Time at Home

I have to say that I am definitely enjoying my time at home so far. Nic got up early and made me breakfast in bed this morning!! He's the best hubby ever. He works so hard and such long hours and he still does everything in his power to make me happy. He made blueberry cream cheese filled french toast, cheesy eggs, beef sausage with a side of fruit! And I LOVE the happy carnations! Here it is before I ate it:



For those of you who don't know, the pressure of our little boy in my abdomen has caused an inguinal hernia to form, which isn't super common in women but can happen. I had surgery for one on my right side when I was 18 months old, so maybe I'm somehow predisposed to them. At any rate, everything is good with the pregnancy itself, and our baby boy is healthy, but when I'm on my feet for a period of time it starts to get painful. I also have really limited weight lifting restrictions now. As a result, it was decided that it would be better for me not to be working. We're hoping as baby gets bigger and things shift around again some of the pressure will be taken off that area. At any rate, I'll be able to get it fixed about a month after giving birth.

I've been a little bit blobby the last few days, especially since it's been so cold and snowy outside. I have lots of books to read before the baby comes... both fiction and birth/newborn related. I really want to get back into writing every day. It's hard to get back into once you've fallen out of the habit!

I've also been looking up and printing recipes and planning meals. It's hard sometimes since Nic is at work a lot and I have lots of meals by myself. I've found I don't always feel like eating what I've planned lately. I'll blame pregnancy cravings and such for that. Mostly if I decide I want something I really really want it until I get it. :) Nothing weird, though!

I need to organize the baby things we have received already and continue going through all the magazines I have so I can save what recipes and things I want to keep and get rid of the rest.

We have just over 15 weeks until my due date... and I know he could be here even before that! Lots to do, just have to motivate myself to do it while still staying off my feet most of the time and resting. I guess that's all for now. Here are some raspberry- and apricot-filled thumbprint cookies I just baked!



I should stop eating them... probably giving baby a sugar rush. I can feel him bumping around!

It's a boy!

Yesterday we had a 21 week ultrasound. It was really an amazing experience. We had a couple before that weren't at all in depth and were earlier in the pregnancy, at 8 and 14 weeks. During this one we got to see EVERYTHING. We got to see all through his little brain, and all the parts of it look perfect. We could see his little nose and mouth and even his tongue moving in his mouth! He wiggled all over the place and sucked his thumb and streeeetched all the way out. It was really amazing feeling his big movements and seeing it at the same time on the screen. We saw his heart, all four chambers beating away at 144 bpm, and even the arteries going in and coming out of it. The tech showed him in cross-section all the way down his body... lungs, diaphragm, stomach, kidneys... and of course that was when we learned that he is most definitely a boy. I probably shouldn't post this, but I'm going to do it anyway because it makes me smile at how obvious it is.



We saw where the umbilical cord attached to him and the placenta, and the tech was able to color the blood flow based on the movement so we saw red blood twisting in the cord into his body and blue blood going back out. His spine and all the attachments and fluid looked great as well!

We saw five fingers on his hands and his little feet look perfect too! I guess the toes are harder to see so they look and make sure it looks like they have "at least" five toes on each foot, lol.



It was amazing seeing the bones in his little body so clearly.




She measured his head and femur bone and the size of his body and everything was perfect as far as dating. I think our official due date is now March 23rd, 2011. It's funny how it's been the 22nd, the 23rd and the 24th... so really it doesn't matter, we know it will be sometime around there.

This morning I woke up and felt him wiggling around and realized that we are going to have a SON. It really hit me harder than it has before. It's amazing and scary and wonderful, but I can't wait to hold him. :) Bye for now!

New Haircut!

I have no idea when my last haircut was. I vaguely remember being in a hair salon a LONG time ago and after that there was one time we got my hair braided... I think that was in middle school! My salon experience is minimal at best. So last week when my mom and I were walking through the mall and one of the Regis stylists ran out the door and asked me to be a model for a class they were having about working with "ethnic" hair I decided maybe a free haircut wouldn't be a bad thing.

I totally didn't want to go this morning. It's scary having someone mess with how you look! But I did go, and after a wash and condition the instructor cut my hair! It was sad seeing all those little fluffballs on the floor of the salon, lol. Then I made a comment about how I would have no idea what to do to straighten my hair, and he asked if I wanted him to do it. So I said yes! He rinsed it, blow-dryed and flat-ironed it on about 20 mins. I'm sure it would take me an hour at least and it wouldn't be as smooth. But since he had cut my hair into a good shape and gotten rid of some of the damaged ends, it looks pretty good straight too. I look like a totally different person! I sent my mom a pic and she didn't know who it was at first, lol.




Tomorrow after I wash it I will have to take a curly pic of it down... it's going to be weird since it was so uneven before. It feels like it's still long enough that I'll get a good ponytail out of it... and your hair is supposed to grow extra when you are pregnant so even if it's a little short hopefully it will grow back quickly!!

Super HUGE news!

Well, I was planning on waiting a bit longer before I posted this online but I think most of the people we wanted to tell right away already know and even though there is a tiny chance something could happen since I'm still in the first trimester, we are going to be positive and post a blog about being preggers!

We went to the free womens clinic this morning and had an ultrasound... looks like baby is doing just fine so far! Perfect size for 8 weeks and 1 day, heart beating at 162 bpm! And the little one was moving around while we were trying to get a good pic.


From the side, and baby was waving "Hi!" (head on top, tiny arm out front)


A little bit upside down! (Head on the left, bum on the right, back along the top)

It was so amazing to see that little heart fluttering and know that I have our BABY inside me! Still boggles my mind! It really put my mind at ease to see that it's really in there.

I'm due March 24, 2011!!

Now that I've said that I forgot all the other stuff I wanted to blog about. I felt like I couldn't blog since I found out because I wanted to post it!! I've barely even been updating my Facebook statuses, lol. Well, I will think of it soon. I guess I need to blog about our CA trip but I have to organize pics a bit first!

Summer Updates!

Well, I obviously suck at blogging regularly. But that's ok because I'm awesome at everything else I do, right? Ha, haha....yeah. Moving on.

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. Although I guess we've been on a couple little trips since I last posted. My dad and step-mom were here in May and we went to Yellowstone! It was really nice since I'm pretty sure that was the first visit to Yellowstone that I've done that was on a nice, warm day. Every other time it's been cold and/or windy so it was a nice change.







It was really great to see them again! We are headed to CA pretty soon for a big family visit and it will be nice to get to spend a little bit more time than we did last year.

In Early June we went to Idaho to visit Nic's family and attend his cousin's wedding. I finally got to meed his best childhood friend and I know he enjoyed seeing everyone all together like that!





More recently we attended a wedding of a couple friends (which I made the cakes for) and then we headed to Great Falls to visit my family.

Here is the main cake, followed by the Groom's cake.




While in Great Falls we visited Ryan Dam, which is on the Great Falls of the Missouri that Lewis and Clark found on their original expedition. So we took some fun photos!







After we got back to Bozeman there was a HUGE hailstorm that did a great deal of damage to people's cars, homes, and gardens, including ours. The windshield in my car is so broken it's not driveable. On our other car the driver's side mirror was shattered. Both of our cars are covered with pock marks. I heard that the siding in some people's houses was filled with holes. It broke the window in our kitchen but it's double paned glass so it didn't come all the way through. Some of my plants were pretty shredded, but they are bouncing back. I was SO sad that it knocked off my first tiny little tomato. :( Here are some pics of the hail (in Nic's hand) and my plants before they got hailed on.





The tomatoes have already doubled, if not tripled in size since I took that picture on the day I planted everything.

Well, I think that's a sufficient update for the time being. I have a couple recipes I want to share in my next post, and after our next trip I will post some pics from CA! We also have our anniversary coming up and some of our bestest friends ever visiting in August!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Thinking Pink!!

Hello everyone! Well, maybe 3 people. Maybe.

At any rate, time has been FLYING by so far this year. I can't believe that it's almost April!! Not too much has been happening over the last few months. Both of us are working and when we aren't we're probably sitting at home!

The newest thing is that in January I signed my Mary Kay Consultant agreement and started my own business selling all of the wonderful Mary Kay products! I even have my own website!



So if any of you are interested in having a party or getting anything, let me know! :)

A new year, better blogging habits?

Probably not. Buuut... we'll see. I'll be optimistic and say that I will try to post at least once a month. That way, if I post once every two weeks, or once a week... then I will feel completely accomplished and wonderful about my blogging abilities.

Last Wednesday I cut Nic's hair! It was the first time I've ever cut anyone's hair and I feel very proud of myself. As long as he's happy with it and doesn't really care if it's not totally perfect, I think this could be a good thing! We will save lots of money and it was nice to spend that time together. Nic wasn't even worried that I was really nervous about messing up and he was really encouraging. I love my husband. :D

Here's what he looked like right before I started (I messed his hair up so you could see how long it was.)



And then after! He's so cute!



Anyway, I'm sitting here at home while Nic is at work, watching a crappy movie on the Lifetime Channel. But I did make something tasty for myself for dinner, a creamy pasta with salmon and peas and mushrooms. It turned out well, I think! Last night I made some Pecan Caramels and the ladies at work loved them. I'm going to have to cut the rest of them up and take some more with me tomorrow. :)

Here's a cute kitty picture for today...