Weekend Chicago Trip

Kyle and I made our 2nd annual trip to Chicago to see Mel & Steve (Kyle’s sister & her husband). We took off for Chicago after he got out of class Thursday night, which ended up meaning we had a 3am arrival time! I stayed up with Kyle about half the time, but boy being prego I just can’t last as late! Kyle did great though and got us to Chi-town safely!

We slept in Friday morning a bit and then headed about an hour north to Wisconsin to a HUGE outlet mall! But before our day of shopping we went to the Jelly Belly Factory!

The middle of the store was a huge sample station! Look closely and check out some of those flavors on the bottom…baby wipes, booger, barf, skunk spray…no thanks! ;)

Not sure if this counts as vegetable serving! ;)

We finally made it to the check out with a few Jelly Belly finds, only to find out they were hiding the good stuff up there! Check out the size of those peanut butter cups! Of course we HAD to get one!

Next we were off to empty our wallets at the outlet mall! The place was HUGE! Sadly it was raining so we hit our favorite stores and called it an afternoon by 3pm.

So this was Kyle’s first time in Wisconsin, so he had to have a real Wisconsin experience! Cheese!! Mar’s Cheese Castle to be exact!

It was literally a castle! And it just opened the day we were there! Great timing, huh!

There were all kinds of things made out of cheese…  

Beer sausage & cheese anyone?

Of course there were samples galore! Check out that giant wedge of cheese!!

Chocolate cheese fudge anyone? It was actually VERY good. The said they just replaced the milk with cheese.

No castle is complete with knights! :)

After our cheese excursion we hit up Ikea! This is an old picture, it was raining cats & dogs when we got there! We picked up a few things for the nursery. Can’t wait to show you guys!!

When we got back to Mel & Steve’s place and knew just what we wanted! Our giant peanut butter cup! We cut it into 4th’s and each enjoyed a piece of delicious-ness!!

Friday supper we knew just where we wanted to go….Giordanos!!

It was well worth the 30 minute wait for our pizza to cook!!

Mmmm, look at all that cheesy goodness!!

Saturday we spent our day shopping…the mall, Costco, Marshalls….you name it! :) Here are a few of my favorite finds!

Some new kicks!! Don’t ya love the sparkles!!

And of course I couldn’t pass up a few things for Baby Bangert!

After our day of shopping we went out for supper with some of Mel & Steve’s friends at one of their favorite spots, Ron of Japan, a Japanese steak house.

This was the kind of place where they cook right in front of you!

Pretty impressive!

We had a good time & of course, plenty of food!

Sunday we slept in, packed up the car, and Kyle wanted one more stop before we left town…Portillos! Kyle got his hot dog & Italian beef and I stuck with their chocolate cake!

We said our goodbyes and made the trip home. Thanks for a wonderful weekend guys! Next time you’ll have a family of 3 visiting! :)

(old picture…sadly we didn’t get a picture of the 4 of us while we were together)

24 weeks

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Bangert is the size of a papaya!

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.  Things are getting tighter though!

Gender: It’s a girl!!!

Movement: She’s a busy bee in the evenings and I've been starting to feel her more & more throughout the day! Kyle is anxiously awaiting his turn to be able to feel her!

Sleep: Not too bad, I get up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. I guess it’s preparing me for a newborn!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and a bigger selection of clothes!

Cravings: I don't have specific cravings. I just like to eat! ;) I don’t think ice cream counts, I love that anytime!

Symptoms: Really can’t complain! Feeling pretty well!

Best Moment this week: Spending the weekend with good friends.

AND picking up the glider for the nursery!!! So cozy!

So I’m behind (what’s new!), Thursday started week 25, but I wanted to put this up anyways! Hard to believe I have 15 weeks left. I’m so excited/anxious to meet my little girl. Kyle and I are currently in Chicago visiting his sister & brother-in-law. Can’t wait to share all the fun things we’ve done and we’ve gotten!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll “see” you again for my 25th week post!

23 weeks

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Bangert is the size of a papaya

Total Weight Gain/Loss: didn’t weigh this week

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular. Things are getting tighter though!

Gender: It’s a girl!!!

Movement: She’s a busy bee in the evenings and I've been starting to feel her more & more throughout the day!

Sleep: Not too bad, I get up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. I guess it’s preparing me for a newborn!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and a bigger selection of clothes!

Cravings: I don't have specific cravings. I just like to eat! ;) I don’t think ice cream counts, I love that anytime!

Symptoms: Really can’t complain! Feeling pretty well!

Best Moment this week: Picking out the glider for our nursery! Hayden was a good help! ;)


Once again I'm behind getting this up. Today is day 2 in my 24th week, but hey better late than never right?!?! I'm so excited for this weekend, we have friends staying with us and a wedding, should be a good time!

Happy Friday everyone!

22 weeks

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Bangert is the size of a papaya

Total Weight Gain/Loss: didn’t weigh this week

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.  Things are getting tighter though!

Gender: It’s a girl!!!

Movement: She’s a busy bee in the evenings, but overall I think she is a pretty mild little girl.

Sleep: Not too bad, I get up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. I guess it’s preparing me for a newborn!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and a bigger selection of clothes!

Cravings: I don't have specific cravings. I just like to eat! ;) I don’t think ice cream counts, I love that anytime!

Symptoms: Really can’t complain! Feeling pretty well!

Best Moment this week: The warming weather & getting some exercise outside!

Today is actually the start of 23 weeks, but I wanted to get this up (even if it’s late!). It’s a rare day in Iowa in February today…the high is 72 degrees! Cannot wait till after work to take a walk outside. I have been pretty lazy in the exercise department and I can really tell! So my goal for my 23rd week is to exercise 3 times for at least 30 minutes. Hold me to it friends!

21 weeks

 

How Far Along: 21 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Bangert is the size of a banana

Total Weight Gain/Loss: gained 18lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.  Things are getting tighter though!

Gender: It’s a girl!!!

Movement: I felt her kick on the outside of my tummy on Sunday!

Sleep: Not too bad, I get up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. I guess it’s preparing me for a newborn!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and a bigger selection of clothes!

Cravings: I don't have specific cravings. I just like to eat! ;) I don’t think ice cream counts, I love that anytime!

Symptoms: Really can’t complain! Feeling pretty well!

Best Moment this week: See below!

• Spending the weekend with my sisters & this lil cutie!
• Getting LOTS of free baskets from the Signature Homestyles party I had! Our little girl’s closet is going to be SO organized!
• Haircut! Notice the difference from a few weeks ago?

20 weeks

  Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Bangert is the size of a cantaloupe

Total Weight Gain/Loss: gained 18lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.  Things are getting tighter though!

Gender: It’s a girl!!!

Movement: Beginning to feel my little girl more lots more these days! 

Sleep: Not too bad, I get up a few times throughout the night to go to the bathroom. I guess it’s preparing me for a newborn!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and a bigger selection of clothes!

Cravings: I don't have specific cravings. I just like to eat! ;) I don’t think ice cream counts, I love that anytime!

Symptoms: Really can’t complain! Feeling pretty well!

Best Moment this week: Finding out & seeing our baby girl! Amazing!

Last Tuesday we had our ultrasound appointment. Kyle was there (of course) and Aunt Wendi came too! It was so amazing to see that little life inside me!Thursday we had our follow up appointment with the Doctor and said she looks perfectly healthy. Kyle got a kick out of her saying “baby looks proportional”! They measured me about 6 days ahead, but wanted to stick with my original due date, maybe that means Baby Girl Bangert will come before June 16th!

Nursery Preview! 

Kyle painted while we were off work over Christmas break. We chose Restoration Hardware “light silver sage” for a color. It’s a light blue/gray. I knew it would (obviously) work for a boy, but thought if we added pink to the room it would look great for a girl too!

Last weekend Kyle installed a closet organizer in the nursery. I just LOVE how it turned out, I’m all about organizing!!

Tuesday afternoon Kyle & I got off work early because of a snow storm, so I worked another nursery project. I REALLY, REALLY wanted to purchase a new dresser, but we’re trying to do the nursery on a budget! So we are using a dresser we already had, but I wanted to “dress” it up a bit. I added some pop of color inside the drawers. Idea courtesy of Young House Love! We are also going to add some handles too!

Here is a sneak peak of the bedding. This is something I purchased from Pottery Barn Kids a few years ago on super clearance. I think it was back in 2006 I had MAJOR baby fever, but after lots of chats with Kyle we decided it just wasn’t the right time yet. But since we’re having a girl we still get to use the bedding! And you can see from this picture too that we have a white crib. Kyle set up the crib over our Christmas break also. Last weekend I washed all her bedding & made the bed! The crib was a generous gift from some friends who moved out of state a few years ago and their little guy was ready to move to a big bed. We purchased their crib mattress for only $25 (they paid over $200) I guess it pays to plan ahead!

That’s all for now friends! Kyle & I are enjoying our snow day off work today. Going to do a few more projects in the nursery!! :)