16 weeks!

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant! 24 weeks left!

(actually, today I am 16 weeks and 4 days... We've had a busy week getting ready for England, meeting new newborn friends and celebrating the end of chemo for a dear friend)

I'm hoping that I'll get a good smiley MK picture at some point in the next 24 weeks!

How Big is Baby? Belly Bean is the size of a Haas Avocado... I love avocados! :)

Total Weight gain/loss: Still up 5.5lb, but seeing changes in my body shape for sure... my hips are starting to get wider- good for getting that baby out in 24 weeks!

Sleep: Still waking up a couple times to pee, but able to go to bed soon after getting up. I'm a stomach sleeper and have tried to keep sleeping on my belly as long as possible, but now the "bump" is too big to sleep on my tummy. I now straddle a body pillow and it's ok, but not as good as belly sleep.

Movement: Definitely feeling baby move!! I love it! It's more of a kick than a flutter, and usually after I eat when I'm sitting down, taking a nap or bending over.

Symptoms: thoroughly enjoying the 2nd trimester bliss! No more overwhelming fatigue! YAY! Still getting round ligament pain when I sneeze. My boobs are definitely huge and still hurting, they are getting ready to nourish BB in January!

Food Cravings: still craving tuna fish, hamburgers, mac and cheese and watermelon/berries. I've started drinking milk too- I never drink milk other than in my cereal when I'm not preggo!

Gender: My dr wants to see us at 18 weeks for the anatomy ultrasound... so we find out the gender in TWO WEEKS!!!! My feeling this week is boy.

What I miss: Belly sleeping, margaritas, starting to get sad that we won't be traveling at all during the holidays to visit family.

What I'm looking forward to? Finding out what BB is in two weeks and finally get to call it by its name (hint: initials KMV). Traveling to England to visit my family in less than 12 hours! My sister being in town for a week after England, and then going to the Field's family reunion in Cali in August! We are getting spoiled with family time in the next month, and I LOVE it!

Milestones: We made it to 4 months!
Big sister: Literally as I was typing this on the lap top MK pulled my shirt up, kissed my belly and said "wuv wu belly bean." What a sweet big sister! Big sister is also officially less than 1 month away from being two... AHH! Not ready to have a two year old, where did my little baby girl go???

Doctors appointment notes: We went to our 16 week appointment last friday and it was pretty straight forward. Got to hear BB's heart beat- 160bpm (girl?) and get some questions about international travel answered. I get to wear some awesome compression hose on our 9 hour flight due to the increased risk for blood clots in preggo women and my dr wants me to chew a low dose aspirin on travel days. We also got the quad screen blood test done- blood test that measures a protein that can tell if baby could have a neural tube defect (spina bifida) or Downs Syndrome. My doctor warned me that due to the complications we had early on in pregnancy, I would have a higher risk for a false positive for neural tube defects. We are still waiting on the results, but I'm not anxious. The nine month wait and the many scares during the first 12 weeks have really just shown me that the Lord is in control, this baby is His (psalms 24) and all I can do is trust in His plan for this baby's life. I've always had a heart for special needs children and would feel honored to be the mother of a baby with special needs. I know that getting the quad screen is controversial, several of my friends feel strongly about not getting it. After prayerful consideration, Mike and I came to the conclusion to get the test so that we could be as prepared as possible for a special needs baby, who would need special care almost immediately after delivery. If our test comes back positive, we'll go see a specialist to get a high level ultrasound and possibly do an amnio depending on the findings (but that's only if it's positive!). I'll keep you updated! :)

Our 17 weeks post will be in ENGLAND! :)

Love,
KV, MV, MKV and KMV!



15 weeks!

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant! 25 left to go and 5 more until the half way point!

Mike took this before our daily walk! Another way to get MK to stay in the picture is to buckle her in!!

How Big is Baby? The size of an apple!

Total weigh gain/loss: up 5.5lb from pre-pregnancy weight. The weight seems to be coming on a lot faster even though I'm not eating any more... it's so crazy to switch your mind from "weight gain =bad" to "weight gain=good." I'm still struggling with this. Maybe not weighing myself every day would help with that!

Sleep: Still waking up 1-2times/ night to pee, now I've been having a harder time going back to sleep after I wake up.

Movement: Last night at Merge, BB kicked really strong and made me jump! Its been almost two years since I've felt those little jabs and it totally surprised me. I feel BB mostly after dinner when I'm laying down and when my bladder is full.

Symptoms: The fatigue is slowly but surely getting better- I don't HAVE to take a nap every day to be a functioning member of my house! No more nausea when I'm hungry, which is fantastic! I've definitely entered the wonderful phase of pregnancy... feeling more like myself, looking more pregnant than fat, feeling baby kick!

Food Cravings: Watermelon, hamburgers, tuna fish (which I can only eat occassionally!), mac and cheese.

Gender: 5 weeks until we find out! :) I'll set up my 20ish week appointment on Friday when we go in for our 15/16 week check up. :)

Belly Button in  or out? Still in!

What I miss?: My cute summer clothes. Mike and I went to Chuys the other day and a margarita sounded SO good! It's so worth it though... I've already told Mike I want to go to Glorias for my 26th birthday at the end of January!

What I'm looking forward to?: Getting more of a bump, being pregnant in the fall/winter, my appointment on Friday! Going to visit my parents next week... YAY!! Watching the Olympics in a few weeks... Mike and I watched the end of the Olympics on our honeymoon 4 years ago and it's such a fond memory!

Milestones: According to my Baby Center email, if I shine a flash light on my belly, baby will move away from it! Also, BB might be able to hear my voice and heart beat now.

Big Sister: Had a really hard time when we set up the crib in BB's room/the guest room. I've been getting more and more anxious about how she's going to do with a new baby on the scene. I've read that some kids don't talk to thier mommy after they bring a new baby home... my heart's not prepared for that! :(

Love,
The Vogs 

Sew Katy update and a nursery/guest room!

I've now finished two bedding sets! The first one was for a sweet little guy who will be making his entrance into the world literally any day. His mama picked out the cutest Michael Miller animal print fabric in grey, blue and tan. I made a bumper pad, pleated crib skirt, changing pad cover and taggy blanket for him.

My next project was for one of my best friend's little guys Jude! He will also make his arrival soon! His mama had a wonderful vision for his room and it is coming together beautifully! She found the perfect fabric from a cute little fabric store in Dallas and gave me the task of making her ideas a reality! Here's a sneak peek at his room! I made her a bumper pad, bed skirt, blanket, pillow, nursing cover and recovered her glider cushions (that she got for $5 at a garage sale!!).

I am so excited to get sewing on Belly Beans room! I just bought a brand new Pottery Barn Kids bumper pad on Craigslist... I know, I make bedding- but, you can't buy fabric, thread and batting for $15! It's a gorgeous blue and white patterened bumper pad and I can't wait to build a little boy or girl nursery/guest room around it!

Speaking of the nursery, we've decided to keep our queen size bed in Belly Bean's room to create a nursery/guest room. All of our families live a planes ride away, so we "need" a guest room. My thought is if we have family or friends come in town, we can move Belly Bean to a pack n play in our closet and when he/she is old enough just making it a kid's room and family will have to stay in a hotel or on our pull out love seat in Mike's office :( It's definitely tight with a queen size bed, a crib and a dresser/changing table.. but I think I can make it work! So, not only do I need to come up with a nursery, I need to make the guest bed coordinate! Super excited to take on that task... August can't come soon enough so we can find out Belly Bean's gender!

Getting to put the crib up this weekend was the highlight of our weekend! Can't wait for a little Belly Bean to sleep in this crib in 25ish weeks! That's the bumper pad on the end of the bed too...it's a little yellow/greenish in this picture!

Check out these cute prints I found at PBK for $15! All 26 letters in cute blue/green/tan/yellow colors and patterns and all different animals! Perfect for a little boys room- I'll sell them if we have another girl!

Anyone have experience with a guest room/nursery? Would love to know your thoughts and experience!

Love,



The Vogs

14 weeks!

Today I am 14 weeks... 26 left!

That's the only way I could get MK to take a pic with me! We are all decked out in our 4th of July gear!

How big is baby? The size of a lemon

Total weight gain/loss: + 4lb... goal in second trimester is to gain 1lb/week or less! I am noticing myself gaining easier lately, trying to think positively about weight gain is such a hard thing to do!

Sleep: Still waking up once/twice a night to pee, but can go to sleep fast and wake up feeling refreshed! I went without my daily afternoon nap on tuesday and I survived! I'm hoping I can start dropping those so I can get more things done around here, but if not, i'll keep taking it easy! :)

Movement: Definitely feeling baby sometimes, I can now tell the difference between gas and those little baby flutters!

Symptoms: Less nausea when I'm hungry (yay!), indegestion after eating- trying to eat small meals to help with that, frequent urination, fatigue, round ligament pain!

Food Cravings:  This week it's Dean's French Onion dip and Ruffles... My good friend Leah got me hooked! Watermelon, mac and cheese and bugers are still cravings too!

Don't blame me if you try this and become instantly addicted! :)

Gender: at least 6 more weeks until we find out! :) Can't wait. I go back and forth as to what baby is, I'd be thrilled either way, but hoping MK gets a sister!

Belly Button In or Out? Still in! :)

What I miss?: Fitting into my cute summer shorts/tops. I've officially retired the belly band and I'm wearing maternity pants all the time.

What I'm looking forward to?: Getting some energy back in the second trimester, getting belly bean's nursery set up after we find out the gender, visiting my parents in England in a few weeks, feeling Belly Bean kick more and Mike feeling BB kick! My appointment next friday- getting to hear BB's heart beat again!

Milestones: Baby's pretty much all developed, just doing fine tuning and getting bigger for the next 26 weeks!

Big Sister: Is now getting the concept that baby's can be in tummies (She knows that my good friend Jessica's little boy Jude is on her tummy, but she's almost due so it's more obvious that there's something in her belly!), she still says that she has a baby in her belly too. "Mammie baby belwy too!" as she lifts her shirt up! She turns two in just over a month... NOO!! She's getting way too big!  

July Meal Plan! :)

I am so excited that I am feeling good enough to cook and meal plan for our family this month. The past two months of feeling yucky and not up to cooking and meal planning definitely took a toll on our grocery budget! I can say now that I am positive that monthly meal planning has helped us stay within our $300 grocery budget.

So, I thought I would share our meal plan for July! :) We have Merge (pre-married class at Watermark) on Tuesday nights through July 17th and we are headed to England for 8 days at the end of July, plus date nights sprinkled in, so I only needed to come up with 10 meals for July (remember, we eat left overs at least twice a week!). I also decided to try four new Pinterest inspired dinners this month! I love trying new recipes, I'll write a review of each of them throughout the month.

Our meals: (l/o= left overs) (P=pinterest recipe with a link!) (MYO=make your own)
Spinach and chicken stuffed shells (l/o)
Hamburgers for a 4th of July cookout where we had to BYO meat
Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad (l/o) (P)
Caprese Pasta (l/o) (P)
MYO quesadillas with black beans and cilantro lime rice
Hamburgers, baked beans and sweet potato fries
Creamy Avocado Pasta (l/o) (P)
Spaghetti and Meatballs (l/o)
Breakfast for dinner- pancakes and eggs probably
Balsalmic chicken and tortellini salad (l/o) (P)

So, with 10 meals (6 with left overs) that's 16 meals, plus three dinners at church and two/three date nights (1 family date night and two mommy/daddy date nights) we have 22 dinners for July! The other 8 will be in England... bring on the curry and pub food!!

For breakfast we usually just eat cereal/oatmeal and fruit or eggs.

Lunches in our house are PB&J, mac and cheese, fruit (blueberries, oranges, strawberries, apples, grapes, watermelon), fresh veggies (carrotts & bell peppers mainly!), yogurt, grilled cheese or left overs!

Snacks are fruit/veggies, peanut butter and apples, crackers or gold fish.

We really only drink water or milk in our house. We're not big juice or soda drinkers! That helps the grocery budget a lot!

Happy eating! :)

Love,
The Vogs

MK's Cuddles with Jesus

Lately MK has been loving her Jesus Story Book Bible... seriously the best kids bible I've ever read! Last monday that's all she wanted to do in the afternoon- sit in her rocking chair with mommy and read the bible... Melt my heart!

Fast forward to Monday night. I had passed out in an exhausted preggo coma by 9pm and Mike was up watching some sports thingy on the iPad. At 11pm he jumps out of bed and says MK is crying. I am still half asleep, but watch the monitor as Mike handles the situation. *short detour in the story- Mike is hands down the best dad I know! He has never (I seriously mean never) passed up an opportunity to help if MK wakes up in the middle of the night. Even when I was breastfeeding, he would get up with me and change her diaper... ok, bragging's over!* So, back to the story. As Mike's changing her poopy diaper, MK is still screaming and inconsolable. She had a poopy diaper and Mike said her bum was bright red (probably all the watermelon we've been eating around here!)... so that was the source of the screaming. After a painful diaper change, Mike takes MK to the rocker to cuddle and calm her down. It made my heart swell with love for Mike to watch/hear him love on MK. When she's calm and he tries to put her to bed, she starts crying again. MK has a bed full of lovies and blankets (we recently added a new one- a tag blanket called taggy made by yours truely!) that she HAS to have to go to sleep. None of those lovies would soothe her, all she was saying was "Jesus." Mike handed her the Jesus Story Book Bible and she immediately stopped crying, cuddled up with the book and went to sleep. OH MY GOODNESS... what a sweet reminder from my precious almost 2 year old, that there is nothing in this world that can soothe your aching heart (or bum) than resting in the arms of Jesus. Thanks for letting me be the mom to this sweet girl, Lord.... you are teaching me more about you everyday through her... what an honor.

MK cuddling with her bible... too sweet to not take a picture!

Love,
The Vogs

Phil and Teds Review!

As a new mom I definitely made the mistake of thinking that I needed to get everything that was advertised for my baby... you know, that's what good moms do! This included getting my Chicco travel system (car seat and stroller in one). I loved that the car seat snapped into the stroller and for the first few months it worked great. The dowsides- it was bulky, cheaply made and wouldn't grow with our family. Honeslty, after about 5 months we rarely every used the Chicco again! I would definitely buy a Chicco car seat again- it had the best safetly rating at the time, I loved the pattern and it was the lightest car seat on the market when we bought it.

When we first got the stroller in January! Trying it out and falling in love step by step! (The handle bar fold down in the lock position)..

Once we started TTC I started researching double strollers and was pretty disappointed with what I was finding... I wanted something I could push around a store in the mall without knocking things over, or not fitting through the door! So, I found the Phil and Teds Dash stroller. It's a single stroller that converts to a double with a couple clever adaptations. The biggest selling point to this stroller was that it was a single stroller! A double stroller is something that has a very short season, but in the end you're gonna want a dependable single stroller that you love! I also love that it's a stream-line double- meaning that when you add the second seat it doesn't add any length or width to the stroller! LOVE LOVE LOVE this!

I found the Dash on Zulily for $360 (after tax and shipping) including the doubles kit and a bassinet (both sold seperately). You can find it on Amazon right now for $499 including the doubles kit (ya, i got a prettyfantastic deal on this stroller!). I have seen it on Zulily a couple times after I bought it, so keep you eyes out for it! Or maybe search on Ebay or Craigslist? I had to buy a car seat adapter for our Chico car seat ($30 on amazon) and a cup holder.

What I LOVE about the stroller-
-It was very easy to put together, the instructions were clear and there was a video on the Phil and Teds website that was very helpful.
-The stroller is very easy to maneuver- I can steer it with one hand.
-The tires are like bike tires so they can handle un-even sidewalk (which there is a lot in our neighborhood!) like a champ.
-After getting the hang out it, the stroller folds and unfolds very easily- the Chicco definitely takes the cake on folding easily!
-I have used the second seat a handful of times (when out at the mall or on walks with friends) and I love it. The stroller doesn't fold with the second seat on, but it's super easy to attach. Maddie loves the second seat too. I was thinking she wouldn't because you can't see forwards in the second seat, but she always climbs into it when I have it on the stroller and has never complained about riding in it. The second seat is smaller than the front seat, so I will probably put little brother or sister in the back, unless MK pitches a fit! :)
-The stroller seems very comfortable for MK. Unlike the Chicco which didn't have a ton of padding, the Phil and Teds has a very thick cushion seat that also detaches for easy washing (super awesome with a baby!). My Chicco was a pain in the butt to wash.
-It is very sturdy. There's no plastic on it, except the handle bar... my Chicco was riddled with plastic that got scratched easily and was not super durable.
-The basket at the bottom of the stroller is huge,and even with a kid in the back, can fit a lot... although I have to make sure MK can't get to my bag since she'll take her snacks out of it! :)
-Now, I haven't used the stroller consistently with two kids yet, but I love that I have a couple options to tote around two babies.

Option 1- add the second seat.

Option two- put second set on front, recline front seat and put baby in bassiness laying down under the second seat.

Option 3- car seat on top, MK in the back in the second seat.

What I don't love about the stroller-
-The cost! Although, if we had gotten this from the very beginning we would have saved ourselves $180 on the Chicco stroller! I guess I would much rather spend a little bit upfront (especially when mom and dad were both working!) on a stroller that grows with your family.
-There's no cup holder that comes with the stroller. You can buy several accessories for the stroller (the cup holder and car seat adapter are the only ones I've gotten) on Amazon and they aren't super expensive, but I hate that they didn't include it originally. Which mama doesn't have a drink with her when she's out and about with the kiddos?
-It is heaver than my Chicco, but I'm ok with that, it serves a better purpose than my Chicco and is much sturdier!
-Mike says sometimes he hits his shins on the second seat- but remember, he is a GIANT (6ft 6in tall)! I haven't ever had a problem with that, and I consider myself pretty average height for a girl (5ft 6in). He has just adapted his stride and it isn't much of a problem now.


In summary, I pretty much am kicking myself for not getting this stroller in the beginning- especially seeing how easy the car seat adapter is! But, we live and we learn! It's a rookie mistake. Want to know another rookie mistake? Paying more for the Chicco car seat that can hold a 30lb baby! See picture for why this is hilarious!

my 28 lb toddler in the car seat that can fit 30lb! :)

This was a super long post- let me know if you have any questions about the stroller I can answer for you!

Love,
K Vog

p.s: I wasn't compensated for my review! It's just my honest opinion of a product I've grown to love!