Favorite Things - Week of Sept 25th
This week’s list of highlights boils down mostly to baby things and an amazing long weekend in the Canadian rockies!
A little bump picture before my 24 wk appointment - plus my crazy pup in the background
Baby Things:
Have started to feel a good bit more baby kicks than I did at first, they are gradually starting to get a little stronger so Matt was actually able to feel it for the first time the other night which was really exciting.
We have also made some progress on finalizing baby shower details, our registry, etc. Still seems crazy that we over halfway through the pregnancy!
I am now 24 weeks along and had a good check up appointment today. We talked a good bit about the glucose test I take at the next appointment which I am not overly excited about.
This is my everyday body lotion that all of the sudden this week has become crucial! I have recently started itching like crazy in the evenings but this lotion so far has provided major relief, crossing my fingers it continues to provide that relief, the itching doesn’t become a bigger issue and in the meantime will be placing an order for a couple of bottles at the rate I am using it right now.
Also just appreciating how awesome it is being able to hike after work on a stressful day, we have gotten to the point where this has become such a norm that it almost doesn’t feel notable but after a really rough day on Wednesday where several coworkers were laid off I really needed a break and fresh air. It is crazy what a short hike can do for you and I especially appreciated how accessible all of the trails in the area are.
Views of the front range from the North Table Mountain Hike in Golden, CO
As it turns out this is mostly a Banff post! We first went three years ago and spent about 4-5 days between Banff and Jasper. I wrote a full blog post on that trip that you can check out here. This was a quicker trip and we didn’t even try to cram as much into it. We took things a little slower and tried to really savor and enjoy it. The flight from Denver was super short and easy compared to how we had to go from Charlotte previously. It made the shorter trip plenty worth it and made us want to come back more frequently knowing a 2 hr direct flight is an option.
We spent our first two nights at Emerald Lake Lodge in the Yoho National Park. Our first day was a moody, overcast morning but the color of the lake still popped perfectly! We enjoyed a slow morning with a great breakfast in the main lodge, wandering the trail around the lake and reading next to wood burning fireplace in our room.
The next day we headed towards Lake Louise and did the Lake Agnes Tea House, a hike we had planned to do on our first trip several years ago but got rained out. We have been talking about wanting to do it ever since so we were pretty excited to finally check it off the list! You can extend this hike to the big beehive or devils thumb which we would have done but we didn’t want to get up at 5 am for parking so ended up needing to take a shuttle to lake louise and didn’t want to be rushed. While I would still like to do the longer tougher hike at some point we were plenty satisfied with what we did. Unlike our first attempt we had a nice weather day, the larches were changing colors and it was absolutely gorgeous. The most exciting part (especially for this pregnant lady) is the fact that in addition to a stunning lake with mountain backdrop there is tea and snacks at the end of the hike :). We did have to wait a few minutes to get a table at the tea house but were able to enjoy tea, sandwiches, a hearty vegetable soup and topped it off with a slice of delicious chocolate cake! If only we could have chocolate cake on every hike ha.
Since we had to take the shuttle in it took as a while to get back as the shuttle made a stop at Moraine Lake as well. We were pretty exhausted when we made it back to the town of Banff that evening, we crushed some pizza from Bear Street Tavern before crashing for the night and heading to the airport the next morning.
