20Oct 2014

Every Day I’m Swaddlin’

By K + Z 1 Activities, Family, Personal, Pregnancy Permalink 0

This week we took our last perinatal class at the University of Utah Hospital. It was a basic labor and birth / infant care class. We went through the stages of labor, coping and breathing techniques, and the finale for me was watching Zach swaddle a baby doll.

I didn’t hate the pressure points that we were shown to counteract labor pains. I really didn’t hate massage techniques, also…

We finished the night at Pizzeria Limone discussing our game plan. I am grateful we have driven to the hospital a couple of times together now and have taken a little tour of labor and delivery. It’s a few less things we will be frazzled about when it’s “go time”.

Friday I had my 35 week [plus some days] appointment which means now I will be going to appointments every single week until I deliver. All is well with the babe. Afterward my appointment I went straight to our clubhouse and ran 3.1 miles on the treadmill!

I treated baby girl and myself with an ice cream cone from McDonald’s before going home. I shared my accomplishment with Zach and he surprised me when he got home from work with these gorgeous flowers and a sugar cookie from Swig. 49er fans will get his insightful note…

He took me on a date for dinner and to a movie I’ve been wanting to see. Brad Pitt + WWII has me written all over it!

Saturday my USU Interior Design program friends had a baby brunch for me at Market Street Grill in Cottonwood. Whitney made the most darling invitations you’ve ever seen with macarons on them and Martha had a friend make macaron favors that matched exactly! Not only were they darling – but they tasted like heaven!

They spoiled me with such nice gifts and it was so much fun catching up! We don’t see each other often enough. I was explaining to them that I worry about going into labor because I am concerned Zach will not recognize the girl he married. Zach and I get along really well and it is very seldom that we fight or argue. This group of people have seen me have worse freak-outs that my own husband! That’s when you know your friends are tried and true, I guess: loving you after they have been with you for all-nighter after all-nighter. I’m so grateful to have them!

Late Saturday night Zach went to Wendover with his friends for a Bachelor Party. I got restless so I went and ran a bunch of errands. I got everything on our health list for the babe – medicine, hand sanitizer, batteries, all that stuff. Then I went to the grocery store and got a bunch of food for Zach and I. I have already stocked our pantry with a bunch of non-perishable food items [including Zach’s revolting favorite – Velveta Cheese & Shells] but decided to stock up on some other stuff to make some freezer meals. Zach didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning from his man extravaganza which left me with plenty of time to make some healthy frozen stuff. I made two dozen breakfast muffins and a pile of egg white/spinach/avocado breakfast burritos.

At our birth class she talked to us about signs that the baby is close to coming. There were the gross and revolting signs and then there was the whole nesting thing. She told us it could happen up to a week before the baby comes. Zach told our instructor that I had been nesting since I was 14 weeks, so this was not an accurate gauge for us at all…

35 weeks. This is not my finest weekly picture. Let’s just say it was a last minute pic taken to fulfill said weekly picture update. Let’s hope 36 weeks looks a little bit better! I will say that I have come to realize that everyone is so different. I keep waiting for this bump to evolve into a cute, round bump like all my friends and family members have had. But thus far it hasn’t happened. I am literally an egg. I am carrying her low and far back, so instead of a cute, round bulge I have an egg for a belly. It slopes upwards from my belly button and kind of dissipates. I envy those cute knocked-up mamas who have perfectly round, orbs for bellies. Because mine is starting to blend into my boobs at this point…

13Oct 2014

34 // Shower Power

By K + Z 2 Activities, Family, Food, Friends, Pregnancy Permalink 0

Zach and I have started a little tradition. At least until the baby comes. M and M – Mexican and a movie. Tuesday nights we go get Mexican [fulfills a current craving and Zach never minds] and go to a $5 Tuesday movie at the Cinemark. It’s a win-win for both of us. This week we went to Lonestar for some red snapper fish tacos.

We were also the only ones in the theater – which meant we could lounge out and had the best seats in the house!

Wednesday was my Henderson family shower at my sister-in-law Gina’s house. My mother-in-law and sister-in-laws went all out! They decorated the house from top to bottom in the most darling Halloween decor. It was a “Welcome Little Ghoul” theme. My only assignment was to wear a pumpkin shirt…

The food was delicious and baby girl got seriously hooked up with some amazing gifts! Darling and beautiful clothes and awesome gadgets. Babies come with a lot of gadgets, I have discovered. Also, not pictured, were the amazing favors Aunt Wendy and her daughters made – Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory apple pie caramel apples. They were darling!

The Hendersons have done so much for Zach and I. We feel we can’t express our gratitude for the support that we have received. I am so lucky to have married into such an incredible family…

Thursday was my neighborhood/ward shower thrown by my two neighbors and BFFs. Lindsey hosted it at her house and her and Jenn went all out with the most darling theme and decor! The colors matched baby girl’s nursery, they had a crepe bar for refreshments, and the favors were French macarons!

I get super emotional when I think about these two. People ask me why I love living in North Salt Lake so much. The location is great, yes, but the people are what have made this neighborhood so amazing. Jenn and Lindsey have blessed my life so much already. They answer my awkward mom-to-be questions, give great advice, and make me feel like I have two amazing people in my corner always. I love them.

So many sweet women in my ward showed up, even some that used to be in the ward before they moved away and before our giant ward split.

I got some very useful and practical gifts [which I am so grateful for] because I seriously have no idea what I am doing! Any advice – and an ice pack from Trishia – was so appreciated!

My sweet friends from up north also came, which meant so much!

I hope one day I can repay all these amazing women in my ward for all they have done for me! I love living in Foxboro.

Friday Zach had a whole evening planned for us in Park City. He surprised me by getting off work a little early, taking me to the outlets, and taking a ride up to the resort to see the changing leaves.

That night we dined at the Grill at the St. Regis – one of the best meals I have had in a long time. If you have a chance to go, please get the fried mac n’ cheese. You won’t regret it. Zach got that along with a giant pork chop. I got a hawaiian fish over spaghetti squash. Even though we never order dessert, we ordered the salted caramel sundae [with popcorn] and ate the entire thing.

Saturday morning was my Fotheringham family shower at my Aunt Sharon’s house. Sharon made this adorable diaper cake with the cutest headband and shoes on top!

Instead of a game, my family members decorated pages of an ABC book to be laminated and given to baby girl! It was such a fun idea and I am sure she will love looking at all the hand-drawn pictures. I got “D” and drew a picture of Zach for “DAD”.

The rest of Saturday was spent running errands. I had some gift cards to spend and Zach braved Target and Walmart with me to get some last minute things on our baby list. We dined at Setebello afterwards in Farmington and afterwards grabbed a bag of movie theater popcorn [Zach’s dessert].

34 weeks done and gone. Two more weeks [because apparently you aren’t full term until 37 weeks nowadays] until I am full term and five weeks until my due date. I really can’t complain about pregnancy at all. My symptoms compared to others are nothing. Other than the occasional tongue and lips numbness and bulging veins, things are great. I’d rather have bulging veins than swelling, to be honest, so I can’t even count that as a bad symptom. And I am sure Zach secretly loves when my tongue and lips go numb. He gets a break from his chatterbox wife every now and then. I have, however, decided to take a real break for “maternity leave”. Although I work from home and have my own schedule, I’ve decided to do a couple weeks of radio silence. AKA email silence. I feel like baby girl and I will only benefit from it and it will give me some time to figure out what the hey I need to do to get this whole mom thing down. I will have plenty of time later to catch up on emails and work projects. Bringing a new baby home only happens once [or a few times, I guess] in your life. I’m going to enjoy it!

34 weeks

06Oct 2014

Gonna Be a Mummy // 33

By K + Z 0 Activities, Family, Food, Personal, Pregnancy Permalink 0

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. It’s starting to cool down, there is pumpkin flavored everything, and all is a little bit cozier. We spent a lot of time this week with family because of General Conference weekend and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mid week I had a lunch date with my grandpa and cousins at Johnniebeefs. My grandpa is obsessed with this place. He says the hot dogs are authentic, just like the ones he had in Chicago in 1945. Unfortunately, I opted out and got a chicken burger. But they looked delicious!

I also spent some time each night this week washing baby girl’s clothes, blankets, and sheets. It took hours. Probably the most time consuming part of prepping for baby so far. It didn’t help that I have been a little exsessive in the clothing department. Zach and I put the rest of her room together between conference sessions. Now all we need in that crib is a little person…

We also went out twice this week on a date to dinner and a movie – once again, trying to get those date nights in before she comes is one of Zach’s priorities.

Saturday while all the men were at Preisthood Session we had my Pollock/Ross family shower. It was a “mummy-to-be” theme and everyone dressed up! My aunt and cousins made all this delicious food and had everything completely decked out in Halloween decor. It was so much fun and baby girl was spoiled again. Not only with amazing hand-made gifts but with pumpkin cupcakes (her and I had two).

My favorite costumes were my mom’s cousins (my second cousins) who dressed up as biker chicks! They wore all that leather the majority of the night, which alone was impressive!

I love my family and am once again humbled by the support they have shown Zach and I. I couldn’t ask for better people in my life.

Sunday was lazy and glorious. No make-up and dressed in our “comfy cozies” – that’s what my nieces call pajamas. I let Zach sleep in until the first session of conference while I worked on a person project. It will eventually be for baby girl. I haven’t done any watercolor for a while and Sunday morning was the perfect time to get going on it. My skills are rusty, but I enjoyed it so much.

Sunday afternoon my mom and dad came over to our house for the last session of conference. We listened while folding all of the bambino’s clothes that I had spent all week washing.

After the session the guys turned on the 49ers game as quickly as possible and my mom and I finished up dinner. We had manicotti – Zach’s request – and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We also did an estimated arrival date for baby girl. Each family member [including Zach’s parents via text message] guessed a date. If Zach or I win, we get to be taken out for dinner. If anyone else wins, we take them out to dinner – the three of us!

Please notice my own father’s date – Nov. 25th. That puts me at 41 weeks and when I will have an induction scheduled, most likely, if I go that long. Thank you to everyone else who had a little mercy on me. Zach seems to think that if my due date is the 18th, she will come on the 18th and that day only.

Week 33. Seems like work stuff and baby stuff have consumed my life lately, as it should. I spend my daytime hours working on freelance and other work projects and my afternoons and evenings [with Zach’s help] setting up all the baby swag. I have this mega master baby-to-do checklist and there are not very many things left on it. In less than a month I will full-term and it’s tripping me out!

Here’s to being 8 and a half months knocked up tomorrow! 34 weeks, here I come!

29Sep 2014

“Normal” Crazy

By K + Z 0 Family, Friends, Personal, Pregnancy, Projects Permalink 0

While in Charleston, my sister-in-law and I had a pretty funny conversation that has stuck with me for the last few weeks. We were talking about the last few months and how crazy they have been. Usually, well at least for Zach and I, things are already crazy. But lately, things have been an abnormal amount of hectic and busy. I kept saying that with my brother’s wedding, our Girls’ Trip to Charleston, some giant work projects, and with some big baby stuff out of the way – hopefully my life can go back to “normal” crazy. Just the right amount of busy that you don’t go insane, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, this week was not back to normal. But we did get a lot accomplished and checked some big stuff of our to-do lists!

Monday when Zach got home from work we rushed off to our breast feeding class at the University Hospital. It was almost a 3 hour class and Zach braved the entire thing with me and didn’t complain once. Even after seeing all the strange nipples in the instructional video. Our only details on the class before attending were that spouses were encouraged to join and we could bring snacks if we wanted. As soon as I mentioned snacks, Zach perked right up. He asked if he could bring In N Out Burger to the class. I am a horrible wife and refused.

Even without his double double, he was such a great sport…

I have had the opportunity to work on some very fun projects the last few months, but some are still in the works. Some, however, have finally come to the point of being public. I got to design a fun Halloween Party invitation for a friend that I worked on the La Caille bridal shoot with. She throws a giant bash every year and this Halloween the theme is Arabian Nights!

Also, the company I have been helping with graphic work, Lemmon Lane, has officially launched their website and products! I did their branding and also helped them create all the production files for their pillows and building blocks. Their stuff is to die for!

Tuesday I taught a mini lesson at our Relief Society activity on design in your home. I haven’t been to a RS activity since I was in the presidency! I miss seeing the ladies in our ward outside of our three hour church block. It was a lot of fun!

When I first found out I was pregnant I made a fitness goal for myself. Sounds stupid, but without goals in my life I feel like I become stagnant. So I set a goal for myself: maintain multiple mile runs until I was 8 months pregnant. I accomplished this goal Wednesday! I ran a 5k (3.1 miles) on the treadmill. I have been doing this a couple times a week up until now, but it has been gradually getting harder. Not necessarily uncomfortable, just harder. I was so happy when the treadmill read 3 miles that I started to cry. Sounds ridiculous, but goals make me a better person…

I looked pretty foolish to my random gym mates, I am sure, crying on the treadmill.

Baby girl and I made it! I even said to myself, out loud, “We did it!” and snapped a pic to commemorate my accomplishment. I drank four bottles of water and then promptly drove to Swig to reward myself [and baby] with a sugar cookie! My egg-shaped self managed to do it – and plan to continue to run – until I can’t anymore. I think exercising has helped my pregnancy immensely and even though I get some weird looks on the treadmill, working out has been the best thing for me.

The nursery is almost finished. At least the “big stuff”. Other than hanging a few hooks, setting up a few of her random necessities, and washing and organizing – we are good to go! I hung all the artwork for her gallery wall above her changing table this week. It was my last difficult task to do on my nursery list.

Friday Zach and I went out on a date for dinner and a movie. We are taking advantage of this last month [plus some weeks] by trying to go out on a date a least once every week. We alternate on who gets to pick dinner and who gets to pick the movie. It’s a good thing, too, because I would pick Mexican food every time if it were up to me!

Saturday I had my very first baby shower. It was thrown by my closest high school friends and held at my friend Brittney’s house. I was so overwhelmed by all that they did to make it so special. I can’t thank them enough for all the work they put into it. I feel so lucky!

And how cute are these Diet Coke cans…? Britt is a vinyl master. My friend Whitney also made all of these amazing treats – including homemade Swig sugar cookies!

Thank you to everyone who came and helped! I know how much work goes into showers and it is not easy. I teared up all the way home thinking of how blessed I have been all these years to have these girls in my life.

8 months down. Feeling large. Our hospital bags are almost completely packed. I also filled out a birth plan this week and about had a coronary trying to weigh my options on what to do and when to do it. And what to do if and when those things don’t happen. I know I can do it as long as I have Zach there alongside me, keeping me focused. Now if I can just keep him from sneaking away and going to In N Out Burger while I’m in labor…

21Sep 2014

I’ve Just Seen a Face

By K + Z 0 Family, Personal, Pregnancy Permalink 0

This week was a hard one for me. I had my 31 week appointment and my doctor told me she wanted me to get a special ultrasound to check the growth of baby girl. I am not measuring normal, and even though I know that it is because I am carrying her far in my back, I still was sick about it. Sounds stupid, I know…I realize people get these all the time – some people get multiple growth ultrasounds during their pregnancies, but I still was worried. Mostly because I had joked all this time about Zach and I having a midget baby and felt now that it was really happening. Also, it seemed as though everything with this pregnancy had been going so well that something bad was bound to happen, eventually. They scheduled my appointment for Thursday morning.

It was basically a replica of my 20 week anatomy scan. It was much quicker and I got the same tech as I had at my previous ultrasound, who I loved. Turns out all the heartache was pointless because baby girl is perfectly fine. She is actually measuring a week early! It was a huge relief to me knowing that all was well and I feel incredibly crazy for feeling so worried.

By complete coincidence I had scheduled a 4D ultrasound later that evening, weeks prior. After the good news earlier that morning I began to get really excited to see what she looked like. As soon as Zach got home from work we left for Fetal Fotos.

I’m a huge Beatles fan, thanks to my dad. Baby girl has a few subtle hints in her nursery, even. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw our little girl’s face was the song “I’ve Just Seen a Face”. Zach grabbed my hand and I have never felt anything like this particular feeling before. All this time she has been weird skeletal images on a screen, and now she was a really tiny human. Our tiny human! With eyes that could open and close, hands that were grabbing her toes, and HAIR! My baby has HAIR! I was completely bald when I was born (and Zach didn’t have too much more hair than I did) so I was elated at the fact that we could see her tiny tufts of hair on the back of her head. No words can describe it, honestly. That’s why the song kept playing over and over in my mind, I think.

I’ve just seen a face
I can’t forget the time or place
Where we just meet
She’s just the girl for me
And I want all the world to see
We’ve met…

Fallin’, yes I am fallin’
And she keeps callin’
Me back again…

19Sep 2014

Paris Maternity Photos

By K + Z 2 Personal, Pregnancy, Vacation Permalink 0

Here are our maternity photos that we had taken in Paris. I still can’t believe they turned out [considering how random and last minute it all was]. We decided to meet our photographer at the Pont des Arts. We then made our way down to the water, then over to the Louvre, and a nearby garden plaza last. Our photographer wanted to take the photos without all the tourists, so we had to meet her at 7:00 am. The sun was barely up and it was freezing, but we are thrilled at how they came out.

The scenery and the locations are so special to the both of us, which make these photos even more meaningful…