Happy Birthday Travis!

Luckily Travis and I were brought up celebrating birthdays pretty similarly.  Neither of our families went all out on birthdays, but we did do something small.  For my family, the birthday person would pick what/where to eat for dinner and we were able to bring 1 friend.  We would do small gifts, a cake and that's about it.  I remember having one big birthday party when I was 8, but that's about it.  While it is a special day (and I love being spoiled), I don't expect anything big.

That being said, Travis had a VERY low key birthday this year.  We both had work and unfortunately I had a headache that evening so we didn't do much.  We went and tried a new restaurant, got dessert and that's about it.  We agreed that we wouldn't get anything for each other for our birthdays this year because we bought nice bikes earlier this year as our presents. 

I still wanted to do something so at school that day, I had my kids make him some birthday cards.  They are too cute not to share.  These are some of my favorites:

This is one of the best as far as writing goes.  I love kid handwriting!

 I love how detailed she was.  She wanted to know Travis' favorite color so she could make his shirt that color and she drew my blonde and brown hair.  So cute!

I love how all the kids drew pictures of me and Travis together.  All I told them was to make a birthday card and that's what they came up with.

 This is Travis' favorite.  He said he looks like a monster.  I see it in a more developmental way.  She is more advanced because the arms and legs aren't just sticks and she drew details on the face.  It still makes me laugh though.

This one is probably my favorite.  She asked me what color hair he had and then she said she wanted to give him a mohawk.  Since he was at work, she drew a tie on him.  Up above us is our baby girl.  haha

I hope Travis felt loved on his birthday even though he didn't have a big party and lots of presents!

20 Week Update

Well, I am officially more than half way through my pregnancy!  I am doing everything a little late, so my picture is from 21 weeks and my ultra sound is from almost 22 weeks.  According to babycenter.com, I have 126 days or 18 weeks left to go.  I can't believe how fast it is going!

Here is the lovely pregnant pose.  I am large enough that strangers are now commenting on my belly and asking when I am due.

 I went in for my "20 week" ultrasound this past week.  I was really looking forward to this ultrasound because it has been 7 weeks since my last one and I wanted to see her growth.  Last time she was measuring big and this time she is measuring small.  She can't seem to make up her mind.  I am hoping she will be big so they take her early.  My due date is 3-23-13 and I want to have her 10 days early on 3-13-13.  We will see if that happens.

The pictures aren't as clear as they were last time.  Here she is, once again, sucking her thumb.  Doesn't she look so much bigger?  

The doctor said that everything looked great.  We even counted all her fingers and toes! Right now she is breech, so I like to think that she just wants to stand up and move with me.  I didn't realize how big/where she was located.  Her head is a lot higher than I thought.  At the level she is and the height of my students, she is getting tons of hugs everyday! They did a 3-d ultrasound and Travis thinks she looks more like me.  I can't really tell, but he thinks she has my turned up nose.  I really just can't wait to meet her and kiss her little face!

Here she is wedged in tightly.  She is in the middle with her head up and a fist by her chin. 

Just to help me remember, here are some things about my pregnancy lately.  You can skip this!

*I am once again sleeping through the night!  I don't have to take the frequent potty breaks for now.
*My migraines have not been very frequent.  One of my biggest concerns about being pregnant was not being able to take my migraine medicine and getting migraines on a daily basis again.  I have probably only had 4 or 5 since being pregnant.  The only bad part is that they are more intense and last longer than normal because I can't take my strong medicine.
*Even though I feel really fat, I am at a stage where I am still comfortable moving and doing normal things.  Exercising is harder with all the extra weight, but it helps motivate me to be conscious about my eating choices.
*I started feeling the baby kick on a regular basis at about 19 weeks.  Travis felt her for the first time at 21 weeks.  We started seeing it at just over 21 weeks.
*I am not having morning sickness anymore.  I only throw up when I have migraines now.
*Besides my belly, the areas that has grown the most are my thighs and bum.  As of Friday, my jeans officially couldn't fit because my bum is so big!
*I have a lot more energy.
*I still haven't had any food aversions or cravings.  I have a hard time resisting sweets, but I did before I was pregnant too.
*I am feeling healthier because I don't have to eat constantly to prevent nausea.
*I officially weigh more than Travis.  :( 
*Occasionally I get REALLY bad lower back pain.  It is mostly if I have been really active and then stop to rest or when I wear heels all day.

Helpless

Today was the most beautiful day ever!!  After all the cold this past week, weather in the mid 60's was like heaven!  I opened all the windows in the house to get fresh air before we have to lock up for the winter.  I felt an urge to clean and did for a while, but then I just had to enjoy the outdoors. 

Since I still wanted to be productive, I decided to rake our leaves.  I would be in the sun and be productive at the same time, it was a win win situation.  After raking for a while, I decided to take a little rest.  Bad choice.  I laid down on our freshly raked grass and soaked up the sun for a while.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable...until I had to get up.  When I went to get up, I couldn't move.  My lower back was KILLING me!!  It was so painful!  I was on my back with my knees bent.  I couldn't even straighten my legs because the pressure on my lower back was so intense.  I tried to roll over, but that too was excruciating!  I sat there helpless trying to figure out what to do.  I tried moving my legs a little at a time or arching my back or moving my weight one way or another.  Nothing helped.  Finally I had to suck up my pride.  I pulled out my phone and called Travis.  I simply asked him to come outside.

Travis saw me laying there and asked what I needed.  When I told him I needed help getting up, he laughed.  I told him I was being serious.  When I laughed at myself, that hurt too.  It was so pathetic.  He had to carefully move one leg at a time.  Then once my legs were flat, he slowly pulled me to a sitting position.  It was so painful.  Please tell me that other people have experienced this.  After I got up it was better, but still not normal.

After getting a few other things done around the house, we decided to go on a bike ride.  It was gorgeous!  Just the perfect thing for a Saturday afternoon.  We even got to look at some houses for sale!

Went to the Beehive Conference, cleaned the house, raked the leaves, went on bike ride, looked at houses, put stuff in storage, went to Anna's baptism, bought a turkey fryer, and spent quality time with Travis.  I would say it was a very productive day.  Now time to relax with a movie. 

One Post on Politics, Then I am Done

I try not to get involved in political discussions of any sort.  Whether it is in person, on the phone, or through facebook, I try to avoid it.  I whole-heartily feel that everyone should be entitled to their own opinion and we should respect each others opinion.  I have seen too many people hurt or offended by opinions of others so I try not to get involved.

That being said, I have a few opinions about the 2012 elections.  (since this is my opinion, on my blog, please be respectful)  I don't like politics because I feel like it brings out the worst in people.  On Facebook, I would say 85% of my friends are republican and voted for Romney.  Of that 85%, I would say 80% of them are LDS.  I was so disappointed to see the reactions of my friends this morning when I saw the election updates.  They were downright awful in some cases.  It made me a little ashamed to be a republican and member of the church because I didn't want these opinions to have an affect on what people thought of me.  I try to live my beliefs and that includes lifting others up...not tearing them down. 

While I may not have voted for Obama or believe in his policies, I am going to support him.  Afterall, it was the majority that won so the majority liked his platform.  I was brought up learning to respect authority/others.  That could be anyone from a teacher, instructor, policeman, president, or the elderly lady next door.  I don't care who it is, I will respect them. 

At this point, there is nothing to do to change the outcome of the elections except to support and pray for our President.  He needs people to lift him up and not tear him down.  As I got on facebook this afternoon, I saw this quote by a prophet of our church and thought it summed up my feelings. 

"We teach our people all over the world, regardless of the countries in which they live, to sustain the policies of their governments....
"If executive officials have been elected by the vote of the people, after that vote is complete and the majority has spoken, we have the obligation to support and sustain those who have been elected by the majority, and not bring about disharmony. It tears down government when opposition is raised....
"I would hope that as members of the Church we can stand fast on these principles by supporting and sustaining our governments wherever we may live and by sustaining the officers of those governments with our prayers as well."
- Howard W. Hunter

This is what our church believes.  For those of you that are not members, I encourage you to go to LDS.org to see what we believe.  Please do not base your opinions off the ignorance of others.  Please feel free to ask me any questions.  I will do my best to answer them. 

OK, that is my opinionated, political post of the year.  Now I am done. 

More Kicks!

I have been feeling our little girl start to kick more and more.  It still isn't super strong, but that is definitely what it is.  I want Travis to be able to feel her sooooo badly!  This evening I felt her kicking a lot so I put my hand on my stomach.  A second later, I felt her kick from the inside and outside!!!  Travis was sitting next to me and just laughed because I was so excited.  I had him put his hand where the kicks were coming from.  Unfortunately little baby girl decided to stop kicking so he never felt her.  At least now it is possible for him to feel.  It won't be long until he feels her.  This is really the coolest/weirdest feeling ever.  There really is a baby inside me that is alive and moving.  According to BabyCenter.com, she is about 10 inches longand 10.5 ounces!

Oh, and speaking of BabyCenter.com, it keeps track of my progress and I am officially 20 weeks today!!  I only have 140 days to go!  It has seriously flown by!  The second half is probably harder, but I feel like it is not going to be long before she is here!  I guess I need to take a picture to show my half-way belly.  I will do it tomorrow after church, because let's face it...I am in sweats and a t-shirt right now.