Weeks 27-30

An update to my pregnancy timeline...

Week 27: Baby girl is the size of a rutabaga: March 4

-I'm having trouble with my back hurting, kankles, and my heart has been racing - all uncomfortable but tend to pass and are "perfectly normal" says my doctor.

-We flew to Indiana for several days so we could go to 2 baby showers and a wedding
-We got to see a TON of family and friends this week

-Flying and traveling in general is getting more difficult.  Luckily Kevin carried the heavy things, our travel plans went off without a hitch and we had seats close to the restroom.  This was our last flight together at a COUPLE!  Weird and exciting :)

-We are feeling more prepared for Olive's arrival after getting so many fun gifts.  We brought everything we'd need for you for the first month back to Utah and the rest stayed in Indiana.  Mom and Dad will bring it down to us once we get to Little Rock. 

Week 28: egg plant: March 11

-I got the stomach flu for the second time this pregnancy.  No one else caught it from me but it was a rough last day in Indiana.  Thankfully I was able to keep my scheduled flight to head back to Utah. 

-My back is still bothering me & having heartburn/acid reflux issues

- People are saying things to me about how big the baby is getting and how I'm looking pregnant. 

-We had a fun St. Patrick's Day celebration at home

-We made the announcement to everyone that we are moving to Little Rock, AR this July

Week 29: acorn squash: March 18

-Baby girl has become a kick boxer/somersaulter - lots more movement that I can feel and SEE

-Visited my doctor this week and baby had a heartbeat of 154, I'm measuring right on track too and my blood pressure was a little high so I have to go back in 2 weeks to monitor it

-We did a Spring Art Show this week selling accessories

-We filled out our NCAA brackets

-Enjoyed the extra treats and goodies at school this week during Teacher Appreciation Week

-My students are getting more and more excited about baby Olive's arrival.  They told me I could come back to teaching right after I have her and they'd help me take care of her.  Like if she started crying they could take turns holding her.  They also wrote down some baby advice for me that I'll be blogging about soon.

Week 30: cucumber: March 25

-I'm getting worn out by the time the afternoon rolls around.  Working on sitting more during the day and successfully avoiding kankles most days :)  I'm also spending more and more time relaxing on the couch in the evenings.

-Kevin has started saying, "Being pregnant is HARD!" more frequently
-I am not a crier... yet I have found myself tearing up at the drop of a hat... animal abuse commercial, random TV shows, etc.

-I'm finally on Spring Break!

-I caught a cold/cough and have about 25 suspects who might have shared their germs in my classroom this week. 

And the baby countdown is on... >10 weeks!!

Throwback Easter

Happy throwback Easter!

Dresses with "bibs" and ruffles, over sized bows and glasses, 

pastels, and Easter toys in hand.

Good times with my siblings.

Happy Easter!

 Love, Kevin, Whitney, Olive & the boys

Easter at My House

Welcome to my house for Easter...

 My only seasonal purchase this year was this 

Wooden "Chocolate" bunny... isn't he adorable?!?!

 My table

We are ready for Spring :)

I'm not the only one who appreciates pretty decorations...

Dating Your Husband

My husband and I have so much fun together and enjoy going on dates.  We've been doing this for 15 years (junior year of high school until present).  Every weekend we plan our time together and even try to squeeze in lots of fun things during our busy work weeks.  On date night, Kevin usually drives, opens doors for me (because I love it! and we don't spend much time on our phones during the evening.  I'm usually the one who has to make an effort to not check my phone and being fully present.

Here are some of our favorite date night ideas:

1. Kevin purchases Groupon/Living Social deals and we try out new restaurants, sporting events and activities.  We've gone to NBA games, Pro soccer games (only one because neither of us could really get into it), hockey games, tried new genres of food, head downtown to try out new places, etc.

2. One of us will plan the whole evening and surprise the other.  We just tell the other what time to be ready and I usually ask what I should wear because I want to be dressed accordingly.

3. We will hang out at Starbucks and we both bring books to read.

4. We'll go up to his office and work together on the weekends then grab dinner afterwards.  We both usually have papers to grade or things to work on for school.

5. Kevin will pick up take out on his way home from work and we'll watch something we've DVR'd (Duck Dynasty, Modern Family, Storage Wars, etc.)

6. Kevin enjoys hunting for good movies to watch so he'll do his research and then we'll stream something to our TV.  He has fun searching for a new movie that we'll LOVE!  We went through watching all the old 80s movies, Rom-Coms, and TV series.

7. We'll make a dessert together after dinner.  He'll find new recipes and so will I - some of our faves are pies, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, brownies and homemade ice cream.  We both grew up with moms that we great cooks so we will often make one of their recipes.

8. We purchased a local coupon book and enjoy trying out new ice cream places and restaurants together.  I am a creature of habit and like to go to familiar places so this is a bit out of my comfort zone.  I'm glad my husband pushes me to not be "boring" :)

9.We plan road trips and vacations together.  I enjoy doing the sight seeing/touristy research and he plans the hotels/food/activities.  We work together over to make plans for upcoming travel.

10. We go miniature golfing and once I went to the driving range to hit balls.  My hubby is a great golfer and I'm an excellent cheerleader but he thought it would be fun to show me how to hit a golf ball.  I was timid and am not very patient so we haven't done that much since then but it was lots of fun to try.

11. Kevin will bring me lunch on days when he doesn't have much going on.  Sometimes it's planned and sometimes I'll get a text mid-morning asking for my lunch order.  Either way, I really enjoy this break in my workday.  I have a 30 minute lunch break as a teacher so I don't have the luxury of driving downtown to have lunch unless it's summer or I have the day off.  I pack picnic lunches in the summer and we'll have lunch outside at his office or we'll meet at a park for lunch.

12. If we both end up with a day where we'll be home early (4:00ish) then we try to do something fun: go for a long walk, head to Jamba Juice, grab a snack at Costco or try out a yogurt place.

13. We will go to Barnes and Noble and read magazines together or pick out new books to read.

14. Sometimes we'll take day trips to the outlet malls that are about an hour away.  We'll shop together for a few hours (max 2ish) and then have a yummy meal out.

15. We plan out our meals together for the week and work on our grocery list together.  Kevin is in charge of gathering any coupons and I write the list.  Then we go to dinner and head to the grocery store afterwards.  This allows us to have dinners to look forward to for the week and get to spend time together.  Plus couponing is hard to keep up with so it's nice for him to do it for our family.  I have a hard time keeping up with the expiration dates, remembering to use it and meeting the requirements of said coupon.

16. We text/call/email throughout the day to check in and see what the other is up to or how their day is going.  We have varied schedules each day so it's nice to know when the other will be home and talking often allows us to finalize plans about dinner/TV/hanging out for the evening.

17. When you marry your BFF, sometimes you have to make yourself branch out and do things with other couples.  We make dinner dates with couple friends because we always have fun with them but we easily fall into our routine of doing things with just the two of us.

18. We also love watching sports together.  I grew up watching some baseball and basketball with my dad but never really paid much attention.  (I'd go to football games in high school and would have no idea who won or what the score was at the end of the games when my parents would ask... I was too busy socializing :) My husband goes bananas for any type of football, golf, basketball and pretty much any other sport.  After we got married, I quickly realized that we could have a lot of fun if I learned more about these sports and watched them with Kevin.  It took a little while but I'm excited to say that I can know intelligently watch any sport!  I've done season football tickets, fantasy football teams, filled out March Madness brackets, watched a lot of TV and have gone to TONS of live sporting events.  I'd highly recommend watching sports with your hubby!

We are having a baby girl, Olive Kate, this June 

so I'm looking forward to taking on the challenge of continuing to date my husband 

in the midst of parenting.

Do you have any other fun date night suggestions for us??

Hello Friday!!

March seemed to go by s-l-o-w-l-y but it's hard to believe that April is almost here.  I'm excited to ring in a new month with my SPRING BREAK!!  

Here were the best parts of my week:

1. My class wrapped up Teacher Appreciation Week by giving me a MONEY TREE!  They all brought in donations and my room mom taped them to a lovely house plant.  #imspoiled I am NOT good with plants but I'm going to try really hard to be a good horticulturist from here on out.  I'm just hoping that my furry littler herbivores don't make salad of this plant too quickly.

2. I'm getting really excited for my next shower with my teacher friends!

3. My book club recently read The Happiness Project and our host for the month gave us each this framed print.  It makes me smile to see it sitting on my bookshelf!

 4. I received a little care package in the mail with a board book and personalized burp cloths!!  Aren't they adorable?!?!

5. My 30 week baby bump makes me smile :)

Linking up with Life Rearranged and Lauren

Hoppy Easter Art

I was anxious to do a Spring art project with my class

so I dreamed up this over sized bunny project.

Here's what you'll need:

over sized paper for the background

pipe cleaners - 2 per child

scrapbook paper in pastels

thick, white paper - 6 per child

ribbon

pom-poms

googly eyes

scissors

glue sticks

scissors

decorative punches came in handy too

Warning: Your classroom will look like a disaster for oh about 2 hours

 BUT your students will be in heaven!!!

 We made a bunny body part checklist to guide the kids:

We decided that they should do one large bunny with some type of Spring item in the picture

I planned for this to take about an hour but it really took more like 2ish hours.  The kids loved it and their bunnies were ADORABLE!!  I'm so glad that I didn't just copy a bunny template for them to do.  I'm not a fan of cookie cutter art projects so these personalized bunnies were too sweet.  Each child was so proud of their bunny and took lots of time to ensure that every detail was just right.  

Here's what my student came up with:

 Hoppy Easter from my 3rd graders!!