36 weeks!

I'm a bit embarrassed to post this picture. I'll just say that it was early in the morning, before work and make-up. It scares me a little bit!!



I can't believe how big I'm getting!

Also, we put the bassinet into our room - everything is all washed and ready to go! I'm almost done with all his laundry and we're getting a dresser tomorrow so I can put it all away. I keep fighting an urge to rip open the box for the carseat and install it in the car. Maybe tomorrow...

The nursery - getting closer!

I feel kind of like I've lost my mind - between making Shawn move our bed and vacuum under it and obsessively arranging the nursery, I think I'm starting to get ready for this baby to come. Here are some pics of the nursery after a couple days of work. Shawn put the crib together last night, and we've been cleaning ever since, it seems like!

The crib - the bedding is called 'baby aviator' and it's adorable!


The changing table and hamper. Yes, that is Pooh in the Bumbo chair - and he's wearing a diaper! LOL


My wonderful husband, who is clearly exhausted from working full time, going to school full time, leading the men's ministry AND catering to my every insane need during this pregnancy...and the closet full of stuff that I don't have a place for yet.


More stuff that I have nowhere for yet - or stuff that will eventually be on the dresser that is going in this area. And, of course, no picture would be complete without a box full of garbage.

The nursery - a work in progress!

Here are some pics of the nursery so far. If you saw what it looked like before (when it was our office crammed full of bookcases, a desk and a couch) you'd be impressed. Shawn painted, we got the idea from a model home we looked at. The furniture clearly needs to be put together and organized, but we're missing parts for the crib...so until then, we wait. Yes, that is a crib mattress on top of a changing table. I didn't put it there, so don't ask me! I'll post more pics when we actually get closer to completion of this project!

This is the view from the door. See all the wonderful presents people blessed us with? We are so thankful!


Here is the view from the corner of the room. See the mattress? And Prince? We're training the dogs to stay out of the baby's room. They are sad but understand that they're no longer allowed in there. The white thing next to the vacuum? That's the bassinet - the fabric parts are being washed right now by yours truly, just in case I go into labor early!



I have a question for all you lurkers out there who never comment - do you think the middle color is gray or green? There is a disagreement in our home and I need some voting to help us decide what color it is. I won't reveal the name of the paint color, it would only cause you to have a biased opinion!

Yes, this is a blog about food.

I've always loved food, and pregnancy has only let me eat things that I normally would save for special occasions more often!

First, my pretzel debacle. On Sunday, when I do my grocery shopping, I picked up some Snyder’s pretzels (honey mustard). I had a coupon and also bought cream cheese, which when combined make a fantastic snack. When I got home and opened them, I discovered they were not the pretzels I thought they were! They were 'lightly seasoned' nibblers. BOOOO!! I don't like anything lightly seasoned! So when I ran to the store I had to buy the correct pretzels. See photo below - the offensive pretzels on the left and the proper ones on the right. See how the pretzel bites are labeled "Bursting with Flavor!" That's what I'm talkin' bout!


Next, we have another new love of mine - Yoplait Whips Yogurt thingys. They are the consistency of the meringue on a pie, and oh so yummy. The key lime is my fave, by far... I had a pic but man oh man is it blurry. Sorry!

Finally, Shawn called me to say he had a present for me in his briefcase - he was out of the house and I found this:



What is it? Chocolate straight from Germany - Shawn said he saved it for me. He is so sweet and thoughtful, especially in this time of my mood swings and chocolate cravings. I am so blessed to have him!!

Thank you, God!

This is an update from my last post - I visited the doctor yesterday, and everything is back to normal! My BP is back down, swelling is down, I only gained 1lb (!!!) and there was no protien in my urine. Thank you, God, for answering prayers! Meanwhile, my ankles still look like this:



YIKES!! Yes, they are swollen but it's just how it's going to be, I guess.

Little scare today

So...I've been slightly swollen in the feet for awhile - okay, really swollen. But this morning I woke up with swollen hands and had to upgrade to a size 10 wedding ring. Good thing I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon.

I go to the doctor and the nurse has to take my blood pressure twice. That freaked me out a little bit. Then she said, "You've gained a lot of weight." I have no idea how much but that scared me too. Then Tracy, the NP, came in and checked my hands. She agreed they were swollen then told me that my BP was higher than normal and there was protien in my urine. Any of you who've been pregnant knows what that might mean - preeclampsia. Or, in English, pregnancy-induced hypertension (high blood pressure). I was sent for blood tests and then sent home, with orders to take a 'cold' bath and put my feet up. Of course, when I got home, I looked up preeclampsia in my "What to expect when you're expecting" book.

Guess what it says for treatment?

If you have preeclampsia, delivery of the baby is the best way to protect both you and your baby.

So I sat there and thought about meeting my G-man now. It was scary but I know that God would take care of us.

Then, Tracy called me with the blood test results - I am okay. Praise God! But I have an appointment next week and need to be careful and make sure I don't have any vision changes or headaches that don't go away with Tylenol.

Please keep the baby in your prayers that he stays put til 37 weeks! Thank you!!

New Belly Shot! 32 weeks

What do you think?? When I went shopping the other day, the girl @ Motherhood said: "So you're having a girl, right?" I was all, "Um no, it's a boy!" She told me that the way I was carrying looked like a girl. I don't know..when I compare myself to other 32 weekers I think I look pretty normal.

Cancun - Last Days

Okay, so days 6, 7 and 8 were spent pretty much doing nothing. Lots of beach time..



Thursday was beautiful...the water was calm but I was too sunburnt to really play in the water. Such a bummer. Shawn got some cool shots, though:





Friday was another beautiful day..


The beach was calm again...but unfortunately, jellyfish had been spotted in the area, so we were told not to go into the water. GRRR!! There were people in the water but Shawn wouldn't let me go in too far. Friday night we went to "El Conquistador" at another Royal Resort for a 'fancy' dinner. It was nice, and not that expensive. We had a ceasar salad made tableside, Shawn had "Steak Diane" also made tableside and I had a huge 16 oz ribeye steak. Then, of course, we had to have dessert - I had bananas flambe and Shawn had a carmel apple pie. Everything was fantastic and the tableside cooking reminded me how much I love to cook!

Here's sunset Friday night..


Saturday morning - the day we left! :-(


We were blessed to be upgraded to first class again...it was funny because we got to check in early to board, and instead of getting right onto the plane, we got onto a bus. There were only like 10 seats on the bus and the rest was standing room only, so Shawn gave up his seat to a lady holding a 2 yr old boy. He was so cute - he kept pointing at everything calling it either a helicopter or a bus. The bus took us to our plane, where we boarded..


Then we had an uneventful flight home! It was a perfect trip!!

Cancun - Day 5 (Wednesday)

Good morning!!

On this beautiful Wednesday we actually did something other than lay on the beach or go to the pool - we took a trip to Isla Mujeres - a beautiful island off of Cancun. We actually went to a park called "Garrafon" and enjoyed relaxing there. We went snorkling first thing, and couldn't really see much. Both of us thought that the hurricane may have messed with the ocean floor, moving a lot of the reef that had been down there. But I still enjoyed myself-I love snorkling!

After snorkling we relaxed!



This is what you can see of Cancun:


As you can see, it was a beautiful clear day.

We ate some lunch and then hung out in the hammocks...


There were TONS of iguanas running all over this park:




We had a couple of drinks (well, I had water)..



Then we went to the snack bar (we had free food and drinks all day..trust me, we took advantage of it.) There were all these conch shells everywhere, on all the tables, on the bars, laying around on the ground...Shawn kept asking me: "Do you want to make a phone call?" I didn't get it, so he demonstrated while we were waiting for our food. Oh, the things he'll teach our son!


After we hung out for awhile, Shawn decided to do the zip line - it was actually to three zip lines, one to the first station, then over the ocean to one in the water, then back to land. It looked like fun:





After that, we decided to head on back...we boarded our boat, got back to Cancun, and hitched a bus ride home. I was really tired and my ankles were extremely swollen, but we had so much fun!!

I have to post this...

Pastor Scott utilized some of my favorite products in his Sunday Service last weekend - "Demotivational posters."

I was disappointed, though, that he didn't use my absolute favorite one:



I always laugh when I see it.

They are on despair.com.

Cancun - Day 4 (Tuesday)

Welcome to Cancun!



This pic is beautiful if you look at it full size. It is Heavenly...honestly.

We spent a few hours at the beach, again!




Looks relaxing, huh?

Again, this is from our room...it felt like we were on a cruise only because when you looked out, all you saw was water.



I forgot to put sunblock on one leg. Of course! :-(



After the beach we went to the pool...this is the view from the pool..



Me chillin in the pool...



After the pool, we went back to the room, cleaned up and went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. Me, being an airhead lately, forgot the camera and missed possibly one of the best parts of vacation. Shawn ordered a margarita, which comes in it's own shaker, like a martini. Well...at the Cancun Bubba Gumps, the margaritas are 'shaken' in a very special way. Shawn got a little 'dance' from the girl shaking his margarita...and of course, was embarrassed by it. I'm bummed that I forgot the camera to catch his face! You'll just have to imagine it!

When we got home, we OF COURSE watched American Idol. Shawn said the funniest thing - that Melinda looked Barry Bonds in drag. You decide... Go Jordin!



Okay my tooth - I was eating a candy bar, and suddenly one of my molars cracked. So in addition to going to the doctor for my ear that was all deaf, now I have to go to the dentist.

Cancun - Day 3

Day 3 - Monday

Sunrise...


In addition to the beautiful sunrise, we woke up to this- PEACE!!



We went to the beach in the morning - Shawn really wanted to bury me in the sand again like he did when we were there for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, the sand was really packed down and he couldn't dig down very far. So he just buried my foot...


Awwww.....


Later, after a free breakfast, we caught the bus to La Isla mall (a big outdoor mall). At the bus stop we saw this interesting sign for a Chinese resturant:


If you can't read it the sign says: "The Real Milenary Gastronomic Tradition." I have no idea what that means...it's like a bad translation from Chinese to Spanish to English or something. Chinspanglish?

Here we are taking a break at the mall. This sitting area was right for McDonalds. Interesting!



When we got back from the mall, we headed back to the pool for a few hours and then ordered pizza for dinner...and watched 24, of course!!

Cancun - Day 1 and Day 2

Our first day started out kind of crazy...we left the house early because you're supposed to check in a couple hours early for an international flight. As we were leaving, we used the little pad on the outside of the garage to close the garage door - and it didn't work! In a rush, we found a new battery and took off. Then when we got to a ticketing agent, she said our passports weren't valid - WHAT?? I guess we forgot to sign them, so we signed them and all was well.

We had first class seats on the way to Cancun, which was great. Definitely more comfortable for me, plus they kept giving us food, which I loved. (Of course!) Once we landed in Mexico, immigration was a snap compared to last time we were there, we flew through customs and got to the Royal Sands. We were supposed to be in an "ocean view" room, but when we checked in, they had moved us...to an ocean front room!





The first pic is the view from our balcony - gorgeous! The next is just our room, which was just 2 beds, a little fridge and a bathroom- nothing fancy. But we don't really need fancy for the two of us! The last picture is of my suitcase, where it seems all this plastic junk literally exploded on top of all my stuff. Bizarre, but easy to clean up.

Day 2 (Sunday)

We did what we came to do - relax! We hit up the beach and the pool pretty much all day!






Then we went to a great dinner w/ a live marachi band (fun!) and came home.
Stay tuned for days 3 and 4!