Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. I know I was blessed with a great dad and now I'm blessed to have a husband who will be a great dad. So, thank you dad and Jon for everything you guys do. :) It was fun celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day this year, knowing we would both soon be parents. As usual, we split up the day going to both houses and eating lots of food!

Also, we almost have the baby room finished! There's still a little bit left for my dad to paint on the tree and some pictures to hang, but besides that, it's pretty much done. Saturday night I spent a couple hours folding all of his little, cute clothes(leaving tags on in case he surprises us with being a girl-although I'm sure that won't happen) and putting away his few little toys. I think I enjoyed that part a little too much and now I'm more impatient than ever. It also made me excited when my mom and I picked out his going home outfit. I was going to post a picture of it but I think I'll wait so it's that much cuter when I actually have of picture of him on here wearing the outfit. However, I am going to post a picture of part of the room because I'm excited about it. Although, looking at it now it's hard to really tell what the wall color is because of the lighting and because I was taking the picture on my phone so please excuse that's it's really bad picture quality. It looks a lot cuter in person. I didn't post a picture by the crib yet because we don't have the tree over there done and I haven't hung everything on the wall so more pictures will come later.

Just picture everything less...yellow. The wall is actually more blue than it's looked in all the pictures I've posted and the dresser is more white. Oh well. People will have to come see it in person.

Lastly, I have about a month to go so here's an updated picture of me looking bigger than ever. I don't know how some people get cute pregnant pictures because mine are definitely very unflattering. I feel like a huge, waddling, balloon.

Confession

I know I just did a post earlier today but I saw this video(thank you Tara) on facebook and couldn't help but share. My confession is that I really wish I could dance like this. Like...a lot. I would rather watch dance over listening to a classical piece. Which, I guess if you know me well you know that I don't listen to classical music just for fun very often. But honestly, if I hadn't been so blasted shy when I was little, I would have loved to take dance. Not just any dance...contemporary. Ballroom and hip hop don't get me as nearly excited. But honestly, I could probably watch contemporary dances(that are well done) all day long. So anyway, enjoy.



And Erika, thank you for explaining to me how to post this. :) Someday I'll catch up with my generation in their smarts for technology.

How can you not love little shoes?

I couldn't resist buying these cute little shoes yesterday. He's not even born yet and his shoe count is up to 5. I think that's more than Jon had when we got married...

Also, we've been doing a lot of work on the baby's room. I didn't realize how long it would take when you're doing everything by yourself instead of buying things already done. Like, painting picture frames, making pictures that go in the picture frames, making curtains and the quilt, refinishing the dresser and crib, etc. After all the supplies were bought, we still spent less money than we would have buying one piece of furniture alone. As soon as it's all put together, I'll post some pictures. I think it's turning out pretty cute. :)

As far as the baby goes, he's moving like crazy. And sometimes those big movements get pretty uncomfortable! I'm pretty sure he ran out of room a few weeks ago but that doesn't stop him from trying to move as much as possible. Last week at church he gave a big kick and a lady a few seats down saw it and made a comment on how he was going to be a soccer player. At the moment, it sure feels like it. I think he's as impatient to get out as I am for him to come out. Besides wanting to finally have him here, part of my impatience is just from the discomfort that comes with pregnancy. Sometimes, I swear my pelvis is going to crack in half from the weight and I can barely walk. I now know why pregnant women waddle as I have to say I've been guilty of this lately. :)

Baby Shower

Baby shower time! Yesterday, my best friend threw me a baby shower and did a really great job. We ate lots of food, played a cute game and opened lots of presents! Most of these pictures were taken after the baby shower, since I'm smart and didn't remember to really take pictures during, but what can you do.


Me, Lyndsee and my big belly




My mom and I



My aunt Karen


People are so creative. Lyndsee made this 3-wheeler out of diapers and it was soo cute.




Lots of food!

Crafts!?

I have been busy doing crafts this week! I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about crafts but with limited funds and extremely picky tastes, I didn't have much choice. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy doing crafts; I just have no knowledge of how to do them. So, here's some pictures of my "attempts" at making cute things for the baby room. I hope this baby enjoys his room because it's all been done with love.



I made these pictures with card stock for scrapbooks.

I haven't done anything with this material yet but it will soon be the baby quilt.

And, here's my first homemade pillow. I broke the needle on my sewing machine making one little pillow! Me and the sewing machine aren't getting along at the moment. I have one more pillow to make but if I had attempted to make another one last night, I probably would have ended up chucking the machine against the wall so I had to take a break. That...and the needle's broken so I have to get another one. I have a new respect for people who sew. It should be interesting to see how my quilt works out if I had that much trouble with a dumb pillow. I also have curtains that I need to sew so I hope those are easier than pillows...we'll see.

Goodbye May

In all of the chaos happening at the beginning of the month, I forgot to mention that Jon turned 25 on the 3rd. Then yesterday, I turned 25. I can't believe we're that old! Honestly it still feels like we should be 21...maybe 22. And here we are, barely about to start our little family. Better late than never. Also, today is the first of June and, hallelujah, there's sunshine! I told Jon this morning that I wish it was the first day of maternity leave because, guess where I would be all day. Outside!!! Not that I mind being at work, but when the weather is soo nice, it's just hard to be inside. So, in August when the baby's old enough to take on walks, I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time at the park.

Getting Closer...

Since I still haven't found my battery charger, I decided to take a 32 week picture with my phone. But, now I can't figure out how to get it any bigger than this little picture. I hate technology. Actually, it's more like a love/hate relationship. Anyway, here you go...a picture of me and my growing abdomen. We went to the doctor yesterday and apparently our little guy is head down so I guess he's ready to go. :) He's been moving a lot lately with some pretty big kicks and jabs so I think he's getting a little squished in there. I start going to my doctors appointments every two weeks now and then starting the middle of June, I'll be going every week! Less than two months to go!

Sooo...being the dork I am, I've been worried that someone might take offense to my last post. Jon calls me paranoid and I'm sure I'm being dumb but just in case, I just wanted to say that no one who knows me well enough to read this blog has ever made a pregnancy comment that I was annoyed by. I was pretty much just talking about random customers that come in to the store or random ward members, who I'm not close to, that act like I'm just young and naive and have no idea what having a baby entails. Which, I don't, but everyone has to start somewhere. To everyone else, I love comments and advice about being pregnant and motherhood. I need to post another picture on here since my last picture drives me crazy because it's so unflattering, and it's been a month, but I lost our charger for batteries and our camera is dead. Hopefully I'll find it soon.

Also, this probably won't be exciting to anyone else, but I'm excited because Jon finally cut down his hours at Broulims starting this week. So, no more 38+ hours a week while going to school full time. To anyone who's done it out there, I'm impressed, and I'm glad Jon's a hard worker and has been willing to do it for the last 2 years, but it's hard on a person. Particularly when those 38+ hours are all through the night and then you're trying to keep a clear mind all day during school on no sleep. Try it. You won't like it. And I don't know how my husband kept it up for so long. But, enough is enough and he's cut down to 24 hours a week and now I actually get to see him every other night. Ya!

What else would this post be about?

Sooo...everyone has been updating their blog lately and I felt a little left out. Ok, I didn't really feel left out but I just thought I'd share what's been on my mind lately.

Get ready for it.....

Baby!

I haven't updated because nothing new has really happened. Well, nothing exciting and new has happened. Pretty much my mind revolves around how my family is doing and how my baby is doing. I can say that I only have two more months of pregnancy, which is a good thing. Although, when I tell people I'm excited to be done, their automatic response is, "Well, they're more work once they're out! Enjoy the free time now." Or, "You'll wish the baby was back inside once you realize how much work he is!" I'm not annoyed by these responses but I'll be 25 before I have my first baby, for heaven's sake! It's not like I'm starting super young and haven't experienced being independent yet(yes, I know 25 isn't old). I feel ready and excited for a new chapter of my life to start and, call me crazy...and naive, but I can't wait to be sleep deprived. ;) And yes, I know I'll take back that statement once the baby's here and I'm exhausted.

As far as the baby goes, he's growing quite nicely. He weighs over 3 pounds now and likes to kick like crazy. It's nice to know he's doing well inside but sometimes it's painful! After about 20 minutes of straight kicking and squirming, I feel like a punching bag. To you experienced moms out there, I realize the pain/fun is just starting and there's lots more to come. Also, I suspect he has a low tolerance for sugar, like me, because he stops moving after I eat dessert or a piece of candy or anything with sugar in it. People used to tell me to drink pop if the baby hadn't moved for awhile because it would give him a sugar rush. Tried it. Doesn't work. I drank that "pop" for the glucose test, which is pure sugar, and then did an ultrasound right after and the baby was knocked out. The doctor was giving us a free 3D ultrasound and the baby wouldn't even wake up long enough for us to take a decent picture of him! No amount of poking and prodding would get him out of his deep sleep. Anyway, from what we could see of his face(since half of it was buried in my placenta-his favorite pillow) it looks like he'll have chubby cheeks and a big nose. I have no idea where the big nose came from... Really, the baby had no chance with Jon and I as his parents.

For a quick update on my dad: he just had his second round of chemo and is feeling the effects of that. I would say people have a love/hate relationship with chemo. Anyway, they'll get blood results back on Monday and then we'll know if the chemo is still doing it's job fighting the cancer. We just continue to pray for the best!

Life

Here's another pregnancy picture. I took this a few days ago when I was around 28 weeks. This picture isn't very flattering, but what can you do.

Also, I wanted to give a little background/update on things happening with my dad. I'm just going to start a couple months back because I want to give an idea of the whole picture and the miracles we've seen.

My dad was told he had cancer back in February but we thought it was contained and easily treated(well, as easy as cancer can be I guess). He started having treatments and his health started getting worse and worse. Finally, it was soo bad that his doctor told him to go to Dr. Dickson, who's a cancer specialist. He was admitted into the hospital because his calcium levels were crazy high and they needed to get things under control. They did a ton of tests and told us the bladder had had another type of cancer in it as well that is faster acting and more aggressive and that it had spread to his bones and liver. Despite the bad news, the doctor was optimistic that they could get it under control. After that, we just kept get

ting bad news. They realized the cancer is in stage 4, which is uncureable, and by Wednesday night the doctor told us the cancer had spread to his blood and that we had to decide whether we wanted him revived once the blood carried the cancer to his heart-which could happen at any time. He pretty much gave us no hope and we were left to prepare for the worst. Jon and I stayed with my dad that night because we knew it would be a hard night to be alone. And, the thought of leaving my dad was extremely painful because I didn't know how much longer he would be here. I won't go into detail about that night, but I just have to say my dad is a tender, loving man. I can only strive to be as loving and caring

to my kids and spouse, as my mom and dad are to each other and to us kids.

After we had received the news on Wednesday, we immediately started to fast and, of course, pray. We received a ton of support from family and friends and I think his name was put in every temple in the mid-west. On Thursday, the doctor came in again and he was so excited. He said the kidneys had started to stabilize(my dad has a kidney disease and they had been failing up to this point), calcium levels were down(meaning the cancer had been slowed down in the bones), his liver had shrunk from the chemo fighting the cancer, and there was no cancer in his blood. This was honestly a miracle straight from heaven. My mom started crying and gave the doctor a big hug, the doctor started crying and told my dad th

at there was no way he was giving up on him yet. He said he couldn't be more excited how things had started to turn around.

Since then, we have heard of soo many people fasting and praying for my dad. They even held a ward fast this last Sunday. As of this morning, his calcium levels are even lower, the liver is looking better and his kidneys are in better shape than th

ey were before he had cancer. He's not out of the woods yet and there are still a lot of chemo treatments left, which will be a hard road, but we are soo much more optimistic and hopeful now than we were a few days ago.

Through all of this, it's made me really think about what's important in life and why we're here. It makes me sick to think I was obsessing over something as pointless as gaining 5 pounds while pregnant. Who cares? It's normal. Does it really matter if the baby room is a little brighter than I wanted? No. We're not on our own timetable and it's important to make the most of the time we have here. Power from above is stronger than anything we have

on earth and I truly believe in miracles. I don't believe miracles will happen without a huge trial of our faith and without us doing everything we can on earth and I know our wishes are not always Heavenly Father's plan, but I do believe anything can be accomplished with His help. With that said, I am ecstatic that there's hope that my dad will get to see his first grandchild.

This is just a picture of the whole family in the hospital. Karolyn drove all the way from San Diego to be with us.