Finding the Positive in the Last Month of Pregnancy....

I am really struggling to remain positive about being pregnant and realizing what a blessing it truly is that I have been able to carry a healthy baby and that soon I will be a Mom. I don't want to seem ungrateful because I do feel blessed, especially when I have people in my life who cannot get pregnant. So even though I'm sick again, always uncomfortable, and feeling miserable, I am striving to find the positive in pregnancy.

POSITIVE 1

Because of my little, chubby, swollen feet, Spencer gives me the BEST foot massages... He's actually quite entertained by exactly how fat my feet actually get at night. He also knows reflexology from Massage school, which is actually used to induce women and speed up labor... He won't do it yet no matter how much I beg, but hopefully that will come in handy in about 3 weeks.

POSITIVE 2

Even though it leaves a massive dent on my finger and I often have to use lotion to get it off... my wedding ring still fits. I admit, I don't wear it if I'm hanging out at home because it does hurt to get off... super surprised I haven't ripped my finger out of the socket yet, but I'm thankful that I can still wear it and show it off when I want to.

POSITIVE 3

Please notice how the right side of my belly sticks out further than my left... Baby girl loves the right side of my stomach... especially the ribs. She spends most of her time in the ribs. It's AWESOME. (sense the sarcastic tone)But I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful that I have only gained 21 pounds during this pregnancy so far. I always thought that I would be such a fatty when I was pregnant and put on at least 60 pounds. I feel very blessed to not have had to buy more then 1 pair of maternity jeans and 3 shirts because everything else can still stretch over the body... a little more tight and snug, but thank goodness for my large collection of t-shirts! Mostly cheerleading t-shirts, but it works. I don't have a problem supporting Copper Hills High School from Idaho.

POSITIVE 4

I have become much more thankful for my bed! Although I cannot get comfortable most of the time, I have realized how lucky I am to have a bed. I couldn't imagine being pregnant and not having a bed to lay on. I remember my Mom telling me that when she was pregnant with me she only had a mattress... there's no way in the world I would be able to get off that in the morning. Spencer and I have even lifted our bed a good 6 inches so that I can basically roll off onto my feet and be good to go.

POSITIVE 5

Due to my insane heartburn... no matter what time of day, whether I've eaten or not, no matter medications or tums, it is my constant companion... I get to eat ice cream all I want! It's really the only thing that mild's the annoyance that is heartburn. I don't like milk, so I can drink chocolate milk to dull the pain, but ice cream is just so much better! I'm so thankful I get to have ice cream in my house at all times.

Those are my 5 positives for now. I need to learn to not dwell on all the things I can't do, or am missing out on, and realize what a blessing and great experience I am having. I highly doubt this will be the last of the troubles this little girl is going to give me throughout her life, in fact it may be the least of the troubles. I can't wait to meet my little girl... and you know use the scars I've received from PICC lines and what not during pregnancy to guilt her when she's older... JUST KIDDING.

Les Miserables!!!!!

Excited yet? Can't wait!

Love You Forever

Another craft!!! I have a lot of stuff I don't use that make up some really cute decorations when you give them a little TLC... like this lovely IKEA frame that was sitting in our storage room. Why do I buy so much from IKEA when I change almost everything I buy from there? Probably cause it's cheap and they have the BEST frozen yogurt cones for a dollar... Anyway I love love love this book...

I cry every time I read it and I cannot wait to read it to my little girl! I already have it sitting in the bookcase right next to her crib ready for action. So I was on pinterest and saw some cute crafts involving this saying and I thought to myself... I can do that. This frame was beyond perfect for it since it had three picture slots, and the quote is composed of three parts. I love how it turned out and I cannot wait until I can read this book to her!

Someday, I promise, I will blog about life again and not crafts!!!!

Nesting...

That's right Spencer... I said it... Nesting. I am going stir crazy!!!!! I cannot stop crafting. Nothing in my house is safe! I never realized how much craft stuff I actually have sitting around just begging and waiting to be used. It's definitely kept me entertained this week. I desperately need to be entertained because besides being a full time student, Spencer started working this week (he is pretty amazing), at the same place that I actually worked at when I was going through school here in the lovely Rexburg, ID.

It's super hard to get a job here because of all the college students, so we feel blessed that we both now work part time and soon we will BOTH be students again. I will be starting my Master's in Secondary Education in July (or August)... great timing right? Baby and school. But I figured that I might as well do something with this extra time and more education is definitely not a waste of time and I cannot satisfy my craving and desire to be a teacher with coaching much longer. Still love, love, love to coach, but I can always do both and I am so inspired to teach. Anyway... let's get on to the crafts....

So I have had two of these lamps, once again from IKEA, and they were just U-G-L-Y! And maybe a little dirty considering I have moved like 5 times since I bought them... 

 Currently one resides in the bedroom and the other is on top of our piano, so I choose to decorate them differently. I mostly just fabric and ribbon for the one in the bedroom and then fabric and paint for the living room lamp. I like the living room lamp (gray w/white flowers) better.... I always have favorites! My poor children.

I also made some more curtain ties for the curtains that we have in our bedroom and in the dining room...

Next I made these super cute little signs that go over our closet doors in our bedroom... Totally unnecessary but I thought that they were cute... I definitely need something else in that area, but I can figure that out later.

 Lastly I made a car seat cover for the little miss (who is destroying my ribs). I really didn't want to go with pink, but since it's a darker shade and I really wanted it to match the car seat which has a little pink on it, I did the best I could.

I am loving my glue gun still and have quite a few blisters to prove that I actually use it. Next stop, sewing. I cut out a ton of fabric from old clothing and fabric I had to make skirts and dresses and leg warmers for the child. 

BABY UPDATE: We went to the doctor on Monday again and everything is looking good. They did a lot of blood work to check for a lot of different things, and he says everything looks great. Still measuring large and we have decided to shoot for the last week in June which will put me at 37 weeks. I am contracting a lot and am never comfortable, thank goodness those things are both normal!

Crafty Curtains

 I'm starting to get super restless and super bored and stir crazy waiting for the little miss to get here... I have been spending a lot of time at the High School for cheerleading, in fact I've been there every day this week (love that the school is 3 minutes away from my house... everything in Rexburg is like 3 minutes away from my house) for uniform fittings and parent meetings and everything, so that's been good to get out of the house. With the Hyperemesis back and in full swing, I just don't like to leave the house... plus I'm so stinking tired all the time. I am beyond elated to be having a baby, but I cannot wait until I have control over my own body again! I measured my belly yesterday and I am measuring 45 inches around! The doctor told me I haven't gained a lot of weight... only 21 pounds, but my belly is huge! Someday I'll post another picture. Anyway, so besides watching super cool reality TV and cooking for Spencer inspired by Chopped and Top Chef, I have wandered around the house looking for crafty things to do... I believe this is called "nesting", but Spencer hates that word like I hate the word (cringe) "moist" so I'm not allowed to say it. Yesterday during my wanderings I ended up in the baby's room and noticed that the ties on the curtains weren't the right color. I love love love that my family put together this nursery for me, but the color was bothering me. Here are the ties before....

And then I once again used that fabric that my Mom left me along with some red fabric I had and pulled out the glue gun and sewing machine and turned that into this...

I love that I spent $0 on them and I was really happy with how they turned out.

Also I have a question... I've started looking for blessing dresses and I'm stuck! Where do you even find a good price on those? All of them that I have loved cost over $150... and that's definitely not happening for such a tiny dress. I do have my blessing dress, but it was also my Dad's that he was blessed in (yes, my Dad wore a dress), but I really want something new for her... Any ideas?

My First Mother's Day...

Spencer almost got punched like 6 times because he kept joking with me that I wasn't a Mom yet (I don't take jokes well while pregnant).... Well I tell you what boy, building a baby is no easy task. I remember reading somewhere that a woman becomes a mother when she gets pregnant, and a man becomes a father when he holds his baby for the first time. It was nice to get phone calls and texts from those wishing me a Happy Mother's Day... even my little brother Jake called me and repeatedly yelled "Happy Mothers Day!"... Interesting phone call. But it's kind of fun gaining a holiday by having a baby... And I'm super excited for Father's Day since baby may come 4 weeks early and Father's Day is 4 weeks early.... Could be fun!

Anyway, I have a fabulous Mom! She is so caring, amazing, sweet, nonjudgmental, thoughtful, loving, patient, and really I could go on and on. She loves to hug everyone and she is, as my Dad calls her, a social butterfly. She has always been there for me no matter what and I think that's what matters the most. No matter what kind of crazy, naughty, evil things I have done she has never stopped loving me and always let's me know that she's there for me. I cannot wait for her to come to Idaho when the baby is born so that I can learn more about how to better a Mom from her.

I am also thankful this year for Spencer's Mom. She did such an amazing job raising my husband! He is such a gentleman! He always opens doors for me, brings me flowers randomly... all the time, he rubs my feet when they are swollen (which is all the time), and he is just so amazing! I know that his Mom had so much to do with that. I am so thankful for her and how much she cares about us and worries for us. Spencer is going to be a great Dad because of her!

My morning started with breakfast in bed, which was a nice surprise... especially since I had had a rough night and was sick the entire time. It was a pretty laid back day, so that I could recover. Spencer and I went out and threw a football around yesterday (I amazed him with my sweet arm... thank you Dad) and that killed me! It was so much fun, but it may not happen again until after baby. I worked on mirrors that go in the baby's room. I had bought these mirrors super cheap from Ikea 5 years ago and had never really used them. Basically because they were ugly. So my Mom gave me some left over fabric that matches the quilt she made for the baby, and then I covered the mirror with the fabric and then I used some red ribbon and buttons to sass them up. 

They aren't the most high class mirrors ever, but they look dang cute in her room! PS - I love love love glue guns! For dinner I made Bow tie Festival Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory. I made it minus the bow tie pasta (which is my favorite!) because Spencer thinks we eat that kind of pasta too much. 

 But it was so dang good! Then Spencer surprised me with the only thing I asked for for mother's day... an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Apparently in order to make room for the cake he had to put some of our freezer food over at the neighbors..... awkward, but it was so good!

I can't wait until next year when I actually have a baby to hold who knows me as Mom... still weird to think about that. Well, I'm thinking I need to go eat some more garlic bread... So Happy Mother's Day to all you awesome Mom's out there... especially the ones who have had such an impact on my own life!

Genetics

 Spencer and I have spent a lot of time wondering what our little girl is going to look like... The biggest question probably being hair color. Spencer, surprisingly, had a lot more hair than I did when he was born. Now it's definitely the opposite.Check out his super cute dimples! I would totally dig our baby having those dimples! We both have a dominant dimple in our left check now, so hopefully that gives her a good chance of having at least one. Actually, I think I remember hearing that dimples weren't genetic... I was an awful science student so I don't really remember. We both had naturally curly hair and blue eyes so that's a bonus... Obviously, judging one of my pictures, I had jaundice... looking pretty yellow...

It's bean a long 31 weeks already wondering about who she will be and what she will look like, but obviously that's not the most important thing. As long as she's healthy everything will be great! I did take our pictures and morphed them together to see what our child would look like.... and this is what they gave me. This child is apparently suffering from what Spencer and I refer to as Cortney hair... Cortney is my niece, and I love her so much, but there are some definite struggles with her hair. Anyway... I guess I can look back in a few years and see how close our morphing really was. She looks a little too "ethnic" to be our child, but who knows... Genetics are a crazy thing!

Wisdom of Dwight...

Remember this episode from season 2 of The Office? I thought this was so funny and also ridiculous... Little did I know that my doctor would actually suggest to me to get a Neti Pot, which is basically exactly what Dwight explains here. When the doctor was telling me what it was I couldn't help but to laugh out loud despite the weird looks from the husband and Doctor. Once I explained they totally understood but still. No idea that this was a real thing. Of course after the appointment we went straight to the Walmart to buy one because how could I not try this? Plus my sinus's were killing me and that on top of the returning Hyperemesis (heavy groan) was just too much for me. Good news is that the doctor told me he doesn't think I will carry full term because of all the complications, but could deliver her safely and healthy around 36 weeks. Spencer and I are very excited about this because this pregnancy has been so miserable! So we could be 6 weeks away from meeting our little girl. I'm measuring very large he said, but of course everything depends on how I feel and the health of the baby. We will keep her in until she is healthy enough... I don't know why I say we... Spencer isn't the one carrying this child... who by the way has decided to kick and shift nonstop for the past 2 days. I love that she is so active, but when I'm not keeping food down it's a little rough on the stomach. Anyway, back to the Neti. Definitely an interesting experience... Spencer videotaped it, but the first time was pretty rough and super nasty, so I'm choosing not to share that today. It is possibly one of the weirdest things I have ever done, but it works! My sinus's feel AMAZING and I'm not blowing my nose every 2 seconds, which is such an amazing relief! Who knew that Dwight Schrute had so much wisdom?

24 Hours in Utah

Spencer and I headed down to Utah last Thursday afternoon so that I could attend Copper Hills end of the year cheer banquet. The days leading up to the trip I was pretty emotional about heading back to Utah and seeing the girls, but I think I held it together pretty well once I was there. I only really broke down badly once, but at least the cheerleader whose award I was giving out was bawling too. Made me feel a little better. It was a good end to an amazing year. The best part about it I think is that I didn’t really have to say goodbye to many of the girls because we all keep in touch all the time anyway. Whether it’s through facebook or texting, almost all of us keep in touch. It was sad knowing that I had spent every other day for the past two years with many of these girls and now I wasn’t going to be their coach anymore, but I am still excited to be able to start new relationships and to make new memories with my new group of girls here in Rexburg. But I can tell even after 1 practice that things are different here in Idaho… But I’m pretty sure it’s a good different.

Yes, I know I am super short....

After spending an amazing last night with my cheerleaders, we spent the next day with my family, minus the 2 ½ hours I spent in the movie theater watching The Avengers (not recommended for a 30 week pregnant lady… two thumbs up thought… mostly for Robert Downy Jr. and his dry humor. LOVE IT!!!) Most people know that my family has moved many many times while I was growing up. In 26 years, I have moved 35 times. That’s pretty crazy stuff, especially since I didn’t come from a military family. Well, my parents and my brothers are moving to Hoyt, Kansas at the end of May which means I won’t get to see them again until Mom comes to help with baby, and I won’t see my brothers until the baby’s blessing in September. My Dad is already in Kansas, so we didn’t get to see him but Kim and Cortney came over as well as Jason. It was nice to have all 5 kids together for a BBQ. When I got pregnant I was super excited because I knew my Mom would be there the entire time, so moving was tough, and now them moving further away is going to be harder. I’m super jealous of Kim now since she got to have my Mom 10 minutes away throughout her pregnancy and the first 8 months of Cortney’s life. She will be coming to spend an entire month with us, which I am excited about… especially since the doctor told me today that the chances of me delivering anytime after 36 weeks is very high due to the Hyperemesis and other complications. As long as she is healthy (which currently she is), 36 weeks sounds great to me! Anyway, it was just nice to hang out and laugh with my family.

I wish we could’ve stayed longer and do more, but Spencer had several tests and we needed to get back to Rexburg. Those 24 hours kicked my butt though. I am feeling very exhausted in this 3^rd trimester so far. I could seriously lie in bed and watch HGTV or the Food Network all day long. I have also been super nauseous again and I have extreme pain in my feet.  I also now sleep with a humidifier and a nose strip so that I can breathe…. Feels like I aged 50 years overnight, but it makes such a difference. Another negative of the 3^rd trimester thus far is the heartburn. Holy cow! I cannot wait until that’s no longer an issue! The doctor did give me some interesting suggestions for soothing my constant cough and runny nose…. But that deserves its own separate post… Be excited... be very excited...