21 weeks

Here's what 21 weeks looks like!

Cory got his first present for baby girl at work today:

What should her first song be? So far, we've received suggestions for "Isn't she lovely," "Baby Got Back," and "Lady Humps." 

How far along:  21 weeks down

Countdown: 19 weeks to go!

Baby's Approximate Size: she's as long as a banana (7 in, 11 oz)

Total Weight Gain:  5 pounds (only one pound since 2/7...yipee!)
Sleep:  I'm definitely not the narcoleptic I was during the first trimester, but once I sit down, it's really hard for me to get back up. I've had lots more energy lately, so it's nice to know that life basics (like showering and blowdrying my hair) don't seem like such marathon events anymore. I have no problem falling asleep, and I'm usually up, wide awake, by 7 every morning. 
Best moment this week:  The best moment this week was OBVIOUSLY getting married. Since the day we started dating, Cory and I have talked about getting married and having kids. We didn't think it would happen so fast, but everything seems to be happening the way it was supposed to, which is so awesome. 
Meltdown this week: Cory didn't like something that I registered for, and he made that loud and clear. Melt. Doooooown. When I flip the switch, I can't stop myself, and then I start thinking about all of the things that are bothering me, and it gets out of hand. I'm better now...
Movement:  She moves mostly after I eat, or when I'm sitting down at work doing something that involves a lot of thought.  I think she likes the left side more, but I'm not sure why.
Cravings: This week, I can't get enough macaroni salad from Ralphs. It has nasty olives in it, so I just pick them out. I also still can't seem to drink enough milk.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Baby girl does NOT like apples. I get it. I tried to have some applesauce yesterday, but I couldn't get that past her. I'll try again today.
Labor Signs:  Nada.
Symptoms:  I've been congestion free for about a week, but I slowly feel it coming back today. I've started getting headaches, too. A children't Tylenol works pretty well for that.
Belly Button in or out:  It's still in, but it seems to be getting bigger.
Wedding Rings on or off: On, duh. I love them together! And I can't wait until I get another diamond band as a "push" present! 
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy, especially after I eat.
Looking forward to:  I'm so excited to FINALLY start thinking about baby things. We tried to delay it until after the wedding, but my mom and I got a little ahead of ourselves when we found out we were having a girl. So far, she has a sleep sheep, a "shhh, baby is sleeping" sign, a tutu (the cutest one EVER), a sun hat, a pair of shoes, her first outfit that we bought her, and my old tooth fairy pillow. I can't WAIT to pick out all of her bedding!

What I miss the most:  I really miss sleeping on my stomach. I have the pregnancy pillow that Cory's parents got me for my birthday, and I might sleep with that for the rest of my life! (Sorry, Cory)

I've Got the Tools Like Martha

One of the best things about getting married has been registering for all of the stuff I've always wanted to have. There's an amazing feeling that comes with making a home, and I love having all of this awesome stuff. One of my favorite has been monogrammed EVERYTHING! Cory's parents got us some monogrammed towels and our monogrammed duvet cover, my parents got us all kinds of awesome electronics (I can't wait to make homemade bread), and I have Martha's dream kitchen. I could write paragraphs about each and every gift we received (I know you all know that), so I'll spare everyone and get to my latest favorite. We registered for all new baking sheets, and while Cory stepped away for 3 minutes at Macy's, I snuck in this fine gem right here:

EVERYONE needs this silpat! I've made the Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe for YEARS since my dad bought me the cookbook while I was living up north, and never ever, not even once, have they EVER turned out this chewy and delicious. It's no wonder that bitch has her own everything...she has all the best tools!

If you received some kind of variation of the following on your thank you note from "us" (I use the term "us" loosely), I really, truly meant it:

we're making a house a home
I finally have all of the tools to make stuff just like mom
this was one of my favorite things to register for
I've always dreamed of having this
I feel like such an adult

As cliche as they all sound, I will be on a registry high for at least a year. Yes, I think of Jena and Selena every time I see our wine buckets, Anna when I walk by our coffee condiment set, the Peters family when we use our Keurig machine, and so many of you throughout the day (again, I'll spare you the list). What a year to make writing thank you notes my New Years resolution!

Our home is filled with adult things from the people we love. Take THAT, Martha!

Why Moms Are Always Right

THIS IS AS TMI AS TMI GETS...YOU WERE WARNED.


I haven't publicly shared a whole lot about my pregnancy, so since I'm just about half way into it, I thought this would be a good time to start. 


I hit a wall back in November and December, and I thought that I was just really, really tired from work and all of the parties Cory and I were going to. It seemed like we had something to do every weekend, and I just couldn't keep up. I went up to visit Cory and his family in Manteca the day after Thanksgiving, and I remember how horrible it felt to wake up at 5:00 am. I dragged myself to the airport, slept a little on the plane, and was so excited to see him when I got up there. It was our 6-month anniversary, and he picked me up from the airport with a rose, chocolates, and a card. Could he be any sweeter? 


We had breakfast with a friend of mine from the credential program in Sacramento. I was so sad when she moved away, and it was really nice to spend time with her and her family. We then drove back to Manteca to spend some time at his brother's house. I don't remember anything between the car ride and checking in to our hotel room because I couldn't stop thinking about taking a nap. After we both woke up, we met back at the house and headed out for some tubing. We had a blast!


I fell asleep at the dinner table that night at some embarrassingly early hour like 9:00 pm. I couldn't get enough sleep that night. Ashley made some off-the-cuff comment about me being pregnant to which I laughed. We drove back down the next day. That week at work, Cory found out that one of his coworkers was pregnant, and he was so excited. He told her that we thought we were in the same position, but that it was too early to tell. 


A couple of weeks later, we had our "Friends Christmas" party at Dominique's house. The plan was to eat dinner together and then go out dancing in Downtown Fullerton, The problem with that was all of the pasta we consumed. Everyone was in a food coma, and we really didn't want to do anything but sleep. That worked out just fine for me! We decided to stay in instead, so naturally the girls ended up inside and the boys outside. At one point, us girls were talking about something really inappropriate, and wouldn't that just be the time that Cory walked through the doors. We immediately stopped talking and started giggling. Cory looked at all of us and said, "What? Did Kristen tell you she's pregnant?" Then everyone looked at ME! I took a sip of wine, assured them all that I was not, and continued fantasizing about going to sleep.


I went Christmas shopping with my mom that Sunday, and I remember having to drag myself around the mall. When I slept for over 11 hours that night, I woke up on Monday and I just knew that I couldn't wait anymore. Cory asked why I was so tired, to which I replied, "Because I'm carrying your child, THAT'S why." I definitely needed to know now. I went on a scavenger hunt that morning, in flip flops and velour in the pouring rain, and tried to find a grocery store that had tests that were not locked in a cabinet. Finally, at the third store, I found some. I also grabbed a bunch of frozen dinners and tried to find the least nosy-looking checker I could find. No small talk, in and out (so not like me). I dropped 2 of the frozen dinners running back out to the car sans umbrella, and I'm pretty sure I didn't stop to pick them up. It was so Cinderella.


I downed a bottle of water, did the deed, and waited. Something in the universe slowed way the hell down, and it was like the longest 2 minutes in recorded history. I'm surprised you didn't read about it on Google or hear about it on 60 minutes; the universe literally froze. I saw 2 faint lines, freaked the %&(# out, and paced around the apartment by myself yelling more 4-letter words. The big man upstairs obviously heard all of our jokes about making babies and decided enough was enough. I called Cory and then got in the shower. I knew I had to shower eventually that day, so that's the only thing that made sense to do, duh. Cory got off of his conference call, came over, and saw the 2 lines. "Babe, this is so exciting," he whispered to me. I was less than thrilled because I was still in shock. Damn that Spaghettini and their wine and their r&b music! I don't remember the date, but it was the same day that Starbucks was selling their coffee tumblers that gave you free coffee for the month of January. Sorry Cory and Selena, that's why you didn't get one from me. I tried going on Tuesday, but they weren't having that.


Cory gave me 2 days to figure out what we were going to do, how we were going to tell people, and what our plan was going to be. We talked a LOT those next few days. We were having a Christmas dinner that Friday with our parents, the Peters family Christmas that Saturday, and the Burns family Christmas that Sunday. We were going on a cruise for Cory's 30th birthday over New Years, so we knew that 1) we couldn't keep the secret for long because I'm not one to pass up a glass of wine, and 2) we had opportunities to share the good news with lots of people all at once. We told our parents that Wednesday so that they could have 2 days to mull it over before we all got together. We told the Peters family at dinner on Saturday, and we told the Burns family before dinner on Sunday. We also told friends once we confirmed it with the doctor that following Monday, and then the word was out. I waited a bit longer to tell people from work because we wanted to be sure that nothing happened first.


I slept for about 4 days over Christmas because my parents got an amazing new mattress and I didn't want to get up. The cruise over New Years was exhausting, and I found myself falling asleep at the comedy club. Who does that? The first time I threw up was when we were looking for wedding venues, and all I could eat during the first trimester was fruit, fruit snacks, pretzels, and milk. I cried a lot for no reason. We found out we were having a girl Friday, March 9th (I was so convinced that it was a girl that the day before the ultrasound, I told my office manager/other mom/best neighbor ever that I couldn't even imagine it being a boy). I finally felt her move Friday, March 16th after 2 square pizzas from the cafeteria and a sugar cookie. And while going through a bunch of my old baby stuff with my mom the weekend before the wedding, we found my mom and grandma's wedding predictions written on the bag. My grandmother predicted that I'd get married a long time ago (so long ago that I don't even remember), and my mom predicted that I'd get married in 2012...moms are always right! I knew that also as soon as I met Cory (more on our beginnings in another post).


I never took pictures of myself because I rarely looked presentable enough to take one. And for the past month or so, our livingroom (one of 2 mirrors in the whole house) has been so full of wedding messes that I haven't wanted to share it. I managed to take one the weekend before the wedding when I was about 19 weeks along:

More to come on where we are now tomorrow!


xoxo Kristen (yes, you get another trophy for reading this far)

Every Little Step I Take

One of my tope 10 all-time favorite songs is "Every Little Step I Take" by Bobby Brown. So, it's only appropriate that this was our grand entrance song for our wedding.

Lately, we've been taking some pretty big steps, actually. We were married this past Friday, and we're expecting our first child in August (she'll probably be early like her dad). I feel like I have a million and one things to blog about, which is terrific because I also feel like I have a little more time to sit and think. Ok fine, I really just make time to write now because I like the way my ring bling sparkles when I type.

Although I want to wait until we get our professional pictures back to write all about the wedding (and the slave labor I put myself and others through to make it all come together), I wanted to post a few of my post-wedding thoughts and some of the pictures that guests have shared on Facebook.

I started off the day with chocolate chip pancakes in bed with my mom and Godmother. Selena stayed with me that night, but left early to go back home to get ready. More on the day later...

The morning after the wedding, we checked out of our room and headed to Aunt Laurie's house for the Peters' family brunch. We both agreed that, since we had so many people in town that we didn't get to spend much time with, we would make an appearance to say hello and visit a bit. It was really nice to sit and chat with everyone! I had 3 servings of coffee cake, which made baby girl jump around. Aunt Pam told me months ago that I'd have to let her know when I felt her kick, so I ran over, put her hand on my belly, and got to share some pretty strong kicks with her. Once she knew that all eyes were on her, she stopped, of course.

After we left Don and Laurie's house, we headed back down to my parents' house to have (yes, another) brunch with my family. My aunt and uncle from Arizona were in town, as well as my "Uncle" Joe, my Godmother from Washington, and my uncle from Northern California. I scarfed down 2 of my dad's (should be) world-famous eggs benedict, and enjoyed visiting with everyone. My mom asked us what our favorite part of the wedding was, and be both agreed that is was the ceremony. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?!

Cory's cousin put so much work into it, and did a lot of research to make it personal for us. We wanted it sweet, funny, and personal, and that's JUST what Tyler gave us. The funniest thing about the ceremony, for me, was after Cory finished repeating his vows. He struggled a bit with one of the longer verses, and after he finished all of them, he whispered, "Good luck," to me. I thought that was so sweet! I can't wait to see the video of our ceremony because I'm curious as to whether or not any of our side conversations during the ceremony were picked up. Cory and Tyler thought the funniest part was when the wine bottle was too big for the box we had. Cory got a champagne bottle that was just big enough for a wine bottle that we have at home, but it wasn't big enough for the one during our ceremony. I didn't even THINK to check it before hand. When we realized that it wouldn't fit, Cory tried to turn the box to the side to hide it from everyone, but Tyler saw, and just as we thought we pulled it off, Tyler added some comment that announced it to everyone. Fiddlesticks!

Another cool Peters family tradition is taking a picture from the Rev's point of view. It makes a pretty cool picture, dontcha think?!

We had lots of laughs!

We absolutely LOVED our venue, and we were pleasantly surprised at how good the food really was. We all know what a slow eater I am, and trying to scarf down all of that food so that we could visit with everyone was a challenge. The coordinators at the venue were AMAZING, and helped us keep up with the timeline for the ceremony and reception. Their execution of everything was absolutely flawless! The best part is that we can go back and have dinner or brunch any time that we want to.

Now I have all of these cousins! And tucked in there is something I've never had before...a sister!

There were many projects that I concocted for this day, and I really appreciate everyone's help. Many hands make light work! I also appreciate Cory trying (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt) to overlook the chaos of a mess that was in our house prior to the wedding. Most of it is cleaned up now.

Yesterday, we spent the day by the fire watching sports, opening presents, eating wedding cake, making cheeseburgers, and reading through the cards that we had at each place setting. We are so grateful for all of the gifts that we received; our house is starting to feel like a home, and we can't wait to use the generous amounts of money that we received to purchase a dining room table, a china hutch, and a bedroom set. I'm most excited to finish buying what we need for our bedding. Most of the thank your cards went out today, and the rest will go out tomorrow (when I go buy more cards).

Overall, the best most bestest of all things was having so many wonderful family members and friends in attendance. Everyone says that their wedding was one of the best days of their lives, and I think it's because of the feeling you get when you realize that so many people want to share in the best moment of your life with you. I had (or tried) to hold in the "ugly cry" for most of the evening because I was overwhelmed with emotions. Still, though, I came in under my dad's prediction. I think I cried only 6 times; he predicted 8.

That morning, my mom also asked us if we felt any different. I knew that I felt different because I now felt like I had a true partner in life. I had someone that would fight for and with me, and that would always have my best interest at heart. For the first time in my life, I have a man, a true man, that wants to take care of me, and that I actually let take care of me. I have a man that no matter how mad I get at him, I always want to work it out somehow. I have a man that loves me exactly the way that I am. I have a man that has a wonderful family that I am happy to share a last name with. I have a man that I KNEW I would marry from the day that we went from "single" to "in a relationship with" on Facebook. And most importantly, I have a man that says he doesn't feel any different now that we're married because, in fact, he's thought of me and treated me as a wife since May 25th, 2011. He's going to be a wonderful father in a few months, and I can't wait to see all that this life has to offer us.

You deserve a trophy if you've gotten this far. Thanks for reading...more wedding updates to come!

xoxo Kristen Peters

(OMG that's the first time I've ever written it!!!)