Week of the Banana

I'm a few weeks behind on blog posts, but I will try to get everyone caught up! Last week our little girl was 10.5 inches long and weighed 12.7 ounces. Her heart is developing and getting stronger.

21 Weeks

After our weekend in Branson, Cody and I drove to Muskogee, Oklahoma to spend a week and a half with Cody's parents, his brother Jay, Jay's wife Brit and their two kids Michael and John. Our time there was part relaxing, part exploring, and lots of spending time with family :) 

Poor Cody hasn't played enough golf this summer (it was really hot and he was pretty busy!) so we were able to play a round of golf while we were in Oklahoma. Unfortunately the course wasn't in the best shape, but at least we can say that he made it out to play. 

We also took a picnic to Robbers Cave and went on a hike to explore. We should have read the sign before we set out because we went around the cave, but never actually got to see the entrance. Next time we will follow the orange flags :)

We took another picnic to Lake Tenkiller and the kids got to play in the lake while we fixed lunch. We could see the storm clouds rolling in and finished eating just as it began to rain. The rain cut our afternoon short, but Oklahoma and almost everywhere could use some rain right now. 

Cody's parents have two horses, Buster and Sandy Bob, and they live a few miles away and need to be fed twice a day. Cody and I got to go feed them a few times and Cody was able to ride them early one morning. I obviously can't ride a horse so I slept in while Cody went riding with his dad. I hear that Cody was all decked out in cowboy stuff but they forgot to take a picture :( 

We also got to babysit Jay and Brit's kids, Michael and John. John is 6 months old and Michael is 2 years old and is very intelligent. Cody asked him once if he knew how to do a pushup and he looked at Cody seriously and said in his cute voice "What's a pushup?" Cody showed him and Michael did something close to a pushup, it was pretty funny to watch him :) He even remembered how to do it the next day when we asked him. We had a fun time chasing them around and tickling them a lot :)

Cody bought a ladder golf game from Goodwill while we were in St. Paul and we took the yard game down to Oklahoma with us. It is meant to be played outside, but we were careful and played inside most of the time. We witnessed many battles and I had more fun watching others play than playing myself. 

We had a fun visit and hopefully we'll be able to come back for Thanksgiving (it will be a month and a half away from my due date so we'll see what the doctor says...)

Week of the Mango

Baby Mangum is a GIRL!!!

Here she is laying on her back with her legs crossed on the left side of the picture and her head is on the right side. Her arms are crossed over her chest- Cody says that I sleep like this sometimes. 

In this picture she is taking after Cody- bum in the air :)

Here is her side profile- I can tell she is going to be cute!

This week we moved out of our apartment in Independence, Missouri. We moved all of our stuff into a storage unit where it will sit for 2 weeks while we take a vacation to Branson and visit Cody's family in Oklahoma. 

We started our Branson trip by heading to Ripley's Believe It or Not. There we saw...

A stagecoach made of matchsticks, 

A carving made out of camel bone, 

Nail polish paintings, 

A furry fish,

and a replica of the first scuba diving gear. 

That night we enjoyed a steak dinner at Fall Creek where the staff walks around with a bowl of rolls and throws the rolls at you. After dinner we saw the Chinese Acrobats in action. They balanced on top of each others heads, jumped through hoops that were 8 feet high, hulu hooped on a tight rope wire, spun and threw tables using their feet, and much more! 

Cody with the Chinese Acrobats

Katie with the Chinese Acrobats

We also went mini golfing while we were there and I finally beat Cody! This is a rare feat because Cody never lets me win at anything. He says that when I win against him I will know that I really beat him instead of him letting me win. 

Holding the winning score card!

We also saw the Animal Circus in Branson. We weren't allowed to take pictures but they were sure cute. There were cats that walked the tight rope, cats that climbed ladders, dogs that walked on their hind legs, and a cute little dog dressed in a tux that introduced the show. I think that Cody and I were the only couple there without kids but we enjoyed it just the same.

What a fun week!

Week of the Sweet Potato

I have made it to week 18 and the baby is supposedly very active moving its arms and legs, but I haven't felt anything yet, or at least I think I haven't... 

 

I daily go through phases of thinking that my belly is huge and then thinking that it's not big enough. Either way it is definitely growing so that is good news :)

The other good news is that we find out the gender of Baby Mangum in 2 days! I can't believe how fast it has gone and how slow at the same time. I guess I have a hard time making up my mind :)

Cody and I have been talking about going to a Royals baseball game while we are here in Missouri. The stadium is about 10 minutes away from our house and we could get tickets for $10 but the parking costs $20 :( We decided to bite the bullet and then a couple of days later someone told Cody that we were able to get free tickets and parking passes from the corporate office of the hospital - sweet!

 

The seats weren't too bad either! We got to sit up close to the boxes behind home plate. It was really nice because we were in the shade and could feel a breeze the whole game. This was especially important because it was 95 degrees with humidity at 8 pm. 

The fountains were a fun addition across the ballpark. 

Please ignore my evil eyes, I really did have fun at the game :)

As part of Cody's residency, he has to write a paper that tells all about the project that he has been working on at the hospital. The paper is due this Friday, which also happens to be his last day at St. Luke's East. Cody says that if it weren't for this paper he would have really enjoyed his residency, which is good because hopefully he won't have to write a paper like this again!

Cody needed to go in on Saturday to work on the paper and I told him that I would bring my laptop and come with him to keep him company. I read all of the news sites, watched some Olympics, visited Pinterest several times, checked my email, and anything else that I could think to do- I didn't realize that we were going to be there for 5 hours! In the end, Cody says that he now thinks that he will finish on time and his paper so far is a grand total of 60 pages! There is no way that I have ever written anything that long! Now I remember why I chose a grad program that did not require a thesis or major paper.

After that lovely experience, we drove to The Plaza in Kansas City. It is basically 10 blocks of shopping stores and restaurants that sit along a small creek. We walked around and window shopped and then ate an early supper at the Brio Tuscan Grille. 

 

After dinner we took a ride in a Venetian style Gondola down the Brush Creek River, complete with a rose that Cody gave me.

I've always had the idea that it would be fun to go to Italy and stay in a hotel on the waterway and take gondola rides everywhere. We enjoyed our ride and a few people stopped to take pictures of us.

Unfortunately this is the end of our summer in Independence, Missouri. We did some fun things and Cody enjoyed his residency. Now on to Oklahoma for a few weeks and then back to Minnesota.

Week of the Potato

Baby Mangum is now 5.12 inches and weighs 4.94 ounces. Baby's skeleton is hardening and sweat glands are starting to develop. We will soon find out if our little potato is a boy or a girl (1.5 weeks until the ultrasound!).

17 weeks- I don't look that big in this picture, but I feel huge!

 

It's hard to believe but Cody only has 2 more weeks of his residency left- the summer has gone by surprisingly fast! I am enjoying my last days of summer freedom before I go back to work but am looking forward to being back in Minneapolis with familiar surroundings and friends. 

Holidays and traditions are a big deal in my family so I was a little disappointed when I didn't feel well enough to do anything fancy for the 4th of July. This week I decided that I would make up for it by having an Olympic party complete with Olympic rings and red, white, and blue. 

The Official Olympic table

Red, Blue, and White Rice Krispies

Olympic Deviled Egg Rings

Star Cookies and Chocolate Covered Strawberries with Blue Sugar

Strawberry, Blueberry, and Feta Salad

Olympic Rings Pizza

We had quite the feast and then settled down to watch the Opening Ceremony. Unfortunately we tuned in an hour late so we'll have to catch the first hour another time.

Cody's parents made a quick trip up from Oklahoma to see us on Saturday. We went to breakfast and then drove to Liberty Jail. When I was in primary my family and I took a church history trip to Nauvoo and also stopped in Missouri to see the church history sites around here. Cody also went to several of the church history sites around Missouri while he and his family were living in Oklahoma. I never would have thought while I was on that trip that I would now be living in Missouri. 

Liberty Jail. When my family and I visited we were only allowed to look at the jail from behind a fence, but this time we were allowed to walk around to the front and also walk up close and take pictures. This must have been a hard time for these members of the church. I can't imagine being held for no reason in a cold cellar with minimal light. They must have had great faith that Heavenly Father was watching over them and aware of their situation.

Next we ventured to Far West to see the four cornerstones that were laid for a temple. The saints were not able to complete the temple, but the cornerstones remain.

A plaque that stands between the cornerstones

It was a quick trip for Cody's parents but we are glad that we were able to see some church sites and spend time with them.

Week of the Avocado

My usual pregnancy photographer, Cody, is under the weather today and I decided to let him sleep rather than take my picture this week. 

Baby Mangum is 4.5 inches long and weighs about 4 ounces this week. He/she is beginning to grow fingernails and possibly hair and is beginning to hear sounds. 

This week I worked like crazy on our scrapbook and am very close to finishing ahead of schedule! Every year since we have been married I have made a new scrapbook which we give to our parents as a Christmas present. I hopefully will finish our 4th year sometime this week and then I'll start on our 5th year- I figure that I better get most of it done before our baby comes because who knows when I will get to it after that. 

We had a lazy weekend and didn't have too many adventures this week. We saw The Dark Knight Rises and Cody enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite; but loud, scary, and intense movies never make the top of the list for me. 

We then came home to make Apple Streusel Bars for a bbq. 

  I forgot to take a picture, but this is what they looked like. So yummy with just a hint of almond!

The bbq was in Lee's Summit at one of the OR nurse's home (Cody met him while touring the hospital and has been back several times to watch surgeries and talk with the employees). They live on the edge of a reservoir with a small boat dock on the end of their property. There were lots of boats out pulling tubes and water skiers that we watched while we had dinner. I got to meet a few people that Cody works with and everyone was so nice. It was a fun and relaxing evening. 

This week I decided to actually make one of the recipes that I pinned on pinterest- such a novel idea! :) I decided to use some of the fruit in our fridge to make homemade fruit roll-ups. I picked watermelon and strawberry-kiwi fruit leather and unfortunately the watermelon did not turn out. To make the strawberry-kiwi I heated the strawberries, kiwi, and some sugar on the stove until it boiled, blended it in the blender, and spread it on a cookie sheet. They then went into the oven on its lowest temperature for 5 hours (I tried to bake them outside but it didn't work). Pretty easy and nothing but fruit and a little bit of sugar :)

Week of the Orange

Baby Mangum is now 4 inches long and is developing taste buds! Baby's legs are growing longer than its arms and baby can move all of its limbs and joints. Pretty amazing, crazy, exciting!

 

15 weeks

This past Tuesday was the baseball All Star game and it was held here in Kansas City. The stadium is only 10 minutes away from our apartment, but we decided that instead of paying $400 a ticket that we would watch the game on tv and have BWW (for those of you who have not reached the level of enthusiasm that Cody has, BWW is Buffalo Wild Wings).

Cody with his honey bbq wings and of course you have to have celery with wings.

I on the other hand was much healthier and had bread sticks and celery for dinner :) Got to love those cravings!

Friday night we attended the Kansas City Temple and did an endowment session. The temple was dedicated just before we moved here. It has been nice that all of the places we have moved to have a temple nearby.

Saturday morning we decided to brave the heat and went to the City Market in Kansas City. It was a huge farmers market with fruits, veggies, meat, flowers, and little shops and restaurants. We bought kiwis, cucumbers, cherries, and two mango strawberry smoothies. Unfortunately we didn't see the big turkey legs and hamburgers until after we had filled ourselves with smoothies and free samples, so we'll have to get one of those next time.

Had to throw this in here for my mom, Patti :)

Week of the Lemon

Baby Mangum is now 3.42 inches and weighs 1.5 oz. apparently he/she is the size of a lemon! Another milestone we reached this week is that I am officially in the second trimester and I am feeling lots better :) 

 My first official pregnancy photo! 

The only downside is that it has been 104 degrees here in Independence, making it not too comfortable to be outside for long periods of time. But, we did brave the heat and ventured outdoors to go to the Kansas City Shakespearean Festival. 

Shakespeare is a family tradition of mine, my family and I have attended the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah every summer of my life. We usually saw three plays at the outdoor Randall Theatre as well as the free green show. This was our summer vacation and I looked forward to it every year.  We would read the plays beforehand and discuss them so Melly and I understood what was going on (Shakespeare was a lot for little girls to take in). My all time favorite was a production of A Midsummer Nights Dream- I attempted to explain to Cody why it was so good but I failed miserably, so just trust me when I say it was good.

Obviously I will not be able to attend this year, so Cody was able to find a local Shakespeare Festival that puts on two plays in a park in Kansas City. The night we chose to attend they put on A Midsummer Nights Dream. We decided to make a night of it and stopped to get noodles for dinner to take with us to the park. The play was free and the seating was on a first come first served basis so we got there early and laid out our beach towels (somehow we got to Independence without a blanket). We sat and ate and talked for a couple of hours before the play began and we were thankful for every gust of wind, boy was it hot!

Cody and I with our official 'I gave of my own free WILL' Shakespeare stickers (they were accepting donations). 

 

We enjoyed the night and the play was done well. There were several teenagers associated with the young Shakespeare program that sat behind us; they were pretty entertaining with lots of screaming and cheering.

The morning of the 4th was pretty boring. There were no parades to go to around here :( Cody and I ended up going to a flee market and looking around and then coming home to make red velvet cookies. I found a recipe for them on pinterest a while ago and have been meaning to make them, we decided the 4th was a great day to do that since they are red and white :) 

They look kinda thin, but they are so good! If you have a chance, make them! You won't regret it!

http://chefhanksnotes.blogspot.com/2012/06/it-was-almost-named-omg-cookie.html

That night we went to the Independence fireworks sponsored by none other than the Mormon Visitors Center! We camped out with our beach towels and red velvet cookies and enjoyed the bright display of fireworks. Happy late 4th of July!