Hungry & Exhausted!

As I finish out my 29th week of pregnancy I am realizing more and more how exhausted I am..and how often I snack. I almost fell over at the doctor's office last Friday when I stepped on the scale- Scary! She told me that the I am right on pace with my weight gain and am sitting at a very healthy place, but I don't feel it's healthy, especially when I take notice of my diet each day. In the mornings I am like a bottomless pit. I wake up at 5:30-6:00 and eat right away and by 8am I have to eat again! I am trying to eat good snacks though including raw vegetables with dip, fruit, applesauce, and so forth. On Monday, I was at work and had forgotten to bring food with me so I ran across the street to Caribou and tried their oatmeal- knowing it would have a lot of fiber and fill me up. I have disliked oatmeal since my very little days, my grandma would bribe me to eat it by putting ice cream in it but still no luck. Then being with Corey, he pours syrup in his and the thought alone, let alone what it looks like, makes me shiver in disgust. Yet, I decided that after all these years I was going to try it again. Plus, they put different things in it to add flavor. Well the apple cinnamon was ok for the first couple bites then went straight downhill after that. I forced myself to eat about half of it before I whipped it in the trash. The benefit: I was finally full!

The evenings are getting to be shorter and shorter, on week nights if I am not in bed by 8:30-9:00 then I am falling asleep wherever I am at in the house. This could be due to the fact that I am up so early in the morning or..just the baby. I don't sleep all that well either since I toss and turn. I often wake up on my back which isn't causing shortness of breath or anything (like I have heard from other people) but it does give me some back pain. On the week-ends I am fine at the races but have been falling asleep on the way home. This used to be a normal thing when we went to Willmar on Thursdays or when we go to Alexandria but otherwise a quick trip home from Princeton or Ogilvie I have been staying awake for. Speaking of the races- Corey raced last Friday in Princeton for Ryan's Race. Ryan is the son of the 4R and 2R race team who are racing in his memory (4R = 4 Ryan; 2R = 2 Ryan). They are a great team and are special to us because they were some of our first racing friends and have always been there when Corey has needed them for guidance or extra parts :) Corey raced his heat and a b-feature but didn't make it to the main event. On Saturday, we raced Ogilvie where Corey raced his heat and landed a spot in the B-feature which he won--YES!!! finally a victory (of sorts) for the year. He started 21 in the main event and finished 18th.

Other news: I passed my glucose testing on Friday! I was pretty excited about this since I have heard a lot of horror stories. The liquid wasn't nearly as bad as I have heard either- it basically tasted like flat/warm Sprite. Heartbeat is good and everything seems to be measuring right on. She is continuing to move more and more and actually kicking me now instead of only punching. Corey has had the opportunity to feel it a few times and we realize what a miracle the whole process really is. Aug 13th is our last ultrasound and I can't wait to see her again!!

This week-end: We are planning to drive out to Menomonie, WI to race on Friday night to add another track to our record books and for a little variety.

Old Wives Tale

When you are pregnant people come up and tell you all kinds of stories. They can tell you are having a girl/boy by a string, ring, the chinese calender, how you are carrying your baby bump, your diet, acne, morning sickness, heartbeat, and so on. The old wives must label themselves as being pretty smart, yet none of them must have had a calender or knew how to do math because the idea that you are pregnant for 9 months is a little off.

I figured this out one day when I was 24 weeks along (6 months) and thought to myself that I must be in the 3rd trimester because I was 2/3 done with my pregnancy..when you look at a traditional month. Yet, I still had 16 weeks left which is 4 additional months. 6 + 4 = 10. Or you could look at 40 weeks/4 weeks per month=10. Yes, some months have 5 weeks but pregnancy isn't measured by months..it is strictly by weeks. Somewhere along the line I started to feel a little gyped by the idea. For now, I am still enjoying my baby bump (when I can find something comfortable to wear) and am not complaining however thought it was necessary to mention the life-long lie that we all have bought in to.

Note to the kidless

If you do not have children and therefore never have been pregnant, you may not know if questions are appropriate to ask pregnant women or not...well let me give you some insight:

Acceptable Comments/Questions*:
How far along are you?
When are you due?
Do you know if you are having a girl or boy?
Do you have any names picked out?
You can't even tell you are pregnant from the back, you are only baby.
You look great, how have you been feeling?

Unacceptable Comments/Questions*:
Wow, you must be close to giving birth.
You have really popped since the last time I have seen you.
You look like you have begun swelling up a bit.


*Of course everyone woman's pregnancy hormones are at different levels and therefore they may see questions/comments acceptable or unacceptable at different times. Still ask with caution. If you are unsure, ask yourself if you would like someone asking you that after you have gained major weight...if you still think it is ok then make sure to give them a compliment first. Also, if it is one pregnant person talking to another pregnant person then these may not apply as well.

Congrats & Future Congrats!

Lots of things to be excited about after this week-end...I will start with Congratulations to our friends, and dear past neighbors, Jennifer & James Unger who welcomed Avery Ann Unger in to the world. Just a "quick" 5 hours after arriving at the hospital they were holding their miracle baby in their arms. We visited with them on Sunday and they were both glowing. Ryan and Rachel Studanski, a racing couple of ours, went in this morning to get induced so we are expecting yet another baby this week! We are thrilled for everyone and are getting excited for our little girl as well.

Last week-end: We went to Park Rapids for the Eystad Family Reunion. We don't get to see that side of the family very often but it is SO much fun when we do. It was, of course, a blast. We went up on Friday and got there late then spent the entire day Saturday outside and out on the water. Sunday I was beyond exhausted and couldn't move, literally. My legs were tingling and I was completely spent, but every minute of Saturday was worth it! We can't wait to take our little girl with us next year!

This week-end: Friday night we had the wonderful opportunity to spend the evening watching Corey's little cousin play baseball. They were down from Park Rapids and had a tournament in Waite Park. Then Saturday, we spent the day lounging around and waiting to hear if Ogilvie was going to cancel or try and beat the storms...well they did the latter only to get the heats in (a repeat of 3 weeks ago) until the storms won the battle. We didn't get anything too serious at our house. Sunday we headed in to town and watched more baseball as well as visited with Avery Unger.

As a whole, I have been feeling good but definitely warm and exhausted. I get exhausted after walking a lot and bedtime has gotten progressively earlier. I finally spent some money last week and went to Motherhood Maternity to get some new clothes. I am cheap and didn't want to spend a lot so I pretty much only bought things on sale but am very happy with my purchases. They are lighter and much more comfortable. I am now in my 3rd trimester so all of these things were expected and we will enjoy this home-stretch.

Iowa--the state of friends and small towns!

I forgot to tell you all our happenings from last week-end! Last Friday, Corey, myself and his family drove down to Cedar Rapids/Ely, IA. They used to live there and since then Corey has stayed close with a friend of his from there. If you were at our wedding you may have met him- Adam Smith- he was one of our groomsmen and was also in the military. His wife Kelci is a sweetheart and they have a 8 month old named Taylor. She is a dollface!!! We spent the week-end with them and were able to experience small town living. Saturday we lounged around their house and then Corey and Adam decided to go for a booze cruise..and I say that lightly but yet seriously. The boys decided that if they didn't get off the couch they were going to fall asleep so instead they filled the cooler with beer and then put the cooler in the pull behind stroller that attaches to the bicycle. From there, they were on their way biking through neighborhoods and joining block parties. They had a lot of fun and that is all that matters...later that night they came back to eat dinner and then hit the road again and this time they stopped at the bar and closed 'er down :) Sunday we grilled at Adam & Kelci's then went to his dad's place for fireworks. The week-end was a blast and we all agree that we lived closer to one another!! In the meantime of all of our fun, Corey and I had a complete blast with Taylor (their little girl) and were caught mentioning how excited we were to have our little girl on her way. We already feel so blessed with everything we have and that little girl is just going to enhance everything that much more.

Daddy's 1st!

This morning I woke up to Corey's alarm clock going off at 4:45 (a typical morning at the Eystad house). I got up to use the bathroom and layed back down next to Corey. Baby girl decided to begin kicking, like she does every morning when I get up. Since Corey didn't feel like jumping out of bed and springing to work I had him put his hand on my belly and I layed flat on my back. He finally got to feel our little girl kick (or punch..I think she does a lot of punching)!!!! It was so great for him to finally experience it. We have tried a few times but I could never tell if I was feeling it from the outside or inside and so I couldn't explain it to him- he may have even thought I was crazy but now he knows our little girl truly does move around! :)