38 weeks

So, I had my 38 week appointment on the 20th and everything is looking good. I was still dilated to a 1 despite all the contractions and false labor I had had throughout the week. I was however, 70% effaced instead of 60% effaced so I guess some improvement is better than nothing!

The baby's heart rate is still in the 150s which is good and normal and she's still head down (she better stay that way, too!)

I was very unfortunate on Sunday and got very very sick with a stomach bug. I had a miserable afternoon throwing up, having the chills and a fever. I was happy that I didn't end up going into labor because I would have had absolutely NO energy to deal with anything!

Since the passing of my sickness, I've been feeling quite well. I'm sleeping through the night about every other night, so I am happy about that. The only trial has been pelvic pressure/groin pain when I'm trying to roll to my other side in bed, or to sit up from bed. It's getting really really uncomfortable and intense, but I guess it's a sign that she's closer to coming...and that's exciting!

We got the baby's room all set up and ready to go. The only things we're missing are our lovely car, and the baby! Thankfully, the car is being repaired and will be ready to pick up on the 28th. I can't wait to have it back.

Anyway, not much else is new...we're just waiting for our little girl to decide to make her appearance! I finally got around to taking pictures, so enjoy!

Pregnancy updates!

So, I have been super bad at doing any updates lately, but I will attempt to make up for it this time!

I had my 36 week appointment LAST week, and everything was good. My weight was in the normal range, I measured right on at 36 cm and the baby's heartbeat was 150 bpm. Everything else was normal. They didn't check me but I had told them that I had had a few contractions the previous week.

The end of the 36 week appointment.

TODAY, I had my 37 week appointment (YAY FULL TERM!)!

I got to tell my midwife all about our lovely deer-hitting experience and she was very glad that I had gone in to the hospital to get checked out.

My weight was the exact same as last week--making my total weight gain during pregnancy 25 lbs. I measured right on today at 37 cm and the baby's heartbeat was 150 yet again.

They checked me today (hurray) and I am 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced. She is still head down and very low so I'm hoping this means some good news is coming our way soon...a.k.a. a baby before Christmas!

Not much else of note has happened pregnancy-wise. I am extremely uncomfortable (shocking, isn't it?), I don't sleep well at night and I still have killer heart burn!

I am pretty much ready to be done with being pregnant, but I think I shouldn't get my hopes up quite yet. I don't want to be disappointed if I don't have the baby before my due date, so I will just say I'm going to be 7 days late instead. Worst case scenario...I'll actually be 7 days late and I will get just what I expect.

I have already had a few people say when they think she's going to make her debut and here are some answers:

My sister Tyra says I'll go into labor tonight and have her sometime soon after. Hah.
Grandma Holman thinks I'll have her a week from today on the 20th. We'll see!

Make a guess on when you think she'll finally come along!

Oh, deer!

Yesterday while traveling home from Roosevelt, David and I had the great (more like horrific) experience of hitting a deer.

Yep. We were about 20 minutes out of Roosevelt, maybe even less. It went like this:

I was talking to David and playing a game on my phone, as I do oft times while traveling to keep myself occupied. I looked down and continued to play a bit of bejeweled and David and I were no longer talking. The next thing I knew...*SMACK/WHAM/THUD/SMASH* and a jerk of the car. David said, "We just hit a deer." and I didn't know what to think! David calmly slowed the car down and pulled over. We were both OK and he called 911 while I called my parents to tell them the sad news.

Apparently, this now very dead doe decided to run/jump/leap across the road as we were coming, and thought that it might win. Well miss doe, you lost. The score is deer=0 car=0 Shari and David=1. David had just set the cruise control to 65 about a mile before we hit the deer. He saw the deer just before we hit it but didn't have enough time to do anything but hit it, so he braced for impact, held the steering wheel tight and wham. The damage was done. Luckily, the deer was in the air when hit it, trying to jump away. It was also a lucky thing that it hit his side of the car so I didn't get too much of the impact.

The DNR officer was the first person to show up after the people behind us stopped. She checked to see if the deer was dead and sure enough...it was. We broke all of its legs and tossed it to the other side of the road. At least I can feel good that it had a quick death, and didn't have to suffer...stupid deer anyway!!

Anyway, we waited around for the trooper to show up for a while, but we kept ourselves occupied while we waited. David got all the insurance business settled and my mom showed up. We sat in her car while the UHP trooper did the paperwork and almost 2 hours after we left Roosevelt, we were on our way back for the night.

After we got to my parent's house, David and I went to the hospital just as a precaution to get me and the baby checked out. I was monitored for about 30 minutes and there was no sign of labor, or anything so they let me go.

We stayed the night in Roosevelt and came back this morning in the good ole S10. I loathe that truck but I'm thankful that we were able to get back home because of it.

Now we are just waiting to hear from our insurance rep to see what they're going to do about the car. They may decide to total it, which would be sad because I love my car, and I kind of just want it back...

Oh yeah, David walked away without any bruises, but I wasn't so fortunate. I've just got a sore chest right where the shoulder belt was. It's not fun, but hey, we walked away virtually unharmed. I'm very thankful that things turned out OK and that nothing worse happened. It was also a huge blessing that we hit the deer not to far from Roosevelt so my parents could help us out.

I'm glad it's mostly all the way over and I sure hope it never happens again!

Halloween

So, this is super late, and I totally realize that, but life has been CRAZY lately.

As you know we moved at the end of October. Well, the day before we moved, I took a sick day, because I had a horrible cold. I was able to pack up a ton of our stuff and rest so I would be ready for moving day.

I also had this crazy idea that I should bake cupcakes for my work party--because I really wanted to win the "cutest treat" contest.

I was up baking until midnight, and I woke up to frost the cupcakes super early the next day (moving day). I also had to dress up for work, because I had the cutest costume idea that didn't work out as planned, but worked out in the end.

Here is a picture of me from work on the Friday before Halloween:


I was a salt shaker :) and very very tired...and I wasn't wearing my flip flops in the picture...I promise I keep my shoes on at work whenever I'm away from my desk.

Had I not been moving and had I had the proper resources, I would have made a costume for David, and he would have been the pepper!

It all worked out in the end though and all my hard work payed off. I did indeed win the cutest treat contest for these little cupcakes:



They've got ghosts on top of them, if you can't figure that out.

I also won the most creative costume contest, which was an added bonus.

All-in-all, Halloween was good, but next year we'll probably really do something for Halloween, instead of move!

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Can you believe that I only have a little over 50 days until my due date!? I sure can't!

The time is passing so quickly these days and I'm starting to get really excited/anxious about our little arrival!

I had my 32 week check-up today and everything is going well. I measured right on and I have gained 21 lbs. since the beginning of my pregnancy. The baby is head down and her heart beat was around 130. We went over the results of the glucose test I did last time and I was at 100, and they want you to be under 140 so I've got nothing to worry about in that department.

We also went over the signs of preterm labor (hopefully something that doesn't happen!!) and talked a little big about what I'm planning on for delivery.

I scheduled my next appointment for 2 weeks from now! How crazy is it that I'm going every two weeks now?? Seriously I am starting to freak out that it is so close!

In other news, we received our travel system in the mail, and I've got it all put together. We decided to go with the Chicco KeyFit 30, which I think will turn out to be a good choice. Not much else is going on these days other than the fact that we just moved and my apartment is still full of boxes and needs to be organized! I have been working bit by bit to get things in their proper places but it is not usually what I look forward to after a long day of working. I suppose I'll have everything done by the end of the week (I hope!).

Oh, one last thing...David has been applying for internships like crazy, and he applied to one this morning that is in Albany, NY! How crazy would that be to live in NY? I hope he gets it because it would be a great opportunity, but at the same time I want him to get an internship that's a bit closer to home. Only time will tell! Keep your fingers crossed!

The next time I get around to taking a picture of my not so little belly, I'll be sure to post it!

Until next time!!

Moving?

Well, on Monday, I had this random thought to look at KSL's classifieds and just browse available apartments in the area. We knew we wanted to move, but also knew that this time of year almost nothing is available as it's not a very transitory time.

Lo, and behold, I found the perfect place! They had just posted the listing the day before, and I asked if we could come and see it.

We fell in love the instant we walked in, and I knew that it would be our next apartment instantly (of course we had to work out the contract and what not with the landlord still).

Our contract is up on the 31st of this month so we knew that we had to make a decision quickly. I turned in an application for the apartment yesterday and the landlord said she'd be happy to rent to us. Today, David and I paid our security deposit and signed the contract! We will get the keys on October 29th and start moving in!

I certainly didn't have it in my mind to be moving at the end of the month, but things just kind of worked out! I'm way excited and I'll post pictures after we move.

Here are some upgrades of our soon-to-be apartment:

• washer/dryer hookups (SO happy about this)
• BIG open living room/kitchen area
• covered parking
• dark carpet
• nice layout

Now, the trick is to get packing! Had I known I would be moving in two weeks, I would have started packing some things ages ago. Oh well! That's what I get for making such a spontaneous decision!

Pregnancy updates!

So, a lot has gone on since I last posted.

I am now at 28 and a half weeks! It's so crazy! I only have roughly 80 days until this little bundle of joy is here!

I had an appointment yesterday and I had the pleasure (ha ha) of doing the glucose tolerance test. One word: YUCK!

That drink is so gross. After the first sip I thought, aw, this won't be too bad...then after the next 3 sips I thought to myself, "How am I going to get this stuff down without throwing up?" It was a struggle, but by the end I had decided if I just gulped it down, I'd handle it. I was right. While I was waiting for my hour to be up before they drew my blood, they did the rest of the normal check-up things.

My blood pressure was a bit high for me, but still in the completely normal range. I've gained about 18 lbs during the pregnancy which they say is right on track, so I was happy to hear that. I'm measuring right on and our little girl's heart beat was about 150.

She's moving more than ever lately, and it's so much fun to feel her and on occasion see her roll around my belly. David has been able to feel her for a long time, but it's super easy for him to feel her move now.

This is what What to Expect says about our little one during the 28th week.
"Your baby is settling into the proper position for birth, with his head facing downward (toward your body's nearest exit!). Your little work in progress is now about 2.5 pounds and almost 16 inches long. He's busy adding new skills such as blinking to an already impressive repertoire of tricks like coughing, sucking, hiccuping, and taking practice breaths. Your baby's sleep now includes the REM (rapid eye movement) phase — and that means he could be dreaming already (what do you suppose he's dreaming about?)."

She's about the size of an eggplant, and weighs about 2.5 lbs. They say that she has a super good chance of survival if she were to be born during this week, but let's all pray she stays in there for 11 more weeks like she's supposed to!

I recently figured out that I will not be receiving maternity leave (paid maternity leave) so I kind of didn't know what to do. After lots of discussion with the company controller about policies and what not, they told me that if I wanted to take unpaid maternity leave and have the delivery of our baby covered, I would have to commit to a year of work after coming back. Ugh. One year of full-time work while someone ELSE is raising my little baby? That's not something I wanted to do, so I rushed to find other options. I thought things out and at first I was going to just quit and end up on medicaid.

There were many things wrong with this sudden quitting plan, but the biggest thing was the issue of income. Without me working, we'd really be in a tight spot money-wise, and I didn't want to do that to us, so I knew I had to think things out a lot more. After much prayer and thinking things out, I came up with a better solution. I am going to cut back my work to part time the month before the baby is born, and after 8 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, I will return to work part time. Since my insurance will not cover the delivery if I cut back my hours AFTER having the baby, I needed a way to make things work financially because I can't rightly pay for the delivery without insurance--unless I want to be paying for it for maybe the rest of my life. We already tried the whole no insurance and major medical happening thing and I really don't want to deal with it again. Anyway, I am going to cut back my hours so I will be able to qualify for financial assistance to help cover the delivery costs. This went over quite well with my project manager at work, and I am so pleased that they like me enough to keep me as just a part time employee! (thank goodness!)

So, because I am cutting hours back but not quitting, we will be just fine financially, which is a huge blessing-especially when bringing a child into the world!

More and more every day, I find myself stumped at just how blessed I am. I am so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the power of prayer and personal revelation. Without these fundamentals, I don't know where I would be, and I'm almost certain I don't want to. I know that prayer and fasting help me to make even the toughest decisions that don't seem to have answers, and what a blessing that is!

Baby Grigs updates

Where does the time keep going?? I swear it was only yesterday when I was all fidgety and anxious to find out if we were having a little boy or girl, and now I've only got 104 days left to go!

I'm at 25 weeks, 1 day today and things are going pretty well. I have an appointment on Tuesday to check up on things and I actually have a list of questions this time! Go me! I hate how every time I'm at the Dr. I can never think of questions to ask, but this time I am bringing a list of questions I have so I can remember what to ask.

Notable things about the past four-five weeks of pregnancy include:

• my belly button is starting to poke out on the top! AH! It's crazy!
• I'm finally looking somewhat pregnant, instead of just chubby.
• I've been exercising more which helps me feel loads better @ work while I sit at a desk for 8 hours (yuck!)
• My back is hurting more and more every day.
• Baby Grigs is almost always awake and kicking/rolling/punching/dancing/moving like crazy around 1-1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and bedtime.
• I feel incredible love for this little bundle of joy more and more each day, and I can't wait to meet her!
  

I'm starting to become more and more uncomfortable every day. It's very rare that I sleep through the night because I tend to get pretty uncomfortable in the middle of the night. And to think...I still have 14 weeks and 6 days before I'm due! I don't want to imagine the discomfort I'll be in during the coming weeks! It's all totally worth it (or so they say) because once she's here, I am sure I'll forgive her of any and all discomfort she's put me through.

According to thebump.com,
"Baby's now the size of an eggplant!
That oh-so-handy sense of equilibrium is kicking in, and baby's learning to distinguish right side up from upside down."

I can't believe this pregnancy is going by so quickly and it won't be too long until we get to meet her! Every day, I get more excited and more nervous thinking about her arrival. I am also super paranoid. It's ridiculous how paranoid I get about silly little things, but hey, I just want to do everything right so I don't screw something up, okay?

Anyway, I'd love to keep writing, but I'm very uncomfortable sitting in this chair.

Take a look @ a picture of the bump created by Baby Grigs.


This was at around 24 weeks.


until next time...

First anniversary

On September 4th, we celebrated our first anniversary. Can you believe it?? Where did the time go??? For our anniversary, we had crepes for breakfast, then decided to exchange gifts. Because the traditional gift for the 1st year is paper, I made David a picture book of our first year together, and got him a gift card to Amazon.com. He sent me on a scavenger hunt which was somewhat frustrating--because I don't like when I can't figure things out--and at the end of the hunt, there was a beautiful 160 GB iPod Classic just for me! Do I have a great hubby or what? ;) David also gave me roses, and they were very beautiful. We mustn't forget how we ate the top layer of our wedding cake! It was still pretty good considering it's been in a freezer for a year! Good job, Tabitha! I looooved our wedding cake!

Top layer of our wedding cake! Yum!

Roses from David.

After the gift giving, we got ready to go to the Draper Temple. I love that Temple (and all the others, too) SO much! The Draper Temple is so beautiful inside and I loved being there again. It brought back tons and tons of memories of our wedding day, and it was probably my favorite part of the day.


When there's nobody to take a picture for you, this is the kind of picture you end up with. :)

After we went to the Temple, we headed up to downtown SLC for dinner @ The Roof (Tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building). The food was delicious, the atmosphere was perfect and we had an awesome view of the Salt Lake Temple from our table.

View of the Salt Lake Temple from our table.

Overall, our anniversary was GREAT! We kinda celebrated in two parts, because the Inn we wanted to go to that weekend was booked solid. This past weekend, we went up to the Inn at Snow Meadows at@ Bear Lake. We saw Bear Lake, played in the water a bit, and had an enjoyable time @ the Inn. Saturday morning, we had seriously the BEST breakfast I have ever had in my life. Super loaded omelets, Belgian waffles, hash browns, you name it, we had it! After breakfast, we got a raspberry shake (of course!) and headed to Logan. We walked around campus and drove around the town until we decided to leave.

Check out the pictures from Bear Lake:

We stayed in the "Fishing Room" and this was our super cozy bed.

I think this bathroom was bigger than our bedroom here in Provo! I was so nice!

There was a cozy little couch in our room as well.




Our Saturday of play ended with a trip to Ikea to find a great lamp for our bedroom, bumming at home and watching Date Night.

I think our fist anniversary was a hit all around--even if we celebrated two weekends. I'm so happy I met David way back when, and that we ended up together. I love him with all my heart and he's the best thing that's ever happened to me! Here's to many more anniversaries to come!

Trip to Tennesee

Well, I'm FINALLY writing about our fun trip to TN even though it's been 3 weeks since we went!

We left bright and early Wednesday, August 18th. We were on a nice big plane, so it was a good ride...but the plane from Minneapolis to Nashville was awful. It was a small little plane and I really didn't enjoy it too much. Too much turbulence for me!

Once we landed in Nashville, it was pouring down rain. We went and picked up our rental car and had a fun time with a snotty enterprise agent that wanted to make up charges to the heck of it. We decided to deal with the extra charges at the end of our trip instead of wasting time at the beginning. That first step outside the airport was a shock to me! Holy cow! Where did all the oxygen go?? This was my first experience with humidity, and let me tell you, it's NOT my favorite! I honestly felt like I couldn't take a deep breath at all. It was so strange! It got much better once we were settled in our little Nissa Versa and had the A/C going.

We wanted to take a look around Nashville before taking the 2 hour drive to David's parent's house in Jamestown, so our first stop was of course Opry Mills! Well, if you recall, there was a flood in Nashville that wiped out TONS and TONS of historic sites, businesses AND Opry Mills. It was still closed for clean-up. This is the closest we got to seeing anything



That's right...the Wax museum...closed! So we took a picture of us in front of the sign and pictures of some stars hand and foot prints. This is Phil Vassar's.


Picture in front of the closed sign.


Since everything was pretty much closed for clean-up, we decided to take a trip to the Nashville Temple, just to see the outsides, since it is open only during certain times of the day. If we would have planned things a little better, we would have been able to do a session there, but it was still good to see the grounds and take a picture anyway!


After we saw the Temple, we made our way to Jamestown. Once we got there, we said our hellos and went to dinner at a place called the Garden Grill. They were nearly out of everything, but that's ok, it was a good experience anyway. :)

The next day, we decided to go down the East Fork river by canoe. We packed everything up, made lunches for the float, and headed to a spot where we could put in our canoes. Here's a couple pictures of us before we went down the river.

We got all the stuff down to where we were putting the canoes in, and off we went. David's mom drove the truck back to their house while we ran the river so we could have someone to pick us up.

The beginning of the river run was nice. We were floating leisurely in our canoe, and Dr. dad had his own canoe. Little did we know that would not be the case for much longer. Dr. dad paddled ahead of us just to make sure things would be okay because there was a tree in the middle of the river that we had to go around. Well he was telling us how we needed to go through it and instead should have begun paddling to get himself through it... he got sucked into the current and his canoe started taking in water. We hurried and paddled to shore so David could go help him. We watched as the current and tree combo wreaked havoc on Dr. dad's canoe. It sucked it under the tree and was stuck forever. Luckily, Dr. dad was able to get out in time, otherwise he could have snapped his leg from the weight and pressure of the canoe.

Sadly, everything was in Dr. dad's canoe. The food, water, our camera, Dr. dad's phone, the towels...everything. There was only really one option, since the water was flowing so fast, and that was to all jump in our canoe and keep going down the river.

We hit a few medium rapids after that, but nothing major. We did however, have to duck under a tree that was across the river. That was kinda fun. ;) Once we made it to the take out spot, we all got out and headed up a path to hang out since we had a couple hours to kill before David's mom would be coming to pick us up! The reason we had so much time was because we didn't anticipate the trip to go so quickly! We had floated down the river much faster than we expected because the water was high and fast.

Luckily, there was a meter reader (?) guy at the top of this little path who had a cell phone!! However, there was no service where we were. David, being the hero, ran up the road to try to call his mom and ended up going to some drunken man's house to use his phone. David got a hold of his mom and she was on her way to pick us up.

After she came, we jumped in the truck and headed back to Jamestown to clean up. David and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch, since we were starving. It was a good choice. After that we went back to Jamestown to clean up and rest a little. We went out to dinner that night with D's parents then headed to Oneida, where he grew up. We stayed in the Oneida guest house. The next day we drove around Oneida so I could see where David grew up.

After that, we headed to Knoxville to pick up Alayna & Isaac for our camping trip with Diane, Aaron & family. After we picked her up, we headed to Panther Creek State Park, where we found our campsite all ready for us. We got settled in then just chillaxed and waited for Diane and Aaron to get there.

The first night, we decided to keep the fly off the tent so we could have some air flow and it wouldn't be so muggy. Well, in the middle of the night, we woke up to rain on our faces! We got the fly on and went back to sleep. Mind you, we were sharing a twin mattress. Not my favorite thing. We woke up, ate breakfast and got ready to play and go to the lake. Well, it started pouring...like REALLY pouring, so we headed down to the pavilion with games and played games until the rain let up. When it finally let up, we grabbed lunch and headed down to the lake. Almost everyone played a made up game of Canoe Soccer while I just kinda basked in the sun and swam around the lake. The water was almost too warm for me. It was like taking a bath! So insane! It was the warmest lake I've ever been in and MUCH different than lakes in UT.

After playing in the lake, we cleaned up (thank goodness for showers @ the campsite!) and I discovered that I had a major sunburn. Because the state park was basically right outside of town, we ran to WalMart to get some Aloe and a few other things we needed for dinner.

When we got back we had dinner, visited with family, sang songs and told stories around the campfire. After it got pretty late, we all headed off to bed. I was hoping for a better night's sleep than the previous night but I was dead wrong. I thought I had experienced a huge thunderstorm the night before, but I was wrong about that too! It rained even harder and longer than the night before, and I honestly didn't sleep more than a couple hours through it! Here's a group picture we got @ our little camp out.


Sunday morning, we packed up quickly, gassed up, and went out separate ways. We headed back to Knoxville, Diane & Arron & Fam headed back to NC, and Dr. dad & David's mom headed back to Jamestown. It was a good camping trip, but I'm almost positive I'm never going to go camping while I'm pregnant again. It was miserable. I didn't sleep, I was uncomfortable and it just wasn't my cup of tea. ha ha.

We had originally planned to go to church in Jamestown, but we knew we weren't going to make it in time, so after we dropped Alayna and Isaac off, we headed to a gas station to clean up and get dressed for church. We found the LDS chapel and went to Sacrament Meeting. David was able to see some people he knew from his earlier years, so that was good. After that, we headed to Jamestown, and went straight to church to catch Sunday School & Relief Society/Priesthood meetings. We met up with David's parents there, and then stuck around for their ward's after church lunch. It was pretty good.

After that, we headed back to David's parent's house so Dr. dad and David could complete a mission: operation rescue canoe. They had borrowed a chainsaw and took one canoe down the river. They cut the tree up and rescued the red canoe from the tree which held it captive, and I don't know all the details, because I wasn't there! (thank goodness!!)

After they returned, we just visited with David's parents and packed up, since we were leaving the next morning. I slept very very well that night, since we weren't sharing a twin bed in a wet and soggy tent.

The next morning, we packed up and headed out. We grabbed lunch at subway in a town I don't remember what it's called, and then made our way to Nashville. We had originally planned to see more of Nashville, but decided to just go to the airport in case lines were long. We talked to enterprise and guess what!? Stupid guy from the day we got there wasn't there, and we were charged almost $100 less than the stupid guy told us we were going to be charged (thank goodness!) The rest of the trip is like you can imagine...riding on a small plane, miserable, barely making our plane in Cincinnati, and finally getting back to normal, breathable air in UT.

It was a good trip and I'm glad we were able to go.

Excitement!

Well, if you haven't heard by now, I'm


I'm super excited, and David is too! A real update will follow soon and will include our adventures in Tennessee, as well as other things going on in our lives!

Anticipation!!

I am so excited for next Tuesday!!! Why, you ask? Well of course it's because we're finding out if this little wiggly baby inside of me is a boy or a girl! I want to know so badly, and I don't think I care either way what it is! I just care if it's healthy and happy and cute!

Keep on voting for what you think it is! It'll sure be interesting to see what group wins!

I'll update *maybe* on Tuesday. I'll be packing for our vacation to TN after my appointment, so I might not have the time!

yay for almost knowing!

It's just a picture...

No really, it's just a picture for this post. This is me at 19 w 1 d. Oh, and I have blondish hair, too.

I think it's finally time for another post!

It's been about 3 weeks since I updated last--but really there's not too much going on these days!

Today I'm 17 weeks 1 day pregnant! I went to my 16 week appointment on Wednesday and everything seems to be going well. I have gained a few pounds and I have a little bit of a belly that's trying to poke out! I'm FINALLY over the morning sickness part of this pregnancy...well mostly. I had two bad days this last week but I think the worst of it is really over. I'm measuring right where I'm supposed to be which was great to hear for my fear of being pregnant with twins! I can be about 90% sure that there's really only ONE baby in there :)

I scheduled my 20 week ultrasound for August 17th and I am SO stinkin' excited! I am excited to know if this little baby inside of me is a boy or a girl! I'm still banking on it being a boy, but we'll see in just a few weeks!

I've started feeling the baby move more and more which is strange but cool at the same time. I also just got into the "I'm always feeling hot" stage of pregnancy and I'm SO glad that I'm due in the winter so I don't have to live with being huge and hot in the middle of the summer!

Enough about the pregnancy!

Here's what we've been up to lately:

This weekend we both had Friday off for the observance of Pioneer Day. It was so much fun to sleep in and have time just be a bum all I wanted in the morning. ha ha. We went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple and then grabbed lunch on our way back. We also stopped at Simply Mac to get a cable to hook my MacBook up to our TV. The screen is broken officially--and is totally un-fixable. The cable will have to do for now and I like that I still get to use my mac, even if it means sitting in front of the TV.

Later Friday afternoon, my friend Hillary came to visit and we had a blast doing lots of random things. We went shopping, had some fun and walked around BYU campus. It was great to have Hillary to have fun with while David stayed at home doing what he does every day--lots and lots and lots of Organic Chemistry homework.

Now for our Saturday adventure: Saturday morning we went to the Orem Firefighter's breakfast at Macey's in Orem. It was alright--but it was no Scout breakfast in the Basin! The food was served from big metal pans and it was cold and rubbery. I think this was the first year I have ever missed the Scout Breakfast so I was a little bit sad. Anyway, after our sad breakfast that was for a good cause, we grabbed some snacks and headed up Provo canyon to the Sundance area. We have wanted to go on a certain hike since David proposed to me so we headed up to Stewart Falls. It's about 4 miles total and MAN am I feeling it today! It was great to get some much needed time outside and exercise.

After the hike, we went home and cleaned up, took a quick nap and got ready to head up to SLC for the Real Salt Lake game with my brother and his wife. We ate dinner at Chili's and headed on our way to the game. Traffic sucked but we were able to find free parking which was awesome!

The game was a lot of fun even though it ended in a tie! We scored an AWESOME goal which was so fun to see and I think Chivas USA (the team we played) got lucky with their goal--it wasn't really skill related! Oh well. The game ended in a great fireworks show and I even got to see a good friend from my first year of school.

We got home super late and hit the sack. It was a great fun-filled weekend and it was very much needed! I'll add pictures later because I'm thinking I'm ready to do something else.

14 weeks

It's official! 1st trimester is OVER! That also means all the sickness should subside soon...and guess what? It's finally starting to! I'm so happy about this! I still have a hard time eating well, but at least I'm not gagging anymore :)

Let's see...not much to report here other than I'm still trying to gain weight. I'm down an additional pound from my 12 week appointment so hopefully I can gain weight and stop losing it.

I'm still having crazy dreams every night--mostly about finding out the sex of the baby and it's always a boy if anyone is wondering. I guess in 6 weeks, we'll find out if my dreams are trying to tell me something or not! The other recurring pregnancy dream I'm having is about having twins. I'm pretty convinced I am not, or else I think I'd be showing much more at this point. Another reassurance is that I've never heard a "shadow" heartbeat as they say sometimes happens when listening to the heart beat. Let's all cross our fingers that there's just one baby in there! :D

Life is great lately aside from the fact that I hardly see David because of school and work--but hey I'm still a happy camper!

This morning we had an adventure and picked up our first Bountiful Basket. SO awesome. Needless to say, my fridge is FULL of fresh fruit and veggies! I'm eating the watermelon right now and it's SO yummy. I'm thinking I won't be buying fruits and veggies @ the grocery store anymore. What's the bother when I can get so much for only $15???

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun! Tonight we're going to the Stadium of Fire for FREE '99. I love having connections/relatives that have connections! We're also seeing lots of friends and family and that will be fun as well!

That's all for now--I'll get some pictures up of our fun weekend...and MAYBE take a picture of my bump that I swear is showing--but hardly anyone agrees.

12 weeks

So here it is, 12 weeks 2 days! I had my second dr. appointment today for my physical exam and to hear our little one's heartbeat. The appointment brought both good news and bad news. Good news: there's definitely a little baby inside there! After trying a few things, we finally heard the heartbeat and it was crazy! It all becomes so real once you hear that little heart beating! Other good news: I should start to feel better soon and get over the sickness. (keyword should)

Bad news: I've dropped 4lbs since my last appointment 1 month ago and they aren't very happy about that. It's due mostly to the fact that I have a hard time eating much of anything these days because of nausea. So they are having me try something for the nausea and if it doesn't work by Thursday I'm calling them to get a prescription drug that should do the trick. Bad news number 2: My iron is a bit low so I need to boost it up by eating more iron rich foods and supplementing my diet a little more. Bad news number 3: If you heard about my crazy sumatriptan InstaCare adventure this will make sense. I explained this situation to my midwife and she said that it sounded like a stroke which made me cringe inside. I should have gone to the E.R. instead of the InstaCare because they would have done a more thorough exam and figured things out. Doesn't give me much peace of mind but hey, what can I do at this point? I just hope it really wasn't a stroke because heaven's....I'm ONLY 21!!

Everything else in life is going well. I'm still exhausted most days and I barely make it through a work day. Other than that I'm doing well. Hopefully I get my weight back up where it needs to be and I can actually gain something instead of lose it all!

Stay tuned for more fun updates about baby philippe. Great name, huh? All D's idea. ;)

Firsts...

So if you've been reading along, you probably know our little secret! It's true, there will be a new baby in the Grigsby family around January 1st 2011!

Since this is our first child, I decided to write a post entirely about "firsts".

This first pregnancy has been quite the ride so far! I've had a good amount of morning sickness, but no throwing up! Oh how I'm glad that I haven't thrown up. I've had a few close calls, but alas I have triumphed over the throwing up monster....(I hope...I've still got 6 days left in 1st tri so we'll see by the end of this week!)

Another first that comes with being pregnant is the wonderful first of maternity clothes. I bought my very first pair of maternity capris yesterday and I have to say I like them for the most part. Aside from the fact that they are a bit big, they're super comfy! Anyone out there looking for comfy maternity jeans, check out the SecretFit jeans from Motherhood. They rock. My little bitty bump isn't big enough for most maternity clothes, but a few pairs of my jeans are getting pretty tight.

An exciting first is the fact that our little one will be the first grandbaby with the Grigsby name. :) Seeing how David's the only boy...we get to carry on the family name, which is exciting.

Finally, the scary part of the post. The first really scary thing to happen during this pregnancy. It turns out that pregnancy+migraine+sumatriptan(imitrex)=a numb/tingly face, left arm, trouble breathing and a trip to InstaCare. I got my first migraine during pregnancy last week, and it wasn't pretty. I called my O.B.'s office and they had me call the pregnancy risk hotline to check what medicine to take to kick the migraine. Well, the asked me what I have previously taken, and I told them and they said it was still fine to take. Well I did and that's when it got ugly! Needless to say, I won't ever take it while I'm pregnant again.

To end this post of firsts, I'll update on how I've been feeling. I feel pretty good most of the time, if I eat when I wake up and snack all day so I don't get too hungry. I have had some unfortunate times of eating a bit too much and having it bite me in the butt and make me feel gross the entire rest of the day, but mostly I've felt really good. Back pain is constant, but that comes with having an office job and sitting at a computer every day all day. I have been pretty tired lately and could probably sleep for a good 10-11 hours every night if I actually went to bed early. Overall, I think I'm doing pretty well for my first pregnancy. The only thing I don't like is people who think they know it all and tell you that you shouldn't take ANY medication while pregnant or you shouldn't do this or that. That bothers me. They aren't me and they don't know my circumstances so why should they tell me what to do? Silly people :)

Happy 11 weeks 1 day :)

Until next time....

Here's a riddle for you...

Can you figure this riddle out? What would cause me to do the following:

1. experience a total loss of appetite
2. have the sense of smell of a hound dog
3. sleep 10+ hours a night and still want more sleep
4. crave cheeseburgers, milk shakes or any other random food
5. live off of string cheese, saltine crackers and cereal

if you have a guess, make a comment!

One last clue: I'll probably be feeling better by next year.

Updates

Let's see, here's what's happened since the last real post. I mean the one BEFORE the Mary Kay promo.

First off, David and I went up to Logan on May 1st for the end of the year Broadcast party and loved it! We also went bowling with two of my good friends from my sophomore year of college. Zack and Hillary are probably two of the most fun people I know, so of course we had a blast!

Us with a great arm's length photo taken by David.

David pretending he's cool or something. ;)

Me pretending to know how to bowl.

Two awesome people: Hillary and Zack!

Let's see, what else has happened since then? Probably something big and noteworthy....something like USU Spring 2010 Commencement! Yes, the rumor is true...I DID graduate! Even if I have 2 classes left to take, I still graduated. Pictures to come later. My camera ended up being dead from the weekend before, so all the pictures are on my mom's camera.

Life has been hectic and crazy around the Grigsby residence. We're still both working, and starting next Monday, we'll both be working and going to school again!

Sidenote...even if I said I hate Provo and UT county, there are some definite perks to living here. I get to see my Grandma a lot more than when we lived in Logan, my brother and his cute family, and my cousins and aunt and uncle! Of course David has a sister who lives here too, and we drop in a lot and bug them too! I love being close to family! Even if I can't be where the bulk of my family is right now, I still get to have some family around. I love it!

Well, folks. I think it's time to say sayonara. I'm ready to let this dreadful Monday end. Keep your eyes and ears open for more posts, because I have a feeling I'll have a reason to blog more in the coming months, with finishing school all the way and it being summer and all.

Birthday, New Car, Job...the works!

So, I want to get back into blogging like I used to. Ok, maybe I never blogged consistently...but the intent was totally there!

First things first, I'm LEGAL! My birthday was great, but I ended up getting sick! I got a cold and it's a pretty rough one! Other than that, I loved my birthday. I got a car! I love it so much!!! It's actually my brother's car, and I am glad we got it from them!! It's everything I wanted...and more! It's a Pontiac G6. Tuesday night, we went out to eat for my birthday and we went to Outback Steakhouse! I got a super yummy teriyaki marinated steak. One word: yum! Today, I had the pleasure of renewing my driver's license. After 1.5 hours of standing in line/sitting in an over-crowded room of anxious people, I finally got it and managed to pull off a good picture! Thank goodness!

So, the happy news is now over and from here on out will be the sad and upsetting news. If you'd like to close the window, go ahead, jk. I've been working at a company that hired me and 9 other people temporarily with the thought that MAYBE we'd all get to stay on the team a little longer than originally planned--if not permanently. Well, sadly we don't get to stay! I'm officially losing my job on May 7th. Not to be a downer or anything, but this sucks! I mean it seems like right when we get things planned out and get comfortable with finances and schedules, BAM! things change instantly! It happened in Logan, too. We were doing pretty well for ourselves and then we had to up and move here, to Provo. I was looking for a job for 2 months and then this blessing came along! It seems like just as fast as I got it, it's going to be over! No worries though, I have complete faith that things will work out if we just keep relying on the Lord and do everything in our power to live our lives the way we should!

K, the last part of this post is about today. April Fool's day! I thought I'd be pretty clever and just post two words as my FB status this morning: December 4th. If you do your math correctly, you'll know that this date is roughly 9 or so months away...so it got a lot of response! Sadly, it's not true yet! But don't worry, I'd let everyone know in a much better and perhaps more cryptic way that we were expecting!

Well, my post must come to an end, because I cannot breathe through my nose, and it's driving me buggy! I'm going to hit the hay by 9:45 if all goes well! Sadly, David is still up on campus, working on a HUGE Chemical Engineering project. Oh yeah--Happy news--David got 100 on his latest test! I knew he would! He's so smart and he works super hard to understand everything! I have the best husband ever...in case anyone was wondering. He's the nicest man on this planet and loves me for me! No more mushiness, I promise!

I'm sure it'll be another month before I post something "real" again!

Shari

Festival of Colors 2010

This last weekend, we went to the Festival of Colors, because I was doing a news story on it. I thought I'd share the story here and see what you think! It was fun, but I don't know that we'll go back again. Kinda creepy if you really pay attention to what's going on but I see why people have so much fun at it.

Enjoy!

p.s. comments are ALWAYS welcome :)

I have editing software!

I'm so excited, because I finally have editing software! Enjoy this long over-due Christmas Eve video I put together!

Shari

And the winner is....

Of course, the winner of the cracked, dry feet test was the BEST thing ever: Mary Kay Satin Hands. Way to go, Satin Hands! Mary Kay never disappoints!

If you're suffering from cracked, dry feet...talk to me about getting this nice little set for a cure! Love it so much! Although I will still use the loser, because I have it, and I hate wasting things.

Happy Sunday!

CRAFTERNOON!

A crafternoon was well overdue, so this is how I fueled up for the next who knows how long yesterday.

First, I organized ALL my Mary Kay items, including all my booklets, business management and products!

Look how nice and neat!


I made cute little tags for each drawer here they are!
(sorry for the sideways picture...I'm having photo issues!)


Close-up of one


Oh, and for the record, this was a super cheap project...I bought the paper @ WalMart when I was a freshman in college, so I already had it on hand...which means I didn't have to spend anything TODAY to do this project. Love it!

Here's another group of pictures that show what I did when I was bored one day. Again--I used WalMart paper I bought ages ago. Go me!


I wanted to organize the incoming mail by day and I had this random basket to use...


Loves!

Shari

I like to cook, and I like food.

Ok, so this is SUPER random, and there is not much sense to this post other than the fact that the pictures are all yummy things I've made! I'll make it simple and just put what they are and you can get a hold of me for recipes!! Enjoy!

Today, I decided to try my hand at homemade tortillas. Hm...they tasted good, but looked awful!



Chicken Tacos on our Homemade tortillas!


On Valentine's Day, I made chocolate dipped strawberries! SOOOO Heavenly! YUM!
(just ignore the ugly ones and focus on the cute ones, k?)


These next pictures are just some of me making Roasted Tomato Basil Soup! SO GOOD!







Yummy South Beach Mango Chicken and Berry Salad! Oh, you must know that it's got a homemade raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing!


Great Mexican soup!


And, I make all these yummy things with my favorite thing ever....this cute apron!

My new favorite song....

I downloaded a free album from Amazon.com yesterday....it is The 99 Most Essential Beethoven Masterpieces. Here's a song on it that I never knew existed...everyone's familiar with the first movement of this sonata-Moonlight Sonata. Who knew the 3rd movement was so amazing! I'm giving myself until my 22nd birthday to learn this song completely.

Check it out! click here to visit it on youtube.

Enjoy!

Experiment....

So, I have TERRIBLY cracked, dry, feet...and I wanted to fix it...so I'm doing an experiment. I have some awesome products from Bath and Body Works and I also have an awesome product from Mary Kay and I'm putting them both to the test!

On my left foot, I'm trying Toe the Line and Tough Love...part of the true blue spa line from Bath and Body works.



On my right foot, I'm trying the awesome Mary Kay Satin Hands set.


I plan on trying it every day for 3 weeks and whatever system works best is what I'll continue to use! :) I'd post pictures of my feet, but I dunno if that's too gross or not. Maybe I'll do it in a few days and then every week after that.

Wish me luck!!