The Stingeries: January 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Week 20

How far along: 20 weeks, 5 days

Size of Baby S: 6.5 in, 10.5 oz

Fruit/vegetable comparison (according to Baby Center): Banana

Total weight gain: 5 lbs; apparently I haven't dived into the American junk food enough still :-/

Sleep: Good!

Movement: Maybe? I still can't tell anything noticeable, but there were two times that I was laying in bed and either it was the baby, my stomach growling, or I dreamt the whole thing...

Unglamorous body changes: Little bit gassy... fortunately it's only occurred at home and not in public so only Jason and the cats have had to suffer with me

Maternity Clothes? Yes on maternity jeans. Still using the belly band for my work pants though and no maternity tops or dresses yet.

Showing: Yes! At least Jason and I think I am showing. It's still not super obvious in clothes, but it's definitely getting there!

Food cravings: Nothing really stands out this week. Except cereal again. Particularly Fruity Pebbles, but fortunately my friend Heather is headed to Houston in a couple of weeks and said she'd pick me up a box! ;-)

What I miss: Lattes. I will still have one every once in awhile, but I feel like I'm drinking contraband even though it's significantly less than the recommended limit (limit is 200 mg daily and a shot of espresso actually contains less than drip coffe (75 mg versus 150 mg per serving).

Anything making you queasy: Nope.

Strange experiences: In the past 48 hours I've had five people tell me that I don't really look pregnant and definitely not 20 (almost 21 weeks). The baby is measuring good on the growth charts and I am eating whenever I am hungry. There's not much else I can do and I know I will be showing more soon and will probably regret saying this, but I wish I was looking more pregnant now. :-/

Milestones: The baby's skin is thickening and her hair and nails are growing.

Best moment this week: We took a class this week called "The Practicalities of Having a Baby in Norway". We got a lot of good information about the process and possible options for private nanny after the baby is born.

Looking forward to: Starting to show and going back to the doctor in a couple weeks. We'll get to hear Baby Girl's heartbeat again! :-)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Ireland Vacation Part 3

Don't forget to catch the beginning of our Ireland trip located.Part 1 is located here and Part 2 here.

After a full day of sightseeing around the Kerry and Killarney areas, we knew we would be arriving after dark to Ashford Castle. We made sure to leave room the following day to explore the castle and enjoy the grounds. It was incredibly awesome to stay the night in a castle and I'm glad we splurged on this stop! :-)

Here's the postcard from the hotel that was in our room. It gives a great aerial overview of the castle and just how big it really is!

We were escorted to our room upon arrival and shown the formal dining room, the sitting area and bar with evening entertainment, and a few other areas in the castle. We took pictures of our room as well, including the view we enjoyed the following morning.

We decided to see what the evening entertainment was and got a couple drinks at the bar before sitting down to enjoy the piano music and singing. Another couple asked if they could join us and we ended up visiting with them for a few hours.

The following morning we enjoyed breakfast in the dining room before exploring the castle and what else, taking pictures! :-)

After leaving Ashford Castle we headed south towards Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher. It was incredibly windy and cold, but we endured the weather and walked along the cliffs.

It was so windy that a "snowfall" of sea foam kept blanketing the cliff side despite being hundreds of feet above the sea.

We hurried over to try and make the last tour at Doolin Caves for our final tourist stop in Ireland. We were able to make the tour and see Ireland's largest stalactite and caves.

We made the drive back to Dublin stopping for dinner at a French restaurant called L'Gueuleton that one of my coworkers had recommended. The food was delicious and a fabulous end to our time in Dublin!

We headed to the airport the following morning for our flight back to London to celebrate New Year's Eve. You can read about our London trip Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Ireland Vacation Part 2

You can read about Part 1 of our Ireland trip here.

After grabbing lunch at a pub in Cobh we headed to our next stop - Blarney Castle and Stone. The grounds were huge and we loved walking around and seeing the castle grounds. And of course we played around taking more pictures. Hey, have to put the tripod to good use, right? ;-)

And what would a trip to Blarney Castle be if we didn't kiss the Stone?! You are supposed to gain eloquence after kissing it. However, we didn't see anything that stated when this is supposed to kick in. I'd say we haven't gotten it yet, but we are hopeful!

We finished our evening by driving to Killarney, the next stop on our tour. Once again we arrived around dinnertime and after checking in headed to Murphy's, a traditional Irish pub. Jason ordered Guinness stew and I opted for a traditional Irish stew. I tried Jason and preferred my own! His tasted very much like Guinness and I wasn't having it.

We spent the rest of the evening researching what we were going to do the following day. We had talked about driving the Ring of Kerry, a 5 hour drive around the peninsula that we were staying on. However, after looking at a few websites, we opted instead to visit the Killarney National Park and skip the rest of the drive around the Ring. A lot of websites suggested the less touristy and more scenic Slea Head drive.

But first Killarney National Park. We stopped at Ross Castle, but it was closed for the season. We walked around the outside though.

Next we headed to Torc waterfall, a very short walk up the path from the road. It was a very beautiful waterfall!

We drove partway on the Ring of Kerry to get to Ladies View, one of the best viewpoints along the drive.

The drive was pretty and we stopped a couple times to take pictures of the beautiful Ireland surroundings.

Our last stop in Killarney National Park and the Ring was the Muckross House and Garden. Again, the house was closed for the season so we walked around for a bit and visited the gift shop before hopping into the car right as it began raining. Talk about good timing!

We got these little booties at the gift shop. Perfect for the cold Norwegian weather our little one is going to grow up around!

Next we headed north to start the Slea Head drive. It was a shorter drive (around 2 hours, but it took us longer since we kept stopping to take pictures). We are very glad that we decided to do this drive instead and got blessed seeing a few rainbows in between the rain spurts.

The websites we looked at said Conor's Pass was a must along the Slea Head. We made sure to stop there on our way through the peninsula, however, I didn't think it was as good as Ladies View!