Last Trip For the Summer

We love going up to Brad's family's cabin in Island Park each summer, but when planning this year we decided to do it earlier than normal so we did not have issues with me being pregnant.  So we planned a trip with our friends, Doug and Natasha and their two boys, and went up from June 14-17.

Going up in June was really nice because it was much cooler than when we typically go up in July.  Doug and his family have never been to Yellowstone so we went into Yellowstone on Friday.  With two little boys (4 and 18 months) it made the trip a little interesting because they would get restless and bored pretty fast.  We stopped at a few geysers, saw Old Faithful blow, and saw LOTS of animals (elk, a grizzly bear, bison, and antelope).  After a half day in Yellowstone, the boys were done, so we went back to the cabin.

Brad loves to fish in Island Park, so he and Doug brought their fishing stuff.  Doug thought his 4-year-old would enjoy it too, so they took him to the kiddie pond after we got back from Yellowstone.  I stayed behind at the cabin (as fishing bores me) while everyone else went.  Not 10 minutes later did Natasha come back inside carrying her 18-month-old who was drenched from head to toe.  He is a fast little guy who loves to climb on everything and destroy everything he touches.  Apparently she had turned around for a second and he dashed straight into the pond ending in a face plant.  I'm sad I missed it because it sounds pretty funny.  Natasha rescued him right away of course.

Saturday morning, Brad and Doug went fishing, just the two of them.  While they were gone, Natasha and I spent the morning doing our best to entertain the boys.  When Brad and Doug finally came back, we headed into West Yellowstone were we went to a Bear/Wolf Preserve.  Brad and I had never heard of this place, but basically it houses animals that are unable to live in the wild (usually due to injury).  We got to see lots of grizzly bears, wolves, and some birds (bald eagle, a hawk, an owl, and 2 golden eagles).  We learned that golden eagles will attack deer (these birds are massive) and that one of the wolf packs in Yellowstone specializes in hunting bison.  Crazy.  After this adventure, we walked around a few stores in West Yellowstone, but once again did not stay too long before one of the 4-year-old was done.

Sunday we went and looked at Big Springs, where the Henry Fork of the Snake River starts, and a cabin that was built by this 4'11" guy back in the 1800's.  Doug loved it because of all the intricate work and really chatted up with the volunteers at the house learning all about it.  It was pretty funny.  After this, we split off and headed our separate ways back home.  Brad and I were able to visit my little sister in Rexburg and then make it back home in time for Father's Day Dinner.

I say it's the last trip of the summer because as it was, I did not do a whole lot of activity in Island Park because it was easier to stay sitting in the cabin/car.  And while the temperatures were in the 60's, it could still get a little warm if you were in the sun.  Needless to say, I will not be going on any more trips until after this baby comes.  I'm glad we were able to go on one last trip and enjoy the beautiful Island Park.

When It Rains It Pours

Well, this week has been extremely emotional and hard.  Last week ended with getting some big bills for my teeth.  Yay. With 2 insurances, getting bills has been a bit of a slow process, which on the one hand is nice, but on the other I just want to be done with them.  But getting 2 pretty hefty bills back to back is not easy to handle.  Brad and I also have been talking about getting 6 new tires (4 for my car and 2 for his) because our tires are getting a little worn.

Then Sunday ended on a bad note.  Sorry, no details, it was just bad, always is with stubborn bull-headed clashing.

I figured that was enough bad for a while, so when Brad and I left for work Monday morning I just kept thinking about how excited I was for my doctor's appointment that morning where we would get to see our baby again.  Everything went great on my drive until I got to Lehi, where all the crappy i-15 core construction starts.  My car all of a sudden started to wobble/shake pretty good.  I figured it must be the lane, even though it looked pretty smooth.  So I changed lanes.  Shaking did not stop and now there was an awful noise.  I was next to a semi so I wondered if it was him...and then a piece of tire went flying past my car.  Crap, I knew I was sunk.  Luckily I was close to an exit so I got over and took the exit and parked in Subway.  I probably went a little farther then I should have before stopping, but pulling over on the freeway terrifies me.  I was already freaking out.

Well, at Subway I got out of the car and went and looked at my tires.  Low and behold, my back right tire looked like shrapnel had come spitting out of it because it had 6 nasty/jagged holes in the tire wall and was completely flat.  Good news to the bad news was that the whole tire had not blown off, so my driving had at least been on a bit of rubber instead of just my rims/wheel.  However, the rim still looked all scratched.

Not my tire, but pretty close to what mine looked like

I have watched Brad change a tire once, so I new where all the stuff was in the car.  But I was freaking out, a blown tire was not what we needed right now, plus I was going to be late to work.  So I called Brad.

Brad is an amazing guy.  He has been my calm, comforter this whole awful week.  He told me to calm down and that he was on his way.  When I told him that I was trying to follow the picture and jack up the car, he just told me to sit in the car and wait for him, not because he didn't think I could figure it out, but I always not in a good state of mind and not sure if I was doing it right.  So I sat and used my handy smart phone to find tire stores near by.  I also called my manager and let her know that I would be late.

Well Brad showed up and got right down to the business of changing my tire.  I meant to take a picture of it, but for some reason my poorly functioning brain only thought I would use the picture to show Brad, who was going to see it anyways, so I did not take one.  Oh well, it looked awful.  Brad gave me his keys and told me to go to work and that he would take care of the tire and meet me for the doc appt.

Work thank goodness was not too crazy that morning.  Brad just had all 4 tires replaced.  At least we drive cars that do not require really expensive tires, but it's still a lot of pay for when we were not planning on it just then.  My appointment went great.  Our baby weighs 3 lbs (which the doc said is good and normal for 28 weeks) and everything looks great.  They took some 3D ultrasound pictures which was really neat to see what her face looks like.  She already has some chub to her cheeks.

I made it through the rest of my work week in one piece, no more blown tires for Brad or I, and I finally slept well last night.  I have only gotten through this week because of my amazing husband.  He has calmed me down after everything that has happened, wiped away my tears, held me close, and rubbed my back to help me sleep.  Thank goodness for my husband!  I do not know what I would do without him.

Brad lost his softball game Monday night, which was sad.  He played really well though, so despite the loss he took it pretty well (Brad is pretty competitive so once again I was amazed by his calmness).  Then last night we were all suprised to learn that Brad's little sister, Christine, put her mission papers in and she called to tell me she was opening her call.  She is going to the Monrose, New Jersey mission!  We are so excited for her, the little sneak.  Apparently my scream of surprise made everyone laugh when she told me she was going on a mission.  Luckily she leaves a month after our baby girl should be hear, so she will at least get to meet her niece.

It's been a rough week, but I know we will make it through.  Thank goodness for sturdy/calm umbrellas in rain storms!

Oh and funny enough it did rain this week and we have gotten some strong wind storms.  So fitting for my week.

Nesting and Newscasters

I've always heard that in the last trimester you hit the nesting faze where you want to get everything ready for baby to arrive.  Well, it's happened...to Brad.  I came home from work one day and he started talking about getting plastic bins to organize all of our stuff.  We have a bin that we have been putting my crafts into, and a bin for baby gifts, but he was talking about putting all of our storage stuff that is currently in boxes into bins.  He researched prices at different stores and everything.  I agreed.  I came home Wednesday night to find our place a mess - there was stuff scattered everywhere from Brad organizing and repacking everything!  I was given the assignment of going through one box of my stuff to decide if it was all worth keeping.  I basically spent 30 minutes on one box while he successfully re-packed everything else.  I've always told Brad that he is really good at tetris (he can make anything fit into our car for instance).  Well, when all was done at 11pm, he showed me the storage room, which he managed to fit more things into now and there is still room available for more.  Brad is very happy and pleased with himself.

Wednesday night was also the last night of one of our favorite newscasters, Bruce Lindsey.  I know, weird to say that we are attached to newscasters, but we are.  For the past week the station has been doing little stories about Bruce's career in news casting, then they did a final story/montage Wednesday night.  He is retiring to go be a mission president in Australia.  It was all very touching and emotional.  I just love Bruce, he is so good at reporting news.  It probably doesn't help that I am overly emotional, but it is still sad.  

Everyone is noticing my bump now and commenting on it.  I'd say at least a third of the patients now ask me about it.  It makes rooming patients take a little longer because they all want to know when I'm due, what I'm having, if we have picked a name, and of course all of their own stories and suggestions.  It's nice, they are all very sweet, but sometimes I really do not have the time to stand and talk when the provider is ready to see them.  Oh well, one patient did guess that I was 3-4 months along and was shocked when I told him that I'm actually 6 months.  Everyone tells me I'm just so cute and little.  I feel big, mostly because I can't hunch over and still be able to breathe, but I guess I should be enjoying my littleness while I still can.

I figure I'm probably due to put up a picture.  Brad does not like baby bump pictures.  He thinks they are awkward, I dunno.  But I have him take one every week to send to my sister in California.  So here is week 26!

Wow that baby is growing!

So last week we went to good ol California and visited my parents.  This was the first drive we have had that allowed us to drive through Reno during the day.  Brad looked at me and said, "Wow, this is a totally different city during the day!"  He also said that he didn't know you could cross the Sierras without chains and snow.  So we laughed and thank goodness did have run ins with snow.  And luckily not much road construction (that is until the drive back to Utah).  

We left Wednesday, May 9th, the day after my birthday.  Everyone kept asking me if I had a good birthday, and well my exact birthday was not so fun cause I worked 13 hours and did not get home till 9:40pm and then had to finish packing.  But if our trip is part of my birthday, then it was good.  We rolled into Rocklin at about 2:30 on Wednesday (nice and early!) and got to talk with my Mom until Dad came home.  Then we went to dinner at BJ's Brewery for my birthday and we finally got to meet Mark, my older sister's fiance.  The food was delicious as always, I had a pzookie even though we went home and had ice cream cake (you cannot not get a pzookie).  And guess what, we do like Mark.  

My mom bought me a cute elephant ring that I just have to get sized because apparently size 7 is like size 9-10 in Monterey, CA.  Oh well.  Thursday we (Brad and I and my parents) drove to the Jelly Belly Factory.  Brad had never been and it had been years for me.  It was fun, and we disgustingly learned that Very Cherry is the #1 flavor, Buttered Popcorn is #2, Juicy Pear is #4, and guess what #3 is?  Yup, I guessed right, Black Licorice.  Yuck.  We tried lots of flavors after the tour (they have a sample bar, how awesome?), Dad bought belly flops, mom bought lots of red apple and baby socks that say "You know what I mean Jelly Bean?" (my nickname was jelly bean growing up so my mom could not resist), and Brad and I got an assortment of yummy jelly bellys.

After that we drove through no man's land California to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Outlet.  My dad treated us to ice cream sundaes and my mom bought lots of cheap(er) chocolate.  Then we went up and visited my 97-year-old grandma, who broke her hip and has since been in a rehab nursing facility.  It was nice to see her and visit with my aunt.  After getting home, we ate dinner and my mom took me shopping for maternity clothes.  Busy day.

Friday, we went to Folsom Lake!  I have not been for 5 years (since Brad and I were engaged).  It was a very warm day.  Brad, Dad, and I threw around a football and my Dad was happy to see that I can still throw a mean spiral.  Then I had to go swim cause I has hot.  My dad went in with me while my mom and Brad sat in the shade.  That night Brad and I went out with Katie and Mark.  We went to Lorenzo's mexican food.  Then we went and played minigolf at Sunsplash.  Now Brad and I do play a lot mini golf during the summer, but Brad usually always wins.  Brad told them about our contest for whoever gets the first hole-in-one gets to pick dessert (since Brad typically always wins overall, hole-in-ones are much more evenly matched).  Katie and Mark agreed.  The very first hole I got a hole-in-one and then Brad did.  Brad got the second hole-in-one so he said he won the contest (since no one else got a hole-in-one that hole).  Well, Brad, Mark, and I are competitive.  The entire game we kept trying to be better than each other.  Mark finally looked at us and asked if we practiced before because Brad and I were doing good, much better than normal (at least for me).  Katie and Mark kept joking that we had lied about how good we were.  Well, at the end of the game Brad totaled the scores.  And guess what, I won!  I apparently got 7 hole-in-ones!  Crazyiness!  I had 39, Brad had 41, Mark had 43, and Katie had 53.  Katie was a good sport.  Due to my winning Katie sided with me getting to choose dessert, so we went to Coldstone.  It was definitely fun hanging out with them and getting to know Mark better.

Saturday my Dad made yummy waffles for Mother's Day (church was too early Sunday to make breakfast).  I learned how to make syrup and my mom made lots of fruit syrups (apricot, plum, and rhubarb).  They were all very yummy.  Then it was craziness while my mom did last minute cleaning before the baby shower. Brad and Mark went golfing during the baby shower and Dad took a nap.  The baby shower was good, my mom had lots of games planned.  Older women and games can be interesting.  But it was fun to see my friend's Katie and Tamie and chat with women who I have known since I was 12.  Our baby will be well dressed!   Dad really wanted to see Avengers, and my mom did not, so Dad took Brad and I.  He loved it, and Brad and I loved it just as much the second time around.  However, I did find it interesting that there were different previews.  Does each theatre/state play slightly different previews?  

Well Sunday was church and then everyone made dinner (except Mom).  It was delicious hamburgers, fruit salad, and potato salad.  Yummy.  

All in all, we had fun.  We left monday morning, and apparently were awful at checking to make sure we had everything because I left my keys and Brad left a pair of shoes and his church clothes.  Oh well, thank goodness my parents are nice and are mailing them to us.

Going back to work was hard this week because I was so tired and Tuesday was a long 13 hour day at work.  But thank goodness for my long weekends so I can clean and try and organize our baby gifts.

My Dad said something really funny Sunday night before bed.  He looked at me and said, "Wow she really is growing in there!  You have gotten bigger just in the few days you have been here!"  He also told me that I  just needed to live long enough to have his granddaughter.  Oh Dad.  I told him that was not nice and he laughed and said that he didn't want me to die.  When we left Monday morning he told Brad to take good care of his granddaughter, which he told me included me as we are a package deal.  I told him that deal again ends as soon as she is born.  Dad thinks he is so funny!  But it was fun.  Trips are always nice.

I did take my camera with us.  But once again, I never used it.  Brad just laughs.  I need someone to follow me and take pictures of what I do.

Ready To Go Eat Fruit!

Next week is my birthday.  I can't say i'm super excited cause I'm getting a little too old to be excited about birthdays.  This year I'm working a lovely 13 hour day on my birthday.  As we are leaving really early the next morning to start our trek to Rocklin, Brad told me that he might just be asleep by the time I get home.  Lame, but I understand.  Last night he decided he would just take a nap and then wake up when I got home so he could load the car.  But I am going to have ice cream cake at work at least on my birthday.  Poor Brad has been very frustrated trying to get a birthday list from me.  The movies I want aren't out yet and I want music.  I told him itunes gift cards would be perfect.  Apparently this is not good enough.  It's not like he gives me good lists.

I'm really excited to go to Rocklin because it will be nice to see my parents, fun to be somewhere other than Utah (I mean that in a non negative way, it's just nice to be somewhere different), I get to finally meet my future brother-in-law, and my mom is throwing me a baby shower.  We are going to go to the jelly belly factory (Brad's request) and possibly the beach (my request).  Brad is also going to go golfing during the baby shower. I have told Brad about how Rocklin is obsessed with Parker Whitney, some guy who helped found Rocklin I think (I can't be sure since I was fortunate enough to not have to go to elementary school in Rocklin and learn about him).  But there is an elementary school named after him, a high school, lots of roads, a gated community and of course several golf courses.  Brad finds it all funny.  I'm a little bitter because when they built the new high school (I was a senior) they had originally planned on calling it Liberty High, and this name was voted on by us students.  But the school board stepped in and decided the mascot would be a wild cat, so Whitney would be a better name for the school.  It made everyone at the current High School pretty mad, since we were supposed to be the deciding factor.  The old farts of Rocklin worship this guy.  Ridiculous. 

I'm already planning on eating at BJ's Brewery (yum!) and Awful Annie's (breakfast), and maybe Pancake House.  Plus my mom promised me that she would have strawberries for us!  I love fruit so this is big!  Last weekend at Sams Club, they had orange samples.  Now, I'm not a big orange person.  I love orange juice (no pulp), but navel oranges don't do it for me.  There are to difficult to eat.  When we would be given orange slices as a snack at soccer games, I would suck out the juice and throw everything else away.  I hate getting the pieces stuck in my teeth.  If I peel an orange, which takes forever because they don't easy, I have to peel all the white off.  I love mandarins/cuties because they are so easy to peel.  Well, anyways.  This sample included mandarins, navel oranges, and this redish orange called Cara Cara.  I have tried Blood Oranges before and love them!  The flavor is worth all the effort.  These Cara Care oranges looked kinda like Blood oranges so I got a sample.  They aren't blood oranges but they are super sweet and yummy.  So Brad and I bought some.  I like them so much I just cut them up and actually eat everything out of the peel.  This is a big step for me. Turns out Cara Cara oranges are seedless (big plus) and they are called the Power Orange.

While on the subject of fruit, our little baby is now the size of a mango - weighing about a pound and being more than 11 inches long (from head to toe).  I can tell she is bigger because she is kicking higher.  I still have not gained much weight at all, but I do have more of a belly.  I finally had to buy a maternity shirt yesterday because my regular shirts are getting stretched.  Time to buy bigger shirts I guess.  (I only bought one maternity shirt because most of the shirts are either ugly or expensive).  Fun fun fun.  I told Brad he could get me maternity shirts for my birthday, but that was another not qualified birthday present (and baby clothes don't count either because it is MY birthday).  Oh well.

Yes, I'm a punching bag. Did I read that right?

Well, I had 2 more patients ask me if I was pregnant this week.  Everyone says I'm barely showing still, but holy moley I feel like my stomach cannot stretch anymore!  I have some days at work where it just feels like everything in my abdomen is trying to push out.  I remember thinking that only skin stretched during pregnancy.  Ha ha nope it's everything!  The muscles are what I feel the most.

I had to go out and buy maternity shorts last weekend because I could not fit into any of my shorts (except for my basketball/soccer shorts).  Thank you Ross for having cheap shorts!  I have one pair of jeans I can still wear because the waist on them is SUPER stretchy.  Makes it fun.  Brad taught me how to change the cabin air filter in my car yesterday, and I was doing this while we were driving so I had to bend in half to pull everything out of the glove box, pull out the glove box, and pull out the filters.  Not very complicated but it sure did squeeze my stomach!  Poor baby was probably not to happy.

As for our little girl, well, she is getting huge!  By huge, I mean long.  From head to toe she is supposed to be about 11 inches long.  It sounds so crazy, but I don't doubt it at all because I can feel her in there.  Yesterday she stretched out so her feet were poking into my far right side and her head as just left of my belly button.  Crazy!  And she is starting to be able to reach my diaphragm which is making breathing and things a little interesting.

She sure is one active baby.  At work on Wednesday, I was sitting at my computer and all of a sudden I got these repetitive movements in my far right side.  The best I can relate them to is that it felt like she was practicing her 1-2 punching. It happened a few times, with these 2 rhythmic punches (or kicks).  It was crazy.  At least she didn't do it to an organ though.  I'm sure my kidneys are gonna get it though cause my bladder already a favorite of hers.

Other than counting down the weeks of this pregnancy, I'm also counting down the days until our trip to California to see my parents.  I'm excited to get out of here, take some time off, and get spoiled by my excited parents.  My mom is throwing me a baby shower and she keeps sending my texts and emails about the invites she is making.  It's fun to see her excitement.  The other fun thing is that we get there the day after my birthday and will be there for mother's day.  It's practically my first mother's day, so it should be fun.  Brad has been riding my tail to come up with a list of things I want for my birthday/mothers day.  It's been hard because clothes are a little pointless right now, so I keep trying to think of movies/music I want.  I told him a bike because I have been wanting one for a year now, I just wouldn't be able to use it until after the baby is born.

One last exciting bit of news...I got into a nursing program!  I applied to 4 different schools this year (previously to finding out I was unexpectedly pregnant).  Since finding out I was pregnant, it has made getting denials not so hard.  Since I had heard from 3/4 schools in March, I just kinda figured the last school forgot about me as April is almost over.  Then last Friday, Brad brought in the mail and handed me a letter from this last school.  It was little envelope so I just assumed another rejection.  So when I opened it up and saw the words "accepted" I was completely shocked!  The program is a licensed practical nurse program and is only 2 semesters (about 9 months).  It is the shortest of all the programs I applied to. Awesome, cause time is of the essence if Brad gets into PA school.  However, the letter states it starts in August.

We are gonna try and make this work because I want to be a nurse, make more money, be able to provide for us better when Brad goes back to school, etc.  I just really hope by August they mean the very end of August and that maybe it would not be too bad a thing for our baby to come in early August.  It's definitely not going to be easy, but we are going to try.  It's just 9 months right?  We will see.  Here is too having all the things I wanted happen at exactly the same time.....

Baby on the move

Ok, well she has been moving for a while, but I finally can feel her! It's pretty exciting. I first felt her during sacrament meeting on Sunday. I always wondered what it would feel like and everyone told me things like gas bubbles and butterflies. Well, I would say it feels like bubbles popping. Brad asks how I know it is the baby and not gas. Lucky for me I took all sorts of anatomy classes so I can tell when bubbles are popping in an organ that typically don't have any bubbles. After Sunday, I didn't feel her again until yesterday at work. Then this morning it has been crazy! I have felt her a ton! It must be the thunderstorm. I love them so maybe she does too!

I read that she is as long as a banana now and weighs about 9 oz.

Other than feeling her, I'm doing fine. We got baby clothes from the Easter bunny (Brad's mom). I love them. It's a set with a pink onesie with a little giraffe, elephant and hippo on it, some grey pants (with pink smiley footies), a sleeper with animals all over, and a hat. The sleeper says "Daddy loves me". I love it. I never thought pink would be so cute. I just want to go buy baby clothes now, but I'm waiting. I figure it would be most sensible to wait until after I have baby showers and can get what it is that we need.

That does not mean that we won't get something before then though. Also, I feel that my belly is becoming more and more evident. Yesterday I came up with a good analogy for my co-workers of what a growing belly feels like. It's like when you are wearing jeans that fit when you stand up, but then you sit down and eat and you can feel the jeans becoming uncomfortable to the point you either have to button them or change into bigger pants. Only problem is, I cannot unbutton my belly. It just is constantly stretching, like a balloon that is slowly being blown up. I usually feel this way later in the day. Just so much fun. I think I already waddle a little when I walk slow.

Well, at least I only have a maximum of 19 weeks to go!