Weeks 26 & 27

In some ways, this pregnancy is starting to fly by and I am having a hard time keeping track of the many milestones we have achieved.

Needless to say, we are OVERJOYED to be parents.  Truly.  This is a blessing that we thank our Father in Heaven for constantly.  We are thrilled that we have this sweet miracle in our lives. 

When Andrew and I first started talking about beginning our family, I was the reluctant one.  Andrew felt that we were ready but I was dragging my feet a bit.  Honestly, I never enjoyed baby-sitting.  At all.  But it was a good way to make extra money.  I don't really have a natural way with kids.  I do like to hold babies that are content.  But once they start crying, back to Mommy & Daddy they go.  (This is why I think it is HILARIOUS that I was called to be the Primary chorister in our ward.)

Something changed in me the moment I saw that very first positive pregnancy test.  Sure, there was mostly shock and I needed some time to process that it was really, really, really REAL but after that I had a complete change of heart.  I was so in love with our baby and so excited to be a Mom!!!!

Baby Girl is still nameless.  I still make lists and try names out on her but nothing has stuck yet. 

Week 26 brought what I call the "stretchy kicks" where she likes to extend her arms or legs and I get a spooky protrusion from the side of my belly that I quickly push back down.  It makes me laugh!

I also have started having Braxton Hicks contractions.  Nothing major and nothing that hurts or is alarming but nearly daily I feel a tightening in my abdomen.

She still has the hiccups rather frequently.  I can count on those a few times a day--especially in the evenings--and that is a good/predictable time for Andrew to feel her in there.

The ol' turkey timer popped (ew, grooooooooooooss!)  At about week 24, Andrew & I made guesses as to when it would be.  I said Week 26.  He said Week 30.  I am actually a little sad that I was right.

Week 27 brought the "Loch Ness Monster" phase.  It's funny to watch Baby Girl move in my belly from one side to the other.  She just kind of rolls around and my stomach makes funny little waves.  I can feel so much more of her now.  I can feel her stretch arms and legs at the same time (but I can't tell which is which--just that they are opposite ends).

I just love her so very much.  I was reading an article online that quoted the actress Kristen Bell as saying about her daughter, "It could've been a water bottle in my belly, that's about how connected I felt to her during my pregnancy" (Flare magazine, December 2013).  I was shocked!  When I told Andrew about the quote, he laughed.  That is definitely NOT how I feel about our sweet Baby Girl.  I am always chatting with her, singing to her, patting my tummy...

These photos were taken before Church at about 26 1/2 weeks.  Baby Girl (& Mama!) is getting so big!  Oh, the beloved #bathroomselfie.  Thank you Instagram, for that.

Best news we got this week is that Baby Girl has ANOTHER cousin on the way.  Curt & Vanessa are expecting at the end of April.  FOUR ISENBARGER COUSINS?! Can you think of anything more fun?  We can't wait to see all the expectant moms over Thanksgiving week.

Final Days of the Fall Bucket List

We wrapped up our Fall Bucket List this year with a few traditions we squeezed in at the very end.

16. Watch "The Karate Kid"
It's a cruel summer.  It's back to school.  It's Halloween.  It's nostalgia of days gone by.  And it's a great movie to watch in the Fall.  Friday night (November 1) we curled up together on the couch and relished the wisdom of Mr. Miyagi.

"You're the best, Daniel!"

17. Attend a costume party

We decided at the last minute to get together with some of Andrew's classmates for a costume party on Saturday, November 2 (a little belated!)  It was super fun and we just love our LCPT family--they have been a tremendous source of joy and support in our Virginia lives!

Andrew shaved his beard into a creepster mustache to be Ron Swanson from "Parks & Rec."  It was hilarious!  But I miss his beard so much!  He shaved the mustache off all the way for "No Shave November" and I was just counting down the days until his beard was back (9 whole days--phew!)

How I Met Your Mother

Andrew and I just celebrated our three year anniversary of MEETING each other.  For Family Home Evening this week (October 28), we sat down and pushed "record" on our camera to tell you our story:

Chili, Foos-ball, An Autumn Drive, "The Nightmare Before Christmas," etc. etc. etc.

13.  Make a pot of chili and watch a football game with friends
I made up a huge crockpot of chili (we had enough for the ward Trunk-or-Treat a few days later, even!) and took it over to Jesse & Kate Cook's home to watch the BYU vs. Boise State game on Friday, October 25.  Andrew and Jesse are in school together and Jesse did his undergrad at BSU and so we were all looking forward to this particular game.  I didn't get any photos (the bad news) but BYU won the game (the good news!) 

14.  Take a drive to look at the changing leaves

The next day, Andrew and I took a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway to look at the scenery.  Even though it has been a little cooler lately and it is the end of October, the leaves still haven't done too much changing.  I wonder if we will get to enjoy a colorful Fall here in Virginia after all!

15. Watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

That night, we went home and turned on "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  We must have been worn out from our drive today because we both fell asleep despite our best efforts to stay awake.  It must have been that warm mug of hot cocoa we enjoyed after our drive that made us curl up and doze off!

Primary Program and Sugar Cookies

October 20 was a wonderful Sunday for our family! 

First of all, it brought the highly-anticipated Primary Sacrament Meeting Program.  I have been enjoying my calling as Primary chorister much, much, much more than I ever thought I would.  For the past two months, I have worked hard with all of the kiddos at Church to review the many songs that the previous chorister taught them in preparation for the program. 

We have a large Primary of 80 active 3-12 year olds (with about 20+ that come every other week or every few weeks).  I know the number because of all of the candy I hand out as "Reverence Rewards." 

One of the ways that I enticed the Primary children to sing as loud as they could for the Program was to tell them how much Baby Girl loves music and sounds.  She really bounces around in there when I sing to her!  So I asked them to sing loud enough so that "my baby would start dancing in my tummy" and we had a little sign where I would rub my belly to remind them to sing louder.  I don't know how well it worked on the actual Program day, but it sure was funny!

Andrew will tell you what a dork I looked like waving my arms around, doing actions, rubbing my belly, mouthing words to help these kids sing the Primary songs but I had to set vanity aside so that their parents could hear how hard they had been working.  They did a great job and I was so very proud of them!

One of the songs we sang was "A Child's Prayer."  I had asked permission from the Primary President to have the Primary children sing the first part and the congregation sing the second part, but she didn't feel that it would work out logistically.  So we had the teachers sing the second part.  It was very beautiful!  I got a little teary-eyed conducting it and so did the President.

This reminds me of a story from early on in this pregnancy.  Back in late June, when it looked like I might be miscarrying again, I became extremely distraught.  I knew that I needed to pray but there were no words for my anguish.  I kneeled down next to my bed and waited for the words to come out of my mouth, but there was nothing. Finally, I just began to say the words of this song:

"Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer ev'ry child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away
But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
'Suffer the children to come to me.'
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee."

I have a testimony that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and that we can go to Him in prayer.  Maybe the words won't always come as we try to offer up the desires of our hearts, but we can find peace in the presence of His Holy Spirit as I did that night.

Alright let's fast forward to that night...

12.  Decorate Halloween sugar cookies

Sunday night we had the Molstres over again to decorate Halloween sugar cookies.  I had made up a yummy batch of Shannon McQuarrie's awesome sour cream sugar cookies and they were PERFECTION!  Just gorgeous!


Look at those cookies in their fluffy goodness!

We had quite the spread of candies to decorate the cookies with.  I think that is just Isenbarger family tradition--we have never gotten into the frosting tips and techniques.  I may try some tips next time though.  And we discovered that buttercream frosting seems to compliment this particular cookie recipe the best.  

Week 24

No photos but a few highlights from this week of pregnancy:

Baby Girl must be going through a growth spurt because two times in three days, I woke up in the middle of the night to eat.  And not just a nibble or a tiny snack (the "handful of almonds" recommended by my pregnancy phone apps) but a full-blown reheating of leftovers from dinner.  I made a breakfast quiche this week and that seemed to hit the spot.  Nom nom nom!

I had a doctor's visit with Dr. Cherian.  We really, really like him a lot and would recommend him to anyone in this area that has to go to Women's Health Services (since there is no other choice in Lynchburg or the surrounding area).  This clinic has a lot of policies and protocol that are not individually tailored to patients which is something I disagree with morally and ethically, but what can you do with no other options? 

One of the policies they have in place are all of the pre-visits and lab work that you do before you even meet your doctor.  Now that I am 24 weeks, Dr. Cherian finally TOUCHED me today.  He measured Baby Girl's fundal height (24 cm on the dot) and listened to her heartbeat--both for the first time.  Hooray!  So fun to hear her little heartbeat beating strongly at 144 BPM.

Dr. Cherian's wife is also an OB who will begin practicing at Women's Health Services after a lengthy maternity leave with twins.  I think Dr. Cherian must attract multiples since I overheard that the woman he saw before me had spontaneously conceived identical triplets.  Chances of that occurring (naturally and all three identical) are extremely rare and probably the only set Dr. Cherian will see like that in his entire career.

More & More & More Fall Bucket List

9.  Watch The Goonies!
October 10th was movie night.  Here is the only drawback from watching this Halloween staple: if you happen to have the DVD with the "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" music video, I promise you that the song will be stuck in your head for days.  Even months.  Maybe even long enough for you to watch it again on the following Halloween.  No thank you, Cyndi Lauper.

10. Decorate a haunted gingerbread house
We finally hit the jackpot this year when it came to pre-made haunted gingerbread house kits.  The kit we purchased was pre-assembled (thank you!) and the icing was mixed and ready to go in the box.  All for under nine bucks.  Yes!

For Family Home Evening on October 14, we had Jordan & Meredith Molstre over to introduce them to our most-anticipated Fall tradition: Haunted Gingerbread Houses!  Jordan used a pre-made kit but Meredith made her own house from scratch.  That's ambition!

I really loved our house this year.  It was whimsical and fun and not-so crazy as previous years.  I think we are really starting to become experts!

 

11.  Make "Monster Hot Cocoa"

 

What is Halloween without spooky Monster Hot Cocoa?  Yum!

MONSTER HOT COCOA

I served this the first time for Halloween 2011 from an idea I found after joining Pinterest a few weeks earlier.  So cute and fun!

2 c. milk, divided                                                        1 c. instant hot cocoa mix                  

3 c. water                                                                    4 large marshmallows                         

8 semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large saucepan, combine 1 cup milk and cocoa mix.  Cook and stir over low heat until combined.  Stir in remaining milk and water; heat through.  Meanwhile, halve each large marshmallow.  Cut a slit in top of each marshmallow half; insert a semi-sweet chocolate chip upside down so the smooth part is facing up.  Carefully insert a toothpick through the bottom of two marshmallows to anchor a set of “eyes” together.  Pour hot cocoa into 4 large mugs.  Place a set of “eyes” in each cup.  Serve immediately. 



Quick Jaunt to Richmond

October 11-12, Andrew had a Physical Therapy conference in Richmond.  He was elected by his class this summer to be the student representative to the American Physical Therapy Association.

Our friends, Tyler and Bre Okoren, are in Richmond while Tyler completes his MHA at VCU.  They were so kind to let us stay with them and show us around Richmond.

We had quite a rainy day for touring.  We started at St. John's Church where Patrick Henry declared, "Give me liberty or give me death!" at the Second Virginia Convention in the company of Thomas Jefferson and George Washingon.

After that, we went downtown to see the White House of the Confederacy where Jefferson Davis lived with his family during the Civil War. We skipped the tours and had Tyler & Bre fill us in on all the details.  I guess I am just too spoiled by FREE Church History sites to want to fork over $20 a site for a 45-minute tour.  I'll just catch what I missed on Wikipedia.  I wish I was more patriotic.  Wah-wah.

It started to really pour and made touring kind of a bust so we grabbed some lunch at the Mellow Mushroom (uh-mazing pizza coupled with the slo-o-o-o-o-owest service known to mankind) and then decided to check out Richmond's Parade of Homes. 

I wish I had taken more photos (especially of us with the Okorens) but I think we were just having too much fun to slow down and snap any more pix.  We really loved Richmond.  I was in heaven with the shopping (thank you, Short Pump!) and loved having a few more restaurants to chose from.  We can't wait to go back!

Week 23: Our Little Pinball Machine

I really am having a hard time figuring out how I can get a swift kick to the ribs on my right followed closely by a jab to my lower left gut.  This girl is crazy nuts!  Here is a funny series of texts between Andrew & I during this week.

Baby Girl also has a very definite schedule.  She is awake from about 6:30 (when I get up for work) to 8:00 and then settles down until about noon.  She is awake for lunchtime and then back to sleep until work is over at about 5:00.  Snoozing again until 9:00 that night and then it is time for her to really rock and roll!  The only time she really deviates from this schedule is on the days when I am scheduled to do Scaling and Root Planing patients all day (about once a week).  Something about using the ultrasonic scaler just sends her into a tizzy!  She is so funny on those days but I feel sad that I can't let her settle down until after work--poor thing!

 

Baby Girl & I have such a good time together.  I love to talk with her throughout the day.  Poor Andrew has to put up with hearing me constantly chit chat around the house.  Thankfully he doesn't know how much we talk in the car!  I love having a little buddy.  I actually feel badly when I am at work and I can't talk to her when she is moving around in my tummy.  It makes me feel like a neglectful Mom.  Ha ha!

Ghost Pancakes and Caramel Apple Explosion

October 6 was the Sunday of General Conference.  I got up that morning and made Andrew:

7. Ghost Pancakes

Pancake blobs with chocolate chip faces.  I tried to get fancy with the one on the bottom left by giving him a chocolate chip hem on his sheet but it didn't really work.  In the future, I'll just stick with blobs and faces.  Nom nom nom nom.

And remember all those apples that we picked the day before?

They were just perfect for making:

8. Caramel Apple Explosion

What a spectactular Fall treat!  There isn't much of a recipe.  You just slice up the apples (we like them thinner than what your standard apple slicer does) and cover with caramel, Magic Shell, pecans, and toffee bits.  You can top them with anything you would top a caramel apple with but these are our "go-to" toppings.  Don't forget to chill your apple slices in salt and cold water (see last year's post) if you don't want the apples to turn brown.  And we like to pop our finished product in the freezer for about ten minutes to let the Magic Shell harden all the way.

 

What a good way to curl up and enjoy the last session of General Conference!

Speaking of General Conference, I have had a few thoughts and they are rather politically charged so fair warning.

This Fall session of Conference 2013 will be remembered for many things including the "Ordain Women" movement.  There is a group of women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who feel that women should be ordained to the Priesthood and also serve in more leadership roles.  I don't really want to get into what they think and what I think.  But I will say this: I am grateful for the DIVINE and DIFFERENT roles of men and women in growing the Lord's kingdom here on earth.

I am grateful that Andrew holds the Priesthood and is able to administer to our growing family and many others as a servant of the Lord.  I love him so much for being worthy of that responsibility and for serving so selflessly.  Andrew doesn't hold the Priesthood to bless himself.  He can only bless others through it.

I am grateful that I am able to bear children and be a mother.  Andrew has no idea what it is like to feel our little baby girl growing inside, to be aware of this other being CONSTANTLY, to be so tied emotionally and physically to another human being.  I think that is why I wanted him to feel our little baby girl kicking--so that he could also connect with her.  But pregnancy is something that he will never physically experience.  It is such a miracle which he can witness but it's different for me as a mother.

I'm not saying this well at all and my thoughts are all jumbled as I try to record them.  But I do have a testimony of the divine roles that men and women play together in the work of the Lord.  I am grateful that we do not have equal roles but equal parts in the plan of salvation.

Additionally...

(You thought I was going to shut up, didn't you?)

Seeing our little baby wiggling around at her 12-week ultrasound, feeling her kick and squirm inside of me, and seeing how perfectly she was formed at her 20-week ultrasound made me see how ALIVE she was.  It made me believe more strongly than ever that it is such a blessing to bring these miracles to the earth.  They are precious souls that need to be cherished.  I feel that more strongly than ever now.

Apple Picking!

6. Pick fresh fruit at an orchard

Last year it was raspberries at the patch in Payson and this year it was apple picking at an orchard as we continue to rock our family's Fall Bucket List.

October 5 we joined Emily Bingham & her girls, Ryan & Michelle Samples and Cynthia Andrus at Gross Orchards in Bedford, Virginia.  It was a hot, hot, HOT Saturday morning before General Conference.  Upper 80s in October?  We are definitely having an Indian Summer here in Virginia.


Did I mention it was HOT?  We were both such a sweaty, gross mess!

We traipsed up and down the rows of the orchard looking for the perfect apples.  Andrew & I were on a mission to find our favorite--Honeycrisp--since they can be so expensive in the store.  However, I don't know if this orchard was exactly budget-friendly considering our little pick-your-own peck was $14.00.  This is coming from a girl who was spoiled by all the apples she ever wanted from her Grandpa "Apple Jack" Martin.

None of the trees were labeled and so we kept trying to guess the apples that were being picked.  It was a little tricky.  Eventually, Andrew and I gave up and filled our bag with apples that were already picked and sorted by the owners.

We gave our apples a little bath in the kitchen sink with some vinegar and water.  They had a good soak for about 20 minutes (a little trick I saw on Pinterest to remove any lingering pesticides) and a towel dry and now we know just what to do with them!  Stay tuned...