18 weeks!

18 weeks and working on a decent little bump! And right on cue (as the books have indicated), felt two definitive kicks at 18 weeks and 2 days!  In-credible. 

Most supportive husband award goes to...

...Brad Kiesling.

Back story: These days, if Penny is going to get a walk it has to be before 8, maybe 8:30 am or it's just too hot. And since B is up earlier than me to head to work, I usually tackle the moosh walks. 

On Monday morning, after we'd basically been traveling for two weeks straight, I was woken up to Brad kissing me on the cheek ready to head to work.
"I got up early and walked Penny so you can just rest this morning."
Seriously? It was both the most thrilling news and the most thoughtful thing I'd heard in weeks. Love you, B, and thank you for loving me and peanut.

16 week appointment

Compared to the 8 week when we got to see peanut on the sonogram, the 12 and 16 week appointment have been a bit less exciting with a quick in and out.  But since at these two we still got to hear the heartbeat, this time we decided to audio it :)

DC weekend

Baby took its second trip to DC - a fun weekend filled with lots of love and laughter!

16 weeks!

Weeks 15-16 symptoms: skin still a mess (I think this will become a pregnancy theme), still have a few moments of no energy, belly still pretty soft when I lay down but getting firmer and bigger when I stand, first strong smell aversion at 15.4 (damn ground turkey), stuffy nose with some bleeding, bleeding gums when brushing, HUNGRY when I wake up in the morning, last pair of shorts that could button are too small.

Baby and Mom's first solo flight, friend and family time

post flight smoothie
yes, I took this in the bathroom - don't judge

Baby and Mama took our first solo flight to STL - a pretrip trip to visit aunt Claire and aunt Carlie - before heading south to Memphis to visit Martha, Scott, Drew and Kasie. Both mom and baby did great :)
It was a GORGEOUS weekend and we were happy to escape the desert heat!

s'mores in Memphis

The word is officially out!

Officially into the 2nd trimester and we made the news public!

 Thank you, thank you to a few people on Brad's team at PetSmart for taking some awesome reveal pics for us! 
They are perfect!

 

13 weeks!

A little bump starting to emerge!

Weeks 11-12 symptoms: slowly starting to feel more normal, a few pieces of clothing are starting to not fit, got a horrible cold at 12 weeks and was down for four days.

Weeks 13-14 symptoms: energy definitely turned a corner at 13 - hardly napping at all!, skin is still terrible, belly is starting to pop, especially by the end of the day (which doc tells me is bloating - how lovely).

Locks of love!

I went for it - a locks of love cut! 11 inches gone and it feels GOOD! Feels even better that this hair will hopefully brighten the day of a little girl who can't grow hair of her own.

Baby's first gifts

a gift for mom Martha & Scott

darling photo frame from mom

We have some very generous and thoughtful family and friends! This is one lucky peanut already!

basket of goodies for mom, dad
and peanut from dad and Ang

book from Liz, Grant and
baby Henry

an owl lovie from aunt Claire

Our little kumquat!

One of the more entertaining things about the weekly pregnancy update is finding out what food your peanut is best related to size-wise. The kumquat was a particularly funny one to us (and now I know why when we were little my dad called us little kumquats!), but Brad, I and some friends had never seen one in person. Lindsay to the rescue! She brought over the sweetest little treat one evening - some kumquats from the farmer's market! That is one thoughtful girl,  my friends, and all three of us are lucky she's in our lives.

10 weeks!

Oops - we forgot an 8 week photo (which frankly is fine, because everything looked just like it did at 6). Only visible to the naked eye, a slight pooch is starting to show.

Symptoms at weeks 9-10: still really tired and napping almost every day, still pretty hungry, tummy starting to fill out but all clothes still fit, skin is ANGRY with all these hormones floating around and is sadly making that known.

First appointment and baby's first photo

At 8.5 weeks, we finally had our first appointment. We were both feeling nervous and excited with so much information to take in and hoping that everything was A-OK. As dad predicted, there was no reason to worry, as we heard a strong heartbeat (160 bpm!) and got to see a picture of the beautiful little gummy bear sized-peanut (which promptly brought us both to tears).

baby's first photo - its even waving hello! friendly little peanut!

I have been noting all symptoms as the weeks are progressing, so weeks 7 and 8 have brought on the following: VERY tired, tons of napping, some food dislikes (I wouldn't quite call them aversions, as no nausea is involved) including chicken, eggs and coffee, and getting hungrier. I have still managed to escape nausea and morning sickness!

Baby's first flight

Time with our favorite DC babies (from top clockwise: Henry, Zoe, and Annie)

**I will be referring to this peanut as it to prevent all the he/she business

Turns out baby will be doing LOTS of traveling before it even makes its appearance!  Baby's first trip was to Washington, DC when it was only 7.5 weeks old. So blessed to be able to head back east so often to see our east coast family. Big bonus this trip was we were able to introduce Lindsay to our former home! Some pics below of our wonderful five days (and thankfully, no puking yet for mom!).

Dinner at new hot spot, Le Diplomate

Happy hour with some of my faves!

A day touring in DC with Linds, complete with homemade poptarts and milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin

And a full afternoon with our goddaughter.

6 weeks!

All pics will be taken in the room that will eventually be turned into the nursery!

Starting to feel tired and have already noticed a developing sweet tooth!

 

And I may or may not have purchased baby's first outfit :)

No rest for the weary...

So the positive test came on Friday, April 18, two days before Easter and the day we were supposed to hop in the car to meet dad, Angela and Evan for a fun-filled weekend in Vegas. Oops. We debated our options, but ultimately decided to go share our fun news (much earlier than anticipated) with these few family members. It was very special to be able to see reactions in person, since due to proximity, most of the news has been shared over the phone.

Baby's first family photo

My first of many fancy mocktails - thank you sweet woman bartender!

It's real!

And we have photographic evidence!

Big news from Team Kiesling!

With all the renovating and updating we've done since moving, nothing tops our latest undertaking - raising a baby! Yep, that's right - Baby K is on the way! Due December 18, we're beyond thrilled and so excited to embark on this journey together. So the blog will inevitably evolve...from all things house to all things pregnancy and baby. We hope this will serve as a way to keep those we love but are far away updated.
To kick things off, baby pics of B and me...what will this little one look like?? These are the things that now flood our thoughts :)

Baby Lauren

Baby Brad

From the desk of Penny...

I can't believe it's been so long since Mom updated the blog! With the kitchen finished and things relatively quiet on the home front, things in the desert have been pretty good. I survived my first summer, and we're well into our second one (man, the heat makes walks tough!). I have to say, the late fall and winter were pretty awesome. I heard that back home in DC our friends dealt with quite the chilly temps, but out here it was mild and wonderful. I've even made a couple of great new friends! Riley is Mom and Dad's friend Andy's dog and we have SO much fun. I've never played harder with another pup in my life! My other new friend is Maya (she belongs to my Mom's new friend Lindsay). It took us some time, but now Maya and I love spending time together.
Mom got bored after the kitchen was finished and so she has been working at a restaurant nearby called The Greene House. She's met a ton of really cool people and is happy to be contributing and doing something that keeps her moving!
We've had TONS of visitors which I've loved - almost all of our families and lots of friends, in fact! And while there haven't been any more mean workers in our house trying to hurt her, Mom has kept up with the updating and we have some fun new furniture and house accessories, and things are really looking great. I'll have Mom post some more updated pics of the work she's done since last fall!
Until next time,
Moosh

Half bath gallery wall (thank you, Allie Palmer for the inspiration!)

Half bath cosmetic updates - new paint and mirror

New eat in kitchen table!

And finally, the sitting room "nook" furniture!