28 Weeks

How far along: 28 Weeks
Total weight gain: About 17
How big is baby: around 15 inches long and weighs about 2 1/2 pounds
Maternity clothes: Do you see how big I am getting? That is a yes.
Stretch marks: I saw a "Yo Mama" joke that said, "Yo Mama is so fat her clothes have stretch marks." I hope that isn't what our daughter is thinking right now! :)
Best moment this week: I felt the baby get the hiccups for the first time. We had just been talking about it earlier that afternoon with some friends, and that evening I felt her get the hiccups. She is one active little girl!
Food cravings: I've been craving healthier foods finally - salad, string cheese, almonds - that is a nice change from all the sweets I have been wanting.
What I miss: sleeping on my stomach
What I'm looking forward to: Just enjoying these next three months. Pregnancy is such a miracle and I love feeling our baby move inside of me. It will be wonderful to meet her, but I don't want to take this time for granted either because it is so special too.

Snow...snow...and more....snow

We've been lucky to have a pretty mild winter this year. Our temperatures stayed in the 30's most of January, which we should apparently be grateful for! From what we hear, we haven't had as much snow as normal either. The farmers around here depend on the snow melt for their irrigation, so I think we are supposed to be hoping for more snow. Here are a few shots from our front door:

I don't think I want to see a normal winter.

Birthing Class

Aaron and I attended a birthing class that our hospital offers last weekend. The best part of it was the tour of the hospital. Now we know where we need to go once "the moment" gets here! We also learned way more than we wanted to about giving birth. Luckily neither of us got queasy, but one poor guy had to get orange juice after seeing the epidural needle.

They really tried to involve the husbands in the class. In fact, one way they involve them is by letting them wear the "empathy belly." They wrap a band around their chests to constrict their lungs a little bit and then put 35 pounds worth of belly and boobs on them. They also get to wear a very unflattering shirt. Here we are comparing bellies:

He has me beat by a long shot!

Another portion of the class teaches about newborn care. Each of the guys in the class had to draw a slip of paper to see how they needed to care for their baby. Aaron's "child" was sick. He was one of the only guys who actually knew what he was doing. Sure made me proud! :)

27 Weeks

How far along: 27 Weeks
Total weight gain: Still about 13 - I have a doctor's appointment next week, so I'll get the official weight then.
How big is baby: around 13 ¾ inches long and weighs 2¼ pounds
Maternity clothes: Yes - And I have to say a HUGE thank you to my sweet friend Johnna. She and her husband recently welcomed their beautiful daughter Quincy into this world. She sent me one of her maternity dresses, and it is adorable as you can see in the picture. It is the coolest dress I have ever seen because it can be several outfits and is reversible. What a great idea! The dress just happened to get here the same day that we had an event here in town to go to that was dressy. I was not feeling great about what I was going to wear and when I got home from work there was Johnna's dress. Thank you Johnna!!!
Stretch marks: I hate to admit it, but they have arrived. I'll just start looking at them as my battle scars. :)
Belly button: Still an innie!! Maybe it will make it another three months!
Sleep: Um yeah- that is getting a little more difficult, but we are managing. Aaron is getting quite used to me and my pillows hogging the bed.
Best moment this week: We got several of the books out of storage that Aaron had when he was a little boy. He has started reading a Bible story and a kid's story to the baby each night. One night he was doing a Goofy impersonation and the baby went crazy. It was almost as if she was laughing at her silly Dad! It was too cute.
Food cravings: none really this week
What I miss: being able to go to the gym for a good workout. After finding out about the disc in my back I have been very limited in my physical activity. It is starting to make me a little stir crazy, especially in these long winter months. I would love to have a good kick boxing workout right now - but that would definitely be a sight!
What I'm looking forward to: We have started working on the nursery, and I can't wait to get it set up! The crib is here. The bedding is done. The walls are partially painted. Just a few more steps and we will be ready to set things up!
Milestone: We are in our third trimester! I can't believe it is already here!! Less than three months to go now and we will get to meet our daughter! I am enjoying the pregnancy, but I definitely have my eye on the prize.

Less than 100 days to go!!! 26 weeks

How far along: 26 Weeks - Less than 100 days to go!!
How big is baby: about 1 and 2/3 pounds and 15 inches in length
Total weight gain: Well it was bound to happen....I have gained 13 pounds to date. The Christmas holidays caught up with me, but I am actually still under the suggested weight gain for being this far along in my pregnancy. Thank goodness I'm back in Idaho away from our family's good cooking and Tex-Mex! :) I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and was measuring a week early.
Maternity clothes: I am starting to actually grow into some of my maternity tops now!
Sleep: Still sleeping pretty well...although rolling over is getting a little tougher.
Best moment this week: Getting back into our routine has been nice. Also, since I am back to sitting at my desk more, I am feeling the baby move so much more during the day. I may not be saying this in a couple of months, but I don't ever get tired of feeling her move. It is such an amazing thing!
Food cravings: Nothing is safe with me right now! I want to eat any and everything in sight. What I miss: laying on my stomach
What I'm looking forward to: Getting the nursery set up. Our crib came in yesterday, so it will be fun to get the room put together. We started moving some furniture around this weekend to get it cleared out.

Also, our neighbors are at the hospital awaiting the arrival of their little boy. We can't wait to meet him! When I found out her water had broke this morning it made everything seem even more real. She is about 3 1/2 weeks early, so it made me feel a little anxious to start getting things together even though we still have 14 weeks to go. I know I still have a TON of time to get things done (or I hope I do anyways), but I will feel better when things are a little more organized. :)

Mom and Dad's Visit

My parents came up to see us in September. It was so great to have them here for a few days. They flew in to Salt Lake, and we picked them up from the airport. Then we went downtown to show them around a little bit. They wanted to see Temple Square, and it was a good place to stretch out our legs and walk around for a little bit.

We ate dinner and then made the drive back to our house. When they got here we decided to give them a quick tour of the house. At this point I was about 10 weeks pregnant, but we had not told anyone yet. The last room we showed them is the room that will be the nursery. When we walked in, I said, "and in April, this room will be the baby's nursery." My Dad started grinning, and then my Mom caught on. It was fun to finally be able to finally share the news with them!

The next morning Aaron went to work, and I went to a meeting for work. After lunch I took Mom and Dad downtown and to see the falls. The weather was perfect that day!

Dad checking to see how cold the Snake River was that day.

Me and Dad

Caught them looking at each other sweetly!

The flowers were so beautiful!!!

The next day we headed up to Yellowstone. On the way up to the park we stopped in a field to check out potato harvest.

From what we could tell, this is a digger that turns the ground so the potatoes will be on top.

Truck full of potatoes ready to be eaten! Mmmmm....
We took a different route this trip and stumbled across this river called the Warm River. There was a deck where you could buy fish food and feed the bass. It was amazing to see the fish gobbling up the food. There were several of them just hanging out in the water waiting to be fed. We wished we would have brought our fishing poles!

Dad buying fish food.

The fish jumping in the water to get some grub.

Dad and Aaron checking things out.

Aaron and I had been wanting to go to the Mesa Falls since we moved up here, but hadn't done it yet, so on our way up to Yellowstone we stopped to take a look. They were beautiful!!

Lower Mesa Falls

The falls are supposed to be in the background....but when you ask some random person to take a picture for you, you don't always get what you want. :)

We had to hike up a bunch of stairs to see the Upper Mesa Falls. It was definitely worth it! The foliage was beautiful and the falls were breathtaking!
Upper Mesa Falls







Everything was just beautiful!

Before long we were pulling into Yellowstone. September is a perfect time to go. There aren't as many people there, the weather is perfect, the leaves are starting to change colors, and the animals are starting to move about more.

Bald Eagle sitting in a tree

Elk grazing - We got to hear a couple of them bugle! That was really neat!
Firehole Canyon River

Firehole Canyon Falls

This is taken from Geyser Basin looking north.

The day we were in the park there was a fire. You can see all the smoke over the ridge line.

Dad and Mom being good little tourists! Everyone has to have a picture in front of the sign pointing towards Old Faithful!

In front of Old Faithful

More pictures of the smoke. We had originally planned to stay in the park that night, but the fire was in the vicinity of all the hotels. The road to get up to them was completely blocked. So we changed plans and headed down through Grand Teton instead.

It just so happened there was a fire in Grand Teton that same day. We were going through close to dusk. Mom took the next few pictures as we were driving. She got some pretty amazing shots.

Sunset over the Teton Range

The Tetons

Such an amazing shot! The colors were breathtaking!

The Tetons are so large that besides the haze in this picture, you can't tell there is a fire a few miles north of here.



Dad and Mom in Jackson, WY

My Mom is the best!! I love that she doesn't mind being silly with us!

We had dinner that night in the Wort Hotel at the Silver Dollar Grill. I wish we would have gotten some pictures, but I was not feeling well and just didn't think about it. Everyone enjoyed their food and the atmosphere was fun too. The Silver Dollar Bar looked to be a happening place - maybe next time!

The next day Mom and I went out shopping and the guys decided to go look at some trees we had been wanting to get. Mom and I were in the fabric store when we got a call that we were needed to come give our opinions on the trees. We ended up buying a couple of Ornamental Crabapple Trees to replace some ugly, dying trees in our backyard. The will bloom so beautifully in the spring. I can't wait to post pictures of them!

Aaron and Dad digging the hole for the first tree.

The new trees are planted...time to dig out the old ones!
While they were digging away, I took some time to harvest our very first apple crop. I have to admit I was a little disappointed to only get three apples out of five apple trees! I think I have mentioned it before, but Aaron's family has a recipe for Apple Butter that is the best! I love it on toast or biscuits in the morning. His Great Aunt Ann had even sent me the family recipe so I could make us a batch with our apples. Maybe our crop will turn out better this year!

We had a great time with Mom and Dad and were so glad they were able to come up and spend several days with us! It was nice to be able to share the news of the baby with them finally! My Dad even made me some of his delicious homemade chicken noodle soup complete with homemade noodles. I lived on that stuff for a while!

The last morning they were here was a very exciting morning. We had our 10 week check up at the doctor's office and our second ultrasound. We scheduled it early enough that Mom and Dad could be there for it before I took them to the airport. After the sonographer checked everything she needed to, Aaron went to get Mom and Dad. Charla, our sonographer, was so sweet to let them watch her moving about for close to fifteen minutes! She also took a few 3-D shots for us. It was really sweet of her to let Mom and Dad enjoy that with us.

We can't wait for Mom and Dad to come back and see us in April to meet their first granddaughter!!

Perfect Weekend

Do you ever have those weekends where you just sit back and think life couldn't get any better? We just had one of those weekends. Friday night after work Aaron grilled "Poor Man's Filet Mignon" and red potatoes. It was scrumptious! Later we went out for milk shakes at this place called Scotty's Drrive-In. It is an old drive in and has been around since 1964. We stopped at Hastings on the way home and rented Season 1 of Friends. It was fun to just hang out watching Friends and enjoying the evening together.

Saturday morning Aaron got up and made his famous Saturday morning pancakes. This has become a tradition for us since moving to IF. I never take it for granted because so many Saturdays in Texas he was in the field at daybreak. Saturday mornings are one of my favorite days of the week now! Then we packed up and headed to Grand Targhee for some skiing. Aaron bought some skis earlier this winter and hadn't gotten a chance to try them out yet. I hung out in the lodge and watched him come in a few times and got some thank you notes written.

We've seen the west side of the Tetons several times, but haven't seen the east side except from a distance. Here they are covered in snow. They don't look nearly as massive from this side.



Aaron finishing up a run. (He's the guy in the center on the left) I was too lazy to go outside and get the shot, so I zoomed in from the lodge. :)

Aaron after finishing up his last run

Once we got home we went over to our friends Rob and Traci's house for a game of Monopoly and some of Traci's cheesy potato soup! It was a fun evening!! They have two little boys who are just precious.

We got up Sunday morning and went to Mass. The Gospel reading was the Wedding Feast at Cana and Deacon Eric gave a great homily. We came home and made an experimental Kung Pao Chicken that ended up in the trash! It was a mix we had found at the grocery store, but it was definitely no Pei Wei! After a long afternoon nap cuddled up by the fireplace we hung all of my crosses up on the wall in our front room. I haven't had them displayed in almost three years, so it was nice to have them up where we can enjoy them again! Then we starting moving some furniture to get ready for the baby's crib to come in hopefully this week!! I can't wait! Aaron did the supper dishes while I took a bubble bath and then we watched some more Friends. It was a relaxing, yet productive weekend. We want to cherish these last few months we have together before our life changes in a BIG way!