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4th of July and other good times

One of my dad's pinata creations,

Spongbob Squarepants. At this point

he's already taken a beating.

So, summer is half way over already... I can't believe how the time flies sometimes. I figured I better post something about the summer before it's over completely.

June 28th I had my first baby shower, thrown by Nick's mom, Aunt and sister. I don't have any pictures to post, but it turned out really great. There was a good turnout, and we got some really cute things for the baby. I appreciate all the hard work that was involved in making it a nice and memorable day for me.

I feel so lucky to have such great inlaws who love and support me (and who I love, likewise). They say when you get married you don't marry the family, but it certainly makes a difference if you all get a long and support eachother. So I am grateful for that.

Other events this summer...

For the 4th of July we met at the park and had lunch with Nick's family. We spent the day just hanging out until later that evening when we went to our annual party at Rob and Amy's house. That night we did karaoke and ate some good food. They also had a big bouncy house and my dad made pinatas for the kids.

This year for karaoke, I did a piece with my sisters Mary and Jenny. We sang "White Trash Wedding" by the Dixie Chicks, for the second time. A few years ago, when Mary was pregnant with Ashlynd, we did that song together. Mary was the lead that time. We dressed her up in white, and Jenny and I were supposed to be her bridesmaids. This time around, I had the honors of being the lead while Jenny and Mary were my bridesmaids. We had a lot of fun, despite how ridiculous we probably looked. We were also entartained by some of the usual acts. My brother Rob and cousin Richard both dressed up as Elvis and did their impersonation together.Then Jenny dressed all the kids and herself up as robots and did the song "Robots" from the T.V. show, Flight of the Conchords. It was all very entertaining, to say the least. And now it's just another memory. :)

My pregger Belly

Here is a picture of my 22-week pregger belly, and Nick's... well, I dunno... he seems to think he's pregnant too. I'm just not buying it, lol. Either way, I think I like Nick's picture better than mine. If I'm already this big, I wonder how I'll even keep my balance in a couple more months. I'm already super-uncoordinated as it is. :/

The latest: Nick and I have been trying to get started on the baby's nursery. I'm so excited! A new room to decorate! Yay! I think we're going to do a jungle theme, because they have the cutest crib sets EVER at Baby's 'r' Us. So far, we've gotten the white base coat on the walls. We had to cover up some really dark paint from before. Now we can get to the fun part... choosing the wall color. Probably green. I'm so excited to get started. :D

Other news: I'm feeling our baby move a lot more nowadays. I love feeling him move around. It makes me all giggly. I really wish Nick could feel it. It's just the craziest thing ever to feel this little living thing move around inside of me. It seems so unreal.

It's a......

It's a boy!!!

So, here are our baby's first pictures.

Cute? I think so.

I've been so giddy with excitment all day, I can't even think straight. Seeing our baby move for the first time brought tears to my eyes. It just seems so much more real now. Oh, and Nick took the day off for the ultrasound too. He was just as thrilled as I was to see our little one on the screen.

So... as you now know, IT'S A BOY! And I can't believe it. My sister, Mary had me convinced that it was a girl. She had me so convinced that when the nurse said "boy" I had to ask her about twenty times wether or not she was sure. And oh, she was sure.

Our other news for the day is that they moved the expected due date up. Originally, it was September 2nd. But according to the baby's measurements, they think it will be more like August 27th. That's my dad's birthday! Celeste's too! My dad was pretty excited to hear this news.

Nick's mom, Arlene, was also very excited by the news. This will be her third grandchild, but it's her first grandson. Needless to say, she's happy. We're all so happy.

Baby Names

So, guess what?

I'm 20 weeks preggo as of today!

Do you know what that means?

I finally get my ultrasound tomorrow! YAY!

I'm so excited!

Anyway, I was just thinking of baby names. I know I shouldn't think too hard about it until after we find out if it's a girl or a boy. Still, it's been fun to think about.

So, here is a list of prospective baby names. Some of them I still need middle names for. Nick doesn't like them all. There are only like three names he'll actually consider. Either way, here they are...

BOYS

• Lincoln Alexander (This is the ONLY boy name that Nick likes, so I bet you can guess what we'll be naming him if we have a boy)
• Wayland ________
• Coleston ________
• Caleb __________
• Ashton (I Absolutely LOVE this name.... and if it weren't already a celebrty name, I'd take it.

Girls

• Cadence Olivia (This was my first pick until my sister pointed out to me what her initials would spell.)
• Chloe Nycole
• Addison "Addy" ____ (It's less common than Madison; but maybe not for long considering the character "Addison Shepherd" on Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice)
• Peyton _____ (But what would we call er for short?)
• Kaia _____ (I like this one, but Nick doesn't. It also has greek roots, which is kinda cool. All the same, I don't think we'll choose it since we have a family friend who already named her daughter Kaia. Nobody wants to be a copycat)

Anywho... so there it is. I guess after the ultrasound tomorrow, we'll be able to narrow the list down quite a bit.

Trimester 2 begins!

So, today marks our 14th week of being lego my ego preggo! Yay! We're officially in our second trimester! Okay, so maybe that's not as special to everyone as it is to me. I'm just excited to be seeing the end of morning sickness and the beginning of a little preggo belly. I think I have a little more energy lately too, compared to the past three months anyways.

Anywho... I really wanted to post a picture of the baby already, but since it's too early for my ultrasound the best I could come up with is up above. And, for anyone interested, below is a brief summary of how my baby should be progressing as of now....

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Anywho... I know, I'm a nerd. I just can't believe our baby is the size of a lemon! OMCheesewiz! I still find it hard to believe there's a baby somewhere in there. It just looks like a layer of fat to me. It's very strange to think about actually.... A little person... inside me... strange. I bet it will be even more strange when I start to feel it move. I can't wait! :) Anyway, all is going well so far (with the exception of some really obnoxious back pain - not pregnancy related, I'm sure). I think Nick is getting more excited as time passes too. I know that it hasn't been easy for him to see me sick much of the time. So, I have high hopes for the next couple months. I think with me feeling a little bit better for a while, both me and Nick will be a little bit happier. And seeing my belly grow is going to make this feel more like the real deal too.

2009

I thought since everyone else is doing it, I'd give this blog thing another try...



I guess I should start by saying that I'm so glad the holidays are over! I know that sounds terrible (bah! Humbug!), but in any retail type of job the holidays can be a bit stressful. Not to mention, the spirit of the season is easily forgotten when you're standing behind a cash register. I've pretty much come to dread the holidays every year through my experiences working in retail. Yet, I must say, the holidays turned out much better than anticipated for 2008. Nick and I spent Thanksgiving at my parent's ward house with my family. We also spent a little time at Brittney's (Nick's cousin) and Brad's house, which was very nice.

Christmas eve was especially meaningful to me this year. We spent Christmas eve with Nick's family over at the Highland Care Center. Nick's yia-yia (Grandma in greek) has been spending some time there because of an issue she's had with her knee. After dinner, Nick and I were also able to visit my family over at Mary and Dan's house for a little while. Everything turned out very nice all the way around. I was particularly excited to give my parents their Christmas gift which I had been working on since after Halloween. I was able to repair some of their old, old pictures and reprint them to put in a book of remembrance. It was very time consuming, but well worth it. In the end, the process of making the book seemed more like a gift to myself than anyone else. I was able to read through some of both of my parent's old writings and some of my grandmother Gladys' old poetry. I feel like through the process I came to better know some of those people I always have longed to know (ie - my grandparents, my uncle Joe). Anyway, I consider the scrapbook as an ongoing process. My hope is that even when I am gone the book will remain a work in progress, sharing a part of our family history with all who care to know.

The other Christmas gift which made 2008 great came about a week after Christmas. A little bird told me to take a pregnancy test, despite the fact that Nick and I weren't really trying to get pregnant. I waited a few minutes for the results.....and there it was.... a BIG FAT POSTITIVE. I couldn't believe it. I took another test.... positive. I still couldn't believe it. After all, it looked somewhat more like a division sign than a positive. I went to the store. I spent a little more than I should have and got one of those digital tests that clearly read "PREGNANT". I waited a few hours (even though I was planning to wait another day) and took the test. "PREGNANT". Wow. I still couldn't believe it. I waited until Nick got home from work and gave him one of his Christmas presents late. It read "PREGNANT".

Since that day not too long after Christmas I have been living in a completly different world, so it seems. Ever since the six week mark I've been a zombie to the world. I go to work, I come home, I sleep, I eat (mainly crackers and ginger ale), I go to work, I come home, I sleep, etc, etc, etc. I've been too sick to want to do much more than I have to.
BUT NOW... I think it's safe to say that the worst of the morning sickness is coming to an end (At least I hope. I've been fooled before). I am slowly waking up to reality and am actually feeling like I'm pregnant... as opposed to before where I just felt like a sickly hormonal maniac who ate a few too many Twinkies. Well, the hormonal maniac part is still pretty much the same anyways. Poor Nick...

The further along I get, the more excited I become. I am now 12... almost 13 weeks pregnant. Nick and I got to finally hear the baby's heart beat last Thursday. It was the most exciting thing ever! I was so giggly, I could barely settle down long enough to hear it. Lol :D According to the doctor, everything seems to be going great so far. The heart rate was 160, and according to the old wives tale that means we'll be having a girl (If only it were that easy to know).

I guess that pretty much sums up life for now... or at least that's all the detail I'll be going into for now.