She's the best: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Questions

Because Aubrey is the best, she's helping me out with book club this month. I have no idea where the month went, but somehow I didn't even have a chance to finish the book.

So...she's the hero of the month! Here are a few of her questions and you'll need to check out her post HERE to see what else she has to say.

1. Did you like the book? Was it what you were hoping for or expecting? Why or why not?
 
2. This book portrayed a poor family's life. Do you think their experience was really unique to their socioeconomic status or is theirs' simply a story of human existence?
 
3. Although Francie is not the narrator, the story is told primarily from her point of view. How do you think the story would have differed if it had been told from another character's point of view?

Now go say hi to Aubrey and see what else she wants you to consider for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Week 27

How far along: 27 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of an acorn squash, a camping lantern, or a bunch of bananas.

Gender: The poll is still going. Make sure that your vote counts! Speaking of voting...I'll have a contest around these parts soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

Nursery: No progress on the nursery this week. Still just painted. But we did prime the doors...? So I guess that counts for something. Yes? Ok.

Movement: Constant movement. #babyentzel is super active when s/he can hear music...during worship at church, during Kyle's concerts, etc. It's fun to feel part of his/her personality this early in life.

Symptoms: Soooorrrreeee hips. Aside from that, I'm back to the tired(er) phase. If Kyle would let me, I'd take a nap from 6-8 every night and then still be asleep by 10.

Sleep: Tired. Like I said about symptoms...I could sleep a lot. Sometimes I'm getting up once at night, but I've been sleeping all night for the most part *knock on wood*.

Cravings: :( None. Boo.

Missing:Wearing pants that button. Things are pretty okay right now.

Best moment of the week: Feeling baby jammin out to the music we've been surrounded by.

Looking forward to: Having our baby shower in 6-ish weeks! (That also means Aubrey's home!)

Happy Thursday!

She's Coming Back! {By the Numbers}

It's true! If you read Aubrey's blog, you'll know that I'm telling the truth. She's moving back! She's not entirely sure where she's moving back to...but she'll at least be in the states when Baby Entzel is born. Which is much better than first meeting him/her at Christmas!

Here's a little history of our relationship by the numbers (years).

We met in the fall of 2009 when a mutual friend duct taped us together and we've been inseparable ever since.

In the spring of 2010, we took an epic spring break road trip. We took in two basketball tournaments (for two different states), put approx. 1,200 miles on my car driving all over ND/MN, and made so many memories in that short week.

In the fall of 2010, we walked to and from classes together and saw each other every day. She also celebrated my birthday with me (and my mom)! We went to see Wicked at the Orpheum.

During the spring of 2011, Aubrey moved into the building right next door to me. She quickly became friends with my roommates and spent most of March Madness at our apartment with Kayla. And unfortunately, I am unable to find the footage of her playing "My Heart Will Go On" on her recorder. Stay tuned *get it?*,  I may be able to find it yet.

Aubrey moved home during the summer of 2011 to start her student teaching that fall. We still kept in contact even though we were 333 miles apart.

We spent a ton of time texting and emailing back and forth trying to figure out if this one boy liked me and if he did, when he'd ask me out. I can't even venture to guess how many texts were sent between November and February 2012.

Once we found out that he really did like me, I think the texting only increased.

There were a few times when I did take the Amtrak to see her. It was probably the springs of 2012 and 2013? (Aubrey, correct me if I'm wrong)

Then in the summer of 2012, she came to visit in Grand Forks on her way to camp.

During the summer of 2013, I was honored to have her stand up by me when I married my best friend.


Since then, our friendship has still been long distance with me being in ND and her teaching in Thailand for 2014-2016 but we've continued to see each other about once a year. We will FaceTime off and on. But we've remained friends for so long, that I know I can always count on her.

I'm so looking forward to having Aubrey move back to ND this summer and it can't come fast enough.

If you've got a By the Numbers post that you'd like to link up, please use the button and share with us! I'll add you to our collaboration section.

Happy Tuesday!

Week 26

How far along: 26 weeks

Size of baby: approximately the size of a coconut, hothouse cucumber (Google it), or the size of a bowling pin (Kyle's favorite)

Gender: The poll is still going. Make sure that your vote counts!

Nursery: My mom came and helped me paint the nursery on Saturday. We got it done in approximately 2.5 hours! I'm so happy with how the grey turned out, but you'll have to wait for the final pictures. :) This week we hope to have the doors, door frames, & window frames painted. Then hopefully we can get baseboards made (Kyle's job) in the next few weeks.

Movement: What feels like all day, every day. Baby is getting bigger so his/her movements become more pronounced each day. Kyle was able to feel him/her moving around the other day!

Symptoms: Sore hips, super tired (my 2 hour evening naps aren't even affecting my sleep!), and my hair is nice and full (I realized that I've only been posting negative symptoms...oops!).

Sleep: I sleep hard and have a really hard time getting up in the morning. Nighttime bathroom breaks have stalled for now and for that I'm grateful.

Cravings: Still none...boo.

Missing: Having work clothes that fit...

Best moment of the week: Seeing our nursery coming together.

Looking forward to: Sending out shower invites!

Week 25

We're back at it! We've reached week 25 and all of our remaining dr appointments are scheduled and in my planner.

How far along: 25 weeks

Size of baby: Approximately the size of a rutabaga, a large cucumber, a head of cauliflower, or a baseball glove

Gender: The poll is still going. Make sure that your vote counts!

Nursery: The room is pretty well emptied and we (my mom and I) are painting this weekend! Woohoo!

Movement: Big moves are happening. I'm feeling jabs above my hips and kicks below my ribs. S/he is quite the mover and the groover...there was quite a bit of movement during worship at church on Sunday.

Symptoms: Heart.Burn. Uff. And my hips are hurting more every day.

Sleep: I was up three times the other night. THREE. So, I'm sure I'll be up at least once a night from here on out.

Cravings: Still not much. Is it wrong that I kind of want some cravings so that Kyle can run to the store for me??

Missing: Not terribly much...maybe feeling rested when I wake up in the morning.

Best moment of the week: Meeting my new doctor and seeing how few weeks are actually left!

Looking forward to: Having my glucose test done...in a month.

Happy Thursday!!

April's Book: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Happy Wednesday, all! I trust that this week is going well for most of you. Here's another short post for this week. I know I'm slacking, but I wanted to share this month's book with you.

This month we are reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. If you've never read it, it may seem a little daunting at first. But, I've heard lovely things about it, so I'm excited to share with you.

And if you've been looking for the Seabiscuit discussion, have no fear. It will happen. Honest. Just not on the date it was supposed to happen. Obviously.

 Goodreads summary

So go check out A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and let's meet back here in a few weeks to get this discussion rollin!

And come back tomorrow for your weekly dose of "Kelly feels the need to update us on her pregnancy so I guess I'll read it."

Happy Wednesday!

 

National Champs!

This is just a short post to start off your Monday. But if you stopped by last week, you probably saw this post on Friday. We were gearing up for an exciting game on Saturday night. And boy, let me tell you. It was quite the game.

And after 16 long years, UND is the National Champion again!

Congratulations to Coach Berry on being the first NCAA first year head coach to win the Championship! And congrats to the UND men!

Now you go and have a great Monday!

Five on Friday

I feel like all I've been writing about here, is my pregnancy...and there I go again.

So since it's Friday, I figured I'd join up with A. Liz Adventures for another round of Five on Friday, with the hopes that I'll find some sort of groove and I won't be filling up your feed with only pregnancy journals. *yeah right*

one | hockey, hockey, hockey

UND played in their fourth consecutive Frozen Four last night. We don't have cable, so we weren't able to watch the game. Boo. But! The game was a WIN! It was a fun (and nervewracking) game to watch, but the boys prevailed. UND beat University of Denver 4-2.

two | school

We are approximately whoamikidding exactly 37 days away from our last day of school and graduation. That means that I need to get crackin on my cousin's graduation cupcakes. Her party is June 4. I'm going to be enormous, so I'm hoping/praying that I can get some most of them baked and frozen by the second week in May. Any tips for freezing cake?


three | garden

Our plants are growing! It's so fun to get home from work every day and see how much they've grown! *insert whiny momma voice here* I'm awfully proud of them so far.


four | tree help

Last year we found out that we have apricot trees in our yard! Cool! BUT. All of the fruit fell off the trees before they could ripen. Is there a master gardener out there who can help me?? Anyone? *crickets*


five | conferencing

Kyle and I were presenting at a conference last weekend for the student chapter of our state's teacher's union. It was a great time. Really, it was. And I've got another conference tomorrow. Our teachers are putting on a Writing and Reading conference for the middle/high school students in our community. Chris Crutcher is even coming to speak! Wish me luck...I don't do well with mornings before 8am on weekends.

What are five things you're thinking about today? And as always, make sure to link up with A. Liz Adventures if you're participating! And I'm off to my 24 week appointment this afternoon (sorry...just had to)!

Happy Friday!

Week 24

Our next appointment is this week. We're switching doctors and will finally be meeting her this week. There's only one more monthly appointment after this one and before we know it, they'll be every 2 weeks. Wowza!

How far along: 24 weeks

Size of baby: Around the size of a cantaloupe, a GI Joe, or a large zucchini

Gender: Take the poll in the right hand sidebar to cast your vote! Also...send me an email or leave a comment because I'm just curious like that.

Nursery: Kyle moved the bed from our nursery/guest room into the basement bedroom and all that's left in baby's room is a dresser and the crib. Then it's painting soon!

Movement: Baby is moving with stronger jabs lately. It's fun to see my shirt jump as s/he kicks or wiggles.

Symptoms: Heartburn and I'm starting to get more tired again. Hopefully that's just because I have a cold.

Sleep: I wish I could say I'm sleeping through the night still, but I was up once Saturday night, twice Sunday night, and _______xs last night. And I'm extra warm when sleeping. Unfortunately for Kyle, I inadvertently use the blankets as a barrier between us in the middle of the night to block some of his body heat.

Cravings: Not much. Does sleep count?

Missing: Lots of coffee and a beer would be nice.

Best moment of this week: Realizing that, even though 24 weeks seems like it's not that close to 40 weeks, but when I count down that there are only 16 weeks left...it's going to fly by.  I remember when I was only 6 weeks and I was itching to tell everyone. That time has flown by.

Looking forward to: Still waiting on some babies....AND Aubrey has been working diligently on Baby Entzel's shower coming up in June! So, that'll be fun too. :)


Thanks for stopping by and as always...

Happy Wednesday!