Birthday & Memorial Day Weekend

I realize I've been blogging a lot recently.  There's been a lot of wonderful things going on, and I want to be sure to be caught up on everything by the time the baby comes.  And who knows when that will be!

Seems like every weekend in May is a different holiday!  2 Sundays ago was Mother's day, 1 Sunday ago was Nala's birthday, and this Sunday (yesterday) was muh burfday! Today, of course, is Memorial Day!

Warning: Um, maybe don't read this post if you're hungry.  I've realized I talk a lot about and post pictures of a lot of food.  Eh, sorry...What can I say.  I love food?

It's been an exciting last week.  On Wednesday I had my final observation of a lesson for my Student Teaching.  Even though I'm not finished with this part of my student teaching until May 30, it felt SO GOOD to be finished with the big lessons that I needed to teach.  These next few days are mainly going to be end of the year activities like field day and dance festival.  It will be tiring, but fun! And I don't need to spend my evenings preparing lessons anymore :) instead I can focus on relaxing and any cleaning and baby prep.  It's been quite a relief.  And has left some time for relaxing! I got some of my birthday gifts a little early and put them to good use!  I think I've probably taken about 4 bubble baths in the last week thanks to Jim's Mom's gift and taken several wonderful naps with my new "Sunday Quilt" from Grandma Foulk.

Grandma's mom (Veva, my great-grandma) had made the top part of the quilt, which Grandma found on her recent trip to AZ.  Grandma took part of that quilt and turned it into a wonderfully comfortable blanket for me.  It's pretty awesome to not only have a beautiful and comfortable blanket, but to have one with so much meaning and family history behind it.  

Thank you so much to everyone for the wonderful and thoughtful gifts and birthday wishes! 

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Because my birthday was on Sunday this year, we went out Saturday nights to celebrate a bit.  We went to the movies and saw Iron Man 3.  Figured it would be a fun thing to do since going to the movie theaters with a newborn is... Difficult? Impossible? Frowned upon? Not enjoyable?  ...all of the above.

It was a pretty good movie.  Truth be told though, its just fun to go out on a date :) Also, a 2+ hr movie is hard to sit through when you're 38+ weeks pregnant.  I did it though!

(Even if your bestest buddy doesn't like to take pictures and you have to take creepy pictures when he isn't looking during the previews :D  I know, I'm hilarious.)

Sunday was church and I had some nummy French Toast for breakfast...DELICIOUS

After church we were able to spend some time talking with the family on Google Hangout and my visiting teachers came to visit.  

Then we went across the street to the park and had a nice picnic.  This was especially fun for me because Jim really, for some odd reason, does not care for picnics at all.  But since it was my birthday, we went on a picnic!

And a really healthy one at that...

Pizza rolls, anyone? Don't judge. They were delicious!

We had a real dinner later that night.  This was more of a little lunch :)

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I also, of course, made and decorated a cake.  But I didn't really want to go over the top with this one.  Normally I'd be all for an elaborate, edible, work of art.  But for now, I'm content with a simple, tasty, pretty cake.  

Also, I thought I'd try out my camera some more with the cake.  So, I'm sorry.  There's a few pictures of the cake :) I was having fun with it.  And because it's Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd be a bit patriotic with the cake.  Can I just say: Easiest cake ever, yet it looks very pretty.  I mean this maybe took all of 15 minutes to decorate--frosting and all.

Devil's Food Cake

Whipped Cream

Blueberries

Strawberries

If anyone in the area is reading this... please stop by and get a piece?  I don't need to eat another chocolate cake entirely to myself.  I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. 

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Last night I was able to spend several hours doing family history... in honor of Memorial Day, especially focusing on the stories of those involved in the military and veterans.  You may consider family history work a lame way to spend your birthday... but if you know me at all, you know it's actually one of my favorite things to do.  It was a lot of fun :)

Memorial Day...Well today we relaxed! Being due in 10 days, there wasn't really too much I wanted to "go out" and do.  Memorial Day tends to be filled with BBQs, water parks, water sports, hiking, etc.  As fun as those things are... sleeping, organizing, and relaxing is good enough for me!  And you know what? I got 11 hours of sleep last night.  It was pretty amazing I was able to sleep that much (only slightly interrupted with bathroom trips) but I didn't have hardly any pain!  It was a happy birthday gift to me as one of the last times that I'll be able to get that great of a good night's sleep before the baby :) I'm enjoying it while I can.

I also used some of my birthday money to go get a pedicure! Heaven knows, I sure can't reach my toes anymore! (But I can still see them!) 

Now I don't want to be too negative, but I'd be lying if I said it was fantastic.  Am I glad I went and got it done? Yes.  Because it needed to be done, and seeing my toes now makes me happy :)  

However, sitting in a very hot place (when you're already always overheating in normal temperature rooms), filled with crazy fumes, with a massage chair punching your back, is not the most fun.  Within about 10 minutes of being there, I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or pass out first.  Eventually I figured out how to turn the chair off and asked for a bottle of water, which seemed to help a great deal.

However, the poor woman across from me was already 2 days past her due date.  Poor thing! 

The foot and leg massage though was heavenly and I started feeling a lot better about half way through :) I just thought it would not be fair to other future mommas to say, like everyone I've talked to, that "it's to die for" and "the best thing you can do at the end of pregnancy".  If you do... 1) Bring water, 2) Make sure it's well ventilated, and 3) Find a friend to go with you.  I don't think I'll be going next pregnancy.

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Tonight, Geoff took us out for dinner for my birthday.  It was fantastic! And I'm sorry... I didn't take another picture of my food :) It was so fun and thoughtful though to be able to go out and spend some time together.  We will sure miss him when he moves to Virginia. 

Well! Tomorrow we'll be at 9 days til due date! Here's to hoping we can at least make it until Saturday, June first!  I think we'll be okay :)

Thoughts to Baby

Dear little one,

I'm excited for you to get here and very ready to meet you. But if you could hold off a bit longer, we would very much appreciate it.  It would also be fantastic if you would not pull the little stunt of having terrifyingly real and painful Braxton Hicks contractions the night before every observation at school. This is the 3rd time in a row that you've done this now and I have a lesson to plan :) I have a week and a half left of school that I would love to finish without incident. I will try to take it easy between the walking field trips, the field days, the dance festivals, the 3-K fundraiser and all of the other fun but exhausting activities. You take it easy too, and we will see you in June! 

Love,

Your Wishfully thinking Mommy 

Getting There...

I think we've finally gotten everything baby related ready. Clothes washed, bottles, pacifiers, etc sterilized, furniture and baby equipment assembled, carseat installed, hospital bag packed, and everything in it's proper place.

It's been a long time coming, and every time I think I'm close to being done, I realize how many more little things I need to do. But aside from basic house cleaning, I think I've caught up! 

It's about time too because I'm just about 38 weeks! And let me tell you...I'm feelin it!  These last few weeks are going to be very hard.  Every day I feel like I could not get any bigger, be any more uncomfortable, or be in anymore pain than I already am...and then I am. 

I had a doctors appointment today. Everything still seems to be going great! She doesn't check for dilation or anything until 39 weeks, but I'm doubtful that there's any of that going on yet.  We will see! I've scheduled 2 more appointments for this pregnancy.  One before due date, and one afterward.  If we have the appointment after due date, we will schedule induction at that point. But lets hope that we don't get to that point :) because I'm feeling ready right now. 

Happy 1st Birthday Nala!

Well, it's hard to believe this little pup is a year old already! We haven't had her for a year, but we got her at 8 weeks old and calculated her birthday to be May 19th, just a week before mine :)

I did some research and looked up a recipe for a doggie cake that wouldn't make Nala sick.

I happened upon this recipe and it was actually spectacular.  As you will see... Nala loved it!  It basically just contained honey, shredded carrots, and peanut butter.  

The cake batter was thick enough that I didn't even have to carve the cake into a shape... I just molded it into a bone shape and sat it in a round pan.  Pretty convenient!

I made the frosting with peanut butter, a tiny bit of oil, and a tiny bit of powdered sugar. 

And of course, some dog treats to top it off.  

Unfortunately for the birthday girl, I baked it the night before and it made the whole house smell like a tasty peanut butter snack...that wasn't able to be eaten yet.  

Apparently, it was just torture!

"Oh PLEASE, can I have it Mom?!"

Pardon the ridiculously round face.  This is apparently where my pregnancy weight goes :) 

At 37 weeks, I don't care too much to have my photo taken...

Nala checkin it out

 Nala trying to take the whole thing off of the board...

We decided not to give her the whole thing.  So she waited patiently...

...while I cut her a smaller piece

But then it was all hers!

 ...which she quite enjoyed!

A little later, we opened some presents.  

You can see, she was very intent on getting her presents...

And getting straight to opening them up!

 She got a new ball that whistles when you throw it...it's nice and hard so finally a toy that she can't/won't destroy hopefully!

She also got a "pet rug" which is just a little area of fluffy fabric for her to "place" on in the bedroom. 

Since she only has a "place" in the living room, we decided she'd better have a "place" in the bedroom/baby room so that she is able to 

see what's going on with the baby but not get all over everything

She also got this tasty treat, which she has been devouring.  

I think she quite enjoyed her birthday!

Except maybe all the pictures...

"Mom... please... turn the flash off and let me eat my bone!"

Happy Birthday Nala girl!

We sure do love you!!

Recent Events/iPhone App

So, I just learned today that Blogger has an app for the iPhone. It makes sense, I'd just never thought of it before! So, I'm trying it out tonight. It would be easier for me to do it this way because the majority of my pictures are taken on my phone. Instead of uploading, I can just add them. They seem low quality though...I guess we'll see! Now that I have this app, it will probably result in more posts that are shorter and more pointless...maybe once a week instead of a big  post every 2-4 weeks. This also may result in more posting of just random thoughts and experiences that you don't care to hear about :). So, I apologize in advance. But at the same time...my blog is also a journal for me. I write first and foremost so that I will remember things and feelings so I'm not offended if you don't read everything! Enough rambling for now though!

This last Sunday was Mother's Day. We had a nice day together and enjoyed my "first" Mother's Day, even though this little guy isn't here yet. Between Mother's Day, my birthday, and my upcoming delivery, there's a lot of gift giving going on, so I asked for just combination presents instead of a million and one gifts that I don't need :) of course, Jim didnt wanna not get anything for Mothers Day so this is what he got me: 

....because I haven't gained enough weight in the last 37 weeks ;) it's gone now of course! And was very thoughtful...and delicious.

And what's not to love about Mothers Day gifts from church? :)

I believe this photo was taken the Saturday before Mothers Day because we realized I never took a 36 weeks shot! So this would have been at 36+2. Also, this is the shirt that I wore on my first date with Jim...and look at it now! 

Other than student teaching (which consumes most of my life), I've just been doing baby prep and crafts. On Saturday we spent most of the day shopping to get all last minute things we still need, stock on some groceries etc. I think we hit up Target, PetSmart, Michaels, Smiths, RC Willey and Sam's Club in the course of a few hours. It was kinda exhausting, but we got most everything we needed! We had a Target registry completion coupon that discounted everything we still had on the registry. Obviously we didnt buy it all, but got a few things that we needed/really wanted.  I also got several craft items from Michaels so that when I want to do some crafts after Jimmie is born, I don't have to go out and get them. 

For this little project, all I bought were snaps. Made some bow ties from scrap fabric and ribbon...but a snap on one onesie and several bow ties. Fun, huh? 

I finally got caught up on finishing organizing the nursery. The clothes are sorted into categories of categories of categories. Here are some of our 3 month old onesies.  I took a picture because I found it hilarious that I had enough sports onesies that they have their own category. 

A few of the things ordered from registry were online only. They came in the mail the last few days. Got the changing table pad and cover...

As I sorted and organized, I realized, we have a lot of giraffes 😍 this isn't even the start of all of them 

And today we got our glider in the mail with some crib sheets. Cute, huh?! 

Also, I've been doing things that help me relax recently. Like organizing as crazy as that sounds. Tonight, it ended up being a painting. When you buy a value pack of 10 canvases, this is what happens. You sit down for a second and the next thing you know, you're painting inspirational quotes. (James Barrie is the author of Peter Pan)

In other news: it's been very, very hot. Like high 80's low 90's. All I can say is, I couldn't be happier that I will not be pregnant during the hottest months of the year! I haven't really had swelling until the past few weeks because of the temperatures.  Feet, ankles, fingers. You name it, I'm a balloon and everything is getting uncomfortable. Everything feels much hotter while I'm pregnant.  We've had our air on 4 times this week. Phew! 

Student Teaching is going great. I've rocked my observations and have really enjoyed it so far. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to be done, but it's been fun. 

I'm 37 weeks today and I feel pretty good. Having weekly appointments now, starting on Monday :) ill have to get a picture taken sometime soon for 37 weeks. Can't believe we're almost there! 8.5 days of school left... 20 days of pregnancy til EDD.  Life is about to change so drastically! I don't know if its really hit me yet, that were so close, but I'm definitely ready! 3 more weeks. I can do that :)

A BYU Graduation

I think I mentioned in my last post that Mom and Dad were out here a few weeks ago.  Mom and Meg flew out, did the baby shower, took Megan to BYU-Idaho, Mom came back down to Utah and then Dad flew out to join her back in Utah for Geoff's graduation.  It was really a lot of fun and very helpful to get to see them for the (almost) week that they were here! We had so much fun together.  

And even though I'm done with all of my classes, I still need to finish my student teaching. I'm doing part of it right now teaching 5th grade (started on April 23 before finals ended) and will teach until May 30th.  Then I'll have a few more weeks of student teaching to finish in the fall.  That means I'll officially graduate in December and I should be finished teaching in October.

We're very proud of our graduate, Geoff! I can't even quite imagine having to take all the crazy classes he's taken for this Chemical Engineering degree and are excited for his next adventure in Virginia (though we'll miss having him out here!).  

Here are a few shots from our times at graduation:

The graduate

Mom ran into an old friend 

Geoff and Dad 

 Commencement

Geoff was somewhere over there :)

Dad, Geoff, myself in front of Y mountain

Never did capture a great cap throwing shot, but this one wasn't too bad!

I thought it would be fun to take a shot next to an "exit" sign :)

And it couldn't have been a more beautiful day for graduation

We were having great luck on graduation day and went out to eat right after at Bombay House.  They were able to squeeze us in before a crazy rush and only had wait like 2 minutes.  

I'd never had Indian food before... it was DELICIOUS!

The graduate in front of one of the university signs

It was really fun to get to see everyone and hang out

but sometimes, by the end of the day, we were all pretty tired :) 

Found these two cuddled on the floor one night... they probably slept like that for 45 minutes!

Congratulations, Geoff!

One Month til Due Date

Well, it's May 6th!  My wonderful Mom's birthday and the 1 month mark from my due date! 

Also the day of my doctors appointment and Nala's check up.

I'm feeling pretty blessed, especially today, at how well my pregnancy has gone.  Not everything has been ideal, but I feel like (especially compared to others) this pregnancy has been relatively uneventful in a great way.  Baby and Mom have both been healthy with very little hiccups along the way.  (But literally though, I never felt any hiccups, haha) 

I found this little pregnancy journal thing, that would have been a lot better to have done all throughout, but, oh well! Can't hurt to start now.

(This picture was from 35 weeks)

Weeks: 35 +4

Baby Size: Somewhere between 5-6 lbs and 18-19 inches on average. Today at the doctors, she said that he is measuring just a tad bit small, but is doing great.  He sure feels huge inside this belly of mine and they could only fit about half of his head on the ultrasound screen.  He is big enough for me! 

Symptoms: Really not too bad actually.  Heartburn/acid reflux here and there, fatigue, and overall just uncomfortable, slow, and waddling around.  Oh, and my hips hurt...like crazy.

Weight Gain: +28 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight

Cravings/Food Aversions: Eating well overall.  Not "craving" anything in particular and can pretty much eat whatever I'd like.  Unfortunately, I just eat A LOT of whatever I eat.  Today, for an afternoon snack, I ate an entire box of Pasta Roni White Cheddar Shells...oops?

Movement: My movement or his? Well, I'm moving... slowly.  Waddling everywhere.  And I feel like every normal person that I walk next to is sprinting.  Maybe both Jim and my mentor teacher for Student Teaching really are "fast walkers", but I feel like a walrus trying to keep up with a cheetah.

Baby Jimmie is moving all over the place.  Not "kicking" anymore because he's to big to be doing that, just overall movement all the time.  He likes to arch his back out on my right side and also kick my ribs.  Never have my ribs felt so sore.  But every time we've checked on him, he's head down and in position! So I'll take that over having a breech baby.  My belly is always wiggling around and you can see him pushing out different parts of my stomach. 

Sleep:  I sleep so much, but sleep so little.  I know that doesn't make sense.  I take a good amount of naps, and get a good amount of sleep, but the quality of sleep has gone severely downhill.  I feel like I wake up about every 20 minutes because my hips hurt so bad.  Neither side is comfortable to lay on, but can't lay on my back.  No amount of pillows or anything seem to help.  Oh, well! 

Thankfully, little guy isn't waking me up during the night with his kicking.  Or I'm just a heavy enough sleeper that I don't notice him.  

What I miss: Being able to bend over without feeling like I'm going to die. being able to do things like clip my toenails without taking an hour and feeling like I deserve a gold medal for accomplishing such a feat.  Most things involving moving like a normal person, or just being able to sit up on my own or get off the couch.

Here's a little shot from Thursday.  I thought it was funny that we had 35 days left and I was 35 weeks! 

And Nala has been doing this a lot :) I think she's starting to understand a little bit more that something is up.  And she's been such a good dog recently, letting Mom take her naps without bugging and being patient with me.  

We realize that it's kinda getting to be "crunch time".  I've got lists of lists of things to get done.  And very very slowly, I think we're getting there! No, we don't have the hospital bag packed.  BUT, I did get the list of things for the hospital bag written. Haha, it's a step in the right direction.  Installing the carseat sometime in the next week as well probably.

When Mom and Dad came to visit they were a HUGE help around here.  We spent an entire day Saturday while Jim was at work getting done some cleaning and odd tasks that need to be done before the baby comes, but would be a little too hard for me to accomplish.  It was so great to have them around, and we got so much accomplished that day.  So grateful for them and their willingness to help!

While we were cleaning, we found this little broken, brown shelf in the common area hallway of our apartment.  It had just been sitting along a back wall, broken and collecting dust. Mom thought it looked salvageable so we brought it in, cleaned it up, and went about fixing it with some super glue and hammer and nails.  It fit absolutely perfectly in the closet and we just happened to have 6 little bins that fit perfectly on the shelf along with all of the books we got from the baby shower.  I LOVE how perfectly it all worked! It was exactly what we needed, and it was free.  A little love and imagination can get you far.  

So we're finishing up things in the nursery.  A few days ago I finally got around to washing and sorting  all of the new baby clothes we've gotten (since the first batch of free clothes) and sterilizing pacifiers, bottles, etc.  

I snapped a shot of some outfits as I was folding the clothes.  So many stinkin' cute outfits--can' wait to see our little man in them! 

We're getting very excited and very busy in this home stretch.  Though we're excited, we're still hoping little guy stays in there til June.  Then he can come any time he wants (preferably sooner than later!)