football season and baby update

Football season is in full swing.
Now, I never much cared for football.
I liked going to watch my brother play in high school, and I can't wait to go watch him play college football next fall but lets face it, I'm not a huge fan of watching people line up, run and hit a few people for 10 seconds, then line up again.

Sorry Bryant, baseball is just better...

But I knew that I would have to learn to like it when I married Bryant.
He was, as I like to call him, a "football nerd" in High school, and he even played at his Junior college.

He's a sports guy all around.
I swore i'd never marry a "jock", he swore he's never marry a "Utah girl".
Funny how things like that end up getting flip-flopped.

But, it's growing on me.
I DO have fun going to live games, it's when it's on TV that I get distracted and bored.

I also really LOVE watching Bryant play.

He is playing on an intramural flag football team with his brother Tyler, and yesterday was their 2nd game. Of course I went along to be their cheerleader.
He's actually really really good at it. I had fun watching, even if I only knew what was going on half the time.

If I was Bryant's girlfriend in high school, I would have gone to every one of his games.
You bet your buttons.

After his game, we decided to go watch the game at my old high school. My family was all going and my youngest brother's FFA group was working the concessions to raise some money.
I even wore my lettermans jacket (thats right, I lettered in high school!)

I thought about wearing Bryant's old lettermans jacket, you know, like in those classic brat pack movies where the girl wear their sweethearts jackets and class rings? But I figured I'd show some school spirit.

It was a lot of fun and if I don't work, I plan on going to the homecoming game too.

Also, this week I am 13 weeks along. My last week of my first trimester! Can I get a woo woo!?
From what everyone tells me, the 2nd trimester is the best. It's when your morning sickness starts to go away, and your not big enough to get too uncomfortable.

I've felt a teeny bit better, It really depends on the day and what I have or haven't eaten. I lost my breakfast this morning just before work (dang you milk!) but I'm hoping that my morning sickness decides to take a hike soon. Two new annoyances have cropped up though: heartburn and leg craps. Jeeze louise!

So this was me last week at 12 weeks...


And this is me today at 13

I probably shouldn't have worn stripes for the picture because they tend to make you look wider than you really are...
As for achievement this week:
the little peach is now 3 inches long
can suck it's thumb
its intestines are moving from the umbilical cord to the abdomen
and it's vocal cords a continuing to grow.

Awesome huh?

I also just realized that in about 7-ish weeks we will be able to find out what it is! And i'll be halfway through my pregnancy. Just in time for Thanksgiving! (which by the way, I can't WAIT for! I made myself mashed potatoes, corn, and stuffing the other day, and I got a kneaders turkey sandwich today, just so I could pick out the turkey...)

Ace goes for a swim

I was feeling super sick all day and could hardly get off the couch. Finally, in the evening, I decided that what I really needed was a bit of fresh air. So Bryant, my little sister, my dog Ace and I hopped onto the 4-wheeler and headed up to a small pond up the street from my house. I love Bryant's iphone, it takes video, woo!

Ace is such a spaz, I didn't get a good video, but his favorite thing to do is go rock-diving. We will throw a rock in the water and he will stick his whole head in until he can grab a rock. He doesn't bring it back to us, he just returns it to dry land then waits for the next one.

What a wierdy, but we love him anyways...

23 years

Well, here I am! 23 and kickin'!

I know this sounds a little selfish, but I love my birthday. Like I told Bryant today, it's my little kick-off to the holiday season. My birthday this month, Halloween next month, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years! Woo!

I am the luckiest girl alive.
My husband always makes my birthday so special.
When we were dating, he threw me a surprise party with some of my friends.
Last year, we went to a nice dinner and authorpalooza at my work.
This year, he just flat out spoiled me.

You know that scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's where she decides to spend the day doing things she enjoys and then doing things he enjoys?
My day was like that.
And it was perfect!

First, I slept in all morning long (a luxury now that i'm getting to that point in my pregnancy where I no longer have to get up 3 times a night to use the bathroom, and thanks to the meds my doc gave me, morning sickness is on its way out the door!)

Bryant finally had to force me out of bed so I wouldn't spend the whole day sleeping.
I then ate my favorite breakfast in the whole world: Cream of Wheat with toast dipped in it!
yum yum yum!

Then I got ready and we headed out for the day!

Our first stop was the sister store to where my husband works to pick me out a better pair of shoes for work (I'll be needing them with the increased hours during the holiday season and the increased size of my belly too!) They are super comfortable and the best part was they were free!!! AND, one of the girls who works theirs husband came in to visit her and brought their adorable beagle/spaniel mix puppy that I got to play with!

Next it was off to the mall where I was on the hunt for some jewelery. Normally I would want clothes but I'm in a weird limbo stage where I don't fit in my normal pants and I won't quite fit into maternity cloths just yet. Also, my inlaws gave me a giftcard to the maternity store! I can't wait to use it!

I didn't find any jewelery I liked, but I did find the She and Him CD's I've been dying for and Bryant bought BOTH of them for me! What a sweetheart!

(did I mention that this whole time, he was missing the BYU game? He was sacrificing his favorite thing to watch just to do whatever I wanted to do)

After the mall, we met up with his parents who are in town for the weekend to go play some mini golf at Trafalga.


Me

Bryant keeping score

My darling mother-in-law Robyn (I got so lucky with my in-laws, I love them!)

Needless to say, I won the game...
Even though Bryant got 3 hole-in-ones...
But, not to brag or anything...

After golf, we headed over to a pizza place for lunch. Once again, my in-laws spoiled me and got me (in addition to the gift card) an adorable elephant baby toy, A picture frame to put monthly photos of your baby for their first year and a super cute shirt!!!

Ed, Robyn, You guys really are the best in-laws anyone could ever ask for.

After a quick stop at best buy to get the new Halo game for Bryant, we headed home and watched one of my favorite movies ever: Love Actually. Which of course, I cried at the end like I always do, while I ate half a bag of Reeses Peanut butter cups (another thing I love about Halloween: candy in bulk!)

I've decided since Bryant has been so awesome and amazing today and really spoiling me, I told him to go ahead and play his new Halo game while I typed up this post.


He's really excited if you cant tell.
(also, don't mind my off-center picture there, we just moved the TV into this room and I haven't balanced everything yet.

Tomorrow, we are meeting my family up at one of my favorite cafes for breakfast before we have to teach the worlds worst 7 year olds.

I really have the best husband, the best family and the best friends in the whole world!

And dad, if your reading this, I do wear shoes... I just bought a pair today in fact haha!

I'm already completely in love...

I had my first OBGYN appointment today!
I decided to go with the doctors who delivered my little sister because they are actually a team of 5 doctors and you meet with all of them, so no matter what, there is no chance of your doctor being out of town when you go into labor (when my mom had me, the doctor was in California seeing the Pope, he had to rush back!)

I was really grateful that Bryant was able to take a couple hours off work to come with me. I get so nervous about needles and all the poking and prodding that goes along with all doc appointments. I was super calm with Bryant there, I wasn't nervous at all.

Unfortunately, they couldn't do any of the normal tests (blood, pap, that kind of stuff) because they don't accept baby your baby (the state insurance I'm on right now) even after I had called and made sure they did. They just said they would do it all next time.

I DID however, get to have an ultrasound. That really surprised me cause I didn't think they would do one on my first appointment.


When the doctor first found it, it sat there for a second and then suddenly jumped! It kind of looked like it was doing the worm. It was so funny and I was laughing so hard that the screen was bouncing all over the place.

It was right there and then that my whole heart fell in love with this baby. At that moment I realized that all of this is real and that I was becoming a mother. I suddenly was willing to do anything and everything for this baby. I want to make sure that I am doing everything possible to keep this baby healthy, safe and strong.

I'm pretty sure it already knows how much I love him/her because I always prayed to my Heavenly Father that he would let my future children know how much I already loved them and how badly I wanted them to be here on earth with me.

The doctor measured the baby and said that he was pushing my due date to April 1st (April fools day, how did we pull that one off? hahaha!). He said that my cycle was probably off a few days and thats why it's only the size of and 11 week old instead of 12. So I am 11 weeks and 5 days along. Thursday will be when I am actually 12 weeks along instead of last Thursday. Make sense?

They also gave me a handful of pregnancy magazines, prenatal vitamin samples, and a prescription for something to help my morning sickness (hallelujah!)

I was actually thinking the morning sickness was getting better because I hadn't tossed my cookies in about a week (nausea was still bad though) until today when I lost breakfast in the parking lot at school in front of everybody that was getting off the shuttle. Gross, not to mention embarrassing.

I think being able to see my baby pull out the dance moves definitely ranks in my top 5 best moments ever list.

3 down, 6 to go!

Well, here we are at 12 weeks along!
The home stretch of the first trimester!
Three months down, 6 more to go!

I thought I'd just share a bit how baby Stokes has progressed this last week:

This week, my uterus is about the size of this grapefruit (I know, you were all dying to know how big my uterus was... kidding!)


And the Baby is roughly the size of a large lime


Or a small peach


These were picked just this afternoon from my mom's peach tree. Do I smell some peach cobbler in the near future? Yum!

Also, I think it's kind of cute to refer to the baby as "the peach" hahaha!

And my belly is really starting to get big (well, bigger than it was)








This was taken last week when I was 11 weeks.
No bump really showing.














And this was taken just a few minutes ago. You can really tell the difference when I don't have a sweater covering the bump up, but I've got some gross stretch marks and ugly blue veins on my stomach that I'm not really wanting to post onto the world wide web. Sorry guys.

I couldn't really believe that I was "showing" so soon, but when I was picking peaches and passing the grapefruit at the grocery store, I realized that those are big fruits to pack into my previously tiny figure.

And it's not even really a cute bump yet. Everything is still low by my pelvis and slowly making it's way upward (oh, hello heartburn) so it's really just this funny looking "pouch" underneath my belly button.

Things that "the peach" has accomplished this week:

It's intestines are settling into their permanent position
It's vocal cords are developing
It can now squint, flex, grimace, curl its toes, suck, kick, and punch (you know, vital skills it will need for throwing tantrums during the terrible 2's)

Most of it's major organs are now developed and functioning and eyes and ears have moved into their permanent place as well so from here on out it's mostly just growing.
It's 3 inches now, within 4 more weeks it will be between 7 and 8!

As for me this week:

I only got up to pee ONCE last night (and it was only a half hour before I had to actually get up. Woo!)
My hips hurt all the time
I'm tired all the time and I take way too long of naps
The morning sickness is getting worse and I spent 20 minutes of American History in the bathroom losing my breakfast (and, by the way UVU, you should really think about sticking more womens bathrooms in those way far away and hidden classroom areas.)
I eat way too often. Never big meals, I fill up fast, but an hour later and I feel like I haven't eaten in days!
I cried watching a car commercial the other day, meaning my hormones are still out of whack.

I DID finally get approved for baby your baby (a free state insurance program) which means I really need to get into a doctor now. (Yeah, 12 weeks and I still haven't seen a doctor, talk about procrastination... well, not really cause I had to get approved for baby your baby, but still...)

It was good, I brought my mom along and they had me go through some paperwork, give my medical history and watch a video on brushing your teeth and making sure your baby have healthy teeth too. After that I met with a nurse who gave me TONS of packets and fliers full of info on everything from car seats to parenting classes to morning sickness remedies (she said mine should clear up withing the next couple weeks, I'm crossing my fingers!) and answered all the questions I had.

I can't wait to get into a doctor so I can finally know that everything is going ok (I'm pretty sure it is because I've been feeling pretty normal, as far as pregnancy goes but it's always nice to hear it from a doctor you know?) and hopefully get a chance to hear the baby's heartbeat!!!


Well, that was just a bit of an update. Hopefully I'll be able to get into a doctor before my 13th week update!

Bryant's Birthday bash

Bryant's birthday was on Monday.
Unfortunately, he had to work and it was also his first day of school.

Bummer.

And, me being the procrastinator that I am, didn't get around to buying him a present until only a couple hours before he came home.

But what I did get him was awesome!

So that evening, after a block party BBQ at my neighbors house, we came home and unceremoniously unwrapped his presents in my parents living room while eating some homemade cheesecake. I got him a BYU hat, seeing as he lost his old one while river rafting (after I told him not to wear his nice hat, of course...).

And...

These:

San Francisco 49ers baby onsies!
Ok, ok so I know the gift wasn't really for him, but I liked them so much and he's such a sports nut that I just had to get them!


And yes, they are kind of boyish and I don't find out what my baby is for a few more weeks. But I figured, boy or girl, if this baby is anything like Bryant, he/she will have to deal with Sunday night football.

I even got them in sizes for 6-8 months, just so that the baby can wear them during football season. Clever me.

My parents probably gave him his favorite present. They gave him Ace last year, which was also his favorite present, geeze, way to one up me mom and dad (just kidding! Love you!).

They got him these passes from Trafalga (a mini golf place near here) that include things like free mini golf, free batting cages, free go carts, free Owlz games (thats what I'm most excited about!!!) free 7 peaks passes (a water park) and a gazillion other things for 12 months!
They got one for me too! They said they figured we would be broke next summer what will having a baby and all and that we wouldn't get to spend that much on fun things and entertainment.

What was really funny was that just that weekend we had gone mini golfing with Bryant's brother and sister and saw those passes and Bryant was seconds away from buying them. Good thing he didnt cause we got them for FREEEEEEEE!

Thanks mom and dad!

Probably Bryant's biggest gift (I'm counting it as a gift, even though he bought it) is our new Mac! Woo Woo!

We needed a new computer so stinkin' badly and we finally got our grant money back, pulled out our savings, plus 200$ in gift cards and a chunk of money his parents gave him to finally purchase one. My favorite thing about it so far? The photobooth!

I can do fun things like infrared camera



Give myself two heads!


And go scuba diving!


Overall, even though I didn't go all-out like I wanted to for Bryant, I think he still enjoyed his birthday. He's the best husband in the whole entire world and I can't wait for the many many birthdays to come (and Christmases, and Father's days!)

I love you Bryant! Thanks for being the best!!!