Bumpdate: 16 Weeks

Ahhhh bump photos. I never know the best way to frame them. But this has to be documented somehow. 

This Week's Details:

How far along? 16 weeks!

Size of baby? An avocado :)

Stretch marks? Still nothing but stomach is starting to get itchy which tells me there is growth there.

Sleep? I usually only wake up when Kyle starts to get up which tells me that sleep is going pretty well. I could only last a couple of minutes on my stomach the other night so I think those days are gone for now.

Best moment this week? As weird as it sounds, best moment was accepting that it is okay that I can't button up my shorts. I went shopping and got pants that will be a little more roomy and accommodating.

Maternity Clothes? I am still holding out on buying maternity clothes since skirts and dresses are doing an okay job right now.

Missing? I miss my morning energy at the gym. It may just be psychological but I feel like I am not able to just hop on the treadmill at 5:50 like I used to. It takes me a bit longer to wake up in the mornings so I'm hoping that I get some more energy as time goes on. It also totally depends on the day though. The other morning both Kyle and I were both able to get up and exercise without a problem.

Movement? I lay still every night with my hand on my stomach and try to see if I am feeling anything. I feel like I may have felt things in the past but it may have just been my stomach grumbling. I read the other day, for the first pregnancy, it's hard to feel anything before week 20. I am just so excited for the first bit of flutters!

Food cravings? A bad sweet tooth has crept in. I mean...I guess it's always been there but I feel like I need to have something sweet every night. Kyle went out and got me some cashew milk ice cream and I've tried to only have a couple of bites instead of a whole bowl.

Food Aversions? I'm doing better in this area. I've been able to get down most things especially with me getting hungrier.

Bump? Showing up a little more each day. I feel like it's a lot higher than I thought it would be, but that just may be the overall expansion of my belly as a whole. It's so fun to see it in the mirror.

Gender? I think Kyle and I officially decided we would have the doctor write down the gender and we will do our own gender reveal with a cupcake somewhere in the city. I honestly have no idea at this point. Kyle is still strong on the girl side but I can't say one way or the other. We will see!

Names? I laugh every time Kyle will bring up a name and I can say 'no' without even thinking that hard about it. I find that with names, in order to even consider it, I have to like it from the get go. There are some names that we used to like but they've slowly lost their appeal. Who knows? We could have a totally different name picked out by the time they come.

Labor Signs? Nope.

Looking Forward To? Feeling this little one flutter inside me and finding the gender!

Here are a few other things from this week: 

I went to a USU Alumni lunch and they picked a pretty great spot with a gorgeous view. Also, the scaffolding is coming off of the Capitol, revealing a newly renovated dome. It's extra sparkly now.

This book has been so fun! It talks about how different parenting is in France compared to America. The writer is very witty and it's been fun to look at why she thinks France has a better model to raising children. 

My mom sent us these items the other day. No, we still don't know the gender but this little kitty looks too much like Boo.

If it's not a girl, we will definitely hold on to these for the future (if we have a girl).

My bump was really showing one afternoon and this guy fell asleep on it (probably appreciating the warmth).

We took a Sunday drive out to Great Falls Park and watched the rapids. It was so peaceful.

I find that the more places we visit, the more excited I get thinking of taking our little one to explore! Also, I love Kyle.

Hello spring! Why don't you stay for a while?

Spring is here in the Nation's Capital! Well, at least trying to fight winter and show it's here. It's been so nice to break out the skirts and wear short sleeves again (in all reality, I still wear a cardigan because office life tends to be on the cool air conditioned side). It's made me so happy to see warm weather and greenery appear again. So happy, in fact, that I had Kyle meet me for lunch near his work, next to the park by the White House. 

They have the cutest little stone tables and chairs with an engraved checkerboard
just if you happened to bring your checks or chess set along to play.  

This lunch was so good! Corner Bakery Cafe never disappoints.

Hi pretty flowers outside my work! Thanks for popping up to say hello.

Oh I love Capitol Hill row houses. Always so colorful.

We drove into Georgetown one afternoon to explore Dumbarton
Oaks Park. I want to go back once everything has bloomed. 

We also took a trip out to the Potomac Waterfront for a stroll.
There was a family of Canadian Geese that had the same idea.

My absolute favorite thing so far this season has been a pair of eagles (appropriately named "Mr. President" and "The First Lady") who made their home at the U.S. National Arboretum. They noticed them making a nest and then discovered two eggs were getting ready to hatch. A camera was set up and I found most of my coworkers had the live feed on in the top corner of their screens. They eventually hatched and there is a contest in naming the two eaglets. 

Angry mom!

The first baby.

So fluffy!

I was surprised to see how quickly they started eating whole foods
including the fish that Mr. President would bring into the nest.

A second eaglet! I think he had just fallen over on his back.

Mr. President eventually discovered the camera and wasn't too happy about it. 

Wings around each other. I died when I saw this. 

A happy D.C. family!

Another spring to the district means another season with the Cherry Blossoms! I love them every year. And every year we learn to avoid coming during the day to avoid the crowds. It's funny how a year can make you forget things because we always end up showing up during the day again! We can't stay away!

I even met Kyle after work one evening where we rented bikes to go see the blossoms by sunset. 

So beautiful!

And of course, we made a stop at our favorite gelato
place, Pitango (more about this heavenly spot HERE).

Chocolate and banana for the win.

I'm sure there will be a couple of teaser rain and snow storms, but
I am so happy to see you spring and hope you are here to stay!

Dear...March

Dear March...I can't believe you are here! February was a bit of a long month. So much has been going on lately and I have been really bad at updating the blog! So this is just kind of a catch up and to update on some fun things that have been happening lately. 

Dear voting...First, we voted....well, I voted...Kyle went in to the wrong center and had to mail in his vote. It felt great to be a citizen with a voice in the area. 

Dear Samuel... how come you are almost 5 months old?! It's KILLING me! Stop growing baby! I won't see you again until June and you must stay little!

Dear Nature...We went on a walk by our house the other day and saw a family of deer. It was so peaceful and quiet. Thank you for being you.

Dear Sunday Treats... Thank you for existing. I made banana cream pie Sunday for fun and tried not to eat the whole thing.

Dear Boo Radley...You are one cool cat of ours....you've been really sweet lately and we love having you around. 

Dear Ice Cream and Trying to Be Good...Kyle is so good at creating new flavors of you. He gets the really good milk and cream from a local dairy and it makes all the difference. In fact, Sunday was a new flavor: toasted coconut ice cream. Well, I've been trying to be good at healthy eating (Whole 30, Paleo, etc.) and it was a fight to keep from having a bowlful. 

Dear Spring...We've had crazy rain lately! I KNOW you are upon us and we can feel you looking around the corner. We are ready for you!

Dear Trade Joe's on Capital Hill...Great shout out to the Nation's Capital.

Dear SoulCycle...You are AWESOME! And so is my work for giving me free classes every once and a while! It's such a great workout and the bikes are so clean and work well. But somehow, you also do so well at making me feel like I jumped in a swimming pool once I'm done. You know how to get me! 

Dear McOmber Place Blog...That's about it for the update. I promise to try to be better at spending time with you. We are looking forward to another fun spring and summer here in Washington D.C. and beautiful Virginia. 

A Day at the National Postal Museum

It was blustery and cold on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and we originally were planning on visiting the Pennsylvania Dutch Country but since it was reporting close to 0' with the wind chill, we decided to stay local. Our goal is to see all of the Smithsonian Museums while we are here and we have about 6 left. We decided to visit the National Postal Museum up on Capitol Hill. 

Kyle was obviously jumping for joy at not having to pay for parking.

Another heel click for good measure. 

The Postal Museum is in, of course, an old post office and it is beautiful!

Stamps for days!

Two of the first U.S. stamps!

Stamps to take home if we wanted!

This dog was adopted as the first unofficial postal mascot but later became a nationwide mascot for 9 years, while traveling from state to state and even around the world.

His name was Owney and I have no idea why.

Mailboxes found around the world. 

A neat exhibit on delivering mail during the 18th century.

And THANK GOODNESS we were able to make our own
stamps on the computer! I'm glad we have these gems.