You Know You're In The Desert When....

You know you're in the desert when.....

you're out for a walk and this giant tumbleweed bounces up out of nowhere and hits you in the face. haha. It startled me so much I almost fell down. 

Tumbleweed: 1

Me: 0

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas everyone!

We had such a fun day hanging out, eating good food, and opening presents.

We started our festivities on Christmas Eve with being able to Skype with Mike, who's in Brazil.

He was so fun to talk to and seemed to be doing really well. His birthday is the day after Christmas and we definitely miss having him around.

On Christmas day we slept in, ate a great breakfast of french toast and omelets, opened presents, and watched basketball. In the afternoon Caroline and I went to the movies to see Les Miserables. It was so good! We loved it. I will never get tired of that music or that story. When we got home we had my special birthday dinner- sweet and sour chicken with pineapple, rice and a berry spinach salad. It was delicious. For dessert we had red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I felt very spoiled and loved all day long. Thanks to our families for being so nice and generous to us this Christmas/birthday. It's crazy to think this is our last without kids (!)

and I just thought these were so cute- Jeff's mom got baby girl some Cowboy's onesies so she'll be ready to go next NFL season. 

Hope everyone had a great day. I know Jeff and I are very blessed to come from such loving families. 

Merry Christmas!

Vegas

We've been in Vegas for a week now and it has been so nice to hang out with each other and relax! 

We've been keeping busy with making tons of treats, watching a lot of old volleyball games, and taking Laser out of walks. We were also able to spend a morning in the Las Vegas temple. I'd never been to this temple and it was so beautiful inside and out. 

On our plane ride out of Dallas we were on board with a ton of rodeo guys with big belt buckles and girls with huge hair. Apparently there was some big rodeo in Vegas this week. They were really drunk and noisy the whole flight. I gave one of the old guys the evil eye and he slightly quieted down.

 Jeff out with Laser

I picked out some ribbon for crafts

A little glimpse at all the food :)

Jeff's in heaven.

Pretty Vegas sunset

We've also been hanging out with Jeff's friends from high school. They're all so fun and get together every Friday night with all their kids and just hang out. 

Jeff was able to get some practice in with their cute little girl, Scarlett.

twins

And now we're just excited for next week and Christmas and my birthday!

Hair

 Happy early birthday to me!

Today I finally got my hair done. It had been a really long time since I've had it cut- I also decided to go back to being blondie blonde. 

and this is when I need to turn off photobooth and go to bed. 

I can't help it though- when I bring my hair forward and peer out it always creeps Jeff out so bad. Think I'll set this as his background on his phone.

20 Weeks

Today the weather is gorgeous. 

It's finals week for Jeff and today he was able to come home early so we decided to go for a walk. It's actually been pretty chilly lately so the sunshine today felt amazing. Tomorrow Jeff takes his last two finals in the morning, coaches some vball and then we are off to DFW to catch our flight to Las Vegas. We are so excited to see family, relax, eat, shop, and basically just chill for the next few weeks.

Today I am right at 20 and a half weeks. Part of me kind of can't believe I'm this far along and the other part of me feels like I should be farther. I'm feeling better every day and my headaches and nausea have decreased dramatically so I am extremely thankful! I'm definitely feeling bigger- Right now I'm just wearing my regular jeans and they fit comfortably unless I eat - then I feel like a whale. I've used the hair band thing but my mom bought me some maternity clothes and I can't lie- the maternity jeans are 

c-o-m-f-o-r-t-a-b-l-e 

I kind of love them and think I'll just start wearing them all the time as soon as I can. I don't think I'll ever not want to wear them- why do so many people hate them? They have elastic tops! They stretch when you sit down! They expand when you eat :) haha, Why can't all pants be like that? 

anyways....

What else pregnancy related do I need to record..... oh, movement. 

I think I feel movement but I'm not entirely sure. Every now and then I get a weird sensation in my stomach or just a weird vibe going on....it's hard to explain. It doesn't feel great but it doesn't feel bad so...I'm not sure. Hopefully soon I can feel something a little more definite. 

I am feeling round ligament pain! Otherwise known as growing pains. Woof. At least it tells me that the baby's growing and things are moving along as they should be. It just happens to manifest itself at like 2 am every night. I told Jeff my stomach hurt and he told me I'd get used to it. So I punched him in the gut and told him he'd get used to it- I think I'm a little hormonal.

I'm still getting heartburn but it's not the worst thing ever so I try not to let it bother me.

And- my hair has stopped thinning/falling out! Woot woot. I was getting worried. Thankfully I had a lot to work with from the beginning but... I was getting worried- like huge chunks would come out. 

I'm not having any dreams that are crazier than usual other than the one where I have a talking baby, like it can talk as soon as she's born. And in my dreams the baby is always very rude. Not sure what this means.

Most of all I am just so excited to be a mom and love this little girl to pieces.   

pics from our walk today

20 Weeks

Some days I wake up and I definitely look pregnant but other days not so much. Today I definitely felt pregnant. The fact that I had lunch at Johnny Carino's probably helped.

Jeff got in on the photo shoot action too

didn't want to feel left out lol

Its a.......

GIRL !

We found out on Thursday that our baby's a girl :)

I am beyond excited.

Just like at my last ultrasound she was being uncooperative. So we spent a really long time checking and rechecking all of her measurements. It was really cool to see her face and her spine! Her spine was crazy- you could see every single little part. Of course Jeff loved that part. Her face was a little freaky, my doctor said at this stage when you see the face straight on it looks like one of those Day of the Dead skulls.....and I really can't disagree, ha. It actually looked like I thought it did when I was so sick and I referred to her as our little monster baby.

Finally we kind of got a shot that let us know it's a girl. Unfortunately their printer wasn't working so I just snapped a pic with my phone- I wish I would have gotten one of her profile! But her little bum is cute too.

Happy and excited parents-to-be

Going in to the ultrasound I had no guesses either way. Growing up with no sisters and four brothers though, I was kind of hoping to get our girl first since they were such a rare commodity in the fam. I was talking with my brother and I told him that now I have a real girl to dress up and I won't have to rely on my days when we were younger and I'd force him into my princess dress and do his nails and makeup. I'll have a real girl to torture....j/k.....kind of. 

Tis the Season

 It's my favorite time of the year. 

We leave for Christmas break next week (!) and we are getting so excited to be done with tests/school (Jeff) and into a house that has a quality water heater (me).

Because our Christmas break starts so early for us this year I decided not to go all out with the tree and decorations, but we did kick off the season with the wonderful First Presidency Christmas Devotional. We also had cinnamon rolls delivered to us just in time for it to start. Perfect and delicious.

I tried again to make sugar cookies...and again I ruined them. I can't help myself! I always roll them too thin so they turn out all crispy and really crunchy- however, they are still yummy to me, but I wanted to give them to my neighbors :/ 

I'll have to try again before we leave.

I attempted to get my craft on....thank you pinterest. I really liked how the snow globes turned out but I didn't love my dumb pine cones- the colors came out all wrong- but they do smell amazing so I'll keep em around.

Got Jeff to take a study break

and this is my current project. I didn't take a before pic like I should've, but this is one in progress. Cross your fingers for me that it turns out cute. The way my chairs and table looked before was super ug so I figured there's not a lot I can do to make it look worse...right???

Oh! and the most exciting news of all is that I go in for a doctors appointment TOMORROW morning to find out the sex of the babe!!! I've been trying to be patient but it is NOT easy. My appt was originally for Tuesday morning but they called me Monday saying something came up and they had to reschedule for later in the week....I wasn't too happy. Hopefully all goes well tomorrow and we'll find out if this babe is a he or she :)

Thanksgiving 2012

And we're back in Texas. Thanksgiving came and went way too fast!

I really love my time in Boise and and getting to hang out with my family. This year was special because I was able to be there when the Boise Temple was rededicated after being closed for a while for renovations.

 The Temple looks so pretty and they completely changed the inside. I was able to watch the dedication and the celebration thing they do the night before. It was so fun! President Monson and Elder Bednar attended and spoke- it was so great to hear from them and see them in a non-conference setting! 

One of my favorite things about coming home are getting my hands on my favorite treats. 

Cam and Dad

Grandparents still cuddle during movies :)

Poor Jeff had to stay in Texas until the night before Thanksgiving for work and school- I was lucky and got to travel out about a week early. While we were apart we would keep each other updated with what we were up to by texting pics of our day- below is a pic I sent right before I was going out one night- The pic above is the pic Jeff sent back lol. and BTW he's wearing MY awesome house robe that he always makes fun of. I LOVE that robe and wear it wrapped around my pjs like, every night  because it is the warmest, softest robe you will ever put on. It's huge, and I look a little ridiculous wearing it- but....I don't care. A good robe is a good robe. 

My momma and me

some new shoes that I found at Target for 12 bucks

Matt helped me with the cinnamon rolls

My mom made the best food

We saw Skyfall on Thanksgiving- it was actually really good!

At dinner.

If I look exhausted, it's because I am exhausted. 

It's my new thing- to feel so tired that I think my eyeballs and limbs are going to fall off.

The fam. I love them all and loved being able to come home! My mom,  grandma and I did a lot of baby shopping, and some of the things we shipped are supposed be delivered today! I can't wait. Baby stuff is so fun (and expensive :/ ). Thanks mom, dad, and grandma for all the gear!

17 Week Recap

Before I start this super long post I would like to share with you a creeptastic screen shot of my phone.

I was doing a google search on "i'm pregnant with complex migraines" to see what other people do with them but these were the suggested search options.....

......two out of the four are incestuous. oh dear. 

 Are these thing really googled enough to be suggestions???? anyways, couldn't keep the creep factor to myself. 

I am officially 17 weeks! I kind of can't believe it. 

Now that I am pregnant I just can't help but feel so incredibly grateful. Like my friend Danielle (who is also pregnant) says- any day of puking and headaches is better than not being pregnant. I would read her blog while feeling so sick and I can only agree with her 100% so while I'm going to detail my last 17 weeks- in no way do I want to come off as being ungrateful or unhappy. Although I think my physical body has never been more miserable, my mind and spirit have never been happier :)

The first few weeks I felt great! Ha, but by week six I was puking five times a day. There is nothing "morning" about morning sickness! There were some nights where I just had to sleep in the bathroom because I just couldn't stop. It was not pretty. At my worst I lost about 15 lbs- I thought, there is no way this baby is going to be able to grow and survive but, somehow the baby was always fine at checkups for which I felt very blessed. I really felt like the nausea was so bizarre. It wasn't just foods that would make me throw up- but bright lights, loud noises, or sudden movement. If I lay really still on my side without any noise and the tv off I could manage it. 

and this is when my family and friends started sending me nice flowers and packages to make me feel better. I am very lucky to have so many people who care about me. I actually received the nicest gift from a girl in my ward- it was a "getting through the first trimester" gift bad. The bag was full of old chick flicks, Sierra Mist, crackers, gum, trail mix- it was the sweetest gift and I felt so overwhelmed by the kindness of this girl. I also came home one night to find a shopping bag full of Costco rolls! I never found out who left these for me but Heaven bless them. The previous week I was out at a dinner before the church Relief Society broadcast and the only thing I could really stomach was the costco roll. I lived off of those rolls that were left on my doorstep. Again, I felt so loved and thankful for the people in my life. It's a humbling experience to be on the receiving end of service and I've just learned to be grateful.

Around 12 weeks I started taking Zofran which is supposed to help with the nausea. This actually helped! However, I had to stop taking it after a couple weeks because I ended up having a weird reaction to it that made my blood pressure super low, but....it was a nice two weeks while it lasted! I actually asked my dr how important was normal blood pressure anyways? But apparently it's important. lol. I just didn't want him to take away my drugs! Thankfully when I was 16 1/2 weeks (like three days ago) I started feeling better! I'm starting to eat again and I'm not throwing up nearly as much. I feel like it's a Thanksgiving miracle! 

The only other problems I had actually resulted in me ending up in the hospital :( 

Around week 14 I had a "mini stroke" or a complex silent migraine. I don't like calling them mini strokes because that makes them sound scary-which I guess they are- but that's what my doctor calls them. All of a sudden my hand, arm and half of my face went numb on one side of my body. It was the weirdest experience and it lasted for about 15 minutes. I didn't really know what to do or what was going on. I didn't have a headache or have any warning signs. I told Jeff and he didn't know what was going on either. I called my doctor and he told me as long as I was feeling okay to rest and call him if it happened again. Well, about a week later it happened again. Except this time my vision went, I felt like I was going to pass out and it was scarier and freaked me out more. We called my doctor who told us to go to the ER- the fact that half my face had gone numb was what bothered him the most- me too! It was 11:00 PM and I didn't really want to go in and Jeff had a big test the next day but we were both freaked out enough that we did what my doctor said and booked it to the hospital. Little FYI about the ER- if you have stroke like symptoms you don't have to wait in line. We were in our little room ASAP and I had a giant honking needle attached to my arm while they took blood and I was being prepped for a CT scan. Normally you don't want to have a CT scan when you're pregnant but you gotta do what you gotta do when the doctors think there's something wrong with your brain. I was extremely protected though. I wore double the radiation suits and a third radiation cover wrapped around my neck. I was weighed down! I had to have help to move onto the table because those things are heavy. I'm not going to lie, the CT scan was scary. I was terrified and couldn't stop shaking. I don't know how little kids do it. I just couldn't stop thinking about everything that could be wrong and about the potential harm I was doing to the baby. After the CT scan I was wheeled back to our little room where they did more tests on me and we waited for all of the results. 

My little hospital bracelet. You know things are bad when I leave the house in my glasses- I've had contacts since I was twelve and I can count the number of times I have gone out in public while wearing glasses on one hand.

I actually had a very nice nurse the whole time I was at the hospital and right before I left I couldn't stop wincing every time he would rip off a piece of tape from my arm. I didn't mean to make him feel bad, but I now have patches on my arm where my arm hair used to be. 

Poor Jeff. We were up all night and he had a 7:00 AM test in the morning. Bad timing complex migraine. 

THANKFULLY, all of the tests results came back normal! Even the CT scan. Whew. I think my doctor was a little surprised by all of the normal test results We talked to another doctor at that point who suggested that these episodes could possibly be complex migraines- even though I didn't actually have a headache at either time of the numbness or vision loss. Okay. Good news is that is wasn't a real stroke! However, my doctor said that it was still considered a mini stroke due to a lack of oxygen getting to my brain.Okay. He also said that these were most likely brought on due to all of the pregnancy hormones that are going on inside my body and that they were making my body much more sensitive and vulnerable to these complex migraine triggers and that I had to start taking it easy ASAP. Done. He told me I was not allowed to get stressed out, excited or tired. Yeah, show me a pregnant woman who doesn't get stressed out, excited or tired lol 

There's also some foods and drinks I'm supposed to stay away from and I'm not supposed to go out marathon shopping in big crowds or exert myself in any way. Okay. I was actually having a hard time not getting excited while my doctor was telling me this because I was just so happy that it wasn't a real stroke or a brain tumor. So yeah, Jeff and I left the ER that night feeling relieved, and a little wary about how I was going to relax. We weren't sure if this meant I'm supposed to stay in bed all day or if it meant I couldn't travel over the holidays? The next few days I felt like I had been hit by a truck and I really couldn't leave my bed other then to go in to different doctor's office for more tests. However, I felt so much better a few days before I was supposed to leave for Boise and I thought if I was really good and stayed calm and rested I would be okay to travel. And I totally was. This whole thing makes me feel silly and like I'm a total invalid, but my doctor just told me that taking it easy (even though it makes me feel like I'm being lazy and super selfish) is going to be so much better than having to be hospitalized- or having permanent damage. Blurg.

And that is my SUPER LONG post about the last 16 weeks! Can I just give a shout out to my normally awesome health though? I feel like I'm normally very healthy so don't think this sick, numb gimp thing is permanent or anything. 

Jeff and I spending all day Saturday in our sweats watching movies. Proof I am taking it easy. Anyone want to come watch movies with me during the day? I have a lot of free time now ;) My grandma also sent me a puzzle to work on so if you're nice I'l let you help me with it.