It's been brought to my attention that I give tmi on my blog!

SORRY folks!

I guess I give graphic information about pregnancy stuff. Sorry, folks, we talk medical stuff at our house regularly & at my work...so I think I've become unaware of what is gross to people. MY BAD!

Basically, the pregnancy was a little threatened & we almost could not go to AZ for my sister's wedding.

Everything worked out, though, and with orders to 'take it easy' we were able to come...uhm...that's nice!

NOW. My sister's wedding was a DREAM. I will be updating on this later, I promise!

Have a great weekend!

TBT

to back to Mitch's adorable 23rd birthday Syd through.

& to probably the first time Siena let me hold her w/o crying

(I've seen her since & she let me hold her! My wildest dream came true! She's such a cute girl, check out her mom's blog here)

TBT

to back when I looked like a high dog/bear/sheep thing at Target.

But seriously

After coming to peace that this pregnancy will have more challenges than I anticipated. When Weston & I both got home last night we were able to calm our logistical fears.  Once I found out our little girl is alright, I had a huge sense of peace.

My next fears came along with missing my sister's wedding. I will be devastating if that was the outcome. I have prayed for peace with the Lord's will as well as following the doctors orders. My girl is worth any sacrifice. But just let it be known I will be competitive for most depressed person on the planet for a bit if I miss her wedding.  I also had a lot of fears about the logistical nightmare bed-rest would be.  I am the bread-winner. I am our source of income, our source of food, I am our source of insurance.  My measly paying job has offered us security that I have been thankful for for 5 years now.  

I have no idea what we will do logistically, but somehow everything will work out, I'm sure of it.

I had a restless night & have since had a peace that the Lord will bless us in unforeseen ways.  I am just nervous at the amount of sacrifice we will need to take. Please keep us in your prayers. If I get put on bed-rest this will be my last post for a VERY long time..since I don't have internet at home.

Just know that I am so grateful for our little girl & so excited that she was doing well. She waved at us in the ultrasound yesterday. Ah, she's so sweet already! I cannot wait to hold her & kiss her little cheeks and every one of her 10 fingers & toes.  She's so little & perfect.  I'm not sure w hy any of this has happened, but I know that with these challenges I will never EVER wish that I would trade in a normal lifestyle of non-pregnancy than an extremely intense pregnancy.  I am so so so excited for this baby. I also have an incredibly supportive family. I couldn't ask for more!

Sorry for the melancholy* going on up in hurrr.

*must be said in Mega-Mind fashion

Also, sidenote. sweet Weston surprised me by coming home from the library early & got a pizza! He cooked it in the oven & right as soon as it reached "perfection" he was pulling it out of the oven & it face planted on the bottom of the oven. That poor guy was devastated.

I just giggled & felt bad for him, knowing what that's like to want to surprise & do something really sweet & special for someone & then burn the entire birthday cake.

or dropping the pizza face down in the oven.

It was cute, but we scraped some of it up & smeared it over the top & then covered the all sauce parts w/ cheese from home. We had a little bit of the pizza & a whole lot of chat & it was a perfect night.

Not to mention I made it a point to go to target last night, just in case I can't go for the next 4 months.

Love you all!

Have you ever?

Read my sister's blog.

LaLaLa

Please go read it, because she's funny.

Plus, I'm obviously having an emotional week. I'm not sure what my deal is. 

Maybe I should take a pregnancy test?

Feeling Nostalgic

This weekend I pulled out the home videos DVD my mom made all of us kids.

She is incredible & transferred all of our VHS home videos to DVD. This took her a whole year.

My parents were VERY good at documenting our childhood, seriously.

We have photo albums FULL of pictures, scrapbooks of years 1-15 of my life & home videos from everything!

This DVD is called "The Hits: 88-93"

These are some of the funniest videos. My mom accumulated clips from home videos that we replay over and over. Here are a few clips from them

(Please ignore the terrible sound/picture quality of the videos I have posted. They are recordings from my cell phone of our TV)

This is from the pond by our house in Florida. We went to this park all the time.

I was duck spotting. Obviously, I'm really good at it.

Here we were making get well cards for my dad's dad, Grandpa Dean, in Idaho who was ill at the time.

at one point in this video I said "If he dies, he'll go to heaven!" No one said anything... "Right dad? He'll go to heaven if he dies." "Yep, that's right!"

My poor dad.  I made an awkward situation at 4.

In this clip my mom was adding dots to my heart & had been saying over & over.

"Oh, I just love doing that so much. I just love that so much. I love doing that."

This clip I say "I just love doing that. You make me SO happy, mom."

This video always makes me cry, because of the emotion & passion in my voice. I love that clip so much, because I still feel the same way. I have the greatest mom. She is just so wonderful in so many ways!

This is Danielle at 6 months, I just added this video, because she was the most beautiful baby! Look at those beautiful dark eyes & lashes! Ah!

Plus this baby gets married on Friday!

I love the fat no-neck! TOOO cute!

In this one Danielle is doing what she did ever since babyhood. My hair & clothes advice.

We have a home video of us in our night gowns & we're decorating the Christmas tree.

I put on the Snoopy stockings as shoes and kept walking around showing everyone my boots.

Then Danielle says, "They don't match, Rachel"

& I responded, "I know!"
Here she is giving me a nice do.

I am really appreciating the headscratch.

In this video I'm owning the rocking horse. I was just over a year old. So advanced.

Watching these home videos makes me so nostalgic. 

Watching these reminds me of how fast time is flying by. How sweet my parents were to their little babies. How those babies in the video are getting married & having babies.

I also miss my sister a lot. We could watch the same home videos for days on end & love every second. Picking up something new & hilarious every time.

One of my favorite things I caught this past time is all the hilarious behind the camera talk the adults are having. Their observations of us are the best.

It makes me miss my family so bad. I haven't seen them in 7 months. I miss them terribly! I am sad to be leaving Weston's family behind, but I have missed my family so bad. I cannot wait to live close to them again when we move to TN in December. My heart is aching for that.

My mom & I are best friends. So are my dad & I. They are my greatest cheerleaders. My advocates always & they are so emotionally supportive of any endeavor Weston & I venture out on. I could not have asked for greater or more supportive parents. I love them.

And I miss having midnight chats with my mom face to face.

Our relationship has not become shallower at all while I've been living in Utah, it's gotten stronger & stronger. Thank goodness we live in the technology age. Phones make relationships able to grow from across the country. It is awesome.

I just miss my family a lot.

Emotional Roller Coaster

Ah. This whole pregnancy has been an emotional roller coaster. I spot every couple weeks. I spotted at 14.5 weeks & they had me come in for an ultrasound/cervical check.

I spotted this past weekend & decided not to be worried about it. We had just had an ultrasound on Thursday & I'm on blood thinners. My cervix had been fine just a few days before. Poor Weston is always so worried about his little baby & calls every time I spot, which is good, I appreciate that he cares so much.

My biggest fear is to lose this little baby girl. I've been hanging on a limb just making sure that she makes it inside of me until 24 weeks as a minimum. I hear that's when it's a higher viability rate.

I've been really good at having calm nerves about the spotting & cramping & I try my best not to think about it too much. but w/ the uterus malformation that I have I'm at an increased risk of second trimester miscarriage. I'm sorry, but that is not a miscarriage that is a LIVE baby in there.  I've seen her fingers & toes.  They're perfect.

Last night was awful. Weston got home from his hospital shift in the labor & delivery ward at about 1a.m. I was sleeping. I woke up at 3a.m. with horrible horrible cramping. I started getting worried, but wasn't bleeding at alll. Weston had fallen asleep on the couch eating a snack. I woke him up & he got me some Tylenol & we both went back to work. When I woke up this morning I hadn't bled at all either. Success. This morning at work, I did, though. Ah. My heart dropped & I called the nurse right away. They want me to come in for another heartbeat check & cervix check. 

Prayers would be appreciated, I'm sure all is fine, but I am really anxious.

This has been such a wonderful experience, but there have been a lot of scares.

I usually don't write about this heavy stuff we've experienced, but I just want it documented for me to look back on & remember.

A girl is on the way!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

This is how our baby was chilling yesterday. Hello, darling....

My boss was thrilled though. She's a yoga instructor & apparently our girl is doing a yoga stretch.

This also happens to be a stretch Weston does at night....

Also, her head looks huge. Good glory, help me. 

But the tech said that her body is bigger than it looks, just that she's all curled up!

Also, just like the entire pregnancy she continues to measure ahead of the estimated due date.

A week ahead! Either she's advanced or she's a Valentine's baby!

TMI?

In case you have not caught it, our baby is a GIRL! 

Looks like sugar & spice & everything nice at our house!

I cannot wait!

I wanted a girl SO bad. Now that I'm getting my daughter we can have as many sons as a man could want, but I just needed my little girl!

Weston is SO excited, too. He cannot wait to meet his baby girl! I cannot wait either. Seriously, I daydream about him being a dad. Do not tell him I told you, because he likes to act tough, but he is not. He is a total softy.

EVERYONE in my family has girls first. Dad's side, Mom's side. It is just the way we do.

Love it. Love it, love it.

I told the tech when we were going in that if we did not find out that I was going to go into a deep depression for 3 weeks until our next ultrasound...

She made a big gulp. Pressure's on, girlfriend.

She put the wand on my stomach & said. "Oh man, she's totally curled up in a ball, this is the worst possible position she could be in."

She started poking me, I laid on my side, this girl was NOT moving inside of me!

I have been feeling her moving around like crazy for the past couple weeks.

That little tease!

So, Weston decided she was napping.

Except she'd move her arm or her foot & her feet moved from right next to her head to up in the air like the picture above! Ah, she may have been difficult but the tech worked her magic & found out it's a little girl we're expecting! No judging if we later find out she's a he or something. hahahah It was not the most ideal photo conditions.

However she has the sweetest little face & hands & feet. The tech took pictures of them all, she was so nice to us. Somewhere between celebrating all the way through the hospital, out through the parking garage, & to our car, I dropped one of the pictures. I'm not sure which picture it was, but I am still sad about it. 

RIP picture of our baby.

But we have about 10 others. Our fridge is plastered w/ lots of different ultrasound pictures of our little girl.

K, now getting serious.

You know what's crazy? As we were trying to get pregnant I just felt like there was a little someone just waiting in heaven to join our family & I knew it was a little girl. I felt it so strong & I'd cry to Weston about it.

I was frustrated that she was supposed to be coming, but that it was not happening yet.

We got pregnant & I told myself I was going to make no predictions of what our baby was.

When it was our little girl, I knew it was the one we've been waiting for. It fit perfectly.

She fits perfectly & I am so excited to welcome her to our family. 

She is already so loved & so anticipated.

Now to find a name.

You can throw ideas out there if you want.

I have my top 3 favorites that are staying secret under lock & key, but picking names are hard!

I swear she won't have a name until a few hours after she's born.

Anyways, we are so excited I cannot even put it into words, I just thought I'd share some of this.

Love you all & thank you so much for your constant support & love!

We have the best family & friends.

Forreal.

Thanks to a coworker my "follow" button is back!

Feel free to start following my blog! The button to follow is in my left column.

TBT

In front of the house I lived in when I was a little person

I am blessed

For all the check-ups I've had, I have been calm & haven't had nerve issues since about 8ish weeks! So, just over 2 months hah. But yesterday I was nervous. It might have been the lack of sleep from the night before, but I was just a little nervous. I had been having lots of cramping, just like I have the entire pregnancy & was just really anxious to hear the baby's heartbeat!

We had the appointment & I forgot to ask about this horrible lower back pain I've had for a couple months now. It comes randomly & it's just sharp horrible pain that I feel like I'm just going to tip over from.

The appointment was quick & easy & then Dr. D took out the Doppler & put it right on my tummy & WOW the heartbeat was instant. Neatest thing in the world. Wow. The baby's heart is beating strong at about 150 bpm. We were so elated.

We're so excited to see our little bean in an ultrasound tomorrow.

Time has been ticking so slowly trying to get to that point!

We're hoping the tech will just check the gender while we're there, even though we're not there for the anatomy check! The last tech 2 weeks ago would not check for us!

I am so tired today I can't even think straight. We didn't wake up till 7:30, which is 15 minutes AFTER we were supposed to leave. Gah.

I feel like the walking dead today, but am still flying a little high off the baby's heartbeat. Just anxious for tomorrow & bedtime at 8p.m.

A he or a she?

Crossing our fingers that we find out on Thursday!!

Anyone have an idea?

I sure don't!

A mini-me?

via

A mini-Weston?

via

Currently Annie is playing on our lobby TV. I'm in heaven.

Seriously, singing these songs brings me pure joy. I still haven't convinced Weston to watch my Walmart $5 copy of it yet. He's never seen it. Hmph.

Plus, my poor coworkers, the daddy Warbucks' song is currently on. I'm scaring them all.

Introducing the magical scarf:

This is part of my uniform.

By uniform, I mean, one of my every-other-day-at-work outfit I wear.

Yesterday I probably got 10 compliments on it between coworkers & other wal-mart shoppers.

 Thanks for the boost everyone!

In other news, last night consisted of this:

The IV that I didn't think was necessary that I got to wear since 11p.m.

I was glad they took blood from it, otherwise that sucker was for nothing.

He was grumpy gills most of the time

He was concerned...but mostly tired hahah I felt SO bad & tried to convince him to go home to get sleep, but he wouldn't. The poor guy has so much to do today, too. We have an OB office visit & then he has 2 exams to take and about 3 math assignments.This kid can't catch a break. But he will in December. He just has to keep owning school till December!

We were really tired.

I had some weird symptoms around 10ish & finally called my OBs office just wondering if it's something to be concerned about. The nurse thought it could be a blood clot relativity & that she thought I needed to be checked out right away. I hadn't called Weston at this point, because he tends to be a worry wart. But I decided it was probably a good route to go since the nurse thought I should go in. Weston was nearing the end of a 12 hr L&D shift at the hospital. He had a REALLY great time working in Labor & Delivery. He was very surprised he enjoyed it as much has he did.

Anyways, since urgent cares were already closed I headed over to the hospital & he met me down at the ER. Convenient that he was already there.

Well they got us in right away & told us they'd take us back as soon as they could.... then ambulance after ambulance came. Oh my goodness. We were SO tired. Weston had been working hard all day & I had been up since 6a.m., worked a full day, then went & did wedding errands w/ my in-laws for my sister-in-law that's getting married in August. I got home & at dinner & cleaned up a bit, then went grocery shopping. To say I was fully beat was an understatement.

We were in the ER till about 3:30 then headed home.

'why am I still here?'

Slash, Weston was sleeping in his chair and I was just sitting on the gurney looking around the room waiting to get released!

Sleepppppyyyy

First item of business. The yummiest chicken sandwich of my life.

My dentist gave me 2 movie ticket vouchers and a $15 gift card to Smashburger.

SCORE.

Thank you, dentist!

Anyways, last weekend we finally got around to using those movie tickets & we saw Star Trek. It was amazing.

This week Weston & I took a few minutes to take a break after I got off work & he finished class & before he hit the library for the night.

We used our Smashburger card.

I got the avocado chicken burger.

UHM it was amazing.

Weston got a spicier beef alternative & loved it as well!

Our tummies were very happy with that meal! Best of all? Our total was $15.08

Just because I don't think my last picture showed my baby bump very well & I think it hid the actual bump because it didn't look like a bump to anyone, here's a new one. This dress is more fitted & shows it better.

4 months, baby!

We have the possibility of finding out the gender on Thursday.

To say I'm freaking out is an understatement. I'm so excited, I can't even stand it!

Time flies when you're having pigs!

Has it seriously been a year?

Golly, this boy's becoming a man in Mexico.

Or maybe a smaller man because he keeps getting parasites.

Gross.

I miss him so bad & am so proud of him!

I cannot wait till he gets back next year.

I'm giving him the best gift of all.

A child to spit-up on him.

You're welcome, Spence!

TBT

The world's most obese baby.

Oh help me.

Also, his mom guessed he was going to be a girl....

hmm...nope!

purplenurple

I don't think I've shaved my legs in a week.

And I've worn a skirt every day of the week.

Thank you for the blond leg hair.

I better not get caught in a ray of sunlight or these things will light up like little jellyfish tentacles. 

4 month bump

Remember that post below?

Please don't give this picture to news crews if I go to prison for hacking into a Police Department's internet.

Also, this is in the bathroom at work.

I should be completely embarrassed to post this, except I'm not at all. Judge away, judgers! 

When your husband doesn't live at home you take mirror selfies at work. That must've been what happened to hacker dude, too.

I posted this for all of you that are anxious to see pregnant pictures. When I see someone's pregnant via social media I want to see belly bump updates!

 I don't feel small, but I don't feel huge. So, there you have it, me 4 months pregnant! & none of my clothes fit! Is that normal or did I grow too fast?

I gained a lot of weight at first, but haven't gained any for about 8 weeks. Hallelujah, I was getting really scared for a while that I was going to be a beached whale by 5 months.

Thanks to my mom & dad (let's be honest, my mom picked out all the clothes), 

my maternity wardrobe is getting a boost.

A HUGE BOOST.

Thank you, Mom!

You are SO GENEROUS!

Hairy Deals

HELP!

I need serious help!

I'm pregnant & just starting to be able to get in the hang of "not throwing up all the time & it's wonderful.

My acne-ridden past 4 month face is STARTING to clear up!

Hallellujah, it's so nice to not have a new China-sized friend appearing on my face every 2 days.

One thing that I have not been blessed with this pregnancy is that covetous pregnancy hair!

I have heard for years about the AMAZING hair you get when you're pregnant!

Oh boy, I was excited for that!

Except my hair is shine-less, life-less, & volume-less.

I've complained to Weston "I don't know what my deal is! I'm doing it the same exact way I've always done it yet it's flat, stringy & nasty?

I was telling my coworkers about my issue the other day. They all thought it was weird & said "Oh man, my daughter had the most amazing hair when she was pregnant!"

I was starting to think something was wrong, maybe it's the fact that I don't take pre-natals?

Maybe it was the fact that I've been sick & maybe haven't been getting the right nutrients?

Then it came. My favorite e-mail of all time.

My multi-weekly e-mail from "Whattoexpect.com"

"Having a bad hair day?"

It then goes on to explain that lackluster, limp hair is just as common in pregnancy as the full, shiney, beautiful heads of hair! 

LUCKY ME! 

Seriously, though, I'm so happy to have something to blame it on. Other than the fact that my roots have outgrown 6 months & I look like a WT queen.

I'm getting my hair done this Friday & cannot wait! But until I've had this baby & go back to my amazing head of hair I've always had, any suggestions would help!

Please give cheap suggestions, because currently milk is almost too pricey for us :)

THIS JUST HAPPENED!

Not kidding. This just happened.

At work. 

via

Except, it wasn't sexy men flashing me their badges.

It was an older gentlemen.

Don't worry, I don't think anyone is getting arrested, but he was asking about someone who worked here 4 or so years ago.

Very interesting.

It piqued my curiosity just a little bit & now I want to follow him around & be an FBI agent for the day.

#1 reason not to take pictures like this.

It will be the head picture for a news article about how you hacked into a police department.

And that's just embarrassing.

via

 Nothing quite like work being slammed.

Just kidding it's so slow I feel like I could just die in my chair.

 Between fishing on Saturday & taking my sister-in-law's engagement pictures yesterday...

I was a human sacrifice to mosquitoes.

"Come little bugs, suck my blood! Yes, through my spandex & my t-shirt please!"

 I'm known as the drinker around work.

Not really, but everytime I get a refill I get either looks from patients or comments from coworkers.

What, you've never seen a person who loves to drink a lot of water?

 My face was super swollen, but we had a great time at my cousin's reception on Friday!

Congrats Jenny & Adam!

 These are my mom's puppies.

Bella is my baby. She's on the right.

I love that dog so much.

Weston sent me this picture from his fire station.

He is gross & hearts Mountain Dew.

I mean, before I moved to Utah, I didn't even know people drank that stuff?

Well, this picture should describe to you, Weston's deep love for Mtn Dew.

Ew.

I love him, though!

That guy is being worked like a horse. He's averaging around 100 hrs/week of hours on ambulances, in fire departments, in ERs, ORs, Labor & Delivery Floors, etc, etc.

And he's taking 6 credits of classes online on top of all of that, too.

& I thought I'd see him more this summer than when he's fighting wildfires.

Ha.

HA. HA. HA.
Anyways, life is very good & our baby continues to grow....probably at a little bit of a slower pace than me, but steadily all the same!

Also, my sister gets married in 18 days & I'm so excited!

In honor of pregnancy hormones.

Source

This has been me for 4 months.

I'll let you figure that one out.

TBT

Check out my pet bunny.

For any of you who aren't believers.

Bunnies are the BEST pets next to dogs.

We always got our bunnies from my Aunt Anne's farm in Florida.

This bunny was named snowball. 

Irony in the name? We'd never seen snow.

We lived in Florida.

Anyway, this bunny was the best. We had snowball for SO many years.

He even rode in strollers.

Good boy.

The Food-Man

When we eat out Weston always orders "the biggest thing on your menu."

He eats like a horse.

I was looking through the baby pictures I have of him & laughed.

Notice the theme?

Not to mention I love looking at pictures of him when he was little.

Gosh I hope our babies look just like him!

Or me, because, I mean, I was pretty cute, too.

I'm the one in the car seat.

That's Deej single fingeredly giving me a head massage.

I'm obviously loving it.

btw we got to see our little bean today!

a weird uterus & some spotting will get you far, folks.

It was SO cute in the ultrasound.

We're talking world's cutest baby.

But you'll have to settle for this weird angled ultrasound picture the grumpy tech took!

source

This is when she measured the baby from behind, from top of head to rump!

Love my phone, it likes to make all pictures look like they belong on "The Ring."

My mom's dogs. I'm laughing so hard at this picture.

My work computer has a new background.