S to the R, I am a big SLACKER!

After reading and catching up on some other blogs I follow, I decided to gander at ours and see how long it has been since I had updated. Over a year! Whoops!

After I read our last post I began to think about all that has happened in our lives, and crap! I should have stayed on top of our blog.
So for a small but I am sure lengthy recap, here we go! ( I will cover a month or two in each post.)

Our last post left us off at me having to schedule my own surgery for my gall bladder removal.
Well shortly after on June 26th I was admitted to the ER AGAIN! It was about 1pm when I started having pains again and Shelly was on her way to pick me up. We were going to go see our dad, who was currently taking his turn in the hospital, and Shelly had just texted me and said I will be there in 5 min. I had to call her almost immediately after and say between forced breaths "I need to go to the hospital" I had been throwing up and then dry heaving badly. My vomit noise was so loud it was scaring Cru. :( Shelly shows up and calls our bishop. He was able to rush over, give me a blessing and send us on our way.
I remember Shelly dropping me off at the ER doors but I could hardly walk. I was checked in and waited for what seemed like FOREVER. It usually does when you are in pain, trying to throw up, and they won't let you have water! I did convince them to give me some if I promised not to swallow it.
Needless to say, a gall stone had lodged its lovely self in a duct and was causing a gnarly traffic jam and therefore creating acute pancreatitis! Yay for me! After being admitted to the hospital I spent a lovely 12 days in there. I knew which nurses were nice and which were slow and I learned that I should have had a shower about 4 days before I did. I spent July 4th alone in my room while Eric played with fire with Cru.
Here is something I am not proud of but will share any way. If you stay that long in the hospital and are constantly on pain meds, you WILL become addicted. It wasn't an addiction I had experienced before, like shoes, but it was I'm gonna die/counting down seconds with the nurse call in your hand until your next dose of meds kind of addiction. It was terrible. Always sleeping, constant fevers and no food or drink. I had 5 different room mates while I was waiting for my pancreas levels to come down. One room mate, the "Jersey Shore brat" with the loud jersey shore family complained about her food and she would name off things like steak, boston cream pie and other delicious foods that she wanted. Someone in her group did go fetch the poor thing some pie too. Meanwhile I laid in my bed and starved.
I finally had my surgery at the beginning of August after battling that rad drug addiction (huge shout out to Shelly for regulating my meds before and after my surgery) I found some gall bladder drops that were homeopathic and those helped a great deal with the addiction and pain. Taste like poo, but worth it. After surgery I spent a week at the Short Recovery Center, aka Shelly's house. I was able to "help" with Cru who was then a formula baby because I dried up after the hospital and lack of food.
Plus I was waited on hand and foot! It was great! I think Shelly enjoyed picking me up from the hospital after surgery mostly because I was loopy.
When I woke up I was in a little room with a cute lady (who I later found out was our ward chorister) she gave me cheese and crackers (the kind with the RED stick, like old school)
and some ice chips. Shortly after Shelly walked in and my excitement from the old school cheese and crackers had busted out as I exclaimed "Dude! check this out! It's old school with the RED STICK!" I still don't live that down.  We drove to drop off my prescriptions and she was kind enough to film me. If I can get that video from her I will. It's a gem.
It was a long rough two months but we made it through! It's been a challenge to learn which foods don't make me "rush" anywhere. I missed, what I feel is a lot, of Cru's 1st year and I constantly felt like the world's worst mother while in the hospital. But I know he loves me so I can get over it.

Cru got to come see me in the hospital, but only for a moment. 

It was a great moment to hold him again. 

After the 12 days in the Hospital. I had lost near 22lbs and I bet 5 of that was hair!

This is to show the weight difference.

When he would eat, in between bites we chewed on his socks! mmmm

We managed to sneak in a camping trip before the surgery.

No camping trip is complete without a hat!

Let's Catch Up!

Since my last post, Cru has turned 1, 2, and 3 months old!
He is a HUGE kid! But I wouldnt have him any other way.
Shortly after he was born, about mid March, we moved into my sisters old house. She took her tribe and upgraded to a larger home as well. It has been so nice to be on our own again, but I really do miss my mom and dad.

Before we moved into this house, we had to do some painting. Thanks to Eric and my good friend Ben, I didn't have to do any painting. They knocked it out pretty quickly and we were able to install some new fans too.This is the bathroom before we painted it!

Now it is lime green on top and brown on the bottom.
It's pretty dang cute if you ask me!

I have had a lot of fun living down the street from Shelly, we are about 2 minutes driving, and I am always over there. We have traded off babysitting a lot and it is so nice to be able to run errands whatever without lugging Cru around.

At the end of April we took our first road trip to Arizona with Cru. We went down there for a late baby shower. We would have had it before be the doctor put the stop to that. He didn't want me traveling so huge. We borrowed Shelly's van and DANG that was nice. We weren't cramped in there, I was able to ride in the back with Cru if I needed to. Right before we left, we had the van and EVERYTHING packed, so I bathed Cru, and fed him then off we went and he slept just about the whole way! We made to to Wickenburg before we stopped to feed him. It was nice.
The shower was on Saturday and on Sunday was Eric's brothers confirmation. Two birds with one stone! Cru was a good boy the whole time, I really lucked out with how mellow he is.

May has been crazy! I signed up as a Heritage Makers Publishing Consultant, and I have been having a BLAST with it! I've made canvases for Cru's room, our living room, I've made Cru a little Gospel ABC book, and now I am working on finally putting our wedding pictures into a book!! I will touch on that a little later.
My mom went in for a 5way by pass, she had the whole family worrying over her. It's sad to think of her in the hospital. Shelly and I were able to go out to the hospital quite a bit and because there was a 2 person rule, we switched off watching Cru in the lobby.
The surgery went well and she had a speedy recovery! It's hard to keep her resting. She has always been a busy body and she doesnt want to stop.
We were also able to get Cru's crib! I started painting his tree on his wall and now I need to find my leaf stencil and finish it! I am excited to get it done. My mom is making some cute curtains for his room with little owls on them, and if we have enough fabric we will make a bumper pad out of the same fabric.
It has been fun planning out his room. I have covered some of his shelves with Contact paper that has blue and brown dots on it. I need to finish those too.

June-
On June 5th we blessed Cru!
I have waited patiently for our turn... April was my nieces baby blessing, and May we were in Arizona, so June was out turn. Two other babies were blessed the same day, but Cru towered over them in size for sure!! After his blessing he crapped himself, ruining his outfit and mine! I had poo all down my skirt and shirt! :( I even had on a new outfit!
I kept the top part on and wrapped him in a blanket for the remainder of church.
After we went to my parents for lunch, we had pot roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and some salad. It was soooo good. Eric's family was able to come for the blessing and I'm glad they were able to see Cru blessed.
My dad gave Cru his blessing and it was such a good one, no two blessings are the same and that makes it so much more special. I know Cru will be such an example to his friends and family. He is already an amazing kid, I just love him!

The next night we went to bed, and I woke up at 3am to feed Cru, we were back in bed by 4. I dozed off then woke up with a really bad stomach ache. I tossed and turned a little and finally got up and ate some crackers. Maybe I was hungry? After a bit I had trouble breathing and started to get pains in my back and under my sternum. After praying on what to do, I finally woke up Eric and told him I couldnt breathe! I told him it could be my gallbladder, and told him to call Shelly. He told her what was going on, and she was right over to get Cru, and we left for the hospital. We now live 2-3 minutes from the hospital too, which is fabulous! We went into the ER and got checked in, and back to a bed. Those pains were by far the worst things I have ever had! I'd rather be in labor every day. Once we saw the doctor, he gave me some pain meds, I remember him saying it was stronger than morphine. I believe him, once they put that in there, WEW! I was feeling GOOD! At one point they did an ultrasound on me, and I guess I was telling jokes to the lady, poor thing. They said I was passing stones. They gave me the number for a surgeon and said I can have it removed. Bleh... I have had two more attacks but they gave me pills for them until I have the surgery done. It is very hard to schedule your own surgery ya know! I keep pushing it off, but after last nights attack, I will be calling tomorrow.

Yesterday, we went swimming at my parents house. Some of my family was there, and it was nice. Cru got to put his feet in for a little bit, but I decided it was way too cold for him. Then seconds after wrapping him in his towel, he was asleep. Getting his feet wet was enough to wear him out I guess.

Later that night I went to Shelly's house(told you I am there a lot) and played some games with her, two cousins and Shelly's friend Tina. We played Quelf, and goodness! That game is hilarious! Lot's of fun!

So there is our little recap, we have been busy but it's mostly play! That is never a bad thing!

Absolutely Amazing

Pregnancy has been the most amazing journey i have ever been on. also it gave me the most rewarding outcome anyone could ask for.

This post is just my point of view. perhaps i could get Eric to write his own.

At 35 weeks we found out Cru was a big boy. from that point on i wished for an early delivery. I will say each appointment was just sad. Being dilated to the same thing each time was so hard. I knew deep down we would hit the due date, and we did. In fact we even went 3 days over!
Hard to swallow, but it was ok in the end.
At my last appointment, Feb 28th, I went in and I was still dilated to only a 1. Dr. Juarez called the hospital and scheduled my induction for 7:30pm Tuesday.
On Tuesday I woke up and my sister Shelly was here with her kids and was taking my brother John's boy to play. It was also FREE pancake day at IHOP so the 5 of us ventured over there. After pancakes my sister was rad enough to drop me off at the DMV to register my car. Its funny to sit back and see what goes through your mind for last minute items.
With Eric going to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and having finals that week too, the plan was for my mom to take me to the hospital, have Eric take my car to school then head to the hospital afterward. Well, the hospital called and postponed my appointment to 10pm. Uggg it's only a couple more hours right?
It worked out, Eric was able to finish his test, come home and relax for a minute and then we headed for our destination!
We checked in, everything was good, I was hooked up to an IV, I was given cervidal and two monitors, one for the baby's heart and one for contractions. Hearing your little mans heart beat all night was amazing to me. If I shifted and couldn't hear it I would ask Eric if he could still see the numbers.
Most of the time he could. Our first nurse, Charity, who is very brutal when checking you... forgot to tell me that laying on my side was an option, and that I could have juice and jello still. So I laid there from about 11pm to 8am on my back... boy did that suck! After shift change we met Krystal, our day nurse. That lady was and is awesome! So let me roll around, she fed me juice and jellos... and she was hilarious.
At noon I was able to take the Cervidal out and walk around for an hour. I showered, well I sat in the warm water and tried to relax. My doctor also let them send lunch into me. Thank goodness, I was starving. After my hour of freedom, it was back into bed for me. They loaded me up with pitocin to start my contractions. It worked and it worked well, then came the epidural. That stuff is good! At one point one of the nurses checked me and Cru was very low. About two hours later I was checked again and Cru was very high. Not good. :( I was having contractions that could have shot a smaller weighing baby across the room.
A little later Dr. Juarez came in and broke my water hoping to help the little guy come back down and out!
No such luck, as time passed by I thought and thought "Man I don't want a c section" I don't have anything against them, I just have a fear of being cut open. I knew it was coming though.
When we first found out we were expecting little Cru, Eric and I talked about what we were comfortable with and what we would do if certain things happened. We decided that baby came absolutely first. AS long as he was ok and healthy we didn't care how he came out. I prayed as I laid in that bed and a calming feeling came over me and I knew it was what was needed and it was right to do. As the nurses and Dr came in, you could see the word "Cesarean" on their concerned faces. Once Juarez said We may have to do c-section, I quickly responded "lets do it!" No point in fighting if the doctor thinks it is best, then so do I.
The look on the nurses faces was priceless, they were surprised I didn't put up a fight at all.

Within minutes, Eric was dressed, I had a sweet hair net on, and our nurse has some rad "UGG" medical booties on. I wish we had a picture of those.(Sorry for my sexiness!)

I was given a ton more drugs to help with numbing me and we were off to Operation room #1.
On the way there, I started shaking uncontrollably from the epidural, it was like I was freezing cold. Once in the Op. room I was transferred from my bed to the table and given a warm blanket on my arms. It helped only a little though. Once the blue curtain was up, that baby was out in less than 5 minutes. Of course I felt a LOT of pushing on my stomach and that was about it. Once he was out we found out why Cru had gone back up. Little man decided to play bungee jump with the umbilical cord around his neck twice.
The moment you hear that first cry, there really aren't words for it. but it is just amazing. They carried Cru over to the warming table where he was cleaned off and where Eric was able to film and cut the cord. All I could to was try to keep my eyes open and sneak a peak of him.
Cru made it known that he had arrived by peeing on the nurses!
It was one of the most amazing moments, and it was all happening so quickly. Eric and Cru left with the nurses to the nursery to clean him up and make sure everything was good. I heard a phone ring and all I heard the nurse say was 9lbs 6ounces... 21 inches. HOLY COW! He's a toddler!
After they stitched me up I was wheeled back to our room where I finally got to meet the little guy who was beating me up for so long. He was born at 7:42pm March 2nd, 2011. I believe we met at about 8:45-9:00. It was fun to see Eric interact with him and just see the change in him.
We stayed in the hospital until Friday when they released us and home we went. It felt good to be home, to shower, and to relax without beeping noises.

Im am so blessed to have this little man in my life, I have waited for him for a long long while and I finally got my boy!

I stare at him all day and just day dream of what he will be and what his personality will be like.

He sure is a cute little guy!(First time with his eyes open)

"I'll decide!"

The little saying, "I'll decide" has been one I grew up with. I am not 100% where it came from but I remember my mom saying it to my dad, and him saying it to her. Along with everyone in the family mimicking it. Well, Cru has picked up on this saying and it abusing it.
We tell him all the time to come out, he'll kick or squirm and you can just hear this voice with a little attitude look saying "I'll decide!"

So here we are, February 27, 2011, D-Day.
Nothing.... is happening....
Yay for me!

The past two weeks have felt like months! Painful long months.
I've been dialated to a 1 for a month, and still at last Wednesdays appointment, I got a "Maybe a 2" after talking to my sister, I guess that is out Doctors way of being nice and saying "You arent doing anything". Sad face. I was also told that if I make it to Mondays appointment we will schedule a room at the hospital and get this kid out! I still have 20 hours before my appointment... COME ON CRU!
Yesterday I had a really good day. By good, I mean I was able to run errands without as much pain. It's like the calm before the storm I'm guessing.

The other night Eric and I were laying in bed, and Cru decided to give us a show. I've only seen this on tv, but he had his feet going and you could see the outline to them. He was pushing hard!! Of course it was very painful to me but I was trying not to laugh. The next morning I felt the damage from his kicking. I could hardly walk.

We have his bed all ready, every gadget and gismo we could think of, we FINALLY picked a FULL name for this boy, my mom finished his warm blanket, and now we just wait. After we have all of this, which we thought he was waiting for, we still sit here waiting for him to "decide" when it is his time.

On to other news... after a year and a half... almost two years, of living in a one bedroom "apartment" with my parents for room-mates, Eric and I are moving out!
The goal was to buy once we got out, but the fact that we can't find a house to our liking, and also we aren't 100% on staying in Las Vegas, it is almost too hard to buy and be stuck.
With some luck, we found a house to rent!
In about two weeks we will be painting and moving into this new place. We are excited to have more than one room, not pay for storage, and not have to say, "Oh I have such item... but it is in storage."
Cru will get his own room too!
We have enjoyed the luxuries of living with my parents (see Eric's waistline), but it is way past time to head back out on our own.

Eric is rounding up the second semester at school and preparing for yet another.
For now his bike is "semi-finished" We were able to get new tires for it and all that is left is just cosmetic things. He has enjoyed it a lot, and I will say it has been fun watching him enjoy riding.

As for me, I've been nesting.... spinning my wheels and trying to find things to do without really going out or hurting myself. I've been uneasy about going out without Eric, I don't want something to happen and not have him there. Also part of the time I am worse than a cripple! Getting out of the car, stepping up things... sometimes I just want to get a scooter and join the old people.

All in all things are good, some things are happening and others we are waiting for them to happen.
I'm sure (and hoping) this will be the last post until after Cru has made his debut!

Let it Shower!

On January 29th, the day after my birthday ;) my Sister Shelly threw me a pretty rad shower.
As she said "It was easy to put it together, it was the pulling it together that was tricky"
Thank you to my other sisters, Megan for helping with cupcakes, and my rad cousin Sherri for helping out a lot!

I had picked out Brown, Blue, Green, and Orange for the colors, and Owls to go with!

The invitations were provided by my sister Patti as her gift and I LOVE them!



The idea was to open gifts as they came so the guests weren't sitting and watching gift after gift.... We tried that but none of us had an idea as to how spoiled Cru is! So I opened gifts right from the start and it was so bad. Guests played guess how many diapers are in the box, a baby word scramble game and ate while I continued with the gifts.
It wasn't so bad, After I was able to say hi to most but not all that came. It is fun to see how many people you have in your life that love and support you. Or they just love your baby... haha who knows.
Thankfully we got all the essentials we needed and then some. There were only one or two items I had to pick up, like extra onsies, and night gowns for easy midnight changes.

Shelly was a really good sport about my "ideas" for the shower. I showered her a couple pictures of owl cupcakes and Her and Megan made it happen.

They were chocolate and strawberry swirl with cream cheese frosting! mmmm

We had Chicken Salad Sandwiches, a must for a shower and my favorite too, fruit and blue fruit dip, veggies, ham and pickle pinwheels, grape salad, and Im sure some other stuff.
For the "treat" table we had a mini buffet of my cravings!

Cotton Candy, Soft pretzels with cheese and jalapenos, and oreos.
That was heaven to this little boy!

It was a fun shower and I will even show you some pictures, but not many. And yes, the DREADED belly pictures are here too. Bleh!

Looking through all of the goods again.
Some cute little shoes!

Thank you to Char for being my scribe and to Suzy for being my trash lady/gift hander-over

*I really don't understand the fascination of belly pics... maybe one day I will. Maybe not.

Let the count down begin!

Ladies and Gents, we are now in the Month of the due date!
I really can't believe how fast this has gone by. I am having more and more dreams of actually having Cru out, and when I wake up, he's still tucked away in my belly.

January was a busy month.
I had an appointment and was "grounded" to Las Vegas as you have read.
I missed my nieces shower in St. George, and I had to cancel the Arizona shower too.
but I did get a lot done here. The baby shelf arrived and is installed and filled with all of Cru's belongings. It did sit semi empty until the shower here.

Eric and I went to our last ultrasound on Jan. 25th. It was mainly to check on my placenta, which was sitting very low last time and is now sitting at the top where it should be, but we like to see our little guy too!
The ultrasound lady is the sweetest thing ever. I don't know how to describe it, but she is sweet and gets hilarious too.
After she took all of her measurements, she let us see Cru, we saw him making kissy faces and sticking his tongue out, saw his hands going and of course I was being kicked for all the poking and prodding ;)
Can't blame him!

Turn your head to the right and you have two dark spots for eyes, the nose and mouth

I will warn you, this may be offensive to some so turn back now...

you have been warned.

Next we explored to the Netherlands and BING!!! Two giant orbs just hanging out.
We got an "Oh my" from the tech and Eric asked "are those his balls?" Yep, baby Cru has some big balls apparently. It was then confirmed with a stamp of guarantee that he is in fact a boy... with balls. :)

We weren't able to get a picture of them, I think I was a little shy to ask for it but we got a cute face one. From what we saw he has squishy little cheeks! Aunt Myrinda will need a restraining order so she doesn't squish them off!
The tech then said she had bad news, ok not good. She said he is measuring a "teensy bit big"
WHEW! I can handle that, we already knew he was a week ahead, we then asked how big, and she said by two weeks.
NOTE* I have not been eating fertilizer!
She then offered the weight and she said she could sugar coat it if we'd like, but we took it without sugar, est. 6lb 9oz. I was only 35 weeks at the time and he was measuring 37 weeks... so by 38 weeks he can come out yes??? We will see.
On the first day of the 36th week I received an email from Babycenter.com. I get weekly updates about the growth of the baby and what not and it said "by now your baby is ALMOST 6lbs..." I laughed and said wow you're about a pound late!
I have a feeling I will have to hit my mom up for some "Cooking for an Army" lessons so I can feed these two!

Eric and I are READY to have this kid join us, I think the bed is ready too, it's working extra hard on my side for sure!

New year already?

I can't believe how the holidays just zipped by. I have to stop and think ok... did we have Christmas already? and what did I do for Thanksgiving?
Well the New Year means "No Traveling" for this lady.
BIG SUCK!
Last Monday (the 3rd) I had a Doctors appointment(I know it's all I do anymore, right?)
During that appt. There was blood in my urine, and I was told my cervix is thinning and that can be the cause of bleeding. Now Im not like hemorrhaging or anything so calm down. Its like as much as a good prick to the finger... ok a little more.
Needless to say while going over questions and my progress, he said something along the lines of No more traveling!
I get a lot of "feedback" from family and others saying "Pshh I have had x amount of kids and I traveled the day before" Of course I find out shortly it wasn't their first baby and after your first you know what to somewhat expect.
I like to think I won't be and I am not a crazy first time pregnant lady, but here is my reasoning for listening to my doctor...
First, I just paid this man some good money to gander at my nethers every other week and to get this kid out when the time has come.
Second, I don't want to be in a hospital in AZ, CA, or UT! I like the hospital we have here and I didn't just go stand in an hour long line to register for it.
and Third, if I was to travel one of the trips wouldn't have included Eric, so if I go into labor, I text him and say "hey baby is coming hope you can drive faster than he can slide"?
I Think not!
So forgive me for staying home and having to cancel parties and trips. But this baby has a mind of his own and until he is here, I will be in Las Vegas.
Besides, who wants my water to break in their car?

On a side note, but one that isnt too far off, Cru is still measuring a week ahead.
I can feel him getting crammed in there. One because he is all up in my business, and my business being my ribs. Two, when he moves I don't feel it in one spot anymore. He will kick or do an elbow drop on something and I will feel that movement in at least 2-3 different spots. He's filling up the space!

My nesting stage has continued... I'm either getting crazy hand-making 55 thank you notes, putting the stroller and car seat together or trying to re-organize something else.
Eric and I ordered a shelf for baby stuff and to free up room for the crib. Until that shelf gets here, I will be going crazy!

A little about the Mr.
Eric has been busting his butt with work, school and play. Mostly the first two.
He has started the 2nd semester at ITT Tech. and now goes Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. So glad to have those Fridays back. I know next semester it will change, but Im enjoying this for now.
Work is work, I know they are moving into a new big warehouse making it be the ONLY warehouse in the valley. From what I hear this will lighten the load for the drivers and make things easier for all. I hope so.
Eric's motorcycle is ever changing. Just the other night he wrapped his exhaust pipes and re-painted a few things, I will say it looks a lot nicer with the changes. He has a few more ideas and things he wants to change and he is being awesome in the waiting department. They will happen just not all at once.

Things are good for the 3 of us. One of us has a free ride so of course he is doing great!
When he is older I will demand piggy back rides til his hips hurt! ;)

33 weeks PEOPLE!!!

33 weeks, that means 56 days! Roughly... It also means that everything is slowly becoming uncomfortable. It hurts to sit certain ways, standing sucks, and even laying down won't do it. Sitting in church is a big time chore. The benches are not for pregnant butts!
This "Nesting" phase has kicked in and it is real. I always thought... yeah Im going to have the urge to clean and organize while Im huge. It's almost... ALMOST but not really addicting. I've asked Eric to build a shelf for me, I even drew it out and designed it for him. Now if only I could get his butt in this nesting mode too.
I have been really good at staying on top of our laundry and organizing my closet. Im not sure what my closet has to do with the baby, but its a lot more organized than it has been.

A little about Cru...
He's getting big and mean! I swear Eric snuck him a knife cause sometimes his little ninja moves can make me cry. His kicks are seriously like those from a 2 year old, some just jolt me and others hurt.
Oddly enough Im still in love with this mystery man I'm growing. I think Eric is too, past few days he can't keep his hands off my belly.
Also, recently I've been experiencing some pain. My stomach will just ache as if I had eaten so much food and can't relieve myself. It happened twice last night and the second one just about knocked me down.
Im wondering if these are the "fake" contractions (braxton hicks)
or if he is doing a stunt that involves balloons, knives, and MMA moves.

He moves a lot and that is a good sign. I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, then one on the 17th and every week after that. CRAZY!

This pregnancy has flown by, which is very bittersweet for me. I love feeling the kicks and I love having a craving for something, even just an apple and then being so happy after I ate it. (Total fat kid line right there...)
But at the same time I'm glad it is not dragging on and on to the point where I am sick of it all.
I do understand that can and may very well change.

That is about it for now! I will post more when I've got more!

A little about Cru...

Here is a quick update on our little guy.

At our last appointment baby was doing great. They can't tell if he is upside down yet. This makes me wonder, how come if we stand on our heads we get dizzy? Does this mean all babies are dizzy in the last days in the cave? I always wonder about that. It is really weird to hear about all the things he is doing, like "breathing" in water... are they fishes too?
Along with feeling Cru kick and move around, we can now watch him move and kick. He has obviously advanced to the next skill level of what Eric says is MMA fighting.
It feels like he is trying to kick his way out!! Those round houses to the stomach will stop me dead sentence!
We are starting to prep our room and somewhat plan out where the crib goes.
As of yet he still doesn't have a middle name. We still have 3 months to go so Im not too worried, but I need a middle name to yell when he starts acting like his daddy! ;)

We are VERY excited to meet him, I can't wait to see whos ears or eyes he gets. I know he will have good hair, because both sides have pretty dang good heads of hair.

There are other pregnant ladies in my world and all but one are having a boy! We could start a hockey team or something!

We now go to the doctor every other week as I am now in my Third and Final trimester! It has gone so quickly.

That's all for now!


Upper cuts and rib jabs from Cru!

October Recap!

This is late and so was my period as we all know!

October started the busy season. It seems it has been none stop since Octobers Bunco.

So for a quick recap...

This year I got to have 2 Costumes!
One for Bunco and Halloween, and the other for the Zombie Walk.

Since I am pregnant, I figured I should put this belly to great use. What better way than making it into an authentic "beer belly"? I became "Rusty" for the night.
Please note that the bottle I am holding IS ROOT BEER! AND the belly and chest hair is fake too!

My sister Shelly was more than willing to go as my "Wanda" who wore curlers in her hair, had some trashy tattoos, and stuck a fake cigarette in her curler. It was priceless!

Now for the Zombie walk, again I wanted to make use of the belly. You always see people with items like knives or axes hanging from their bodies, so I went a different route.

**********CAUTION*******************
Some people were... and I quote "BEYOND offended" by this.
and know I love babies, and I love my baby, and I am against abortions, and this is not an abortion. It is simply a Zombie baby that wanted to join the party. So if you have an issue with this, keep your remarks, comments and anything else that manages to come to mind to yourself, cause I liked it and I don't care!

Carry on...

I started with an old baby doll from a thrift store. Dont worry I picked the most beat up one. It had no stuffing left anyhow, so no child would miss it. I cut the arms off and had Eric cut the head in half. I then used liquid latex to attach the baby to my baby... :) I then used toilet paper and more latex to make the nasties on the sides and edges, followed by costume make-up and to top it off, fake blood.

TA-DA!!!!

I also did Eric's make-up and attached his eye-hole, that turned out pretty cool. We also picked up his sweet outfit from the thrift store including the Mallard tie! He make some really cool bite/cut marks on his hand using the latex and tp.
My niece Crystal joined us and we did her make up in a hurry but it was good! In the parking lot before we journeyed to the event, as Eric was applying more blood he felt the need to high five Crystals face, hence the sweet hand print! Don't worry it wasn't hard, it was more of a shock with the blood. Oh and she had this nasty looking scar on her knee that even crinkled as she walked... BLEH!

We met up with our friends Suzy and Don, and Krystal(their friend) and we started at the Luxor and headed towards Treasure Island, now called T.I.
Of course I can't walk that far without being in a wheelchair! So we made it to City Center, where there was TONS of ANTI ZOMBIE security! They did NOT want us in there at all!
I don't blame them. Because things like this.....were all over... Blood on bus stops, windows, anything within Zombies reach. No taxi went un-groaned at, Im sure each bus that made a stop had at least one or three zombies hop on.

After we turned back, we weren't done. We headed to Fremont Street for some great fun! But first we ate. Zombies love Gyros and subs! mmmmm
We spent about 3-4 hours on Fremont just messing with people. Just a few among the many crazies!
This is me and baby Zombie on Fremont! wooooo!
I wish we could get EVERYONES pictures from that night, but unfortunately I didn't have my tourist address book out. :(
It was a blast!!!

Halloween night, the tradition of homemade donuts at mom's house has continued. Rusty made a great visit. (Note: latex makes the mustache stick 1000 times better than the crap they give you)
Our friends Ben and Nicole came over to see us/Rusty, they also brought Nicole's cousin Heather too. I didn't get any pics from that night, but perhaps I can ask Nicole for some.

October was amazing, there was tons to do in between everything and Many blocks to be made for November Bunco.

So there you have it! Here is a little treasure from Rusty to you!

Chaos on the homefront!

Well, I know I have only posted one of the 5 recipes. You may be thinking, are they not eating? False. We've had many distractions and occasions to dine out. So back on track!
The second meal I made was Glazed Teryaki Meatballs and noodles.
The first recipe called for me microwaving hamburger.... ehhh I wasnt too thrilled. This recipe also said the same thing. After realizing, you can't really burn hamburger, and there is no grease splatters, and less dishes. Wooo!
Eric and I love Stir fry, that's basically what this was, with noodles(spaghetti), and homemade meat balls that were dang tasty. I suggest a bigger package of stir fry, and I wanted more noodles. For once there was enough meat to go around!
Eric rated this 8.5 out of 10. He said he would never give a dish a 10. Im set to prove him wrong!
Tonight is Pork Fried Rice. I believe it has a longer name.

Dinner!!!

So, I've had these rad Recipe cards for quite sometime now and havent touched them. They are from Pampered Chef(of course) and it is a 2 week, weekday meal plan. Each meal is about $2 per serving so you can't beat that.
I have decided this week and next I will be making all of these recipes.
That package comes with 10 recipes, two grocery lists, and a well stocked pantry item list, and some storage tips.
Each of the meals has a shared ingredient with another meal in that same week, so you're not running back to the store for more.
I decided I will blog about this, because the baby is doing nothing but growing.
So on tonight's menu, Cheeseburger Deep-Dish pizza!

Freakin tasty!

Peek -a- Boo!!

Yesterday was the day we've all been waiting for!! Ok, not all but a lot of people!!
We had our second Ultrasound and found out the sex of our baby!
Although it has not been revealed yet, I will still show some pictures and tell you all about it.

The night before I had trouble sleeping. I was dead tired but too excited to sleep.
I woke up to go potty and I just prayed it would be past 2 by now! It was 4:30.
I laid back down, trying to sleep but I just laid there with tired eyes closed tightly.

My alarm was set for 5:30 to allow time for showering and getting ready without rushing.
At I must have dozed off for a minute or two, because at 5:25 I heard the shower turn on... DANG IT! My brother John who stays here during the week beat me to it. Oh well. I got up and made Eric's lunch and ate breakfast and chugged my 24oz of water by 6am.

I showered and got ready and we were out the door.
Eric took his work van because there was no point in driving all the way home again, and he started work a little earlier too.
We go to the doctors and waited for about 5 minutes, then into the special room we went!
It was so much fun to have Eric there.
The Ultrasound tech is my favorite! She is the sweetest and funniest lady.
The lights go out and the green cold goo goes on my tummy and right away we see a tiny skull! Perfectly faced at the "camera".
It was a shock to see it, but it was fun. We made jokes about it being dressed for halloween, and of course Eric thought it was the coolest!
After all the "boring" measuring of my other parts were done, we moved to view the baby.
It's little arms were up across it's face, then they would move. It's little feet kicked and kicked! We saw the heart and Eric got to hear it for the first time. Eric was full of questions and the sweet lady answered them all.
Then we got to see who our baby is, and wow this baby was not shy!
She told me to hold still so we could see the baby move it's mouth, so I did.... nothing.
Maybe it thought, "Oh Nap time!" Then Eric decided to get me to laugh, ya know "Shake the baby" which he tells me to stop doing all of the time.
Sure enough, that little thing was trying to hang onto something!! We saw the arms go wild, and the mouth move, probably cussing my name.
It was so much fun, I could have stayed there watching all day.
Everything checked out just fine fluids, size of the baby, etc..

The Tech gave us an estimated due date from the size of the kid, which is again Feb. 27th.
The doctors gave me one of March 2nd, so somewhere in between we can expect this sweet little thing to make an appearance.

One thing for sure, this child is NOT camera shy!

I am not sure why my camera turned these red...

This one the baby looks like an alien for sure!

Boys and their toys

Back in 2007, Eric and I purchased a 1964 Cadillac Sedan DeVille.
It is the car we drove off in on our wedding night, I took it out for dinner with the ladies, and we've gone on a few rides here and there.
Well for the past few months the poor thing just didnt get attention.
After much debate and going back and forth we are selling it. It's bittersweet, we love it, but Eric doesnt have the drive for it as much, and with Baby Clarke making it's way into our lives, who knows what will happen.

There has been talk about a motorcycle for quite some time. "One day" has been repeated over and over. Well ladies and Gents... That "One Day" was Friday the 24th of September. The day where a soon to be father became an extremely giddy little boy.
Eric found a sweet deal on Craigslist a few weeks back, I believe the price was about $3000.00 and there was an issue with title.
Thursday, he spotted the same bike, title issue resolved, and $2000 less!
Money was shuffled and Eric got his bike!
He worked on it, Saturday, putting parts back on(it came with all the old parts and some new in a box) wiring it and getting it ready. There is still a bit to do and perfect it, and we need to get that Cadi out before its ready.
Today he is out working on it again. It's his new addiction and all he can talk about is what he wants to put on it, or how to fix it. I'm glad to see him enjoying something again.

Although last night at dinner he started to look up handle grips and I had to ask him to give me the attention for just that night. After all it was for our Anniversary!

I can't wait to see it complete and YES I am terrified to have him out on the streets with the moron drivers of Las Vegas. People just don't look out for motorcycles! So PAY ATTENTION!

Baby stuff!

September has been a busy month... not just for me, but for hospitals! So far I know of 5 babies that were born in September. Its very exciting!

As for the Clarke baby, we've got time!
The morning sickness is gone. There are still some smells, such as other anal gasses...., and other things that can trigger my gagging. I recently got over a cold, I didnt think it was that bad, but once Eric got it, hahah yes he got a sickness from me for once, he was just yucky.
I guess it goes to show that taking vitamins really does help.
Now this gets gross, and Im sorry but mucus is one of those things to trigger vomit monsters.
I have never had the ability to suck my snot back... bleh and spit it out..... (deep breath) and now being sensitive to this stuff, its worse.

Glad it is over with!

We go in Tuesday to find out if we will have a Cru or a Molly! I am very excited, I've been counting down the days since my last appt. We scheduled the appt early so Eric won't have to miss work.
Oh and a side note, No one... I repeat, NO ONE will be finding out the sex until Grandma Clarke gets her package from us. I have prepared a little announcement for her and the other grandmas and I won't be wasting a cute present. Our baby will be the first grand child for her and I feel she has a right to know first. So just be patient with us.

I still havent felt any kicks, I thought I did last sunday. It was something I have never felt, but who knows. Until I feel it again I won't know. I've heard between 16-20 weeks is when you should begin feeling the baby. That will be a neat experience for sure.

For now that is all. Baby is safe, Mom is doing great, and dad.... well he's goofy and that's fine because we love him that way. :)

We received our first baby gift. A Sailor Jerry diaper bag!
Thank you Ben and Nicole!

Baby loves oreos!

3 years ago.... last Wednesday

I became the newest Mrs. Clarke!
It seems much longer, but then it doesn't. Either way I still enjoy being Mrs. Clarke.

Recently Eric started school again, and dang am I proud that he finally made that choice. Sitting on a big GI Bill (Military school fund for FREE) and doing nothing with it made me sad.
Well thank you to Mr. Bush, before he left he did a once over on this bill and made it so if Eric was to re-enlist I could use that money. Well that didnt happen, but Bush also made it so that while attending school, Veterans, receive housing allowance. WOOO!!!
So Eric goes to school Monday Thursday and Friday after work for about 4 hours. He has classes he likes and loathes. Don't we all?
So with Wednesday being our "big day" and with him working and schooling, I didnt want to be out late and have to rush. So we went to Taco Bell.
TACO BELL?!? hee hee. Let me "esplain"
Our wedding was a blast! There were loads of people there and I wouldnt change that ever! I never made it off the dance floor from our "not supposed to happen receiving line"
Therfore I didnt make it to the food. But some of the food made it to me, thank you Shelly.
I had a mini hamburger, some fries and a drink. But that didn't fill the stomach of a bride.
After Eric and I took off, we made a circle around las vegas to ride the strip. It was fun and of course people would shout at us. FYI Cadillacs arent made for traffic, so before the car overheated, we turned off and figured that was good enough. Besides we had more important things to attend to... :) like finding food. We passed a few places and spotted a Taco Bell, so in our wedding get ups and "sh"fancy car, we did a drive-thru. Took it back to our hotel and while we ate one handed, we used our other hands to fish millions of bobby pins out of my hair. That is all you need to know.

My dinner, the #4
Eric's dinner... the giant box of food.

Taco Bell on Sept 22nd holds a special place in our heart!
We went out to dinner on Saturday night and with much debate we chose Cheesecake Factory.
I am glad we did! I had the Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella pizza, and Eric had the black pepper shrimp something or other. It had plantains beans rice and shrimp. Both meals were very good. I made sure to leave room for some cheesecake and grabbed a slice of the Turtle Cheesecake. MMMMM
Afterwords we met up with my brother, Kevin, and our good friend Ryan down at the Car show in Henderson. After walking about a mile we found them and hung out for about 2 hours. At about 10:30 the cops drove by and said "go home" literally. So we hiked another mile to the car and went home we did. I was dang tired.
I am so grateful for Eric and I really enjoy our time together. He does a lot for me and this little one growing in me. I still love him as much as I did that special night 3 years ago, but more.

Doesn't that just look good? Baby wants cake!

Shelstones!

Meet the Shelstones! What the heck I know....
As you know each year on Labor Day weekend we have our fabulous Gifford Reunion!
This years theme, Cartoon Characters. Our family decided we would be the Flinstones, but since our Grandfathers name is Sheldon, we made it the Shelstones. Growing up he had a nickname of Shed so we werent from Bedrock, we were from Shedrock! Clever!

This year we planned ahead! It was so nice to have our own huge tent! A few months back we recieved a Costco catalog in the mail with a sweet deal on a Coleman tent. Of course we jumped on it and scored it for about $60 less than its selling for.
We also made sure that Eric put in for that Friday off. Every year we work the Friday and get on the road late at night.
So this time we drove up Thursday early evening, made it there by 10 with an hour stop in the St George Walmart. ... special special people....
We were only the second people up there so we scouted out a sweet spot!
Oh and dont get too excited because even though, "full battery" and "camera" were on my list and crossed off, I didnt take a single picture. Whoops.
Thursday afternoon, I packed everything but Erics clothes. I had the car just about loaded and ready to go. Eric got off a little early and we were on the I-15 by 5:00pm without traffic!
Friday morning Eric woke up early, perhaps about 6am. and set up my sisters tent she had sent with us. They got in Way late Friday night.... wait I should say way early Saturday morning and Im sure they enjoyed not having to set up a tent in the dark.
So Eric set it up by himself, while I was passed out in the tent.
Once I was up I busted out the muffins and we had breakfast.
No one was up there still so I read my book all day and Eric Cleaned both of our guns and cleared out bushes that grew in the middle of camp.
It was a nice lazy day.
We were a bit bored and needed ice so we drove down the mountain for a good hour to kill time and hope that when we returned someone would be there. Of course not!! We sat alone for another hour or two.
I never knew how jumpin the party was Friday evening cause we were always so late, but it was fun to be there when others arrived.
Saturday Morning we ate breakfast and of course... headed for the skeetshoot.
Now keep in mind I have strayed away from soda and I push my self to drink lots and lots of water. So with that said.
We go down to the shooting area and set up our chairs and sign up for the shoot.
This is my favorite thing about the reunion. I've been shooting since I was 14 so this is 11 years now. Crazy, who give a 14 year old a gun? My dad!
I prepared myself before I went down by grabbing more waters, fruit leathers, and a muffin incase I got hungry. Before the shoot I thought the women would be up soon so I stood waiting for our turn.
There were about 2 rotations before I got to shoot but once it was my turn I was ready... sort of. I downed a good portion of my water and got on the line.
It was hot and I was wearing a fabulous Shelstone Orange Tshirt like the rest of my family. The way the rotation went this year is, 5 shooters, 5 stations, 2 shots at each. Easy enough but it seemed so long. I remember getting to the 3rd station and then I wasnt feeling so hot. I shrugged it off and kept going... Then I woke up in a trailer with almost my whole family around me.
Here's what happened, so I am told.
I got to my 2nd to last post and I guess handed my gun to Eric and dove for the bushes. Emptied my inners and started to walk up to camp. Eric said at that time he grabbed our chairs and guns and would follow up. My brother in law Chris walked with me a little ways up the road when I was throwing up again... or something. My sister in law Annette drove by on a Quad and they put me on the back and thats where I just went limp according to reporters.
Once up to camp a group of guys were rallied to help get me in a trailer. Once in there I received a neck cooler, a blessing, a nasty Capri sun (that I remember), water and an IV. After the blessing is when I came to but I still dont remember much about it. I know my brother in law Chris was in my face when I woke up and soon I had my dad, Eric and my brother Kevin. Oh and another guy but I have forgotten his name. I guy this other guy used to be an EMT for so long and is now the Captain of a Las Vegas fire station. Lucky me he was there. Also My brother Kevin has had training in things like this. He is the one with the medic kit with the IV.
After a lot of fussing, water,a small fan, and the AC in the trailer, I was doing better, still just bleh though.
I wasnt dehydrated, but they were putting it together that being pregnant, at a high elevation, lack of iron, the sun and a fabulous orange shirt it was heat exhaustion. Woo!
Needless to say I wasnt doing much the rest of the day or the next. In fact I slept through most of them.

After that was all said and done, I didnt place in the skeet shoot, I didnt even finish my turn, I missed the auction, and I couldnt make it through the skits.
That made it sort of sucky but relaxing was nice.
This year we stayed to Monday, when usually we head home Sunday afternoon. It was fun to get up and take down camp at a slow pace.

All in all it was a good trip, minus the excitement.
But I am doing better now and I have a sweet looking bruise from the IV!
This was a picture from on the way home through Zion National Park. They are redoing the roads and have these stop signs through out the park. It took a good 5-10 minutes to get through each. I just found it odd to see a stop light in the park. Oh and don't mind Yoga lady doing her yoga. she got out of the car at each light.

Hey BABY!!!

I'm now 11 weeks and my baby is the size of a fig! Its not a cookie its a Fig Newton! haha That is what popped into my mind when I first read that. So baby update... the kid is still small. I get a lot of people asking me "how's the baby?" Nice of them to ask, but I really don't know. So if you'd like to know go to babycenter.com and enter Feb 27th 2011 for the due date. That is what I have been going off of. Now that I think of it,maybe Im only 10 weeks. They moved my due date back to March 3rd... uggg Who knows.. Im 10-11 weeks.
I was put on a progesterone supplement a few weeks back and WEW! Those are a trip! At first I was taking them twice a day but I would have to plan my day around them because I would become "Drunk". Luckily the doctor said I could take them both at the same time at night. Well these pills make for some great "High on Acid" like dreams. I've had some crazy ones.
My hormone levels have gone up to where the doctors feel better, and the baby's heart beat is Strong. They were very shocked how fast they could find the heart beat. I have a very cooperative baby. Let's pray this trait is a life long one.

I bought my first set of Maternity clothes. 3 Shirts and a good pair of pants. Oh how I love these pants. I was told they will stretch with me through-out the pregnancy. I would even recommend these pants to the non pregnants for buffets... or holidays. No need to undo any buttons, just let your gut go!!

I've become great friends with restrooms mostly to potty, thankfully the "talking to the dragons", or "Calling Ralph on the big white phone" has just about stopped. I've have fewer and fewer visits for vomiting. I think everywhere I go I have to quickly search out for the potty. haha soon Ill know where every potty is in any store.

Eric cracks me up with this baby gig. He is a HUGE support and is kind enough to have "sympathy" cravings. haha he has been kind enough to take me out for a hunt for soft pretzels. He is always checking on me and any chance to sit he makes me sit!
He will often converse with the fetus and most of these conversations, I am not to be part of. Usually they are about me. It just makes me laugh and of course then my belly starts laughing. He will look at me like I am interrupting something important or he'll say "Baby says 'Knock it off!'"
Im so glad he is having fun with this and I can't wait for him to feel the baby move. Oh and I am excited for that too! ;)

I'm Sorry, so sorry....

So I've promised pictures time and time again. However, I need to just load up my flashdrive, and go "borrow" someone elses internet for a few hours and post some stinkin pictures!! Everytime I try to upload a picture or even a video, our internet craps out. Fabulous right? uggg I can't wait to get into a house with OUR internet system. I've never had this problem before. Sigh Oh well. Perhaps this week I will carry my laptop somewhere and load pictures to cover for the past 20 posts AND update my Photography blog.

So hang in there, I will be posting our past few weeks in a few!

Finally!!!

I can post about our CURRENT lives!!! We/I am Pregnant!! Wooo!!!
This all started Beginning of June. There was a conversation about being mentally ready and financially. You'll never be financially ready unless you have 20 million bucks i guess. So as we joked about it we looked up to see what it would be... I know those calendars are fake but its fun.

Eric and I kept it hush for a few weeks, we told a few close friends that swore not to spoil our surprise. The Egbert family received the news on Father's Day with a card signed "Eric, Diana & ?"
Keeping it from everyone and keeping it off facebook was hard!
This last weekend we made the trip down to Phoenix. It was our scheduled month to be there so it wasn't too odd. Once we got there we searched for a hamburger bun and with no luck we dined out to Sonic.
Once we were back, bun in hand Eric slipped away and wrote "Property of Eric and Diana" on it then stuffed it in the oven.
His mom walked in the kitchen a few times then we turned the oven light on so maybe she would notice. Eric eventually had to ask her what was in there... hahaha It took some thinking but she finally understood the message!
This will be the 1st grandchild for his family and it will be #44 for my family... BIG difference, but just as much love!

The week after we conceived, and yes it was like a one shot one kill type of thing, I could feel it. It was like mutant sperm!! It wasn't until the 3rd week that I felt sick and even lost a few meals.
Last week I had some light spotting and it got a little worse, I made an appointment before our PHX trip and was told that it could be from heavy lifting or other "activities" but the baby is fine! I had blood drawn twice and had to go it for an ultrasound today!

Everything is where it should be and is fine. I even got to hear the heart beat!! Oh man if that wont bring tears to your eyes, something is wrong with you. Hearing that and seeing this tiny peanut shaped fuzz make small movements just makes this pregnancy so real. Here is one of Babies first picture!!