26 weeks

how far along? 26 weeks.
total weight gain/loss: i'm up 13 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.
maternity clothes? just pants, although i'm still wearing my normal pants with a rubberband.
stretch marks?: nope, not yet.
sleep?: again, with the fan running and a window or two open, i sleep like a dream :)
best moment this week?: starting my new job. hanging out with my brothers. getting to hear gray's heartbeat (we didn't get an ultrasound, because my tire blew out... so that'll be tomorrow). seeing my family yesterday :)
miss anything?: running without feeling awkward :) it's still nice to get out there and run... hopefully i can do that/walk throughout my pregnancy.
movement?: just lots of kicking, especially if i start to encroach on his space. i could feel his little hands today, too, while he was kicking. i love my baby :)
food cravings?: nothing specific this week. i've eaten a lot of cereal and toast.. those always sound good, though. oh, and yellow mustard on my sandwiches... normally i'm not a huge fan, but now it's delicious.
anything making you queasy or sick?: nope. as long as i stay hydrated and snacking, i'm good.
labor signs?: haha, no.
belly button, in or out?: in, but probably not for much longer. it looks weird :S
wedding ring, on or off?: on.
happy or moody?: happy!
looking forward to: my ultrasound tomorrow. working more (i love my job). working on our yard with nick.. we've been spending lots of time out there & i love it!

25 weeks

how far along? 25 weeks.
total weight gain/loss: not sure. i fit in maternity clothes, but only at night :) i feel chubby, though.
maternity clothes? just pants, and at night. everything is still good :)
stretch marks?: nope.
sleep?: really good. i'm tired all the time, so i'm out cold every night :) the pillow between my legs is helping a lot. as is having our fan running. poor nick gets cold sometimes, but it feels so nice to me. i still sleep with half of my body hanging out of the blankets.
best moment this week?: hanging out with my family. we've had my brothers all week, which kind of worried me, but it's actually been really nice. i definitely feel more motherly ;) they're really good boys.
oh! and getting the job at deseret book, but part-time instead of full-time. it was a definite answer to prayers.
miss anything?: not so much!
movement?: he's been kicking hard lately. and up higher than he's ever been. normally he's been down low, but today i got some good solid kicks up near my ribs. this little boy is going to do some damage later on. nick's always surprised by how hard his kicks are, haha.
food cravings?: always salty food. and still eating leftover easter food. i need someone to dump it all onto.
anything making you queasy or sick?: i only feel queasy if i don't drink enough water, which isn't too often lately.
labor signs?: haha, no.
belly button, in or out?: in.
wedding ring, on or off?: on.
happy or moody?: happy!
looking forward to: working more. mom & dad getting home :) even though i'm loving the boys, it'll be nice to have our house back. oh, and working on the yard more. we got started on it this weekend and it got me really excited. it's funny how working on something that's your own is so much better than weeding for your parents ;) we also get another ultrasound this week, since graysen wasn't too compliant last month. jake & nick are going to come with me, so it'll be fun for them to see gray!

salt lake city

while my parents are in hawaii for their 25th wedding anniversary (yay!), i'm stuck blessed with the honor of watching two sweet young boys ;) yesterday, nick took work off and we went with jake & nick to city creek & the museum of natural history. it was a super rainy day, so it was nice to have fun things to do!

24 weeks

how far along? 24 weeks.
total weight gain/loss: still don't know, but i'll find out in a week :)
maternity clothes? just pants, on occasion. everything else, i still fit into.
stretch marks?: nope.
sleep?: pretty good. just wake up every now and then if i get too hot.
best moment this week?: spending the weekend hanging out with nick. i really like that guy.
miss anything?: dr. pepper :)
movement?: just the normal squirming and kicking. i love just laying down and feeling him move.
food cravings?: nope. i probably ate too much sugar yesterday, though. darn easter bunny!
anything making you queasy or sick?: nope! 
labor signs?: not yet!
belly button, in or out?: in.
wedding ring, on or off?: on.
happy or moody?: happy! :) <--- like that
looking forward to: well, i got a second interview at the deseret book corporate office today, but i'm feeling very unsure still about working (we've prayed about it a lot... trying to figure it out). the boys are also coming tomorrow to stay for ten days while mom & dad go to hawaii. so that'll be fun ;) nick's taking thursday off and we're taking the boys up to salt lake. it'll be good!

23 weeks

how far along? 23 weeks.
total weight gain/loss: nick broke our scale a while ago, so i'm not sure :) or maybe i just don't want to know...
maternity clothes? finally bought a couple of pairs of small maternity jeans (funny, because i don't feel small!). SO comfy! thanks, tiff, for taking me to park city! then i borrowed some maternity clothes from tiff & nick's mom also gave me some fun clothes. i think i'm set!
stretch marks?: not yet! keeping my fingers crossed on that one.
sleep?: not too bad. i'm really hot all the time, so i'm always kicking blankets off. poor nick :)
best moment this week?: just watching nick anytime he feels gray. his eyes completely light up, and he starts talking to him. it's really cute! gray stops anytime he hears nick's voice. though lately nick has taken to talking to him in a "monster" voice... he says he's teaching it to gray.
miss anything?: if i did, feeling my baby move makes up for it :)
movement?: HARD kicks. it's startling and makes me a little nervous for when he gets bigger and stronger :)
food cravings?: granola, this week. winco has huge bins of vanilla almond granola... i've been eating tons of it.
anything making you queasy or sick?: nope!
have you started to show yet?: yeah :)
labor signs?: not yet!
belly button, in or out?: still in, but looking weird sometimes.
wedding ring, on or off?: on
happy or moody?: happy! although we've both gotten very emotional (in a good way) during conference whenever we hear talks about being parents/mothers/fathers/etc. what saps!
looking forward to: painting gray's room. we finally finished the guest bedroom, so gray's will come next. hopefully this week, but probably next. we also are taking in my brothers next week for ten days, so that will be interesting :)

some thoughts at 6 a.m.

- it's a boy!! (photos to come) i think everyone probably knew already, but i like to occasionally remind myself.

- i think pokey is trying to nest said boy. any time i sit/lie down, pokey comes up to lay directly where the baby is. baby kreacher is not amused.

- i kept reading about how it was comfortable for pregnant women to sleep with a pillow propped between their legs. i thought that was nonsense. then i did something and pulled a muscle or broke my hip or something equally painful. now i can't sleep unless there's a pillow between my legs.

- at the ultrasound, they moved my due date up a week or two. yay! :)

- the ultrasound was really fun. at first, nick was just in awe. finally he turned to look at me and said, "i had NO idea they could move that much!" he was astonished that our baby was wiggling and squirming and doing major ninja moves.

- this weather has been AMAZING! i could seriously get used to all of march being in the 60's. 

- i will do a real blog post later, but i couldn't fall back asleep after nick left. ta da! thanks for reading, folks.

nick's dream chicken sandwich

whew, two blog posts in one day!! what a treat!

robyn told me i should post more recipes, so this is for you robyn :) i should have taken photos of the sandwiches, but i was hungry and tired and i just wanted to eat, dangit!

here's the story behind these sandwiches... every sunday i do a meal plan for the week & then monday i do all the grocery shopping. i always ask nick what dinners he wants--we only do two or three meals and then do leftovers or eat with family the other days--and he always tells me he doesn't know. this last monday he told me about a dream he had... about a chicken sandwich. haha. yeah, that's my husband. here was the sandwich:

- foccacia bread (yeah, he even knew what bread it was on...)

- grilled chicken breasts (marinade recipe below) thinly sliced

- mozzarella, feta & parmesan

- sliced tomatoes ("recipe" below)

- garlic aioli (recipe below)

italian marinade:

(when i make marinades, i just kind of throw stuff in, so i will try to make this as accurate as i can!)

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

- 1/4 cup white cooking wine

- small handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

- 1 tsp thyme

- 1 tsp rosemary

- 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

- salt and pepper

i'm pretty sure that's all i put in. i put it all in a ziploc, shook it up, and then threw in two chicken breasts and marinated them overnight. then i grilled the chicken on our george foreman and sliced it really thin. yum!

oven roasted tomatoes:

for these i just sliced the tomatoes (really thin for me, because i'm not a big tomato fan--and then a little fatter for nick), put them in a pan, drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper on top.

garlic aioli:

- 1/3 cup olive oil mayo

- 2 tsp minced garlic

- salt and pepper
- 2 tsp lemon juice

ta da! here's how we assembled them:

- slice open bread and toast in oven

- melt mozzarella on bottom slice

- layer thinly sliced chicken on top

- layer tomato slices on top

- sprinkle with feta and shredded parmesan

- spread aioli on top half

- low broil in oven for a few minutes

- and bam! eat!

i don't know if ANYONE will care about this. i hate recipes when they don't have photos. but it was delicious, cheap & easy. good deal, right?

happiness with a camera phone

i'm a really lame photographer lately. well, i'm still doing lots of sessions, but as far as my own life is concerned... cell phone photos only. it's embarrassing, but it's SO much more convenient to just whip out my phone.

last night for dinner we made delicious black bean quesadillas. i've started being cool and freezing leftovers/bulk/etc. i want to get in the habit now, because i'm pretty sure in 5-ish months i won't feel like cooking :) i'm feeling pretty awesome having so many dinners and other such happiness in our freezer.


i had one quesadilla, nick had two, and here were the leftovers we froze:

don't they look happy? nick thought so too. here's what i found in the morning:

here are other things that make me happy:

next week is my last week where i'm working (thank heavens!) and i went in for a job interview today at shelf reliance. my aunt kathy works there and was the one that helped me find the job. include us in your prayers, because that job would be beyond wonderful :)

when i got there, here is the note the secretary gave me, from a very loving aunt. i LOVE her :)

i discovered i'm not a huge fan of greek yogurt... but when it's combined with fruit, it's amazing! i've been gorging on fruit lately! can you gorge on healthy foods? i have been.

... and not so healthy foods! honestly, i've only had one of these per week. and even though they don't have caffeine, they make me happy :)

went here with mom... they do sliders. does anyone else think sliders are cute? they are! they are a cute food. they're cute because they're little. little is cute.

(yeah, that was a lot of cute...)

i love nick's ability to make a healthy side dish into a delicious completely unhealthy one! freshly slice strawberries. how good of me, right? then nick decided they un-cut ones needed to be filled with chocolate syrup. okay, then they all needed chocolate syrup. then maybe some whipped cream. or maybe a gallon of whipped cream!

don't judge.

umm... i love my "little" brothers. i love that jake wore a pink tie and sweater vest to church. i love that nick always makes old man facial expressions. i love love love them! and they're funny. i love that, too.

PS- according to the whole world, we're having a girl. that's what everyone has told me. except eva, who insists we can only have a boy. and kimber, who consulted her chinese calendars. 2 1/2 weeks 'til we find out... what do you think?

valentine

nick surprised me w/ five guys, cactus cooler, snuggling, how i met your mother, and this:

(source)

yeah, i'll keep him :)

ta da!

some thoughts on a wintry january evening...


- i have THE best husband. he's getting me wingers wings right now. after working ten hours. i didn't even ask him to. he just knows.


- we finished the old testament last night. we've also read scriptures together EVERY night for about three years. we're pretty awesome. (and the old testament was hard, i'm not gonna lie...)


- baby is easing up on the nausea. we don't like referring to him/her as "it" so we've been calling him/her "kreacher". maybe having a name made kreacher decide to stop making me sick. thank you, kreacher.


- on a related note, we also finished the harry potter series. now we just need to watch the last two movies.


- having a cold sucks. having a cold/sore throat/everything while pregnant sucks more.


- but it also means i'm taking tomorrow off of work, so there may be some posts with photos. that's happy, right? RIGHT?!


right.

week nine

here are some fun updates that i'm sure you're all dying to know :)

- i am SICK! actually, i haven't thrown up in over 24 hours, so that's kind of a big deal :) the day after christmas was the worst (but props to the baby for waiting until after christmas!). i was in bed ALL day... any time i stood up, i puked. the worst! then tuesday nick left for st. george, so i had to toughen up and be a grown up :) so far, so good. just occasional puking... sorry for the gross vernacular.

- i'm finally feeling more awake... i'm sure it won't always be this way, but it's been so nice to actually contribute to the cleanliness of our home. i'm still not stable enough to cook (SO lame!), but i did dishes today and just tidied in general. 

- i have THE best husband. i already knew he was the best, but he has taken incredible care of me. sometimes i think he's taking better care of this baby than i am :) i haven't had to ask him for anything once, he just always knows and is there. he's cleaned, unpacked, cooked, run errands, cleaned some more, rubbed my back while i leaned over the toilet, haha... he's seriously incredible.

- and this is (hopefully!) his last week in st george! i miss having my husband here :)

- i've been a little moody lately. i do NOT like to cry, even when i'm by myself... i think it's so embarrassing. for a few days, though, everything made me cry... fortune cookies, commercials, nothing. :) that's pretty much gone now, and has turned into intense road rage.. ha! nick likes talking on the phone to me while i drive home from work, because apparently i just hate every driver in the whole world, and i say mean things tot hem. if we have an angry child, it's totally my fault!

- i still don't look pregnant, but i'm kind of excited to... i feel silly always having my hand on my stomach when there's nothing visibly there :) luckily my clothes still fit perfectly, though for some reason at night my jeans get tight.

- i haven't had any cravings yet... i just eat whatever doesn't make me want to barf :) and mostly it's been really bland, boring foods. it's sad when the first thing you think as you bite into something is, "how will this taste when i throw it up?" sorry, i know that's disgusting, but it's the truth. if you ever need a list of good things to throw up, i've definitely got one :)

- oh, and please... no one tell me how long your nausea lasted! all i've been hearing all week is, "just wait, it's going to last at LEAST another month!" or, "my wife was sick her entire pregnancy!" ummm... thanks? that's like having the common cold and someone saying, "my cousin died of the common cold" or "my cold lasted three years." lame.


- i've been going back and reading good friends' blogs from when they were pregnant... it's fun to hear other people's takes on their own pregnancy :) so i may have been stalking your blog lately! creeeeepy...

ummm... i think that's it! sorry for being incredibly anti-social lately! i have blown off everyone and everything because i've just felt awful all week. i'm slowly becoming a normal human being again, though. maybe it's the joy of having a four-day weekend! and a husband tomorrow :) and the video games live concert! nerdiness! yayyyy!

so long, and props to you if you read this! i will try to post more exciting things & photos next time!