Back in Utardia!!

Yes we are back and very happy about it. Last night I got to sleep in my own bed and shower in my shower and go pee on my toilet (there's just a comfort from your own toilet, sorry) and most importantly we got to see our kitties. Oh how I missed them. Riddle stood watch over our luggage all night and morning making sure we weren't leaving again.
OK, so i'm sure all 3 of you that read my blog are just dying to know what happened on our 12 day vacation. Well here are the highlights
Trip out-NO SNOWSTORMS!!! It was perfect. We made it to Kearney, NE by 7 PM the first night and were home by 3:45 the next afternoon. We drove the entire trip in 19 hours, if you exclude the napping. Also considering i'm 7 months pregnant, it was really easy. My hip would start to hurt every once in a while but honestly everything went perfect.

Baby Shower #1-My mom threw me a baby shower at her home with women from my home ward and her ward. We made out like bandits. I have to go redo my gift registry some time today to update from all the stuff we got. My mom and her husband Rick were kind enough to buy our Travel System from Graco and my Step Grandma got us our Pack n Play. We were also gifted a swing and bouncy seat along with enough bottles and clothes to last us until this kid is at least 1.

Hair Cut-My mom paid for me to go see her stylist. A stylist who will look at you, your skin color and face shape and tell you what will look best. Basically I was informed that I should not be a blonde, with my skin color and eyes it washes me out. So she dumped in some chocolate low lites to soften me out and thinned out a ton of hair. I will take a pic later for you.

SNOW!!!-It snowed for 4 days straight at home. That never happens here and I LOVED it. Watching Bryan help shovel the drive at night only to walk outside at 9 the next morning to another foot on the ground. Good work out.

Bryan's Beard-Since Bryan works for the church he can't have facial hair. So while on vacation he let it grow. He came in one day from playing boot hockey with the ward in a hoodie, jeans, boots, hockey jersey and a BEARD and I just fell in love all over again. He had to shave it off last night, today i'm in mourning.

Christmas-We had 2 out in Minnesota. One with my mom on Christmas Eve. It was subdued compared to years in the past where we couldn't see the tree. Thank goodness or else we would have had some major problems driving home. And Christmas with my dad on Christmas morning. We got a few movies, lots more baby stuff, including a very fashionable diaper bag. My current favorite gift is a pair of Alpaca Slippers I have pretty much lived in these things since Christmas day. Bryan's favorite, weirdly, is a pair of wool socks that have also not left his feet since Christmas. So i'm basically saying stay away from our feet.

Relaxing-I spent a lot of time on the couch, napping. I also spent a lot of time in my mom's jaccuzi tub.

Singing in Church-Every time my brother and I are home it's like the traveling Davidson Show. We have to sing in church. This year we sang "He is Born" by Sally DeFord. Beautiful song. The first comment we recieved after church was over was "how are you 7 months pregnant and still have the air capacity to sing that well". Well, we sped the song up to almost 2 times the normal beat and we chose a song that I didn't have to hold anything out for more than 5 beats. We also walked up to the podium one song before ours so I wouldn't be winded. I know i'm pathetic, feel free to judge, but it worked. I didn't pass out.

Driving home-So the drive home was not as great as the way out. First off, we had so much stuff that we couldn't see out the back window, our seats couldn't recline, and our entertainment had somehow been wedged underneath everything. Second, apparently everyone from the midwest decided it would be a good idea to travel west, on I-80!!! Things were good until Omaha, that's when it all ended. We averaged about 10 miles an hour and at times were at a complete stand still. Why? Accident? Storm? No. Too many freaking people!! So instead of trying to make it to the Wyoming border our first night we camped in Grand Island, NE. The next day was much better, especially since Bryan let me listen to my new Glee CD on repeat for about 6 consecutive hours. How I love him.

Being with Bryan-Yes, i'm corny. I love spending all that time with with my husband. In fact I tried to convince him that we needed to take today off as well so we could go make sense of the explosion that occured last night in the Nursery. He however mentioned something about needing money and rent and blah blah blah. I love that I never get sick of that man. We are constantly in the car together, constantly take trips and yet we mostly talk in the car. I love it and I love him. We may not be perfect, and other people may look at our relationship and think we are too affectionate or what we do would not work for them and their relationships, but we know we are perfect for each other and that is all that matters.

PS we started the process of purchasing a home in WI. More details on this to come : )

Minniconsin Here We Come

We leave for Minnesota in less than 48 hours and yes we are driving across the country while I am 7 months pregnant. We have a ridiculous amount of stuff to do to get ready including but not limited to:
Tire rotation
Oil Change
Buy See's Candy for Mom
Clean Apartment
PACK
Dr Appointment in which I must have 4 blood draws in 3 hours (pray for me)
Trip shopping (food, magazines, etc.)
Deal with Financial Aid to figure out why Bryan's Pell grant has stil not gone through
and more
We have to do all of this tonight and tomorrow night before we leave on Thursday morning. I will be slightly busy for the next couple days and won't blog much while at home. So wish us luck on our cross country 1300 mile trip and have a safe and happy holiday season : )

My Christmas Present

This is what Bryan got me for Christmas, and yes it's real. I got him Call of Duty Modern Warfare for the Wii. Yes, I feel like a bad wife.

Cutest Freaking Thing Ever

I have mentioned before that everynight I sit in a nice hot bath full of moisturizing bubble bath to help soothe my back and keep evil stretch marks away. Well, on Saturday night I was taking a bath and Bryan came in to keep my company and the freaking cutest thing ever commenced.
So first off, let me preface by saying that Lil W starts moving around a lot when a) I lie down B)Bryan starts talking and c) he hears water, so all 3 of these things are happening at this very moment.
So onto the cuteness. Bryan walks in and sits down and we start talking about something I have read in a Parenting Magazine, one of a cagillion that I have recieved since becoming pregnant. Lil W hears daddy's voice and goes nuts!! He starts rolling and bumping to the point that even I was thinking "what in the crap are you doing child". Bryan is staring at my stomach half in excitement and half in horror. I'm sure watching your wife's stomach shift around on it's own is slightly unsetteling. So anyay, Bryan decides to start poking back at W....this is where it starts getting cute.
So Bryan would poke to the bottom left of my belly button, then W would kick back right where he poked. Bryan would poke above my button and sure enough W would shift around till he could poke back. Bryan bent over and loudly says "love you baby" and gives my tummy a razzberry and W not only pokes that exact spot but keeps poking for about 30 seconds as if to say "LOVE YOU TOO DADDY PS I'M RIGHT HERE"
This went on for about 5 or 6 minutes and it was absolutely adorable to watch Bryan play with his son. Sometimes Bryan feels left of this whole process because he can't feel the baby the way I do, he doesn't randomly start laughing because he just got kicked and it tickled; so to see his face absolutely light up with joy because his son loves to hear his voice, or will play games with him even though he isn't born just makes me more happy than I could ever put into words. When I decided to marry Bryan it wasn't just because I knew he would be an amazing husband, it's just as much because I knew he would be an amazing dad. I can't wait to see Bryan hold his son for the first time and to watch them together in the future. If Saturday night was any indicator of the future, than our baby is going to be the luckiest little boy ever.

I feel the spirit!!

So I have talked to a few people this year who simply do not feel in the Christmas spirit. Don't know what it is but apparently that is going around. My mom has a bad back and is trying to figure out a way to not drown the tree in presents this year so she simply isn't in the mood, my dad has had a rough couple months and his dad is in the hospital...again, so he doesn't want anything to do with the holiday and then there are still millions of people out of work who can't even afford Christmas this year.

Well, to all of them I say come and work in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where Christmas spirit is put in your hot chocolate in the mornings, hung from every desk, and can be heard from every bathroom stall, literally.

This is the Christmas tree in the middle of the JSMB where I work, I walk by in about a dozen times a day. I also walk through Temple Square at least twice a day which means I walk by lights and 6 different kinds of nativity scenes. Everyday at 1 and 2 I can literally hear High School choirs singing on every floor in this building, it particularly echos through the bathrooms (which is almost annoying when i'm trying to have a conversation with my mom while i'm going to the bathroom, you know you 've all done it : )) Also, everyday as I leave there is either a children's choir or some sort of instrumental performance going on. I have spent the last week wrapping Christmas CD's for important people around the world and have also scored tickets to not only the First Presidency Christmas Devotional but also the coveted Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert, I know, i'm a brat.

So to all of you that are not in the mood for Christmas, come visit me at my work, we will shove it down your throat, sing you a carol and then send you off with a wrapped Christmas CD or ticket to some random event you didn't even know existed. I just love the Holidays. Don't you?

wow that was painless

Last night I dreamt that 2 weeks before I gave birth to a human, I gave birth to a pony. The doctors didn't know it was in there. Luckily, in my dream it didn't hurt at all.
I chose to give the pony up for adoption in the dream, Lil W would have been jealous otherwise, and technically not the oldest.

I just want to bend over

So the other day Bryan and I were getting our Christmas pics taken and I had to change my shoes in the car. You would think I was trying to curl myself into a pretzel considering how difficult this was for me, and this got my thinking about some of the things I miss being able to do

1)Sleeping on my tummy. I had a perfect sleep pattern down, I rotated through 3 positions everynight and then settled in on my tummy, kind of like a dog who circles 3 times before laying down to sleep. Well at this point my own comfort at night is overshadowed by the desire to not kill my baby

2)bending over...for any reason at all. Putting on pants, socks, shoes is something that I have to really think about, is it worth having warm feet right now just to bend over and put those socks on. If I drop something on the floor there is a moral dilema going on in my head on whether it's worth it or not. The other day I lost my cell phone and ended up going home that night not knowing what happened; that's when I remembered that it had fallen on the ground and my brain decided that leaving it on the floor was the better choice, hey if someone called I would hear it and depending on who it was I would bend over. Now a days Bryan holds out my pants while I step it, i'm officially pathetic.

3)Breathing. I can't work out and I definately can't go up more then one flight of stairs. I work on the second floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and every Wed we have a devotional on the Mezzanine level, 2 flights of stairs down. Well at the end of the meeting everyone heads for the stairs, except for me, I have to take the elevator or risk passing out in front of the elderly missionary couples who practically ran up the stairs.

4)Having a waist. I miss belts and jeans without tummy stretchers in them. We went shopping on black friday and I saw all these cute dresses with belted waists and I almost broke down, unless that waist can be adjusted for about 8 inches above my actual waist that ain't happening.

5)Running into things without worrying. I watch football and cringe because I see everyone smacking into each other and being so carelss with their tummies, I watch someone jump onto a bed or couch face first and I want to cry because my first thought is "oh no their baby". On our way out of the hospital after I give birth i'm going to run into a wall on purpose just because I can.

6)Control over my bladder. I'm really sick and tired of having little accidents when I sneeze. Honestly, the other day we were shopping in Wal Mart, I sneezed, got this look on my face and quietly said "crap", I thought Bryan was going to die laughing.

You know, I make this all sound so horrible when really it's not. Here is a list of things I will miss when i'm no longer pregnant.

1)Feeling him move around. I complain but honestly it's amazing. He goes nuts when he hears Bryan's voice, he calms right down when I sing him his lullaby. He gets aggitated and squirms when i'm overly excited (the UofU BYU football game was bad, I think he was trying to escape so he could help us cheer). I love sitting in the bathtub and watching my tummy do a little dance cause he likes the sound of water. I know that I will miss that more than anything else.

2)Having Bryan's hand constantly on my stomach. From the day Bryan found out I was pregnant his hand has been super glued to the baby bump. First thing in the morning he rolls over and wraps his arm around me and places it on the baby, he watches TV with one hand on me, whenever someone asks how we're doing his hand shoots to my stomach and he says "we're all doing fine". He is so proud and so adorable and I will miss his constant attention to my mid section.

3)Talking to myself. I constantly find myself talking to my the baby. I don't even have to be alone, i'm narrating things to him.

4)Knowing where he is 24/7. Someday this little guy is going to grow up, drive a car, go on a mission, get married, heck even just go to Kindergarten and I won't be with him all the time. Right now I know where he is, I know when he's sleeping or awake, I know what he's eating and how he's feeling. I will miss that constant companionship I have with him.

5) *corny alert* I will miss his spirit. Does that sound weird, yes, but it's like I can feel him with me all the time. I'm growing a person, a child with a spirit who will one day grow up and do great things. I can feel his potential and his excitement and weirdly enough his love. The way he moves when Bryan talks I can tell how much he loves us both even though he can't actually tell me. I will miss that soo much.

6) the first moments of new life. Let's be honest, pregnany is hard, painful and sometimes very very gross; but I know it will all be worth it the first time I hear him cry. I know I will miss that moment and that feeling of "it's all worth it" when he's crying later on in life, when he throws a tantrum in the grocery store or wants to date the girl with the giant tatoo, nose piercing and pants so tight I can tell if she gets a bikini wax or not.

I want to cherish all that now while I still can. Half of me wants the next 12 weeks to fly by so I can meet him and so I can have my bladder back, the other half wishes I could stay pregnant forever. So though I may sometimes complain and make it sound like the worst thing in the world, know this-the blessings, the moments and the joy far outway any pain or discomfort you feel.

By the way if you have made it to the end of this ginormous post, congrats and give yourself a pat on the back.