Memorial Day Golf

21, 22 Weeks

Not much new to report with the pregnancy. Everything is going well, babins is kicking all the time, I think she's adorable even though I can't see her, and my belly is getting bigger every day! We spent about 3 hours in a baby store over the weekend and tried to learn everything we could about strollers, car seats, cribs, etc... I think we left feeling a little more overwhelmed than when we went in. Who knew buying a stroller was like buying a car? We got brochures and sales pitches and learned about make, models, and years...blegh. Buying baby clothes is a lot easier and more fun.

In other news, I'm super excited about this lovely little gift Matt got for me for graduation/mother's day/president's day/memorial day/flag day/every other holiday between now and my birthday!

I looooveooveoe it. I spent a long time over the weekend practicing with different lenses and trying to learn everything I can. Got a long way to go, but it's so fun to play with!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day felt a little more special this year, with impending motherhood looming on the horizon. It's still such a big unknown for me, but I do know that I am nervous and unsure and only hope that I can be half the mom that my own mother has been for me. I feel so lucky to have grown up with such a wonderful role model, and to have a husband who was obviously raised by a fantastic mother as well. I have a lot to learn from both moms! During the sicky feelings of early pregnancy I gained a newfound respect for all mothers. It amazes me that millions of women before me have gone through those tough weeks and months (many probably worse off than I was) and a lot even choose to go through it again and again. Thanks to all the mothers and women I know who are such positive and uplifting examples to me!

(A new favorite snapshot of my mom from last month: She brought me flowers and did my dishes!)

Graduation Weekend Part 2 (non-food items)

I didn't want to go to the graduation ceremony, so we just went down to campus, got the cap and gown for about an hour, and my mom took a lot pictures!

It was a fun morning, and in my opinion way better than sitting and waiting for two hours in a crowded stadium before 8 am.

Other things we did that weekend:

We stopped by my old house in Provo. Good times.

We shopped at City Creek and walked around Temple Square. My mom has always wanted to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal that they do every Thursday night in the tabernacle. I had never been before but was so glad we were able to go! 

We went to the Kennecott Copper Mine. I love it! My dad was excited about this one and I was more than happy to tag along. The mine is just so big, and it's interesting to learn about the copper mining process. We thought it was funny to take pictures in front of the picture of the mine inside of the visitors center, and then I realized I never actually took any pictures of the real thing outside, ha ha.

We had planned to do a hike at Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon up the road. When we got there, the trail was covered in snow. But, my dad is a mountain man so that didn't stop us.

 My favorite sunglasses these days happen to be broken ones that my friend left in my car last year. I usually reserve them just for driving, but they really wanted to come on the hike with us.

I definitely would not have worn these shoes if I had known we would be snow hiking. My feet were frozen by the end!!

17,18,19, 20 Weeks

20 WEEKS! Halfway there!

Due date: October 1 still. Everything on the ultrasound measured within a few days so our doctor said we'd stick with this due date.

Sickness: Gone! I've been feeling pretty great the last few weeks. 

Cravings: Still loving the fruit and coconut water, and in addition to that I am finding any possible excuse to eat mustard, and have been downing dill pickle spears by the jar full. Also, cheese has been a go-to for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Aversions: Gone! Finally feel like I have my regular appetite back. 

Heartbeat: We got to SEE it at our ultrasound. Pretty cool. It was at 160 bpm.

Feeling movement: YES! It is the best thing. It makes me smile every time. Over the last few weeks baby girl's movements have become more and more distinct. I feel her moving around every day now. I love it! I can't wait for Matt to be able to feel her moving from the outside. 

Maternity clothes: Not yet. I know I should be glad that I still fit into all my regular clothes (most of them anyway), but mostly I just look/feel really chuffy! I'll be sticking with the loose flowy shirts for another week or two probably.

Names: Since babins is a girl, I think we do have a name picked out. Not making it official any time soon, but if we both still like it and feel like it fits her when she's born then it will be an easy decision. In the meantime, we usually just call her babins :) ( That is pronounced babe-ins. Don't let Matt convince you to call her babbins, or his personal favorite, bilbo babbins)

Now that I'm feeling relatively normal, I'm actually loving being pregnant (I would NOT have said that a month or two ago). The fact that a baby will be here is starting to seem more real now that we've seen her and I can feel her little kicks all the time. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I'm part of some weird sci-fi movie where people grow new people inside themselves. Then I realize that it's real, and remember what a miracle this all is.

Graduation Weekend Food!

Graduating in December at BYU couldn't possibly be less exciting. Since that isn't a popular semester to graduate, they don't do any graduation activities or ceremonies. They basically just mail you your diploma and tell you to come back in 4 months to celebrate. I had to go through this with my bachelors degree as well. The GOOD thing about it, is by the time graduation rolls around, all of those terrible memories of exams and writing are far behind you, so you're actually happy to go back to campus and give yourself a little pat on the back for finishing! So, my parents were in town two weeks ago to celebrate graduation festivities, and it was so much fun having them here! During those few days, we ate really, really well. To me, food is almost always the best way to celebrate :) I need to dedicate this whole post to food pictures, because it was just that good. Each meal just got better and better. 

I kicked off the weekend with some fish tacos from Blue Lemon. They were definitely different from the traditional fish taco, but I really liked them!

The next day we went to City Creek, and we all shared the Enchiladas Suizas from Red Iguana Express for a little snack. I still think Red Iguana is the best Mexican food in Utah, and the Express version in the food court is pretty good. The City Creek food court is about halfway between the COB and Matt's office, so we would walk to meet each other there for lunch a lot over the past year. Most of the time, we'd end up  splitting these enchiladas. They are that good!

That night, we went to the Copper Onion. Matt and I had both heard good things about this place so we were excited to try it. I loved it!! I would definitely like to go back sometime. I got the trout with spaetzle.

Matt got the hamburger. He loves the classics.

Mom and Grandma both got the meatloaf. They shared a little bit with me and I would not hesitate to say it was the best meatloaf I'd ever had.

 Dad got the salmon. REALLY good. 

For dessert I had this yummy warm blueberry pie with freshly made vanilla ice cream. I know it looks about average, but it was the best blueberry pie I'd ever had. Yep, two best evers from the Copper Onion. Make that three- the Meyer Lemon sorbet my mom ordered was also the best.

Matt had the cheesecake.

The next night, we went to Grappa in Park City. This time, I got the salmon. WOW it was good. 

Dad got the cornish game hen, Mom had chicken.

Matt had steak.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for a weekend of culinary delights!

Kid Reactions

Sharing the baby news with the  kids I teach has been hilarious.  Some of their reactions over the last month:

"Umm that baby is NOT big enough! You need to eat a LOT more!"
me: "It's still really small! It has a long time to grow in there. Don't worry I have been eating PLENTY. I am starving all the time."
"Why are you starving?"
me: "Because it feels like the baby is eating all of my food!"
"You know what you should do? Just eat broccoli all the time because babies hate broccoli. Then when you want to feed the baby you can just eat chocolate."
(Good prenatal nutrition tip from a 6 year old)

"How big is the baby?"
About a month ago, I showed them that it was about the size of my fist when it was curled up.
"Then how does it put food in its mouth if it's so tiny?"

"Will you bring the baby to show us after it's born?"
me: "Yeah, I might!"
Another kid: "No!! It will just crawl all over everything and rip up our papers!"

"You're chuffy!" (...after poking my stomach. I gather that this is a combination of "chubby" and "fluffy")
me: "Yep...that's how I feel!"

"I hope you're having a girl. I could never have a boy. Do they still have orphanages? I would probably drop all the boy babies off there if I had any."
me: "You'll probably want to wait to have kids until you don't care if it's a girl or boy."
"Then I guess I'll never have kids. Or get married."

One 5 year old made up a charming little song that goes like this: "Your belly isn't big enough! Your belly isn't big enough!" sung to the tune of Peanut Butter Jelly Time. This one really caught on yesterday and the other kids in the class love it. I try not to encourage it but it really does make me laugh.

"So you're going to get really really big and turn into a giant!!"

me: "Yeah more or less."

"How will we recognize you??"

(Other popular concerns have been about what happens if the baby gets too big and explodes out of my stomach, what happens if the baby also has its own baby inside my belly, what would happen if they poked my belly with a needle, etc...)

All of the baby talk has sparked a lot of interest with a few of the older kids (7-9) about babies and where they come from. I try to steer clear of those conversations as much as possible, but one of the little girls was really beating around the bush with this one:
"So what's it called when you get married?"
"You mean a wedding?"
"Yeah. And then the party where everyone dances?"
"The reception..."
"And when the man and woman go on vacation by themselves after the wedding?"
"The honeymoon."
"Right. The honeymoon. Soooo...that's when they spend a lot of TIME together??"

This same girl also asked me a couple weeks ago:
"How many fur coats do you have?"
"Zero."
"Boring! Ugh that is so boring! When I'm a grown up I'm gonna have a lot of fur coats. I'm saving up for one now. It costs a thousand dollars. But I already have seven."

Some of the kids have been very helpful with the name suggestions.
"You can name the baby WHATEVER you want! Isn't that cool!"
me: "Yeah it is pretty cool, but there are so many names it's hard to decide!"
"You should name it Princess."
"No, Bob. Like Bob the Builder."
"What about Coconut"
...and the name ideas kinda degenerated from there.

Overall, the kids have been really sweet and curious and they all ask me every week how big the baby is now. They love hearing about the fruit/veggie comparison and I usually show them the app on my phone that has pictures. This week is a bell pepper. It is so cute to see the wheels spinning in their heads as they try to imagine a baby growing in my belly.