My Belly

Here are my most recent belly pictures, side by side. See how much this kid is growing???

Books and Food, What else do you need?

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I have started contributing to a new blog:

Cooking and Reading-The Perfect Combination

Me and three other gals will be posting regular book reviews of what we are reading and trying to share the best of the best of our healthy (or not so healthy but delicious) recipes. I will posting under the name "Gingerrose", so please add us to your favorites or subscribe to the blog through your reader if you are interested! So far it has been really fun and I already have a new recipe to try out this weekend :)

He Graduated!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anthony graduated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore the "Athletics" sign in the background, it will be photoshopped out eventually :)

Anthony was listening to the baby go: "Go Dad!!! Good job on graduating!!!!"

And of course, there had to be cookie cake:

Go Ant-Dawg, we knew you could do it!

Pregnancy Journal: 28 weeks

You get a two for one in this picture: a picture of my 28 1/2 weeks belly and a small sample of one of our new bathrooms in our new apartment! Isn't it big?? :)

I had my 28 week doctor's appointment yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like my belly has grown so much in the past month that I was certain that I put on a lot of weight! Luckily, I only gained a few pounds so I feel very relieved and I feel much better about the upcoming holidays (since I know I will be eating A LOT of yummy food).

The heartburn has been getting better. I think it is a combination of changing my eating habits and the baby shifting a little lower and taking some pressure off of my stomach. I definitely feel like I have gotten some more eating room in there recently :) Of course, with the heartburn easing up comes a new pain: horrible pain in my hips and lower back at the end of the day and when I lay down. I've been trying out different stretches and sleeping positions to find what works and it has gotten a little bit better. I must say, sleeping has become a very complicated process. I have a wedge pillow that goes under my torso to keep me elevated for the heartburn, a regular pillow on top of that, a pillow between my knees, and a pillow in front of me to hug and rest my belly on. I really need to get a body pillow, but the super walmart near our new place doesn't have one! Any suggestions on where to get one would be greatly appreciated :)

The Finals Week Curse

I have started to think that Anthony and I are cursed somehow: we always end up having crazy things happen to us and crazy amounts of stress right around finals week (which is seriously the busiest time for work for me). Last semester Anthony's car got stolen, I had two migraines back to back, and my car died on I-75 in the middle of the night the day before finals started (remember? crazy!).

Of course, this semester tops it all! Last Monday our apartment got broken into while I was at work and Anthony was fishing!! Luckily our upstairs neighbor was home and was able to scare them away, but they had time to steal our laptop. Since our alarm was going off (we put one of those noise maker alarms on our doors) and the front door was wide open, the office maintenance people came and relocked our door for us and shut off the alarm. And then left. Without leaving a note, calling the police, or calling me. They did leave a message on Anthony's phone, but he didn't even get it until after I got home at 6PM. What if the thieves had come back and were waiting for me inside????

When Anthony got home we called the police and an officer came out to take a report. He saw our television and all of our electronics and told us straight out that they would be back to take the rest of it, it was just a matter of when. He also told us that the crime in the area was getting really, really, really, bad and even he suggested that we move if we wanted to keep our things. At this point, I wasn't even willing to sleep in the house, much less live there for the next three months! So, we took our valuables over to friends house that night so that they wouldn't get stolen and I started looking for a new apartment pronto.

As a result of all that, I ended up finding a place that had an apartment available and we spent the entire week checking out the area and then filling out the paperwork. Monday we made the decision to leave and Friday we had keys to our new place! Saturday was the big moving day and it was pretty grueling. I was soooooooo grateful for our family and friends that were able to come and help, especially since it was such short notice. Plus, this 7 month pregnant lady over here can't really carry anything and tires easily, so I felt really helpless!

Now, we just have a few rooms left to unpack and some decorating to do and we will be settled into our new place. We really love the complex and the area and Anthony is beyond happy to actually have a garage now for his boat and kayaks. Our dogs are getting used to going up and down the stairs in order to do their business (we are in a 2nd story apartment) and best of all, I have my own washer and dryer now. No more laundromat!! It is kind of surreal that last week I was living in one place and this week my home is completely different.

Anthony is graduating on Saturday, 3 more days!!! After that, finals will be over and hopefully we will have more time to breathe. Plus, I seriously need to take some more belly pictures. This baby is getting huge!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Anthony and I had a really great day with my family yesterday. We all went to my uncle's house and I decided to bring italian sausage apple stuffing. It was a hit!! I only see this side of my family once a year at thanksgiving, so it was fun to have everyone congratulate us on the baby and insist that I eat more food since I'm "eating for two". It was kind of surreal to think that next year we will be bringing our 8 month old for everyone to spoil!

Work has been really busy for me lately. Since finals week is coming up, I usually spend all day coordinating the testing schedule, talking to whiny professors and dealing with even whinier students who missed the deadline for scheduling their exam. In the past week I have gotten emails from professors that have included phrases like "STOP bothering me!", "Your requests are exhorbitant", "I don't know why student x is requesting to test at SDS, she looks normal to me", "I don't know why you keep emailing me, I have already filled out your lengthy form" (he hadn't by the way. At least, not correctly), "I'm confused and concerned by your online system. You need to improve it so it is easier to use" (It is basically the easiest online wizard you could ever use. It has instructions on EACH page and everything is clearly explained if you take a few seconds to read them). I feel like I am running some kind of customer service call center! I don't know how many times I have responded with, "I'm sorry that you feel fill in the blank. However, in order to administer your test we need such and such". There are times when I want to highlight, italicize and underline the word YOUR. Come on! We are providing a service, they should be thanking us instead of acting like we are bothering the heck out of them.

Anthony is completely done with his school work and with his clinicals and is counting down the days until graduation (14 by the way). He still has to keep studying all the time to get ready for his boards in February, but at least he has a few weeks where he can fit in some fishing :) I'm planning on working all the way until my due date, so it is going to be interesting to see how the timing of everything is going to work out. Anthony isn't going to be applying for jobs until he passes his boards, which he is taking the first or second week in February. So he will be doing job interviews and such right around my due date and will probably get a job right after the baby is born. Which means packing up and moving right after he is born...maybe this would be a time to consider professional moving companies? Either way, I am sure everything will work out perfectly. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much already, I trust that everything will happen the way it should.

I passed!

I got my lab results back today, and I don't have gestational diabetes!! I passed all four blood levels (you have to fail two out of four to get diagnosed) so I don't even have to worry about being "borderline" or anything. Whew!! I am definitely relieved, especially with the holidays coming up. Now I can plan on eating some pie on Thursday and not feel guilty :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 25

This baby is getting bigger by the second!! I keep looking at my stomach and wondering how in the world can things get bigger and then, low and behold it does :) I had my 6 month doctors appointment last week and failed my glucose tolerance screening, so now I have to take off work later this week to go get the 3 hour glucose test done. Bummer!! I am not looking forward to having my blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours, that is for sure! After a lot of feeling down and disappointed, I've started to feel fairly optimistic about it. I did a ton of research and it looks like the screening isn't all that accurate. In fact, 85% of women who fail the first screening, end up passing the 3 hour one, so I have a pretty good shot at not having gestational diabetes.

Other than that bummer news, my doctor's appointment went really well. I am measuring exactly where I should be and my weight gain is right on target. The baby is active all of the time, which makes me wonder just how active of an infant we are in for. He seems to never sleep! Anthony still has a lot of fun feeling my belly and feeling him kicking and rolling around. Now we can definitely see him make my stomach move, which still is kind of crazy to watch. Sometimes I will be laying down and out of the corner of my eye, I will see the blanket move because of a really strong kick!

Anthony took his exit exam for graduation and he did pretty well! His instructor is the type that likes to make everyone feel nervous until the very end of the semester, so she hasn't posted any other grades. Now there are only a few little assignments he has to complete, about a weeks worth of clinical hours for him to do and he will be done! We are so ready for him to graduate :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 23

I am growing like a weed! Or, more accurately, a pumpkin :) There are times when I wake up and I am certain that my belly has grown overnight! My friends at work have even started commenting that they feel like I didn't really look pregnant one day, and then all of the sudden I had a belly.

I really feel pretty good, all things considering. I'm having a hard time with eating, I feel full all of the time and I get heartburn like nobody's business. I've started carrying around tums because I can never predict when it is going to hit. It doesn't even matter if I have eaten recently, sometimes it just comes! I'm trying to change my eating habits and eat smaller amounts more frequently and make sure to sit up as much as I can, but it isn't helping too much. Hopefully we can figure out a solution soon.

We haven't gotten very far in the name department. We just can't seem to find anything that feels right or that we agree on. The names that I like the most, Anthony doesn't like and vice versa. I also have this feeling that somehow I need to find his name, that there is a name that is perfect for who he will be and his personality and that maybe we just haven't found it yet. Or, I could be worrying way too much about it :) Either way, we are definitely open to any and all suggestions. I've even told some of my friends to not tell me any names they plan on using for their future children, because if we find the perfect name we agree on, at this point we will use it regardless of where it came from :)

It's a......

BOY! We are so excited and super thrilled to be having a boy. I truly didn't have a preference, but Anthony was really wanting a little fishing buddy and he got his wish! We had an awesome time at the doctor's office today (how often do you get to say that??). Our sonographer was really great and really patient. It felt like we got so much time to just look (or in my case stare in amazement) at our little guy and watch her measure and point out all of his organs, bones, and general features that they check to make sure everything looks healthy. Once she did all of her measurements, she flipped the ultrasound machine to 3D so that we could get some good pictures. I was so excited that she did this, we didn't even have to ask and we didn't pay anything for it!

At first the little guy had his hands in front of his face so we couldn't get a good shot of him, then he started moving his feet around too. The sonographer good naturedly kept commenting about how wiggly he was and about how he seemed to have arms and legs everywhere! She patiently kept trying until she could get some good face pictures for us. In the beginning of the appointment, Anthony told her that he wanted to try to see if he could tell from the ultrasound if it was a boy or a girl so she waited until the end to tell us. She repositioned the wand so that it was right over his bum, he spread his legs and BAM. Even I was pretty sure it looked like a boy :) She said, "What do you think Dad?" Anthony's classmate told him to look for a turtle (boy) or a hamburger (girl) so he told her, "It looks like a turtle". She said, "Yep, its a boy alright and he is not shy at all!!" I guess he had been flashing her throughout the sonogram, but she wanted to wait until the end to see if we could guess it :) Here are some of the pictures that we got: I think this front shot looks just like Anthony:

I also got a chance to take some belly pictures last night, so here is my 20 1/2 weeks photo:

Yay for babies and yay for little boys!!!

More from my photo shoot :)

Vacation

This morning my mom and I got home from spending the last 3 days in Ohio visiting my sister. It was so much fun!! The first night we stayed up until 5am just talking. We did a serious amount of shopping and I bought a good amount of maternity clothes. I finally found some that actually fit me, they just had an expandable waistband. I'm not sure that I will fit into them towards the end, but I will at least get a good few months out of them. Of course, we had to do some shopping for the baby! I think we hit our limit for gender neutral clothing :) Luckily we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl in a little over a week!

We ate so much good food, shopped around, watched movies, and spent quality time together. My nephew is seriously the cutest thing ever! He decided that we were best friends and almost every time he would come into the room and see me, he would start playing and think look up and casually say, "Love you, Ginia!" and go back to playing. It makes your heart melt! My sister did an impromptu photo shoot with me and school photos for my niece and the first two she's edited have turned out so well! It is nice to feel so beautiful at 5 months pregnant :)

This isn't technically a belly shot, but you can take a look at the belly in it, so I am counting it!