Week 35

Week 35!

Five weeks - or thirty-five days (!!!) - left. Craziness.

Size of Baby // My Pregnancy says M² is over 18 inches long and weighs about 5 1/4 pounds. At the grocery store she'd be comparable to a honeydew melon. 

Cravings // Give me all the fruit. In four days Marcus and I inhaled four bags of grapes. I'm also downing cantaloupe and peaches at an alarming rate. Popsicles are a new found love, and are quite possibly food from the gods.

Symptoms // I keep thinking I'm having all of these symptoms that indicate the start of labor. However, I've been assured by Scott (along with the obvious fact that I am indeed NOT in labor) that this is all merely wishful thinking on my part. 

I'm also fully aware that a few more weeks of M² cooking is a good thing. I'm just to the point where I'm done with being pregnant. But, it's reassuring to know IF I did go into preterm labor M² would likely be fine.

Movement // The movements themselves are large and often painful. If my right ribs come out of this pregnancy unscathed it will be a miracle. But, I don't think there's a whole lot of room to really flip around anymore. 

Miss Anything // Just the stuff I've been missing for the last few weeks. Nothing really stands out this week.

Sleep // Meh. I've certainly had better sleep, that's for sure. 

Clothing // Many of my maternity tops are almost too small. I'm thisclose to raiding Scott's t-shirts for the last few weeks. 

Best Part of the Week/ Looking Forward To… // 

1. The 4th proved to be a lot of fun with friends who were generous to host a BBQ/pool party. Marcus experienced fireworks and sparklers, thus checking off more from our Bucket List. I didn't take many pictures, but we had a great time celebrating. 

Thanks to our friend, Julie, for taking these pics.

Did I get in on the sparkler action? Heck yes.

2. This afternoon we'll take a peek at M² to see if she's breech (like I think she is), or if she's head down. Fingers crossed the little lady isn't as stubborn as her brother was (is), and knows which way she's supposed to be positioned. I'm also hoping we'll get a 4D look at the little lady at this appointment. 

3. My mom is in town for a few days!! Last night she and I headed to Hollywood to catch Phantom of the Opera. It was just as amazing as I remember it. And, now we have all sorts of fun planned for the rest of Grandma's stay (think, finishing M²'s room and completing more bucket list items)!

Have a great weekend!

The Time We Went to the Zoo...

Growing up I loved, loved, loved zoos. I'm pretty sure zoos were half the reason I thought I wanted to become a veterinarian when I grew up (and then I discovered biology, chemistry, and the like, and promptly re-evaluated my life plan).

I also have to note that I grew up going to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. If you've never been you have no idea what you're missing. It's consistently at the top - sometimes THE top zoo - in the nation (last year it was ranked the top zoo in the world). So, my zoo bar is set pretty high.

So naturally I had these huge hopes and aspirations when I planned Marcus' and my trip to the Los Angeles Zoo. 

Our inaugural trip went like this...

We fought the 110 freeway traffic for nothing short of an eternity. Reached the zoo parking lot just as the gates were opening. Found a killer parking spot (under a tree - my car would be in the shade most of the morning - praise the Lord). 

Bribed Marcus with Reese's Pieces if he would just stand still in front of the gates and flash a convincing "cheese." 

You can have all the Reese's Pieces, buddy.

Viewed a few animals. 

Left: Flamingos. Obviously.
Upper right: That fish followed Marcus' hand when Marcus moved it across the glass. I'm convinced the fish thought Marcus' fingers were worms.
Lower right: The view finders were probably a bigger hit than the animals.

I didn't take all that many pictures. Honestly, I don't find pictures of the back of my child's head looking at an animal 200 feet away all that interesting. And, if you've seen one picture of a lion in a zoo you've seen them all.

Roughly an hour into our trip, and several ginormous hills hiked (damn, that zoo has some steep hills), Marcus informed me he wanted to go home. He wanted to go to The Cube. He really wanted to go home.

I refused to give up hope that Marcus would magically change his tune and suddenly become the zoo enthusiast I was hoping he'd be. 

A few more animals were viewed. Some even slightly entertained Marcus (the screeching, pissed of momma chimpanzee was a show stopper). 

Upper left: More view finding fun.
Lower left: A gorilla (sitting on the right) ignores all the gawking people, Marcus doesn't seem to know a gorilla is behind the glass...
Right: More bribing for the slightest of smiles.

But, after our second hour I knew I wasn't gaining any ground. I'd pulled the last little bit of life out of our zoo trip and Marcus was over it.

Clearly the zoo trip wasn't exactly how I had envisioned it in my head. But, it was still fun pointing out the animals, asking what animals Marcus liked the most, and getting out of the house to do something a little different. 

The odds are very high that his smile was because we were on our way out.

With that said, I'm not sure we'll be making any more zoo trips this summer...

The zoo might not have been the success I was hoping, but we can cross it off the Bucket List and perhaps give it a go next year.

The Cube

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Each time I take a look at our Bucket List and then our calendar I freak out only slightly. I mean, we've done so much already this summer, but there is still so much more I want to do. So, we've been keeping extra busy trying to cross off as many items as possible before our days of just Marcus and Mommy end.

The Discovery Cube has been on my must-see/do list for the longest time and I finally made time to get there.

From the minute we walked in both Marcus and I were in awe. There was just so much to see and do!

We experienced:

Touching a tornado.

Spinning ping pong balls round and round until they dropped into a funnel.

Went on a dinosaur excursion, complete with our very own pointer stick.

Saw a water funnel.

Hit a few pucks and "drove" a Zamboni.

Got up close with Mother Earth.

Were mesmerized by blowing sand and the formations it made.

Moved sand around to see how topographical maps look and change.

Played with "smoke" and made it "poof."

Along with about 300 other hands on exhibits that I didn't take any picture of.

However, the ping pong exhibit (which reminded me a lot of the game Mouse Trap) was the show stopper. We went back to the ping pongs over and over and over and over.

Watching Marcus move from one exhibit to the next was easily the most amazing part for me. Seeing the wonder in his eyes as he manipulated and maneuvered things to see how they worked, or watched how they changed was pretty spectacular. Being able to set him loose in a place where I didn't have to say no to anything, and encouraged hands on activity to everything was simply the best. We both left The Cube with the biggest smiles on our faces.

My only regret is that we hadn't made the trip to The Cube sooner.

Since our little adventure Marcus has asked literally every. single. day. (for over a week now) if we can go back to The Cube. Lucky for him we have another trip lined up this week, along with a few other Bucket List items we need to check off. 

Happy Marcus Monday!

Red, white, and blue is among my favorite clothing color combos.

Last week was the perfect opportunity to rock said threads every. single. day.

We hope you had a fabulous Independence Day!

Happy Monday!

Linking up with some pretty fabulous ladies for #StarSpangledKids!

Week 34

Six weeks to go. SIX.

Size of Baby // According to My Pregnancy, M² is about 4 3/4 pounds (apparently that's the average weight of a cantaloupe), and is almost 18 inches long. 

Cravings // Grapes. Oh my 'lanta. Marcus and I polished off two big bags of grapes in less than 48 hours. Whoops... Also newly discovered, a love of big, fat, juicy peaches. Give me all the peaches. 

Symptoms // The nightly leg cramps. The Braxton hicks. The peeing. The normal stuff. This past week has been super humid for California, and I've noticed my rings are more snug than they usually are. And, it's super subtle, but the linea nigra is definitely making an appearance. 

Movement // They're big and they're all the time. I've noticed more frequent hiccups, those have kept me up a few nights, too.  
I've noticed a change in the placement of M²'s movements, and I'm a little concerned she has flipped to the breech position. We have another appointment next week to find out. Fingers crossed and prayers said that she's still head down.

Miss Anything // I am so over being so hot. So, so, so over it. My normal bodily thermostat can return aaaaaaany day now. 

Sleep // This week has been miserable. Between being so freaking hot, leg cramps, peeing, and not being able to fall asleep after remedying said ailments, sleep has been nothing short of terrible. 

Clothing // I found a couple pair of running skirts that I can still comfortably fit in - aka stretch out - see above photo. I'm still rotating the same few tops and bottoms that actually fit. It will be interesting to see what I can actually wear, and keep my stomach covered, in the next few weeks. 

Best Part of the Week/ Looking Forward To… // 

1. This weekend! We have a few fun things planned for the 4th, and I can't wait for some good ol' fireworks.

2. We continue to cross items off our Bucket List. We've also done/seen a few things that weren't on the bucket list, but probably should have been.

• Bucket List item: Ride the Red Trolley Car. 

I'm so glad we've made time for the trolley (twice in one weekend!). We learned on our first trip that the Red Trolley will be going out of service - for good - at the end of September. We'll be riding as much as possible until then!

• Non-bucket list: Street Fairs

We've been to two street fairs this summer, and Marcus has the best of times on those creepy, scary, (are we sure they're totally safe?) carnival rides. 

• Non-bucket list: Seal Day - Marine Mammal Rescue Center Open House

Near us is a marine mammal care center where they rehab seals and sea lions, as well as care for birds who fall victim to oil spills. They had a cute little open house which involved kiddie games, a touch tank, taking a look at the rehabbing animals, and a sno cone truck. 

3. My mom comes next week! There is so much I want to get accomplished with her, like finally finish M²'s room and take her on several of our bucket list adventures. But the one thing just she and I are going to do is see Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages in Hollywood. I don't even know how many times I've seen this Broadway production, but I adore it. Eep!

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Have a safe and fabulous Independence Day weekend! 

Things That Go

When I put together our Summer Bucket List I knew thought some of our to-do activities would just kind of be morning and afternoon 'fillers.' Things that would entertain us for 20-30 minutes, tops, and then leave us moving along to our next activity and adventure.

I was beyond blown away when two of our would-be 'fillers' ended up being practically all morning excursions.

The Los Angeles Maritime Museum

We live near the L.A. Port which is home to a small maritime museum. I'd heard there were some cool exhibits and even a small children's area. So, one uneventful morning I packed us up and away we went to check it out.

Naturally, the place was filled with all sorts of maritime goodies. Among my favorites were the large replicas of ships and boats.

Marcus was a pretty good sport, checking out all the things I was hoping we could at least get quick glimpses of.

The display on the left reminds me of Men of Honor.

We managed to ding every bell we spotted and spin every captains wheel we could reach.

But, it was the small but adorable children's area that really won Marcus over.

I even had Marcus agree to try on some of the dress up clothes.

For nearly 90 minutes Marcus played with the little toy area that resembled the port which we live near.

Maybe there's a future of ships, instead of garbage trucks, in the little man's future...?

The Lomita Railroad Museum

Our second unexpected and pleasant surprise came in the form of locomotives.

While the museum itself was pretty small, it contained a plethora of info on all things trains. 

Obviously, Marcus and his best friend weren't too concerned with the train displays. They were pretty content playing with each other at the train table as well as checking out the real, big trains.

Several different types of trains and cars were on the museum grounds. Most of which we could actually get on and check out.

The engine (pictured below) was massive. There were signs indicating that no touching was allowed. With a million knobs and curious three-year olds, yeah. right.

The kids might have loved the train-tracks-to-nowhere the most, though. I have no idea how many times they ran up and down the tracks, but it was enough to make me tired just watching them.

Growing up I was kind of obsessed with The Boxcar Children books (anyone else read and love those books?). So, it came as no shock to me that I found the boxcar to easily be my favorite. Even though we couldn't go into it I thought it was the coolest of them all. 

I anticipated we'd be in and out of the railroad museum in 30 minutes. Nope. An hour and a half later we were finally packing up and moving on to more summer fun. 

Our Summer Bucket List is moving right along. I was worried we might not be able to complete everything I conjured up. But, at the rate we are going we just might get them all in before M² arrives!