30 Weeks!!!

What?!  Can you believe it's been two weeks already since I posted about being in my third trimester??  I sure can't.  Time is FLYING!  Little dude will be here before we know it!

This was at 29 weeks and 3 days.  This outfit made me look a lot bigger, but it was super comfy!  Haha :)

Only 70 days until he is supposed to be here.  That's crazy talk to me.  It's kind of funny because I'm definitely getting that "nesting" instinct, and I want to go out and buy everything for him and set up his room.  Neal (thankfully) is the sane side of me, and reminds me that we've got baby showers coming up, and that we should wait to buy things we need until AFTER we have the baby showers.  He also kindly reminds me that my "we won't have time to set everything up" excuse is invalid, and that I don't have to do everything myself and that (get this) he can set everything up for me.  I know, shocker right?  Apparently in my lovely preggo brain, its a new concept.  Haha.  Poor guy.  I'm going to drive him nuts over the next 10 weeks.

Alright.  About little dude:

- He's supposedly almost 16 inches long and 3 pounds.  That makes him about the size of a cabbage according to my app.

- He's definitely running out of room in there...he's actually kicking less and more just rolling around now.

- The one place he does still love to actually kick is right up under my right ribs.  I imagine that's not going to change over the next 10 weeks.

- He was kind enough to have hiccups in a place where Neal could feel them last week!

- Heart rate: We'll find out later this week

About mom and dad:

- My belly button is ALMOST out!  I have a ridiculously deep belly button, so it really hasn't even been close until this past week.  No stretch marks yet!  Woohoo!

- We're taking prenatal classes.  We're actually about half way done now.  We've done three classes on labor and delivery so far.  In the next three weeks we have a tour of the hospital, a breastfeeding class, and a newborn care class.

- We're learning about how differently we process things.  Neal processes things by not worrying about them until they happen, and then learning about them then.  I process things by learning everything I can about a subject if there's even a slight possibility I think they could happen to me.

- I finally had to take my engagement ring off this past week.  I can still wear my wedding ring comfortably, but having both rings on there was getting a little too tight.

100th post!!!

Crazy!!!  I was typing up another post, and realized that it said "Posts: 100" on my sidebar!  

A little crazy that it took me 3 1/2 years to get there (my first two years I didn't post a whole ton), but SO much has happened since I started!  I decided that I'd do a special post for my 100th post about everything that's happened, and then put the other post up tomorrow :)

Here's what has happened since I started this blog:

- Neal and I got engaged

- We got married: 

First reflections 

Part 1: Family

Part 2: Individual Photos

Part 3: Neal and Amanda

Part 4: Ring Ceremony and Reception 

- Neal taught me how to snowboard

- I graduated from Front Range with my AA

 - Neal graduated with his AA from Front Range

- We went to Utah several times, and went to General Conference once

- We moved to Fort Collins because of my new job

- We got two little parakeets named Sierra and Miyah

- We took several trips: Breckenridge, Las Vegas (1 and 2), and Glenwood Springs, Idaho

- Angela passed away

- Neal got to mix a bunch of awesome shows!

- My sister, Tiffany, got married

- We saw a bunch of awesome shows

- We finally got pregnant with Baby J :)

- We found out Baby J is a boy

- Neal got a rockin' new job

It's been a cuh-rayzy and amazing 3 1/2 years!

Sewing (x2), a new show, and church fun

I really need to start taking more pictures.  I look back over the last couple of weeks and think to myself, "Hey, we did some pretty cool things.......and I have no pictures to show for it!"

Anyway, the last couple of weeks for us have been fun!

-Scrooge closed at the Candlelight Dinner Theater, and tech week for 9 to 5 started.  They just opened 9 to 5 last week.  Let me tell you - it is HILARIOUS!!!

-We started our prenatal classes.  Those have been entertaining (and kind of eye opening).

-We had an awesome Relief Society activity (that I'm finally able to go to...woohoo!).  They did mini classes on some things you could do to better yourself over the next year.  The classes were about sewing, wardrobe, photography, and music.  You could choose two of them, so I chose sewing and photography.  I learned how to do a hem by hand and a ladder stitch properly (thanks Sharon!).  I also learned some about composition of photographs to help me in my candid shots over the years (hence the "I need to take more pictures" deal).

-My friend Jocelyn invited me over to sew car seat covers!  It was SO much fun!  It's not finished yet because I'm going to wait until we have our car seat to sew the straps on.  It was really nice to spend time getting to know her better, and to do the sewing WITH someone else so that when things look wrong you can compare them with each other.  Haha.

-We took our monthly trip down to the temple in Denver.  I love going down to the temple, and I am SO glad that we have made it a priority to go at least once a month since we've been married!

-Neal got his job on the 16th!  Read about that here :)

-Late that same night Neal's brother and sister-in-law had their fifth little one, Daniel.  We went and met him the next day and then went to Red Robin to celebrate Neal's new job.  Mmmm their fries are sooo good!  (That's been my one pregnancy craving).

-Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference.  There were some incredible talks on the temple and missionary work.  Our stake president also told us that the Fort Collins Temple is progressing forward wonderfully :)  That made me so happy!  The mission president for our area is just wonderful, and a truly enjoyed hearing him speak on missionary work!

Random advice

Hi ya'll!

I've had few things running through my head today that I've decided I have questions about and want some advice on:

1. This summer I want to do more hiking/camping/outdoorsy stuff, especially with our little one coming mid-spring.  What are some of your favorite places to hike?  Easier hikes would be preferred.  What are some of your favorite camping spots?  Campsites that you don't have to pay a fee for would be preferred :)

2. I want to start reading actual baby books...switch my focus from pregnancy books to baby books.  What baby and breastfeeding books have you found helpful and why?

3. I'm starting to think about what I want to pack in my hospital bag.  What did you find helpful?  What did you find you didn't need that you wish you would have left at home?  At what point in your pregnancy did you pack your bag?

4. If you could give one piece of advice about labor that you think would be the best advice, what would it be?  And why?

Bragging moment

Can I brag about this guy for a minute?

Neal was just promoted to the Assistant Technical Director position at the Union Colony Civic Center.

He applied for the job at the beginning of January, and had an interview yesterday at 11 am.  Around 4 pm, he was told he got the job.

We have seriously been praying so hard for this job.  It will be such a good fit for him.  He will be able to further his skills as a sound engineer, teach other people about sound (UNC has work studys that work there), and it's a full time position with benefits.  He will also be in a management position, so he will be able to learn more about technical theater from a management side.

We are super excited!!

Our New Year

Our New Year's week started with having the missionaries over for dinner Sunday night.  We have had sisters in our ward the whole time we've been there, but we said goodbye to them a couple weeks ago, and now we have elders!  We fed them a deer roast (which is quickly becoming our missionary dinner staple because we always seem to have new missionaries by them time we have them for dinner again).

On Monday we had a baby appointment with the doctor.  Everything is measuring well, and Joey's heartbeat was 150 bpm (so it went up from the 134 bpm it was the time before).

On New Year's Eve we went down to the Museum of Nature and Science in Denver with Neal's family because the Mythbuster's exhibit was in town.  Every year, Neal's family chooses a "movie marathon" theme to watch on New Year's Day, and this year it was Mythbusters.  When we found out the exhibit was in Denver, we decided we had to go!  There were a lot of super cool parts to the exhibit.  They had a bunch of stuff from the actual show, and then a bunch of "experiments" you could do.

The actual shark from the shark episode: 

The backwards driving car:

All of us that were at the exhibit:

Smaller scale Hindenburg:

Hover machine that didn't work:

Personal tornado shelter that DID work:

The "fart" position and exploding water heater:

"Will you get more wet faster walking or running" and the phone book swing (Neal's completely being held up by phone books interlaced together).

Neal doing the cliff hanger.  He held on for a full minute!  Guess that's what he gets for being a rock climber :)

The "automatic" arrow shooter

Me with the outside display

After the exhibit, we went to a seriously delicious Chinese restaurant that Brian and Steph suggested.  I had Walnut Chicken, and it was incredibly delicious.  After that we headed to Donna and Randy's house and hung out and ate dinner.  After dinner we headed down to my parents' house.  It was just my parents and us, so we played a card game with them, and just hung out and celebrated at midnight with sparkling cider.

New Years Day we went to Donna and Randy's to watch Mythbusters with the rest of the family.  I had to go to work that night, so I left early.  I ended up going home from work because a lovely stomach bug presented itself half way through my shift that night.  Note to all preggo ladies - do anything and everything you can to avoid catching a stomach bug.  It's about 100 times worse when you're pregnant because you spend a lot of your time laying there worrying about how your little bugger is going to be affected, so you feel guilty for being sick on top of feeling like poo actually being sick.

The rest of the week was pretty boring.  I finished out my last week of working nights after I felt better, and the next week moved to day shift.

I think the only other thing about the new year semi-worth mentioning is what my New Year's resolution is.  I normally don't make one, because instead I try to constantly set new goals throughout the year, but this year I decided I had one that was worth making.  

I want to make it through the rest of pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the first year of having a kiddo in one piece.  Let me explain.  I don't mean I want everything to go how I think it should, or that I want to have the perfect child with tons of super cute baby photos throughout the first year.  What I mean is that I want to make it to the end of the year still having a moment (no matter how short) to study my scriptures and say my prayers instead of letting it go by the wayside.  I want to make sure I still focus on mine and Neal's relationship by going on a date once a month and still spending time focusing on each other, instead of using "We don't have time or anyone to watch him" as an excuse.  I realize things are going to change, and I realize there aren't a lot of things I will be in control of.  But I figured those were two things I COULD be in control of, and make a real effort at.

Happy 2014!!

The Home Stretch!!

Yesterday was the last major mark in this pregnancy!  Yesterday I hit 28 weeks aka my third trimester!

Me at 28 weeks!

The whole pregnancy we've been telling ourselves "we'll start getting everything ready after the holidays." Well, his due date sure seems a lot closer on this side of the holidays.  We got through New Years, and realized that we only had 3 months left.  Today I think we officially have 83 days until he's supposed to be here.  Yikes!

Two weeks ago they had me do the one hour gestational diabetes test, and I failed.  So, last week I had to go in and do the three hour glucose test.  I was a little freaked out, not going to lie. Thankfully, though, I do not have GD.  It did put me in a little bit of a healthier mindset though, and I stopped eating as much sugar as I was before.  I also had to go get a Rhogam shot today because my blood is Rh negative.  So between the GD tests and the shot today, I've been stuck with a needle more times in the last two weeks than I have in probably the last 3 years combined.

Little dude weighs about 2 1/4 pounds right now, and he's very active.  His favorite place to sit is with his behind right up against the "point" of my right ribs.  This week we were able to see him squirm around for the first time.  I've been able to feel it for a little while, but because my placenta is anterior, I haven't been able to feel or see movement quite as much as "normal," so it was pretty cool to watch him squirm around in there.

He's been moving quite a bit for Neal lately.  This morning we laid in bed for about 15 minutes while Neal put his hand on my side and felt him move around.  It was a special moment! :)

I've gained about 20 pounds total since getting pregnant, and according to my doctor that's just fine.  I didn't gain any weight this week (I think its a result of the lovely stomach bug I had mid-last week).  I'm trying really hard not to gain more than the 25-35 pounds because I know it could make out little guy heavier than normal, and quite frankly, the more in normal weight range that he is, the happier I will be.

Neal's been such a rock star these last few weeks.  I've been super obsessed with cleaning and organizing everything, and he's been willing to do whatever I've asked of him.  We've finally at least got his room cleaned out a bit.  His room became the "catch-all" for everything during the holidays - all of our holiday decoration boxes and extra decorations went in his room.  Now that we've got that all put away, we can start focusing on actually getting his room ready.  We ordered an AWESOME crib blanket for him that we're centering his room theme around.

We ordered this in the Real Tree Camo: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camouflage-Crib-Comforter/719239.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dcrib%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=crib&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

I didn't like a lot of the crib sets that you could get at Babies R Us and Target because them seemed so silly.  "Here's an 11 piece set that has some things you won't even use.  Plus, if something gets ruined, you have to try and find the replacement, otherwise it won't match the rest of the nursery."

Ya.  No thanks.  So instead, we ordered the crib blanket, and registered for sheets and other things that would match the colors.  That way, we can change things around after he's born if we want.

Well, that's about all for now!  We're just counting down the days and getting ready!!

Christmas Week

Ok, quick tangent, because I'm watching it, and because I love it...Studio C on BYUtv is AWESOME!  They're recording their 4th season right now, so it shouldn't be too much longer until new ones are on again.  If you have watched it, you know how hilarious it is.  If not, you need to watch it.

Now, to what this post is actually about.  Our Christmas week!

The Sunday before Christmas my sister, Tiffany, and her husband, Chase, flew into town.  We went down to my parents' house to make walnut bread.  It was my sister and her husband, my parents, my grandparents, and us.  The recipe is one my great-great-grandparents brought with them from Austria.  It's something we do every year, and its a wonderful tradition.  We make one for each family.  Chase helped us out with ours since it would be hard for them to fly a huge thing of bread home with them.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve, and we spent the day with Neal's family.  We went ice skating in the early afternoon.  I didn't go on the ice, but Neal spent the time helping his nieces, nephews, and cousins skate around.

Ben watching Neal skating and trying to get him to run into the wall again.

Zamboni!!!

After we went to the ice rink we went over to the cemetery and sang Christmas carols for Angela and Grandpa Milligan.  After that we went back to Neal's aunt and uncle's house and had dinner and took some goofy pictures.  After dinner we did a service project.  We made frozen dinners to give to families in one of the wards when they were needed.  After dinner we played "Who, What, Where?"

This little boy LOVES chocolate

 Christmas morning Neal and I opened presents with each other.  He's such a rock star gift giver.  He listens to me throughout the year, and gives me presents at Christmas based on what I say I want throughout the year.  This year he gave me two awesome sets of pink camo pj's, a jewelry box, the new Pioneer Woman cookbook, a Miami Dolphins maternity shirt, and kneepads to use up hunting.  He also later bought me 17 Miracles (I'll explain why later in a minute).  I gave him cologne, Wizard (an awesome card game that we love), Ironman 2 & 3, The Hulk, and a nice set of binoculars.

Funny story: Neal actually also bought me Ironman 2 & 3 as gifts.  We laughed pretty hard when we realized we gave each other the same movies.  So we returned one of the sets, and bought 42 and 17 Miracles instead.

After we opened presents together, we went up to Wellington to have breakfast and open gifts with Neal's family.  Neal's brother and sister-in-law gave us a super cute outfit for our little dude - it's a "Woody" outfit from Toy Story (boots included).  We then headed down to Arvada to eat an early dinner with my extended family, and then back to Firestone to open presents and play games with my family.

(I pretty much failed at taking pictures on Christmas, so sorry, there's no pictures from that day!)

On Thursday, we went down to the temple with my family to do baptisms and confirmations for some of my dad's ancestors.  It was a very special moment when we performed the ordinances for my dad's grandma and grandpa.  The Spirit was incredibly strong.  I felt a very strong connection with my great-great grandma, and couldn't believe how incredible it was to do that service for her.

This was the "normal" picture...Neal decided to kiss my belly.  It was pretty funny.

All in all, we had a pretty incredible Christmas week filled with family, fun, and tradition!