The Belly has Arrived!

Dang! It's been a month from my last post and alot of things have sure changed as far as the pregnancy situation goes. My stomach has grown and I finally look like im 28.5 weeks pregnant! For awhile I would read how long and big the baby would be each week and wonder how in the heck he was fitting in there, but he shifted how he's been laying and my belly is much more prominent. I will admit, slightly more uncomfortable though. Also over the past month he reached my ribs and I think he thinks its a fun game to see how many kicks/punches he can get in before I press my hand on the spot he's getting me. That usually stops him. I LOVE feeling him move so much! It kind of freaks me out if im sitting on the couch watching my belly and I see one of his limbs just travel across my stomach. WEIRD, but totally amazing at the same time :) My doctor said that everything looked great at my appointment this week and next time I come in it will start being every 2 weeks. I cant beileve only 11.5 weeks and he will be here!
Everyone keeps asking me what I am doing to keep myself busy since I'm not in school and decided not to take a full-time teaching job. Well, I've been crafting, sewing, and organizing all the things I wanted to do the first year and a half of being married that I never had a free second to do because of school and my commute. I love it. Also, I'm actually able to be a friend and make friends, teach piano lessons, and watch football (one of my favorite fall activities). The big thing I was planning to do was substitute this school year. I am STILL in the process of doing this and thanks to the newly re-vamped, detailed, complicated, time consuming process of applying to be a substitute for Tooele School District (even though I JUST graduated with a double major and minor in teaching) Im still jumping through the last 2 hoops and will officially start the first week of October. I will say as frustrated as I was about the whole process of applying to be a sub I am glad that they have a system in place to do their best to ensure better substitute teachers for this district. I CANNOT wait to be back in the classroom again :)
Besides all that this past month James's Aunt & Uncle came out to visit. It was so fun to see them, celebrate their birthdays, and show them some things around Utah. Also, while they were here I thought it was Christmas for a moment because they are so kind and brought baskets of things for our little man, clothes, hooded towel,blanket, more clothes, toys! I was astonished at how much they spoiled us! It makes it feel so real as we start filling up his closet and setting up his crib! Something else that has made the baby coming feel more real is that we registered just this last week at Babies R Us and Target. It was SOO fun going around the aisle and deciding what would be best for our lil guy. Registering did make me feel A) unprepared B) OMG I'm really gonna be a mom! Im going to be responsible for raising this boy and teaching him and taking care of him...am I ready for that??? .... idk that ill ever be ready, but I am excited for it!

25 Weeks

28.5 Weeks

Music & the Spoken Word

Temple Square

Happy Birthday Chris & Sharon!

A Time of Learning

      Second Trimester has been REALLY easy for me. Besides some heartburn and some asthma issues and some back pain and achy feet at the end of the day everything has gone so smooth for me. I know that some people during pregnancy complain and complain and complain some more. I definitely did not want to be that friend/wife/daughter who was grumpy all pregnancy so I have tried hard to keep a smile on when things arent comfortable and remember what this is all about...our son.

      Lately I've been having a hard hard time getting over the fact that my body is CHANGING and I had to accept to tough realizations:
- I am going to see numbers I've never seen before when I step on the scale
- I am going to have to let go/make modifications to my wardrobe to cover my ever growing belly
- No matter how often or for how long I go to the gym I AM going to put on weight and my body WILL store fat alot easier
- I can't workout like I did before
- I couldn't/can't wakeboard, go on long hard hikes, rock climb and other fun summer activities
- My eating habits have to change so that I can get some more calories, but make them calories that count and are filled with nutrients
      These are just a few of the things that have been hard adjustments for me. Even harder than being sick, having minor asthma attacks, having heartburn, back pain, and feet that I want to amputate by the end of the day. I knew that by getting pregnant my body would change and that all of these changes would happen. What I couldn't have anticipated is what parts of pregnancy would be hard for me.

All of that being said I wouldn't change a thing! I love so many things about being pregnant :)
- I LOVE feeling our little man squirm, roll, kick, punch all.day.long.
-I LOVE knowing that I am growing a little human inside of me
-I LOVE that Heavenly Father trusted us to have one of his children in our family to love and care for
-I LOVE when my husband talks to my belly or just rests his hand on my belly to feel him move
-I LOVE when my husband emails me from work and ends with "I miss you babe and I miss my son. Tell him I love him"
-I LOVE that in 15.5 weeks we will have another member of our family
-I LOVE looking at baby things and choosing things out not for a friend or a shower, but for ME and for MY baby to wear and use :)
-I LOVE getting those butterflies everytime I see baby things in the store or someone holding a new baby
-I LOVE the constant desire to be sewing, making, setting up something for our son
-I LOVE thinking of names and wondering what will be the best fit for our boy

       And something that I've had to learn from my things that I listed that have been hard is that I love this oppurtunity I have to learn so much. I am grateful to learn to be selfless in a way no other circumstance can teach you. To completely turn my body over to the number one priority...taking care of our son. To learn to think of another person everytime I put something in my mouth to eat or decide if I should really do one activity or another. As I was feeling a little down the other night James turned to me and said.."you know you're the lucky one though. You're the one that gets to show our son you love him so much before he is even born. By making the sacrifices you are you are showing him the ultimate form of love the love of a mother." I am so grateful for such a supportive husband who always knows the right things to say. And when I forget how to be so selfless I just look at how James treats me...like walking in from a 12 hr shift at work and the first thing he does is kiss my forehead and start rubbing my feet or when im tossing and turning in the middle of the night and cant get comfortable he goes upstairs, grabs me an extra pillow and a glass of water without me saying a thing. Then I remember what being selfless is all about. I realize all of the things that I am learning while being pregnant are things that will help me in the future of raising children: selflessness, lack of sleep, some loss of control over everything, trying to balance attention for my husband and attention for kids and so much more.
    I realize that a woman's attitude during pregnancy is everything. I could spend my time worrying about all the things that have been hard so far, but by doing that I would miss out on all the great wonderful things that I've been able to love. I am so happy to be experiencing all of this!

Growing, Sewing and Mowing!

These are all things that have been happening for us lately! We have been working on our yard this summer and it is finally coming all together. A week and a half ago we finished weeding all of our planting areas, laying weed block, laying bark and making a few other improvements to the yard. Now when I say "we" that mostly means James. haha I tried to be as helpful as possible, but needing a shade/drink/snack break every 30 minutes is not a good helper for my hardworking husband. He was so patient and just worked through everything, so that we only had to take 1.5 days to do it all! I love having all that crazy rock gone and actual plants around the house. Theres of course still more to do, but for now that is all thats going to be done.

Sewing! - So for graduation my sweet parents got me a new sewing machine. Now, I hadnt sewed anything in my whole life...ok well maybe a button on a shirt at Young womens when I was 12, but besides that I hadnt, but after we moved into our house and bought furniture I started pillow hunting for our couches. I couldnt find anything I liked, but when I was at hobby lobby I did find some fabric that I liked...so I decided I was going to teach myself to sew (with help from my lovely sis in law Alyssa :) So, alyssa let me borrow her machine and I sewed for cute pillows for our front room! Now that I have my own machine I have been figuring out how to work everything and started sewing some things for our little man. So far Ive just done 2 burp cloths and a carseat cover, but I have some more cute fabric, so Im sure there will be more sewing posts to come.

Growing! - this goes for me and the baby! Our baby is now 23.5 weeks old! 16.5 weeks to go!!! James always asks me "cant he just be here now?!?" I love that he is so excited to be a dad. He also tells me that I better let him hold him after hes born cause Ive gotten to hold him for 9 months and thats plenty of time that I am hogging lol! Anyways, The last 2.5 weeks since my last pregnancy post things havent changed that much. Ive still been able to exercise - with a few modifications - Ive gotten my heartburn somewhat controlled, but my appetite is getting harder and harder to control. I am hungry all.the.time.! I started writing down what I eat during the day, so that I really track what is going in my body, rather than raiding the cupboards like I havent eaten all day every 30 minutes haha. The only thing that has really been a struggle for me this last week is back pain. Aching while I sleep, while im awake, while im sitting, while im exercising. Im not sure what thats all about, but I know that it probably only get worse as I get more front heavy! Hopefully Ill just be gaining strong back muscles to carry this baby! My favorite part from these last few weeks is how much I can feel him moving all around. I feel all the kicks and punches and turing inside of me. Sometimes I stop mid-sentence just because the feeling of a little person moving inside of you is such an amazing thing and no words can really describe it, but that is definitely my favorit part of pregnancy so far!
Heres some pictures from this post!

James informed me this was more than enough animal print things now the only things im allowed to sew have to have sprots themes haha!

23.5 weeks!

Did I mention that I LOVE my husband and that he still likes to play like a kid haha!

Brother-in-law, bad guys, and knives

It was Julie in the bedroom with the knife...haha I love the game of clue, but the other night we had a scare that turned into us all cracking up about it the next day. So... Jim was outta town and Julie was staying the night by herself. All of a sudden she hears someone come in her house, flick on and off the light, then go for the basement. Another light quickly flicks on and off, then complete darkness. She hurries to grab her phone and her knife...just in case. After waiting for awhile and hearing someone rummaging downstairs she texts me and alyssa to make sure we arent over there for some reason and asks me if Butch could come over.
Now, Im asleep and dont wake up to my text alert, but a few minutes later I get 3 calls in a row from alyssa. I was confused but groggily answered the phone. This is how the conversation went "Is Butch home?" ... "yes"..."tell him to go over to the parents right now. my mom thinks theres someone in her house" (im starting to wake up at this point and it take me a minute to realize what she just said) "ok ok, ill tell him gotta go" ..... "wait...I called the police for her, so they will be on their way over there too." ..... "oh geeze, ok"
I then preceed to wake up James and tell him in 2 sentences whats happening. He looks at me confused, then jumps outta bed and starts looking around our basement. Im like babe what are you doing?...he responds..."you said Julie drove by and saw someone coming in to our house." HAHA (oh how being woken up in the middle of the night can fog up your brain lol) After he understands whats really going on he races over there to see whats up at his parents.
All this time Julie is sitting there in the dark, knife in hand hidden under her piilow, listening to some person rummage in her basement. Pretty soon she get a call from the police...
"Ma'am we have your house surrounded, where are you?"
"Im in my bedroom in the back of the house"
"stay there...hold on one second"
Julie then hears a police officer jump in the window well and shout "hey you what are you doing down there? Come over to the window right now" she hears some muffled talking then the officer gets back on the phone. (She starts freaking out because shes in the house with whoever is in her basement!)
"Umm ma'am, do you know someone by the name of Joseph Logan?"
"yes thats my son!"
"He's the one here in the basement. Are we safe to have him come upstairs?"
"yes of course!"
HAHAHAHAHA
Joey had ended up staying the night in Stansbury and came in through the garage and didnt want to wake Julie, so he hurried downstairs to go to sleep. When he saw flashlights in the window he thought that there was someone trying to break in, so he prepared himself to scare and ward off whoever was coming around by the window well. To his giant suprise the person jumping in the window well was no robber, but a police officer.
 Oh man!! I was dying laughing when I heard the story the next day. James didnt think it was too funny to only get an hour of sleep after his adrenaline was going from all the commotion, but it made for a good story to tell :) I love my in-laws and Im so glad that we live close enough to one another that we can be there in times of need!

Little Blue

This is a tribute to my car that I have been driving for all my commuting back and forth for all my schooling and the first thing that James and I bought together when we were engaged. We bought this car hoping it would last us till we could get something better and it did just that. After 70,000 miles in 2 years and only $40 for a minor repair little blue was definitely a great car for us. James decided that although this car worked well for us to do commuting and driving around town that he didnt think it was a safe enough car to have a baby riding in the back of....especially in the snow. So........ we sold it! annnnnndddd....bought a new car!!! :) :) Now we have been planning on this for awhile and saving up and doing our homework on what cars we were interested in and the newest member of our vehicle family is a 2011 Nissan Pathfinder! I love the way it looks from the outside and I love being higher up when I am driving...idk if I can ever go back! Also, I love my back up camera and controls on the steering wheel. Really...anything woulda been an upgrade, but I am grateful that we were able to get a nice model.

right before we sold it



California, Lake Powell, & Half-Way mark!

Well, in my last post I said that I was going to try to take more pictures and I was a bit more successful! First, I was able to take a fun girls trip to Southern California with my Mother in Law Juli and Sister in Law Alyssa. In a nutshell there were lots of good laughs (i.e. dressing up in grandma's nightgowns we found), lots of good food (cheesecake factory), lots of singing and music and lots of sun. Here are some pictures of that fun time.

Newport Beach

Cheesecake Factory - Dessert first!

Catalina Island

Catching some sun on Catalina Island.

HAHAHAHAHAH!!

The day after I got back from California James and I left to Lake Powell with some friends. It was so fun to stay on a house boat, soak up the sun, ride wave runners, swim to caves, boat, cliff jump, wakeboard, air chair, rock climb and spend time with friends. Although I couldn't do all the crazy things I wanted to, I still had a way good time and loved watching James do all the things I couldn't do. The part of the trip I will never forget is the midnight thunder and lightening storms that soaked all 15 or so of us that were sleeping ontop of the house boat, not once but two nights in a row! Not so funny when it wasw happening, but we laugh about it now. No pictures yet, but maybe some to come. We were having waay to much fun to worry about pictures on this trip.

Last thing to post about is BABY! :) My favorite part of life right now! So a quick week by week re-cap.
18.5 -19.5 weeks: This is the week I was in California and I felt amazing and besides a little heartburn nothing was very different this week expect that I was SO tired by the end of the night and definitely needed my sleep for our fun filled days

19.5 weeks: I had my 20 week ultrasound and we saw our little man and they measured all his parts and made sure I was growing a human and not an alien in there. haha! It was so fun to see him for so long and see his whole body. It amazes me how babies grow and that they have their appendages and just continue to grow and grow (reminds me of those toys you put in water and they grow) except thats all happening inside of me!!! p.s. can I say I love the nurse at my doctors she is amazing and so personable and remembers everything about me that it makes me feel more than just a patient being seen, but that they actually care whats going on in my pregnancy!

19.5 weeks-20.5 weeks: We were in Lake Powell for the first part of this week and I started feeling our boy move all around on a consistent basis and on the last evening I had just eaten and I layed down on top of the house boat and James and I were just talking and once again the baby started wiggling all over inside. I didnt think James would be able to feel him, but I told him to put his hand on my belly and sure enough our little guy started going crazy! He was kicking or punching or somersaults or something in there because the strongest movement I have had so far went on for about a full minute and a half and James felt it all. It was so fun to see his face in amazement that he was really feeling a person inside of there. haha.
Now that we've been home I have had heartburn, heartburn, oh and more heartburn :( I do know what is causing most of it ..... Chocolate! Most of you know that I LOVE sweets and especially chocolate so tums are now a constant must have.
Here are some more picts of baby and belly.

LOVE him!! So handsome!!

All crunched up in there!



Summer Time & Baby Boy!

Can I just say how happy I am that it is summer...and that I am actually able to enjoy it! No school or stress, warm weather, time with the hubby, vacations, camping, BBQ's, and a bun in the oven what could be better? Well, I wish with all this fun that I was a picture taker. I love looking at pictures, but for some reason I get so caught up having fun in the moment that I forget to capture the memories. So once again I left to just writing about them.
Since being pregnant I totally plan and live my life by the weeks, so that is how I will continue this post.
Week 16:
Guess Ill pick up where I left off last post.
Life - I went to girls camp and it was super fun! I'm so glad I decided to go. It was REALLY hot durig the day and then freezing cold at night. I was so suprised during the day I would refill my water bottle a million times and then never have to pee! (a pregnant ladies dream!) haha but thats gives you a little taste to how warm the weather was. Overall it was a great experience to get to know the young women in our ward better and make friendships with the other leaders. Its funny how growing up in the same family ward for my whole life how hard it is to feel totally comfortable in a new ward. I am grateful for friendly people and am glad we bought a house in this ward with tons of young families! Other than that we just helped a family move in our ward and worked around the house.

Pregnancy - At the end of this week 16w5d we went to fetal foto in the Southtown mall to see if we could tell the gender of our baby. Becuase of my doctor's vacation and my upcoming vacation we weren't havin gour anatomy ultrasound till atleast 21 weeks. Anyways, I was a little nervous because I wanted to be sure we got the gender correct, but I was SOOOOO excited to know if we were going to have a little baby boy or baby girl. James of course was sure we were having a boy. We couldnt get it to let us take a peek, but after about 5 minutes we finally saw and before I could even register what I was seeing James shouted "ITS A BOY!!!" We were so excited and the ultrasound was very clear it was a boy, so my worries of being unsure were diminished. It was so fun watching our baby boy move all around inside of me and let me tell you he's a mover. He was jumping and rolling and having a good ol time in there, looked like he'll never want to come out hahah! We then of course immediately called all our families and are so excited for the first grandbaby on either side of our families! Besides that not too much happened this week. Honestly, I hardly felt pregnant at all. I was feeling great, had tons of energy, and was so much less bloated. It was a very easy and exciting week.

Week 17:
Life - James was on his 7 days off and I was in heaven getting to play with him ALL week! I have such a fun husband and I love all the crazy times we have together. This week my sister flew in for EFY and we got to hang out with her and her friend Julianna for a couple days before taking them down to Provo. Then we had a swim party with some friends and ended the night with a projector movie out on the grass. So fun! The next day was fourth of July and I love parades, so James and I went to the Grantsville Parade. I loved seeing all the kids (and young adults:) run for their lives over and over again whenever taffy was thrown our way. We walked around the car show/carnival, then headed back to our place where we had a BBQ with some family and friends. Once it started getting dark we headed back to Grantsville to see the firework show. Since we were a little early the boys played football and the girls played card games until the show started. I LOVE fireworks, they never get old and Grantsville puts on a really good show, so I am sure we will find ourselves going back there in years to come! Besides that during the week we just went on a temple dinner date, made dinners together, and enjoyed our time off together!

Pregnancy - So this week my belly was going through some changes. One day I would wake up and feel like I was totally showing, then throughout the day it would go away, then sometimes it would be back and this went on for a few days. I have heard of this happen, so I was not panicking, but thought it was so funny that one second my pants were loose, then the next im wondering if I can get away walking around with them unbuttoned haha. The other thing that has changed this week is my sleep. Now any of you that have known me pre pregnancy know that I LOVE my sleep! Sleeping is a talent of mine. I can sleep in any position, anywhere, and once I am asleep I am dead to the world, so don't even think about trying to wake me up! I can take a nap for hours during the day and still be ready for bed when night comes, but now that I am growing a human inside of me my body decided that it doesnt like to sleep anymore. I am SO sad! Now if I do sleep for a chunk of time at night I have terrible nightmares or crazy bizarre dreams. Usually my nights consist of me taking atleast 40 minutes to fall asleep, wake up 2 hours later to pee, wake up again an hour later cuz the cat came in, wake up again in a few hours to pee again, wake up cuz im hot, wake up cuz im cold, and EVERY morning I wake up at 5:30 am (when it starts getting light) and can hardly get back to sleep before I finally just give up and get out of bed! I know that it will only get worse as my body changes more, so Ill just try to look on the brightside and realize this is just preparing me for when I have a newborn that I need to wake up for in the middle of the night!

Week 18 -  This week! Lots of fun things going down this week! I am going to try to take tons of picts so that I will have a post with more pictures and less words next time!
Annnnnndddd....finally a belly picture! I felt totally weird, like the kids I used to make fun of that took random shots of themselves in the mirror to post on myspace, but what the heck right?!