To Whom it May Concern

I am joining in on the little letters I have seen going on.  

Dear baby in my belly, you are pressing on my lungs and I am feeling short of breath.  I don't care though and love you oh so much.

Dear summer sun, please, please, please hurry up.

Dear aisle after aisle of Easter candy, you are so hard for me to pass up.  Something about all of the pastel colors make you even more appealing than regular candy.

 Dear gchat, I am so very grateful for you.

Dear baby carrots, I wish I had some hummus to dip you in.

Dear emergency preparedness drill, I wish I was not assigned to be in charge of a small part of you, and have to wake up before the pretend earthquake at 7:57 on my Saturday.

Dear girlfriends, I miss you and wish I saw you more often.

Dear time, please go by faster during the hours of 8 and 5.  Then S-L-O-W down.  Way down.  Especially on the weekends.

 Dear husband, I love you.

Dear weatherman, please be wrong about the snow forecasted tomorrow.  I don't think I can handle it!

Dear Biggest Loser, please stop sending home my favorite people.  Get rid of some of the others that I don't care about.  Or even better, the one I do not like.  Don't worry though, you are still my favorite and I look forward to you all week long. 

That is all.

24 Weeks

Time just keeps passing.  I've heard from a lot of people that the first six months go by quickly and then the last three crawl slowly by, and so far I agree that it is flying by, so we will see how the rest of this pregnancy goes.

Things have still been going well.  Right at 21 weeks I finally felt this little guy move.  It really is such an incredible feeling.  I have felt him every single day since then and now he is so active.  I feel him move a ton usually early afternoon and then always when I go to bed.

Around week 22 I could just tell I was growing a lot, and it actually was quite painful.  My back and stomach muscles are not used to being stretched this way!  Luckily the pain hasn't lasted and I am feeling a lot more comfortable again.

It is really amazing watching your body change this way and knowing it is because there is another whole person inside of you, just growing and developing.

My bump is starting to get in the way of everyday things and I can only imagine how that is going to get worse and worse.  I am feeling really limited as to what I can do at the gym, but I still like to go and get whatever work out I can a couple of times a week.

Here is my picture at 24 weeks:

I am definitely to the point where people can tell I am pregnant.  This week at church I had several people coming up to me asking if I was pregnant.  It is fun now that I really look pregnant and I don't feel like I have to hide my growing stomach.  

Marcus and I are both getting so excited for our little baby to join our family.  We have finished painting the nursery and have all of our furniture set up and ready to go.  Marcus was a trooper this weekend and also installed the ceiling fan all by himself while I took a long nap.  Lately it seems like that's really how things go at our house and I know I'm lucky to have him.

{Part} Family Dinner

Last week we went to Settebellos for dinner with the part of my family that live close by.  (Boo that Logan is so far away.)  If you have not been here before you have got to go.  I am totally not a pizza kind of person, but the pizza here is seriously incredible.  Their gelato is also so delicious and eating here takes us back to the few days that we spent in Italy a few years ago.  We were happy to spend the night eating amazing food and hanging out with my mom and dad, T and Joe.

  
My mom seriously loves this gelato more than anyone in the world.  I mean, I love this gelato, and Marcus definitely loves this gelato, and I'm pretty sure that anyone who ever tries this gelato loves it.  But I would dare say my cute mom loves it the most.

Lately I've just been so grateful for both of our families and for having them so close to us.  I've been reminded the last little while how fragile life is and how quickly things can change, and I'm just so grateful to be here with our families.

Sunny {or not so sunny} St. George

Marcus and I were excited to spend another weekend relaxing and enjoying the warm weather down in St. George.  Sadly it was cooler and rainy for most of the weekend, but we made the best of it by watching lots of basketball and a few movies, eating delicious food, and doing some shopping.  It was a pretty typical St. George trip minus the warm weather and spending time at the pool. 

We have been hearing good things about the Egg & I so we headed there for breakfast one morning and really liked it.  It must be pretty popular because it was packed and there was quite a wait.  Our food.  It's funny how different my food always is from Marcus'. 

 Can you tell which is who's meal?  Raspberry and granola whole wheat pancake, or a cheesy, meaty, potato and egg skillet.  Delicious.

We loved our amazingly relaxing and chill weekend and at least managed to miss the snow that hit here at home this weekend.

Goodbye Little Car

Yesterday we said goodbye to my car and I had such mixed emotions.  I've had this little car for almost 6 years and it has been such a good car for me.  We've been talking about selling it for awhile now, but when we put it up for sale on Friday I had no clue it would go so quickly.  This was the first and only car that I found, bought, and paid for all by myself.  It went to BYU with me and now has been with me for almost four years of marriage.  I have a lot of memories with this little car and am sad to see it go. 

I am sad that I won't get to experience Marcus' teasing about my little go cart, golf cart, bumper car  or whatever else he was calling it on any particular day.  Deep down I know Marcus will miss it too.

Halfway there!

I am now 20 weeks and cannot believe it.  I cannot believe that this pregnancy is already halfway done.  In some ways that makes me sad, because I don't want this to be over.  So far I love being pregnant.  I love knowing that there is a little baby inside of me, growing and just hanging out.  Obviously I am excited as can be to actually meet this little guy, and be his mama, but for now I am loving having him inside of me.

Belly:  Until just a couple of weeks ago it felt like I was just getting thicker and thicker rather than really having a belly popping out.  That has changed recently and there is definitely a belly there now!  It feels like it is always growing.  Some mornings I wake up and think that it grew overnight.  So far I haven't gotten any maternity clothes and am just wearing looser regular clothes.

Here I am, 20 weeks along. 

And the progression:

Smells:  I have always been sensitive to smells and now that sensitivity is just heightened.  I can smell everything now although it is mostly smells that already were gross to me that I hate now--like cigarettes, B.O., onions and garlic...and hamburger.

Foods:  There is nothing too crazy here.  If I hated foods before I was pregnant, I still hate them, and same goes for what I liked.  But I have been especially loving Thai food lately.  I could eat at Mekong and Sawadee every.single.day.  Other than that there have been moments where I really wanted Olive Garden salad or a delicious steak.  Oh, and Paradise cookies.

For the most part I have been feeling great.  There are minor aches and pains but nothing unbearable.  I wake up several times a night with really bad charlie horses, which I had no clue happened when you're pregnant!

I still have not felt this little guy move, so I am hoping that will happen soon.  We go in for our 20 week ultrasound with our doctor on Monday and are excited for that.  

I am still just so grateful to be pregnant and for this little baby growing inside of me. So fun!

A little crafting

Here is a sneak peak at a small something I am working on for the little guy's nursery.  Whenever I try something that involves sewing it is a little risky. Risky as in there is always a huge risk that I will get frustrated or overwhelmed and never finish it. 

The project isn't finished but I have the bulk of it done and am feeling really good about it.  None of this would have happened if I wasn't lucky enough to have a super nice sister who also happens to be really good at sewing.  Tierra let me use her sewing machine, re-taught me how to do a blanket stitch, let me use some of her wonder under when stupid JoAnn's sold me interfacing instead, and encouraged me to keep going whenever I would freak out and want to quit this dang project.  I'm not sure how she got all of the sewing talent and I was left without it, but lucky for me she is always willing to help out. 

And for those wondering, those are also the main colors that I am going to be incorporating into the nursery.  I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.