A Lake Trip, a 10k, and a Growth Spurt ... All in 1 week?

Oh man, the weeks are flying now! I never thought I would say that, but alas. I shall eat my own words. I truly love being pregnant. I sure do miss certain foods, and other random delights of non-pregnant folk, but I can't complain. This is the greatest gift/blessing ever. Totally jumping ahead of myself here, but, at one point this past weekend, I felt this little guy move/kick/jab/roll- so I pressed on my stomach where I thought I felt him, and sure enough, he did the same movement again against my fingers. Oh I just loved it. I'm sure he was super irritated that I was squishing his home, but, he's gonna have to get used to it! I like playing with him too much to stop!! Where to start....

Last week is kind of a blur now. All I recall is that I was extremely paranoid that I had hurt this little boy by accident while moving furniture between rooms the weekend before. I had felt him move around, and then for a couple days, felt nothing at all and I couldn't handle it. After being convinced by 2 girls at work that I should just run over to the doctor and have them check for a heart beat, I called and they got me in within about 30 minutes of that phone call. I LOVE MY DOCTOR. They could have easily turned me down as it was the day before a holiday weekend. They could have told me I was being irrational because I shouldn't be feeling baby consistently yet, but she just said come straight up to my office and I'll get you in. No checking in. No insurance garbage. Just honest, sweet, nurses. She said it happens all the time and that I didn't need to apologize or feel bad about it. I laid down, heard the heartbeat, sighed with relief and left the office. I was probably away from work for 40 minutes total! This includes travel time. So, to sum up, it was so nice to go into a long weekend knowing that baby was okay and heart was beating just fine!

The weekend was truly FULL OF ACTIVITY and MISSING SLEEP! I am exhausted. I needed one more day to wind down before starting work again. Saturday morning started early with Nick's alarm going off at 6:30 to head off to the golf course. Light sleeper here, woke up right along side him and decided to start the day. YUK. I had eaten breakfast and worked out by 9:30am. My mom and I went downtown to the Expo in order to pick up our numbers for the Peachtree Road Race. That was eventful, to say the least. We had lunch at Zoe's Kitchen and then hung by the pool for a little while before I left to shower. Nick and I then went to our niece's 6th birthday party which was fun. My sister-in-law is about a week ahead of me in her pregnancy so we always have a lot to talk about/compare notes on! I had 2 servings of pasta. 2 servings of dessert. Snacks in between. Yes, I am into the hunger state of pregnancy.

After dinner, we went to a movie and didn't get home until about midnight. Sunday morning was early as usual for Church, which was AWESOME. Unbelievable message from Andy. If you didn't hear it, you should go to northpoint.org and listen to "The Separation of Church and Hate." It was a message geared towards North Point's political decision making etc., but it had applications across the board and even into parenting. I was RAPIDLY taking notes as fast as I could. From Church, we headed straight up 400 to meet some friends at Lake Lanier. They were generous enough to take us out on their boat and provide a DELICIOUS lunch lakeside! It was wonderful. We tooled around the lake, parked, swam/floated, ate, relaxed. It was an ideal way to spend the holiday weekend. I am slowly getting more and more disgusted by my body in a bikini, but not ready for the tankini quite yet! While I was swimming, and my stomach was protruding, a fish came and BIT my little mole above my belly button. AND IT BLED. I was irritated by this fish. Bad story, but there you go. We drove home from the lake and then went out to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to my parents house. We crashed there and then all woke up around 5:15am to pack it up and head downtown to the Peachtree Road Race. NO REST FOR THE WEARY!

Group shot! This is our 4th year with the same group! Love them all! Such troopers!

After riding Marta, we got to the race with about 45 minutes to spare. I spontaneously ran into Molly, which believe me, you cannot plan on meeting someone there if you WANTED TO! Snapped a quick photo with her and then we all had to break and get to our specified starting blocks!

I was in A which meant I got to take off with the first wave of runners right at 7:30. It was great. Still shady. Pretty cool. And I got to see North Point's Band perform the National Anthem! It was awesome! It took me until 8:40 to finish the 6.2 mile run, but I was able to job the entire time and felt GREAT. I felt so accomplished. It wasn't record breaking time. In fact, it was a good 30 minutes slower than last year's pace, but I felt good about finishing without walking! I racked up on the free food from all of the Publix tents and then headed up the hill to wait on the rest of the family to finish. I'm sure people at the race were judging me for running while pregnant, but, I really felt okay the whole time and BELIEVE ME, I AM ONE TO WORRY! We ended up getting home abound 11:30, ate lunch, and then all crashed by the pool. This was the afternoon, while floating on a raft, that I felt that movement, twice! It was wonderful. It was also at this point that I noticed my stomach had FINALLY popped out overnight! One of my pregnant friends told me it would happen like that and it did! I was so happy to see it sticking out there! Supposedly little peanut is the size of a small cantaloupe now! Isn't that crazy!?

Well, the wonderful weekend of activity didn't stop there. We went home around 4 to shower up and regroup for a night that was supposed to be full of fun, food, and fireworks. It turned into fun and food but no fireworks as the storms rolled in and were pretty constant from about 8-10. We enjoyed just spending time with friends though (and secretly enjoyed crawling into bed earlier than expected!) We were exhausted and still are!

Next Monday (a week from yesterday) we will be heading in for our 20 week Ultrasound. I am so excited for Nick to see his son move around on the monitor. I just know it will be so real to him, if it isn't already! There is just something magical at peeking in on your baby inside of you. I guess its just the fact that you are eye witnesses to a miracle! I cannot wait to see the little boy! Its been far too long!

Here is the most recent photo of the BUMP! 19 weeks 4 days. Look out ... its growing at a rapid pace now!

The verse that I want to jot down today is more for Nick and I as we parent. The blue sections is what I would like to impress upon this little boy as we raise him, the rest is for his mom and dad!

It comes out of Dueteronomy 6:4-7

"Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on their children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."