Nesting

I spent my days off last weekend reorganizing my kitchen.

Most everything I asked for, for Christmas, were appliances, but we didn't have any space for them!  So, a few boxes full of DI stuff and some rearranging and I have a brand new kitchen.  It is wonderful. It makes me want to cook.  It does not make me want to grocery shop.  I hate grocery shopping.

This weekend, so far, we've put together the new crib and changer that we purchased, and I've been painting a nasty old dresser that we got from Lance's parents' house.  This thing is at least 30 years old.  I bet it has lead paint on it.

I'm not really worried. Should I be?  I'm painting over it.  This is my inspiration:

I like how each drawer is a different color.

The dresser I'm working on is short and has two columns of four drawers.  It is currently a chipped and faded white-ish color.  Well, I shouldn't say currently, because I've started painting already.  But it was a chipped and faded white-ish color.  Now I have two pale-yellow drawers, two pale-green drawers, two pale-orange drawers, and two tan drawers.  It looks pretty cute so far!  The handles and the rest of the dresser will be dark brown.

I'll post pictures... if I ever upload them off my camera.  I'm lazy about that.

Classes

I just signed up for a couple of classes at the Provo hospital.

I'm starting to get super nervous for delivery.  I hate not knowing what to expect.  I don't know what kind of pain I'll be in.  I don't know how I'll handle it.  I just don't know!  Hopefully these classes help me out a bit. 

I signed up for a four week Lamaze course, since I'm semi-planning on going natural.  I haven't completely decided yet, but if I do decide to go natural, I think it'd be best if I was prepared with some relaxation and breathinging techniques, right?

I have nothing against epidurals and drugs.  I just figure that women have given birth without them for thousands of years, so I should be able to as well.  However, if the pain is too much, I'll get one. No big deal.

The needle size does scare me a bit.

I also signed up for a breastfeeding class.  Several people I know have struggled to breastfeed, and it is something that I would really like to succeed at, so I'm going to learn all I can about it.

Last night, Lance was talking to my belly (or I guess you could say he was talking to Lily), and he told her we were ready for her if she wanted to come early.  It made me laugh.  I just said, "Not too early!  We don't want a 3 lb baby!"

It's starting to get exciting, and scary.

How Am I Doing?

I'm 28 weeks along as of yesterday!


My 20lb weight gain goal was crap.

Last time I checked I was at 30lbs gained, and that was probably two weeks ago.  I'm trying to not let it bother me, especially since Lily has at least 4 more pounds to gain.

I got down to my last two pairs of jeans that still fit...  so I buckled down and bought maternity.  They are too big.  I need a belt.  I don't have any belts that fit.  So, while I am more comfortable, now I have to worry about falling out of my pants, rather than not being able to breathe. 

I just can't win.

I'm also starting to worry about shirts.  I'm still fitting in to a couple of non-maternity shirts that I have, and I have just a few maternity shirts.  I have asked Santa for maternity clothes.

It's hard to go from having tons of clothes, to wearing pretty much the same stuff over and over again.

It also sucks for laundry, because I actually have to do it more than once every 8 weeks.  This is a necessary change since I'll have to wash Lily's clothes every day.

But, all those things aside and I am a super happy camper!  Lily is getting stronger and stronger.  She's extremely active. I feel her kicks, bumps and flips several times a day, every day.  I wonder if this means nap time will be difficult...

Lily's room is a disaster.  I have no motivation to get it ready.  However, I did purchase a super cute shelf from Robert's that I am going to paint all pretty for her room.  Too bad her room is full of crap right now.

My Trip

Here's a rundown of everything I did with my family.

When I got off the plane, I started looking for the bag claim.  The Raleigh airport is tiny.  I swear I walked off the plane, turned the corner, and I was by the bag claim.  Also, I heard "Jenn!" behind me, from a familiar voice.  It was Elise!  I walked back towards them and smiled and tried not to get emotional.

I have this fear of being accused of being an emotional pregnant woman.  I probably shouldn't care.  Also, I'm not overly emotional.  I think any reasonable person would cry when they saw their family after missing them so much.

Then we waited for my bag....

After we left the airport, we went to pick up my dad from work and we went to this great restaurant called Red Hot and Blue.  It was delicious.  Jessica and I shared an order of the 10 wings appetizer.  We felt that was plenty of food.  Jessica about died from her excitement about their mustard sauce.

Friday the girls got up extremely early in the morning to go to school.  It was really only 6am, and I wasn't tired at that time anyway, so I got up as well.  Emilee stayed home from school.  My mom, Emilee and I went shopping for stuff for the candies we were going to make, and the items needed so I could make them a pomegranate roast. I felt like we shopped all day.  We went to Kroger, and then to Wallgreens.  Then we went to lunch with Dad at Steak 'N Shake.  Boy oh boy was it delicious.  I don't know if it was really all that good, or if I was just starving, but it was good, and the prices were great!

Oh and Dad told the story of how he gave himself a frostbite using ice, salt, and stupidity.  He is neat, and I almost peed my pants.

After lunch we went to the most amazing dollar store I've ever been in.  They had everything!  Several things, I wanted to purchase, but didn't have room in my bag to bring them home on the plane.

Finally we went back home, and then we started making candy.  Making candy is exhausting.

We made these retarded cookies.  They were a great idea, we just failed.  Basically it's a sugar cookie.  You cut the center out of the sugar cookie and put some sort of clearish candy in there.  We used Jolly Ranchers.  The Jolly Ranchers melt and it makes a stained glass effect in the cookie.

I have photo evidence of our failure.  However, they sure did taste good!

We also made peanut butter balls, almond joys, caramel, toffee, truffles... I think that's it.  Elise is the best candy maker.

Friday night I went to a creche.  There were tons of nativity scenes displayed, as well as a live nativity scene.  There were also lots of musical performances.  Emilee's school choir was singing.  They were wonderful!

Saturday morning, Emilee had another choir concert.  Which we missed, and I was very upset about it.  Poor Emilee.  She pretends that it's OK, but really it's not.  She should probably let people know when it hurts, and stop letting people walk all over her.

Saturday afternoon, we dipped the candies we made into chocolate, and I got really grumpy.  So I took a nap.  Then we went to the creche again, because my mom was performing with one group, and then both my parents were performing in another group.

Sunday I went to church.  This was a great experience, which I will have to write details about another time.

I made my family dinner on Sunday, and I believe they all liked it.  There were no leftovers.  Then we watched TV, and I fell asleep on the couch.

Monday all three girls stayed home from school.  We went to breakfast at Bojangles and we got some Boberry bisuits.  They were delicious!

We went home and finished up the last of our chocolate dipping, and went to lunch with dad at Cookout. 

Did you know that a barbecue means that you are having pulled pork with barbeque sauce, and a cookout means you are having hot dogs and hamburgers?  If you invite people to a "barbecue" at your house and you fail to have pulled pork, they will kill you. 

Anyway, Cookout is just a drive through.  So we got our food and took it to a pond thingy, where we ate it and told duck jokes, or goose jokes or other random jokes.  It was a good time.  And Emilee embarrassed herself.  She was telling a joke about how different people stand when they take photos.

An American tourist stands like this.  *pose*
A photography student stands like this. *pose*
An Asian stands like this. *pose*

And an Asian was getting into his car right behind her.  She was so embarrassed.  It was great.

Then I had to say goodbye to my dad.  This was hard because I don't know when I'll see him again.  I think it will be over a year, and this makes me sad.

Then my mom and sisters dropped me off at the airport.  Again, I tried to not cry.  I love my sisters.  I miss them.

No issues through security this time. :-)

Fun at the Airport

I went to visit my family this past weekend.  It was wonderful.

Early Thursday AM, before the sun came up, I got up and showered.  I packed the few remaining items I needed, kissed my babies (my dogs) goodbye, and Lance drove me to the airport.  I was nervous and excited.  I love to fly, however, I've never flown alone.  And I usually grasp Lance's hand tightly as we take off.  It's the most fun and most scary part to me.  It seems like that's the time when things can go wrong and you'll come crashing back down.  I tried not to think about that though.  Lance helped me take my bags to check them, and then we walked towards the security line.

Then I cried.  And I didn't stop crying until the end of my first flight when we were about to land in Phoenix.

However, before I even got on the flight it was quite an adventure.  I had to do the body scan thing.  Hope they enjoyed my prego body!  And of course it flagged something, so I had to be patted down as well.  And while I was being patted down, someone held up my backpack, asking whose it was.  Then they said they had to search it.  I'm sorry.  I'm pregnant.  I have stuffed my carry on with snacks and items to keep me entertained.  At least they're doing their job.  Even pregos can be dangerous.

Anyway, still crying, I boarded my flight.  I could hear people around me thinking, "crazy pregnant woman, afraid to fly."

No... just never flown without my best friend and true love.  And I don't really like spending days away from him.  I missed him as soon as we separated at the air port.

I gathered myself together, took a deep breath, and left my tears on that plane.  I was ready and excited to see my mom, dad and sister who I haven't seen since August.

My second flight was a long one.  Phoenix to Raleigh.  It's 4.5 - 5 hours.  That's not fun for a 6.5 month pregnant lady whose legs cramp up and has to go potty a lot.  I decided on a isle seat, so I could get up as I needed.  I sat next to two very nice older ladies.  One was from Raleigh, the other from Phoenix.  The one from Phoenix was visiting her sister.  She was very nice.

Then, we were descending.  I could see the jagged shapes of the blocks in Raleigh.  TONS of pine trees.  It was very green.

And then we landed, and I rushed off the plane as fast as I could go.