25 weeks - an eggplant

Dear Kaycee,

Well, between Lake Powell last week and a sudden lack of interest in blogging, I didn't post your 24 week update. Sorry love. You were an eggplant last week too, so hopefully that partially makes up for it! This week, you are almost 2 pounds! That's so crazy! You're getting so big!!

Look how big you are!

I feel really good lately in terms of my motion sickness, which is a much needed relief. I am starting to feel the 3rd trimester exhaustion though. I feel tired all the time, and sleep is getting hard because it's hard to find a way to get comfortable, since my hips are starting to hurt again. I'm managing though - you're more than worth it.

You're big brother Max absolutely adores you. It's getting more and more apparent the bigger you get. He has turned into the most obedient little dog ever and follows me absolutely EVERYWHERE and as soon as I lay down, he is right next to me with his head on my tummy. If I sit down, he is usually in my lap resting between my legs. He REALLY likes you babe. I sure hope you like him as much as he likes you, because I can see you two being best friends for a long time. Mom loves dogs, especially Max and I can see you loving them just like me.

Dad & I have been calling each other "mom & dad" since we got Max, because we feel like he's our baby. Because of that, it hasn't seemed like a huge adjustment to get used to thinking I will be a mom to a real little person. But saying "brother" when we talk about Max, or calling you little sister, has been CRAZY! That is SUPER weird to think haha. And yes, I know Max isn't really your brother. But in a way, since he was mom's practice baby, he kinda is like a brother to you. And he's sure protecting you like a big brother!

I haven't been craving anything over the top weird lately. I haven't been feeling good, which translates into me craving cereal, but that's totally normal for me. Cereal or ice cream. When I don't feel good, I want something cold. There's a flu bug going around right now, and dad got a pretty nasty cold, so I think that's all my body is feeling. Hopefully it blows over soon and I go back to craving good healthy stuff.

I changed the date that my maternity leave will start at work a few days ago. The original plan was for me to stop working December 20, when you're 38 weeks. Because I am feeling more tired and such, dad & I decided to have my last day be November 22 instead. So you'll be 34 weeks instead! That's in less than 2 months. That blows my mind to think I won't be working anymore in less than 2 months. Well, I'll be working, just not at the bank anymore. I'll get to work with you instead! Talk about a job with good benefits. I can't wait.

Early Monday morning {2 days ago} I was laying in bed texting dad. He was on his way home and I was trying to convince him to stop at the grocery store and get some cereal {he did, by the way}. While we were texting, I could feel you moving and put my hand on my tummy right where I felt it and I could feel you moving from the outside! I haven't been able to feel you from the outside yet! I was so bummed dad wasn't home, he has been SOO excited to get to feel you move and constantly puts his hand next to you. Hopefully you move again soon so that he can feel you!

That's all for this week little one. I love you so much and can't wait until January to meet you.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Sorry no picture of my tummy this week - I kept postponing this post because I hadn't taken one yet and decided to just post without my tummy. I'll have one for your next post though, promise!

23 weeks - an ear of corn

Dear Kaycee,

Tomorrow you'll be 24 weeks. Sorry I'm so behind! But today, you're still 23 weeks so let's talk about that!

This week, you are the size of an ear of corn. And that's pretty dang big! I can't believe how much you're growing. I've felt really good this week - haven't thrown up since early last week which is super nice. I haven't felt much movement, other than the football game last Friday, but I think that's because you're just little and so much like dad.

The biggest thing that has happened this week is that I have been pretty "down" about how much weight I have gained and how much my body has changed. I kept thinking these things were pregnancy caused and there's nothing I can do about it. Until I did the math and realized just how much I have gained. Considering you're just over halfway done, I shouldn't have gained this much. And that hit hard. I started looking at pictures from before I found out we were pregnant and immediately felt sad that my body doesn't look like that anymore. And based off of popular belief and what I always hear, my body won't ever look like that again. Not that it was perfect, by ANY means. Losing 130 pounds makes your body look different than you'd imagine but I was proud of how I looked. For a split second, I regretted what pregnancy is doing to my body.

And then I realized what that meant. I DO NOT REGRET YOU. Not for one single second. If it means I gain all the weight I ever lost and more that's fine. I want to be a mom. I want to be YOUR mom. And you are worth it. You're going to be MORE than worth it.

So I decided to do something about my weight gain. I started tracking my calories again. And rather than eating so many carbs, like crackers and stuff, I started eating WAY more vegetables and fruits, like I did before I was pregnant. If I want to feel like I did before I got pregnant, it makes sense that I would treat my body the way that I used to. I'll talk more about that in this next week's post.

And here's a pic from this week. YAY for dad helping me!



Yay for you being here in 16-ish weeks! And your 24 week appointment is today - can't wait to hear your cute heart beat again! Love you princess!

Love,
Mom

BYU vs Texas aKa pretty awesome weekend

I had a pretty stinkin' awesome weekend! Let's start with Friday.

Came home from work, picked up my handsome hubby and we went to get a foot long sandwich to share at Subway. Then we came home and Jake took out the driveline in the truck. It's been acting up a little bit, and making a lot of noise, so we want to fix it before it gets any worse. Jake found a place in Lehi that could fix it for pretty cheap, so he climbed underneath the truck and pulled it out.

Can I just say that I LOVE my mechanic husband?! SOOO awesome he can do stuff like this all by himself!

The driveline after it was out of the truck

We drove it in the Mazda and dropped it off at the shop, then went and visited with Kjell & Paige & Kjell's parents for a little bit. They are expecting their little girl ANY day now - we are so excited for them! Another friend for Kaycee :) Then we went to the Westlake game - click here to read about that, since I made a separate post about it.

Saturday morning I had to work for a few hours, but it went by fast. While I was at work, Jake cleaned up the house a little bit, which I TOTALLY appreciated. After I got off work, I went to Wal Mart and bought the stuff for Lizzy {my step sister's} birthday gift and for the Snickers salad I needed to take to the family part the next day. I also found some clearance clothes {clothes at Wal Mart - ghetto ya?} that were too good of a deal to pass up. I got Jake 2 swimsuits for Lake Powell that were $1.50 each, a pair of basketball shorts for me, since I keep taking Jake's, for $3, a pair of pajama pants for $3 and a dress to wear over my swimsuit in Lake Powell for $2. Score!!

I came home and we watched a little TV before Jake decided to take the Mazda to his parents house to rotate the tires. I tidied the house a little and then sat down to watch TV. Didn't take long before it was POURING rain outside. We got a flash flood warning, but it didn't rain hard enough in our area to cause concern so I just enjoyed the rain. On Jake's way home from his parents, he stopped and got me some soup from Kneaders with a loaf of Asiago bread, plus some pumpkin bread and an irish cream white hot chocolate. YUM!! He wanted some pizza, so he stopped at Pizza Hut and got some for him and then we had ourselves a feast.

 

Because it was raining so bad in Provo, the game got delayed by almost 2 hours. That's two games in a row that had a storm delay! The Mall in Provo turned into a lake - there was serious car damage and some people were canoeing through the parking lot. There was THAT much rain! The game finally started at 7 and we settled in to watch it.

And were STUNNED by how well we performed! Our defense was ROCKIN'. And our running game was INSANE. Like INSANE INSANE. Taysom Hill {our QB} ran for over 260 yards, the second most running yards by a QB in NCAA history! We shattered our running game record {over 500 yards total} and also shattered the Texas record of never letting another team run up that many yards against them. Texas hasn't lost to a non conference team on the road since 2000. Well, they lost on Saturday! Final score was 40-21. Seriously, SOOOO AWESOME!! We were screaming and hollering up a storm - good thing none of our neighbors complained haha!

Sunday we went to church and then I went to my parents house for Lizzy's birthday. I wasn't able to stay for very long before I had to leave for presidency meeting, but I got to bring my gift over and spend some time with everyone for a little bit. She asked for money since she has been having car problems, and rather than giving her a $20 I decided to break it down into change. I got some $1's, 2 $5's, quarters, $0.50 pieces and a few $1 coins. I put them in the chocolate box I got at Wal Mart and wrapped it up. Everybody said she loved it and loved how creative it was. Gotta love Pinterest!

After Presidency Meeting I saw Jake off to work and then laid down for the night with my Max. I sure love cuddling him. He is so obedient lately too - it's almost like a different dog. But he has all the good traits from before, now he is just cuddly and obedient. It's quite nice haha.

 

Overall, it was an AMAZING weekend. Cuddling on the couch with rain falling while having soup and hot chocolate. Watching BYU slaughter Texas. Spending time with family and with my favorite guy & puppy. It was just great. Love weekends like that!

Westlake vs. Corner Canyon

Friday night, Jake & I went to see Westlake High School play Corner Canyon High. Main reason we chose to go? Because Popper earned the ability to cheer throughout the ENTIRE game with the Varsity squad! Way to go Popper!! Brynne & Blake came too, and my mom was also there!

Dance team performing at half time

Jake & Blake shared a HUMONGOUS donut - only cost $3!

Our cute cheerleader getting her bow fixed at half time

The whole Varsity squad with some of the JV Cheerleaders

Popper was in the back on the right hand side - doing the wave

Rallying after the cheer

Westlake ended up winning the game by 1 point. Jake & I left halfway through the 4th quarter and we missed all the action! So happy Westlake ended up winning though. The best part of the game was when Westlake scored their first touchdown. It was in the endzone we were sitting closest too, and was a pass with a little run at the end. I jumped up to celebrate the touchdown, and felt little miss Kaycee jump too. And oh did she jump - it almost scared me! And I'm sure it's all because I scared her haha. Between my sudden movement of jumping up and yelling out to cheer, I bet I woke her up. It was the COOLEST feeling ever though. And to have such a big movement at a football game was surely a sign - she's DEFINITELY gonna like football, just like her mom!

Labor Day Weekend

Last weekend was Labor Day and it was VERY relaxing and awesome to have such a long weekend. Because I am working this Saturday for Faith, she switched me schedules so I got her usual day off, which is Tuesday, so I had a 4 day weekend! Like I said, it was VERY relaxing.

Friday after I got home from work, Jake & I spent some time together and then we called it a night early. I wasn't quite tired yet, so I took a nice long bath and finished reading "The Hunger Games" for the second time. I forgot how much I like these books! Last time I read them, I hauled through them and read them each in a day, the first two in one sitting each. I wanted to slow down this time and try to absorb more of them, so I made myself take about a week to read the first one. Finishing it while soaking in the tub was a nice way to start out my weekend!

Saturday was the first BYU game of the season. FINALLY!! BYU vs. Virginia. Kickoff was set for 1:30, so I spent some time in the morning finishing tidying the house. I started cleaning out Kaycee's room a few weeks ago and decided to get rid of a few things in there. We had an old coffee table that Faith came and got, and an old vacuum that we gave to my high school friend Kate. And we had this ADORABLE sign that my friend Cassie made me for Christmas in there, just waiting to be hung up. She made 3 sets for me, one that says "Family", one that says "Winter" and one that says "Wicked". Guess which seasons those last two are for. The "Family" one is for "off seasons" and I absolutely LOVE it. Just didn't ever get around to hanging it. Well, right before the game, Jake helped me hang it up! It looks awesome!!

Before

After! It looks SOO good!!

I also ran to the grocery store for some game day snacks right before kick off. I was introduced a few months ago to this AMAZING dip called Texas Caviar and Jake has been begging me to make it. During the 1st quarter, I finally made it and it turned out perfect - SOOO dang yummy!! After 1st quarter, there was a rain/lightning delay and they evacuated the stadium for safety reasons. Turned into a 2 ish hour delay. I took a nice nap while they showed other games on ESPNU, the channel the game was scheduled for. Finally, they started the game again!

Due to the delay, there was another game set to come on when the game "should" have ended, but because it was only the beginning of 3rd quarter, they moved our game to another channel and started showing this new game on ESPNU. They had announced that in Utah & Virginia, the game would stay on ESPNU. Well they lied. We lost the game and we were I was kinda freaking out, until we figured out the channel they moved it to was one that we had! Our neighbors, the Peterson's, have DirecTV and didn't have that channel, so we invited them to come watch the game with us. It was super fun having them over - they have 3 adorable boys, one of who{m} was in my nursery class. Bummer part was BYU lost, 19-16. We threw an interception in the last few minutes of the game and Virginia scored off of it. It was pretty sad, but there's another 11 games to watch this season so it's ok!

After the game was over, we drove up Provo Canyon to spend some time with Jake's family. It was nice and relaxing up there and we had a lot of fun sitting and talking about the fire with his parents and Aunt Sally & Uncle Chuck. Kaycee decided she didn't like the ride up the canyon though and I ended up throwing up as soon as we got there, and as soon as we got out of the canyon. She seriously does NOT like car rides!

Sunday we woke up and had a relaxed morning before church, since it doesn't start until 1. I was scheduled to teach Young Women's that day and although I knew what lesson I was teaching, I hadn't prepared my lesson yet. Fortunately, the lesson {on tithing} came together super fast and it worked out perfectly! I also had the chance to bear my testimony during Sacrament Meeting about our experience at the Temple and how grateful I am for the Holy Ghost. It was an amazing 3 hours of church.

After we were finished at church, we came home and changed our clothes, grabbed the Texas Caviar and headed back up the canyon. Dustin {Jake's older brother} and his new girlfriend Keeshia and her son Hunter were there too, so we got to spend some time with them, which was WAY fun! Mom made lasagna in the crock pot with salad and we had our Texas Caviar, which was a big hit. It was delicious. Afterwards, we roasted s'mores around the fire and just talked until Jake & I got tired and we headed back home.

Monday was a nice relaxing morning as well - I sure love relaxing mornings. And it was SOO nice getting to sleep with Jake, since he didn't have to go to work on Sunday night thanks to the Labor Day holiday. We just enjoyed spending time with each other and Max.

He sure seems to like his bed in the living room a lot more lately! He lays in there with his rawhide anytime we are in the same room as him

Later in the afternoon, our friends Andrew & Keeshia asked if we wanted to go golfing. Of course we said yes! They brought their little boy Robby, who is HORRIBLE birth control. I swear he is a big reason we started trying to get pregnant when we did. Andrew also had two of his brothers and their wives come too - John & Camrie {who are due anyday} and Charles & Bonnie with their little boy Joel. It was SUPER fun, since the guys golfed and the girls just talked in the golf carts. Keeshia is expecting too, she's 3 weeks behind me and we are all pretty sure it's a girl. Which would be AWESOME because I'm sure she and Kaycee will be best friends. We played the front 9 at the Ranches Golf Course. Although we have lived on the course for 2 years, it was the first time I got to ride around the course on a cart. SO much fun - can't wait to do it again!

The guys at the last hole

Robby wanted to play too - it was adorable. To make sure he didn't get hit, Jake picked him up and was talking to him for a few minutes. Made this girl's heart MELT - he's gonna be SUCH a good dad!

Finishing off their last hole

Love this guy

We all went to dinner together at La Fuente in American Fork, next to Denny's. It was really good - I highly recommend it! After we left the restaurant, Jake mentioned 3 times in less than 5 minutes how much he liked it. Apparently we'll be going back there!

After we got home from golfing, Jake needed to get some sleep for work and I didn't want to keep him up, so I took another bath. And read all of the second Hunger Games book "Catching Fire". Was up until 3 in the morning but I finished it. This is why I wanted to slow down on those books haha - I read them WAY too fast!

Tuesday I spent most of the morning in bed, since I was up so late, and then gave Max a hair cut. That turned out WAY too short. He looks like a little naked rat haha. But it's hair, it'll grow back thankfully. I was in charge of mutual activity that night, combined with the Young Men. We played water volleyball! I had a hard time finding water balloons and just ended up buying normal balloons, but they worked out perfect. It was super fun! Afterwards we had chocolate popsicles and then the kids played normal volleyball. It was really fun!

And that wraps up our awesome Labor Day weekend! It was a really fun one - and a good kickoff for September. This month is going to be AWESOME, thanks to a couple trips, painting Kaycee's room - stuff like that. And it's FALL! And football is here! It really will be an awesome month!!