Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We spent Christmas with Mikie's family again this year due to me being 9 months pregnant and unable to leave town. We had a fabulous time with our family, ate tons of really good food and had a blast with the Wii. On Christmas Eve we went over to Mikie's parents house and had cold cuts for dinner (italian of course). They were delicious. Then the kids, mainly Kylie waited very patiently for Auntie (Andrea) and Uncle Toby to get there so we could open gifts. We all got some very nice things and enjoyed just being together. On Christmas Day we went back over to Mikie's mom and Dad's for our traditional Ravioli Dinner. This is personally my favorite part of Christmas with Mikie's family! It is a group effort and they take quite a while to make but are so worth the effort. Plus we enjoy spending the time together to make them. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday! I love all the decorations, the food and mostly just being with family and friends! Here are a couple of pictures from our Rockin Christmas Day! I didn't take to many pictures this year. My feet looked like little nerf Footballs! We were hoping Trystan would make his big Debut before the end of the year, but that didn't happen! The little monkey is perfectly comfortable where he is at for now! We are all more than ready for him to get here though. I am hoping that after seeing the Doctor this coming Monday they will decide to induce me. I'm sick to death of being prego and my blood pressure is beginning to climb. It's not too high yet, but its not going back down to its normal anymore so we shall see what the doc thinks come Monday! We had a pretty kicked back New Years this year! For New Years Eve Mikie and I made dinner at home and watched a movie. On New Years day we went over to Mikie's mom and Dad's played cards, made dinner, and watched movies! We hope all of you had a Very Merry Christmas and we wish everyone a prosperous New Year!

Congratulations Mikie and is it seriously still snowing...... In Las Vegas?

What is this, could it be, why oh my good golly gee it is true.....

Mikie got to sign his first set of plans today with his Professional Engineer stamp!!!!! I know he was a little nervous about it, signing his life away and all, but I am so proud of him! He worked so hard to get where he is at. The guys he works with got him a cake and took pictures of him signing these plans and Mikie emailed them home so here they are! I love you babe and am so proud of you. Its nice to see you smiling while signing these. How exciting it is to see your name on something you have worked so many long hours on!

As for the next portion of this post..... It is finally winter in Las Vegas!!!! I have been looking forward to the cold wether since about June and it finally hit us today! The high is 37 degrees and it has been Snowing, yes I said snowing, at my house for about 6 hours now! I had a doctor apppointment this afternoon and there was Black Ice on the sides of the 215, now I don't mind driving in the snow where it is supposed to snow and where everyone around you has had the experience and a healthy respect for driving in the snow, but In the middle of the Desert where it never snows it is a much scarier adventure. Here are some of the pictures of our little snow storm today. This first picture is right after it started snowing at the house this morning!

This one is of my front lawn after I got back from the doctor's office this afternoon. It is really wet snow and I'm sure it won't stick around for long.


This last picture is on my way to the doctor's office! It was kind of a white out, at least for Vegas! I love this time of year and it was kind of nice to have a little snow even though it won't last long!

To Finish off this post, per request here is the newest Belly shot! I am 35 Weeks and 3 days in this picture, yes I am miserable! I am 42 inches around and packing on the pounds. Hopefully this baby will come sooner rather than later!!!!

Ultrasound

Alright so I had another ultrasound tonight and the pictures aren't that great because A) our little Monkey is stubborn B) He is in a really weird position that apparently to him is quite comfy! So the first picture is of Trystan grabbing his toes all you can see is a hand and part of a foot! The second picture is kind of a funky profile shot with his hand in front of his face!!!! He would not move it and I think his eye is open as well so that is kind of creepy, but everything else looks really good. He is short and fat still his tummy is still measuring 2 weeks a head of schedule but everything else is right on! As far as weight goes he is weighing in at 5 pounds 14 ounces give or take 14 ounces lets hope he is on the smaller side of that than the larger!!! I am getting very ansy to meet this little guy I can hardly wait!!!!

Zapped, Zapped and Zapped again!!!!

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope everyone's was as fabulous as ours was!! We were here in town with Mikie's family and had a most scrumptuous dinner! It was great to spend time with the family as well. It is tradition in his family to do the early morning black friday shopping, however this year was a little different! I wasn't up for the crowds and a day of shopping and being on my feet so my fabulous sister-in-laws and my mother in law picked up a couple of things for me!!!!! and I so appreciate it, Thanks girls!!!!!! I have to tell you though that my sister-in-laws get crazier every year! this year they started at Toys-R-Us at Midnight!!! Then it was off to best buy where Niccole waited in line for like 7 hours!!! Debi and I usually meet them about 6 but we didn't this year! I am sure next year I will be right there with them at the crazy hours of the morning! Good times yet to come I'm sure!!!

Twilight

I went with the girls to Twilight a couple of weekends ago and have to say I was a little disappointed! I knew I would be disappointed in Edward just because the version of him on the screen is nothing close to what I have in my head. I felt like they left out some really important details that make the story, granted I realize it is hard to squeeze it all into a two hour film! I also feel like it is impossible to capture on screen the emotions and different tones you get when reading the books! It wasn't horrible, and Bella was fabulous, I will definantly see the other movies too, and be excited to see how they play them all out on the big screen, but I am definantly a bigger fan of the books!!!!!

Doctors Appointments

So I think I mentioned in my last post that I was on monitoring twice a week from here on out until we have our little Monkey, at first I thought I would enjoy going to the doctor and listening to my little man's heart for 20 to 40 minutes twice a week. I thought it would give me piece of mind and comfort in knowing he was doing okay, sure the driving back and forth bites ass, but all part of the process right? Well, I went back to the doctor on Friday after Thanksgiving and they sent me to the specialists office because my dr. office was closed. All went well, I had zero contractions, babies heart rate was good, my fluid level was completely normal as well as my Blood pressure! Fabulous! I went to my Dr.'s office on Monday and Trystan's heart rate dropped down to 120 which is still technically normal but a little lower than they wanted so I got to go back today! He likes to sleep during the day and while I am at my appointments too so to get him to wake up and have more variability in his heart rate they wake hip up with this thing that vibrates really loud and scares him to death. They did this to him the first time they put me on the monitors, they didn't do it at the specialists office on friday, they zapped him with it yesterday to wake him up, and they zapped him again today! I am not a fan of this I can't comfort him or do anything about it either! I even had orange juice with breakfast, ate lunch and had a coke just before the appointment and he was still sleeping soundly! I don't know what else to do to keep my little one from being zapped all the time! I feel so bad, any suggestions? Everything was cool at my appointment today though his heart rate was very normal and I didn't have any contractions! My blood pressure was a little high at first, but I was kind of stressed about his heart rate and wether or not they were going to zap him again. After I was all done and everything was cool the nurse took my blood pressure again and it was back down to its normal 118/66. I appreciate that they are being overly cautious, but sometimes I think they are overdoing it! I can't wait to just have him here so we can start stressing about other things! Luckily I don't have to go back to the Doctor tomorrow, but I get to go to the Dentist and the Doctor again on Thursday!

Pictures

The top picture of Mikie and I was taken a couple of weeks ago by a good family friend! I decided I would add one picture on here that had my face! A first in a long time I know, and the other picture is the most recent belly shot! I am 33 weeks and 3 days prego today! That means I am only 3 weeks and 4 days away from technically being full term at which point we could have this baby any time between then and his due date I am hoping for the sooner part rather than the later part!!!! Now that I have complained some more and have updated everyone on the last week I think I am going to go take a nice relaxing bath with a good book! Hopefully next tuesday we will get some good pictures of the little one so I can post those!

My Little Buddah Baby!!!

First of all sorry there aren't any new pictures of the little man! He was being a punk during the ultrasound today and was in a head down position with his little nose pressed right into my spine and refused to turn at all so we could see his little face! I had a very eventful Dr. Appointment today. I was there for 3 1/2 hours!!!!! (For the love seriously). But anywho first I had my ultrasound. Other than little Monkey man wouldn't show his face everything looks really good! His little (or not so little) tummy is measuring in at about two weeks further along than I really am and as a whole his measurements are coming in a week ahead of schedule. He certainly is packing on the pounds as well!!!! One month ago he was weighing in at 2 pounds 6 ounces, today he weighs 4 pounds 14 ounces! I also have a lot of amniotic fluid, so as a result I am on twice a week monitoring via non-stress tests. We were going to start this in a couple of weeks but the Dr. decided to start them today... lucky me! After the ultrasound I saw my doctor. The medical assistant came and took my weight and BP which was kind of high for me it was 130/78 my first thought was are you sure.... then I thought oh crap because unfortunately I am prone to Pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure due to pregnancy). The doctor came in listened to Trystan's heart asked how I was feeling blah, blah, blah and had me lay on my left side so one of the girls could come retake my BP. False Alarm it was fine at 120/56 much more my style! He asked if I had been having any contractions I told him yeah 5 or 6 a day. No big deal. So then it was off to the monitoring room where they hooked me up to a machine like they put you on in labor and delivery that monitors the fetal heart rate and for contractions. Of course I had three contractions in 20 minutes so it was back to see the doctor, this time for him to check and see if I was dilating at all, which I am not!!!!!! So at this point I am thinking I should just move into the Dr.'s office because from now until Trystan makes his BIG debut I am there at least every Monday and Thursday's! Seriously, Seriously!!!!!!!



So Anyway, I should get more pictures of the baby in a couple of weeks, but here is the latest Belly shot at 32 weeks and 3 days. I am 42 inches around! And my theme Song goes something like this: Weebles wobble but they don't fall down Weebles are around, Don't fall down Weeble wobble, Weeble wobble,Weeble wobble,Weeble wobble, Weeble wobble, Weeble wobble, Don't fall down. The Nickname (Weebles) came from my father-in-law and my dad named the theme song!!!!! They are so funny!

For the Love of Feet!

Thank goodness for the small things in life! It seems my back has been spared so far (knock on wood) with this whole pregnancy. My feet on the other hand have been a little neglected! Easy to do when you can no longer reach them!!! So today I decided that it was time to treat myself to a pedicure. The girl that did it was so sweet! My feet have been killing me, she gave me the best foot massage I think I have ever had, plus the massage chair is an added bonus! She even dugg out a horrible ingrown toenail that has been bugging me for a while, but of coarse I have been totally unsuccessful at taking care of it! My left foot is a little more swollen than the right as you can see! My flip flop left a lovely imprint on it! Not much else is going on in our lives these days! I am just patiently passing the time between Dr. Appointments! Mikie has been busy at work as well, and even though he isn't enjoying it much, I am greatful for the job security! I am so excited for the holidays this year too! Looking forward to a fabulous thanksgiving dinner and just being able to spend time with the family for christmas while we await the arrival of our little monkey!

I also am Extremely excited for the release of the twilight movie this weekend!!!!! I am hoping that it will be good and I won't be extremely disappointed! But I just don't know that Edward can live up to the version I created in my own head! I am going to see it Sunday morning so if you see it before then let me know how it was but don't spoil it!!!!!!!!

Coming into the Homestretch.... I hope!

This whole pregnancy thing has been an experience... an amazing experience, and I think I have been a pretty good sport! But I am 30 weeks and 3 days pregnant today, 40 inches around, and I am SOOOOOOOO ready to be done! I know, I know I have to last at least 7 more weeks and I will hang in there until then but we are pretty much ready! As we are headed down the homestretch I have been asked how I am feeling... Read at your own risk because let me tell you my little body is done!!!!

1. I can't breath..... Trystan is growing like crazy and its just going to get worse from this point on He is pushing, rolling and kicking my diaphragm compressing my lungs and not allowing them to expand completely, its even worse when I am laying down!

2. I can't sleep.... My options are the left side or the right side I have to wake up to roll from one side to the other, I just get comfortable and I have to get up and pee! Joy, Joy, did I mention a crane would be helpful to help me rise from the bed to get to the bathroom because just getting up takes some serious effort. When I actually do get to sleep I am so sore from laying in one position when I do wake up my shoulders and hips are killing me!

3. I can't walk... my feet are swollen, my knees ache and my hips pop! The extra weight is not my friend I would make a horrible fat person! My father in law was teasing me the other day after mikie told him I can no longer scrub our shower and tub.... he started calling me the weeble wobble. So true I feel like a weeble wobble!


4. I can't bend over... I think it took me at least 5 minutes to get socks on the other day and getting my tennis shoes tied is nothing shy of a miracle! I also can't reach small items in the bottom of my washing machine! I am too short and with Trystan growing rounder and rounder every day I can't lean over far enough to reach the stuff in the bottom of the washer!

5. Kick counts... My doctor has me counting kicks in the morning and at night. Trystan has been a pretty good boy with these kicks and faithfully does his 10 kicks in the morning in about 8 minutes while daddy gets ready for work. At night he has been pretty good to, but the last couple of days his movements have changed....He is still moving very well, but they are more controled movements and I can feel lots of body parts. He is constantly trying to kick out my left side! To the point it is a little sore. I can push on his little body parts and he sucks them back in such an odd feeling! I have serious alien movement going on now too.... My entire stomach shifts, jumps and rolls as he moves around!

6. Braxton Hicks... These are so much fun and I have had them for a couple of months most of the time they just feel like trystan is balling up for a second, but now I am having them more frequently and they are getting stronger sometimes my stomach is so hard I can barely walk. They never last very long and are very sporatic but they are always followed by a few good jabs, a roll and a hard kick or stretch as Trystan tries to create more room for himself again!!!!!!

7. Its easier to get up than it is to get down... It may take me a few minutes to get myself up off the floor or out of the tub, but getting down is much more complicated. In fact it has turned into more of a controlled fall kind of comical to watch though!

8. Restless Leg syndrome... My legs ache all the time especially at night. I feel like I could run a marathon... not literally of course but I can't keep my legs still. I've been doing lots of stretching and trying to walk a lot throughout the day and this helps a little but most nights I still feel that chopping my legs off is my best option!!!!!!!

Sorry for all the complaints but this is my day to day life these days! Every day brings new challenges and experiences! I am so excited to be a mommy and I am getting very anxious to hold our little monkey in my arms instead of in my tummy! I think mikie is equally excited and maybe even more so than I am! I know he is looking forward to being able to bond with his son! I also have to add before I go that I have the most incredible, supporting, loving husband in the whole entire world! He has been a great sport through this whole pregnancy thing. He has been great at putting up with my ups and downs, and I have loved that he has wanted to be involved as much as possible with the pregnancy. He is going to be a great dad! I am so excited for the next step in this adventure.... I just have to make it through the next 7-10 weeks first!

Happy Halloween

So instead of carving pumpkins, we well I should say Mikie painted my stomach like a pumpkin. I made him do it twice the top pumpkin is the one I made him do for me, since it would have been extremely hard for me to paint my own tummy, and the second one is his master piece of trystan in the pumpkin in my tummy! We are dorks but had fun doing it! Trystan liked the feel of the paint brush on my tummy and kicked me the whole time mikie was painting!!!!! Hope everyone has a happy and safe halloween!!!!!

The Life of a Stay at Home Pregnant Mommy!!!!!

So it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Alot has happened in the last two weeks. My mom was here for a week and we had a baby shower on the 11th at my Grandparents house in St. George. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of fun things for our little monkey! Thank you so much to everyone who came. We so appreciate all your love and support! Thank you so, so much to my Aunt Margene and Wyndee for throwing such as sweet shower! We had a great turnout and the food was FABULOUS!After the shower my mom and I loaded up the car and headed for Mesquite where we met my mother in law and two sister in laws! We went to dinner, spent the night and had fabulous spa treatments in the morning. Now mind you I had a 90 minute facial that was heaven, but it was that morning that I realized I can no longer lay on my back for more than about 10 minutes before I start getting really hot and tingly all over like I am going to pass out! The lovely heating pad underneath me didn't help any either. So once I finally got over to one side a little but still turned so she could do the facial life was good. The little Monkey never quit moving the whole time I was there either. Poor kid was more than ready for breakfast! After our treatments we headed back to Vegas to get my mom on her flight back home! Mikie and I unpacked all of the stuff from the shower and Trystan is already in need of a bigger closet. I spent the next three days doing baby laundry! Including all of his bedding. So the room is ready for our little man's arrival

It took me three tries before I finally got the bumper pad up! It was a huge pain in the butt, but looks adorable! By Thursday I was having a hard time and feeling really blue! Pregnancy is so wierd. But I was pretty emotional and irritable and so tired of being in the house! I have a very sensitive husband who knows me pretty well and figured out quickley that it was time to get me out of the house for a while. So on Friday night we went to Kylie's Baseball game. On Saturday I decided I wanted to go up to Mount Charelston for a picnic where it would be nice and cool! We had a good time! and the weather was beautiful up there! After we got back we went shopping and ended up buying Rock Band for the Wii. Now I really suck at it, but am totally addicted to it! I am the little drummer girl (I have always wanted to play the drums) and Mikie is pretty good at the guitar and neither one of us should EVER sing! I called Mikie on Monday and told him I needed help I had been playing Rock Band for almost 5 hours and could not bring myself to do anything else. I had to force myself to finish a project I had started in September before I could spend anymore days playing the drums So on Tuesday I typed Recipes that I had taken from my mother in law all day! Tuesday night I watched my cousin Wyndee's little girl. She is so stinkin cute! We had a good time playing with the puppies, watching a movie and eating popcorn and pizza! She climbed in my dogs crate and locked herself in so the dogs couldn't get in there with her! Then when Mikie got home Brynlyn climbed on my lap and kept saying "I don't like Mike" She is such a funny kid. She has never really been around him, but she would talk to him and he would make her laugh then she would say "I don't like Mike." On Wednesday and Thursday I typed recipe's all day as well! I am finally done typing now I need to put our books together. I ended up with 267 recipes total! and I don't think I had even half of her recipes. LOL! Then today I went to the Dr. for an Ultrasound and everything looks great. Our little man is quite an acrobat! I am greatful that I have tons of fluid so I only feel him moving about 60% of the time, because he NEVER quits moving. He is weighing in at 2lbs 6 oz approximately and is starting to pack on some weight his little cheeks are filling out and he has a nice round tummy with short little legs! Poor kid doesn't stand a chance there. We all have short legs! He is definantly a thumb sucker too, wish us luck with breaking that habit!

Some of the shots of his hands and stuff look funny in these pictures! I promise they are totally normal, its just the way the Tech did the pictures. It has been a long two weeks, but we are doing great. I am 27weeks and 6 days prego today. I officially start my third trimester tomorrow! We have 9-12 weeks left! Pray they fly by for me!!!!!! Here is the newest Belly Shot! Sorry this post was so long! I will try to update more often if I can tear myself away from Rock Band!!!!!!

Our little Ninja Man

Tonight we had a 4d ultrasound of our little monkey and that he is! He was a little punk most of the time and kept his little hands in front of his face! It was still so much fun to watch him though and great to have our families present. This first picture was at the very beginning. He flashed us in the first 15 seconds of the ultrasound. He is very pround of his little boy parts. Wish us luck with keeping him in diapers! I think he is going to prefer the buff.


I love this one of his feet. Looks like he may luck out and not get my funky toes. Lucky kid! He likes to cross his little feet too! He looks pretty comfortable in there! The ultrasound Tech asked how long it had been since I had eaten. Trystan was sucking on his hands and she was telling us that even in utero when they are hungry they will exhibit the rooting reflex and start sucking on their hands. Poor baby! He's always hungry and makes mommy eat lots.
He's already practicing covering his ears so he can tell mommy and daddy "I can't hear You!"

He Truely is our little ninja man to, and boy am I ever starting to feel it. Looks like he was trying to wrap his foot right around his head The ultrasound tech said he still has lots of room to grow in there. I feel like he has filled the space all up and seriously can I really get bigger? I know the answer is yes and I will but I can't even comprehend at the moment!

I think he is going to be a thumb sucker as well. I'm hoping we can replace the thumb with a binki but we shall see.

At the end of the ultrasound he put his hands up and covered his entire face to let us know he was done, show was over, now take me home and feed me mommy!!!!! Thanks to all our family that was there tonight. It was fun to be able to share it with you! We are so excited for him to come. 100 days left, keep bakin' baby boy mommy and daddy love you!!!!!

New Belly Picture!!!!

I am 25 weeks and 3 days prego today! My tummy is only 2 inches smaller around the largest spot than my dad's tummy which makes it 38 inches! Little Trystan has been on the move quite a bit lately. In fact one morning he decided it was time to play at 4:45am. He would start on one side and work his way to the other side and back again. It didn't matter how I was laying I could not go back to sleep. I finally gave up at about 6:30 and just got up. Not to mention the fact that I was STARVING! Mikie came in the computer room about 7 and asked what I was doing, I told him I couldn't sleep, little ninja man thought he was in competition or something this morning. I finally went back to bed at 7:30 and the little monkey let me sleep for about an hour. It is so crazy to watch him move around and kick my stomach. I looks very alien like, but still entertaining to watch!

Congratulations Mom/Graduate Nurse

Last night was my mom's graduation from nursing school!!!! What an accomplishment that is! I am so proud of her. Nursing school is certainly not for the weak. I don't know who was more excited that she is done her or Mike and the girls. Little do they know it will take some readjusting getting used to having a mom and wife again!!!! Don't get to excited yet guys, she still has boards which she will rock the first time around I am certain!!! Sorry I wasn't there mom, but I am glad that three of your sisters were able to make it. We are so excited that you are coming out to spend a week with us. Congratulations again on a task well done! We love you!!!

Going back in Time!

So I found this on another blog and stole the idea. I thought it was cute and since I have so much time on my hands these days and it has been a couple of weeks since my last post, well you get it. The idea is to put yourself in yearbook photos from the 50's through the 90's. Do you think Mikie and I would have dated one another in years past?

1950's

1960's1970's1990's