One Year Gone, Another On It's Way!

Hey! So I know I didn't post a baby bump post last week. I think you all will forgive me since it was Christmas, right? All of you were probably busy with family that day and the next day, and then you know it's just too far gone to care, right?

So, I just wanted to share this awesome blog with awesome downloads, two of which I think would be a great thing to use for New Years! Simple Mom is a website I honestly haven't browsed through much, but I love the downloads she has. (The link I put in to her website is to her page of downloads) Lots of lists and planning, both things I do constantly, so I love that I could have an organized way of doing it! I am in the process of making a household binder to keep me organized and hopefully on track with the things I tend to forget about (budgeting, anything to do with our cars--who really knows the last time they had their wiper blades replaced? I will soon, and I will know the exact dates!). Anyways, on her blog, she has two downloads for New Years, one for reflecting and one for goal setting. I love it! I plan on our first Family Home Evening of the new year to be focused on reflecting/goal setting for the year.

Right now, though, I'd like to reflect on what has happened this year! Honestly, anything before August seems like it was years ago, so it's going to be hard to remember the highlights of this year!

January - called to be Primary President; I was working at the MTC doing custodial work; I had my evening classes for Special Ed; Jed had school and worked at the BYU Bookstore.

February - I turned 21! We went to Happy Sumo with my wonderful friends to celebrate; we found out the basement apartment was opening where Katie and Mark were living, so we signed a contract to move in July

March - I was hired at Vineyard Elementary to be their intern; Our friends Amy and Brandon got engaged

April - Jed turned 23! We both ended the semester and I started Spring term; BFF Natalie got her mission call to New York (but she decided to get engaged instead....); hosted a bridal shower for Amy where I made my cute butterfly cupcakes

May - I was busy with practicum hours at Vineyard while Jed worked and got to go to California for his BFF Justin's wedding

June - started Summer Practicum; went to Amy and Brandon's wedding (it was so fun and so beautiful); went on a day trip to Manti to go do a temple session; painted our new place

July - Moved to our new place; Harry Potter 7 Part Two - Midnight Showing; Jed left to wash windows in Cailfornia; I continued doing Summer Practicum; went to Yellowstone to visit Wesley at the Dinner Theater he was doing; Had my first inklings I might be pregnant and had the positive pregnancy test!

August - Thought I miscarried, but the ultrasound showed it might still be okay, so was put on moderate bed rest; training for Alpine School District/Special Ed; Dentist appointment - found out I had to get a root canal; went to California to finally join my husband out there; root canal (not terrible but not something I'd like to repeat); Stephenson Family Reunion; ultrasound - still pregnant and due April 5th!; started at Vineyard and got to do beginning of the school year testing and meet my adorable kiddos.

September - got the flu--twice; Jed started classes again; Jed got the flu from me (and possibly one of the colds I had, too); my Freshman reunion was in our backyard; went to Jed's mission reunion

October - continued learning and teaching; Jed continued classes and made some awesome goals to become a better studier; went to/helped host an awesome Murder Mystery Dinner with the married former roommates; Halloween--which I was sick for :(

November - a hard month teaching-wise (Nov. and Dec. are the hardest months emotionally for first year and maybe even all teachers); flew out to California for Thanksgiving with Jed's family, which was awesome

December - this month just flew by! We made it through one whole semester! Yay! Christmas break has been awesome, though I have been sick the whole time (culminating yesterday); Christmas Eve/Day were spent with my family and we had a wonderful time; We've spent some time with friends and it's been just great!

So, I guess those are the highlights of the year! I have no doubt I will suddenly remember something that isn't on the list but is extremely important to mention, so I guess I will just have to come back and edit this post if that's the case.

And what can we look forward to in 2012?

• Baby Stephenson being born!
• Finishing all but one semester to graduation for Jed
• Me graduating (in August)
• Wesley going on a mission (sad but awesome)
• Stephenson Family Reunion over Thanksgiving
• Me finding a new job (what it will be, we have no idea)
• Jed applying to grad schools (or deciding he has to work before grad school--they are all different on what they want!) and hopefully getting into the ones we want!
• Wedding, babies being born, pregnancies being announced--who knows who and when, but I have no doubt many of these are coming our way this year! 

So, there's our year in review. It was a long one, but some pretty awesome things happened. Can't wait for 2012!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 24

Here it is, week 24.

Baby Stats:

Length: 8 1/2 in
Weight: 1 1/2 lbs
If he were a veggie, he would be a: corn on the cob (OR not a veggie, he would be a letter)

So this week.... Nothing much has changed. I had my doctor's appointment on Friday, and if I get to choose, I would prefer to have this doctor deliver my baby. I don't know if all OBGYN offices are like this, but this office has like 10 doctors, so there's always a few at the Provo office, a few at the Orem office, and at least 1 at the two hospitals, so that no matter what, you will have someone there to deliver your baby! It's nice to know that I won't be left with some random stranger who I've never met before. So, in order to make sure the doctor's aren't strangers, they try to have you meet with a different doctor for each visit. So far, they have all been nice, but this guy, Dr. Rees, was just so nice, I felt so comfortable talking with him, and Jed liked him, so as the time gets closer, we'll see what we can do!

At the doctor's office, I discovered a couple of things. My next visit, at 28 weeks, I have to take the glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. Gross. They said it's like tasting McDonald's orange drink after it sat over night. Gross. Another thing I discovered is that in the next four weeks, I should be able to see my stomach move when the baby moves. Crazy! I'm excited for that. Jed finally felt the baby kick this week, so it will be awesome for him to feel him move more and even see him move!

Another lovely little side effect which I think I've talked about is my sciatic nerve freaking out. I've had some days where I get home from work and lay down (because my body is so tired), and then I get up and suddenly I will have a spasm every time I put my weight on my right leg. It starts in my lower back and sometimes goes down into my leg. Ha ha it makes me feel like a little old lady, because seriously sometimes it takes great effort to straighten my back to stand up straight. It hurts, but it's also rather amusing.

So anyways, this week, I was laying on my left side/stomach, and I wanted to get up to go find some food and use the restroom (seriously this happens all the time), and so I started to move, but without moving more than even 1/2 an inch, my sciatic nerve spasmed more than it ever had before. Oh it hurt! Ha ha so there was a long five minute discussion in my brain trying to decide how hungry I was/how full my bladder was and if it was worth it for the pain (which I knew would last only a few seconds, so I ended up bucking up and just doing it). Ha ha so instead of turning over normally, I kept my body as straight and stiff as possible and used my arms to roll my body over, and then I got up and it was totally fine, no pain. Perhaps this story is not as funny as it was at the time, but here be a warning to you all who haven't been pregnant yet: random parts of your body hurt, and you will get creative in avoiding that hurt.

That's really all that's different this week.... I continue craving sausage/breakfast sandwiches (yes, I'm craving that as I write this), I continue loving anything sour, and I feel like I can eat more.

Oh something that is a little different is that every morning this week I've woken up with a stuffy nose, so I blow my nose, and I have a little mini nosebleed. I can't decide if this is due to the fact that it's rather dry or as a pregnancy side effect. Either way I don't like it.

A couple of things I have yet to deal with (for which I am grateful):

• Swelling of the feet, ankles, or hands (hallelujah I am so hoping this will be avoided)
• Varicose veins. I don't know much about these, but I've been careful to check for them. 
• An outie belly button. My belly button is no where near an outie, but I can tell it's getting more shallow. 
• Stretch marks. I hear that if you gain weight at a good, slow, rate, you should be able to avoid these, so I hope that this continues to be the case. I gained 3 pounds in the last four weeks, so let's hope that my body continues to gain weight at this slow rate.

Well, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I will probably be updating the blog for week 25 on the 26th of December. I hope you can all forgive me for not getting on my blog on Christmas ha ha.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Break!

Hello friends!

Merry Christmas Break! It feel amazing to know that I have two full weeks of practically nothing to do! So that's a lie, I have a long list of what I'd like to do, but it's exciting! First of all, Jed has no work this entire week, so I think that means some fun activities for us: visit the Draper Temple (since the last TWO times it was either closed or we ran out of time and went to the Provo Temple instead), move around the furniture in the second bedroom, watch lots of TV shows together under a nice cozy blanket on the couch (Lie to Me? White Collar?), wrap Christmas presents and hide our stocking presents until we can put them in our stockings, and probably some other fun things, who knows!

I have my own personal list of things I would like to do. Some are boring, like get my tires rotated, put away laundry, etc. etc, but there are some fun things, too!

Today I was inspired by this blog: IHeart Organizing. You all probably know that I love to organize. I love it to death. I get a little discouraged, though, because you see these beautiful pictures of beautiful homes with big spaces and perfect shelving units to put cute and EXPENSIVE organizers on, and we just don't have the space or money to buy any of those things. But since getting the crib, I have a renewed motivation to organize! For one thing, our crib doesn't fit where we wanted it to. Lies, it does fit. But we can't sit at our desk with it there. I never use the desk except to store things, but Jed always sits at the desk to do things (he's destined to be the person who works for a living, right? I hate sitting at desks....). So, when I saw how terribly small and crowded our 2nd bedroom looked, I knew something much be done. And with that, the nesting instinct kicked in. Have you ever heard of the nesting instinct? It's a side effect not often talked about among pregnant women. Basically, it's like how dogs and cats like to find a perfect cozy spot to deliver their litters in, and other animals I'm sure do it too. Humans are no different. The baby's on the way, and the mom has the natural instinct to get the home ready for it. In my case, that means ORGANIZE!

So back to the IHeart Organizing blog. Pinterest lead me to it, and I will probably look at this blog daily, because there are hundreds of posts on there, every single one interesting and inspiring. Seeing her beautiful home inspired several things for me to do over the break:

1) Organize the dang 2nd bedroom closet. It is not efficient AT ALL.

2) Create my own boxes for organizing. Like I said before, those super cute woven boxes that people organize with are so perfect... and so expensive! Average from what I've seen, $20 a box. I think I could spend well over $400 organizing our home, and we just don't have that money to spend. So that's why I will create my own! We have lots and lots of random cardboard boxes, and I can totally make them cute with wrapping paper! And then I can create my own cute labels on the computer and simply tape them on (they don't have to be sticky on one side to be called a label! Yes, in my head, I truly thought that). On her blog, there are so many other things to use for organizing that become cute and coordinated simply by covering them with paper:

• Kleenex boxes (love this. Use it in your pantry for spice packets or even spice bottles, use in in your office, closet, bathroom--for washcloths!--It's really amazing! I haven't bought Kleenex in a while because why spend money on that when you can just use toilet paper? But now I think I will invest in a few, just so I can have the boxes afterwards ha ha.)
• Empty cans (so save those green bean cans!)
• Really, just any empty container. You can cover anything with cute paper. It's ridiculous how many different containers she uses on there (like an empty parmesan cheese bottle--the plastic ones from the store. She put markers in it. Love it!)

3) Cover the back of the shelves in my bedroom. Remember how I have those cute built in shelves in our bedroom?

Well, I have made no headway in putting cardboard on the back of the few that need it, nor have I put cute wallpaper on it. So, sometime this break I am determined to do both. I'm actually contemplating finding cute wrapping paper to cover it, because it won't be touched much, so no worries about the wrapping paper ripping, and it might be cheaper? I haven't looked around much at wallpaper.

4) Buy new knobs for the dresser in our second bedroom. This dresser was Jed's from when he was a baby, and it is is perfect to set a little changing pad on top and use as storage for baby clothes/a changing table. And I just realized minutes ago, as I sit in our recliner, staring directly at our crib and dresser, that the colors are practically identical! I am so glad we went with the cinnamon colored crib, now! I wasn't originally concerned with the baby furniture not matching, but it's pretty sweet that it does! But the knobs to open the drawer are just not that cute, and I think changing up that one thing will make a big difference.

5) Clean out the other two closets (the on the stairs and under the stairs closets). I have a lot of baking appliances that can't really be helped, but maybe I can find a more efficient way of putting them on the shelves. Oh and the laundry room closet. I think we have to move some things in there in order to fit baby clothes in the dresser.

On a related note, for our wedding we got a cute container full of homemade laundry detergent along with the recipe. We are finally using it, and it has taken a few months to get through even half of it! So, the fact that you use so little for a load and also that it is so cheap to make (I will post how much it costs to get the ingredients.... I think it will be pretty amazing), I think this is our new laundry detergent until Jed starts working full time and making millions (I'm an extremely optimistic person). Another great reason to get these laundry supplies is that on IHeart Organizing, she has a recipe for homemade cleaner. Look here for the recipe. It uses borax, just like the laundry detergent, so I can kill two birds with one stone buying that stuff. So, saving money on laundry detergent and a multipurpose cleaner (which I use daily), how can you pass that up? I will be making this stuff over the break too!

6) Trip to DI! With all this cleaning, there is no way that we won't be getting rid of stuff. We actually are looking into selling some things (we have 3 Rock Bands.... they all work.... we only need one.... But we are actually selling the drums and guitars, too, because the last time we played it was Easter, and so really it's just taking up space), so anyways, we're selling some things, but there are lots of things I want to get rid of that I know we cannot sell. I want to get rid of this little electric globe thing Jed has.... I don't think he will let me, but maybe? But after all the clearing out of closets, I just know that we will have a mandatory trip to DI to get our random knick knacks out of our beautifully clean house!

7) If Jed will just let me, I will start cutting up his old t-shirts to make a quilt! I've brought this up many a time since we've been married, but not too much because in all honesty, I think it could turn into an actual argument. Pick your battles, right? Anyway, Jed was in a lot of plays as a teenager, he did a lot of cool things, and with that comes the cool, free t-shirts. Long ago, I got rid of all of my old, random t-shirts because I just don't get too sentimental about stuff. Jed is soooo the opposite. So, we have probably about 30 old t-shirts that Jed never wears but also will never give up. I think he's finally beginning to accept the idea that something must be done with these t-shirts as they are just taking up space and haven't been used in years, and so maybe I can convince him this week to let me make a quilt. My logic is, he never uses them now, but if I make a quilt, he can look at his fun old t-shirts all the time as he gets cozy on the couch under his own personal blanket. If only Jed and I could see eye to eye on this....

Wow, what a long post! So sorry, I hope it was slightly interesting, but more than that, I hope it inspired you to organize, too! Then we can compare our before and after pictures (because I will be taking some of those) and talk about how adorable our houses and closets look, and we'll have you over for dinner since our house is more than presentable, and you'll have us over for a game night, and we'll just be the best of friends!

Crib = Bought!

Tonight Jed and I were out doing errands and decided to drop by Burlington Coat factory to see what they had for baby stuff. I rarely shop there, but I did know they had a baby section, and it was great! There are a lot of things there we don't need, thanks to Jed's sisters, but one thing we were wondering about was a crib. I knew which one we wanted (Graco Stanton at Walmart on sale for $118), but I wanted to see if Burlington could do any better. Guess what? It did! We found the exact same crib for $99! It was awesome. Another plus was that if you bought a crib, you could get a mattress for 20% off. Sweet, right? So, Jed went off to find someone who worked there to help us out, and while he was gone there was this couple and their parents all looking at the same crib. I knew it shouldn't make me nervous, but it did. But, they wanted a white one, and this one didn't come in white, so I figured we were safe. So the a store worker came back and turns out that the display crib was the last one! The lame part was that they wouldn't take it apart for us because they didn't want to lose any parts (makes sense, I totally understand, but still not fun for us), so we were going to have to come back to either hope that it fits in my mom's car or to take it apart ourselves. It made us stop for a minute to decide if this was really the crib we wanted, but for $99 to get a good crib? You can't pass that up!

Here's where it gets awkward. As we are trying to decide which mattress to get, that couple and their parents come back to look at the crib and ask the woman more about it. They definitely sounded like they wanted to buy it, so it was extremely awkward to be only 10 feet away and have to hear the store worker tell them they JUST sold the crib. They had seen us looking at it, so I'm sure they knew it was us who bought it. We both felt way awkward and really bad, but what can you do? I felt a little better because she said she could check if another store had one and would send it to them, so I hope they got their crib.

Anyways, we are now the proud owners of a crib and mattress (all for $150!) I love getting good deals and saving money. Here's the crib:

I think we both would have liked a darker color, but I like this color a lot too. So, another thing bought and ready! I think we're getting close to having the essentials for the baby! After Christmas, I think we will buy the crib bedding (maybe there will be some after Christmas sales???? I can only hope!).

Oh and one more sweet thing about Burlington: I got two 20% off coupons with my purchase! You can use them from December 26th-January 10th, so I think I will get a Boppy ($20 with the 20% off, normally $30 at other stores) and a diaper bag! From the ones they have there, I like this bag, but at the store they have it in dark brown and light blue, so I will get that one. So, 20% off that means my diaper bag will be less than $30! Man, it's awesome knowing I can get such great deals! It's hard not being able to spend money on whatever you want, but it is so satisfying when you get to buy things for really great prices. I hope that all this posting of me saving money helps you folks out there know what a good deal means in baby stuff! I never knew before, but after all my research of stuff, I think these are some pretty good prices on things. Maybe one day I will do a blog post about average prices on basic baby items. I hope my blog can help some people out there, as well as give some form of entertainment!

By the way, 165 days down, 115 to go!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 23

Hey there. Week 23 is here!

Baby Stats:

Length: just over 8 inches
Weight: just over 1 pound
If he were a fruit, he would be a: large mango


So, what has this week brought in my pregnancy.... Well for one thing, the little guy does this kicking thing (maybe it's hiccuping?) where I swear he's against my bladder because I keep having a very strong urge to pee and it happens over and over again in a set amount of time. So maybe that is hiccuping! It's rather uncomfortable, though.

Heartburn has been a huge theme of the week. Dislike. I've woken up in the night because I was so bothered by it. Last night, before bed, we ran to Smith's to get me some Tums, and I didn't wake up once with heartburn! It was great. I was worried, because last night was some of the worst heartburn I'd had, but the Tums really work! The directions for taking it rather worry me, though, because it says to take 2-4 as symptoms occur. What do you do if the symptoms don't really stop occurring??? And 2-4? Too ambiguous. I don't want to take too many, but if I need to take more, I want to do that. I'm glad I'll have my 24 week appointment on Friday so I can ask my doctor what the protocol is. My aunt and several people online have said they lived off of Tums for the last half of their pregnancies, so that may be my future for the next 3 1/2 months. I hope as I take it more and more I start to enjoy them.... I just hate the feeling/texture of eating slightly flavored chalk. Last night one of the ones I took was definitely orange, and that was the best one of them all.

Honestly I don't think I have much else to say! This week has been going as normal. I felt better than I did last week, though I've been much more tired because I've gotten less sleep than I should. It's amazing that this semester is almost over! I only have 3 more months of teaching until the baby, then maternity leave, then another few weeks, then summer break! At least a couple times a week I try to decide what I want to do next year for a job. Working with a baby is a hard thing to cope with. There are so many reasons I don't want to work: I feel bad leaving my baby in day care, the cost of day care, how busy I will be working and cooking and cleaning and taking care of myself oh yeah and taking care of a baby. But, Jed doesn't exactly have a great income from the BYU Bookstore... Insurance is another lovely thing to think about. Thinking about finances lately makes me cry (hormones) so I try not to, but just remember that when we budget correctly and pay our tithing and fast offerings, God will help us make ends meet!

Anyways, hope you have a great week. Good luck to those taking finals this week!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 22

So sorry I missed last week! We were traveling for most of last Sunday back from California.

Baby Stats Week 21:

Length: 7 inches
Weight: 11 ounces
If he were a fruit, he would be a: banana

Baby Stats Week 22:

Length: 8 inches
Weight: 1 POUND
If he were a veggie, he would be a: spaghetti squash


Some of the symptoms that have cropped up:

1) I think I have to give in and admit I have acid reflux. Isn't that a terrible thing to develop from being pregnant! I hope it goes away when I give birth..... Mostly it's been at night, but today at church, I had a lovely episode mid sacrament meeting.

2) Another thing I must admit: My urinary frequency has finally gone up. I've been proud for the last 22 weeks to be able to say I don't have to go to the bathroom any more than I had to previous to becoming pregnant, but after the last few days, I don't think I can claim that anymore.

3) My back hurts. Almost every day it hurts. It really killed, though, after walking up the RB stairs this week. Seriously, it's been a long time since I walked up those stairs, and it shows.

4) I feel very pregnant. I had to give up on a lot of my favorite shirts this week because my baby bump kind of seems to have swelled by a lot. I can't believe I'm going to get even bigger. A lot bigger. I hope that as I am getting into some good routines with work, I will be able to finally get back to working out. I've ordered my maternity swim suit so I can swim a couple of times a week at the gym. I also found a yoga video streaming on Netflix, so I can do some yoga! Perhaps I'll even be brave enough to get back to lifting weights, but I will have to be careful that I don't strain myself too much...

4) Have you ever heard the song, "Who Would Imagine a King?"

It's from the movie The Preacher's Wife. I love the soundtrack and listen to it every Christmas. This has always been a favorite of mine, but until the other day, I have never appreciated it so much!

I was driving home from work, singing along to Christmas songs, when this song popped up. I started singing the first line and almost immediately had to stop because I was too choked up to sing! The lyrics start out "Mommies and daddies always believe that their little angels are special indeed." So right there, it starts me off: Jed and I are two of those mommies and daddies, and we have a little special angel on his way! The song continues saying how you don't know what they are going to be when they grow up, but who would ever imagine a king? I thought about what our little boy will be. He could grow up to do anything! How amazing. And we will get him on that path.

The song also made me cry because I have never related to Mary, the mother of Jesus so much. I know our son will not become the Savior of the World, but our son will be special. I'm sure he will make a great difference in many people's lives. I can almost imagine what Mary might have felt. The anticipation of waiting for you baby to come is so fun, crazy, and awe inspiring. How must she have felt, knowing her Son was the Son of God? What an amazing gift to be the one to carry the baby, to give birth to Him, and to raise Him. It is wonderful to be pregnant. With all the crazy things it's doing to my body, it's amazing to be pregnant. To feel this little boy inside of me, moving, is the craziest thing. So this song brought up all these feelings, thoughts, and emotions and I couldn't even sing one line without tears pouring out of my eyes. To top it all off, you must listen to the end, because this little voice says, "Mommy," and to hear that after such a great spiritual song just topped it off and I sobbed a little! When I got home, I made Jed listen to it and I cried all over again. It's a wonderful song, and I have never loved it more.

So, there's the pregnancy in the last week or so. I just realized today that I will be 25 weeks along on Christmas, which as you know is the 25th of December! Fun little coincidence, I think.

"It's that time of year"

Hey folks.

How crazy is it that it's Christmas time??? It snuck up on me, and I think it's only going to continue to come faster. I have two weeks of school, Jed has one week and then finals week, and then it's Christmas break!

Here's the sad thing... I wasn't excited about Christmas decorating! So sad, right? I have to admit, November has been one of the more stressful months of my college experience. It's been a hard, hard month. I sadly didn't feel like I could be a Special Ed teacher. It's extremely difficult, let me tell you. But, I have a renewed sense of motivation, my students continue to improve, I continue to feel more competent, and all of this makes me feel more and more every day that I will be okay! But, back to the topic at hand, I was feeling stressed and did not feel the motivation to decorate. Thank goodness my husband did and thank goodness a few evenings ago he was amazing and helped me do some major cleaning, and so since I was on a roll making the house look good, I actually got down the box with our decorations and made our house look Christmas-y!

Another great thing happened today: we got our first little Christmas tree! It's a whopping 3 feet tall and we love it! I just love doing things by the light of a Christmas tree.

One of our newest decorations/possessions is a beautiful nativity scene from Bethlehem! Jed's parents went to Israel in October and they bought us this as a Christmas present. Here it is. Isn't it beautiful?

Have any of you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? Jed's brother's family gave us our Elf (we named him Thisbee) along with a book about him as a Christmas present last year. Basically, the story tells you that this is one of Santa's elves, and he is assigned to stay at your house to make sure you are not naughty, but nice. Every morning you must find him, because he moves around at night when you are asleep! It seems to be rather popular this year. I see on pinterest lots of posts about what to do with your Elf so that when your kids wake up, you find that the elf was making cookies, and made quite a mess with the flour, or he TP'd your Christmas tree, or he decided to go fishing and you find him fishing for goldfish crackers. It's such a cute idea that I can't wait to use when our little boy is old enough to appreciate it (let alone is not in my womb). Anyways, here is Thisbee:

So, have a good December! I'm so excited for Christmas. I love giving presents and seeing my family's excitement when they open them. This year we will be spending Christmas here in Utah with my family. I missed them last year, but I didn't realize how excited I would be to get to spend Christmas with them!

Anyways, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Gratitude Tree: The End of the Month

Hey there! So remember the post on the gratitude tree? (Click here for a reminder) In case you don't want to look at the link, here's what our gratitude tree looked like at the beginning of the month:

Well, while we didn't do as good of a job as I hoped for, meaning we didn't write what we were grateful for every day. We didn't even do it a few times a week. We did it once a week, so not too bad, right?

Here's the result:

Not too shabby, right? I have to confess, part of the reason this isn't more full is because I ran out of paper. I bought 3 yards of green butcher paper! I totally thought that would be enough.

It was great, though! We both had to stretch a little by the end to think of new things we are grateful for, but it was fun. I definitely want to do this again. Maybe not until we have kids who can participate, but it was fun. It's so nice to spend extra time thinking about all of your blessings. Conclusion from our gratitude tree: we are so blessed. We have blessings from living in a wonderful country, to an amazing church with living prophets, scriptures, personal revelation, the Holy Ghost, to wonderful families and friends, to random things like a warm apartment with a dishwasher and a comfy bed, to a loving Heavenly Father who gave us the gift of His Son, who in turn gave us the gift of the Atonement. We are so blessed! Oh and not to be forgotten, we have a wonderful baby boy on the way. It's incredible to think we we were chosen to live in this time, in our situation. What a wonderful life! I can't say it's not hard (my aching back will attest to that), but it's still been great.

While I'm on my gratitude kick, I have to say how grateful I am for Jed. What an awesome husband! Seriously, this guy is great. I couldn't have a more serving husband. He will do anything for me. How lucky am I? Especially in this time when I am so tired from teaching and being pregnant, he is the reason our house is not the mess it could be, he doesn't complain that my dinners I make are lame stain (because I generally feel too tired to cook), and he will rub my back every time I ask him to, which can be several times a night (granted, sometimes it lasts about 30 seconds, but he still does it!). I hope to goodness that all my friends have as great a husband to support them during their pregnancy as I do. Oh and since he knows I'm tired, he rarely asks me to do things for him.

Anyways, it's so great to have this holiday season to remind us what's important. We start with Thanksgiving to help us remember all of our blessings, and then we get the next month to be grateful for our family and buy them presents, but most importantly to remember the Savior, that he was born, lived on this earth, suffered and died for us, and was resurrected. I hope you all have a great December in this special time!

Baby Essentials: The Diaper Bag

I've been avoiding looking at anything baby for a long time, knowing that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop! But, with all this extra time I have for Thanksgiving Break, I've given in. Last night I stayed up past Jed (this NEVER happens) and I put a lot of things on our Target Baby Registry. I love the registry. I can save the things I want the most, whether for my own use or for when it's baby shower time. So now I know what crib we're getting, what bedding (I'm not crafty enough, nor do I have the time to sew the baby bedding....), the play pen/bassinet for when our baby is still teeny enough to sleep in our room, what mattress to get, even which diaper pail we're getting. Want to know what the bedding will look like? I love it.

 

 

I love green and brown together. I have to admit too, it will work for both our boy and any future girls to come. I keep telling Jed I will want something girly when we have a girl, but he does not like the idea of spending more money on baby bedding.... so I may just have to wait on that.

So today, all I've been looking at is diaper bags. Wow, they are not cheap! The cute ones are all over $50. Terrible! Especially because I want two.... perhaps this is greedy of me, but I want a super cute bag for me to use, but then I think we need one for Jed. Why you ask? Because of this commercial:

Apparently this is how Jed feels when I ask him to carry my purse. Ridiculous ha ha. So, Jed requests that for whenever he has to take the baby (I'm thinking every Sunday for church), he wants one that's more of a messenger bag style so that he can still feel manly despite carrying a bag around with baby things.

So here are some of the bags I'm thinking we should get Jed:

Nice? Manly? All these are available at Target. On the other hand, what about me? There are so many super cute bags. I want one that doesn't have a major pattern because I can't have a different diaper bag for every day of the week when they cost over $50 each! So I've decided I need one that will go with many outfits. So here are the ones I was thinking of:

So which one should I buy??? I can't decide!

The first one is from Target and the rest are on Etsy. I love Etsy! Several of the bags they say I could make bigger, too, and knowing myself, I will pack these bags full of half of our baby's stuff so I could use a big one. You can never be too prepared! Who knows, our baby may become the blowout master and I'll need more than a few changes of clothing. (Please say no.) But back to the bags, do you love them all like I do? For some reason the third one, the brown one, is a favorite of mine. I think the fact that on Etsy it was described as "waterproof," that sold me. But, seriously, I think they are all adorable, and they could be worn with just about any outfit. It's going to be a hard decision to figure out which one of these I want....

There's also one last thing I will mention because it is like the sweetest thing ever! I guarantee it will be one of my most favorite diaper bag accessories. I can see my best friend Natalie laughing at this because she'll know instantly that in all honestly it will be my favorite diaper bag accessory, hands down.

There you have it. Little bags to take on the go to put in soiled diapers, dirty clothes, anything! I was first introduced to this when my sister in law was visiting in October and I was in shock and awe. My first thought was actually, is that one of those things you take when you take your dog on a walk so that you can pick up their poop? Perhaps that is where the inspiration comes from, but seriously, isn't this a great idea? Contain the odors and smells, contain the mess, all in a cute little on the go package; it's a dream come true for the organized neat freak in me.

So, I'll continue to update you on the cute things I find and hopefully the cute things I buy! I'm going to be smart and wait on some of the things until after Christmas, and some even until I've had a baby shower, so that some of the things can be given as gifts (because giving baby things as gifts is honestly one of the best gifts ever to give. Am I right? Aren't baby shower so much more fun to shop for than bridal showers?) but anyways, the moral of the story is, I love baby things and I can't wait to use these things I am going to get! Can our little boy come yet? All these cute things makes me want to have him here with us so I can see him in them! 133 more days to go!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 20

For those that didn't hear our announcement, we're having a baby boy! We're very excited. It's crazy though... knowing the gender of the baby definitely makes this all seem more real.

Baby Stats:

Length: 6 1/2 inches
Weight: 10 ounces
If HE were a fruit he would be a: small cantaloupe

So this week... things really seemed the same! We've been anticipating our ultrasound on Friday to find out the gender, so I've hardly paid attention to anything else! Symptoms have continued: nails growing fast, baby kicking, back hurting at times, cravings, migraines, etc. etc!

The ultrasound was great! We got there a little early, and somehow got in only a couple of minutes after we arrived. The ultrasound tech had lots of things to look at in the brain, then looked at things like the cervix, ovaries, and kidneys. During all of this, Jed and I were waiting and waiting for her to finally say, this is the sex of your baby! Finally, she asked one more time if we wanted to know the gender, which we did, and she showed us his little bum, legs, and as she put it, "his little boy part" so we knew it was a boy! After that it was just a little surreal looking at our little boy's arms, face, spine, legs, and even a foot. It's crazy that first of all, the ultrasound tech can find all of those things, and second of all that we were able to find out the gender of our baby! Oh and it was so cool: she can turn on this heat/motion sensor so that on the screen, wherever it is especially hot (like at the umbilical cord) or when there is movement, you can see it. So, at one point, I felt an especially big kick, and we saw half of the screen light up red because of the movement! It was really cool to see what I felt. Also, I have to say one of my favorite things to see was the heart. We saw all four chambers and could see it beating. Overall, it was really cool. We were definitely in shock for the next little while, but the excitement grew as the shock wore off.

One thing I definitely want to talk about is maternity clothes. I finally tried on every single item of clothing my sister in law gave to me, and we bought a few items at Target. I love maternity tops and dresses! They make me feel very feminine and make me feel like a cute pregnant woman. It's starting to get fun, having a definite baby bump, so having cute tops so that people can tell I have a baby bump and I'm not just fat is nice. On the other hand, I hate maternity pants to death. They don't stay up. Every time I stand up, I have to readjust my pants and tuck in my undershirt. It's really quite annoying. Also, I have several pairs of pants with the huge band of stretchy material, for when I'm much more pregnant, and those really need adjusting. I'm hoping they will improve once I get a bigger belly, but we'll just have to wait and see on that one....

Oh I should tell you about our party! I felt very stressed by the time the party started, because I ran out of time. You see, my whole plan was to color a cake blue, decorate it cute, and then we cut open the cake and everyone knows it's a boy! So I bought a white cake mix, baked it, and it turned out beautifully. It was only when it was almost all cooled off that I realized it was still white--I forgot to color it blue! So I had to make a new cake; the only cake mix we had was a yellow cake mix and so after adding blue food coloring, the cake was green. And then by the time that was cooled off, there was hardly any time to decorate, and so it was not decorated how I wanted. However, it all pulled together with help from several people, and luckily people were late just as I thought they would be. Overall, it was a great party and I think everyone enjoyed the food and the company. So, despite the stressful beginning, it was great and I was so glad to have everyone there that came!

So, there you have it. Pregnancy wise, nothing much has changed, but the exciting news of our little boy coming has been wonderful!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 19

Almost halfway!

As you can see, I got my hair done!

Baby Stats:

Length: 6 inches
Weight: 8 oz.
If it were a fruit, it would be a: mango

So this week was a hard one. Teaching is tough! I've been busy and stressed, but the last two days of school, my students reminded me why I love teaching. I've also had a great husband who did everything I asked and asked me to do nothing (partially because I had enough to do on my own), and so yet again I am grateful I have such a great husband! I could never get through a pregnancy without him.

Interesting things that happened this week:

1) I've decided on two consistent cravings: breakfast sausage and any sour gummy candy (sour patch kids, sour gummy worms, etc.). 7/11 (you know the gas station) has this thing called the maple pancake sausage roll. It's like a pig in a blanket but instead of a hot dog it's a sausage and instead of biscuit it's a pancake. I've already had three this week. They're only a dollar so that makes it even harder to resist! I don't know what it is about breakfast sausage, but I can't get enough of it! If today wasn't Sunday, I'd be at the store right now getting some frozen sausages because just talking about it is making my stomach growl.....

2) I've felt the baby move even more! Yesterday I had several kicks or something that actually made me make a sound because it was that significant enough of a movement. All this at only 19 weeks. Things are going to be interesting later on in the pregnancy, aren't they? I hope I don't get a broken rib. When I got my hair done, me and Kim (my hairdresser) talked a ton about being pregnant, and she told me that my best bet for feeling my baby kick from the outside was to lay on my back. I still have yet to feel it from the outside, but it's great advice so that I know for future reference.... I can't wait until Jed can feel it!

3) I had my first pregnancy dream about what the gender of the baby is! I have to admit, I've been leaning toward saying the baby's a girl. This dream, however, could change my mind! So, in my dream, I was laying on my bed, trying to feel the baby. So my fingers were pushing down on my stomach to try to find it, and I could feel a little foot! So I followed the foot until I found the leg, and followed the leg, until I found the body. And there on the body, I found something that would distinctly tell you the baby is a boy, not a girl, if you know what I mean. And that was the extent of my dream! Nothing exciting, really, and completely impossible, but it was funny to wake up and think about it!

We find out in FIVE days what the gender is! Or at least we hope we do. I am so nervous that the day will come, we'll go in for the appointment, and all they'll be able to say is that the baby wasn't in the right position, or they think it's a girl but didn't get a clear shot to say for sure. How awful would that be! As many of you may know, we are having a party on Friday night to announce what the gender of the baby is, and it would put a bit of a damper on the mood if we had no idea.... So I am praying that they will be able to tell! And I have to admit, we both hope it's a girl right now. I've tried my hardest not to lean one way or the other because in reality, just having a baby is exciting and either gender would be great. But right now all I can think about is cute little baby Kara, all pretty in her adorable dresses and tights and pretty hair bows and flowers. In the end, it doesn't matter what the gender of this baby is, or the next, but I hope that we get to have at least one of each.

4) Obviously I got my hair colored darker. I wanted to try out a darker blond, and so right now it's rather brown, but my hair dresser Kim has assured me it will lighten up a bit. But along with the color, I got a trim, so with new color and trim, I'm really going to pay attention to how fast my hair is growing! My nails are definitely growing fast, so let's see about this hair. This is the longest it's been in at least two years, so I'm excited to see how long it will get.

5) As you may/may not know, I teach kindergarten. The teachers sit in the same chairs as the kindergarteners, and these chairs are teeny. It hasn't been a problem until this week; I seriously had some problems gettin down there. I also noticed after some physical things I've done this week (like walking up several flights of stairs) I got majorly tired! Looks like my body is having some more adjustments.

Well, next week will be an exciting post! Come to our house next Friday at 7:30 to find out what the gender of our baby is!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 18

I don't feel like there's any difference from this and last week in the pictures, but Jed says there is. I've certainly felt more pregnant this week!

By the by, I've decided to stop putting my hand on the top of my belly in the pictures because my belly's getting significant enough that you don't need my hand there to see that I have a little baby bump!

Baby Stats:

Length: 5 1/2 inches
Weight: 5-7 ounces
If it were a veggie, it would be a: sweet potato

There are a few things that have happened this week. The biggest factor in how I've been feeling has been the fact that I've been sick all week. I started the week off not feeling well, got a little better, then got much worse. I've had an awful cough with this cold, and the hardest thing is I'll start coughing in the morning, blow my nose, and between those two things there's some mucus mixed in somewhere and it makes me gag and throw up. Or just dry heave. It's really awful and unpleasant. I've only thrown up a couple of times this week though, so while I am still having morning sickness, it continues to subside.

Some pregnancy symptoms I have had the last few days (because I was sick or because of being pregnant, we don't know), but I've had to go to the bathroom at lot more frequently and I've been a lot hungrier. Friday, I swear I ate like 7 times that day, and each time it was nothing much (burrito, two teeny apples, egg in a basket, etc), but the fact that whenever food was presented, I was hungry, that made me think my stomach is beginning to change for my growing baby. Speaking of food, I'm really hungry....

I've also been feeling more and more pressure down in my abdomen. I think my baby's getting big enough that I can feel it a lot more. I hope that at my next doctor's visit, the doctor can tell me how I can feel where the uterus and baby are from the outside. We'll see!

This last part I'm about to mention you may not want to know, but I find it extremely interesting and surprising. Mostly, I mention this for my friends who have yet to be pregnant because I was surprised to find this symptom at 18 weeks, but it's normal. So read on, but read on cautiously. I've had a new change in my body called colostrum: pre-milk. Yeah, Jed was extremely grossed out to hear me tell him that, and I hope you're not too grossed out, but as a woman, this is something so weird and crazy! I always knew that one day I would have the ability to breastfeed my baby, but now it's getting closer and closer and that is so weird to me (slightly exciting, but more weird). I must say, though, I am not looking forward to milk simply leaking out of me...

Two more weeks until we find out the baby's gender! (Hopefully. I would just about die if the ultrasound technician said they couldn't tell.) And that means we're getting closer and closer to the halfway mark! Technically, if I delivered four weeks early, we'd be at the halfway mark right now! I can't believe it. I seriously cannot wait until we have our baby. I know it's going to be hard and I know it's going to be different than I expect, but what a wonderful thing it is going to be. I've wanted to be a mom for years and years. I was never the girl who dreamed about what her wedding was going to be like, but I have planned baby names since I was 8, playing MASH during church or on car trips. These baby names have changed (for instance, I used to want the names Skye and Lily Rose... no more!), but I just love babies.

We had a baby blessing in church and both Jed and I were thinking the whole time about how it will be in 6 months when we bless our own baby. So crazy. Ha ha it also lead Jed to remember the Modern Family episode where Cam and Mitchell announce they adopted a baby... here's the link to the scene

Modern family - Lion King Moment

(P.S. If you want to know our beliefs on gay marriage, here's a link to what we believe: The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Just so we're clear.)

Well, I still have another 5 months of being pregnant, so I should stop the planning of how it will be. I'm grateful for how my pregnancy has gone so far, it could be so much harder, so I know I (and Jed) have been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy. Here's hoping it continues that way!

Gratitude Tree

Happy November! It's exciting to be in November, isn't it? The holidays are just around the corner!

So for FHE tonight (yes, we had it a day late. At least we had it!), we talked about gratitude. There are some wonderful talks out there, and I encourage you to go look them up! Search "gratitude" on lds.org and you will find some fantastic ones. After we discussed our talks we studied yesterday, I introduced our newest project: for the next month, we are going to be building a gratitude tree! Someone in our ward at Wymount talked about how for the month of November, they have a little tree on their door and each day they write something they are thankful for on a leaf and put it on the tree. So cute! We are doing this, too, but on a much grander scale. I want us (by the time Thanksgiving comes) to have over 100 leaves on this tree! So that averages to about 2-3 a day from each of us (since we leave the 22nd for California, we have to be done a few days early). Our goal is to never repeat what either of us has said we're grateful for. So, here is the beginnings of our gratitude tree:

I know that as we practice having greater gratitude, we will be happier, have the Spirit more fully in our lives, and be blessed even more!

I'll leave you with a thought from our wonderful prophet, whom Jed and I are so grateful for:

“If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.

“Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most.”

President Thomas S. Monson, “Finding Joy in the Journey,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 87.

Thank you for your love and support! We are grateful for YOU!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 17

Hey there. Here I am. I feel like every day I look down and my stomach looks bigger. I can't imagine how much bigger it's going to get..... Slightly scary to think about.

Baby Stats:

Length: 5 inches
Weight: 5-6 ounces
If it were a vegetable, it would be: an onion.

I was so excited to tell you it had been 12 days, almost two weeks, since I've thrown up. This morning ruined my streak. It was also the first time Jed actually heard me throw up. He said it was pretty gross ha ha.

Another great thing: I think I've been able to feel the baby kick a little. I know it could be anything, but I can't recall ever feeling these little movements in my abdomen before, so I count it as baby kicks! The first time I thought I felt something was at the dentist's last week. Do you ever get like a little blood vessel or muscle spasm in you leg or on your eyelid or arm where you can feel a twitch? (And sometimes see the twitch?) Well I had just one sudden twitch in my abdomen, and I've never felt a twitch like that before in that area. It was not a surface twitch, either, like those others I've described. It was definitely coming from the inside. On Monday I swear I felt a movement like teeny little limbs kicking back and forth like you would kick if you were swimming. Almost every day since, always in the afternoon or evening, I have felt little pushes from my abdomen, sometimes just one and sometimes several in a time period, and so I dub these little pushes to be our active child! In case you can't tell, I've tried very hard to decipher what I've felt and to be sure it wasn't just gas or something, so I feel pretty confident saying it was me feeling the baby!

This week I wore maternity jeans for the first time. Not that I can't fit into my old jeans, but they have developed some holes that show off my underwear, so I finally had to give in and say they were not wearable. However, then came casual Friday and I couldn't wear slacks! So I grabbed a pair of jeans from the bins that my wonderful sister in law gave to me which are full of maternity wear, and I put them on. They fit perfectly. The thing I don't like about them, though, is they don't have a place for a belt! Where the belt should be, there was a 2 inch band of stretchy material. So, all day long, I was constantly tucking in my undershirt and making sure nothing was showing since they slipped down a little every time I sat down (the fact that the majority of the time I sat was in little kindergarten chairs or on the floor did not help). Tell me this isn't how the rest of my pregnancy will go, right? Will I be forever in a state of re-situating my pants?

A sad thing: one of my coats is getting a little snug down around my waist. The buttons are noticeably pulling, and so I think this coat may have to be retired until next fall. It saddens me deeply, especially as I imagine the size of my stomach in February and think about which coat I will be able to wear.... So I may be in the market for a new, roomy coat pretty soon. Can I justify getting a cute, nice coat solely for when I'm pregnant? I'm bound to be pregnant during the winter another time down the road, right? Or perhaps I will permanently weight more and will need a big coat anyways? Let's not think that.

Pregnancy Symptoms I have yet to experience:

• High frequency of... visiting the restroom, shall we say? Nope, never felt that one. Thank goodness, because right now it is rather convenient to not need to go to the bathroom in the mornings until lunch time.
• Increased appetite. Unless you count wanting to eat more times throughout the day, but I don't feel I eat much more than before. 
• Swelling of the ankles, feet, hands, face
• Major weight gain

Symptoms I have may have yet to mention, but have been experiencing

• Mood Swings/more emotions. I cry often, or at least tear up. Biggest Loser, Extreme Home Makeover, these are big contributors to my crying. The other night I cried while watching Under the Greenwood Tree (BBC movie - watch it on Netflix, I love it). Why did I cry? The main girl was playing the harmonium in church and some people had put some sort of fluid in it, and so when it stopped working, people were laughing at it, not at her, but she ran out of the church, feeling humiliated. I was near sobbing at this point. So yes, my emotions are very high.
• Headaches, migraines, it varies what ails me, but those have yet to go away. I will say, Excedrin Tension Headache = greatest invention for pregnant women.
• Nasal congestion. I have to blow my nose all the time, and I'm not sick, it's just a fact of my life now.
• Sensitive gums that bleed when I brush. As if brushing my teeth wasn't already unpleasant enough.
• Fatigue.

This is a super duper long post, and I apologize for that. On the bright side, anyone who reads this knows exactly how I've felt this week! I feel closer to you already.

P.S. I still want to do a party to announce the baby's gender, also just as a way to invite people over and eat cake. But my mom can't be there! So I'm debating.... should it be the day after? Can I wait that long??

Temples, Pizza, and Corn

Hey there folks! Third post in one day? It must be Sunday.

Yesterday we had a lovely date together that didn't go entirely as planned, but was a really fun day.

First, we headed to the temple. We try to go to the temple once a month for one of our weekly dates, and we also try to vary which temple we go to. For the last several months, I've been wanting to go to the Draper Temple. I received my Endowment at the Draper temple (so that was May 6, 2010) and I haven't done a session there since! It was beautiful, and meaningful, so I really want to go back! So that was the plan yesterday: do a session at the Draper Temple. I always check online to be sure the temple isn't closed for cleaning or anything, and the Draper Temple was in fact scheduled to be open. When we arrived, we arrived early, so we walked around the temple. It really is so beautiful. Then we went inside.

When we got inside there was this woman there and the way she was standing and smiling I just knew she was going to tell us we couldn't go in. That was exactly what she said. She told us there was District Conference and the last session was at 3:00. We were hoping to do the 4:00 session. She was so sad and apologetic that me in my emotional pregnancy state actually felt like I should start crying, but being so blessed in Utah with so many temples, we quickly told her it was okay, we'd go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple. She suggested the Jordan River as well. Don't you love that within 20 minutes there are 3 temples to get to?

So then we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple. They didn't even bother with a nice lady telling you that you couldn't go in, they locked their doors and put up signs ha ha. So they were closed as well, for regional conference, so we walked around the temple and then left. So the first part of our date was foiled!

On to dinner, delicious Pier 49 Pizza. They have a dinner for 2 and a dinner for 4, and it's a pretty good deal. The dinner for 4 is especially well priced, so do a double date, split the check, and save some money! The only unfortunate thing was that the dinner for 2 came with cheesy breadsticks, pizza, and dessert pizza, so being the hungry pregnant woman I am, I inhaled the breadsticks, ate one piece of pizza, and was stuffed to the brim. Thank goodness for boxes to take leftovers home.

Then we went to Cornbellies! This is a corn maze and a million other fun fall things to do and see and play on at Thanksgiving Point. I had a coupon from school, as did our friends Amy and Brandon, so we doubled and went together! It was extremely fun. We climbed on hay, went through several mazes, raced ducks, took lots of pictures, and had a lot of fun.

Here we are racing ducks..... It was very fun but slightly damaging to your thumb to pump so fast and hard...

This is the first corn maze we went through (the main one). They had space and NASA music playing throughout the field, and it made me feel rather patriotic. You know the songs, like the songs they play in the movies while the astronauts are walking onto the rocket and they're going in slow motion through smoke and everyone else is stopped and staring at them and the American flag waves on.... that sort of inspirational, patriotic music. It kept the maze from being creepy ha ha.

We were punished and put in the stocks!

Don't you just love the cut outs? They had these everywhere.

There was a mini corn maze for children that had these spinners at varying places in the maze. What ever the spinner landed on, you had to do! It was fun and extremely silly.

The big rocking chair. As we took our pictures a family came up to wait until we were finished, and literally as we were climbing off, the kids were climbing on. It's just too much fun to even wait a second to get on!

So that was our date night! It was great fun and put us very much in the spirit of fall!

Delicious Fall Dessert - Apple Dumplings

Thanks to my dear mother, I have yet another delicious dessert to share with you. This is not only delicious but it's fun because you can tell your guests it has Mountain Dew in it!

APPLE DUMPLING DESSERT

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 small can Mountain Dew (about 2/3 cup)
Vanilla Ice Cream

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauce from the pan over the top.

I love this, as does my mom's book group, so use this delicious recipe while apples are in season!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 16

Week 16 is here! I think I notice an ever so slight difference, what do you think? It's like my tummy has moved a little higher.

Baby Stats:

Length: 4-5 inches
Weight: 3-5 ounces
If it were a fruit, it would be: an avocado

Mommy Happenings:

1) I think I've finally notice a difference in hair/nail growth. My nails have grown really long this last week and I feel like I just cut them. So, maybe those prenatal vitamins are finally affecting my nails! If only I could tell if my hair was growing faster.... I plan on getting my hair cut next month, so we'll see if after that I can tell a difference. On a related note, I hear that you stop losing your hair when you get pregnant. Not so! I've also heard of some women who lose tons more hair. Neither is true for me. I have always lost lots of hair (because of the thickness?), and I have seen no difference in hair loss between pre-pregnancy and currently.

2) Another happy fact: it's been 5 days since I've last thrown up. Yay! I'm actually keeping a count on our dry erase board. I'm hoping the morning sickness has finally decided to move on....

3) Dry skin: it's getting worse. I'm itching all over the place because of it. I've never been a person to put on lotion after my shower or before bed, but now I think one or both might be necessary. It doesn't help that winter is approaching.

4) Cravings. I still don't have any constant cravings, but the cravings are definitely worsening. I think of a food and bam! I want that like nothing else and I can taste it and it would be sooooo good if I actually had it. The funny thing is that whether it's a craving or I am just hungry, by the time I get food, I can eat about half of what I thought I wanted and then I'm stuffed full. It's very strange, and Jed and I have tried to come up with theories as to why, but I think it's just that the baby and the uterus are starting to take up more room in my belly, so my stomach is getting smaller (but at the same time, emptying faster).

5) Acne has finally subsided! I am noticing fewer breakouts, and that makes me happy.

26 days until we find out the baby's gender!

Tracking the Baby Bump: Week 15

So, here and now we start the pregnancy pictures. I am 15 weeks along and I figure I MUST be growing a little, but haven't noticed a difference. So today we start the tracking to see how I differ in the next several months.

This is me and Baby Stephenson, Week 15!

My disclaimer is that I've had a little pooch since high school, so I can't tell if this little bump is purely me or if it's little Baby Stephenson growing.

By the by, this outfit was specially chosen. You will see this every time I take the baby bump picture because Jed and I both agree it will make it easier to tell a difference from week to week if I've grown. It was also chosen because both the pants and the shirt have lots of stretch... hence why I have to hold the shirt tighter.

Week 15 Baby Stats:

Length: 4 1/2 inches
Weight: 2-3 ounces
If it were a fruit, it would be a: naval orange

Also, 1 month and 2 days until we find out the gender! Mark your calendar to be available the evening of November 18th to come to (in person or via Skype) a party where we'll announce the gender!