Baby William

I thought maybe it was about time to introduce my blog to my new world, William.

We went in to the hospital on the morning of February 14 to be induced, all chipper and ready to meet our baby.

He decided to wait until 2:57pm the next day, February 15, after loooooots of labor and 4 freaking hours of pushing. Here is our happy little angel! 9 lbs 10 oz, my giant little man.

My Pregnancy

Basically nothing has happened around here except me being pregnant. Every time Nick and I have considered going and doing things on the weekend, we remember how we have a baby coming and we shouldn't be wasting so much money on gas and eating out so much and other expenses. But now that baby is just a week away, I'm like, "let's go waste all our money and do lots of things because we will never be able to again!" Too bad I can only walk like 10 feet with out hunching over with belly cramps. We are so adventurous.

So I figured it was time to make a blog post about my pregnancy before the baby actually gets here. We all know that once he comes, I will only be posting pictures of him! I mostly took belly shots on my phone and put them on Instagram, but I did take a few on my actual camera, though there are lots of jumps in them. Ignore the poor image quality on the first two. Or just on all the pictures we take.


     ^ about 12 weeks                                                                     ^ about 15 weeks


      ^ about 22 weeks                                                                    ^ about 27 weeks

     ^ 37 weeks                                                                              ^ 37 weeks
  (These last two photos were done by my friend Karen. She is so great! She posted more of these photos at karennaniphotography.blogspot.com)

I look back at that first picture remembering how I said to Nick, "Oh my gosh look how much my belly sticks out already!" Then I laugh. I clearly ballooned quite early, and since then have only gotten bigger and bigger. Not just in my belly unfortunately. Only a few of my maternity clothes made it past 7 months, and when I smile with my teeth, I look like a chipmunk. Nick actually said to me one time, "What's in your mouth?" I said, "Uhhh, I just ate granola, do I have something in my teeth?" and he replied, "No, like what do you have in your cheeks?" When I realized what he meant, I yelled, "FAT, Nick! I have fat in my cheeks!!" He felt sheepish, as he often does when he says stupid things that I pretend to be offended by.

Honestly, I've had a pretty easy pregnancy. For the first trimester, I was so exhausted. I constantly felt like when you are deathly ill and can't get out of bed because your muscles are so weak, except I had to get out of bed and work 35 hours a week on my feet. But I didn't really have any morning sickness until the second trimester. At that point, I felt really nauseated all the time, but only actually threw up once. I think throwing up is the worst feeling in the world, so I feel infinitely lucky that I'm not one of those girls who barfs 3 times a day through her whole pregnancy... like my sisters for example. Luckily the nausea tapered out in the middle of my third trimester so I haven't even had to take my medicine anymore.

Other than that, my worst pregnancy complaints have been the exhaustion, insomnia, back pain, the constant heartburn, and the fact that my body can't do anything anymore (except, ya know, grow a baby).  But that doesn't change the fact that I've been absolutely miserable the past month. My body is killing me, my baby is beating me up (even though I like that sometimes), and I get NO sleep. I know moms are always like, "Oh just you wait until the baby comes!" but I just think, "No. You don't understand. I don't sleep AT ALL."

What I miss most is feeling capable. I just want to push my body to it's limits and run 10 miles or something, but honestly, I go to the gym and can hardly walk one. But for now, I will just keep having Nick tie my shoes that I can't reach and pick up everything that I drop. At least everything that my protruding belly doesn't catch.

Anyway, sorry this is such a boring post to anyone who isn't me, but I reaaaally suck at keeping a journal and I thought I should write it down before the baby comes and I forget everything. I'm 39 weeks today, so hopefully the baby comes soon and I can forget how much I have hated being pregnant!

Hurricane Ridge

Half the group stuck around the beach house to relax the next day, but I was dying to see Hurricane Ridge. It's basically a straight shot up the mountain from Port Angeles, down into the Olympic Mountain Range where you have the most incredibly view of all biggest peaks in the forest. Best. View. Ever. I kept singing, "The hills are aliiiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusic," sometimes in my head, sometimes out loud. 

Me and my dad.

My aunty Lysa, my dad and myself.

I really had a great time with all this family around. Now I just need to work on getting them to move back to Washington permanently. I know they want to!

Family Visits... from Summer

I know it's November, but I still have July to catch up on here. I've been really busy being pregnant and eating and sleeping. Those are all important things that clearly take priority over blogging. In July my parents, brothers, and my aunt and uncle came up to visit me here in Washington. They stayed in this cutest little mint-green cottage that was built in the 20's or 30's, complete with low ceilings, squeaky doors, and adorable doorknobs. I took the week off work, but unfortunately Nick couldn't (darn government!), so I hung out with them every day and showed them around my hood.

I had actually never been to half of the places that we went, but it was so fun to explore the Olympic Peninsula (especially since I had just told my family that I was pregnant and demanded front-seat privileges the whole time so I wouldn't get sick). We drove up to Sequim and checked out the Dungeness Spit. Then we made a stop at Crescent Lake, and it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! I'm not taking any glory from my beloved Bear Lake by saying this, but the color of the water was breathtaking, and pictures don't do justice to that deep blue.

This is the closest we got to a good photo of us. Girls don't smile here, and it was windy.

We trekked another few hours out to the coast and visited First and Second Beach at La Push. Both, again, were so windy that I was finding sand in my teeth days later. We had to hike down to Second Beach, but it was worth it for the view and the safety from the wind. Here is Richard and his best bud Jordan who came up with my family.

My motherly instincts were kicking in about here as I screamed at them to not slip. Seriously. Panic attacks were about to happen. I thought they were about to die. 

We finished off our day at the Hoh Rainforest, where I was a party pooper and slept in the car instead of joining in the nature walk. In my own defense, I was terrified of the herds of elk we kept encountering, and I thought I was gonna barf. That night we made it home at about 2 in the morning, at which point I vowed to never try to do so much (at places so far apart from each other) in one day again.

Utah Trip 3

Well I should probably finish up my Utah trip, right? I mean, it was only 2 months ago so I guess I have time.... However, my camera is getting backed up with too much to blog about, so here we go. I ended up staying in Utah a week longer than expected, because I realized that 4 times at Cafe Rio was not enough, and there were still so many places I wants to eat that I just didn't have time for. Also, I was homesick for the sun and my mountains. 

Then I ended up going to St. George (again!) my third week with my cute sis-in-law Liz and my mother-in-law! If not the mountains, the red desert will do for this homesick soul. But it was way too hot for me. This tempered Seattle climate is making a pansy out of me. 

Also, word of advice: If you have the opportunity to go see Starlight Express, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, please don't go. We learned the hard way at Tuacahn, but it was still fun :)

Honestly, I think I tried to organize a family outing to Silver Lake maybe three times in the three weeks I was there where my whole family bailed on my every time. Whatabunchaflakes. But I love them anyway :) Forth time was the charm the day before I came home to Washington! I just needed to breathe some fresh mountain air. It was delightful, but we finished off the outing with a bang of a ride down those winding canyon roads (with my dad's scary driving) in the back seat with morning sickness, which was fun too.

Utah Trip 2: The Wedding

The whole purpose of our Utah trip was to go to Sarah and Jared's wedding, and it was lovely! I love attending temple sealings, and Jared's grandpa performed a beautiful one.

The lovely bridesmaids

The happy couple. Welcome to the family Jared!

The reception was just darling. Elaine and the Buckner girls spent hours and hours, perhaps days straight (a more apt scenario if you know how little sleep they can survive off of) making the cutest Pinterest worthy reception decorations. And somehow, I don't even have pictures of anything.

Get back over here you...  just kidding I didn't say that, but apparently I was saying something else equally stern.

Love this boy :) Thanks for not complaining about me wearing heels and maybe being taller than you for a night.