schedules! Even so, a great time was had by all, even though Doug and Nina were missed.
We’ll definitely be back next year. (And next time, Michael and I will have a baby–possible toddler??–in tow.) But man, I miss it already. A year seems far too long to wait to go back! :(
If you’re interested in seeing photos and recaps from our past Poconos trips, click here.
The drive home wasn’t too bad. Tessa slept THE ENTIRE TIME (tired girl!) and has continued to sleep like a rock since we’ve been home. I think it’s going to take her a couple of DAYS to fully recover from her Poconos adventures!
From year to year, we pretty much do the exact same things when we come to the Poconos.
For instance, we always arrive late on Thursday night and stay up too late talking and laughing with each other. We always grill for dinner on Friday. We go out to breakfast at the same local diner on Saturday morning. And then we always make a big homemade breakfast before we leave on Sunday.
It’s all about tradition, people.
So it should come as no surprise, then, that we went out to breakfast this morning. YUM. Once back at “the farm,” we set out to enjoy another day outdoors. We didn’t see much sunshine today, but it was still nice out and the temperature was much more comfortable than yesterday.
We spent some more time down by the pond. Tyler and Marie played fetch with Miller in the water. He loves it now, they can’t keep him out! He was so good at swimming out to get his frisbee and bringing it right back in for more.
Well, he does have to work on giving it back a little easier. It turns out he’s into “tug of war,” too.
When he’d come out of the water, Sashi would approach him and try to take his frisbee. She wouldn’t do any of the work to swim out there and get it, though! (Smart girl!)
While Miller swam, Michael ran Tessa up and down the hill. She loves to run, especially when she’s experiencing complete “freedom” off of her leash!
I think the Poconos is Tessa’s version of heaven.
We eventually walked back up to the house, and decided to go blueberry picking with Susan. There is a wild blueberry patch across the road, and we knew we’d want some berries to make pancakes for tomorrow morning. So Tyler, Marie, Michael, Susan, and I set out with the dogs to gather wild berries.
Picking blueberries is time consuming! I have major respect for the people who do this to supply our markets with berries. The greenery was super tall all around the blueberry patch, so Tessa had a bit of a hard time making her way through everything out there. We had to stomp down a path for our short-legged little girl! :)
Holding the share of blueberries that Michael and I picked. Each and every one of them are precious, as they were obviously picked by hand!
When we got back to the house… more sitting and chatting, of course! Tessa took the opportunity to rest:
I decided to do a mini photo shoot with Hunter in Susan’s garden, but the boy is INSANE. He just does NOT. STOP. MOVING. I got a couple of cute ones, which I’ll probably share here once I have time to edit them, but in the meantime, I figured I’d share some of the “outtakes” so you can see what it’s like to photograph a VERY ACTIVE almost-14-month-old.
Too busy to look at me.
Cute shots of his backside are much easier to come by, I assure you.
Little man is a stair climbing FOOL. Probably his favorite activity.
Forget smiling. If he looked at me, it was usually to make funny faces.
There is also a lot of running involved.
The top of his head is just as easy to get as his backside. At least we’ll always have these parts of him captured. ;)
Tonight, my mom, Susan, and Vinny had a wedding to go to, so they left for that around 5:00 p.m. Us kids relaxed a bit more, showered, then relaxed again. The guys cracked open some beers, and the girls some wine.
We took some photos in front of the White Meadows Pub sign (outside of the bar that is in the carriage house):
The girls chatted and cooked up a delicious pasta dinner (meat sauce, garlic bread, salad!) while the guys watched a movie. After our meal, the guys started a small fire in the fire pit and we roasted a few s’mores before retreating indoors to watch a movie together.
All in all, not a bad day in the country. It’s really too bad that it’s already time to go home tomorrow. :(
After our roadtrip (and stop for frosties, of course), we arrived in the Poconos around 10:30 last night. We were given a tour of both the main house and carriage house, as they’re both pretty different than when we were here last year! A fairly large addition has been put on the main house, and the renovations in the carriage house are complete. Very nice, I must say.
When we were finished unloading the cars, we all settled on the porch to catch up with each other. It was a really warm night, as even the Pocono Mountains have been touched by the Northeast’s heatwave. Everyone else enjoyed drinks while I just enjoyed the company. :) Once we realized it was after 1:00 a.m., we all decided to get to bed so we could be up to take advantage of the day today.
Unfortunately, I don’t have many pics to share from today. I didn’t even break out the SLR yet. Oops! But the thing with the Poconos is that we don’t ever *do* much. It’s a completely relaxing getaway, so it’s hard to remember to take photos sometimes.
We all woke up on our own time, ate breakfast, and walked down to the pond to hang out in the sunshine (or inside the shady gazebo, where it was considerably cooler). Tessa became “nature girl” and really enjoyed her time off of the leash today. She even abused it a little by wandering into some really tall grass in a field–Michael had to go chasing after her so we wouldn’t lose her. Little stinker!
Marie and the boys did a little fishing…
…and Miller did some wading/swimming. Amazing, since Tyler really tried to get him into the water last year, without much success. Today, Miller was swimming like a pro. When Tyler was out fishing in the paddle boat, Miller actually jumped in and swam out to the boat to get in!
Pretty. So, so pretty. (The scenery. Not Trevor. HA!)
Hunter and I, hanging out in the gazebo.
In the early afternoon, we put together a grocery list of things we were going to need for the weekend, and my mom, Susan, and I took a ride into town to do the shopping. When we returned, we all had a late lunch, then spent more time talking and being outdoors. Around 4:00 p.m., everyone was feeling pretty tired (up too late last night!), so most of us retreated to our respective bedrooms. I didn’t think I would nap (I tend to be a terrible napper), but like two pages into reading my book, I was out. Next thing I knew, Michael was waking up, saying that it was 5:45. Nice! And let me just say, afternoon naps are SWEET. I wish I could do that every day.
We all gathered at the bar in the carriage house, where Vinny made everyone (minus me, *SIGH*) some happy hour drinks.
We took them to the picnic table outside and–you guessed it–just sat and talked and joked and laughed. Eventually, we all got cleaned up and showered, and it was time to get started on dinner–I made roasted potatoes, we had a great salad, and the boys grilled corn on the cob, burgers, and white hots. We didn’t eat until after 9:00 p.m. But who cares when you’re on vacation, right?
After getting eaten alive by mosquitos tonight (bastards!), we’re all zonked from the sunshine and fresh air. We’re hitting the sheets at a more reasonable hour tonight so we can get up and do all of this over again tomorrow.
Have I mentioned how much I <3 the Poconos? I look forward to this trip every year. It's so great to be here.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
