A Crescent Babymoon

My spring break is winding to a close. This year it was a strange one for me - not because we usually go anywhere. We don't. But this year I SO BADLY wanted to go on a trip. Originally, we planned to repeat last year's spectacular Dauphin Island adventure, but that fell through at the last minute. So we found ourselves in Missouri with a MUCH warmer March than last year, thank goodness. While it was snowing as we pulled out of the driveway last year, it has been mostly sunny and above 70 degrees this week. Miracle.

We spent the first weekend in Saint Peters with the family and it was a truly lovely weekend. Matt had to ref a tournament in Saint Louis, so while I didn't get to see him very much, I was able to see everyone else. Schedules collided in one of those cosmic, star-aligning ways and we had a bunch of laughter and lounging and eating and talking. Much fun.

Before returning to Columbia, I spent Sunday afternoon on a patio with a few friends I don't see nearly enough eating lunch, chatting and catching a sunburn :-)

But then I came home to Columbia. And I got really sick. And it seemed like EVERYONE was out of town. And of course, it was a really busy week for Matt. Bummer. I had a pretty crappy week lined up for myself until Mom and Olivia saved the day on Wednesday by coming up to visit. Thank goodness for sunny days filled with lunch and antique malls and Flat Branch for dinner. Mom doesn't make a trip up here without a Flat Branch trip. Smart woman.

And since I was super depressed about our canceled trip to Dauphin Island, we tried to plan a "babymoon" instead - maybe just a long weekend away, but not too far away. Turns out, it just really wasn't in the cards. We couldn't find something that we wanted to do that was affordable or feasible....until this week.

We (I) scaled down our big dream of taking one last trip together before Baby Foster's arrival and we spent the day in Kansas City. Not so exotic since we've both been there and it's only two hours away. But, we found a way to make it a fun day and for the moment, my itch to have some special time with Matt and get out of Columbia for a while has been scratched.

[We started at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, spending most of our time in the modern art section and in the sculpture garden. I was glad to see Bill Viola's video installation called "The Raft." ]

[It was a beautiful, if not a little hot, day in KC. And look, Matt's carrying the bag for our new camera! We aren't even sure if we're using it correctly, but all of these pictures were taken with it. We will learn as we go :-) ]

[The Shuttlecocks are something I've always wanted to see in person.]

[And now Baby Foster can prove that she's been there, too.]

[We ate lunch at the famous Grinders. Homemade chips and guac and the Philly Cheesesteak Pizza. Scrumptious.]

[The second attraction on our trip itinerary was the KC Zoo. I must say, we were disappointed. We had an okay time seeing a few animals, but we were really bummed by the Tiger "Trail" and elephants (who were nowhere to be found in their habitat). Maybe we caught them on an off day...]

[The river otters did come out to play for a few minutes.]

[The polar bear showed off his ability to do a wall-flip.]

[And he even gave us an underwater close up.]

[The only elephant we could find was made out of stone...]

[But Matt really gets a kick out of any short, hoofed, horse-like animal and these domestic donkeys were no exception. Old man on the right was his favorite because he kept giving us this snarky expression. He still giggles when I show him the picture of this guy.]

We grabbed some fantastic ice cream at a place called Glace. If you're on Main Street in KC anytime soon I highly recommend you go to this tiny place and order a cup of half Salted Pretzel and half Caramelized Pineapple. I know I like ice cream, but good gracious. I inhaled this stuff. Matt enjoyed these choices, but he would also add Venezuelan Spiced Dark Chocolate to the list of must-try flavors.

[And finally, never one to miss a shopping opportunity, Matt spotted this place from the highway. It was on our way out of town so we stopped in to look for a "going home" outfit for Baby Foster. ]

[For some reason, I had it in my head that her going home outfit had to be perfect. It is her first outfit after all. But really, I was kind of obsessed and Matt graciously put up with me turning down everything or putting his suggestions in the "maybe" category until we found just the right one. Here he is with all of her loot. We hadn't purchased any clothing for her yet, so we bought more than we anticipated. I couldn't resist those little apples and Matt was really excited to choose the navy and white with a red bow for her first Fourth of July.]

[This is it. Her official "going home" outfit. We had a number of options in hand, including the one on the left in the picture above, but I wasn't completely sold. And I was starting to believe I would never find an outfit I liked for this child. But then, as we glanced through the clearance rack for about the fifth time, I found this one. And it is perfect. I LOVE IT. And Matt does, too!]

Picnic in March

In an early celebration of spring and to check one more thing off the "baby bucket list" we went on a picnic! The sun was in and out of the clouds, it was breezy and the temp was a balmy 70-ish degrees. Beautiful. Love it. Wish it would stick around all year.

[The spread. So jealous of Matt's sushi. Put that on the post-baby bucket list.]

[Baby's bump and my blinding legs. Find this girl some sun!]

[He really can fall asleep anywhere. I hope his child takes after him.]

Box Fan Memories

The air conditioner is out at school and we've had an incredibly warm March - 85 degrees! Some classrooms were registering over 90 degrees inside and my wintery maternity wardrobe is just not cutting it.

Box Fan Memories

My kid won't inherit my box fan stories.

She won't know stiff school uniforms causing sweaty, squeaky seat imprints on resin chairs

or the July morning sheets that feel like camping before nighttime evaporates in wobbly waves of heat.

Worst of all, I suppose she won't understand why box fans mean pea soup paste, or spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti,

or walking to the pool with the faded black lane ropes.

It's a shame she won't know cicadas smelling of broken walnut rinds.

Big Wheels with smashed big wheels slide to the bottom of the hill

while the others take off their shoes to walk through rain gushing in the steaming asphalt gutter.

I doubt she'll receive a plastic coin purse near a rush of warm circulating air.

Paisley imprinted, it snapped around my Donald Duck stickers and two coins for an ice cream sandwich

at the pool that had painted black water levels until they changed them to blue.

She won't have knowledge of smoke, impervious to buzzing blades

or the sideways snip of peppermint from the freezer.

Twist it back up. Put it in a chest pocket.

And she'll never get to sit on the patio with the cicadas and the concrete bench.

New Car(s)

Well, we have had a strange turn of events regarding the vehicles in our household. Two days ago, I said goodbye to my 1997 Honda Civic after over ten years of driving it.

[There she is before I drove away in my new ride. Good old Silver, all stripped down.]

We actually made a two car deal in order to make this happen. We traded in two cars, and aquired two cars which is just absolutely nutty to me still. But it worked and now we have two equally safe cars to drive our future kid around in.

We traded in Matt's 2011 Nissan Altima and my 1997 Honda Civic in order to get two, yes I did say two, 2012 Nissan Sentras. Out of all of our options (leasing, buying new, buying used, a combination of some of these, etc.) this was the best financing deal and it won't affect our monthly budget much at all.

So I'm no longer a Honda driver. Oh, who am I kidding? I spent the first 15 driving years of my life in a Honda Civic and will always be a Honda driver. I even had tears in my eyes as I closed her up and walked away.

For now, I (much more reliably) drive a black Nissan Sentra just like the one in the stock photo above. And Matt drives a bright red one :-) Feel free to make fun as much as you want - we've been called "The Doublemint Twins" already and we're okay with it. We are just so relieved to be in two reliable cars that are safe and that get absolutely awesome gas mileage.

Bump Progression

Thought I'd include all of my sideways pictures at once so my family and friends who have asked to see what I look like now can have a progression. I've been scrolling through a lot of posts to do that myself so here they are. From the smallest to the biggest...er.....the earliest to the most recent.

[Baby Foster's first picture was our Christmas card/baby announcement]

[Beginnings of a bump - 16 weeks]

[Slow growing at 20 weeks - still wearing regular pants]

[24 Weeks - Obvious now. Now longer getting questioning looks]

[28 Weeks - Things like tying my own shoes are beginning to be a problem]

28 Weeks a.k.a. "Bigger Than Date Baby"

Our 28-week appointment was today. Everything looks good!

Baby is measuring big so when we go back - every two weeks now - we'll have another ultrasound to see what's up. It's apparently called a "bigger than date" ultrasound and it takes about a half an hour. Lately, I've been feeling huge for how far along I am and I thought it was all me. But the doc says it's actually a big baby and she even threw out the word "C-section." I'm sure hoping this girl can slow her grow so we don't have to go that route....

Here's a picture of the bump as she is at 28 weeks. Note to self: next time take picture earlier than 11:00pm so those eyes don't look so tired...

[28-Weeks and growing....]