Spring Sprung. A LOT.
Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been 3 months since my last blog!
I can't believe how terrible I've become at blogging! It's so important to me to keep the Kimgowski blog alive to show our blog books to our kids someday. I need to fix this! So here we go. Aside from the wedding blog, this may be the biggest one yet!
We'll start where we left off. At the beginning of March I had just had a little bit of a break after finishing up Boeing Boeing and I decided to take a trip to Colorado to visit Lauren and Courtney! I flew in on Courtney's birthday so Lauren and I met her and some of her friends out for dinner that night. It was so awesome getting to celebrate with her! I also got to see my cousin Ashley which was so special. I haven't seen Ashley in probably 15 years at least! It was such a fun time catching up with family and spending time with Lauren doing what we do best - watching Friends and playing Boggle!
A few weeks later, Bart and I headed to California for Easter! The trip started with getting to cross a very important item off my bucket list - running a race with Moggy! I never thought when this eventually happened that it would be a 5K and I'd be 7 months pregnant, but nonetheless, it happened. And Moggy won her division of course! It was the perfect race to do together. Plus we had Colleen, Dad, Uncle Kenny, Mernie, and Mike along for the ride too! Now, the trip was already planned to be jam packed with a 5K, Easter, and a desert trip, but little did we know our family and friends also had a surprise baby shower in store for us! After I picked up Bart and Henry from the airport, we headed over to the Brown's for this random afternoon BBQ. Never have I been so surprised in my life - and Bart didn't have a clue either! I was so confused as to why Mom and Dad would agree to a BBQ at the Brown's amidst such a chaotic weekend, but once we arrived, it all made sense. When we walked in we saw everyone (well, almost everyone) we could've wanted there. It was such a beautiful, perfect, low key shower. Even Bart had a good time! Spending time with friends and family is the absolute tops for me these days, and that day just did me in! Thank you SO SO much to everyone who worked so hard to put that shower together and keep it such an amazing surprise. To have two unbelievably special events in one day left our hearts very full.
The rest of the trip wasn't exactly lacking either. We had a fun Easter Sunday starting with a great service at Paz Naz followed by a delicious Mom lunch and Easter egg hunts! It was fun getting to play Easter bunny, and good practice too! :) Next up was the desert trip which was supposed to be a 3 day endeavor but due to some high winds, it ended up being a day trip. Even with the cool, windy weather it was a gorgeous day and full of dirt fun. I felt bad as this trip was my idea and I really put Mom and Dad through the wringer putting it together, all for it to get cut short. But hey, one day in the desert is better than no days in the desert! A fun time was had by all, especially Dane and Ryan!
The day after the desert it was time for us to head back to Florida. My goal was to have things remain fairly calm in our day to day life as pregnancy starts to really take a toll in the third trimester! But there were a few things left on the agenda. Bart and I wanted to squeeze in a Babymoon. Things have been so busy and chaotic and we know they're only going to get crazier! So we took a weekend all to ourselves and headed 3 hours south to Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton. Deerfield has been my favorite beach since we first visited Florida together in 2011. We return there whenever we want a special getaway. It was a perfect weekend spent relaxing, pooling, beaching, eating, sleeping, and soaking each other in. 2.5 days wasn't long enough, but I'll take it!
Then, of course, I had to get one more show in the mix. I started singing with an organization this year called Central Florida Community Arts. I auditioned for their professional vocal ensemble, Legacy, back in December and was thrilled to be accepted into it. The organization is unlike any other arts organization in the country. There's Legacy, a community choir, community orchestra, professional youth orchestra, summer camps, theatre programs, and dance programs just to name a few! Every Spring and Winter the choirs come together along with the orchestra and some of the dance performers to put on a giant production. This Spring the theme was Rockin' the 70s! It was SUCH a fun show to be a part of and I even had a small solo! It was my first time singing in front of 1700 people so I was a bit nervous! Mom and Dad even came out to see it (both nights, of course) and Bart loved it too! It was a push at 8 months pregnant, but I'm so glad I did it. I can't wait to return to performing with CFC Arts once I have this baby!
While Mom and Dad were here, we also had another baby shower! Sara, Lindsay, and Heather threw such a lovely shower that exceeded anything I could've ever imagined. It was just beautiful and full of sunflowers and sweets! The perfect ladies day. Well, plus Dad. :) I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful group of women in my life out here. It makes being away from California a little bit easier. Thank you girls for such an incredible afternoon!
After Mom and Dad left, it was time to really begin letting things settle down. I simply can't afford to NOT at this point! But Bart headed out to California for a quick 3 day trip to see Lindsay and Nick tie the knot! I could not BELIEVE I had to miss it, but unfortunately flying after 35 weeks is not recommended as labor on a plane would be pretty rough. But thanks to technology, Bart was able to Skype me in! It was a tiny ceremony with 11 people on a cliff at the beach, and it was absolutely stunning. Even though I watched through a phone, I felt like I was there. It was an emotional and beautiful ceremony and I'm forever grateful I got to witness two of my favorite people finally get married. I think what made it even more special than most is that Nick and Lindsay have weathered in 10 years, as an unmarried couple, what many married couples never weather in a lifetime. It's like their vows held extra special meaning as they've already lived them for so long. I often think back to a very prominent memory in my mind when having a beer at the Bomb Shelter bar at Skydive Perris with Nick and Lindsay back in early 2011. After expressing how crazy I was about Bart, they made sure to sternly remind me of what Bart had already made ABUNDANTLY clear....he was never going to marry me. And they were never going to get married either. And I felt like such a freak amongst all my friends and my boyfriend who were going to live marriage-less, skydiving lives. I knew I probably wouldn't be around to join them because I knew I would never forfeit my dream of marriage and a family. And yet here we all are, 4 years later. All married within months of each other. Cracks me up! And Amanda is getting married TODAY too!!! But I can't go there yet. Missing that is a whole other emotional element that will be covered in the next blog.
Now, FINALLY, we're settled in with very little on the schedule other than work, work, work. We're doing our best and working overtime to get the business to the place we need it to be come baby time so we can step away a bit without worrying too much. It's not going to happen. Not by a long shot. But hey - if we can run a business and fill orders out of the back of a truck while moving across the country, we can do this! We'll make it work, we always do. But it's definitely been stressful. Other than the work element, I think we're as ready as we'll ever be to welcome our beautiful little baby into the world. We're both super excited, and I can hardly wait to not be pregnant anymore and begin our new life as a family of 3! Only a few weeks to go!
Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and encouraging to us during this time. It's certainly been a whirlwind, but we can't wait to introduce everyone to Grace Teresa Rogowski!
The beautiful setting for the nuptials. Not bad for a screenshot!
I can't believe how terrible I've become at blogging! It's so important to me to keep the Kimgowski blog alive to show our blog books to our kids someday. I need to fix this! So here we go. Aside from the wedding blog, this may be the biggest one yet!
We'll start where we left off. At the beginning of March I had just had a little bit of a break after finishing up Boeing Boeing and I decided to take a trip to Colorado to visit Lauren and Courtney! I flew in on Courtney's birthday so Lauren and I met her and some of her friends out for dinner that night. It was so awesome getting to celebrate with her! I also got to see my cousin Ashley which was so special. I haven't seen Ashley in probably 15 years at least! It was such a fun time catching up with family and spending time with Lauren doing what we do best - watching Friends and playing Boggle!
A few weeks later, Bart and I headed to California for Easter! The trip started with getting to cross a very important item off my bucket list - running a race with Moggy! I never thought when this eventually happened that it would be a 5K and I'd be 7 months pregnant, but nonetheless, it happened. And Moggy won her division of course! It was the perfect race to do together. Plus we had Colleen, Dad, Uncle Kenny, Mernie, and Mike along for the ride too! Now, the trip was already planned to be jam packed with a 5K, Easter, and a desert trip, but little did we know our family and friends also had a surprise baby shower in store for us! After I picked up Bart and Henry from the airport, we headed over to the Brown's for this random afternoon BBQ. Never have I been so surprised in my life - and Bart didn't have a clue either! I was so confused as to why Mom and Dad would agree to a BBQ at the Brown's amidst such a chaotic weekend, but once we arrived, it all made sense. When we walked in we saw everyone (well, almost everyone) we could've wanted there. It was such a beautiful, perfect, low key shower. Even Bart had a good time! Spending time with friends and family is the absolute tops for me these days, and that day just did me in! Thank you SO SO much to everyone who worked so hard to put that shower together and keep it such an amazing surprise. To have two unbelievably special events in one day left our hearts very full.
The rest of the trip wasn't exactly lacking either. We had a fun Easter Sunday starting with a great service at Paz Naz followed by a delicious Mom lunch and Easter egg hunts! It was fun getting to play Easter bunny, and good practice too! :) Next up was the desert trip which was supposed to be a 3 day endeavor but due to some high winds, it ended up being a day trip. Even with the cool, windy weather it was a gorgeous day and full of dirt fun. I felt bad as this trip was my idea and I really put Mom and Dad through the wringer putting it together, all for it to get cut short. But hey, one day in the desert is better than no days in the desert! A fun time was had by all, especially Dane and Ryan!
The day after the desert it was time for us to head back to Florida. My goal was to have things remain fairly calm in our day to day life as pregnancy starts to really take a toll in the third trimester! But there were a few things left on the agenda. Bart and I wanted to squeeze in a Babymoon. Things have been so busy and chaotic and we know they're only going to get crazier! So we took a weekend all to ourselves and headed 3 hours south to Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton. Deerfield has been my favorite beach since we first visited Florida together in 2011. We return there whenever we want a special getaway. It was a perfect weekend spent relaxing, pooling, beaching, eating, sleeping, and soaking each other in. 2.5 days wasn't long enough, but I'll take it!
Then, of course, I had to get one more show in the mix. I started singing with an organization this year called Central Florida Community Arts. I auditioned for their professional vocal ensemble, Legacy, back in December and was thrilled to be accepted into it. The organization is unlike any other arts organization in the country. There's Legacy, a community choir, community orchestra, professional youth orchestra, summer camps, theatre programs, and dance programs just to name a few! Every Spring and Winter the choirs come together along with the orchestra and some of the dance performers to put on a giant production. This Spring the theme was Rockin' the 70s! It was SUCH a fun show to be a part of and I even had a small solo! It was my first time singing in front of 1700 people so I was a bit nervous! Mom and Dad even came out to see it (both nights, of course) and Bart loved it too! It was a push at 8 months pregnant, but I'm so glad I did it. I can't wait to return to performing with CFC Arts once I have this baby!
While Mom and Dad were here, we also had another baby shower! Sara, Lindsay, and Heather threw such a lovely shower that exceeded anything I could've ever imagined. It was just beautiful and full of sunflowers and sweets! The perfect ladies day. Well, plus Dad. :) I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful group of women in my life out here. It makes being away from California a little bit easier. Thank you girls for such an incredible afternoon!
After Mom and Dad left, it was time to really begin letting things settle down. I simply can't afford to NOT at this point! But Bart headed out to California for a quick 3 day trip to see Lindsay and Nick tie the knot! I could not BELIEVE I had to miss it, but unfortunately flying after 35 weeks is not recommended as labor on a plane would be pretty rough. But thanks to technology, Bart was able to Skype me in! It was a tiny ceremony with 11 people on a cliff at the beach, and it was absolutely stunning. Even though I watched through a phone, I felt like I was there. It was an emotional and beautiful ceremony and I'm forever grateful I got to witness two of my favorite people finally get married. I think what made it even more special than most is that Nick and Lindsay have weathered in 10 years, as an unmarried couple, what many married couples never weather in a lifetime. It's like their vows held extra special meaning as they've already lived them for so long. I often think back to a very prominent memory in my mind when having a beer at the Bomb Shelter bar at Skydive Perris with Nick and Lindsay back in early 2011. After expressing how crazy I was about Bart, they made sure to sternly remind me of what Bart had already made ABUNDANTLY clear....he was never going to marry me. And they were never going to get married either. And I felt like such a freak amongst all my friends and my boyfriend who were going to live marriage-less, skydiving lives. I knew I probably wouldn't be around to join them because I knew I would never forfeit my dream of marriage and a family. And yet here we all are, 4 years later. All married within months of each other. Cracks me up! And Amanda is getting married TODAY too!!! But I can't go there yet. Missing that is a whole other emotional element that will be covered in the next blog.
Now, FINALLY, we're settled in with very little on the schedule other than work, work, work. We're doing our best and working overtime to get the business to the place we need it to be come baby time so we can step away a bit without worrying too much. It's not going to happen. Not by a long shot. But hey - if we can run a business and fill orders out of the back of a truck while moving across the country, we can do this! We'll make it work, we always do. But it's definitely been stressful. Other than the work element, I think we're as ready as we'll ever be to welcome our beautiful little baby into the world. We're both super excited, and I can hardly wait to not be pregnant anymore and begin our new life as a family of 3! Only a few weeks to go!
Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and encouraging to us during this time. It's certainly been a whirlwind, but we can't wait to introduce everyone to Grace Teresa Rogowski!
Grace at 29 Weeks
Lunch with Courtney and Ashley
Courtney's Birthday Dinner
The Runners!
SURPRISE!
It was Henry's birthday, too!
A good uncle lets his niece put glass in his eye.
Back in Florida!
We finally went to Blue Springs to check out the Manatees. This place is 20 minutes down the road from us yet we miss them every winter!
Lindsay introduced us to Lake Woodruff Wildlife Refuge. A GORGEOUS sanctuary 10 minutes from us yet it feels like it's the middle of nowhere! Lots of gators to see too!
Bart dug a belly hole for me. So sweet! :)
Stork Parking!
The first of many assemblies in our child bearing career.
A mama bird got into our shop and built a nest with eggs INSIDE the front fairing of Bart's motorcycle, behind the handlebars. It was a month long ordeal and quite frustrating as mama liked to poop all over the shop. But Bart couldn't bring himself to move them. They eventually hatched and left the nest. As annoying as it was, it was also really sweet.
One of the perks of sleep troubles in pregnancy is watching the beautiful sunrises from bed.
Enjoying breakfast to go in Meisner Park on our Babymoon!
Rockin' the 70s!
YMCA
We FINALLY hung the sign! Thanks Dad!
Continuation of the "Bump Progression"
23 Weeks
25 Weeks
26 Weeks
27 Weeks
28 Weeks
29 Weeks
30 Weeks
31 Weeks
34 Weeks
35 Weeks
A Couple Vids
Bart's really getting into this...
Fast forward to the 26 minute mark to see my little solo! :) I also recommend watching our Queen Medley finale at 38:30. That was my favorite number in the show!
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