30 weeks!

Um, is this right? 30 weeks?? Whoa, where have the last 30 weeks gone? I can't believe there are only 10 more weeks (give or take a few weeks or days!) until I meet my son! I have been so busy lately with finals and end of the semester final projects and papers and whatnot that I haven't really had time to think about my pregnancy. Now, I'm done with school for the semester- hallelujah!- and I passed both my classes!! I can't beleive I did 12 credits of graduate school while pregnant and passed every single one of them. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure I would... because it was tough. Really tough. Like I probably wouldn't recommend that anyone do it because I'm an achiever and I had a tough time making myself get through it. This "tired like you've never known" that people talk about when you're pregnant is true. It exists. It is truly an exhaustion like never before. And it is perpetual. I wake up in the mornings exhausted, drag myself out of bed, and by the time I get to work, I'm ready to lay down and take a nap. Not joking. Then all throughout the day I have to constantly get up and move around because I.am.so.tired. Seriously. Then some nights, I'm so tired that when I lay down to go to sleep, I'm too tired to sleep. Anyone know what I'm talking about? But at any rate, I did it! I feel so proud of myself for pushing myself to stick with it and gut it out til the end! Now I only have 3 more classes until I have my MBA! Woohoo! I am so excited that this time next year I will be holding my precious baby boy in one arm and my master's degree in the other!!!

So, because I was so busy I haven't been able to post every week like I wanted, but now hopefully I'll have time to post more often. This past week was a busy week because I had my last 2 classes and finals and final presentations and projects due and then Wednesday and Thursday were packed full of appointments that just kind of popped up! One of which was my appointment to get my cavity filled. Yeah, I said cavity. Have I written about this yet? I don't think I have. So I've been having some pain in my right upper teeth and I haven't been chewing on the right side for a few weeks now. My gums were swelling and I was getting food packed in what I thought was my gums so I would use my water pik every night to get the food out. Yeah, gross I know. Well, wayyy back during my second visit after I found out I was pregnant, I had told the doctor I thought I might need a calcium supplement since my teeth were kind of starting to hurt and I wasn't able to drink milk because it was hurting my stomach. I was trying to eat yogurt and cheese but you can only get so much calcium that way. At any rate, the doctor basically blew me off, threw a sheet of paper at me and told me those were foods that contain calcium, I'd be fine. I'm not an idiot, I know what foods have calcium in them, and I've lived in this body for 26 years, I think maybe you should pay attention to concerns I have... ESPECIALLY WHEN 2 MONTHS LATER I HAVE A HUGE CAVITY!!! Ok, so I'm a little angry at that particular doctor, but I got a cavity and there's nothing I can do about it now. So at any rate, I had to have my cavity filled this week. I was a little nervous because I canNOT lay on my back anymore because it is SO uncomfortable. In fact, when I went to the dentist for my checkup (when they discovered my cavity) I had been laying in the chair for my cleaning and had to sit up all of a sudden and almost passed out. Everything went black and the dental hygenist was like "are you ok!?" and I was. I just needed to sit up and then she let me lay on my side for the rest of my cleaning. So when I went to have my cavity filled I tried really hard to be a big girl but I didn't hesitate to remind them that this was my first filling and that I was very nervous. It actually wasn't so bad. Maybe it should be an awful experience, that way it deters people from getting cavities again but it really wasn't anything like I thought it would be. They numbed my gum with a gel first, then the dentist gave me my injections of numbing stuff and by the time they came back after letting it set in and work, I could blink and not feel my right eye so I felt much better knowing I was completely numb on that side of my face. I thought the drilling would be the worst part, but it really just sounded like an electric toothbrush and I couldn't feel anything so I was ok. I did start to get nervous though when the dentist told the assistant to keep rinsing and suctioning because he couldn't see anything since my gums were bleeding so much. This went on for what seemed like forever and he ended up filling the cavity and then having to go back and drill and re-fill again because my gums bled so excessively. If you didn't know, some pregnant women's gums bleed at the slightest thing and to have someone picking and drilling and spraying and suctioning only made mine worse. He was clearly getting frustrated, which is never a comforting thing for a patient to witness, so my palms started sweating profusely as thoughts of me having to leave with a huge drilled hole in my tootha dn come back after the baby got here to have my cavity filled. Luckily he was able to finally fill it and I left numb and slightly sore and dehydrated (from all the sweating) and completely prepared to have myself babied all day (Brandon came with me for moral support, even though he just sat in the waiting room). By the time I left the dentist's office, I had been there so long that I had to call into work because I had my doctor's appointment that day and I would have driven to work and had to turn right around and come back for my doctor's appointment. So Brandon took me to get a smoothie and listened to my slurred rendition of what happened as they filled my cavity (remember, my whole face was numb).

Ok, here's this week's survey...

How far along? 30 weeks 3 days

Weight gain? 28 pounds... I actually only gained a pound a week this past 2 weeks.. wow! I did good compared to my previous 2 pounds a week gain-age that I've been consistently keeping since 1st trimester...

maternity clothes? Mostly yes. And mostly the same things over and over. Anyone know where I can get CUTE maternity clothes? I'm not a huge fan of Motherhood Maternity because I just can't feel good about myself feeling fat AND looking frumpy...

Sleep? Never more than 3 hours at a time (due to baby-on-bladder syndrome), which is awesome when I'm falling asleep at work. I feel like a whale in the bed and when I turn over (which is often because my hips have started falling asleep when I lay on one side too long) its like a tidal wave going thru the bedroom and poor Brandon is startled out of his sleep every time I flip over (even though I try reaaaally hard to do it as gentle as possible) and asks "are you ok!?"

stretch marks? none so far... I've had Brandon check for me because I can't see past my belly button to the underneath of my belly

belly button in or out? Out. Definitely out.

Best moment this week? not having homework, not having to go to class and spending time with the love of my life.

movement? yes. I've read that you should feel at least 10 fetal movements an hour throughout the day... well, I might have an Olympian because this guy thinks it is 10 movements a MINUTE sometimes! And he's still chillin with his feet in my ribs and if I bend over to put my shoes on or pick something up, he does NOT like to be squished. He will immediately shimmy his little behind up in the middle of the ribs and stay there until I stretch out enough so he can get comfy again... demanding little fella =) ... (just like his Mama!)

food cravings? mostly frozen yogurt... randomly one day I craved dill pickle spears

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... getting the call that our crib has finally come in!

milestones.... BabyCenter.com says that I will be getting more and more clumsy because my center of gravity is shifting and the day that I read this I did a "bumper-car-like" move in the main office at work and enjoyed a good round of jabs from my coworkers =)

Hello... Third Trimester?!?!

Wow! Am I really in my third trimester already??? I am 28 weeks pregnant... wow, where did the first two trimesters go?? These past few weeks have been a whirlwind with school, finals coming up, work, and coupon classes, not to mention BEING PREGNANT! This week we had 3 coupon classes and the one Saturday was an open to the public class, which was a success! We had a great turnout and the facility was awesome for holding a class.

Saturday night, our life group drove an hour to eat at a place that is country style food, buffet of course, and we had a blast. I was a little nauseous by the time we got there because it was an hour of curving twisty roads, but by the time we got to get our dinner, I felt much better. I like country style foods, but I wouldn't say its my favorite. I guess I always question exactly what goes into it (AKA how much butter and fat) to make it taste the way it does. BUT, I will say that I ate my weight in fried popcorn shrimp (little shrimpies, I like to call them). For dessert they had blackberry cobbler that I thought would be really great with some ice cream, just one problem though, no ice cream on the buffet. However, Kate is so good to me and asked our waitress if there was-by some wild chance- any vanilla ice cream in the place and lo and behold there was!! Now, it was probably ice cream from 1970 and just a touch freezer burned, but I ate a few bites nonetheless because at this point I reaaally wanted ice cream with my cobbler. Thank you Kate =)

After we got back, I packed up my bags and headed off to Virginia for Mother's Day and to say goodbye to my house. What? Oh, my mom was only moving out of the house I spent my entire childhood in and I had to say goodbye to it and look around one last time. And what was the very first song I heard on the radio on my drive up to Virginia? The new Miranda Lambert song "The House that Built Me." Yeah, I cried. Why? Here are some of the lyrics:

I know they say you cant go home again.
I just had to come back one last time.
Ma'am I know you don't know me from Adam.
But these handprints on the front steps are mine.
And up those stairs, in that little back bedroom
is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar.
And I bet you didn't know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself
if I could just come in I swear I'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.


Ok, first of all... the line that talks about the handprints makes me cry right away because when we put in our concrete driveway, Josh and I put our handprints in the corner of the drive in the concrete. And yea, I had the back bedroom for a while... so anyways, the point of all of this is to say that this song makes me boohoo because I grew up in that house. There are a lot of memories contained under that roof... my whole life. And yes, I'm crying AGAIN as I type this because I'm female, I'm pregnant, and I am VERY hormonal.


So anyways, I went "home" for Mother's Day and ended up going through some boxes of things from my childhood and deciding what to keep and what to throw away with my Mom. We went to church Sunday morning and then out to lunch to celebrate our Mommy! Not to get sappy again on you, but I have to write a little something to my Mom so I'll try not to get to personal but hold on, because I'm already crying again...


Mom,


Happy Mother's Day! This is officially your 26th Mother's Day... can you believe it? I think you have done a fantastic job as a mother. I only hope that as I am about to become a mother to my own little munchkin, that I can be at least half as wonderful as you are. I truly mean that. You have been a constant in my life that has been invaluable. As I think about all the people who have come and gone in my life, I can only name one person who has been there since day 1... You! Of course, Josh and Brandon, are my other constants, but they haven't known me as long as you have =). You've been a pillar of strength and morality for me that hasn't wavered. Never once have I seen you move from what you believe to be right and true and even in our darkest hours, you were steadfast. In some of my hardest moments in life, you were the one holding my hand or holding me up, like at Mr. Scott's funeral. You have sought to please God and no one else and this is probably your most admirable trait. I have heard you tell me and Josh more than once, that we can hate your guts, but you are responsible to God for us so you are a parent first, then our friend. And you have been a constant source of laughter and joy. Some of my favorite memories from life involve us laughing, like the time at that seafood restaurant where we laughed so hard we cried, the time at a mall somewhere out of town that you thought something was so funny, the whole mall literally turned and looked to see where the peals of laughter were coming from and Josh and I had to walk away. The time that we tried to move a bed either from downstairs up, or vice versa and got stuck in the landing of the staircase and we both laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. Then, don't forget the time at the drive-thru at Subway when we couldn't order because we were laughing so hard we couldn't speak. Not to mention all of the fast food restaurants after that infamous day... So, Mom, even though your "angel baby girl" is grown and married and almost a mommy myself, I still look up to you and admire how you approach life. We may be different (not much, some would argue) but I still think you are the most wonderful woman in the world. You are, by far, the strongest woman I know and I will continue to try to be like you, especially as baby boy comes into the world. Here's to the most amazing Mom in the world and to another 50 years of Happy Mother's Days and now Happy Grandmother's Days too!

I love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be.


Ok, let's dry our eyes and get to the weekly survey...


How far along? 28 weeks 3 days

Weight gain? Yeah...about that 25 pounds... I've officially gained more than that! At my doctor's appointment I had to get weighed and I've now gained 26 pounds this pregnancy! YIKES! And I still have 12 weeks to go!

maternity clothes? Mostly yes.

Sleep? Eh, some nights its ok, other nights not so much

stretch marks? Not yet...

belly button in or out? Still half in half out but a teeny bit more out than in.

Best moment this week? Going home to see my Mom and brother!

movement? feet in ribs... constantly.

food cravings? not really... most days I just have a hard time even figuring out what I want to eat...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... decorating our nursery!


milestones.... BabyCenter.com says this week that he's able to make out light that filters in through my belly!! So cute! I find myself wanting to make different animals with my hands and put them against my belly so he can see the shadows... =)

26 weeks pregnant on my 26th Birthday!

That's right, I turned 26 years old this week AND "turned" 26 weeks pregnant on the same day! I should have bought a lotto ticket with the number 26 somehow =) This week was pretty much a great week. For those of you who know me, you know I celebrate a "birth month" rather than just a birthDAY. I mean, I only get one month out of the whole year to celebrate, so... I do. I'm not ridiculous, but I do pull the "it's my birthmonth" card if I need to throughout April. Brandon is used to it by now and most of the time just laughs at me. He is probably secretly really annoyed that I do something so childish the whole month, but he humors me anyway =) Thanks babe! This week on Tuesday, my office at work had my birthday lunch. My coworkers go all out for birthdays. They are cause for celebration (aka EATING) in our office so we love a good birthday. The birthday girl/boy gets to pick what they want to eat and this year I wanted a make-your-own nacho/taco bar. A woman in my office (who used to be a Spanish interpreter) makes wonderful Mexican food and volunteered to bring all of the food for the nachos/tacos and BOY was it delicious. I made a HUGE burrito stuffed with refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, salsa, nacho cheese, sour cream, etc. and ate every bite (and a second one for a snack later!) A girl who is fairly new in our office made me homemade cupcakes- which were DELICIOUS- AND she brought in homemade monkey bread for us to have for breakfast that day! I felt so special! And to top it all off, they got me a singing birthday card, YES, singing! AND little baby trinkets, like a UNC beenie, some rattles, a bottle, and some tiny little socks. Needless to say, my 26th birthWEEK was off with a bang and I SO enjoyed it! (In fact, my mouth is watering just typing this!)

Saturday was Brittney and Cole's housewarming party (for which I made YET ANOTHER strawberry shortcake- I've lost count I've made so many the last few weeks). We left the housewarming party to go pick up our crib... the one I told you about before that was the one we originally wanted that the little baby boutique owner was going to sell to us for half price! And we were going to pick up our glider that we had purchased the week before. Well, we got to the baby store, went inside to look at the crib and Brandon and I just looked at each other and back at the crib. Neither one of us wanted to say it, but this was NOT our dream crib. We weren't impressed... at all. And in fact, we didn't even like it. We were so disappointed and as I was trying to get away from the store owner's husband to talk to Brandon (just a side note, if you are a sales person, periodically leave your customer to go "check on something" or "get something" or whatever so that your customers can talk to their spouse... especially if the purchase is more than a few hundred dollars!) to tell him that I didn't really like the crib and find out if he felt the same way. As I was walking back towards the front of the store, I stopped in front of another crib and couldn't help but think that THAT crib was what I pictured in my nursery. Brandon and I talked it over and decided that the crib we had come to pick up was not the crib for us and that we wanted this other crib that we had looked at before but not really ever paid much attention to until now. The more I looked at this crib, the more I could picture it in our nursery at home with my little man sleeping in it. I looked at Brandon and we walked right up to the cash register and told the owner and her husband that we wanted to buy that crib. The crazy part... the crib we bought was over $500 less than the one we went there to pick up!!! We were ecstatic! AND, we're in love with the crib we bought!



My mom and brother were meeting us for dinner, my choice of course since it was my birthday, and I chose yummy Maggiano's. I always get the chicken and spinach manacotti and it didn't let me down. Then we shopped for a little bit and the boys went to go pick up our glider.



The next morning we went to church and then went to eat at Dan Thai, which is a fabulous little restuarant. I highly recommend it and it might just be this town's best kept secret. The service there is amazing and the food is so fresh and delicious.



Sunday night we had reservations at a Japanese steakhouse with Brandon's family and everyone came! Nana and Pop, Bradley and Tiffany, Brittney and Cole and Corben, Joan and Rodney and Wendy's family too! I felt so special to have everyone there in the same place for my birthday! Corben has been afraid to go to Japanese steakhouses because of the little fire show they do at the beginning and this time was no different. He WAILED. Like screamed and cried like he was going to die. He is truly fearful of the fire. I felt so bad because we were in a room to ourselves with 2 back to back grills (because we had so many people there) and our chef finished his fire thing and we all told Corben not to worry, that it was over and no sooner were those words out of our mouths than "Whoosh!" the other chef lit his grill up and the flames soared up just as high and Corben freaked again. Poor thing.



How far along? 26 weeks 4 days



Weight gain? I go next week and will be weighed... I feel like a heffer.



maternity clothes? Mostly yes.

Sleep? I've figured out my pillow situation... that has helped my sleep some...



stretch marks? Not yet...



belly button in or out? Still half in half out.



Best moment this week? My birthday!!!! and getting to celebrate it with all the people in the world I love most! And buying our crib!



movement? he's an active little fella =)



food cravings? well after my birthday lunch at work, i can't stop thinking about nachos =)



Food aversions? coffee



what I'm looking forward to... getting the crib (its being shipped to the store) actually in the nursery



milestones.... BabyCenter.com says he's putting on baby fat now! (how cute!!) and he is 14 inches long... wow!!

25 weeks

This week was kind of an exciting week in terms of baby stuff! Brandon and I had a free evening together Wednesday so we spent the evening cooking dinner together and looking at baby bedding and cribs online. We know what we want the nursery to look like, now its just pulling everything- the right crib, the right bedding, the right glider, etc- together to create that look. We had found some bedding a while back that we keep coming back to, and of course after you have the bedding picked out, you can create the rest of the room around it. Then, we decided on the crib we wanted to get but we'd never seen it in person and we found a baby boutique nearby that sells that line of cribs so we decided Saturday we would go and look at the crib and then do our baby registry. We got up Saturday and went to this little baby boutique, which is so cute and has so many of the things we've been looking at online. Most of you probably know that our taste is very modern and contemporary so the bedding sets and decorations at Babies R Us just weren't tripping our triggers. This little store, however, had a lot of very modern cribs and decorations. We didn't see the crib we originally went to see but there was another there that we had been looking at and THEN the lady helping us (who we think was the owner) told us that she had another crib she thought we would like, it just wasn't in the store this week because a company had borrowed it for a tv commercial shoot. The crazy thing about this is that this crib is the EXACT SAME BRAND and almost the EXACT SAME CRIB that we picked out in the very beginning that is *coughcough* only the cost of a small car. Not really that expensive but WAY more than we could afford or could with good conscious spend that much money on. Now you might be thinking, well if it was that expensive before, why are we getting so excited about it? Well, BECAUSEEEE the lady told us that if we liked it, she would sell the floor model to us for OVER HALF PRICE!!! Oh my goodness, let me just tell you how giddy we are about this! I don't remember if I've written about this in previous posts but since Brittney and I started teaching coupon classes, I have been saving every penny that I earned (with the exception of 11 dollars that we needed cash for to get hot dogs at Jim's one day haha) to pay for the baby's furniture. Yes, it was hard to stock this money away, especially since Brittney has been able to buy half of Anthropologie's inventory over the past 5 months and has THE cutest wardrobe EVER, but I did it. Brandon and I weren't sure how we were going to pay for baby furniture, since just like you can't squeeze water from a rock, you can't really squeeze anything extra out of our current paychecks. We agreed early on that I would put this money away after each class and neither of us would touch it until time to buy the crib and bedding and glider, etc. Brandon and I are shoppers and trust me, we must already be in parenthood training because we could get some serious clothes and shoes out of the money we've saved but we haven't, we've had eyes only on the prize. The prize being the perfect nursery for our perfect little man. So back to the crib that she agreed to sell us for half price... Like I said a minute ago, this crib is almost identical to what we originally had our hearts set on, the only difference in the two cribs is the color (the one we are going to get is white and the original one we looked at had a very mod wood finish) and THIS crib actually has panels on the sides that you can change with different fabrics to match whatever bedding you have. You probably can't picture how cool this thing looks and I so want to give you a preview but I think I'm going to wait. At any rate, we are THRILLED about this crib and are so excited about possibly getting to bring it home next week (if its back in the store).

Another thing we did Saturday was register at Babies R Us. I have several observations from creating our baby registry:

1) First time parents should never go alone. Take someone who has recently had a baby with you. Otherwise you will never survive.
2) Babies R Us should employ workers to walk around with couples to tell them about certain products and their parts (just for example bottles and breast pumps) OR edit their "must have" list to say not just "bottles" but "bottles, nipples for each age and stage of the first year, nipples for thicker fluids and thinner fluids, a bottle drying rack, a bottle dishwasher cage, a bottle cleaning wire brush, and a formula holder thingy." Not to mention all of the OTHER bottle parts I forgot about! We scanned a package of bottles and started to walk away and THANK GOODNESS Brittney was with us because she pointed out all the other crap you have to get.
3) Each product should have a pro-con list taped next to the price. How the heck do I know if the Diaper Genie is better than the Arm n Hammer Diaper Pail?? Does twisting off the bag kill the smell more than baking soda? I dunno, I've never had a kid!!!
4) Have chairs, or better yet, sofas, stationed throughout the aisles because remember, PREGNANT WOMEN are involved here!! Do they not know that we are EXHAUSTED and CANNOT STAND/WALK for that long??? I'm sorry, but I was about to keel over and was dangerously close to sitting in a stroller and wheeling myself around. My back and my feet were screaming at me after carseats, and that was the second aisle we went down!!
5) Offer couples a snack before embarking on this journey or at least tell me where I can find a Twix and a smoothie since after all, I WILL be hungry in 20 minutes (no matter when I last ate). Why would you ever ship a pregnant woman off to wander 50+ aisles of foreign objects (that SHE MUST HAVE in order to be a good mother) with no survival pack or at least a granola bar? This seems so simple to me, yet why aren't they doing this?

Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun registering. However, I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Not to mention exhausted and starving. Those are just some tips I have for Babies R Us. I thought that when we went in and sat down and the nice lady started talking that she certainly was going to go around with us to explain things. Oh no. "Here's the scanner gun and your list, have fun!" Um, ok? Did I mention I'm a first time parent? Did I mention that I have no idea what to get or how many? Did I mention that I'm scared to death I'll pick the wrong carseat and will end up killing my child? Did I mention that I'm completely in awe of those little machines that are gonna squeeze milk out of my boobs (excuse my frankness) and have no idea which one to pick? DID I MENTION THAT THIS IS TERRIFYING??? HELLO! Has no one at Babies R Us ever had kids?? What the heck? Plus, I haven't even mentioned the fact that all other parents we know keep telling us "Oh, you'll never use or need half the stuff you register for." Ok then, WHICH HALF??? I know this is dangerous but all you parents out there, I'm inviting you to go look at our registry online (I think you just go to Babies R Us and then search our names) and let us know what stuff we really will need and what stuff we won't. Then tell me in the most loving way possible, because remember, I spent 3 hours in that store agonizing over each and every product we scanned... tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. So be gentle.

One more thing... to all of you who have told me I look like I swallowed a basketball or a volleyball. THANK YOU. Even though this is not true -well obviously I didn't swallow a basketball- I'm guessing you can't see past my belly to look at these thunder thighs or are just too kind to tell me how fat my cheeks have gotten. But thank you. You have no idea what this does to a pregnant girl's self esteem. I honestly feel a little buoyed each time someone tells me this (even though I know the truth!) and it means so much that you would tell me I look great even when I feel oh so fat. So thank you to all you kind, kind people. I sincerely mean that.

Survey...

How far along? 25 weeks 2 days

Weight gain? I'm choosing to ignore this until my doctor's appointment. In the beginning I only wanted to gain 25, now I'm just praying that I don't gain more than 40 pounds!!

maternity clothes? Yes and no. I'm still wearing my regular jeans and tops and then also wearing some maternity tops and pants. Its hard putting cute outfits together when you just aren't shaped the same anymore...

Sleep? Some good, some bad. Saturday night was roooouuugh. I woke up every hour or two hours and just could not get comfortable. I've started sleeping with my maternity pillow and another pillow to try to cope.

stretch marks? Not yet but my tummy sure does feel tight some days =/

belly button in or out? This question wasn't on my survey but I've seen it on some of my other friends' surveys so I decided to add it. Belly button is definitely half in, half out. Its been this way for about 3 or 4 weeks now and I'm just waiting for any day now to look down and see an outie.

Best moment this week? Spending all day Saturday with my best friend doing stuff for our baby =)

movement? More and more every day it seems! There's just nothing like feeling my little baby squirm and kick and tap dance on my ribs. Some days if he kicks in the same spot a few times, I'll gently poke my stomach in the same area and he'll kick back! Its a little game we play =)

food cravings? No strong cravings this week really...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... hopefully bringing my baby boy's crib home sometime this week!

milestones... Ok, this week BabyCenter.com says he weighs a pound and a half! I guess that's why his kicks have felt so much stronger!!

24 Weeks

This past week was a different week for me. I didn't have any coupon classes to teach and I actually got to spend time with my husband AND go away for the weekend with my college roommates! My roommates and I go on a trip every year because we know that if we don't plan a time to visit each other we would never see each other! One year we surprised our good friend Sierra for the weekend in NYC for her bridal shower and that trip was a TON of fun! We stayed at Sierra's condo and went shopping in the city and had a blast! Then last year, we went to Whitney's apartment in Charlotte and stayed with her for the weekend- unfortuantely I was sick that weekend with the only stomachbug I've had since I was in 5th grade!! THAT was no fun. However, I did have fun shopping and spending time with some of my best friends! This weekend we decided to go to Blacksburg! What memories I had driving through that town! The campus has changed so much but also stayed the same and the town has grown up more than I could have imagined! I love Virginia Tech and I'm so proud to be a Hokie Alum! =) We stayed at Whitney's parents house (thanks Whitney's Mom and Dad!) and Saturday during the day we ate lunch together and then went to hike the Cascades. Susan and I had never hiked the Cascades the whole time we were at Tech... crazy! But we were so excited to go because we had always heard that it is so beautiful there. When I told Brandon ahead of time what we were doing, he was very anxious that I was getting myself into more than I could handle (being pregnant). I googled the Cascades to make him feel better and thought that it looked pretty relaxing and easy and that it was just a trail you could walk up to see the waterfalls. He felt better and so did I. I didn't want to overdo it or get hurt or somehow hurt the baby so after seeing that it was going to be a leiusurely stroll through the woods to the waterfalls I was pertty excited. Uh, leisurely stroll my foot. Whoever put together the website for the Cascades clearly did not document the amount of streunous activity involved. Don't get me wrong. I was fine and I had a ton of fun BUT I also sweated like a pig. And huffed. And puffed. All the way up and all the way down. 2 miles each way. I run, you see. But I'm currently on a hiatus from that particular physical activity (as well as all others aparently) so I'm a little out of shape. And lets not forget that I weigh 18 pounds more than I used to. So starting out, Whitney and Laura took the lead and we all decided that it was probably best to take the "lower trail" or the easier of the 2 trails to the top. Easier trail! Haha! That's funny. We ended up switching halfway up because we thought we might have gotten on the harder one... only to find out that they are BOTH EQUALLY AS CHALLENGING. Susan and I started out talking and pretty soon we were silent except for the wheezing and huffing going on. Whitney and Laura somehow carried on a full conversation the entire way. Amazing. I'm going to post pictures but let me warn you, I am sweating heavily in these pictures so they aren't pretty. See, the trails are made up of some pathways, some man made bridges, and some naturally created stone steps. And throughout the whole trip up, you have to look down to watch your step because there are rocks all over the trails and of course the LAST thing I wanted was to miss a step or trip and go tumbling down the side of the mountain into the rocky creek below. It was a true possibility my friends. I was very afraid of that very occurrance the whole time. At one point I was trucking along (huff huff, wheeze, huff huff, wheeze) and I glanced up to make sure I was following Whitney and Laura still and whoa, the whole mountainside swayed as I looked at the quarter mile long boulder staircase in front of me (ok, it wasn't quite THAT long, but definitely more than 15 steps for sure!). Whitney and Laura looked slightly alarmed (maybe from my eyes rolling back in my head, I dunno) and Susan looked slightly relieved as I called up to Whitney and Laura that I needed to take a break for juuuust a minute. "Are my legs still there," I wondered? "What is this strange mushy feeling from the waist down?" "Am I dreaming?" "Where's my inhaler?... oh wait, I don't have asthma OR an inhaler." All of these thoughts tumbled through my head as I bravely clutched the skinny little tree near me and let several groups of hikers pass (show-offs... pshhh). When I was well rested (yeah right) we moved on and I continued to sweat. You're probably thinking that my neck was a little moist... no. There was sweat pouring down my face, off the tip of my nose, down my back, etc. And by etc I mean, I was straight dehydrating at a rapid pace. The girls were so good to me and so concerned about me (I guess I would have been too, considering the amount of salt and fluids I was losing in such a short amount of time) that we stopped and rested 2 or 3 more times on the way up and when we got to the top, this is what awaited us...

Completely worth the sweat and rubbery leg feeling. It was so beautiful there and I'm so glad we went. It was a great workout and I really had a lot of fun. It really was a lot harder than I originally thought it was going to be but we had so much fun laughing about how hard it was (well hard for me and Suz!) and catching up that we really didn't care. After our hike we went to downtown Blacksburg so I could shop for baby hokie clothes. I found a set of 3 onsies that are super cute that I can't wait for my little hokie baby to wear AND in one of the stores, Whitney found an adorable maternity shirt! It says "Future Hokie" on the front with an aorrw pointing to my belly and of course I had to get it! =) Later that night we ended up spending some time with Whitney's mom (talking about coupons, of all things!) and just catching up. Then we went to dinner and went back to watch a movie (yes, we are getting old and yes none of us made it through the whole movie without falling asleep!). Sunday morning, Whitney's dad cooked us breakfast! It was so sweet of him! We had made-to-order omlets and fresh fruit and bagels! Yum-yum-yum! The pregnant girl was happy =)

Thanks for a great weekend girls! Can't wait til our get-together at Susan's house with Sierra! =)

On Friday night Brandon and I got to go have dinner with Warren and Emily at their house. They are a couple who have been coming to our church for a while now and are super sweet! (Remember, Emily is the one who so graciously is letting me wear some of her maternity clothes!) We grilled out (because preggo here has been craving that grilled food taste all week) and Warren made some yummy burgers and we had Emily's fantastic baked beans and some chips and pasta salad. Then for dessert we had this...

This was the before picture of me holding it in the car on the way over. I wanted proof that it was whole when we left our house, in the event that a bite went mysteriously missing before we arrived. Just sayin... This was actually the second strawberry shortcake I made this week. I'm not trying to brag, but this sucker was pretty darn good. Musta been the strawberries or something because I'm telling you, Warren, Emily, Brandon and I ate most of this thing Friday night! Yeah, I'm serious! Warren and Emily have a 4 month old, Ruby, who is just the cutest little thing. I was so glad that they let me hold her and "practice" because Ruby is such a good baby and I wasn't scared off at all =) I guess it helps that I only held her when she was laughing and then when she was hungry I gave her right back to her Momma =) I'm no dummy.

I thought while I'm posting some pictures I'd show you guys a crazy before and after set of pictures. Of course, this before picture is after a lot of work had actually been done at the church, but I think you'll get the idea.

Ok, here is the stage before...

And here is the stage during our first service on Easter Sunday (Brandon is on stage in this picture!)And here's another shot of the stage (with Brittney singing!)

Here's this week's survey:

How far along? 24 weeks 3 days (since I haven't had time to blog until Wednesday!)

Weight gain? haven't weighed myself this week... still up 18 lbs I'm sure

maternity clothes? Yes and no. Its a little tricky figuring out my outfits because while some things fit, they aren't actually that comfortable anymore soooo... I'm thinking some clothes shopping is in my future since my birthday is coming up!

Sleep? Not great, not horrible. Still getting up to go to the bathroom some nights, other nights I must be so exhausted because I don't wake up to go to the bathroom until right before my alarm goes off...

stretch marks? Not yet, but this week I had some really weird pains on my sides, like where my ribs are, and I couldn't figure out what they were until Emily asked me over dinner if I had had any muscle pain yet from my muscles stretching... bingo. That's exactly what the pain was. My abs were slowly ripping apart... aaaaggghhh...

Best moment this week? seeing my college roommates again!

movement? Oh yes, he's an active little fella =)

food cravings? strawberry shortcake and anything grilled on the grill!

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... hopefully buying baby furniture and bedding this week for my baby boy!

milestones... Ok, this week BabyCenter.com says he is about as long as an ear of corn! Oh my goodness! Does anyone else LOVE the food references? Plus, baby boy is now a little over a pound.

23 Weeks

This past week was busy, but not quite as busy as some weeks have been. I'm learning to cherish moments that I have to myself, or just moments in general when I can sit and rest and be still. Saturday Mom and Josh were going to come visit for the weekend and then it turned out that they just came for the day Sunday. I had already freed up my day (except for a 3 hour group meeting Saturday morning for school and the 6:00 service at church that night for volunteers) and I was feeling pretty crummy with my allergies acting up so needless to say, I was pretty excited when I realized I had all afternoon to do whatever I wanted. Which was nothing. I was so excited to just come home and lay down! And I needed it. And yes, little Miss Achiever layed around for most of the day amidst the piles of dirty dishes and laundry that needed to be done! After a while it got the best of me and I did tidy up and do some laundry, but ask my mom and Josh... my house was by far the messiest they have ever seen it! And I was embarrassed, but not embarrassed enough to exhaust myself even more with extensive cleaning. I'm pregnant. And tired. And at that point I didn't know I could take anything for my allergies so I was miserable. This is kind of a side note, but does anyone else hate that little allergy quirk where one minute you can't blow another drop of snot out of your nose because you are just that stopped up, then the next minute, you turn around and your nose DRIPS out of nowhere??? Like a straight drop of clear runny snot onto your shirt or the table or whatever? Ok, yes this is gross but it has happened to all of us. If you try to deny it, I will call you a liar. Anyways, this was the point at which I was the whole weekend... head pounding, eyes watering, nose either running or completely stopped up, and throat itching. Boo for the massive amounts of pollen rained down on us.



The volunteer service I mentioned just briefly a minute ago was actually our first service in our NEW BUILDING! Let me just tell you how proud I am of my husband and the rest of the staff of Pine Ridge Church. They busted their tails to get this building done on time and they did a fantastic job. Please join me in congratulating them on a job well done because hunny, they deserve it. And if this were any other line of work other than ministry, they'd be getting a week off work for all the hard work they put it. But... this is the ministry we're talking about, they never truly get time off. Anyways, I didn't see my husband for about a week and a half. I mean, I SAW him when I got up in the morning and kissed him goodbye but other than that, I didn't see him. He was home each night between 11:00pm and 2:00am. Yes, those were some mighty long days. Did I mention how proud I am of my husband? He told me last week "I'm not the most skilled person out there, I don't know how to run electrical lines or put in plumbing" but buddy he sure did put in some good long hours and lots of sweat. I got a call one night and he asked me if we had some Dawn dish detergent because he needed to bathe in that since he'd spend a good amount of time in the ceiling that day. What!? In the ceiling?! Wow! Like I said, he worked until he was exhausted and then worked some more. I just hope everyone at PRC knows just how hard the staff and some of our volunteers worked last week. We had some of our volunteers work thru the night! Craziness! But that IS the Pine Ridge way... we are most certainly crazy and I hope that other people can see its because we're crazy about this vision that was given to a man who was told by God to start a church in our little town. We'll do whatever it takes. Even sacrificing seeing our spouses for a week or two, even laboring thru the night, even eating fast food for 47 meals straight to get it all done because Easter Sunday it all paid off. We had over 500 people there at church and 20 of them gave their lives to Jesus!! Wow!!

Well I guess you've all been waiting for it... probably not, but here's my weekly survey anyways =)

How far along? 23 weeks 2 days (since I didn't get around to writing this until Tuesday!)

Weight gain? weeeell... I'm embarrassed and completely disappointed in myself that I have almost gained 20 pounds so far! Don't even think about telling me its ok, I'm supposed to gain weight, etc etc... because I told myself that I only wanted to gain 25 pounds with this baby and it doesn't look like that is an option now since I've officially gained 18 pounds in only 23 weeks! All I gotta say is that come August and September, if I'm not sweating, chase me so I start running because I am going to have to work HARD to get this weight off...

maternity clothes? yes, i've gained 18 pounds and i'm still wearing my skinny jeans and regular shirts because I keep thinking that as long as I'm wearing my regular clothes, I'm not fat... I did, however, wear my first maternity shirt this week... It was very comfy and very cute and I actually didn't feel as whale-like in it... I was pleased =)

Sleep? Yes please. Actually, I've noticed that I've been so exhausted lately that I will wake up in exactly the same position that I go to sleep in... how do I know this? Because my left arm is fast asleep when I wake up since it is the arm i stick under my pillow.

stretch marks? None yet but I'm feeling my skin getting tighter and tighter and I'm lotioning this bump up every chance I get!

Best moment this week? Easter Sunday in our new building with my family there. And, baby boy was kicking constantly throughout the service so I think its safe to say he likes church already =)

movement? All the time and all over the place! (And by all over the place I mean the small space he has to move around in between my hips and my ribs haha!)

food cravings? smoothies... any kind of frozen drink... maybe its because the weather has warmed up and my throat is sore from my allergies...

Food aversions? coffee

what I'm looking forward to... picking out baby Hokie clothes for my tiny son this weekend!

milestones... Babycenter says he now weighs a pound!! Oh my goodness! How cute! But he better stay in there and grow to a good healthy weight before he decides to enter this world! =)

Random Pregnancy Thoughts...

So I got to thinking about how much my life will change when baby boy makes his entrance into the world and specifically I was thinking about how many hours I will spend changing diapers. This is kind of silly but then I thought about the COST of changing all those diapers. Keep in mind that I've already been stocking up on baby wipes when I've been able to get them free but I wasn't sure how much I should stockpile ahead of time.

Well, I did the math... Each tub of wipes has 64 wipes. If you use at the bare (haha, little pun in there) minimum of just 3 wipes per diaper change (I know, I know, this doesn't include those explosive diapers but I'm just thinking at a minimum here...) that is enough wipes for approximately 20 diaper changes. Now, I don't know how many times you change an infant each day but lets just say at the minimum you change the baby's diaper 5 times a day. Feel free to correct me if my assumptions are ridiculously off base because this will affect the whole math equation! Based on my assumptions, this means we will go through approximately 2 boxes of baby wipes a week. That's 8 boxes a month, and 96 boxes a year... For at least 2 years. And they say boys are harder to pottytrain than girls so make that 3 years. At that rate, I'll need to buy (or get free hopefully) 288 boxes of baby wipes. And that's for just one baby. And for only using wipes to wipe his tiny little bottom. And if I only used 3 wipes per change.

So basically I'm looking at a future of 300 boxes of wipes. So far I have 10. Is anyone else slightly dismayed at this fact?

Oh I'll get them free. Don't worry about the cost. I've got a 5 month head start on the little man and his little tushie (that I'm gonna wipe... and wipe... and wipe) and I'm planning on taking advantage of every sale and every coupon on wipes so if I knock you over in the store to get to a box of wipes, I apologize now, ahead of time. I'm just looking at 3 years of wiping in front of me.

Now I haven't even thought about diapers... =/