39 weeks

Oh 39 weeks.... I am not sure if I am pleased to meet you or not.

*On the upside 39 weeks means I am only 1 week away....7 DAYS AWAY!!! from my due date.

*On the downside it means I am still pregnant and do not have a baby girl in my arms.

I am eager to get this baby girl into my arms. And a bit antsy...and GET OUT OF MY UTERUS LITTLE GIRL...ahhem...what I mean is I will be very happy to meet her. Today a friend asked me if I am mentally tired, or physically tired. I thought that was a wonderful question. I would say around 37 weeks I started getting mentally tired of being pregnant. However, starting about 5 days ago I would say I am physically tired. Today is the first day I have HURT...BAD. I have been uncomfortable for a while, but today I HURT. I'm taking that as a good sign though.

I know I will miss being pregnant. Miss those secret movements that are just between baby girl and I. I will miss having her all to myself, and I will miss knowing she is safe and sound. But I am excited for her to get here. I am to the point that everyday I wake up pregnant I have to remind myself to be joyful and make the most of the day I am living in. You never know if you will get to be pregnant again, and I am SO THANKFUL for the blessing of this pregnancy and of this little gal.

Today we threw a surprise party for my sis-in-laws 30th b-day. Super fun. Here are some fun pics of the day and of my 39week pregnant self.

Most of the girls from our small group

Sarah and I and our Mustaches

Here are some preggo belly pics

I pretty much love this man. A LOT. We are quite a pair huh? Ready to be a trio.

That's all for now.

Love, LA

Potty Training at 38.5 weeks pregnant

I potty trained our Dog about 2 years ago which truly wasn't a terrible process. And I myself was potty trained once a LONG time ago...however, this week I have had to RE-POTTY TRAIN MYSELF...Here I am a woman of 25 at 38 weeks (and 5 or 6 days-I can't do math) pregnant and I am going to tell you about my potty training experience of this last week.

Yep- In my last blog I mentioned I had a cold...well the cold turned into a cough and here lies the problem.

Previously on this bloggity I have mentioned/shown pictures that are evidence that at times in this pregnancy I have had a "pee my pants" issue when laughing really hard/jumping/sneezing unexpectedly, ect. HOWEVER, NOT LIKE THIS WEEK! Those other times I let a drop of pee slip out.

This week has been a whole different monster. Okay it started really on Tuesday night at work. I was doing my nursing duties- walking along minding my own business when a HUGE cough escaped from my lungs. And then it happened. I PEE'D MY PANTS- we are not talking a drop or two, we are talking a flood...run down my legs kinda pee. YEP- I waddled my way to the bathroom. And then called my friend to figure out what to do. Well I ended up having my sweet husband bring me new underwares and pants and have not stopped wearing a panty-liner in public since "the incident" (Side note- Dan had to go buy me panty liners too! MAD PROPS to my super sweet hubby who I am sure was extremely confused in the feminine hygiene aisle of the store- we had a convo about "wings" the next day- the man just couldn't understand what the heck "wings" were and why they would be necessary on a pad)

Then yesterday I was sitting on the couch, same scenerio...a flood. I jumped off the couch so fast to avoid "soiling the sofa". (Don't worry I assure you my "lighting fast" movement saved the sofa- so you can feel free to sit next time you come to our house). I promptly had to change my pants again. CAN I GET A COLLECTIVE W-O-W???

Now I'm sure you are all thinking "Girl, you have to kegel when you are gonna cough" Well let me tell you after the experience at work I AM!!! This baby's head is just too much pressure and even my tightest kegel does little to no good against the harsh cough I have.

So learn a lesson from me ladies- If you are EXTREMLY HUGE AND PREGNANT and have a cough either go sit on the toilet before you cough or wear a diaper/pad/liner/ whatever you feel is necessary AT ALL TIMES.

In other news-

*I officially have cankles (ones that pitt after work)

AND

*I found a stretch mark on my tummy- it is super tiny and it is only one....HOWEVER- I am NOT HAPPY about this discovery and I had a very stern "eviction notice" chat with the sweet baby girl residing in my uterus. (I told her to come out because I am getting grumpy with her being inside of me and somtimes I speak sternly to her, but I promise when she comes out I will love and speak sweet nothings to her)

I guess that's all for now

Love, LA

38 weeks & Other Happenings

Last week I mentioned that Dan was sick...well take a wild guess who is sick now! Yep me. In the middle of last week I charged our electric toothbrushes (This is not characteristic of me-dan usually takes care of that) Anyway- I usually leave mine on the sink and his goes on the shelf (they both SHOULD go on the shelf, but I am lazy so mine ends up on the sink). Well I was charging his and put mine on the shelf, because I was in a cleaning/organizing/everything needs to be in its place mood. The next afternoon I realized his was still charging-then I got to thinking! SURELY he isn't so grody that he just didn't brush his teeth this morning. So I asked him, and he said that he used his toothbrush which was on the shelf- WHICH WAS MINE!!! Gag... Anyway- I had been so careful to stay away from his sickness cause I didn't want it and still I got it-cause he used my toothbrush- LESSON LEARNED! I will NEVER charge the toothbrushes or put mine where it really belongs again! (okay maybe the real lesson is something else, but what-ev.)

Today is our second wedding anniversary. Dan took tomorrow off work so we could have a 3 day weekend together and just enjoy each others company before baby girl gets here. We didn't make any plans or even do gifts. Well, acutally we did gifts but it is kinda lame. The second anniversary is the "cotton" anniversary and well, we really needed new towels. So we decided to go buy towels. We got really nice ones. (side note- I love Marshalls/TJ MAX seriously we got awesome ralph lauren towels for SO CHEAP!) Yah- I know towels are kinda lame and not romantic at all, but we left the store and high-fived each other on our bargain, and at the fact that we both have been wanting new towels and we got them! (Dan is currently reorganizing our linen closet as I type-Yah, he is an organizational guru and I think a bit of a freak for it, however, he is my organizational guru and its one of the things I love about him)

I seriously am so blessed that God picked Dan for me. He is a perfect calm balance to my nuttiness and he handles my emotional mess of a self so well. He is encouraging, loving, and seriously one of the most selfless people I have ever met. Plus he is funny as hell. And laughs with me (and at me)...He just doesn't take life too seriously which is the exact opposite of me and exactly what I need. I know he will be a great father and I am SO excited to see him in that role so shortly.

Speaking of being a parent soon....I am 38 weeks now. (nice transition huh?!?)

Wow-o I can't believe we are here already! It is craziness. Everyday I wake up and with a whole bunch of excitement tell Dan- Today, is THE day for the baby to come out- every day he shakes his head at me, which means "whatever you say crazy lady". (A friend pointed out I sound like the boy that cried wolf-she's right, but I am just being optimistic that today could be the day! right?!?)

This week

*I've started having contractions- Tuesday night I had them pretty much every 8-10 minutes from about 8pm till 130 am when I finally fell asleep then I woke up at 6am with none. I know they are just braxton hicks but its still nice to have SOMETHING happening.

*I have been pretty uncomfortable. Nothing major just stiff, my back hurts again, I feel like there is a head in-between my legs & I have been super emotional- but overall I feel okay still. I keep waiting for the heat to REALLY get to me, or to feel like I just CAN'T DO THIS another second but I don't feel that way. I feel like I WANT to be UNPREGGO- but mainly just because I want to meet baby girl and I want to be unpreggo.

*I think I have begun to swell a bit. Nothing major, but just in general I feel I look a wee bit puffy. And I am definitely puffy after work!

*Speaking of work... I only have 5 more shifts left! Hooray!

I think this week she will come! Anyone else?!?! If not then probably next week or the week after. But I am routing for tomorrow actually. Then tuesday-then so on... (Yep- I know I'm crazy-but all a girl can do is hope.)

Here is my 38 week pic. It really is a BEAUTY. okay not so much. I look annoyed and like I am sick of posing sideways for photos. But the bigger that belly gets...the skinnier my arms and legs look. =)

That's all for today

Love, La

Oh- P.S. My dad rocks too and happy fathers day to him. It was just too much for one post.

Beautiful Things

All this pain. I wonder if I'll ever find my way. I wonder if my life could really change at all?

All this earth. Could all that is lost ever be found? Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of the dust.
You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of us.

All around hope is spring up from this old ground. Out of chaos life is being found. In You.

You make me new. You are making me new.


Love,
La

My new years resolution

What's that you say? It's not New Years?!? Well that's okay- I worked this new years eve so I am pretty sure I didn't make a resolution. (I guess I could scan back on the blog and check for sure...but I don't remember what they were...surprise, surprise.)

So I am under this false belief that with a newborn will come productivity. I am not a very productive person. I am organized and plan things to a T...but when it comes to getting stuff done I am not the best. Especially if I don't have a schedule (I think this is why I am under the false assumption that with the schedule of a child I will also get more done) Go ahead....laugh. I know I am WRONG. I am aware how comical this seems and is and wrong I am.

For instance...today I had nothing planned. I did call and make all the phone calls I needed to this morning-which was SUPER FRUSTRATING(but thats not the point..dumb insurance people...not you Dan-I love you and am sorry that people get frustrated with you often.).... then I met with my BFF that I hadn't seen in about 2 weeks. And then I came home in the early afternoon and did NOTHING. Well I did something...but pretty much it consisted of me looking at Pintrest.com for about 4 hours. (Don't have a pintrest...yah get one its addictive. Any of you who are even minorly creative or crafty, will become obsessed. ) Then at 5pm I start looking around thinking THIS HOUSE IS A MESS....and DAN IS GOING TO BE HUNGRY, I HAVE NO DINNER PLANS and I HAVE HEARTBURN AND HAVE TO GO TO CVS TO GET TUMS..(another random not the point thing...how is it this baby has dropped some and now I have heartburn again!?!) So although I could have done laundry, made the bed, cleaned up the kitchen, done the dishes, planned dinner before 5pm now I am rushing to do all those things so my husband who has worked all day doesn't think WHAT HAS THIS GIRL DONE ALL DAY when he gets home. (He would never say that, but I am sure he thinks it sometimes-and I can't even use "the baby didn't sleep all day" as an excuse yet!)

Anyway- I need a plan. I think some kind of chore chart or something. Yes I know that sounds like I am 5 years old.

Anyway- I need to figure that out ASAP. If I could just do a little cleaning each day I think more would get done.

This is what we ended up eating for dinner- Yah- pulled it off even with my late planning.

We grilled out. The zucchini was TO DIE FOR!! And the tilapia also was DELISH. Rice was from a bag and was Dan's request and was so-so...but he liked it.

Here are the recipes

Tomato Garlic Tilapia

Ingredients

4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia

salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons butter

3 cloves garlic, pressed

4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1 cup white wine

Preheat a grill for medium-high heat.

Place the tilapia fillets side by side on a large piece of aluminum foil. Season each one with salt and pepper. Place one tablespoon of butter on top of each piece of fish, and sprinkle garlic, basil and tomato. Pour the wine over everything. Fold foil up around fish, and seal into a packet. Place packet on a cookie sheet for ease in transportation to and from the grill.

Place foil packet on the preheated grill, and cook for 15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Open the packet carefully so as not to get burned from the steam, and serve.

Grilled Garlic Parmesan Zucchini

3 zucchini

3 tablespoons butter, softened

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.

Cut the zucchini in half crosswise, then slice each half into 3 slices lengthwise, making 6 slices per zucchini.

Mix the butter, garlic, and parsley in a bowl, and spread the mixture on both sides of each zucchini slice. Sprinkle one side of each slice with Parmesan cheese, and place the slices, cheese sides up, crosswise on the preheated grill to keep them from falling through.

Grill the zucchini until the cheese has melted and the slices are cooked through and show grill marks, about 8 minutes.

That's all for now.

Love, LA

37 weeks & my mean math skills

According to babycenter.com 37 weeks is considered full-term even though my due date is 3 weeks away.

I waver daily from thinking that I am gonna have this little gal early vs. thinking it will be after my due date. Today I am thinking she will be here early. Although, I am trying to enjoy the last few weeks I have hogging baby girl all to myself. I will miss that she isn't with me everywhere I go! (Although I will enjoy being more comfortable, and less huge!)

-At my last Dr's appointment they did an unofficial measurement and they are thinking she is about 6lbs 14oz already (that is plus or minus 13oz)

-Baby girl is moving less, but I feel her little foot punching my ribs several times a day.

-Lately when she moves it HURTS! I get a huge amount of pelvic pressure and most of the time it feels like someone is stabbing me in the vajazz with a knife (another preggo friend said she felt like she was getting hit with a bolt of lighting in her crotch-either way its hurts)

Today we went to the KC city market and then went to see Monet's water lilies at the Nelson. (All three paintings are together for the first time in 30 years!) They were breath-taking and it took him 11 years to finish the master piece. It was very cool.

At the City market I got a SWEET parking spot by parallel parking. Seriously we were 25 yards from the entrance! I freaking love a sweet parallel parking job. Every time Dan says in AWE "How do you do that?!?!" right after I slide into a tiny parking spot. And I just shake my head and say it's just simple math. I have to Thank Phil Veer my high school geometry teacher for teaching me all about angles and degrees. It's just math! Yep...I just bragged for a paragraph on my parallel parking skills.

Dan has another cold- I swear that man is sick more than anyone I know (other than his brother...who pretty much gets sick every 2 weeks!) Mark my words I will convince him to get his tonsils out before the end of the year. Seriously they are HUGE!!!! They are called "kissing tonsils" and I swear that is a huge part of him getting sick all the time! However, although he feels terrible he has been quite a trooper and had fun with me today. (We know this could be our last weekend without the bambino!- So thanks babe for being fun despite not feeling well)

Okay so this blog has been very little about the baby and more about other random stuff. Lucky you...in one post you got to hear about a knife stabbing my vajazz, my excellent geometry inspired parallel parking skills, and my husbands tonsils that are kissing!

Here is my 37 week bump pic!

Love,

LA

I'm about to go all Jesus on your A

It is my 100th post! Uh wow. Can't believe I've stuck with blogging long enough to post 100 entries. I’ve been trying to decide for a while what to write about on my 100^th post. Well it is here and I guess all I can say is “I’m about to go all Jesus on your A.”

Ever since I was a little girl I have known God loves me. I do not have a memory where I was without that knowledge- but it was more than knowledge really…I have always known deep inside that I am TRULY loved. Sure I have felt less than loved by the world, or people in the world, and there were even times that I thought I would never find a human man that would love me. However- I have never truly doubted the love of my God.

There of course is way more to a relationship with God that just knowing his Love. But that isn’t the point of this post.

I guess what I am wanting to say (I ramble ….I know) Is that in my life not only have I always felt loved by God, but I am consistently amazed by his faithfulness, his goodness and his provision.

As I look back on my 25 years of life those are the things that hold true. The world changes, it is not dependable, people are not faithful, and there certainly is a lack of love.

But no matter what happens in my life, no matter what struggles, obstacles, opposition, or road blocks I may encounter-

God Loves me. God is Good. And He has ALWAYS been faithful to me.

I have a good friend that always talks me down when I get all worked up about something that may or may not happen. She has probably said to me 100 times (and we have only been friends a couple of years-so she says it frequently) “God will give you the grace to handle that situation when/if you need it”

-I worry too much which is a topic for another day. But that statement is true. God has always given me the exact tools/emotional capability to handle exactly what is going on right now. Not necessarily enough for tomorrow, but enough for right now. He even commands “Do not worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough worries of it’s own”

So here on my 100^th post I am just wanting to revel in the truths that God Loves me, He is Good, and He is faithful. And I want to rejoice in the fact that God has given me enough ability to handle today and He will do the same thing tomorrow.

I guess that's it really.

Love, La

Baby Blog

36 weeks

Here we are less than one month out from my due date! (If I was a timely person and posted this on saturday when I should have we would be a month out...but thanks to my procrastination we are now LESS than 4 weeks...less than one month away!)

Baby girl is getting big and her feet hang out under my left ribs...which makes them sore or numb most of the time! She is moving less but her movements are a LOT more powerful!

This week was another busy one Dan asked me this weekend if we would never have a relaxing weekend again- I replied "probably not!"

We went to a wedding this weekend, I had my last baby shower which was hosted by my mom and mother-in-law and we got in some good hang out time with Dan's bro and sis-in-law.

The baby shower was beautiful and it was wonderful to see all my family that I rarely get to see. Once again baby girl and I are feeling extremely loved and we have gotten pretty much everything we need! I even had fun doing/folding and putting away the massive amount of laundry for baby girl!

This is only one load of the probably 4 we have done!

We also had to get Dan some new glasses this weekend. I tried to convince him to get these ones...but he of course declined and got a more "sensible" pair!

YEP WE ARE HAWT!!!!!!!

Here is our most recent sono pic of baby girl! Look at those lips! And I love her little nose! I think it looks like a good mix of our noses! I CAN'T WAIT to meet her and see what she is like!

I LOVE HER SO MUCH!

So her room is all done, except for the curtains/roman shades which may or may not get done before she comes. I should and probably will post a nursery reveal post soon!

In other news-

* I made my own dishwashing detergent this week. Seems to be working really well and was much cheaper and healthier than buying store bought. I got the recipe HERE. (P.S. this is one of my FAVORITE blogs to follow!)

* I bought the stuff to make these-

*I think I will use them in the bathroom. Super affordable project. I may do a tutorial- then again, maybe not! We will see how ambitious I am.

* And finally I started watching the Cosby Show. I love this show! It is so similar to how my parents were with us and it is HILARIOUS!

Last but not least here is my 36 week picture.

Love,

LA