Almost Here

So 2 weeks ago I went in for my 36 week checkup. This is when the dr. starts to check you and see if you are progressing. Well I had great news that week! I was already 70% effaced and 1 ½ cm dilated. Then last week, at 37 weeks, she checked again and I was 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated! I was so excited! She told me that my body is progressing great and that I could have the baby any time! She even said she wouldn’t be surprised if I had him that weekend, well I obviously didn’t! So tomorrow I go in for my 38 week checkup… I really hope I have progressed more because as much as I have loved being pregnant and sharing my body with my cute son… I am ready to be done with this part.

We have his crib up and everything is basically ready for him to be here except for a few minor things, and I think that is what is making it so hard as well, seeing all his cute clothes and toys and smelling the baby wash and not being able to use it yet lol! Pregnancy has been a great experience, I have had a VERY easy pregnancy compared to a lot of women and I am very grateful for that, and I’m sure once it is all over I will miss being able to feel him move inside of me, but right now, all I can think about is holding him, rocking him, feeding him, bathing him, dressing him and being able to finally play with him and see him! My goal over the past little bit has been to “live in the moment” and “find joy in the journey” and I truly am so happy right now and looking back on the past 9 months, I have been so happy going through this amazing experience, but I can’t help but look ahead a few weeks and want that to be here so badly. I don’t want to be one of those people that feel like “I’ll be happy when……” but I will be happy when my son is finally here! HAHA!

Family Pictures

So I have been really bad about being in pictures since I have been pregnant. Here are a few pictures that I am in with my family that will show you my belly:) This first one is at Easter... thus the Easter baskets!

This was after we saw wicked and right before my Grandma and Grandpa's 80th birthday celebration!

This is at the Draper Temple before Landon left on his mission

This was dropping Landon off at the MTC :( I already miss him so much!

As you can see - each picture my stomach gets bigger and bigger. Luckily I only have one month left because my stomach seriously might explode if he gets any bigger ha ha!

Life

So many things have happened since I posted last, that it has been overwhelming to think about having to update the blog. So instead of going on and on and making this blog a novel, I'm going to just sum up what has happened.

~WICKED!
Dan and I were able to go see Wicked on April 25th and it was just as good as it was in New York! EVERYONE needs to go see it!

~80th B-DAY CELEBRATION!
After Wicked on the 25th we were able to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa's 80th birthday! They both turn 80 this year so we did a big celebration at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and kept the poor workers there until 11:30 that night :( Sorry!

~ LANDON’S FAREWELL!
The next day, April 26th was my little brother Landon's farewell. My sister Whitney was the youth speaker so it was neat to have both of them speak. They both did an amazing job and I am so proud of Landon! We had family and friends over after and had a blast spending time with everyone!

~DRAPER TEMPLE!
Tuesday April 28th we went to the Draper Temple with my family one last time before Landon leaves. That Temple is so beautiful and it was neat to be there with my whole family (well except for Whitney)

~FAMILY TIME!
Starting on Sunday May 3rd - Wednesday May 6th we were with my family every night. We had special things planned each night to do with Landon before he left and then on Wednesday May 6th we dropped him off at the MTC. It was so hard to say goodbye because I know he won't get to meet Jaxon until he is almost 2, but I am SO PROUD of his decision to go. He is going to love it and he will be an amazing missionary!

~FRIENDS!
Thursday May 7th we had several of Dan's high school friends over for dinner and fun! It was great to see all of them again! One of his friends is married so it was fun to spend time with his wife while the boys were crazy and played basketball and well.... acted like boys haha.

~FIRST BABY SHOWER!
On Friday May 8th my work threw me a baby shower! They made the office so cute and everyone was very generous! It was so much fun!

~CEDAR CITY!
After the shower Dan and I drove down to Cedar City and spent the weekend with his cousin Kammie and her husband Steve and their cute son! Kammie is pregnant too - she is due in August so she is a little ways behind me, but it was so much fun to send time with them!

~DOCTORS APPT!
Tuesday (yesterday) I had another Doctor’s appointment. I am 34 weeks and everything is looking great! I am measuring right at 34cm and his heartbeat is strong. I will go in when I am 36 weeks and then I will need to start going in every week!!!! I can’t believe how close I am getting! I am so excited!

~LAMAZE
Dan and I have been attending Lamaze classes every Tuesday night and it has been so informative and helpful! It is getting me excited to experience labor (as weird as that may sound).

Well I think that is all for now haha! I will try to post more frequently so that I don’t do these long overwhelming posts anymore! Oh and I PROMISE to post pictures soon!!!

31 Weeks!

I know this is a VERY overdue update - but tomorrow I will be 31 weeks... can you believe it?!?! I have 9 weeks left! I can't believe how big I am either. It was overnight I got really big... it’s amazing how it sneaks up on you! It has made small tasks very hard ha ha, like putting on my pants, shoes, picking things up off the ground, WALKING lol - just lots of things. A few weeks ago we had a little scare too - the doctor put me on "weekend bed rest" and told me I needed to take it easy after that and that I had been doing too much. I think that has been the hardest part of it all is letting people do things for me... but I am now realizing that it is best for me and the baby if I slow down a little bit. I will admit though that the third trimester is pretty hard. I don't mean to complain but it is so hard to sleep now, I wake up all the time because the baby is in my rib cage and it is killing me! So to all of you women who have long torsos - YOU ARE SO LUCKY!!! My poor active baby boy has no room to move except for into my rib cage, lungs, and pushing on my bladder and other organs LOL - it is very funny and sad at the same time. I feel bad that I don't have more room for him to play around. He is getting so big so fast, but last time I was measured I was right on track. I get to go to the doctor every two weeks (well 2 more times) and then I will be going every week! I will also be starting the Lamaze classes the first week in May to get prepared for labor! It’s all very exciting but scary at the same time!

We have so many fun events coming up in the next little bit - next Saturday during the day we will be going to see Wicked at the Capitol Theater! We saw it in New York on our honeymoon almost 2 years ago - so we know how amazing it is - so when we heard it was coming here, we jumped at the chance to see it again! My little brother Landon has his farewell this Sunday and he will be leaving to the MTC on May 6th. I will miss him so much and I'm sad he won't be here to see our baby be born, but he will be where he needs to be!

Another fun thing is that Dan is coaching little league baseball. It has been fun now that it is getting warmer for me to go and watch the games. He does such a good job with all the little boys! And I have to admit, I like being outside in the sun at a baseball park watching the games! I'm glad Dan still makes sure he does things he loves in spite of how busy he is with work and school. He is such a wonderful husband and has done so much to support our family and continues to do so much to make sure we will have a good life. We know law school will be hard, but it will be worth it in the end and I am so grateful to have a husband who works so hard for us! He is the best! I love you Dan!

Update

I am now 25 weeks! Things are going great! We had our follow up ultra sound on Feb 18th since we were not able to see everything during the first ultra sound. Jaxon is doing great and they were able to see everything this time which put our minds at ease! I am actually home from work today and I stayed home yesterday because I have had a horrible cold!!! It is very true what they say that when you are pregnant it takes A LOT longer to get better! This is the worst cold I have ever had! I called the doctor to find out what I could take and when I was describing my symptoms she told me I have the beginning stages of pneumonia and she called in an antibiotic so I won't get it - and that has been helping a lot - but its very frustrating because I am not getting better! But I'm sure it will pass soon! Last Saturday my mom and I went to USA baby because they were having a one day sale and we bought the crib for Jaxon! I was so excited! We got a great deal and I feel good about having a few things checked off the long list of things we need haha.

Some other great news is that my cute little brother Landon got his mission call on Wednesday March 4th! He is going to Independence Missouri and he leaves on May 6th! I am sad that he won't be here to see Jaxon be born, but it will be good for him to leave, he has been ready for a while now so it will be great and I am so excited and proud of him! We have so much going on in the next few months and I just feel like the rest of my pregnancy is going to fly by - I can't believe I am already 25 weeks! I feel so unprepared! I mean I know I still have my showers coming up an I'll get a lot of stuff from that and I know I need to wait until after those to go shopping and getting the rest of what I need, but I just feel like I need to get it all right now! Haha - someone told me it was the "nesting" stage - not really sure what that means, but I am just getting antsy and I want to get it all done right now haha. I have made a list of everything we need and Dan and I are currently looking into the different brands of strollers and car seats and all of that – so here is my question… to you who are moms – WHAT BRANDS ARE THE BEST AND WHAT IS A MUST HAVE AND WHAT CAN YOU DO WITHOUT? Any advice is much appreciated!

Name and 21 Weeks!

First of all, we have decided on a name! I knew what I wanted to name are darling son since the day we had the ultra sound, found out he was a boy, and saw his cute profile picture haha, but I had to convince Dan. We are going to name him Jaxon! Thanks to everyone who voted, we like all 4 names we had on the poll and will probably end up using them for our other sons that we have in the future!

Ok so I have decided that at the beginning of each week I am going to post the progress of me and Jaxon on here! (Or at least attempt to do it!) So this is where we are right now!

I am 21 weeks along (5 months and 1 week)

Jaxon:
He is about 8 ½ inches long and weighs about 12 ounces right now. He is fully developed and can even hear us now! This week his eyelids have finished forming and he is VERY BUSY moving around. He is swallowing amniotic fluid which is helping him get the caloric intake he needs!

Me:
My stomach is sticking out more and more each day! Most people can tell I am pregnant now – although I think a lot of people are afraid to ask JUST IN CASE I’m not haha. My feet sometimes hurt at the end of the day, but my cute husband has been giving me foot rubs and night which helps a TON! The nauseous feeling that I had all the time during my first trimester and beginning of the second is completely gone and I feel a lot better! I eat a lot more frequently now because I am hungry all the time.
Cravings: This whole month – I have been craving ice cream. I have always liked ice cream…. But I CRAVE it all the time now! I have to make a conscious effort not to go get it and I don’t ever buy it at the store because if I ate it every time I had those cravings… I would be HUGE haha.

Belly

So I am finally posting a picture of my belly! :) I haven't done any yet because I wasn't showing that much - but in the last few days (I know.... weird that it is that fast) my belly has really grown... so this is me 5 months (20 weeks) along! I AM HALF WAY! Crazy! And I had to hold my shirt up so you could get a better look, so that is why I'm holding it haha!