Pregnant Motherhood Birthdays

   Today I turned 24. My sister is certain its going to be a great year since its her favorite number. I hope so. My years are always good ones. So saying goodbye to year 23 I would like to look back on what it was like being 23. When I turned 23 my little boy was almost 18 months. He got to start nursery at church and what a blessing that is so that I could start to focus on my new calling working with the youth in the church. I enjoyed many many many many more visits than I deserved from my parents and sister through that fall and well basically the whole year. I was really spoiled with that.  Then in December found out I was pregnant with baby #2. My life has been consumed by my little boy and thinking about this new little girl. I got to have my gender reveal party, my baby shower, Megan's bridal shower, attending her wedding, and here we are. It doesn't seem like a lot has happened but it was definitely a really great year.
    I chose to reflect on my year rather than my birthday because the birthday is just a day. The older I am the more I realize how insignificant a birthday is. When you are a child it is the best day ever, mostly because your perspective is so focused on yourself and how exciting the whole idea of having a party and friends over and eating delicious food is. And I always planned my own parties and they were awesome because my birthday is in the summer so we were always outside enjoying water games and what not. Every year I grow older with the adult perspective on birthdays, I realize it isn't all about me. My day will not be a day away from the "kids" at a great spa that serves appetizers (hey I'm not saying this will never happen, but not every year can be that amazing) and my husband will take work off and do extravagant things for me and have surprises planned all day long... No I believe those days are gone. He is no longer on break from school or work and has a job and goes to school right now and when he has a regular full time career I believe it will be much like today when its just a normal day.
    My day was pretty ordinary. I did get a special foot massage this morning and breakfast in bed. Then my hubby was off to work and I was here to be mom for the day. I baked my lemon meringue pies and it took all day it seemed. Grant was really good the whole day. Then my pregnant birthday began to emerge. Today my emotions decided to go haywire and 3 events set it off: Grant threw his yogurt all over the table, fruit, floor, and himself (Grrr we have carpet). My brain about flipped out. I held my tongue and rage and Perry told me to go somewhere else to cool off while he cleaned it up. Then Grant was put in his crib to cool off and he proceeded to take off his diaper and pee all over his bedding (this was the second time he did that today!). Three, I was trying to put up a reinforced child gate guarding the stairs so that if and when Grant decides to leave his crib at night (he is capable without harming himself, he just hasn't done it yet.), we don't want him falling down the stairs in the dark. The drill bit I was using snapped in half in the wall, no way to get it out. ARG! So these events spiraled me into tears. Grant was very sweet saying I'm sorry and giving hugs and asking me if I was happy now and trying to be all chipper in my face about things...well I was up and down with tears for the next hour. After this we got Perry a free sub from Firehouse subs with my birthday and then I ate at Denny's with Grant. Perry was there but he didn't eat because he just had a sub. My meal was free and Grant's was 2 bucks. It is now frustrating trying to find something to eat at a restaurant that is dairy free though. I knew everything was fried in butter but the bacon, and the pancakes probably had a little butter and some milk in them. I basically had 2 bites of each thing, ate the bacon, and chugged the orange juice to get full. Crossing my fingers that my main problem is the amount of dairy and not dairy at all. So we will see if I get sick. I really really really do not want to get sick though.
    Then we had friends/family over for the pie and played catch phrase. Overall a good day, but when emotions are high it seems to consume everything, making the whole day seem horrible. I had a good day after being calm, collected, and able to reflect and count my blessings for the day. Happy Birthday to me!

Pregnant PHOTO SHOOT and 38 Weeks Update

So I had my doctor's appointment today. My weight hasn't changed in the last month. My blood pressure was low-normal. Baby's heartbeat was in the 140s bpm, the abdomen measures 36 cm again. I asked about that and told her that it was like that last time and she looked and said it was like that the time before as well. So I guess Carly hasn't really grown for 3 weeks. The cm can be off by 2 weeks and still be in the normal range. So if she is 36 cm next week then they will do an ultrasound to check the fluid and a non-stress test. They haven't really been worried because her movement has been all fine and dandy. But they said if I ever notice not enough movement then she maybe lacking in fluid. This seems like the same scenario that Grant was in when he was in the womb. He was fine even up until they induced at 41 weeks. If she is fine I will try to wait until 42 weeks and then they will induce for sure. They checked me as well and I am dilated to a 1. I am 70% effaced and she as at a -2 station.
Now the more fun part! My sister Amber did a pregnant photo shoot for me. I was 37 weeks and 1 day at the time of the shoot. She did a fantastic job!

4th of July Week

So my parents decided to come visit me for the whole week of the fourth. I was thrilled because I love company. I get super tired but it is much more exciting when there is family to hang out with all day. My dad has a few days he needed to use and we were the closest option. They got here the Saturday before the fourth and stayed until the Sunday morning after. I had this big itinerary planned for them. Monday we went to Colonial Fest and got to experience what the colonial times were like and some of their food. We tried hard tack, Joe Frogger cookies, and applesauce cake (yum!). Tuesday my body decided to hate me and I got sick with flu symptoms, puked, laid on the couch all day eating nothing. Then the rest of the week I was slowly recovering and still am from that episode. Anyway, despite my sickness I forged on for the fourth and made a yummy angel food/blueberry/strawberry trifle, we woke up at the crack of dawn to see the hot air balloon fest! Grant loved it! Then came home to take a break and let Grant run around, and then we popped over to the Freedom Days, which was totally way to crowded and we will probably never go again. However the highlights there were Grant got to pet a huge snake, he bounced in a bounce house for free, and I bought kettle corn. Grant took a super long nap that afternoon and woke at 8pm lol so he was definitely going to be staying up for the fireworks. We had burgers and fries for dinner, the trifle for dessert and stayed up til 11 watching fireworks and doing our own. There was no need for us to go anywhere because at least 4 different neighbors bought at least $1000 worth of fireworks and put on their own show and it was pretty good with it not being professional. They even did a finale. I wasn't sure how Grant was going to be during the fireworks because I lit a couple last year and he was scared and then I showed him the ones you throw on the ground that pop and he started crying. So yeah he wasn't a fan. This year he loved them! I'm so glad. It made the experience all the more enjoyable. Thursday we went to DI and did a couple errands and Friday and Saturday I can't recall anything too exciting. But it was fun just having my parents here and hanging out.

New DI find: Toy weed wacker, as well as a toy leaf blower below.

Grant drumming while watching fireworks.

Grant singing Happy Birthday building his letter birthday cake in the corner, using his letter L as the spatula. 

His new friend the snail. Cat is Gizmo, the neighbor's cat.

He was sad when he couldn't find his snail the next day. So gross!

My mom has way more pictures than I do. I failed to snatch them from her. I will do that at Meg's wedding this weekend!

8 Months Preggers

So I'm 8 months pregnant and as much as I said I was thrilled about having a baby in the summer the heat really does suck. Heat makes me nauseous. Every once in a while God blesses me with lots and lots  of sweaty sweaty days with no nausea! Its great. I sweat like a pig but don't feel sick. So I'm just grateful to not be nauseous. My swamp cooler really should be more efficient but its not so I'm dealing with these record highs with really no escape. Anyway, we will plan our next baby as a spring baby and maybe the rest also spring babies. That way I will have my high pregnant body temperature to warm me in the winter months and then have the baby right when the out of doors is super inviting with the warmer weather but not be pregnant during it.

Anyway, so I have less than a month to go! That is if she comes on or before her due date. Who knows really but I will be full term in about 2 weeks (38 weeks). I'm 35 weeks and 2 days right now. The baby is measuring 36 cm. I weigh 172.4 so I lost .4lbs. My blood pressure was 106/60, the babies bpm were in the 150s, and I got my strep b test done. So as far as the weight thing goes, here is my theory:

All of you who knew me in high school and early college know I was little skinny lady and I worked out a ton and ate basically whatever. Well as a mommy I work out when I can but sometimes skip a week here and there and I would eat lots of candy and ice cream. For a month now I have been on and off again being sick from something. I don't have a parasite. My theory is that I'm sensitive or acquiring a milk allergy. So anyway, I haven't been having any ice cream and I have been avoiding candy until I feel normal again. Lately I still feel funny just eating normal healthy food and I get nauseous in the evening before bed. So I'm on a really nice high fruit and veggie and whole grain type eating habit and that is how I am losing weight. So being pregnant I was right on track with how much I should have been gaining but now I'm probably just losing all the other fat I did have before I got pregnant.  I'm sure if I normally ate this way and never had any sweets  I would automatically be that skinny girl I was before I got married, without needing to work out (due to the running around a toddler already makes as a work out for me). So anyway, that's that. Keep your fingers crossed I don't go into labor next weekend because I will be in Las Vegas with not a very cheap option to change flights. My mom said we would just jump in the car and drive up to orem as fast as we can and hope that we make it in time. My insurance doesn't cover out of state births. I guess the other option would be home delivery lol, or in the car. I'm pretty sure I will be fine though.

In other baby news, I am basically done with that quilt I started a while back. I just need to sew the border around it to reinforce the edges and get some embroidery thread to stitch the middle so it doesn't move.  I'm also anticipating my car seat canopy pattern (my mom convinced me a pattern would be best. I have never used one but I'm only in my infant stages of sewing). I already bought the fabric. Its going to be way cute and girly, but not babyish. I like having more adult looking fabrics for baby things. I also took out everything I was planning on taking out of Carly's room and putting it together. Her bed is ready, with a sheet over to protect it from dust, I'm about to put up some wall shadow box type shelves, her diapers are in there, her stuffed animals are decoratively placed, it is solely her room now. We moved out the computer too. Now for the to do list, I need to pack the hospital bag, brainstorm and make about 3 freezer meals (my mom will be there for the first 2 weeks), and take a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital. Woot! Pictures to come, I would rather look really hot (as good looking as you can look when you are huge and possibly retaining water) for the picture so you will see some of me while at me sister's wedding next weekend! YAY!