Week 22 Update

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. I got a little thrown off during our friends visit but I'm back now :) Their visit was a lot of fun - we did a bunch of CrossFit workouts, yoga, went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze and spent time catching up at home! It was so great to see old friends - especially ones that I am as close with as Meg, Chelsa and Yost and it reminded me of how blessed I have always been to have such amazing people in my life! I am one lucky girl... that's for sure!

I have been feeling so great lately... just a little tired now and then but that's about it. Ava moves all the time now and has been giving me really big kicks which I love :) She likes to move the most in the morning around 10 am - 11 am and then at night after dinner or when I'm going to sleep. Her favorite time to wiggle around seems to be when I'm very relaxed and when I'm doing my deep breathing that I learned at hypnobirthing. She was all over the place during yoga yesterday which made me laugh. We had our 21/22 week appointment the other day and everything is looking great! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by and how soon Ava will be here with us :) We are so excited though and getting anxious to meet her face to face! I would also like to tell you all how sweet Dan has been lately. The other day after all of our friends left for home he lit my smell good candle and offered to paint my toenails for me :) Of course I jumped all over that opportunity.. it's getting a little tough to reach down there these days! He always helps me to make dinner and breakfast and works with me on our hypnobirthing. He has just been so great! We're getting excited to go on our "babymoon" next weekend - we're going to stay in Wilmington and we're taking the pups with us. No plans except to relax, eat some yummy food and take walks to the beach :) Our trip up to Maryland for Thanksgiving is fast approaching too and I am getting so excited to see my family and to eat a bunch of tasty pumpkin treats with my Mama! A little less than a month left.

That's all the update I have for now. I will be back on track this week with my usual posts and will hopefully get a video update in soon - I truthfully don't really like seeing myself on video and that's why I've been putting it off but I know that it's much easier for you guys to watch a video then to sit and read my ramblings :) So I will make an effort to make one this week. Love you all and I hope everyone has a Happy (and safe) Halloween!!

p.s. I am 22 weeks right now, I weight 156 lbs according to the doctor's office and my waist is at 39 1/2 " (I started at 34 1/4 " and about 3 weeks ago I was at 38 1/2 "). She's growing so fast... I can't believe it sometimes! I read somewhere that this week she is going to gain 6 ounces - and she only currently weighs about 11 ounces... she's going to gain half her body weight in one week. Blows my mind. Alright, that's really all for now :)

Love <3

Ash

Updating Our Bathroom

One of the major projects that Dan and I have wanted to do for a while now is to update our bathroom. It was by far our least favorite room in the house but now after giving it some love it is our favorite room in the house :) With a bunch of our friends coming into town to visit we wanted the house to look nice... it gave us the perfect excuse to get going! Here are some pictures -


All we did to fix the bathroom up was add a new coat of paint, rip out the old nasty laminate tiles and put in new ones, replace the old mirror with our new $20 one from Roses and install some new towel racks along with new towels. Overall it only took us about 2 days or so to complete and not very much money at all. So happy that we finally can check this project off of our list :) Nesting is in full swing at the Collinsworth household!

Oh Baby... We're Half Way There!

Hey Everyone!

Today is the half way point in our pregnancy... 20 weeks :) I can hardly believe how fast time has flown by and can't imagine how fast the second half will most likely go by as well. Ava is growing and moving as much as ever and I am so thankful to have had such a healthy pregnancy so far and hopefully continue to have for the rest as well - God willing.



Nesting

Dan and I both have had a major urge to "nest" or get the house ready for when Ava gets here the last week or so. So we have been doing all kinds of projects including picking out her bedding, painting the bathroom, replacing our front porch light, making craft projects, rearranging furniture and many many more little projects. It has been a lot of fun so far and I'm glad to have a nesting partner in crime :) The newest project that we're working on aside from painting the bathroom is creating a mobile for above Ava's crib. We went to Michael's yesterday and just wandered around thinking of fun ways to make our own. So we ended up buying a round cardboard disc that is used to make wreaths for the base, a bunch of colorful ribbon (pink, cream, brown and a blue/green color - all different patterns including stripes, polka dots and zig zags) that we will hot glue all the way around the edge of the disc so that they hang down like a chandelier and some really pretty pieces of jewelry that we're going to cut into individual pieces and tie to the ends of the ribbon.




So excited to work on this project with Dan... hopefully it turns out how we have it pictured.

HypnoBirthing

Dan and I have our very first HypnoBirthing class tomorrow with Teva - our awesome instructor! This methos is so perfect for Dan and I. This method helps the husband to be directly involved in the birthing process by helping me to stay calm, relaxed and focused which is one thing that we were looking for. It also works by using positive affirmations (spoken by Dan) to help me get myself into a deeply relaxed state and to stay that way throughout labor. This method reminds me a lot of the type of mental preparation that I would use in high school when I ran Cross Country and Track. Having used similar methods for so many huge events in my life (without really realizing I was doing so) it only makes sense to use it for the biggest event of all - child birth. The idea behind staying relaxed and positive is that without fear childbirth should for the most part be relatively pain free. It is because of fear and tension during labor that most women experience the bulk of their pain. The fear and tension cause the body to close up and in turn the baby is forced to press against a tight wall of muscle (causing pain) instead of a relaxed wall of muscle which is much easier to pass through. Other factors play into the success of HypnoBirthing which include - having only people you trust in the room with you at the time of labor and delivery, how the mom holds her body, positioning, etc. All of these things if considered before hand can help the mother to have a relatively quick and pain free birthing. I love the science behind all of this (as you can probably tell) and am so excited to learn as much as I can about my body and the entire process of labor and delivery during our classes. Outside of the classes I have been reading the HyonoBirthing book as well as Ina May's book on Childbirth - both of which are about natural childbirth. I have really enjoyed reading both of these books and I feel like they compliment each other very well.

That's all the exciting news for week 20 :) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Workouts

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to do a quick update on my workouts so far for this week.

Monday

Dan and I went for a run on base on a really pretty trail... I think it was called Champion Trail. We ran for about 30 minutes and probably ran between 3 and 3 1/2 miles. It felt to be outside in the cool weather, it even sprinkled a little bit while we were raining which was nice! Dan spotted a deer while we were running too which was cool. The trail had a lot of rolling hills and a lot of sand. This made it a slightly more difficult run so I made sure that at the top of each hill or after a sandy spot that I slow down to let my breathing get under control again. This was my first longer run since becoming pregnant and it felt great! We're going to Maryland most likely for Thanksgiving to see my family and we'll all do a 5 miler on Thanksgiving morning which has become quite the tradition now... very excited to not only participate in a race but to also get to run with my family :) So cool that Ava will be along for the ride this year! It'll be fun someday to tell her about all of the things I did while I was pregnant with her.

Tuesday

Jason's Going Away Workout - Cross Fit Cape Fear

5 Rounds

6 x Thrusters (65 #)
9 x Box Jumps
12 x KB Swings (12 kg)

10:06

Our friend Jason from CrossFit is leaving soon to go to Texas so we had a going away workout and potluck for him. It was a great workout and some yummy food afterward! We're going to miss him though!

Wednesday

Rest Day :)


Hope you all are having a great day and enjoying this fall weather!

p.s. My Mom was really bad today and told me about this Pumpkin Ice Cream that Eddy's is selling right now and while we were talking I just so happened to be on my way to the store hehe so of course I had to buy some :) And I just have to tell you guys this is the most delicious ice cream I have EVER had! I'm not even that crazy about ice cream but I love anything pumpkin and this is at the top of my list right now of my favorite pumpkin things. Just thought I would share! Thanks for this Mom :)

New Clothes for Ava

Just had to share these three things that i got for Ava on Saturday while I was out shopping for the things for her nursery.... so cute!

The first one says "Apple of Daddy's Eye" and the polka dot one behind it says Adorable



This heavy weight footed sleeper is one of the only ones that I've found that I really like... it has a cupcake on it and says "Sweetie" underneath it.


Last but not least... the bows. I have been looking for some bigger bows like these and was so excited when I found them at Target :) She is going to look too cute with these on!

Nursery Bedding and Decorations

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to update everyone and some of the things that Dan and I have been buying for Ava and her nursery. I am sooo excited about how planning for the nursery is coming along... can't wait to get it all together. On Saturday Dan had just gotten home from his CQ duty and needed to get some sleep so I decided to go out looking for bedding for Ava's room as well as some other decorations that we have been talking about getting. Here's a picture do all of the things we have for her nursery so far:



Brown bumper, cream sheet, cream sheet with light sage design, baby blanket (my favorite!) and the butterfly wall art.

Block letter spelling out Ava... these were too cute to pass up!

The color scheme is going to be very simple - cream, tan and dark brown... I just think it's going to be so cozy! Not to mention since the bedding and walls are going to be on the plain side it means we can have that much more fun making a statement with the accents and decorations! Some of the accents that we'll be putting in the room are the butterfly wall art, a butterfly shadow box which I made myself and silhouette pictures which I also made. It has been so much fun working on these art projects for Ava's room and getting to let my creative side out and at the same time getting to make something for our daughter :) Here are some pictures of what I have finished so far -

Butterfly Shadow Box - This was so simple to make but the finished product is so pretty and makes quite the statement! Not to mention it was a lot of fun to make!



Silhouette I made of one of our fur babies - Marley :)


The second silhouette I made of our other fur baby - Rico! These were also a lot of fun to make and I love love love the finished product. I am also going to do a silhouette of Dan and I... just have to find a good picture to use. I love being able to incorporate our family into Ava's room in a fun way.

That's what we've put together so far. Very excited to see how everything comes together and I hope Ava loves her room :) In the mean time I'm going to enjoy using my creative side to make a special space for her!
p.s. Dan will most likely be making something for her room as well - we're thinking either a bookcase or a mobile for above her crib. I'm excited to see what he comes up with!

Friday Workout

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are having a great start to your weekend. Yesterday Dan had CQ duty so I spent part of my day doing things are the house and the rest of it wandering through Michael's dreaming up ideas for Ava's room :) I forgot how much I LOVE that store... I could wander through there for hours for no reason at all except to try and think of fun decorating ideas. But before I lost myself in Michael's I did a quick workout at home... it was already getting kind of warm outside so I didn't want to be out there too long. Here's the workout I did:

4 Round

150 m. run
25 Air Squats

It was a great workout and just what I needed to loosen up :)