{happy administrative assistant day}

I came to work today and there was this nice card on my desk... totally made my day!

friend baby shower

 My girlfriends Jessica and Mel threw our little boy a jungle themed baby shower today and it was fabulous! Loved seeing everyone who could come :) I seriously am so lucky to have such wonderful girls out here that support and love me

  I had a rough week with experiencing my first braxton hicks and being exhausted from working so it was a great weekend to distract myself and spend time with people I love. xoxo

utah vaca {baby showers}

Can't believe this trip has already came and gone. I was able to go for longer then originally planned, so it was the perfect amount of time to see/do almost everything and still have time to really just enjoy being home. Unfortunately scotty is in the middle of his busy surgery rotations and missed out on all the fun.  Here are some pics that were taken at my showers..

Family Baby Shower

My sisters threw me a baby shower and it was so amazing to see all the family that came 

This boy already has so much love and support!! He seriously scored.. he is pretty much set with clothing until his 6 months! We are so appreciative of all the wonderful gifts  :)

Gamma Baby Shower

Such a great excuse to get all these beautiful girls together and catch up :) Thanks again Alyssa and Missy for throwing me a baby shower! I love these girls... so lucky to have solid real friendships from back home even though I live far away. Thanks for all your support! We have been through so many life events together.. single life, married life, and now babies. Peace.Love.Gamma

I turned 25... it was a little easier since I was home with my family and distracted of reality. My cute mom made me a bunny cake like she used to when I was little, made my day :)

 We had a fabulous day shopping up in Park City

took a nice drive up big & little cottonwood canyons with my dad. I miss the mountains and my dad so much! Such a beautiful day :)

Sorry for my lack of documentation...I was too busy having a blast back home. We also checked out City Creek, ate out for basically every meal, watched hilarious home videos, I went on nice long walks, stayed up super late with my sisters, slept in,  caught up withh my fav cousin hays over froyo, went out to lunch with an old friend Ashley at caferio, got my hair done from my fav stylist- thanks mom, visited a lot with my wonderful grandpa, played the greastest prank on my little sister, went out to dinner with my grandparents, shopped everyday, got slurpees every night and oh so much more. It was amazing to be spoiled by my family for a little bit... its so hard living away but it makes going home and being with them so much more meaningful. So glad they were able to see me preggo and feel the baby move around. It was a much needed break!!

I fly home tomorrow

{its only a day away...}

Since scotty is in his surgery rotation and the doctor I work for is out for the next couple weeks I'm finally going home for a little vaca (this was planned in like october so the wait is finally over). Even though I'm bummed the hubster can't come, I'm so excited to get a little break from reality and be home for a little bit. I can't wait for my family to see my belly... I've really gotten big in the past couple weeks. Packing was difficult since the weather is getting warmer... I can't wear my usual leggings, uggs, and over sized sweaters anymore. Plus since I'll be in trendy Utah and not Wisco I'm going to have to actually dress cute. I can sport compression socks with toms right?! My sisters are throwing me a family baby shower and my gamma girls are throwing me a friend baby shower. This baby boy already has so much love and support, I'm so overwhelmingly grateful for amazing family and friends- can't wait to see you all soon!!

St Patty's Day Weekend

Scotty was not on call this weekend... so automatically it was a great weekend- plus we seriously celebrated St. Patricks Day, seriously. On Friday night we hosted a green dessert party. The Halls, Neilsons, Logans, and Matty and Kim came over and we had a great night catching up and eating.We did our usual get together night- all the girls sat on the floor and laughed hysterically over something for hours while the boys got the chairs and talked med school. Scotty was so excited to have Irish music playing via pandora. Unfortunately I didnt take any pics.. again, except for my Mtn Dew cupcakes that surprisingly turned out delish. Jess made green sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting and fruit, Kim made breadsticks with a pot of gold (cheese dip), Danielle brought mint icecream, and Alison made shamrock shakes. Needless to say.. my baby was freaking out the rest of the night, total sugar rush. Luckily he calmed down around midnight after everyone left and I crashed on the couch.


On Saturday we slept in and then drove down to Chicago for the festivities. It was very adventurous of us since I'm prego but to spend the day with my hubs in the city was so worth the tender, swollen feet. We found awesome parking (only $6 for the day) and started walking down to the parade scene. It was crazy insane to say the least. There were swarms of green... most were drunken youngies (yes I know they were prob our age) but there were also lots of families with strollers and surprisingly some small babies. Of course we got slurpees at the first 7eleven we saw (there is seriously one on like every corner.. love chitown).

We made it down to millennium park to attempt to see the parade... when we got down there Scotty (not me, surprisingly) had to pee so bad that he made his way over to the portapotties. Since he left his cell phone at home I told him I would wait right by this tree... 45 minutes and one anxiety panic attack from me later he finally came back. By then the parade had already started, a drunk girl had puked by the tree, swarms of partiers had invaded the trees to get a better view, tons of livid families leaving, a group of skank girls doing green jello shots in the middle of the park and one overheated pregnant lady, already tired from standing. Ridiculous. The weather was gorgeous.. 80 degrees! Girls were in swim suit tops and shorts and everyone wore flip flops. Crazy. Once scotty finally came back, we gave up on the plan of actually "seeing" the parade through the crowd and walked to the park were it was more open. Or so we thought. Everyone had the same plan as us apparently because they had to block off the bean due to crowding. I reached my breaking point and told scotty we had to get out of there!! I could only protect my belly so much while hooligans tried to hop the fence to the bean, only to be chased by the cops. It was out of control. 

We got lunch at johnny rockets and it was so nice to sit... and eat.. and people watch. Then we went to the river- I couldn't believe how neon green it was dyed. So amazing to see- made it all worth it!

We spend the afternoon walking michigan ave until I couldn't hide my exhaustion in my expressions anymore. I did pretty well all day and was really proud of myself. Despite the crowds, it honestly felt good to have a mini vacay with the hubs before I go home this week. I'll be back in Utah on the 22nd!!!

cheers!

{our little ute}

Scotty was so excited to get this onsie... can't wait for our boy to be in it...3 more months!

coffee filter lantern

{nursery nightlight}

I finally finished the lantern I've been working on this past month... I would say it took a total of 10-12 hours but so worth the end result!! I decided to attempt a big craft since dews is busy busy busy with these rotations. I burnt my finger with hot glue half way through so I took a break for a couple weeks. Once I got into the bachelor it became my Monday night ritual. (This season was a little less painful to watch for the two hours since I was preoccupied ) Thanks scotty for having patience with the mess of coffee filters and for being my handy man.

you will need: like 800 coffee filters...

tons of hot glue... careful its hot



a 20'' paper lantern & light (thank you World Market) and a lot of free time!!



and an amazing husband to hang it...

the desk is going to be moved to the opposite wall to make room for the crib

I love how it turned out, pictures don't do it justice. Totally worth it.
Can't wait to get the whole nursey put together in the next couple months.

youth retreat, finished registering, & 7lbs in one month

weekend recap {Minus pics}
I know a post isn't the same without some pics but unfortunately I didn't take any... total regret cause I need to be better at documenting.

Friday I went on our wards overnight youth retreat to the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan (about an hour north). We had a blast at the water park, eating tons of goodies, playing mafia past 2am, had a lovely am devotional, and went back to the water park on Saturday. Wisco is famous for their indoor water parks since the winters can be pretty harsh here.. it was sweet, even though I'm preg- it was nice to swim! Given our the uniqueness of our ward boundaries (most our medical or dental students) we have a small youth group so it was fun to have a little getaway and treat them to a special weekend once a year!
 I love my yw...they are hilarious :)

My body was pretty exhausted when I got home on Sat so I took a nice nap with the hubs. He was on call over the weekend but got home early both days and didn't get called back in during homecall.. lucky!! He deserved a good break cause he has been so busy lately. That night we went out to dinner and then finished registering at Babies R Us & Target. YAY! So overwhelming. I know we wont get half or more of what we registered for but it was fun to do with the hubs and start preparing more for this baby boy (plus whatever you don't get, you get 15% off if you buy it later... so you know we went scanner happy).

Sunday was def my day of rest. I ended up getting the worst heartburn I have ever experience in the middle of Sat night and was up all night... so painful/uncomfortable. I just felt awful and wasn't able to go to church. Honestly I'm still recovering.This boy is just moving up in life and I'm feeling it. Can't believe its already the middle of March and the weather is already getting warmer. I'm loving the time change so it doesn't get dark as early and we were able to go on a lovely sunday walk after dinner.

prego stat update: I went to my monthly OB f/u appt today... lets just say I've gained a lot more weight then I thought I had LOL I think this lil boy knew he was measuring smaller and wanted to show us up so we wouldnt worry about his growth. Not going lie- it was a shock to see the scale, esp since I still have 3 more months to go. But everything looks perfect and I'm so happy to have a healthy pregnancy. I have to do the glucose test this Thursday... where I chug a sugar drink, fast for a hour, and then get my blood drawn to check diabetes and cbc. Not excited... Wish me luck.

24 weeks

what I didn't expect when expecting {part 1}

Have you read the book My Girlfriends Guide To Pregnancy? Its pretty hilarious and mentions things that happen during pregnancy that you can't prepare for but still nice to have a heads up that your not alone in your preg ups and downs. The most important thing that I read was that everyone experience is different. Here are somethings that I was not prepared for... 

insomnia I always heard from my girlfriends that all they wanted to do while they were pregnant was sleep. In fact most of them realized they were preg cause all they did was sleep. I am the opposite. I can't sleep! At the beginning it was because I got my morning sickness at night. I would get really bad cramping pains and feel nauseous and totally not have an appetite... I would wake up every couple of hours and crawl into the kitchen to force down a ritz cracker and some sprite. Once my night hunger pains were over I would still have restless nights- maybe worrying about potentially losing the baby since it was early on or just all the hormones keeping me awake. The only way I would get any sleep is if I laid flat on my stomach (super weird for me cause before I was a side sleeper- and now that I'm preg all I want to do is sleep on my stomach or back.) Now that I'm in my second trimester I am sleeping a little better but I've started to have these terrible hot sweats... where I wake up and feel like I'm going to pass out while laying down. I'm constantly taking off my covers and putting them back on. Not to mention having to pee twice a night. Its different every night due to my growing belly and the positions that are comfortable at the time. Plus our little boy is a total night owl... My OB recommends taking naps and benadryl. Not possible since I work full time! Its been so difficult being on a set schedule with working since my body feels different every day.

rash I started getting a really bad rash around 21 weeks all over my belly and chest. It felt like a heat rash and looked awful. My girlfriends that did experience anything similar said that they only got it like a before birth. My OB said its very common in later pregnancy and diagosised it as PUPP, saying I will most likely have it the rest of my pregnancy. The dermatologist that I work for said not to worry about it unless it starts to itch really bad. I took acouple mornings off of work so I could take benadryl at night and not have to worry about getting up to my alarm. Luckily its gotten better :)

complain or not to complain How am I really feeling? This girl says it perfectly on her blog. Pregnancy has been so amazing but so crazy at the same time. What has really taken me by surprise is how certain people react to me being preg. For the past couple years most my of LDS friends harrassed us with the typical preg questions.. "when are you guys going to start trying?! Your sick.. are you pregnant?" But now that I am pregnant its rare if they asks me any questions now.. instead I get the look "of course your pregnant". Like its totally normal that I'm growing a baby in my belly. Maybe its cause its my first time with all these freaky yet amazing changes but still a simple "how are you doing being pregnant now" would be refreshingly nice to hear. Its kinda funny how some my LDS girlfriends talked to me all the time about pregnancy/babies before I got preg and now that I am its mostly my nonLDS girlfriends who actually ask me how I am doing with everything.

baby already on board the other day scotty and I were discussing a possible babymoon. Maybe go down to Chicago for a couple nights or up North for a little getaway before we have a baby. Reality hit me that we already have a baby!! I've had a baby for the past 6 months... I don't know whats more inconvenient- having to tote around a baby or feeling all the joys of being pregnant with traveling. I would almost rather have to deal with an actual infant so at least scott can take turns taking care of the baby instead of me being super sick/tired/hungry/urge to pee every second/immobile/and huge. Our little guy is1.5 lbs now and apparently my uterus is the size of a soccer ball. I can barely make it through an 8 hour work day, let alone a weekend exploring a city.. unless by city you meant spa.

charlie horses so I've heard of leg cramps during pregnancy before and have experienced the painful calf and knee charlie horses in the middle of the night. But what I didn't expect was the constant feeling of cramping in the arches of my feet. At any moment if I point my foot I could get the painful feeling that a charlie horse was about to happen... so strange. I'm constantly flexing my feet and avoiding even the slightess extent of pointing. I've even got one driving the other week cause I was wearing my not so flexible boots and my foot spasmed for what seemed like an hour... torture. So funny looking back at that now.

underwear Like what most women say, don't invest in maternity garments... I do sleep in the tops cause they are super comfy and huge but my other cotton tops still work for night. Its tough for the first couple months... since this baby is now moving up in life its easier for me to wear my other bottoms cause I don't feel nauseous whenever there is something tight around my waist.  Just get caranessa bottoms size B and larger caranessa tops, just saying.  Also if you are even thinking about getting a maternity bra- do it! Don't wait. They have ones can expand while you grow.. and trust me you will just continue to get bigger. I got the best one when I was 12 weeks at Pea in the Pod, expensive, but if your anything like me its worth every penny.

fetal movements This one has been my favorite surprise yet. Apparently fetus's are supposed to move all the time. I never realized the freakyness of this since my interactions with preggers have been about their growing belly and not so much on the actual baby growing inside. I started feeling our little guy early on and he has been very active every since. The feeling is undescribable. amazing. exhausting. When I lay down to relax he starts moving all over the place... for the entire night. There have been some nights where I have to get up in the dead of sleep and walk around until he calms down so I can get some sleep. I'm already bouncing on my excerise ball nightly instead of getting the "sleep now while you can" sleep. Whenever another preg would say quick feel my stomach the baby is moving... I though it was a rarity to actually catch the baby kicking your side. But I was pleasantly surprised... I can feel this boy moving around all the time. I'm consistanly putting my hands on my belly and feeling little kicks or huge movements throughout the day/night. We can now see him through my shirt.. crazy :) Driving has become a challenge.. he doesn't like it when I sit upright, so working full-time at a desk is difficult. The other week scotty said "you act like its the first time that he's kicked" ... well sorry world- to me every time he kicks is like the first time... I dont know how anyone could get used to how unreal the feeling is. So if you see me rubbing my belly its not cause I'm showing off my lovely lady lump, its because I'm soothing this active boy to sleep so this girl can feel a little relief from the constant yet welcoming beating on my uterus.

thats all I can think of right now. Its true what they say... some stages can be difficult but eventually you forget all about those times and you would do it all over again