16 weeks and counting

I am finally 16 weeks. Wow. I am a bit surprised at how fast this got here. In a week and a half I will be 4 months. It shocks me how fast time is going.

My niece is over a month old and my stepsister (Jessica) just had her baby boy yesterday. I can't believe how time is just FLYING! I was talking to my mom last night and she made the off-hand comment, "You're next!!" and it hit me that I AM next! As long as everything keeps going well, I will be the next in our family to have a baby. A part of me is a little nervous for the unknown, but MOST of me is so excited that I can't wait for him/her to be here already!

I bet you are wondering why there is a picture of yellow flowerish things on my blog. Well, I have been trying to find things to do since Carl is in the office studying all day and I decided to start planning my baby shower. My friend Lauren is going to help me with the one in Farmington, but she has 2 kids and I have SO MUCH free time. I know she is SO busy so I really hope she doesn't mind me being the one to plan it all. The biggest reason I have started planning it is because I am SO excited (and it is still like 3 months away from now. LOL. I am such a nerd). I decided to share a bit of what I have come up with (I haven't decided IF i want to tell anyone what ALL my plans are, but here is a hint). I have made my own flowers. I have scoured the blogging and internet world and have come up with a cool theme where I can save some money by making my own decorations! This is just a piece of what can keep me busy for the next few months.

I have really looked into ways I can save money by making my own decorations and this was one thing that I thought would look good but not cost much.... (my sister Shelbie did these and made them into beautiful flower balls that I LOVED!!!!! so I will prob make a few of those too... Thanks Shelb for having such a cute baby shower that I could steal borrow ideas from).

Here is a close up of the flowers I have made.

Sorry it is not the BEST shot, but you get the idea.

Well, not much is new in the pregnancy department, other than I now TOTALLY look pregnant. I have moved from the "ate too many tacos" look to the "hmm.... I think she is pregnant" look.

Carl likes to rub my belly... it still is a little weird for me because I have never really liked him to touch my stomach... it just reminds me of how much I don't like that part of me. BUT I know it is different now. He thinks it is cute that the baby pokes out and I think it is nice for him to see a daily reminder that we are having a baby and everything is going so well.

To sum things up... I feel great (not feeling sick at all!), I finally look pregnant instead of fat, I'm planning my baby shower because I don't want to wait, and I'm an aunt now to TWO kids! Man.... what a busy time this is :)

Date night

Carl and I had a date night last night and had so much fun! I decided that I REALLY like the melting pot. We have been there a few times and it is SO expensive so we normally just get a small pot of cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue. They are so yummy! I love it! There are some things about the melting pot that I don't really like. For instance: they ALWAYS seat two people in the "romantic" dark hallway that is so dark and the booths are shaped weird. I even went with my sister and they sat us here. I have sat in the same dark hallway 4 times! I hate it. Plus you always leave so full..... more full then if you ate anywhere else. AND it is so expensive (yeah, I know I already mentioned this, but it needs mentioning agian).

SOOOOOO.... for our date, I decided that I would do homemade melting pot fondue (I even found the recipes of the kinds we like to make at home). We went and got groceries the night before and Carl had no idea what I was shopping for. He couldn't even guess what I was planning. It wasn't until we started cooking together that he was finally able to figure out what I was planning.

We made the cheese fondue and sat at our coffee table and ate while watching Lady and the Tramp (I figured it was kind of a sweet movie that we haven't seen in awhile).

Here is my "fondue" pot or otherwise known as a small crockpot. It worked ok but I bet an actual fondue pot would have done a better job. You can also see the veggies and bread we cut up as dippers.

Here is the sweetest part of the movie... right before they kissed :)

We watched the rest of the movie and rested our tummies. We talked about how long it had been since we've seen this show and cuddled on the futon for awhile.

Then, when we were finally a bit hungry again (or 2 hours later), we decided to start making the chocolate fondue. I made it in the microwave.... just chocolate chips, milk, and peanut butter.... melt, stir, and enjoy.

We dipped strawberries (my favorite), brownies, pound cake, and coconut covered marshmallows (you can find these at any grocery store). It was SOOOOO good! I ate so many strawberries! Yum!

Well, I hope you all find a good idea for a fun date with your spouse (or boyfriend).

It was so good and really fun! WAY better than going to the melting pot (cheaper too!).... Here are the recipes I used :)

Melting Pot Spinach Artichoke Fondue

Ingredients

5oz. of Light Beer (I used chicken stock and it was good!)
3oz. (just under 1/3 cup) chopped cooked spinach
3oz. (just under 1/3 cup) chopped artichoke hearts
1 demitasse (I used a heaping tsp) spoon of minced garlic
8oz. (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
5 turns of cracked black pepper

3 cups of cubed bread - french/rye/pumpernickel
2 cups of vegetables - coliflower/carrots/celery/broccoli

Directions

- First heat the beer on high heat until hot, add spinach, artichoke hearts and minced garlic and stir with a fork.
- Slowly add shredder cheddar. Whip continuously with a fork. Continue to add cheese and whip until your cheese is a "warm honey" consistency. (You HAVE to add the cheese REALLY slow or it wont melt)
- Add pepper.
- Stir with a fork until the consistency is uniform.
- Turn the heat down to low, place bread and vegetables in to a basket or platter.
- Skewer bread and vegetables and dip into cheese fondue.
- Serves 2 to 4 people.

Number of Servings: 4

The Melting Pot Original Chocolate Fondue

ingredients

· 1 11-1/2-ounce package milk chocolate pieces

· 1/4 cup milk

· 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter

· Milk

· Assorted fruits (such as orange sections, whole strawberries, pear slices, banana slices, apple slices)

· Angel-food cake or pound cake cubes

· Marshmallows

directions

1. In the top of a double boiler placed over gently simmering water, or in heavy small saucepan, combine the chocolate pieces and 1/4 cup milk. Heat, stirring constantly, over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in the peanut butter. Cook and stir till heated through. Stir in additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency. (I just melted it in the microwave and it worked great for us)

2. Pour mixture into a fondue pot; place over fondue burner set on low. With fondue forks or long skewers, dip fruit dippers, cake cubes and/or marshmallows into chocolate mixture. (Will hold up to 1 hour on low. If mixture gets too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.) Makes 5 (1/4-cup) servings.

Nesting changes

Well, I think I have finally moved into the "nesting" phase of pregnancy. I have looked at countless baby/pregnancy websites and read about almost everything. I think about babies and even dream about it.

We had Carl's brother and his girlfriend stay here Friday night (which was a bunch of fun. It was really nice to see them both) and after they left on Saturday, I had Carl move our living room around. Now, for those of you who have seen my house, you know that my living room is tiny. It is so small and with all of our furniture I really didn't think that we could have it any other way than it was when we moved in. WELL, my pregnant brain decided that it COULD be moved and should be so we can have more space for the baby stuff that we will have. Well, I think it looks GREAT and it was a shock to wake up to a big change this morning, but I LOVE IT!

See for yourself!

This is the view from the kitchen

The view from the guest bedroom/nursery/office (that's what happens when you live in a small 2 bedroom house... one room has multiple functions)

The view from the front door.

It seems like our living room is twice the size it used to be. Granted, we got rid of a few things (a dvd stand, a side table, and a lamp) but I think that it just looks so different than before... if you haven't been to my house, you can look here and read another blog I did and get an idea of what it used to look like.

Carl was so nice about it too... it was 9:30 at night and I just all of a sudden asked if we could move the living room and he said sure. He cleaned up behind the tv, while I moved the furniture around. We made a great team and finished putting it all together by 11. SO... What do you think of my "new" living room?

Another Monthly Visit... warning, it's a bit long

Today Carl and I had another monthly doc visit.... I guess it is more of a monthly certified nurse midwife (CNM) visit :) It was for 10:30 and went REALLY well! I think the hardest part of an early appt is they make you pee in a cup EVERY TIME you visit, and who always needs to pee?I'm sure it will get so much easier later, but I normally don't drink a lot in the morning (you could say an older teaching/ student habit where you couldn't really go use the restroom in the morning, so you just don't drink as much). Other than that, having an early appt is nice! We had the waiting room to ourselves and just talked while we waited:)

When we got called back, they always have me stand on the scale... now is it just me ladies, or is that a kind of torture for us? Anyway... I have dreaded the moment of actually seeing what I weigh (because they ask you later, so I can't just close my eyes and be oblivious to whatever it may say) especially since the holidays are over.... I could only imagine how much extra weight I gained in the 2 1/2 weeks I was in Farmington and my mom cooked such great food for us... ok, ok, it wasn't just the food but the goodies!! So much chocolate and everything and I was FINALLY feeling good, so I indulged a little.

Well... when I finally got on that scale, I saw that I had actually LOST 4 lbs since our first visit and 1 lb since our last visit 4 weeks ago! YEAH!!!!! I am so glad. I actually worried and had talked myself into being ok with gaining back a few pounds, but I am so happy (and in case you were wondering, YES my CNM is totally ok with my weight so far).

After our weigh in, I was brought back into a room and met with our CNM. Our CNM is so nice and her name is Margot (just like my aunt!). She is always so knowledgeable and willing to talk about ANY concerns I have. It is so nice! She doesn't just talk to me though, she will look at Carl and explain things in a medical term since she knows he is in med school. She really knows what she is doing and makes me feel like being pregnant is so natural and that what I am feeling and experiencing is totally normal (the first visit she asked me if I felt nauseous or tired, when I replied yes she said, "good...I don't trust ladies who experience no pregnancy symptoms." She just makes me laugh and it is nice to have someone you trust.

While we were there, we got to hear the babies heartbeat. It was so neat! We had heard it a few months ago, but only for a few seconds and with a terrible ultrasound. The last appt we went to Margot couldn't find the baby (he/she was hiding somewhere so we didn't hear anything). Today we were able to get a GOOD listen at the baby and it was nice to know that everything is still going so well.

On a TOTAL side note, here is what Carl did today after our appt and after we ate lunch... I sat on the couch and read and he......

slept! LOL

He was so tired from studying that he took almost a 2 hour nap!! Isn't he cute?!

Christmas and other baby related items :)

Well, once again I have taken awhile between blogging, but we were out of town visiting family for Christmas :) Right before we left, we were able to get an ultrasound and saw the baby move! It was so cool! We saw him/her just moving arms and legs. It was just an amazing experience. I thought I would share a picture of him/her with you... so here it is (wish I could show you all the pics we had taken, but they aren't uploading for some reason)

Sorry if it is a bit blurry, but it was taken with my phone :)

I am now officially out of my first trimester and feeling GREAT! I don't feel sick anymore (although I am still hungry all the time) and feel like I have a bit more energy! It is so great.... I finally feel so much better!

I also thought I would share some pictures form Christmas that Linley took (THANKS LIN!!)

Us opening presents at Carl's mom's house on Christmas Eve

All of Carl's family on Christmas Day eating lunch together

After lunch, hanging out at Grandmother's house

Wish we had more pics, but we forgot the camera at home! It was a fun vacation and I can't believe it will be the last one without a baby! It blows my mind to think that I am already 13 weeks and everyday I get closer to having a baby! There are so many things I am excited for (feeling the baby move, getting to see if it is a boy or girl, seeing who our baby looks more like, watching him/her sleep and grow up!) It is just so wonderful to think of all the great things that are ahead of us :)

LONG OVERDUE!

I haven't blogged in SOOOO long due to a lot of reasons... first, going to my sister's baby showers took up a few weeks and then we found out we're pregnant! I didn't want to tell everyone until I was closer to my second trimester, so I didn't blog... babies were the only thing on my mind and so I decided to wait on blogging until I could tell everyone the news. SOOOO... want to know what the last few months have been like?

I thought I might be pregnant on my 25th birthday! I was so excited, so I called my mom and we talked about if I might actually be pregnant. I took a pregnancy test and it was REALLY faint, so I was a little worried that I might not be pregnant. Well, I went to my mom's house for the weekend (because Carl was going on a school trip for that weekend and would be out of town anyway) and I took 4 more tests (I know.... I know.... you would think ONE would be enough, but I wanted to make certain that I was before I went home to tell Carl). All the tests were positive!

I went home and told Carl by giving him a present filled with lots of stuff that said "I love daddy"

He was so excited and shocked! We had wanted to get pregnant for months and he was so shocked that we were actually going to have a baby! It was so great to tell him and he was so sweet about it.

After that, we scheduled me for doctors appts. I officially found out that yes, I am pregnant and we got scheduled for an ultrasound. Then, we went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving and got to tell that family about our pregnancy (everyone was so excited especially since my sister was 38 weeks pregnant and now there will be 2 cousins so close together). It was so fun to see my family! and if you want to see some pics, you can go to my sister's blog http://brianshelbieclement.blogspot.com/2010/12/thanksgiving.html and read all about it (she is better at blogging then I am... i tend to forget and get busy while she writes about things more often). We had so much fun visiting and when we got home, it was time for our ultrasound! Here is a pic that they gave us to take home:

I know it is hard to see, but our baby was only 8 weeks, so he/she was the size of a raspberry! That made it hard to get a really good picture but when you look at the pic in person, you can see the baby and the yolk sack. It was really fun to get to go and see and hear the baby's heart beat. It was nice to know that the baby is doing well and is actually there! (I know... it seems that I am still in a little shock since I have a hard time believing that a baby is actually inside me).

I totally FEEL pregnant though... the last few weeks have been full of being so tired and feeling nauseous all the time. It is like having the flu... you just feel weak, tired, and like you want to throw up ALL the time! Thankfully, I have not actually thrown up, just felt like it and the only way to feel better is to eat and eat and eat and eat! Here is an example of my "first lunch" i made the other day:

AND, I couldn't even finish it! I have to eat but only to where I am no longer hungry... if I am even a bit hungry or too full, i feel sick. It is so frustrating! BUT.... the good news is that I am 10 weeks pregnant now and only have a few more weeks of feeling this way!

I am so excited to be out of the first trimester and to feel more normal... don't get me wrong, I love the fact that we are going to have a baby and this is TOTALLY worth it! I can't wait to find out if we are going to have a girl or a boy (and yes, we decided that we should find out this time around).

My sister just had her baby yesterday and she is so cute!

Little Mya!!! I am an aunt and I can't wait to meet her!

Date night

After reading a really cool blog that Shelbie showed me, I decided to try date night. I wanted it to be fun and different and I wanted to make it special. How long has it been since you made a date special, since you thought about it all day and planned it in advance? How long since you did more than eat out or watch a movie? Well, for us it has been a LONG while. So, Monday night I asked Carl when he would be home the next day and would he like to have dinner with me (i kept the actual date a secret). I spent all day going to stores, making an invitation, fixing our printer since it was out of ink, setting up dinner, setting up the table and decorations, and getting the food ready.

I had such high plans. I thought I would make chinese food from scratch (because i make REALLY good fried rice). I looked up how Panda Express makes the noodles and went grocery shopping. I bought what I didn't have (which wasn't much but still took over an hour to buy it all) and came home...... only to realize that by the time I had finished decorating i had 60 minutes to make ALL of dinner, including the rice (which takes 90 min to cook and then I would have to let it cool and cook it again). I was freaking out. I just didn't have enough time!

I decided to just buy the rice and noodles from Panda Express and come home to make the rest. When I got home, I made a pre-packaged miso soup that I found at Walmart and started cooking the veggies. I made stir fried veggies and it was so good!

Carl got home right after the veggies were finished cooking. I plated the food and turned on our "Chinese" movie...... Kung Fu Panda. It was SO fun. Here are the pics from the date we had:

I found these at the dollar store and put them up, I thought they gave the room a more Chinese feel, if only they were red and gold like the rest of the decorations.... oh well, design on a budget. I also hung streamers around the room, but didn't take a pic... sorry :(

Here is the table and our movie playing in the background. I found this table cloth at walmart and it was the perfect color for our date... a bit red, a bit gold

A close up of the table and dinner... that is a little bottle of sparkling apple cider I got at the dollar store :), some wasabi for Carl (which is that green stuff on the white platter), and a little take out box with some fortune cookies inside. I also got the zen garden at the dollar store, the place mats, the plates, and some of the candles.

Carl enjoying dinner and acting like the praying mantis from the movie :)

Sitting down at the table.

All in all, we had a GREAT time! We ate good food, watched a good movie, laughed, and had a yummy apple crisp for dessert (and that WAS homemade :) ) We also decided to make date night a weekly thing. I think it will be nice to start dating each other again. It gets too easy to get into a routine and forget to make your spouse feel important. I haven't done that much planning and setting up for a date since we were in high school (i know... shame on me, but I bet it has been awhile for you too). I really enjoyed thinking about Carl and our date all day. It was a nice way to show Carl he is important enough for me to do something special for.