25

25 weeks today!  I feel really good, just starting to slow down some. 

 
This pregnancy, I'm working out of the house, so I'm seeing more people on a regular basis.  A lot of little observations I had about being pregnant last time are coming back to me, along with some new ones.  I thought I'd share a few, since they've been on my mind.

• The first thing people will do when they see you is try to get a look at your belly.  Most likely, they won’t even bother looking at your face first, and actually greet your belly.  If they do make an effort to look you in the eye to say hi, they will undoubtedly figure out a way to check out your waistline during the conversation.

• Strangers will never be nicer to you than when you’re pregnant.  You’ll actually notice people smiling at you as you pass by instead of the usual eye aversion.

• Coworkers who barely ever said hi to you before will now come out of the woodwork to ask you how you’re doing/feeling and want to share pregnancy or kid stories.

• You can literally eat all day long, and no one looks at you like a fat*ss…in fact, they think it’s cute (well, everyone but your husband, who may or may not look at you like he’s visualizing you as a 200 lb person.  Luckily, this time Tristan is less affected, maybe because I didn’t turn into a house with Mason!)

• On the flip side, they are shocked if they find out you still work out.  Or eat (mostly) healthy.

• The go-to question is always “Are you having any cravings?”

• Baby kicks & hiccups = so cool and fun to feel and see.  Baby rolls = feels like your insides are flipping inside out 
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• You get some of the best comments from the non-filtered mouths of kids.  "Do you still have a baby in your belly?"  "Your belly is getting really big!"  "Is your baby a boy or a girl?  Does he have a name yet?  How come you won't tell me his name?".  
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• On the same token, once you have the baby, those same kids will undoubtedly ask you "If you had the baby already, why is your belly still big?".  For at least 6 months.  
• Only being able to sleep on one side or the other gets really old, really fast.  As does heartburn.
• For some reason, all I want to do is be able to go on a long, sweaty run.  And I really don't like running.  But at least I was able to 6 months ago!

So, what other funny pregnancy observations have you made that I missed?

Del Mar Racetrack

Alana & Matt are planning on moving to Colorado at some point in the next year, so have started to check some things off their "California bucket list", one of those being a day at the Del Mar Racetrack to watch the horse races.  We were originally going to get a sitter for Mason, then decided he would love to watch the horses as much as we do!  So off we went to the racetrack!

With Auntie Alana & Uncle Matt.  Don't they look like the cutest little family here??  I think they should have kids, stat :)

Mason forgot his hat so I let him borrow mine.

We watched a few races from our seats, then all went to the infield to catch a closer view of the horses as they raced by.

Doing our "surprised" faces, goofing off for the camera.

I think this may be "surprised" again, ha!

I caught a great shot of the horses crossing the finish line as our group cheered on.

The Coddaires' group of friends that came down from LA for the races.  Thanks for letting us join in on the fun!

The races were surprisingly kid-friendly, and relatively affordable, so hopefully we'll go a couple times next summer now that we know!

Happy Birthday

Mason loves singing "Happy Birthday".  Most days he will sing it repeatedly, picking a different family member or friend to sing to each time, and of course helping blow out the candles.  Last month Grace & Winslow both had birthdays within a few days of each other, so we sang to both of them one night at dinner.

Florida Trip

So...apparently it's been a full month since I last posted.  Wow.  That can only blamed on the following circumstances:  A 1 1/2 week trip to Florida to visit my family, the Olympics which have sucked my time out of every evening for the last 2 weeks, and the arrival of football season, which means Tristan is on the computer during every minute of every evening.  Oh yeah, and the fact I haven't taken my camera out once in about 2 months.

I did just clean out the photos & videos from my iPhone though, so I'm hoping to give you a few small updates with what I found.  

First up, our trip to Florida.  We spent almost the entire time in my parents pool (when it wasn't raining) or in the living room watching the Olympics (when it was raining), so I don't have a ton of pictures, but here's a small snapshot of how the week went.

Mason was an absolute angel on both cross-country flights, despite them being very long days.  This was the first time we had to purchase a ticket for him, and although that was painful on our wallet, it was amazing for our comfort level.

We did a little bit of coloring.

A little bit of iPad-ing.

A LOT of wiggling and insisting on sitting on mommy's lap (much to baby M's protests).

And a very small amount of sleeping.  This was on our way home, it was about midnight to our bodies and he hadn't napped all day.

 

We were so excited to see Cameron and her mommy Amanda - these two were due 1 day apart, but their birthdays are 3 weeks apart.  We haven't seen them since last fall, and it was so fun seeing how much they've both grown.  We took a short trip to a small local zoo!

 

Auntie Brittany came to visit and they did a lot of catching up :)

This was how you could find us most evenings before bedtime, cuddling and watching Olympic swimming.  Mason loved yelling "ready, set, GO!" at the beginning of the races.

We had a BBQ for all of our friends with kids who we haven't seen in a long time.  It was a GREAT day and I got to catch up with a few great, old friends.  We spent an entire day out by the pool wearing the kiddos out, and then served them up some sugar :)

This is Katie, one of my best friends from high school, and her daughter Aubrey, who's 7 months older than Mason.  She has a new little brother, Layne :)

Kim is another of my best friends from high school and college, and her two adorable boys Michael & Ben.

Baby Layne finally woke up so we took the chance to take a picture with all our kids.  He was born the last week of June.

Speaking of good high school friends, one of my best guy friends from high school, Jonathan, recently moved into my parents neighborhood.  He actually married his high school sweetheart Brook, who was a friend of mine as well.  They not only have an adorable almost-4-year-old, Ava, but Brook delivered their second daughter, Blair, while we were in town.

Meeting 4 day old Blair

Mason & Ava.  They had a blast playing together, and I thought this picture was hilarious.  Kind of reminds me of me & Tristan when Mason was a baby - he'd take the baby while I raced through the grocery shopping.

My dad decided to introduce Tristan to doing stadiums at Ben Hill Griffith, so all of us including my sister & her boyfriend Mike headed over one morning.  Despite being 20 weeks pregnant, I decided to do as much as I could since it's such a great workout.  

My mom tried to stay at the bottom with Mason, but once he saw us climbing to the top, he decided he wanted to join. 

Making his way to the top with Gigi.

Once he got to the top, he popped a squat with my mom's iPhone, with his back to the stadium.  Apparently that awesome view is not appreciated at 2 years old.

Hey guys, wait up!

Phew, that was exhausting!

 The stadiums crew!  I'd like to also point out that it was approximately 95 degrees out, with 100% humidity.  Stadiums in Florida is no joke!  You'll also notice Brittany's boyfriend is absent from this picture.  He chose to take it, as he went to FSU and would rather die than take a picture with Tebow :)

We also had some great southern BBQ during our trip...

Played a little too hard...

Spent lots of time with grandmas...

And ate lots and lots of sweets, courtesy of Gigi.   But really, what's a trip to grandma & grandpa's without treats??

Till next time, Gainesville!  Hopefully, next time won't be Florida in July :)