Ohio Baby Shower

I have been so blessed by friends and family with all of the help and gifts for this baby.  My friend, Maddie, threw me a shower here in Ohio where I got so many cute things, had so much fun, and ate lots of good food!

Our ward really knows how to pop out some babies!  These were all the preggers at the party.  There are a few more in the ward that just had babies or didn't make it, too.  So crazy!  Super excited for our little guy to have so many friends!

28 and 30 weeks

 28 weeks - Officially started the third trimester, but that is about the only change. The sweet tooth I lost in the first trimester is definitely back in full force and now baby always wants a treat.  I haven't really had any specific cravings though.  Baby is moving around a lot and others can feel, or even see, it now too.

30 weeks - Baby had a doctor's appointment and my blood pressure was a little high so our doctor wanted to test for pre-eclampsia.  That meant I had to pee in a bottle for 24 hours and then do a blood test - not fun! It also meant a non-stress test and ultrasound, which was kind of fun.  The tech said the baby was a little on the big side - like 82nd percentile for head side and belly size.  He told us the measurements aren't super accurate (60-65%) but he did say you can for sure tell they are chubby when their knuckles show up as little dimples on their hands instead of bumps.  Our little guy is definitely a little chubby.  The tech also showed us again that our little guy's second toe is longer than his big toe.  All the tests were fine though and my blood pressure was normal the next time I went in so baby is in the clear for now.

You can definitely see how our baby has fattened up a bit.  This first arm picture is at 20 weeks and the second one is at 32 weeks.   You can see how his knuckles went from bumps to dimples, too.

You can see again how this baby foot got a little chubby!  And his really long toes that the tech pointed out both times.

Utah Christmas Trip!

We spent about a week and a half in Utah over Christmas.  About a week before we left, Brian's Dad had a heart attack and was in the hospital for a while.  He ended up having to have 6 bypasses and some valve repair surgery as well as a pacemaker put in.  Although we would rather have never had any of that happen, we were pretty happy that we were able to be there to visit and see Lance during his recovery.

Some of the highlights of the trip were getting to see some of the niece's Christmas programs, spending lots of time with family and babies, a baby shower with the Hardman side, lots of puzzles with my mom, bowling for the Hardman sibling day, a temple trip with my dad, and lots of Utah food (In N' Out, Costa Vida, Grandma Sycamore's bread, etc.).  I'm sure Brian would also add to that lots of all night gaming with my little brothers.

Ohio Christmas Fun

We tried to fit in as many fun things in Ohio with our friends before leaving for Utah for Christmas.

One night, we went bowling with the Miller's.  That week (25 weeks) my uterus was supposed to be the size of a bowling ball, so there were lots of belly comparisons.

 For FHE, we decorated gingerbread houses (or trees) with the Miller's.

 For our ward Christmas party, Brian and I were in charge of a photo booth. We had some fun taking some of our own pictures, too!

 For another FHE night, we went to the Zoo Lights with the Millers, Olson's, and Bryner's.  It actually ended up not being terribly cold and it was a lot of fun!

Ultrasound

When we got back from Utah, we had another ultrasound with our doctor.  He's definitely a boy!  The tech was also able to see that his second toe is longer than his big toe, just like Mom and Dad.

 Here is the shot telling us his gender!

                                                                                                                     His long toes!

November Vegas/Utah Trip

My sister, Heather, started working for Time Out for Women and was doing an event in Vegas.  We decided to make a girl's weekend of it.  My sisters and mom and I all flew to Vegas to work the event and have some fun.  We did some shopping, lots of eating, movie watching, and hanging out. It was lots of fun!

After the event in Vegas, we all flew back to Utah.  There was another TOFW event in Utah the next weekend that I was going to work, too.  Before that though, my sisters and mom threw me a baby shower!  I brought two empty suitcases with me that went home FULL of baby stuff - clothes, baby bath, quilts, blankets, more clothes, etc.

Brian had a last minute business trip to Dallas while I was in Utah and we decided it would be really fun for him to stop in Utah for a couple of days on his way home as a surprise!  Somehow we got it to work out with his work and to switch my flight to fly home with him. We kept it a surprise from Brian's parents who thought I was coming up with just my little brother for a night for an early Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of the family.  Brian sneaked in the back door while his mom went down to the basement to get his dad. He sat in a chair in the corner reading the paper until they FINALLY noticed he was there.

It was a super fun trip! And it was so fun that Brian got to come too.  It was especially nice to have Brian fly home with me since we had 4 giant suitcases between us besides our carry-ons and computer bags.

Halloween

Halloween was super fun this year.  I even got Brian to wear a real costume.  We went as a pregnant 1950's housewife and the milkman.  We carved pumpkins and decorated cookies with the Miller's, went to our ward trunk-or-treat, and went to fun party at Miller's.  Halloween night was actually pretty boring.  Our doorbell only rang 3-4 times so we had LOTS of leftover candy.