Baby K: Week 8

(In cased you missed it, check out our big announcement and Baby K: Week 5, Week 6 and Week 7.)

We've successfully made it to Week 8, and Baby K is the size of a kidney bean!

If I truly wanted to show solidarity right now to my unborn child, I'd pick up one of the kidney bean costumes for a mere $1,120.00 and be a human legume. Doesn't she look happy?

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In other news, Week 8 in the Kooky household has been an exciting one! We had our first midwife appointment which went well. We weren't able to hear the little bean's heartbeat, but not for lack of trying. Our midwife said that it's often hard to hear it this early on, so we have to wait 4 weeks to hear it at our next appointment.

We really liked the nurse midwife practice we chose. It's at a smaller hospital on the northwest side of Chicago, and in addition to have access to all of the certified nurse midwives in the practice, they also have a close relationship with an ob-gyn practice (in the same office!) should you have any high risk situation that needs attention by a doctor.

Earlier this year we watched the documentary The Business of Being Born. And while documentaries are always biased to one side or the other, we liked what we saw about certified nurse midwives and learned more about them. I like the low intervention rates and more personal attention this practice offers. And, on the flip side, if I want an epidural, I can have an epidural! They don't force natural childbirth on you unless it's what you want.

To add to the excitement, we also told my parents that they'll be grandparents and my sister that she'll be an aunt! They're all very excited and it was awesome being able to share the news with them.

While we haven't kept up on taking (bloated) belly shots, here's a picture Steve oh so kindly took at our appointment. I hate being wrapped in paper!


Nerdiest picture ever!

Baby K: Week 7

(In cased you missed it, check out our big announcement and Baby K: Week 5 and Week 6.)

Baby K is now in Week 7 and is a happy little blueberry.

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I, unfortunately, am less than a happy blueberry. I'm nauseous. It's even worse than last week and my train ride went from highly uncomfortable to stomach clenching panic as I wonder what day will be the one where I don't make it through the ride without major embarrassment.

I don't even like blowing my nose on the train, so puking is out of the question. Do you just run off at the next stop and find the nearest garbage can? But what if you can't make it off the train in time? I am terrified!

Hopefully, though, I only end up with a lot of nausea and little-to-no puking for the duration of the first trimester. I can hope, right?

We're still waiting for things to feel more "real"...hopefully our first doctor's appointment in a week will do the trick. I even took another pregnancy test yesterday just to make sure it was positive (it was...immediately).

Here's to making it through another week's commute! Oh, and here's a happy (and bloated!) belly shot!

Baby K: Week 6

(In cased you missed it, check out our big announcement and Baby K: Week 5.)

It's Week 6 and Baby K is about the size of a lentil. I couldn't pass up this delightful picture of cartoon legumes. Hopefully Baby K is as happy as these three and keeps on growin'!

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The good feelings of last week are slowly but surely going away and are being replaced by nausea. A lot of it.

I have a 45-minute commute each way to work on the train. I've always had really terrible motion sickness, but only in cars, boats and buses. The train is my happy place where I read and sleep.

Now I try and figure out an exit strategy, should I need it. Or else I prepare myself to just puke into my lunch bag and act like nothing happened. So far my insides have not made it outside, but each and every day is a worry. And I hate it.

Otherwise, I'm just a little bit tired, trying to eat healthy snacks throughout the day and just read everything about babies I can get my hands on! We are loving our little lentil.

Baby K: Week 5

(In case you missed it, there's a new addition on the way for Growing Kooky! I'm excited to start sharing the weekly posts I've been writing week by week.)

So, here we are. Week 5 of Baby K! How exactly did we land at this fabulous moment...?

I took a pregnancy test on a whim...we weren't even trying this month, but since I was late I took a shot. It was in the morning on a work day, so Steve was still asleep. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when I saw the little plus sign appear.


Then I started sweating. A lot. And then I ran to my computer to Google the hell out of this brand of test and if the instructions in my specific box of tests just happened to be incorrect. Apparently, a plus is a plus is a plus.

Even though we had wanted to start a family, seeing the positive was a total "holy crap" moment of excitement and fear and everything in between.

When I finally confirmed beyond a doubt that what I had in my hands was a positive test, I grabbed this onesie that I had bought months back from the Etsy shop amytangerine. I'd thought it would be a cute way to tell Steve.


I woke Steve up in a flurry of words, including "positive" and "pregnant" and shoved the onesie and test into his sleepy face. Poor guy. I then made him get up and take pictures of the onesie and test. At 6am.

And then, with this huge news on my mind (and I'm terrible with secrets) I had to actually start my day and make it to work.

It's the start of Week 5, so Baby K is the size of a sesame seed. Teeny tiny. Since there aren't any fun sesame seed pictures out there, I thought I'd share this whimsical photo of a hamburger, and you can just imagine Baby K as one of those seeds.

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Beyond my stomach being a little bit off and burping and hiccuping a lot, overall I'm feeling fine. Here's hoping this good feeling continues!

Growing Kooky... New Addition!

Yep, "Growing Kooky" will be growing a little bit kookier over the coming months as we await for "Baby K" to make his/her appearance around April 21, 2012!


I've been blogging week by week, so stay tuned for posts detailing all the excitement, nausea, and expanding waistline!

To top it off, we're also in the process of buying a new home in Chicago! We're excited to have a cute little place to take Baby K to when he/she arrives.


Lots of exciting things to come!

Artichoke Love

Recently, Serena over at Big Apple Nosh did this awesome tutorial on how to steam and eat an artichoke. I've always seen artichokes in the grocery store and wondered what exactly I'd do with them. Since I'm super picky about vegetables but artichokes happen to fall into the "yummy" category for me, I jumped at the chance to try out Serena's tutorial.

I picked up one fabulous, organic artichoke from Whole Foods for $3.49, after convincing Steve that I would actually eat it and not let it sit in the fridge wilting away.

Following Serena's step-by-step instructions, we created our own little stove top steamer and and steamed away!

I also learned through the process that it's really fun to take pictures of artichokes. They're so pretty!


See what I mean? Love it!


After devouring each and every leaf dipped in yummy, melted butter, we were left with the sad (but beautiful!) artichoke remains.


It was so much fun trying something new and learning the in's and out's of artichokes (literally!). What have you done with an artichoke lately?

An Artist...I Am Not

Last month we had a fun little fundraiser for work. It was hosted by an art gallery in conjunction with a company called Bottle & Bottega, where they bring canvases, paint and teach you how to put it all together for a pretty little picture.

The picture that was chosen for us was a good "starter" painting of a branch with cherry blossoms and a swirly, dark sky. It was a simple, pretty picture that - if it turned out well - I would easily hang in my house.

The instructors went through everything step-by-step, but I soon received an "intervention" by one of the instructors, who actually took my brush and started helping me paint my background. I knew I was in trouble. However, I soon appreciated her help...who knew painting a small canvas was so tiring?

Anyway, I pushed forward and did actually finish my canvas. Behold:

Notice how the cherry blossoms are actually falling onto the branches, rather than falling off of them? Classic. Distracted by the dark and gloomy background? Me too.

Needless to say, I was drinking a lot of wine to help me get to this finished product. I'm pretty sure it shows.

Oh, and I'm not sure if this is worse than the art intervention, but at one point during painting, one of the three 7-year-olds who was there painting (the girls were attending the event) said:

Nice Little Girl: Excuse me.
Me: Umm, yes?
N.L.G.: My friends and I think your painting is really great!
Me: Oh, umm, thanks.
N.L.G.: We really like how you blended the background.

Even young children sensed my frustration and lack of artistic ability and tried to build up my self esteem. Thanks, girls!

I guess it's always important in life to learn something new, and while I learned that painting might not be for me, Bottle & Bottega is such a fun idea for a party with a group of friends - even if you're as hopeless of an artist as me. And especially if there's wine.

Oh, and the painting? I'd like to say it's hanging up, but it's, erm, filed away for waiting for a special occasion.