24 weeks

Woohoo! Another pregnant picture! This was taken a little while ago at 24 weeks. The stomach just keeps growing.





And this is Abby's pregnancy picture. She's pregnant too! I put an exclamation mark on that sentence but I can't say we were exactly excited when we realized she was pregnant again. The male had been fixed but apparently it takes a couple weeks for the surgery to take effect? I don't know. Either way, anyone want a puppy in a couple months!? Please. :)

And this is our first baby supply purchase! No crib, stroller or car seat yet but at least we have a bag to put his diapers in! I love it. :)
Also, this weekend was Conference! Saturday was spent with Jon's family-watching conference and of course, eating food and spending time playing with all the kids! All of his siblings have kids so it's a total contrast to my family which has none. :) Sunday was spent with my family, watching conference and hanging out with my cousin and his friend and of course, eating. Overall, it was a great weekend and it's always great to listen to our leaders. I always think all the talks are great and well thought out but today I was especially touched by Elder Scott and Elder Holland. It's great to know our church is led by such great people. :) I hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!

Obsessions

I think I have a mental problem or something. I think I'm going to blame it on pregnancy because that's what pregnant women always do. If I forget my keys, it's because I'm pregnant. If my pants don't fit(not just in the stomache area), it's because I'm pregnant. No control over emotions? Pregnant. Anyway, I've found myself obsessing over everything for the last little while. What doctor should I go to? What color should I paint the baby room? Should I sew my own baby quilt(which means learning how to use a sewing machine as well) or buy one? A stroller for $125 or $139? Why is my baby not moving much today when he was going crazy yesterday? Should I call the doctor, even though he'd probably say it's perfectly normal? Which I already know it's normal because I've spent hours reading anything I can about pregnancy and raising kids. I can't make up my mind on anything! Not because all the choices seem so good, but because nothing seems like it's exactly what I'm looking for. I changed doctors around 16 weeks because I was obsessing over finding the perfect personality/competence. Even now, I ask every person I know who they went to, why they liked them, how much they cost, etc. because I think I would probably still switch if I thought there was a better option. The more I search, the more I think no doctor is that great. Baby room...I can't say how many color swatches I've looked at or how many baby rooms I've googled to see what style I want and then how much I obsessed over finding a blanket set that matched the wall color I want. Which, I'm still working on. Jon is great with deciding what he wants. If he likes it, he chooses it and doesn't think a second thought. I find a baby quilt I want to make(which I came to the decision of making one because ones already made were never quite right), but then have to search hours and hours more to make sure that's the best one. The more I look, the less anything looks good...including the one I picked out. It's not just baby things, though. If a student isn't progressing, I obsess over whether it's me or just them not trying. And then I obsess over whether the parent thinks I'm doing my job or not. Even if a kid only shows up half of the time, I obsess over whether the parent is still going to try to blame me for being flaky(which happened today, hence the post), when really, I'm obsessing over not being flaky. I think I need another vacation...and can someone decorate my baby room for me while I'm gone? :)

Growing baby

I view this blog as more of a family journal that I can print off at the end of the year, so sorry if there's a lot of updates on things that might seem boring to other people. But, boring or not, I think it's fun to document on new things happening inside of me with our soon to be baby. I've felt the baby move for quite awhile but it's only been the last few weeks that it's been a more definate movement. And it's been even less weeks since I've been able to see his movements on the outside. Since he's inside of me, I don't miss anything but Jon hasn't gotten to experience much of the movement. I think he's felt one kick. Last night was great because the baby was moving a lot and Jon could actually see quite a bit of the movement on the outside. It was like a movie...both of us just laying on the bed staring at my stomache for 15 minutes. ha ha And, the baby gave Jon's hand a couple hearty kicks which he thought was great. :) Even though I can feel him, it's still hard to look at my stomache and imagine that a real human being is inside of me. I'm just so blasted impatient to see the little guy, I can barely stand it. Sometimes my patience is endless, and other times it's...not. To put it mildly. So, here we are with absolutely no baby supplies(besides a bazillion diapers we got incredibly cheap because of a tip from a couponing friend) and I still wish my due date was yesterday. :) Although, now I'm actually thinking about the delivery, like, all the time and thinking, "why did I get pregnant again?" I'm deathly afraid of the big epidural needle so I'm thinking of going without. I realize that's probably a million times more painful than a needle is and I really wish needles weren't one of my phobias in life. Anyone have advice/ideas on that?

Dear Baby Blackburn,

I love that I can feel you constantly wiggling around, but can you please try to avoid my bladder at least once in awhile?

San Diego!!!

Have I mentioned before how much I love traveling and going on vacations? I'm pretty sure I have because I would go on a vacation every month if I could. It really doesn't even matter where, although certain places are better than others. Well, this past week I got to go to San Diego to visit my sister. Honestly, this gray Rexburg weather was really getting to me so about a month ago, I got a ticket to go to sunny California. And oh, how wonderful it was to see sunshine. I really wish Rexburg would catch on that it's springtime now. It snowed today for heaven's sake! Why do I live here? Anyway, it was nice to visit Karolyn and see some of the fun things she gets to enjoy everyday. Sorry, but this post will have a lot of pictures. I took many more but there's only so much patience I have for uploading photos...

This is outside of the botanical gardens.


And this is inside

My favorite flower in the greenhouse


These are called flamigo anthurium....or something like that. I can see the flamingo part.


Karolyn by some other flowers I really liked


This is just one of the streets in Balboa Park. I would highly recommend going to Balboa Park if anyone goes to San Diego because not only does it have the San Diego zoo, but just down from there are these beautiful streets with a ton of different museums. Some of them cost but a lot are free as well so it's fun to go whether you want to spend money or not. I loved the area when I went on my honeymoon and I loved it the second time around with Karolyn.



Welcome to meditation gardens. This is at the entrance

People really come here and sit in a corner and meditate.



Random, but I was practicing out my camera skills(or lack thereof) and I thought this leaf was nice.




Oh, how I love the ocean. Some day, I hope to live by one.



This is the life

One of the beaches we went to had these cute seals laying all along a little part of the beach



By the tide pools


This squirrel loved me. He even came up to my hand and tried to eat my plastic bag


Hello pregnant belly in a swimsuit

The belly...

I've been kind of bad about taking pictures during the pregnancy but here is a picture that was taken around 20 weeks! I'll just say that my belly's not the only thing growing... Yesterday we had the official gender/overall health of the baby check and everything looks great. He's still a boy...definitely....and everything looks perfect. Everything was around the 50 percentile except his abdomen area which is more around 85 percentile so I guess he's chubby. :) I'm sure he'll be a healthy size just like me and Jon were. Although, I'm praying he doesn't come out over 10 pounds like Jon was. Besides that, all of his internal organs looked perfect and he's still plenty active. During the ultrasound he was using the placenta as a pillow and sucking on his fingers...kind of cute. I started feeling him kick a few weeks ago but now the little kicks are getting strong enough to feel on the outside. Although, whenever I try to call Jon over quickly to feel it, the baby decides to stop so Jon still hasn't had the experience of feeling it quite yet. There's still plenty of time for that, though. I'm glad we still have a few months before the little one arrives because we haven't gotten any baby necessities(besides a few clothes) like a crib, car seat, etc. but on the other hand, I'm feeling soo impatient. I want to enjoy having the big belly and everything that goes with being pregnant, but on the other hand, I just want to hold the little one that I've already started loving. It took it to a new level when I saw him on the ultrasound doing normal baby things and now that he's kicking more, everything seems more real. The first trimester felt like it lasted an eternity but I'm about half way through the second trimester now and I'm hoping it flies by a little faster. By the way, how do people afford all the baby equipment!? I mean, baby monitors alone are around $70(and I'm sure the price can get higher) and they're one of the little items. I should have started saving up a long time ago... Besides the baby, nothing too exciting has happened. Same old school and work. Jon and I realized, again, how much we dislike living in the Millhollow trailer park. I won't go in to detail because I'm too lazy now that I've already written a lot, but honestly, I've never felt like such a rule breaker in my life. I could go on for awhile but I just feel like there are soo many dumb rules that don't matter or don't make a lot of sense but, whatever. We won't be here forever.

Good News!

So, my mom teased me that I said it was good news that my dad has malignant cancer and I thought it would be good to rephrase this post. Bad news: the cancer is malignant. Good news: it should be treatable and it's caught early enough that the cancer isn't to the most aggressive stage yet. Hopefully this post makes a little more sense now. :)

Valentine's Day

Confession: I've always hated Valentine's Day. Ok, not always but from the age of 16ish on I dreaded the holiday. I have to admit that I am horrible at getting gifts! Horrible. I think I know someone and then as soon as I have to do something planned and special, I have no idea what to do. So, I didn't hate Valentine's day because I was always single but because I always had to figure out something to do for a boy. Girls are supposed to be the romantic ones with creative ideas and boys are supposed to be the insensitive ones. And, I know Valentine's Day is more about guys showing their affection but I always felt like I should do something. And, at the age of 16, what says "I like you" but that's not too mushy or dumb? Even in college, I had no idea what to do for guys I dated. Anyway, I'm just glad I married the man I did and that I know him as well as I do and that he is totally happy with me getting him brown licorice and handwriting a card. Because honestly, between him and I, I'm not the romantic one. At least, not the planned romantic one. :) Our Valentines Day consisted of me feeling sick and him sleeping. Although, he was sweet enough to wake up early and take me to a late dinner at Carinos where I could get salad(another blessed food) and some tortelloni. Thankfully, my love of italian food hasn't totally gone away during pregnancy. I thought it was sweet of him to get up early because he'd only slept a couple hours sunday night before work, then went to school the next day, then slept only 4 hrs. before going to dinner with me. And, he had work again that night and had school the next day so really he just went sleep deprived from Sunday-Tuesday afternoon. We also did a mini celebration on saturday since we knew there wouldn't be a lot of time on Monday. I'm not going to be all mushy on here because it's not really my style(as if I had one) but, I just have to say I'm glad I married the man I did and that I am soo totally comfortable around him and I know that no matter what dumb little gift idea I come up with, he'll be totally thrilled. And then he, of course, always thinks of something cute to do to make me feel special-not only on Valentine's Day but on any day of any old week.

On a non-valentine note: we just found out a few days ago that my dad has a tumor in his bladder. Yesterday they did surgery and removed part of the tumor(some was impossible to get) and took samples of tissues around it to see how aggressive the cancer is. He will mostly likely have more surgery next week to hopefully get more out. Or, if the cancer is super aggressive, to maybe have his whole bladder removed. I don't know. We find out more today...hopefully. Honestly, my dad is an amazing man. He's always been a rock in the family and in the church. Between my mom and my dad, I've had two great examples. I think the two of them have been thru more trials in their lives then most and because of their attitudes, the trials have always made us stronger as a family. And, they've been great examples to me of what love is. So, as I'm typing this, my mom is living at the hospital doing anything she can for my dad because she loves him so much and my dad is being incredibly strong because he knows that things always work out how they should. He never doubts or wavers from that knowledge. I know trials are hard, but it's always a blessing to see just how deep my parent's love for each other goes as they try to support each other thru things.

Dear Morning Sickness,

I knew your absence was too good to last. Time to go stock my fridge with fruit again...

Next time, I'm going to adopt.

It's a miracle!

Finally! My last post was all about me feeling sorry for myself but I can happily say a miracle happened. The morning sickness just went away! A couple days ago I was feeling crappy, thinking there was no way I could put up with feeling the same way for the next 5ish months and then all of the sudden that night, it went away. Weird, but I am soo glad. My lack of food was getting to me and I found myself crying all the time over nothing and then suddenly, I was as happy as could be. I hope it stays this way. I also have some more good news. We found out we're having a boy! I have to be honest...I've been hoping for a girl ever since Jon and I got married. I always thought my first baby would be a girl and I was super set on that until Christmas. Up until Christmas, it didn't even cross my mind that we would be having anything but a girl since that's what I wanted so badly, but...things never happen how we plan. I think the Lord knew I needed a little time to change my mind set so I was pretty much hit on the head in December that my little girl dream wasn't going to happen. So, when we saw the ultrasound today, I wasn't the least bit surprised when the doctor said it was a boy. And honestly, I couldn't have been happier as we watched our little boy rub his eyes and scratch his head on the ultrasound. I'm just happy that the baby seems perfectly healthy and will join us sometime in the middle of July.