Birthday Dinner Attire. It always feels good to get a little dressed up

How I feel physically: I feel like a broken record at this point. I feel great other than my rib pain. I am really starting to appreciate any hour that I don't have to deep breathe or put on a 'happy' face in front of someone in order to not look like someone who complains. I will say that I have figured out ways to relieve pain during the day. I am super blessed that I work from home, so I do get to lay down occasionally when I feel really bad. That's one of the only ways to make it better. Anyway, you can skip past this part in the future. I feel great in my workouts, but I'm just being real here.

How I feel mentally: I feel great mentally. I feel really determined to be active most days. I am falling more and more in love with my belly every day. I just sit on the couch with my shirt lifted up and watch her kick my stomach and that's about the happiest moments ever. I cannot wait to meet this sweet girl! I am already so in love. Side note: I am also starting to feel real cute in more maternity type clothing. I have just been bumping around and liking it. haha

Happy of the week: There are so many happy things! The most happy thing for this week will have to be the fact that it's Logan's birthday week! I literally celebrate for a whole week and do special things every day of the week to surprise him. I think I enjoy it more than he does. I just love celebrating this man and how much he does for me and baby. I am pretty day lucky and I think it's really important to make people feel loved on their birthday. Also, the Hubs has been working really hard to get the bathroom done this week which is super happy! Going to Lowe's multiple times in one week isn't as traumatic as it was when I was little my we had to go all the time. I guess we really do become our parents! haha

Random picture from Lowes. We bought all new fixtures for our downstairs bathroom and a light for our front entryway.

CRAVINGS: I haven't had any specific cravings this week. Although, I will admit I really really miss deli meat. I used to eat deli turkey almost every day for lunch and I would give anything for some! haha I told Logan today that he needs to have some on deck for after this little lady is born! It will be my first meal post baby! haha

Things for Clarke: I have been really proud of myself so far during my pregnancy. I haven't personally spent a lot of money on clothes for Clarke (at least not yet), this week I did something kind of funny and bought her Christmas outfits. I was on Zulily and they had the cutest outfits on sale super cheap, so I just couldn't resist. I love a good deal. That was all this week though. There are tons of baby showers coming up and I don't want to buy things if I don't need them. I also know Momma Menke is going to be making all of the cool stuff for Clarke because she got an embroidery machine this week!! I am super excited to see all of the cool things she is going to make!

Favorite Dinner: I made some AMAZING dinners this week. I made some paleo fried chicken that I loved so much I will probably make it again this week. It was like grown up chicken nuggets and pregnant Blaine really liked them. I also made the homemade power bowls that I mentioned on last weeks blog and they turned out great too! We also went to a restaurant in Ann Arbor called the Earle for Logan's birthday with some friends and had a great dinner! Logan got lamb chops and I got some salmon and shrimp. It was so tasty and the chef was really accommodating! They also had a live Jazz band which was super cool!

The power bowl. It had: ground turkey, quinoa, kale, mushrooms, onions, sweet potato, and eggs! So good!!

Workouts: Workouts went great this week and I was pretty sore from a few of them. Which made me HAPPY! I love that the intensity of my workouts was enough to actually make me sore and give me a good workout! It felt awesome to have a puddle of sweat at my feet.

Monday: 45 minute walk with puppies and baby daddy after dinner. Had really bad rib pain, was pretty miserable.

Tuesday: Did a circuit with my workout class. Did this circuit 4 times through. 30 lunges, 20 single leg deadlifts, 20 squats, 30 fire hydrants, 15 gluten bridges.

Wednesday: Was pretty sore from Tuesday's class, so I did 45 min of stretching/Yoga and some abs.

Thursday: 45 minute walk in the AM on treadmill. Did this circuit 4X through with my class: 15 curtsey lunge each leg, split squat w/ kickback 15 each leg, squat in and outs 15 reps, split squat pulses 30 each leg, surrenders X15, split squat X10 each leg.

Friday: OFF and very sore from Thursday workout.

Saturday: 35-40 min back and shoulders lifting session at the gym, 20 minutes hip stretching/abs and a 25 minute walk with the fam when we got home from the gym.

Sunday: Accidentally off. Planned on going for a long walk with the puppies, but it ended up storming really bad all afternoon and evening so we missed our chance.

Thoughts for the week: This life is really happy so much of the time. I am dealing with some regular pain, but I am so thankful to be able to carry a child. I never want to make it seem like I don't appreciate this journey. Even though it has been anything but easy, I always knew it wouldn't be easy for me. My biggest fear with pregnancy was the pain I would go through in my ribs, and I was completely right. I feel like my brain was just made for dealing with pain. Anyway, enough of that. Another side note: my husband is so freaking sweet. He just rubs my back and never complains when I just want to lay on the couch. It makes me feel so lucky to be loved by him.

Weight Gain: Still just climbing away! Gaining about a pound a week. I didn't weight myself this week. Im not too stressed, I am eating healthy and exercising, so far so good!

My mom sent me this picture from our engagement shoot and told me I was telling Logan he had 2 months before I was pregnant (obviously that's not what I was saying)....HAHA little did we know how true that was going to be!

Miss Clarke: Week 25