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“Bumpdate:” week 38

Wow, I can’t believe how fast the time is going! We just finished our 38th week of pregnancy! This week Jedidiah was the size (length) of a leek. He is over 19 and a half inches long and weighs close to 7 pounds!

I can’t believe I totally forgot to include this in the last post, but we went to our checkup with our midwife, Amber, last week and she said that baby boy is “locked and loaded.” He is engaged head down in my pelvis, he’s sitting at a -1 position (0 is active labor), I’m about 50-60% effaced, and about 1 cm. dilated. This was big news that should have been included in last week’s “bumpdate.”

Now that that’s out of the way, I will jump to this week’s happenings. 🙂

Sunday I ran into an old friend at church who I haven’t seen for years. It was nice to briefly catch up before heading out. I’ve known Rick and his brothers since I first moved here it seems (so like 5ish years).

Monday I babysat for my friend Sandy’s son Cyler before heading to church for an important meeting. Our church is moving, well, at least they are beginning the process of moving. So we are in a time of transition where we are being challenged to “bold faith living and sacrificial giving.” We are watching and waiting on God for his guidance for our part in Revolution Church’s future.

Tuesday morning, I went to zumba at DeVoir Fitness, as usual. But after class, they threw me a lovely baby shower. It was such a blessing and I definitely felt the love!

Thursday night, as soon as Trent got out of school, we headed to Georgetown, just north of Austin, for a night of mystery and intrigue. Our good friends from China, Heather and Zach, were hosting another murder mystery party (You can read about their first murder mystery party in my blog: A Halloween Harry Potter Murder Mystery). This one was “vampire” themed. I’ll write another blog about it with more specifics later, but we had such a great time! I’ve said this before, but she throws the BEST parties!!! Even though we ended up driving about 3 hours, it was totally worth it!

Friday evening was spent with a couple we met at our birthing class that live pretty close-by in New Braunfels. They had us over for a delicious dinner of tortilla soup and then we played a game called Rummikub, which we’d never played before, but that we quite enjoyed. The first time we played, neither Trent or I even got to lay anything down. So we considered that first round a wash and just jumped right into the second round. The second time was a success! It didn’t hurt that we shared brownies (fresh out of the oven) and ice cream while we played. 🙂 It was a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday, amidst the monsoon that was taking place in San Antonio from the hurricane, I had another baby shower. Unfortunately the weather was a MAJOR deterrent. It ended up just being three of us, so we didn’t do any games or anything, we just ended up hanging out with some pretty elaborate and awesome Star Wars decorations. The ladies did such a nice job of planning everything, it was such a shame that no one else could make it. 😦 Look at how cute the invite was and all the decor! Traci even had her kids dressed up in Star Wars outfits (R2D2, Chewbacca, and the cutest little Darth Vader).

These two ladies are awesome! Love you Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Lippincott!

We finished off the week by Skyping with my parents, and we got the added bonus of chatting with my youngest sister, Jackie, and her boyfriend Billy, who we rarely get to see. Yay!

Symptoms this week: Baby boy is really sitting on my sciatic nerve, so when I sit down wrong, it gets pinched and sends shooting pains through my right leg and up my back… that’s fun… Jedi’s still moving a lot- I can feel his little hands moving way down low in my pelvic area. That is definitely a strange, and pretty uncomfortable feeling. It kind of feels like I’m being groped from the inside! His legs and feet are running out of room so I feel a lot of shifting around way up at the top of my uterus and I finally understand what people mean when they say that there is a foot under their rib cage… definitely not the most comfortable thing. I’ve also been finding that I need to eat smaller meals more frequently. There just doesn’t seem to be so much room in my stomach anymore. I’ve been starting to use Evening Primrose oil, per my midwife’s suggestion, to finish “softening” things up down there so that labor will *hopefully* be easier.

Bring on week 39!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on October 25, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: Baby shower, pregnancy, symptoms, week 38

SHOWERed with love (part 3)

22 Sep

After spending three weeks in Minnesota visiting my family, we finally made our way back to our “home,” Texas. It took us a while to get moved in and settled, for Trent to start working and for us to feel “normal” again. Once we had had some time to settle in, we were thrown another baby shower!

This time Trent’s parents put it on. They suggested that we make it a “Welcome back from China” party AND a baby shower combo. They thought we might like a low-key event where everyone could socialize and where we could see a bunch of our friends, all at once. We set the date for Saturday, August 29th, and sent out invitations.

At this baby shower, I was 28 weeks pregnant… just beginning the third trimester!

The big day came and we headed to the Olympia Hills Club House that people in their neighborhood can use for parties and such. Mom, Dad and my sister-in-law Katey had spent the previous night setting up all the decorations and getting everything ready. It all looked great! There were drinks on one table, food on another, the cake and some decorations on the third, and the Beehive, book and gifts on the fourth. That’s right, we got to use Catherine’s beehive again! After this round, there’s hardly any room left for more thumb prints! Sadly, I think most people overlooked the guest book, as only a few people wrote in it. Mom had also set up a special area for the kids with a bunch of toys so that they would have something to do too.

The kids’ play area

Our friends began to arrive and we were excited to see them! So many of them we hadn’t had a chance to see yet since we’d been back, so we had a lot to catch up on! We had friends show up from church, from (Trent’s) childhood, from school… even from China! We met lots of new babies who weren’t quite born yet when we were home last summer and I met a few other new people too- a friend from Trent’s childhood years, Antonio, and also one of Trent’s cousins, Maggie. It was a great time to eat, chat, and hang out.

Friends that we met at Revolution Church

Trent’s family

The preggos (minus one who had already left). Due October, November, and December (from left to right)

Our “China” friends, Zach and Heather.

Us with Trent’s cousin, Maggie.

Trent’s friend, Antonio, from WAY back in the day.

People ate and socialized while Trent and I made our way from group to group, trying to talk to everyone. The kids were anxious for cake, so we cut our cake and we all indulged in our sweet treat.

Then we opened presents. Our four year old nephew, Cohen, was very excited to help us out. He brought each gift over and then helped us unwrap or pull out the tissue paper from each present. We had to try to slow him down enough to at least read the cards, but it was a lot of fun, and he sure kept us from dilly-dallying! We got lots of great things for Jedidiah, and knocked off the majority of things that we really need for when he makes his arrival. My Father-in-law and my friend Heather took photos for us.

Our little helper, Cohen

Annika helped us too. She kept saying, “That’s so CUTE!” It was adorable!

Mom and dad got us some handsome “church clothes” for baby Jedidiah. Watch out Revolution, some serious swag is coming your way!

Thank you to all of our friends who made it to celebrate with us!

Here are some other random photos of the day. Enjoy!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on September 22, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: 28 weeks, Baby shower, Texas

SHOWERed with love (part 2)

22 Sep

After a wonderful baby shower in China, we made our way back to the States. We spent one short night in San Antonio, dropping off our excess luggage and saying a quick “hello” to the family, before heading to Minnesota the next morning.

I was born and raised in Minnesota and that is where the vast majority of my family still lives. Every year we try to go there at least twice (usually once during the summer and then a second time during the winter) to visit everyone. This year people were particularly happy to see us, since it had been a full year since we had visited. People were curious to know about China and how our travels had been. I also got to have another baby shower! This time, I was 21 weeks pregnant… just past the half-way point, and at least showing a bit.

This time, my sister, my mom and my Aunt Sandy threw the shower. Whenever we go home, we usually stay at my sister’s house, and she graciously offered it up to be used for the shower. My auntie Sandy lives in Wisconsin but happened to be in town that weekend.

When the day came, Sandy brought some games and her famous brownies (drool), my auntie Barb brought her chicken salad, Deb Barger brought her delicious Andes Mint cookies, and my friend Cassie brought lemon bars. My grandma had cut up tons of apples and brought her tasty marshmallow dip. My sister Christie and my mom had meatballs in the crockpot, a delicious salad and other tasty delicacies laid out for everyone to eat.

As people trickled in, Trent and I greeted them and tried to get some much-needed catch-up time with them. It was hard to be able to talk to everyone… it felt like our wedding… we saw a lot of people at once but it went by so fast that we hardly got to really talk with anyone!

My handsome hubby was rocking his “The Sympathetic Pregnant Husband” shirt and wandering around with the camera taking photos.

We used the same beehive drawing that Catherine had made for my China shower and the same guest book for people to write messages in. As people came, they added their thumb prints and messages and then got food and mingled about for a bit. It was a warm day, but the majority of us ended up outside on the patio (my sister has a lovely backyard).

As always, we had quite the mix of people there… mostly family, church friends, and school friends (from High School and College). After we ate, we did a quick round of introductions and people shared how they knew me. Then the games began!

My aunt Sandy had organized a few games. We began with a baby word scramble. I love these kinds of word games! The second game was based on the game-show, “The Price is Right,” where we had to guess the prices of several baby items and then whoever got the closest to the correct total got a prize. I did astoundingly well (probably only because I had just done my Target gift registry), at least far better than I thought I would do! Then, as part of her gift to me, I got to keep all of the baby stuff she used for the game. Thanks Sandy!

After the game, we were all quite hot and so we migrated inside to where the A/C was (thank God for air conditioning!). Then it was time to open gifts! I passed my camera off to Jamie, who graciously took photos for us, and Trent, Christie, and I sat down on the couch to get down to business! We opened up so many wonderful gifts! It was very cool this time around because we knew that we were having a boy and everyone knew his name would be Jedidiah. This allowed for some more personalized gifts like this beautiful blanket from my auntie Sandy.

We had lots of beautiful hand-made gifts- gorgeous crocheted or knitted blankets, hand-made burp cloths, etc.

We got all sorts of goodies and it was so much fun to open them. It just made meeting Jedi seem all the more real!

Then, before we knew it, the shower was over. People began to leave and we took lots of photos. Trent and I (and baby Jedi) are all very thankful for everyone who came!

A special thank you to my hosts!

My wonderful Auntie Sandy

My dear sister, Christie, who was also pregnant at the time, just passing the 13 week mark!

…and to my photographer(s).

Jamie and Trent both took over camera duties for the afternoon.

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on September 22, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: 21 weeks, Baby shower, Games, Gifts, Minnesota, pregnancy

SHOWERed with love! Part 1

21 Sep

I have been lucky enough to have 3 baby showers thrown for me and baby Jedidiah (maybe a fourth to come with my old co-workers, too).

The first baby shower I had was while we were still in China. It was towards the end of our time there, but the timing of it all was quite tricky. Nearly every weekend for months before we left was taken up with school stuff or other plans, and all of our friends who worked at ISQ (International School of Qingdao) got out a week before we did for the summer break (which also meant that they would be leaving or travelling sooner). I also had some close friends leaving China (permanently) before school got out. When we considered all these things, we decided that it would be best to have the shower on a weeknight. We chose Wednesday, June 3 as our date. I would be 15 weeks pregnant and we had hoped to find out the sex of our baby before the shower (so that it could be a “reveal” party too), but the doctors said that it was still too early to tell.

The host was my wonderful friend, Catherine. She booked an upstairs room in one of the most popular downtown restaurants, The Canvas, for the evening (which is a restaurant that one of our student’s parents own and operate). We decided on a “Mommy to BEE” theme.

As the date drew closer, I got more and more excited. It still seemed awfully early for a baby shower… none of the typical “bump” games could really be played (since my bump was still very small), but at the time, it was “now or never” and I really wanted to celebrate with my friends in China before we left (for good) to come back to the US. Catherine had been planning for weeks but had warned me “not to get too excited”… after all, we were in China and access to hobby stores or craft places was nonexistent… even Pinterest was sometimes hit-or-miss.

When the evening came, Trent and I took a taxi to Canvas right after our weekly staff meeting. We cab-pooled with some other co-workers and headed downtown. When I arrived and went upstairs, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There before me was the most magical set-up, with lights, decorations, everything! It was gorgeous! Catherine had clearly spent many hours on all the little details. She (and her husband Justin) had hand-made little bees out of pipe cleaners and honeycombs out of Popsicle sticks. She had printed off all these cute little sayings and put them in some photo frames on the tables. Even the water bottles had cute little bee labels on them!

She had hand-drawn a beautiful bee-hive for “Baby L” where people could put their thumb prints (in yellow, like little bees) and their names. She had also made a beautiful book for people to sign and write special notes in- just like a scrapbook, with pictures and everything!

After I composed myself and picked my jaw up off the floor, I went into the bathroom to change, and Catherine dressed me up with a little bee headband. Then I came out to greet my friends.

The beginning of the shower was very relaxed- people came in, we chatted, they ordered dinner and we all just socialized for a while.

Each person also added their thumb print to the beehive and wrote in my book. Another thing Catherine had them do was to write me a message on some newborn diapers so that when Trent or I are doing late-night changes, we can read messages of encouragement or laughter from our friends.

Meanwhile, Trent was downstairs hanging out with “the guys” and the kids.

When everyone had pretty much finished eating, we began with some games. The first game we played was merely an “ice breaker” where we all had to go around and find people who matched certain criteria and write their names on the appropriate number. This was a good game since we had people from several different areas of life… some from QISS (where we worked), others from church (Laoshan New Spring), and others from our “rival” school ISQ. Some people knew others, others did not. The game got people chatting and introducing themselves. The first person who finished won a prize.

During the second game, I stood up at the front of the room with my back to all of my friends. Everyone began standing. As I read from a list of criteria, if anyone met it, they had to sit down (i.e.- if you are wearing red nail polish, sit down). The last person standing also got a prize.

The last game, to me, was the most fun. Catherine had e-mailed Trent’s and my parents (sneaky girl!) and had asked for stories about our infancy and childhood. Our parents responded with several facts and stories to share. Catherine read each of the stories out loud and then everyone, myself included, had to guess whether it was Trent or I who had done it. I got all but 3 of them right. It was pretty funny to hear some of the stories that were shared. I believe Kelly Pinyan won this game.

After the games, we had cake. Haekyoung, the owner of the restuarant and the mom of one of my 4 year olds, had generously donated my favorite Canvas dessert, carrot cake, for the party (Canvas has DELICIOUS carrot cake). Catherine had made a cute little banner to go across the cake too. It looked almost too good to eat! In addition to cake, there were also cupcakes that Catherine and her mom Charmaine had made. They had cute little “Welcome Ba-Bee” toppers. Both desserts were wonderful!

Finally, after cake, was the last part… opening presents. Trent came up and took photos (he had actually been taking photos all night, but had also been hanging downstairs with all the dads and kids while me and the ladies were doing our thing). Trent and I got a lot of cool things for baby Jedi and in some ways, it made the pregnancy feel real. Other than our “Made in China” onesie that we had bought for ourselves and some cute little Chinese shoes and a “100 day outfit” (In China, they celebrate the baby’s 100th day of life) from our ayi, we really hadn’t bought anything for him yet. We had requested that people get things from our registry or that they ship gifts to our home in Texas so that we wouldn’t have so much to pack when we moved countries a few weeks later. We got lots of great gifts, cute outfits, cloth diapers, a jogging stroller and all sorts of other goodies. We are so blessed to have such awesome friends!

At the end of the evening, people started to head out. Catherine had made the most adorable shower gifts… little honey facial scrubs (fitting right in with the bee theme). She put them in little jars with bows and labels… they were perfect.

We said our goodbye’s and then Trent and I helped Justin and Catherine take down all the decorations. Baby Eli was there too, in his own little bee costume.

I can’t even tell you how grateful I was for this amazing shower! Catherine really did an amazing job. I was totally blown away by how much love and time she put into everything and was truly blessed by all that she did. I am so thankful for a friend like her!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on September 21, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: 15 weeks, Baby shower, bees, China, Mommy to Bee, Qingdao, The Canvas

“Bumpdates:” weeks 28-29

11 Sep

I’m trying to post my “bumpdates” more often so that they’re not as long! Here are the last two weeks:

Week 28:
Baby boy is almost 15 inches long and weighs two and a quarter pounds. I’ve been using two different websites for my weekly fruit/vegetable size comparisons, and this week I couldn’t use the suggestion on either one. The first one said that Jedidiah is the size of an eggplant (but the other said he was an eggplant weeks ago), whereas the other said he was the size of a Kabocha squash… whatever that is! HEB (our local grocery store) had never heard of them, neither did they carry them.

So… I ended up looking for another fruit or vegetable that doesn’t get used again in the next 12 weeks and I came up with a papaya. It is most likely bigger than my baby really is, but the length is probably pretty accurate, so that’s what I went with! Jedi can open his eyes now (they were fused shut until 27 weeks) and blink. He even has eyelashes! His brain and lungs are continuing to develop and he’s still fattening up for his final appearance!

This week was kind of sad. We went to yet another funeral for one of Trent’s family members (the second funeral since we’ve been back in TX). I was reminded again of how short life is, and how we really need to live every day as if it were our last. Thankfully she was a believer, so we have the assurance that she is in a better place. We were able to see a lot of family members at the funeral, but it was still very sad. Live with no regrets and seek to repair and restore broken relationships… you never know when it might be too late.

In addition to the funeral, one of my closest friends had a miscarriage this week. It feels like it wasn’t long ago that we were celebrating this new life growing inside of her, and now that joy has been replaced by a season of sadness. Again, I was reminded that life is short, but that we should celebrate it while it is here! Life is a gift and a blessing!

This week wasn’t all sad… we had our third baby shower this Saturday! The first one we had was in China right before we left, the second was in Minnesota with my family and friends, and now we’ve had one back home in Texas. 🙂 It was a really nice time to (kind of) catch up with family and friends. I got to meet a few new people that I hadn’t met before- one of Trent’s good childhood friends, Antonio; our friend Beau’s fiance, Karrin; and Trent’s cousin, Maggie, that I’d never before had the chance to meet. We also got to meet a few new kiddos who weren’t born quite yet when we left to return to China last July. We ate lots of food and cake and opened lots of awesome gifts for baby Jedi. Our nephew Cohen was a very good helper when it came to opening presents!

We were able to continue using two very sweet gifts that Catherine made for me for my first baby shower: the beehive for “Baby L” and a special book that she made me for notes and such. Thanks Cat!!!

Our little helper, Cohen!

One of my favorite gifts… “Daddy’s Little Jedi” Be still, my heart!

Another blessing of that day was that our good friends Zach and Heather came. We know Zach and Heather from our time in China and they left only a few months before we did. Lucky for us, most of our closest friends from China live in MN or TX (what are the odds???), and this couple lives just north of Austin in Georgetown. They made the trip down and even took photos of our big day. After the baby shower, they helped clean up (thanks guys) and hung around for a bit of local Mexican food at our favorite local restaurant, Garcia’s. We spent a little time showing them our house and the boys played a bit of guitar together while us girls chatted. It was really nice to have them here!

The delicious ice cream dessert we shared at Garcia’s.

On Sunday we were able to meet up with another friend, Ana, and meet her new husband (lots of things changed while we were away). We went to eat at Chuy’s (can you tell we like to eat Mexican food?!?) and spent the afternoon catching up. Before we left, Ana gave us a gift for sweet Jedidiah since she hadn’t been able to make it to the shower. It was really great to see her!

Symptoms this week:
I have been so much more tired than normal! The first two weeks that Trent was back at school I got up and did my devotions and then, typically, stayed up and tried to make the most of my days. This week though I’ve gone back to bed EVERY morning and slept all the way until my zumba class at 10. I’ve also noticed that I have to pee more (already?!?). I was hoping that it wouldn’t kick in until much closer to the end of pregnancy but I guess my baby likes to push on my bladder.

Week 29:
This week Jedi is the size of a butternut squash! He weighs about 2 and a half pounds and is a bit over 15 inches long. His brain is continuing to develop and so baby boy’s head is growing (hopefully not too big… I still gotta push him out of me!). His bones are continuing to harden and so he needs a lot of calcium in the upcoming days and weeks. His lungs are continuing to prepare for breathing outside of the womb and baby boy’s muscles are getting stronger too.

This week we went for another check-up and I learned that I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions. I didn’t have any idea that they were happening, but as my midwife lifted up my shirt to begin the exam, she showed me that my uterine muscles were contracting. I guess I noticed this last week too, but never thought that I was having a contraction! Everything looked fine for baby Jedi and we attended our first birthing class at the NB Family Birth Center right after our appointment. It is fascinating all the things we’re learning about (and I thought I already knew a LOT). Women’s bodies are pretty amazing! We will continue attending natural birthing classes for the next 6 weeks.

This past weekend, we went to Canyon Lake to celebrate the baptisms of two of my good friends, Hallie and Andrea (Dre). A friend of their pastor has a lovely home on the lake that they let us use for the day. We swam and hung out most of the afternoon, and then around 5:00pm, we headed down to the lake. Ken Hicks, their pastor, prayed over them and then we all prayed over them. It was a beautiful time. Then, one by one, they were baptized. In addition to my two friends, Hallie’s oldest two kids were baptized along with a few others (that I didn’t know) from their church.

Baptisms always get me. I can’t help but to cry (and it has nothing to do with me being pregnant). Baptism is such a beautiful celebration of life change; it is a celebration of what Jesus has done in them and for them, and the public declaration of their faith in front of so many others has always been extremely powerful to me. I can only pray that they can share about their baptisms and thereby be a testimony to others of the incredible grace of God.

After the baptisms, we went back up to the house for some food! It was a potluck but they had the grill going too- there were burgers and hot dogs (which I can’t eat) and sausages… so much deliciousness. One good part about being pregnant is that I can EAT without being judged. It’s awesome.

Andrea, Hallie and I

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and taking some belly pics before heading back home.

We were particularly thankful for the long weekend! Trent had Monday off which gave us an extra day together and it gave him a much-needed break (yes, already) from his crazy life at school. He’s been spending long hours there and so we haven’t seen too much of each other (which is really hard for us because we’re used to doing everything together). This long labor day weekend was a nice reprieve for both of us. We were able to get a lot of small things done around the house, like hanging photos, paintings, artwork, etc. We finally got around to these little things that had been on our to-do lists for a while now.

Another highlight of my week was on Wednesday when Heather (my friend from China) and I went to Dallas (yes, again) to visit our other friend Catherine (also from China) one last time before she heads to North Dakota for her brother’s wedding and then back to China shortly thereafter. We arrived around 1:00pm and thankfully got to see and play with Elijah for a few minutes before we headed out to get lunch. The three of us went to Ernesto’s for lunch and enjoyed chips, queso, delicious Mexican food and great conversation. I love these ladies so much. We’re not just friends, we’re sisters in Christ, and that makes our friendships so much more powerful. I’m really going to miss Catherine when she returns to China, but am super thankful that Heather lives fairly close to us! We spent all afternoon there and then began the trip back. On the way, we stopped in Waco to see Heather’s brother and to interview him for a Bachelorette party game that would be happening this coming weekend. It was nice to meet him. Then we drove back. The rain didn’t start until we were nearly to Heather’s house, but my drive home was basically in a torrential downpour! I went about 30 mph on the highway for nearly an hour because the visibility was so bad. Everyone was just crawling along! It was pretty scary actually, and a bit stressful, but I was thankful that Heather had prayed over me and my car before we left her house. I knew that Trent was praying too. It took me longer than I would have liked to get home, but Jedi and I made it in one piece! So thankful!

Symptoms this week:
Again… SO tired!!! I feel like I could sleep all day! The Braxton Hicks contractions have continued (but they’re nothing to worry about). I’ve also noticed that my balance seems off this week… apparently that’s normal too. Baby is growing and so is my belly, which causes some shifting of my center of gravity. My belly keeps growing bigger and sometimes I forget how big it is. The other day I opened a door and started to walk through, but apparently I hadn’t opened it wide enough because I walked my belly right into it. Ouch! Sorry Jedi!

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Posted by logsdonsbigadventures on September 11, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: Baby shower, birthing classes, Garcia's, pregnancy, third trimester

Logsdon's big adventures!

Tag Archives: Baby shower

“Bumpdate:” week 38

SHOWERed with love (part 3)

SHOWERed with love (part 2)

SHOWERed with love! Part 1

“Bumpdates:” weeks 28-29

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