Christmas and Birthday

This year we got to have everyone over for Christmas day dinner- 18 people in all! It was a lot of fun to have both sides of the family together and even Robyn's parents came. Jon and I then went to a wedding in New Braunfels and to Austin Saturday night for my 34th birthday! We got to have dinner with my great friend JoAnna and her husband, and we got to see the Klubniks again! (Jons brother's family).

I am now 32 weeks pregnant and feeling baby a lot as she is very active most of the day! It's hard to believe that next Christmas we will have a little baby crawling around! Good thing for older nieces and nephews! :o)

What does a kitchen, swollen feet, and symphony have in common?

So each month in my pregnancy journal it has asked "most embarrassing moment so far", and each time, I have thought... "nothing really! " Well, I finally have one that I can write down and I thought, "what the heck, why not share it with everybody!" So, if you were wondering why I would post a very ugly picture of my feet- I am going to share. (By the way, I know I need a pedicure, that is on my long list of things to do, so no comments regarding that please! :o) The picture doesn't do justice to just how large they were.)

So to start things off on a good note, we got our kitchen cabinets and walls painted this week! It looks great!! I was very happy to get that done and I wanted to save a few bucks and put the hardware on myself. So for about 4 hours on Saturday, I drilled holes and was up and down on counters and a ladder. No big deal, I love doing home projects; but what I keep forgetting to put into the equation is that I am now a few days short of 8 months pregnant and not able to do all things I am used to doing. By the end of the day, I realized my ankles and feet had grown to a very large size and it felt like I was carrying around ankle weights. This phenomenon is graciously referred to by pregnant women as getting "CANKLES" (ankles that resemble calves).

No time to rest though. Jon's parents were coming over to go to dinner and to Handel's Messiah at Jones Hall downtown. After dinner, my legs were in pain and swollen. Jon agreed to drop his mom and pregnant wife off at the front; to which I was very thankful for.
Here comes the fun part... (Imagine Jones Hall during Christmas season with everyone waiting outside, all dressed up, and ready for a great performance...) Jon pulled up to the curb and I opened the door and somehow didn't quite get my footing right. Whether it was swollen feet, big belly in front, misplaced curb, or just carelessness isn't really too important now because down I went! I went from the Tahoe straight to the cement on my face in 1 second flat! Jon was very upset and did the right thing by being very concerned (kudos to Jon) and rushing over to make sure Baby and I were OK. Besides being completely embarrassed and a few cuts, we survived.

So a kitchen, swollen feet, and a symphony equal a good day gone really bad! I guess I have learned the hard way (like everything else I learn), that I need to slow down right now and just enjoy being pregnant and not try to take on the world for the next couple of months! Humm, as I just wrote that I realized that my list of things to do this week is too long and who am I kidding?!!
Hope everyone has a wonderful next few days before Christmas!

A wonderful friend to the rescue!

Over 2 months ago, my friend Lindsay suggested that I get a certain book to help me decide on what to register for baby. So I went online and ordered a copy only to realize there was a new edition coming out, so of course I wanted to wait for it. About 3 weeks ago, I got a notice saying that it still had not come out yet but it should be in by the end of Nov. As of today, still nothing. But I went to 3 different book stores looking for it and no one had it- they had a book by a similar name, but I was waiting for a specific one...

Yesterday, Lindsay agreed (even joyously) to go to Babies R us and help me register and to bring along her old edition of the book. Well..... it turns out I had the name of the book wrong and the one she wanted me to get was in the bookstores! "What book is this?" you ask. Baby Bargains-- but I was and am waiting on the book called The BIG book of Baby Bargains!!! So I waited 2 months for the wrong book!

So, long story short; we had fun registering and I learned that I need to pay closer attention to details these days as my memory is not what it used to be!

Oh, and did I mention Lindsay has twin girls and baby #3 on the way! I needed the expert advice and knew she would be a great help! Thanks Linds!

Swelling and Kicking

so this is what happens when you become pregnant... I had heard friends say that they got swollen ankles and legs during pregnancy, but thought maybe, just maybe I could avoid that! WRONG! Let me just tell you that it is a weird feeling to carry around a bunch of water and to see you legs puff up and to know that it's normal!

That and I think baby is training for the 2012 gymnastics while she is in my belly! -I guess she figures she could join the Chinese team, so she is getting all her training now! Jon finally got to really feel her kicking last night and as he put it" Wow! Tiff, she is really strong!" Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that I can tell she is going OK- I am just wondering if my insides are going to be OK after this!
So off to bed I go to elevate my legs and lie on my side so baby can do her flips!

Christmas card pictures

Our friends, Heather and Tim decided today was a good day to take Christmas photos, so we headed to Herman park to take some. These are some fun ones, but not necessarily the ones we are going to use! Oh, by the way I am 28 weeks pregnant- 7months!!

Good News Update!

I have many things to be thankful for today! First off, as you can see the curtains are FINALLY done! Somehow it turned into a massive project that took me way too many hours to complete! (it might have something to do with the fact that I had to redo a lot of things because I didn't measure twice and cut once as my mom pointed out!) And although the color looks off in the picture- they really do match the walls quite well! We also got one bumper done, a pillow, and the dust ruffle! Maybe in 4-6 more hours I could actually have the room done! HA MAYBE... :o)
Secondly, I PASSED my 2nd gestational diabetes test so I can eat PB&J to my heart's delight! Well, not really; she said to cut down on carbs, sweets, and fruit- what else is there to eat is my question!
Third, I got my hair fixed! It is A LOT shorter than I had planned on going but that was the only way to fix the horrible mess the other person made of it! Will post Thanksgiving pictures tomorrow!
Fourth, Thank you to my friends and family who actually read my nonsense that I post on here! It makes my day to know that you guys care about the silly things in my life right now! :o)
Fifth, I am thankful that I have a husband who I know loves me, even if we don't always agree on things!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

What is the proper thing to do?....

Ok here is the situation; you are trying to find a hair stylist close to home without paying an arm and a leg for a haircut and partial high -lights. Then you find one, show up and realize as the guy is cutting your hair that he really doesn't know what he is doing and you just made a huge mistake. You don't want him to touch anymore of your hair, so you say "OK- that's good " without him even blow drying it. You go to pay and realize you still spent the $125 you were trying not to spend. Then you get in the car and start crying! By the time you get home and rewash, and style it you realize you have a huge chunk of hair missing in the front where 3 inches of very slow growing hair used to be and your high lights looked horrible!

Add to that hormones of being pregnant, spending 3 hours at the hospital, having your blood drawn 4 times within those 3 hours this morning, and I ask " what is the proper thing to do?" Do you go back and ask for a refund? Do you just go somewhere else and hand over your wallet for someone to fix what just happened (as if they could actually glue your hair back on)? Do you forget about it and go around looking like a fool?

Well, in case you have not caught on- I just had the WORST HAIRCUT and COLOR ever!!!! My gracious husband who was at a complete loss of words and what to do, kindly drove me back to the salon where; yes, I told them it was horrible- all I had to do was show them the results and they gave me my money back.
So now, I get to go spend another couple of hours tomorrow at the one salon I trust and spend a small fortune to get my hair fixed! Needless to say, the entire year it took me to grow my hair out is now gone and hopefully what is left won't fall out because of the horrible color job that was done!
And no, I am not posting a picture of what I look like right now!

I will list one thing I am thankful for though so this whole entry is not bad... Jon was very supportive and kind and was very helpful during this whole thing tongiht! I am glad that he didn't just tell me to forget about it or not too worry about it! He did the right thing by saying we can get it fixed; don't worry about the cost! (however, that is a major worry right now)! So thank you Jon!

How quickly time flies by...

I realize I have not updated this in almost a month, and yet it seems like only the other day! I was shopping for gifts for Angel's of Light at our church and after I bought this baby doll I realized that she is 13 inches, yet baby Klubnik is almost 15 inches! I could not believe that there is a baby bigger than this inside of me right now! I have had one person say that I was big and yet even today people didn't even notice that I was pregnant! Go figure!

The weirdest thing for me to get used to right now is how much she is kicking me and how crazy it feels! It's quite a new sensation to see my stomach moving and to be kicked from the inside!

I have also been busy working on the nursery sewing all sorts of things- and I am really excited by how good it is turning out! My mom has helped with some of it, and usually I need her to correct all my mistakes, but I think I have done pretty good this time. I will post pictures of the room later this week once I get more of it done!

Tomorrow I go back to the doctor because I failed my gestational diabetes test, so I have to do another 3 hour one! Considering I still don't like most foods these days and have a really hard time finding something to eat- this could be quite a challenge if I have to go on a strict diet! Please pray for a good test result and for me to be able to go back to eating my beloved cereal and PB&J!

Nursery Preview

Here is how the nursery looks so far. And in case you are wondering both paint and furniture choices are gender neutral! I am waiting on the fabric that I ordered and the pictures I had framed to come in (both of which are very gender specific!) But we worked really hard on these stripes and I am very happy with the way they turned out! :o)

The door there goes to the attic- which ruins the flow of the room! and my stripes!

22 week update

We had another doctor appointment yesterday and baby is doing great! I thought I would let you know the heart rate for those who want to guess if baby is a girl or boy- 148 hpm. Take your best guess and let me know what you think! :o) For those of you that I don't see very often here is what I looked like this past weekend at 22 weeks. I finally popped out last week and now I do look pregnant and not just bloated! I have also put on a few more pounds since my last visit, so I am doing good!

Jon put the crib together last night- it's so beautiful! We also finished painting stripes on the walls this weekend. If you don't have a lot of time- forget trying to do stripes; unless you don't care if they are perfect! I will post pictures once I get more of the nursery done- but I am excited at how it is going to look!

The joys of worry!

I had one of those nights last night when I could not sleep and when I finally did fall asleep I was dreaming of all my worries! I am extremely congested right now and when I lay down, I can't breathe-so I am trying the couch to ease my drainage. So what is my top worry right now? The crib, and bedding! Yes, I know how trivial can I be?

If you know me at all, you know that I am a very decisive person and make quick decisions. However, for the life of me, I have not been able to make a decision and it is driving me crazy! So yesterday, with Jon in Oregon, I decided it was time to make a decision regarding the crib. (He is OK with not having a say in this! :o) So after going to 3 stores yesterday and numerous others in the previous days, and countless hours spent online, I decided on a crib and dresser and felt pretty good about it (the one I bought is the one in the picture). Then I went home and looked online again and found yet another crib I really love! I emailed pictures of both to Jon and stated my utter confusion in the matter and that I had no clue as to what I should do! He much to my dismay, wasn't too concerned either way, as both were good to him! So last night while trying to breathe and sleep, my main concern was, "did I get the right crib?" Of course, I was also fretting over the bedding that I am trying to pick out- but that is another topic for another night!

If I am having this hard of a time with this decision, I can only imagine what the rest of the decisions are going to do to me! Luckily, I think we are almost definite on the name and I am so glad we started thinking of that months ago before this wave of indecision swept over me!

When Baby comes, I am sure I will be up many nights worrying about anything and everything that could happen -so maybe this is just practice! :o)

With all the crisis going on right now in this world, I am glad I have my priorities right! Haha

Baby pictures!

Here are some fun ultrasound pictures taken at 20 weeks! The ones of the face look like a skeleton- kinda scary! The nurse said that it's b/c they don't have enough fat on them at this point! the other ones are much cuter! Can you tell if baby is a boy or a girl??? Well, not in these pictures- still going to have to wait for that one! ;O)

A boy or a girl...

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound! Baby's measurements seem to be right on track! Although I must admit, it really is hard to tell exactly what you are looking at when you see this black and white little picture moving around! Both Jon and I said "Is that the so and so..." many times to be completely wrong! :o)
So you are wondering if we found out today what baby's gender is? Well, we did find out! Jon was very gracious and decided that it would be fun to find out now and be able to plan for certain things ahead of time! So now it is time for me to get on the ball and start planning the nursery! I am very excited!
I will post some pictures tomorrow once I scan them in. And no I did not tell you what we found out!!!! May have to wait a little longer for that news! Want to tell family first! :o)

Gas? bubbles? twitching? or baby?

For the last week, I have had a whole new sensation going on inside of me. At first, I could barely feel anything and when I did it felt like I might have gas or bubbles inside of me. Now I feel like my lower stomach does this automatic twitching every so often and I am not quite sure I like the feel of it! It is exciting to know that baby is getting bigger and now I can actually tell when he/she is moving, but I am not so sure on how it feels right now!

We go on October 1 for the big ultrasound (20 weeks) where they do all the measurements to make sure baby is developing OK and we could find out if baby is a boy or girl. Don't hold your breath on that one though, because Jon doesn't want to find out until delivery day... I however, am dying to know and want desperately to decorate a super cute nursery! So my secret prayer is that baby will make it very clear in the ultrasound and we will get a big surprise next Wednesday! :o) Can't hurt to pray!

IKE took a hike right through Houston!

We are VERY grateful that most of the damage done to the Houston area is downed trees and no power! It looks like a disaster zone but amazingly, very few houses were really affected by the 100 mile an hour winds. Galveston is of course another story though. It has been fun to see neighbors out helping each other and with most people without power, many are just hanging out outside getting to know each other. We were some of the lucky few who got power less than 24 hours after the storm!

We lost two big trees and had a lot to clean up, but fared the storm quite well! I will say though, it was NOT fun to go through it and it was extremely scary as it was soooooo loud! Next time, I would not mind going out of town to avoid the whole thing!

Jon and I took a walk tonight and it was crazy to see every other street with electricity on one side but not the other and most streets were completely dark and quite, except for the occasional hum of generators. Power cords were scattered on the streets to help out the neighbors across the streets without power, and flashlights danced around inside houses.

Big Storm??

Well, we have cleaned up the back patio and properly stored all possible flying objects (Hopefully); and are waiting to see if IKE is going to devastate us tomorrow night! Will keep you informed of anything crazy that happens here and pray that nothing does!!!

ALOHA!

My wonderful husband took me on a 10 day trip to Maui, Hawaii! We wanted to be able to take one more big trip before baby comes and before I get too big. When we went last year, we got lured into buying a timeshare- which actually has been a great thing, so we decided to use some of our points on the land of Aloha. Jon and I have figured out that we can't say "no" to a good sales pitch- even this year, we bought more points from them! (when we will learn?- hopefully before our kid(s) get too clever for us!) But, if you ever need advice on buying a timeshare, we can definitely help you out! :o)

So our trip this year was more for relaxing and just doing whatever than the big activities like we did last year. (the top blog picture was taken from a helicopter in Kaui last year- beautiful isn't it?) We did one boat ride to see the big sea turtles and snorkel around the crater/island. We got to swim with the turtles and I could have reached out and touched two of them; except for the $10,000 fine if I did! Our friends from our small group; Kim and Wayne were also in Maui, so we got to hang out with them a couple of times. Other than that, it was relaxing at the pool/beach, snorkeling, hiking the crater ( to see teh "magma"), going on Jon's driving adventures, or napping!

Here is what I have learned about myself: I think I much prefer warmer water and I like to go to places that have restaurants that I have been to before! Jon doesn't understand why I don't just jump into the water like he prefers (I inch my way in), and I don't last very long once I am in the water! Secondly, although I have always been a picky eater, since being pregnant I have a new disgust for pretty much all food. Which by the way, makes eating every 2-3 hours a nightmare! Needless to say, this was not pleasant for Jon (who by the way likes EVERY food) and he couldn't understand why I couldn't just stick it in my mouth, chew, and then swallow! However, I do appreciate his kindness and patience with me when I reached my mealtdown points, and he was pretty good at helping me find something to eat! I thought by now I was supposed to have food cravings, not food hatred!!
Overall, it was a great trip! We left before Hurricane Gustav and got home in time to fret over Hurricane Ike and it's impending doom! Not a bad way to end the summer!

Colorado weekend

We did a very short trip this past weekend to Colorado. Jon's parent's get a cabin every year in a small town called Bailey (South of Denver in the Mts.), so we stayed with them for two nights. Our first day was spent in the emergency room (see previous blog), and then we drove to Winter Park for the night. That was a blast! We stayed right at the base of the ski slope and got to do some hiking on Sat. There is a lot to do there even in the summer. Jon was a little bit jealous b/c there was a huge mountain bike race going on throughout the ski slopes and he couldn't join them. Maybe next time... Then we drove to Bailey and stayed with his parents. We drove up over the mountians (some pass?) and went to a historic town at the bottom of the mt. called Georgetown (very cute). I however, was having a bad food day and was extremely hungry and nothing sounded good- so I was pretty miserable to be around that day! Ramen noodles when all else fails! The fox in the picture would come by and hang out , and wait to be fed! Pretty fun to see them!
Jon has a dream vacation of spending a week in the mountains and a week at the beach. This was as close to that dream as we could come with 3 days in CO. followed by our trip to Hawaii for 9 days this Friday. ALOHA!!!!