Baby on the Brain

In case you missed it, I'm pregnant.  Super pregnant.  Uncomfortably, miserably pregnant. 

 

 It is truly my, deep in my gut, honest to the core, belief that God made the last few weeks of pregnancy completely miserable so that women would over come their fear of childbirth and be willing to endure any pain in order to get the baby out of their body. 

 

So that's about where I am.  If we go by the pattern our other girls have set (and I am really, really hoping that we are--If this baby decides to break the mold and suddenly be over due, heads might roll), then I have about 2 - 2.5 weeks left.  I am having contractions all the time, rib and back pain, my hips seem to pop out of place every time I sit or stand (which is super painful), not getting any sleep and having to pee about every 30 minutes.  Literally.  I have also been getting severe hemiplegic migraines several times a week for the past few weeks (experiencing vision loss, numbness, confusion, and of course headache pain) which is a new development that I am hoping will go away once I deliver.  In other words, I am simply a delight to be around and in the best spirits ever!

 

Actually, I think I have done a pretty good job at controlling my grumpiness and being amiable.  Matt would be the best judge of that, and I am not really sure if he would tell a different story or not, but from my point of view, I've done a pretty good job being, if not pleasant, then at least not unpleasant.  Or at least not excessively so.  I hope.

 

I am hoping that I will get checked at my next Dr appointment, on Monday, so that I know if these contractions are actually causing any progress, or are making me uncomfortable for no good reason.  I know it doesn't really matter either way, since it can all change over night, but it's always encouraging to feel like things are happening.

 

So, since I am thinking that I only have another "safe" 2 weeks before I hit the "it could happen any day now" stage, I have entered the "prep for baby" zone, and I am working to get everything set up, pulled out, washed, rearranged, purchased, and ready!  It's a lot of work, but it's also exciting too.  It definitely makes it all feel more real, and fills me with gratitude for this sweet baby that we weren't sure we'd be able to have.  I feel like with this baby my "nesting" instinct never kicked in.  Cleaning/organizing/etc. have all been tortuously accomplished only by self discipline and will power.  I have zero desire to do any of the things on my "to-do" list and would much, much rather nap.

 

Baby Names

 

One thing that's been on my mind a lot the past couple of weeks has been this baby's name.  I am still not sure what we will name her, I think that we will meet her and see what feels right.  Our #1 contender right now is Jane.  This is the most likely name, our back-ups are Lucy, and Rosalyn.  We'll have to wait and see.  What's your favorite of the three?

 

I am thinking about doing something unconventional for her middle name.  All of our girls have middle names taken from family names.  I love this and I think it's great to establish family ties and give names with meaning.  Now that we're on girl #4, it's getting harder to find names that both Matt and I can agree on.  So this time around I am thinking of doing a mash-up middle name.  We did a mash-up name for Kate's middle name, using our Grandmother's names, EvaLou and Anna became LouAnn.

 

So, with this baby, I am thinking about using my sister's names, which are Andrea and Emily.  If you put their two names together it sounds like the name Amelia, which is a name I like a lot.  The unconventional-ness comes in the spelling.  Let me just say that I am generally against creative spellings of names.  Half the time when I see "creatively" spelled kids names, I just assume the parents didn't know how to spell it properly.  I mean, who wants to have to spell your name every time you give it to someone new, make an appointment, start a new class, sign up or register for basically anything, etc.  Plus 90% of people will probably spell your name wrong for most of your life.  That being said, I feel like there is a little more leniency with middle names, which really aren't used very often.  I still feel anxious about misspelling Amelia in order to make it a family name.  But, I think in the end, wanting to honor family ties is more important to me that people saying, "what the heck is up with that spelling?".  So here are the options:

 

Andrea + Emily =

 

Amilea

 

Emilea

 

I personally am leaning toward doing in Amilea.  Do you think that is too wacky?  (It is OK to say yes, as long as you realize that you are saying it to a 9 month pregnant, overly hormonal woman, and say it very, very, tactfully.   Preferably prefacing it with how witty, or pretty, or fun you think I am.)

Fall Fun!

 

My last post was on our anniversary and was just a little video for Matt.  I'll start by posting about our anniversary, then just post based on whatever pictures we've taken over the past month.  I am not sure I even remember what we did last week, so it will be a surprise for me as I look over uploaded pictures and realize what needs to be blogged about.  I have full-on late term pregnancy brain (which is a very real thing), which means that my memory and any reasoning, emotional, social, graceful, quick witted, skills I once had are all long gone, and have been replaced by a forgetful, hormonal, exhausted, waddling, slow and aching demeanor that really just wants to curl up and nap.  But I'll do my best to catch up and get rid of the "I can't blog, 'cause I'm too far behind" blues, so that hopefully when this baby does come out of me in a few weeks, I won't be behind.  So, buckle up, here is the big catch-up post!   whhheeeee!!!

 Matt got me the only thing I really wanted for our anniversary which was a few bags of crushed ice from the hospital.  It may sound silly, but I was in HEAVEN.  I am an ice devouring maniac.  It's completely out of control with this pregnancy, and Mayo has the BEST ice.  Best husband ever!

 

 I never posted about General Conference, but I want to just take a quick minute to.  I don't often go into a lot of detail about Matt's and my involvement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on here, but I want to take a minute to say how much I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for the scriptures that bear witness of Him, and for the modern day prophets and apostles we have.  I love being a part of a community that is dedicated to being a force of goodness, love, charity, and strength. Twice a year we get to listen to  a whole weekend's worth of talks and spiritual messages from the worldwide leadership of our church, when you add in the priesthood and relief society sessions, it ends up being over 15 hours worth of sermons.  That seems like it'd be exhausting and boring, but really it is so uplifting and brings such a great atmosphere and feeling of peace and joy into our home.  I love it.  The church isn't perfect, the people in it are not perfect, and there are definitely times and circumstances that challenge my faith, but I have a deep testimony of the perfect love of God, and of His son, Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for the church and for all that its programs, teachings, members, and leadership does to bring me closer to my divine nature, and to help me to better understand God the Eternal Father.

I hit month 8 of pregnancy and really blew up.  I am big and uncomfortable and just trying not to groan every time I get up and down or waddle when I walk.  I think my next post will be a pregnancy update, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Halloween started approaching and fall started in earnest.  The trees changed colors and are beautiful (I really should take some pictures for all my AZ family who doesn't get to experience a real fall), and the weather cooled WAY down.  We went from highs in the low 70's one week to highs in the 40's the next.  The biting wind has made me realize just how much I am dreading winter.  We've had a few snow flurries, but not enough to stick.  Really barely even enough to notice.  But it does mean that it has snowed all but 4 months this year (June, July, Aug, & Sept we had no snow, but that's it!).  I love the fall and I am NOT ready for it to get cold yet.  I am loving all the fall flavors and decorations everywhere though!  It is awesome to live in a place where practically every home has some kind of decorations/pumpkins outside, it's so festive and fun! 

 

 

Speaking of fun and festive, my amazing friend Vanessa sent me an awesome Halloween package, with a cute gift for baby girl as well.  It was a total surprise and made my month!  Isn't the baby ninja shirt spectacular?!

We of course had our annual pumpkin painting night, which is one of our family's favorite nights of the year!  I am so glad we started this 4 years ago when Lily was just a toddler, we all look forward to it every year, and it's always a fun night.

 We put our pumpkins on our porch, because of the glare you can't really see our spooky glass door decorations and lights, but that's OK I guess.

Last Friday the weather hit 50 degrees, so we decided to go out and take advantage of the "warm" weather, and take some photos.  It was fun.  It didn't end up spectacular or anything, and we weren't super dedicated to it, but we did get a couple of fun images.

These 3 little girls are my whole world.  They are so different from each other and being each of their mommies is a challenge in vastly different ways, but they each make my heart sing, and my soul delight.  I can't wait to meet their little sister in a few weeks and see how being her mommy will be so much the same and so different all together!

My 4 favorite people!  I am so lucky that my girls have such a wonderful daddy.  I swore that I wouldn't have kids unless it was with a good man who would be a great dad.  I felt like I missed out on a whole lot growing up without a dad, and it made me determined that if I ever had kids, they wouldn't feel the same.  I couldn't have made a better choice in Matt.  He is the greatest partner I could've imagined and seeing him grow as a father makes me fall so much more in love with him.  I feel such an increase of love towards Matt for the strength and love and support he has given me through this pregnancy.  I love him more than ever, and I can't wait to see him with a tiny little baby again. He has had to be gone for school a lot, and dedicate a lot of time to research/school work, but he has really tried to make up for it by being a huge help and hard worker anytime he has free time.   Last Sunday, while I threw myself in an exhausted heap on the bed after church, Matt made the dangerous declaration "It's my job as a husband to cater to your pregnant whims, tell me what you need and I'll do it".  I was SHOCKED to hear him make such a bold, indenturing statement.  He totally followed through though and made crepes (for his first time ever) for dinner.  And they were delicious.  

 I finally got around to starting to sew "baby girl" 's baby blanket.  I'll have to find someone here in town with quilting frames, and also actually name the baby before finishing it, but I've got the two sides ready to go!

 The big girls got their school pictures back, first grade and pre-K.  It made me feel extremely old, and super sentimental.  I blame hormones, but really, where does the time go?!  And how do I make it slow down?

 Our church ward had a trunk or treat and it was lots of fun!

 

Poor Izzie got scared in the haunted house and started crying.  She got over it OK though and went back to having a good time!

The Woolley's are an amazing family in our ward.  They always go all out and everything they do is fun and spectacular!  Sister Woolley is Isabel's Sunday School teacher and she is simply fantastic.  Izzie love's her so much and to be honest, I wish I could be in her class too.  They always do something over the top and fun and BIG for the trunk or treat, this year they had a whole pirate ship set up and the kids has to walk the plank to get a treat.  I was disappointed when Matt didn't get a picture from the front of the ship so that you could see the full effect.  It was seriously impressive, and the whole family was of course outfitted like pirates.  It was awesome.

 The kids had a great time trunk-or-treating and got loads of candy, which is great because it means we won't have to walk around too much in the cold on Halloween night! 

Happy Anniversary

For Matthew, my fairytale knight.

(make sure your sound is on)



Amy's Baby Shower

Two Saturdays ago I threw a baby shower for the sweetest girl.  I actually don't know her all that well, I go to church with her, and I was assigned to be her Visiting Teacher for a couple months.  Even though I was released from being her VT'er, when my new companion and I found out that she wasn't going to have a baby shower at all, we decided to throw her one.  It was very last minute, I had one day the following week that would work, called her up and said can you come to a baby shower for yourself on this day/time next week?  She said yes, and I got to work!  My companion emailed out invitations and we asked one of her new VT'ers to do a game or activity.  Since money is an issue I made homemade decorations during the week, and I think they turned out pretty cute! 

 I used scrapbooking paper and ribbon I had already to make a little bunting banner and the made a diaper cake and some tissue paper pompoms as well.

The best part about throwing a baby shower?  Getting to buy and make all kinds of yummy food/dips/cookies/cupcakes and eat all the leftovers!

 

I was a little nervous that not too many people would show up, simply because most of the women at church haven't had the opportunity to get to know Amy very well.  Her and her husband are from Utah, they moved here this summer to start an 8 month internship at IBM, and then will go back to UT.  They are both young and adorable and simply the nicest, sweetest couple.  However, because they are here so briefly, both working, and not putting down any roots, they haven't made a lot of close connections, hence why she was just not going to have a baby shower.  I think it would be really hard to be away from home for the first time and be having your first baby right in the middle of your time away.  It turned out really well though, lots of great women from our wonderful ward showed up to show their love and support for her, and I was really grateful to be able to be a part of giving her a special day.

 Amanda's matching/memory game was so cute and fun!  I am normally not a huge fan of shower games, hence why I asked someone else to be in charge of it, but this one was great.  If I ever do a baby shower again, I am definitely stealing this idea!

 

The only downside to the shower was that I got food poisoning the night before.  It was BAD.  I was up throwing up/dry heaving all night, which then caused me to start having some serious contractions and severe back pain, finally at 4am I woke up Matt and asked him to give me a blessing, he did and then stayed up and applied heat to my back and rubbed it for about a half an hour, while I tried to relax and breathe and get my contractions to stop.  It eventually calmed down, and I was able to finally sleep for about and hour and a half before the girls all woke up and I needed to get up and frost cupcakes and set everything up.  It was rough.  No 7 month pregnant woman should ever get food poisoning!  I thought I was going to die.  Matt helped pick up my slack in the morning and was a great, dip mixing, vegetable chopping, little girl entertaining, partner and best friend.  I am so grateful for him, I never could have made it through that night and day without him.  I didn't eat anything all day because I was so worried that I would start throwing up again, so I was feeling pretty tired and haggard.  Luckily, I made it through the party and I don't think that anyone was the wiser!  I didn't try any of the food beforehand or at the party, so I was glad when I got to eat leftovers and they were all yummy.  Amy and Jon ended up with a good amount of gifts, and more importantly, I think they felt loved and supported.  It felt good to be able to help them feel that way!