28 Weeks

How far along? 28 weeks.

Total weight gain: currently about 147, so so far I`ve gained 17lbs.

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No.

Sleep: Pretty good. The dog stopped waking me up so that`s a bonus. I think i`m getting used to sleeping on my left more now, so my sleep is more solid. (I`m trying to get him in the best position possible, and left side sleeping only can really help with that.) 

Best moment of the week: Hmm, probably when Mackynzie talks/sings/cuddles him, which is daily now. I just love to hear what she has to tell him.

Miss anything? Maybe just vigorous exercise, but I know that will be back before I know it haha. 

Number of times I get up to pee at night: 1-3

Movement:  Tons. This little one flops and kicks and bounces off my ribs like crazy. Making it hard to tell his positioning, and especially with the anterior placenta. Hoping my midwife can help with the belly mapping, because if he is say, posterior, it's time to start helping him turn the other way for birth. 

Food Cravings: No cravings. I really enjoy savory and hearty meals. and although I like my daily sweets, I like them to be not so sweet and on the healthier side for the most part (dried fruits, smoothies, fruit and raw honey, hot cocoa etc. Then occasionally soft serve.. ;) )

Anything making you queasy or sick: No, not really.

Labor signs: No. I do have quite a bit of braxton hicks waves this time though. I had them with Mackynzie, but they started way earlier this time. I get them almost as soon as I lay on my back too. 

Symptoms: When he has big growth spurts, my hips get thrown out and my nerves get pinched. Especially when I do a lot on my feet in the day like do all the floors, and go for a walk etc. I'm okay with it though because I love knowing i'm growing a big healthy baby!

Belly button in or out? Out

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Very happy!

Looking forward to: So many things! My midwife appointment next week, learning his position, starting the last stretch of birth preparations, meeting this sweet boy, the whole birthing experience, and having our family be complete!

 I decided I wanted to add a little video update each week as well, now that I have entered my last trimester! (How crazy is that?)

Lights, iPhone photos, cookies!

  Often, our weekends come and we end up having a million things to do for such a short two days. It's when we like to hold off for fun activities so we can do them together, and we like doing our errands like grocery shopping together too. Last weekend was no exception. We decided to head to the city and get as much of our Christmas shopping done as we could. We try to squeeze in as much productivity as we can when we go to the city because, a) It's usually a day trip. we live close, but its still a 40 minute drive and ends up taking up almost an entire day when you factor in food stops etc. b) Our truck is not the cheapest in gas, so it gets pricey fast if we go too often. and c) we don't want to have to run back every time we need/want or forget something. for reasons mentioned in a and b. Because we don't go super often, these days are really fun.

Last Saturday we started with breakfast together (at home) and then grabbed smoothies before we hit the road. We got to the mall around 10am, and didn't leave the city until about 5. Our feet were achy, but almost all of our shopping was done, so that's awesome.

Mackynzie and I got a couple of hours of girl time to shop for Cody while he put up christmas lights for someone.  We got snow man cookies, of course.

We met up with Cody for lunch and the rest of our shopping.

 We hurried home so that we could make it in time for our towns holiday kick off and light display. I'm so glad we went. The lights were bigger than usual years, the turn out was great and the night was warm. We sipped hot cocoa while we waited in line with a very eager Mackynzie to see santa clause. (This took us a bit by surprise. We told her santa would be there, but she's not a stranger kid, and we don't feel right forcing her to sit on some guy's lap. She talked about seeing santa all day long at the mall, which was so fun, because it meant she really 'got' it and was creating the base of her christmas magic. It is really exciting to see her bloom, and also to make our own version of the holidays with her.)

 Awkward photo with santa thanks to Mackynzie and santa suggesting daddy be the one to sit on him:

She talks with her hands. This is her explaining what she'd like for christmas:

Mackynzie wanted to get a photo of mama and daddy:

 The evening ended with an awesome fireworks show, and christmas music ringing through the air. It was the perfect way to kick off the season.

27 Weeks

How far along? 27 weeks

Total weight gain: I'm a bit behind, so I don't have an exact weight for this week.

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Not super awesome this week. My dog kept me up nearly every night because she was sick. I'm not a nice pet person at 3 in the morning lol.

Best moment of the week: Again, i'm behind so I don't remember!

Miss anything? No

Number of times I get up to pee at night: 1-3 times

Movement: Tons!

Food Cravings: Nope. Just like savory dishes.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No.

Labor signs: No, but braxton hicks visit me often.

Symptoms: bending over is hard. Heart burn occasionally.

Belly button in or out? Out

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy!

Looking forward to: Meeting this little guy!

Vitamins and Supplements: What we take and how we approach them

 I get asked often if we take any vitamins or supplements. What I take, who takes what in our house, and what am I taking while I'm pregnant. Now that i have a bit of time, I wanted to answer these!

 I'm sorry if you can't watch videos, or if they aren't your cup of tea, but I really like them because they are easier for me. You can expect posts like these to have both video and written parts to them. I'll keep them simple and to the point though.

So to start, yes we do take vitamins in our house. A lot of thought and research goes into our health decisions, and we are always learning new things, so sometimes new items get added or taken away. I'm going to explain more in the video below of what I take/took at different stages of the year and situations for our whole family and why, but here, I will give you a brief list of what we are all currently taking.

For Myself: I take a prenatal vitamin called baby and me herb free by mega food. It's completely natural, gluten free, vegetarian,testing free,soy free, dairy free, farm fresh, and GMO free. I also take vitamin D3,  a 7 billion c.f.u probiotic and a natural vitamin C vitamin.

For Mackynzie: She takes an organic children's multi vitamin called yummy bears organics. They are gluten, dairy, gelatin, and GMO free. (She gets one per day unless fighting a cold or something.). She also takes a childrens natural vitamin D3, and a children's 3 million c.f.u probiotic.

For Cody: He takes the same vitamin C supplement as me, and sometimes a natural multi vitamin, but not often.

For maintaining overall health though, we all make sure to incorporate certain foods daily though, so I would consider it just as important and in the same category as vitamins and supplements. We fully believe you should try your very best to get all your nutrients and vitamins from real food sources (I'll explain why we choose to take vitamins on top of it, in the video below.). We incorporate the following into our diet daily (and we do our best to keep it up as a daily routine!) :

1) dark leafy greens, almost always lightly cooked and paired with a healthy fat (why do we do this?). We consume these in smoothie form- or sometimes. I pre cook leafy greens and blend them all in a huge batch with a healthy fat such as coconut oil or ghee, then place them in ice cube trays. Once frozen I place the cubes in a baggy. We pop 2-3 cubes in either a smoothie or a natural juice like mango or orange for quick greens. (turns into green orange juice, taste is not altered.) Some vegetable heavy days we may skip the green cubes, but most of the time we are busy and need them. Remember how important it is to rotate your greens and not eat too much of the same for a period of time.

2) Home made bone broth. Packed full of nutrients and is just such a super food in itself. We try to consume every day. Either hot with salt and pepper like tea, or incorporated into cooking.

3) healthy fats like coconut oil or avocados. both simple to add and super important for me while I'm pregnant. (I will even mix a spoon full of coconut oil into my hot tea or hot cocoa treat. I'll either snack on an avocado half or add half to my green juice.)

4) *personal preference* We like to have plain Greek yogurt daily for calcium, probiotics and protein. I mix our probiotic into our yogurt.

**Look out for the hilarious photo bomber. Seriously This guy constantly makes me laugh! **


 So that's the basic run down of what we do with vitamins and supplements. Hope it was informative !

House Tour 2013

As promised, here is what our house looks like!

I planned to do this sooner, but we had Cody's giant old desk in the middle of the house waiting for someone to buy it. It finally sold and it left last night, so I grabbed my phone and walked around before it got put off.

 If you are unfamiliar with our living situation, you can check out the original post about that here. Basically though, we are living with Cody's parents (in the basement with shared kitchen area etc upstairs.) and i'll update on that situation below.

A few things:

*This video is so us, lol. I'm not even editing it because I think it gives you a good idea of daily musings at the Miller's.

*There is a lovely part in the middle where I discover I'm filming the wrong way yet again. I always forget to turn my damn phone! (maybe I should actually use the awesome camera I have...)

*Our house is half decorated (including half a popcorn garland on the tree haha)

*I'm tired in the evenings... like really. excuse the under eye bags and messy hair ;)

*You can check out how it looked at the beginning of the year here.

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I wanted to share an update about what our plans our for moving etc, while i'm talking about house stuff.

 Cody and I have decided to stay until after Grayson is born. The original plan was to stay one year (that would be this December.). Then we decided we were going to move in January, right before Grayson. We wanted to move for a lot of reasons. Living with in-laws is hard. Trying to nest when you don't feel at home is hard. Living in a basement is hard.

 We sat and had a long chat about it after several chats that wound up with tears and frustrations. We decided that the issues we were having were solvable. We could make this feel more like a home with a little bit of reorganizing, shopping, and elbow grease. We sat down and talked with his parents (who never wanted us to move in the winter, and like always told us we were welcome for as long as we pleased.) and laid out issues on the table to see if we could all  come to some agreements to make everyone happier (and us comfortable enough to bring a new baby home here.). We felt such a huge wave of relief once we finally made a decision. Staying just made more sense. We wouldn't have to move with me 9 months pregnant. We wouldn't have to move in 3 feet of snow and in the dead of winter. We wouldn't have to deal with finding a house in a very crappy market. Mackynzie wouldn't have to be uprooted and then immediately welcome a new sibling. I would have an extra hand to do things like throw dinner in the oven or let my dogs outside if we stayed.

 With that, we went took a trip to Ikea and a few other places, built things like shelves, storage spaces etc, decorated it to make it feel like us, and set up a space for baby Grayson.

For the first time since moving here, it feels like a home. I don't tell Cody about how much we need to move, and I'm not moping around all depressed. We stayed here to do things like clear every bit of our debt, save for things that are hard to buy when you have a million expenses, learn some life lessons about things like not having too much pride to move home and to grow, and tuck some money away for whatever house we decide to move into. So far we have done all those things, so now we get to relax and prepare for our new baby. The extra money is also a really nice incentive to stay.

 We will move sometime after Grayson is born. I'm not sure when. That will depend on when I feel ready (physically, spiritually, and emotionally) to move after having a baby. It will also depend on when a house pops up for us, and when spring decides to show up. We will be out by the summer at the latest I'm sure.

So ya.. That's a little update on where we are at and why we aren't moving right away. We are happy, and we are so very blessed.

26 Weeks

 Forgot to take a chalkboard pic this week! 

How far along? 26 weeks

Total weight gain: 1lb this week, 14lbs total.

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No new ones

Sleep: It's really good again!

Best moment of the week: I'm starting to get a real feel for his personality now, and I'm starting to really feel certain body parts sticking out, which is just the coolest feeling!

Miss anything? No, not that I can think of.

Number of times I get up to pee at night: 2-4 because I have upped my water intake a lot.

Movement: Tons. I've got another big baby demanding all the space!

Food Cravings: Don't crave, but this weeks favorites are: rooibos tea with almond milk and raw honey and yolky eggs.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No, but I really don't like sweets. Very savory pallet.

Labor signs: No

Symptoms: I get sore hips occasionally. and I think it's just from his growth spurts and obviously my body birth prepping. I also am pretty sure that the leg cramps are due to being on my feet all day on a cement floor.

Belly button in or out? Out!

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Very happy!

Looking forward to: Holding my sweet boy! Specifically in this moment? that first day home with him and our family being complete.


I have to say, I am particularly basket ball shaped with this guy! I was with Mackynzie too, but with him it's much more!

25 Weeks

How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain: 3 more lbs, so a total of 13lbs so far.

Maternity clothes? My version, yes.

Stretch marks? No new ones yet, though i suspect I will get more.. I know my belly is going to get really big in the third trimester and I'm not a very  big person!

Sleep: It's okay. I've been waking and can't get back to sleep some nights (maybe I'm stressed?) but thankfully I don't really feel the nights I wake up randomly. Between my grain intolerance and those nights though, my eyes look pretty exhausted.

Best moment of the week: Every time Mackynzie cuddles my belly and talks to her brother I melt. She is already creating a special bond with this little soul.

Miss anything? Being able to work out hard.

Number of times I get up to pee at night: Anywhere from 0-3 times.

Movement: Tons! Baby boy is getting long.

Food Cravings: I don't crave, honestly... but my favorite foods right now would be: Crispy chicken fingers, raw veggies (only specific ones though for optimal digestion.) with dip, and hot chocolate with coconut oil in it (got to get my healthy fats in!).

Anything making you queasy or sick: No, but I simply don't care for anything not home cooked! There is maybe one restaurant that's an exception for me, and besides that I find it all pretty unappealing
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Labor signs: No

Symptoms: I don't remember having ligament pains in my belly last time. i'm being cautious though, because my placenta is in the front.

Belly button in or out? Out

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy and excited.

Looking forward to: starting the real deal birth preparations. And baby shopping.

My 20 minute go-to Yoga practice sped to view in a minute.

     

   It's been requested several time that I share more yoga stuff. With being pregnant, my practice has become quite modified, so I didn't really know what or how to share, but I decided on a whim to film my quick practice last night. I apologize in advance because my head is cut off, and then Cody adjusted it and it cut off my feet. I'll have to get better at the shooting angle.

 This is my quick 20 minute routine that has been modified to suit my pregnant body. It's sped up so that the entire routine is in 1 minute, just to give an idea of what I do. I took what I liked about of a lot of yoga I do and made my own sort of muscle memory routine. Basically you're seeing 3 modified sun salutes, warrior poses with movement that is paired with the breath, side triangle, balance poses, straight legged stretching, a stretch routine on the floor ( pigeon pose, toe touches etc.), cobblers pose, some side twists, and a short meditation/breathing.

I'll get better with the videos and share more soon.