Jicama?

Blog Post by Kati:

Week 32 Info:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.Another week, another random vegetable (?) that I haven't heard of. I really need to expand my horizons.

This week has been a little rough with another bad cold. It is still lingering a bit, but hopefully will be gone by the end of the weekend. I've at least been able to sleep through the night the past 2 nights. For about 5 nights straight I was up every hour or every other hour blowing my nose. Not fun. I guess my nose is just doing its part to prepare me for Baby Goose. Thanks, Nose. You can be done now. Point made. I'd like to enjoy the final 2 months of sleeping through the night with no disruptions. Thanks.

As the week 32 information said, I'll be gaining a pound a week. It is really a trip to see how my body has changed. I look at myself in the mirror and sometimes can't really believe that it is me in there. I'm doing pretty well in terms of weight gain, but it is still hard to get on the scale at the doctor's office every other week. But I'm just so thankful that it has been an easy pregnancy and that everything is still going well.

Tomorrow is Halloween and we have yet to figure out our costumes, though we have an idea. So I won't say what it is yet in case we change our minds, but I'll be working on them tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for pictures! Kona will be reprising her role as a Mad Bumble Bee. She would normally be a Regular Bumble Bee, but for the 2nd year in a row she was NOT happy with her costume- the head piece makes her mad. And it is hilarious.

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend, everybody! And enjoy the extra hour we get on Sunday as we "fall back" in daylight savings!

Weird Morning

Blog Post By Chris:

This morning when I was getting ready for work Kona was in her usual place on the couch watching the street go by. Normally it is a pretty calm street that we live on, but this morning Kona started growling and looking out the window. Kona normally only growls at black people and the elderly (I know, we have a racist and ageist dog) so I assumed that was the case. I do not like her to growl at anything so I sat down next to her and told her to stop. She was super interested in whatever was walking past, and all of a sudden I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I thought there was a huge dog in our yard, so I turned to look and it was a male deer just strolling through our front yard. Yeah, a deer, in the city. Now we do have the river valley right by our house so this isn't a cause for concern, but if that deer had looked at me I definitely was a deer in headlights looking at it. So after a few seconds of looking my brain finally determined that this was actually happening so I grabbed my phone and went outside and took a picture of it. I do not have the phone with me so I'll have to post the picture later. Anyway that was the excitement this morning.

57 Days Until Christmas

Lunch Buddy & T-Wolves

Blog Post By Chris:

Kati mentioned in an earlier post that my lunch buddy Alejandro asked her when she would be getting her baby. Well today at lunch I was asking him a bunch of questions and one of them was what he wanted to be when he grew up. He told me that he wanted to work at the Target Center. Being a T Wolves fan I was thinking that's a pretty cool job. I asked him what he wanted to do there and he replied with "clean". I was trying to figure out what he was talking about, and then he told me that his mom worked there and cleaned. I guess it is pretty easy to get kids to follow in your footsteps. So when our daughter is born everyone needs to keep up the lie that Kati and I are Doctors who sometimes dabble in Quantum Physics.

Now for the best update. The T wolves won their season opener tonight. They were down by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, but managed to slowly come back and win it on a last second shot. We'll see how the rest of the season goes, but so far so good :)

Funny kid

Blog Post by Kati:

It is hilarious all of the funny looks I get from kids because of my ever growing belly. Today Chris' lunch buddy Alejandro kind of stared me for a couple seconds and then asked "When are you going to get it?" (Imagine that question coming from a little 3rd grader with a thick Spanish accent- so cute). I was kind of confused and said, "Get what?" He replied, "Your baby!"

After giggling under my breath I told him December. Then he just smiled at me.

Vikings update and other stuff

Blog Post By Chris:

Well the Vikings are now 6-1. I do not want to talk about it.

So a few other things. First, since this site is open to anyone who has internet access we have had more than 1 incident where we have had people commenting on our blog that we did not want to. So from now on if you would like to comment you have to be a member and you need to sign in to post a comment. It is not a big deal if you do not want to comment on anything. We just want this blog to be for people that we know.

The other thing is a baby update. Kati and I think that baby Goose likes/dislikes certain types of food. It is hard to tell if she like or dislikes certain foods, but when she gets fed certain things she is an active mover. Like when she gets Chinese food she goes crazy. But tonight Kati ate a buffalo chicken sandwich and she was moving pretty good tonight. It is hard to tell if it is a foot or knee or elbow, but it definitely is more than hiccups.

Oh and also we don't have a name yet, so no asking :)

Half of a year

Blog Post by Kati:

Well, it is October 24th (my half birthday). Not normally a big deal, but considering we found out about Baby Goose on my birthday on April 24th, I think it merits some acknowledgment. It has been a fast 6 months of excitement and preparation with just about 2 months left!

Chris and I are both feeling under the weather. His throat is bothering him and I have a full blown cold again. Not fun, but we'll make it. I'm planning on resting most of the day to build back up some energy.

It is finally a nice looking fall day in Minnesota- Kona gets to go on an adventure walk with her doggie friend Lami and her Gramma and Grampa Gosselin. That will be great since Mommy and Daddy will be very boring today!

4 Navel Oranges

Blog Post by Kati:

Week 31 Info:
This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.
Well Baby Goose must definitely be active and healthy because she has been moving around a lot! :) We went to the doctor yesterday and everything is good. My blood pressure, baby's heart rate, and my stomach measurement are all where they should be!

I'm so glad it is Friday. It has been a really really really crazy week and now I'm getting a cold again. I need to make up for some serious lack of sleep from this past week. Not good. My throat hurts a lot and I have a bad feeling it is going to move up to my nose again. Bad news for all those who have to be around me. Sorry in advance. I will use the Netipot and hope for the best!

We keep getting asked if we have a name for the baby yet. Nope! We have a list of a few possibilities that we came up with in August and haven't really talked about it since. We aren't going to share the name until she is born, so maybe that is part of the reason that we haven't figured it out yet. It is easier to just say we don't have a name than say we have one and aren't telling! And part of it is the fact that it took us forever to come up with Kona's name, so I can't even imagine trying to pick a name for a human!

Time to get ready for work...have a great weekend everybody!

Blog Post by Chris:
Tonight we got our crib for the nursery. There was some assembly required but we managed to get it all put together in the nursery. Although it may look tiny in the picture it actually takes up a lot of the bedroom. Everything is slowly starting to come together and soon enough it will be Christmas time.



67 days until X-mas

Vikings and 100 Posts!

Blog Post by Chris:
Well there are two great things about this post, it is the weekly Vikings update and also our 100th post for the blog. The Vikings won this week taking them to 6-0 on the season. It was a close game that was decided in the last second with a missed field goal by the Baltimore Ravens. But a win is a win.
As you can see by the other posts we spent a long weekend in Chicago visiting Laura and Drew. It was really fun, but I don't think I can eat pizza again for a week, plus it is hard to compete with Chi town pizza. As Kati had posted we had a little incident at a Mexican restaurant for dinner one night. I think it was a rough night for our waitress as part of our order was wrong, and we also noticed that she was doing damage control at another table with wrong meals. So I would have been really upset if I was her about the alcoholic virgin daiquiri. When she was talking to the bartender about the drink you could see the bartender just put up her arms like "I don't know". Geez lady this isn't like we're dealing with an underage drinker here, this is a pregnant lady. Needless to say if our daughter is slower than the other kids it now can't be blamed on me anymore.

Home

Blog Post by Kati:

Well, we're home from what I assume will be our last trip before baby! We were up at 4:00am this morning and landed in Minneapolis by 7:40am. It is 8:40am now and Chris is off to work and I'm heading out for work soon. It will be a long day! But it was a great trip.

Yesterday we went to the Sears Tower and went out on the plexiglass ledge. It was crazy to be up 103 floors and see the ground beneath your feet (103 floors down!).
Doesn't it look like we're floating a little bit? :)
We spent the rest of the day lounging around Laura's apartment. I was exhausted from the previous 2 days so the only other thing Laura and I did was go get pedicures and manicures while Chris watched the Vikings game. My feet were very happy with me for that choice of activity!

Now it is Monday and back to reality...

"Congratulations guys": Chicago Day 2

Blog Post by Kati:

We had another great day yesterday! We lounged around again in the morning and went to an early lunch at a place called the Grand Lux Cafe which had a crazy huge menu and was totally delicious!After lunch we wandered around a different part of Michigan Avenue. As we were walking past a homeless man all of a sudden I heard him say "Congratulations guys." We didn't really realize he was talking to us until after we passed. But it was sweet. And then when we were in the Gap a crazy lady told me I looked cute pregnant. ha ha. I chalk it up to my cute Target maternity coat and cabbie hat. :)

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a virgin mango daiquiri. The first one I had was absolutely delicious, so I ordered another one. As soon as I sipped the 2nd one my throat started burning and I was pretty sure it was not a virgin. Chris, Drew and Laura all tried it and confirmed that it did seem to have alcohol in it. When Chris told our waitress she felt really bad. She asked the bartender who said that it must have been mixed in the wrong shaker...but it was INTENSE. My throat was still on fire after that 1 small sip, so it seemed to be more than just mixed in the wrong shaker. But regardless she felt so bad that we got a free delicious chocolate dessert out of it! It probably helped that we were nice about it and didn't throw a fit. Chris just joked about her trying to feed our baby alcohol. Anyway, it was a fun dinner!
Then after dinner we did some walking to try and ease the full feeling in our stomachs and then went to see a Second City comedy show. It was hilarious. And Baby Goose I'm sure will feel very proud of her daddy when she sees this picture some day. :)

Chicago Day 1

Blog Post by Kati:

We had a great day exploring Chicago yesterday and I was asleep before 10pm! After a delicious lunch at Corner Bakery with Laura before she headed to work, we walked to Navy Pier. It was probably a 1.5 mile walk and a little rainy. We wandered around Navy Pier and then ended up seeing "Where the Wild Things Are" at the IMAX theater there. After the movie we got some ice cream and wandered back via Michigan Avenue. Lots of people and high-end stores! By that time I was tired and sore from all of the walking...we definitely got lots of exercise!

For dinner we met Laura and her boyfriend Drew at Giordano's Pizza. It was so delicious. And Baby Goose must have liked it because she was kicking around a lot the whole night. Either that or she was mad that it was taking up a lot of her space and she was letting me know it! ha ha ha...
But how can you resist Chicago-style deep dish with plenty of cheese?????

After dinner we cabbed back to Laura's place because I was still sore all over. We played some games on Drew's Wii and I crashed early! It was a fun day!

Head of a cabbage in Chicago!

Blog Post by Kati:

Week 30!!!!!

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)We made it to Chicago last night! We were delayed by about an hour and 40 minutes but managed to arrive only a little over an hour late. Sounds like we were lucky ones since most flights were delayed at least two hours on average last night (apparently the vice president was in town along with construction on the runways and the "inclement" weather as the flight attendant called it). Laura met us at the airport and we took the train and then a cab back to her place. We got here around 11:30pm or so. Now it is 7:47am and I'm of course up and awake and Chris and Laura are still asleep. :)

Hard to believe we are in the 30s in terms of pregnancy weeks. Just 10 to go. That is crazy. It is also crazy that that means only 10 weeks until Christmas! How in the world is it already the middle of October? I knew that the fall was going to fly by, but this seems like serious time-warping. :) But I'm glad because the more Baby Goose moves around (she was doing some serious acrobatics in the middle of the night!) the more excited I am for her arrival!!!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend everybody! We'll be doing lots of fun and touristy things in Chicago and will post pictures, etc., when we get a chance!

Chicago Bound!

Blog Post by Kati:

We're heading off to Chicago this evening. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:35pm, so hopefully that is the case. Sounds like lots of flights are being delayed...but the flight tracker says our flight is On Schedule. Crossing my fingers!

I'm sure we'll be posting from Chicago and updating you on our adventures. My sister Laura is meeting us at Midway so we don't have to navigate the train system by ourselves at night. Whew!

I'm packing as light as I have ever packed before for a trip (my stuff only takes up half of our tiny suitcase and I'm planning on using all of Laura's toiletries!). And only 2 pairs of shoes! I'm forgoing fashion for comfort and will probably be wearing my tennis shoes most of the weekend. :)

Stay tuned!

Vikings 5-0

Blog Post By Chris:
Well it's time again for a Vikings update. The Vikings won their game on Sunday and are now one of the few teams left undefeated. Hopefully we can make a run for the superbowl this year. Not too much to report on the baby. We ordered our crib tonight for the baby, so that should be here sometime next week. It will be nice to get the nursery all finalized so we do not have to worry about that in December. It will also be nice to start getting other stuff from showers to start making this more of a reality.
We also got to see Ciri Spallino tonight. She is the daughter of our friends Casey and Travis. She is just a little over one and is completely adorable. She was a little cautious at first around us but ended up coming around and showing off her vocal cords. Kona was super interested in her and would not stop licking her face. You could really tell that Kona was somewhat jealous too, but I think it is also a lot for her to have someone with the same childish attitude as her. All in all she did just fine with the baby.

T-I-R-E-D

Blog Post by Kati:

It is Sunday night and I feel like I could have slept all day. I took at least 2 naps and laid around most of the day. We did take Kona for a walk this evening because I knew I needed to get out and do something. With my seriously decreased lung capacity these days, it is hard to believe that a year ago I ran a marathon...the slight incline on the side of our block that we walk up with Kona is brutal. Every time I look at it and start to go up it I think in my mind "You are my Everest." I know I'm a little dramatic, but seriously! :)

Part of the reason that I like being lazy and lying in my chair is because we're getting to the point where we can see the baby move on the outside when resting. Every once and awhile my stomach just moves and it is pretty funny.

Earlier this week we took Kona to the dog park to give her some stimulation after the days of rain that we had. It was a fun fall walk and Kona had a ball! Here is Chris playing with Kona:This one was as we were heading back and Kona and I were both super tired, so we were SLOOOOOOOOWWWW girls. Anyway, it is time for a belly picture again: the very good reason for my decreased lung capacity!Holy Hugeness!!!

Butternut Squash

Blog Post by Kati:

Week 29 Info:
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. To meet her increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because her bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.
Well I do know about butternut squash as one of my favorite Lean Cuisine meals is butternut squash ravioli! :)

Anyway, happy Friday! The week has flown by and I'm exhausted. I fell asleep on our big chair before 9 the past 2 nights...and have slept really hard. I wake up 4 or 5 times a night to switch positions (somehow I always end up on my back when I want to be on my side). I've also been told that I now snore when I'm on my back so Chris turns me over as well. :)

Kona has been extra cuddly this week. I wonder if she has some doggie premonition about what is going to be happening in her world soon. She's so cute!

We had Chinese food last night and Baby Goose was going crazy when I was trying to go to sleep. Little kicks and jabs all over the place!

We have signed up for a birthing class. All day long on November 7th at Abbott. At that time we'll also be able to tour the birthing facilities. I'm excited for that and totally nervous because I know that will make everything even more real that it already feels now.

We have a doctor's appointment this morning and a wedding this evening. Otherwise it should be a fairly calm weekend. And next Thursday we head to Chicago! Can't wait!!!!

Go Twins!

Blog Post by Kati:

Well, Baby Goose can say that she was at one of the very last (or last) Twins games in the Dome. And what a game it was: 12 innings, almost 5 hours, loud crowd, crazy!And then it took 56 minutes to get out of the parking ramp. Late night for Mama!

Vikings 4-0

After last nights game the Vikings are now 4-0!!! It was a great Monday Night Football game, but was made even better because Brett Favre had a perfect game and beat his old team. We also will be going to the Twins 163rd game tonight. It is a playoff between them and Detroit to see who makes the playoffs. We will be sitting a few rows behind home plate, and the whole Metrodome should be filled for the twins last game before they move outdoors. So if tonight is a success for the twins this will turn out to be a great couple of days. Although your big sister Kona has been sick off and on the past few days. It was not fun to deal with her wanting to keep going outside to throw up last night during the second half of the Vikings game. But we love her so I stood outside in the rain while she walked around and ate grass.
It has actually been miserable her the past two weeks with the rain. However, we did have a pretty nice summer without much rain or humidity. Still the rain just seems to make this colder weather worse, and keeps me off the golf course. Well that is all for now, the Dish Network guy just got her so I have to go and deal with that.

L-U-T-H-E-R

Blog Post by Kati:

We had a pretty busy weekend! We went down to Luther on Saturday and just ended up staying the day- so no sleeping in a dorm for me. It was fun to see Mari, wander around campus, and eat a bagel sandwich, cheese curds and drink a Galaxy (strawberry/Irish cream flavored smoothie) in Marty's! Here are a couple pictures of Baby Goose's first (of many I hope!) trips to Luther:
Chris got a bunch of parenting books last week, and so we took one along for the ride down to Decorah. I read it out loud for about an hour and a half...all about different aspects of parenting, baby's first days, etc. I started to read (but ultimately skipped over) the "Recovery from Labor" chapter. I am not sure if it is better to know what to expect or to just be surprised. So I may must have to come back to that chapter later!

When we were at lunch Chris ran into an old friend and his wife who is due in 3 weeks. Chris initially thought she was only as far along as I was. When he told me about it later he described her as "tiny" or "little" or something like that. When he saw my face start to look irritated or pained (not exactly sure what it looked like!), he quickly pointed out that I am more "robust." I assume that was meant to be a compliment. Hahaha.

This morning we got up early and went to cheer on the marathon runners. It is really hard to believe that it was a year ago that I ran it. And I definitely missed it as I was watching and cheering. It made me want to do another one again! Training will be a good way to get back in shape...right??? :) I have no idea what I'll feel like but I'd love to be able to do a half marathon in May. So we'll see...

A busy week starts tomorrow, so I'm taking it easy tonight.

Chinese cabbage? TRI 3!!!

Blog Post by Kati:

Week 28 info/start of trimester 3:
By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.Okay I guess Chinese cabbage just looks like lettuce. Nothing too weird. :) Here we are starting trimester three. Unbelievable! I'm hoping that nesting instinct kicks in really soon because we still have a lot to do. And all I want to do when I'm home is lay in our comfy chair.

The newsletter that I get all of the baby development stuff also comes with stuff for me, and this week's information I thought was kind of funny:

Around this time, some women feel an unpleasant "creepy-crawly" sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you may have what's known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). No one knows for sure what causes RLS, but it's relatively common among expectant mothers.

I'm pretty sure I have RLS when I'm NOT pregnant. I am a constant foot and leg mover, especially when I'm going to sleep. And just sitting. A teacher in high school called me "Shaky" because my foot or leg was always moving.

We're heading down to Luther this weekend for homecoming. It is our 5 year reunion... hard to believe! I'll be staying with my sister Mari in the dorm, so that should be an experience. Chris and our other friends are camping, which will be an experience for them too if Decorah's weather is anything like the Twin Cities' weather right now (rainy and cold!). I'm excited to be at Luther for a bit, though, because we haven't been there for well over a year. I want to get some new Luther gear! :)

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Lunch Buddy

Blog Post By Chris:

I started my lunch buddy volunteering at Kati's school today. For those of you who do not know, the program is a weekly volunteer job where you have lunch and go to recess with the same kid every week. For the past few years I have had the same lunch buddy, Arnold. At the end of last year I got to the point where it was not fun anymore to be Arnold's lunch buddy so this year I chose to sign up for a different buddy. Kati suggested another one of her students, Alejandro, who is in 3rd grade, and is still a bit of a handful but at least he talks and asks questions. Today at lunch it was really loud and Alejandro is a very quiet talker so I had a hard time hearing what he was asking me. I had to have him repeat what he said multiple times, and if asking the same question over the 15 minute lunch period wasn't enough, having him repeat himself felt like he asked me the same question 50 times. I think I had to tell him my favorite color at least 10 times.
Anyway, I think one of the first topics that we ended up talking about was him asking if I had any kids. I proceeded to tell him that I did not have any kids, yet. He knew that I was Mrs. Gosselin's husband, but could not connect the dots. So when I asked him if he knew that Mrs. Gosselin was pregnant he answered very enthusiastically YES. Then a confused look came over his face and he looked at me very serious and said "Who told you that she is pregnant"?, implying that someone must have told me. Many answers ran through my head on what to say. Uh maybe because I did that to her? But we were in a school and there are rules for lunch buddies, so I told him that I was going to be the dad, and reminded him that Mrs. Gosselin and I are married. I am not sure if he entirely got what I was telling him, so I am sure the rest of the year should be pretty interesting. Luckily the conversation quickly moved onto what our favorite food is.