Week 32: So long dear, football season is here

I feel like I say this every week but I honestly can not believe another week has come and gone and we are one week closer to meeting our little girl.  We have approximately 8 weeks left and in just a few short days we'll be able to answer the question "when is your baby due" with the answer of NEXT MONTH!  Wow.  So many emotions about that one, but there is no stopping this.  And so, without further ado, I present to you, the 32 week belly bump.

Things are going smoothly for me and baby.  I really have been blessed with this part of my pregnancy being relatively easy to handle (nothing like the first 20 weeks thankfully!).  I hope that it continues like this but at the same time I'm expecting to have the pain/discomfort/etc hit hard any week now.  Only time will tell I guess.

We have also been blessed by the generosity of family and friends in the way of new and used baby goods.  Brett and I spent most of our free time this week washing and organizing baby clothes, folding blankets, setting up a baby swing, and marveling at all the cute little girl things that have officially taken over our little one bedroom apartment.

Aside from admiring precious baby stuff, this week was spent relaxing and spending time together.  My birthday is tomorrow but we started celebrating early (Brett took me shopping for new clothes!) because football season also unofficially starts tomorrow.  We actually had a BBQ dinner last night with a bunch of the coaches and the phrase used to describe the party was "So long dear, football season is here."  I talked to some of the other wives and to put it honestly, I don't even know what is about to hit. Football is a big deal here in texas and coaching high school football is not taken lightly. I do know that Brett's schedule for the next month is all day everyday until 8:30ish.  Then school starts and I'm sure that won't help matters.  The advice from the other wives was to stay as busy as possible and be prepared to rarely see your husband.  But...but... I like having my husband around!  We have been spoiled these last few months because our schedules have been less packed than normal and so going back to working/being away for long days will take some getting used to.

I don't think keeping myself busy will be my problem at the beginning, in fact our problem might be that we are too busy!  Between Brett's obligations at school/football, trying to prepare for a baby, having a baby, fulfilling church callings and moving apartments our next few months will be rather full.  The problem is that I need his help for so much of it!  Moving while 39 weeks pregnant is going to be a challenge to say the least.  And then there is the challenge of trying to figure out how to be new parents. And did I mention I can be overly emotional and needy when it comes to wanting my time with Brett?   Learning how to balance everything will make for an interesting few months, thats for sure.  I know we'll figure it out though and so all I can say is bring it on!

Thats right, I said it, we are moving.  The timing could have been a little (okay a LOT) better, but we found a good deal on an apartment closer to the school Brett will be working at.  Our lease starts the week before our baby girl is due so we are hoping that she'll cooperate and NOT come early.  We were hoping for an earlier move in date, but we'll take what we can get.  I'm really excited to get back into a 2 bedroom apartment (especially with all the added baby stuff) and I'm more than a little anxious to set up all the baby stuff.... unfortunately that will just have to wait.  We are excited about our apartment itself too.   The complex is nicer and newer and there are actual sidewalks around so I can take our little girl out for walks (something that would be impossible where we live now).  Our particular apartment also has vaulted ceilings, walk in closets and some built in bookshelf units that I am rather fond of.  Its not huge and its not perfect but for the price we are very very happy with it.   We told some of our ward members today and although we feel like we are doing the right thing for us as a family it is no fun to leave the friends we've made here.  You can add making new friends/settling into a new ward to the list of things that may or may not overwhelm me to the point of breaking in the next 3 months.

Its really easy to get overwhelmed when I think about what is coming so I'm trying to keep a hopeful attitude about it all.  All of the changes really are good things and we have been so blessed in so many ways.  I honestly know that this is where Heavenly Father wants us right now and with him on our side I know we can do it.  I'm trying to prepare as best as I can (freezer meals, super organized packing, etc) but there are some things in life you can't prepare for (ie: motherhood, the unknown that is football season).  I also hope that I can support Brett in all of his new adventures and really be a help and not a hinderance when it comes to his stress level.

Anyway, that is the update here in this neck of the woods. Overall we are healthy and happy and truly are excited for what the future holds!  And like I said at the beginning... only 8 more weeks until we get to hold our sweet daughter in our arms!

31 Weeks: fun pictures of the little one!

Another week has come and gone.  This last week brought with it two different doctor's appointments. One with my OB and one with a specialist who is monitoring our baby's growth.  As promised last week I'm going to post a full update on how she is doing and I have some fun pictures to share.  But first, here is the obligatory picture of me at 31 weeks.   

Now on to the fun stuff complete with pictures!  Actually parts of this story were not so fun, but I'll give you a spoiler alert and say that everything is turning out to be okay.  I guess we'll just start from the beginning and apologize in advance if I ramble some and I know it'll be a long story so prepare yourself.

Profile shot she is looking up

The monday before leaving on my trip I had a doctor's appointment and a follow-up anatomy ultrasound.  We had the standard anatomy ultrasound done at 21 weeks but the tech was not able to get measurements of the head very well because of the way the baby was positioned.  I was 27 weeks at this appointment and while talking to the doctor after the ultrasound we learned that the measurements of the baby's femurs (top bone in the leg) were a few weeks behind schedule.  Since everything had been measuring on track up until this point she decided to refer me to a specialist to see if they could determine why the bones' growth had slowed.  During the appointment our doctor did not seem worried at all and explained it was just a precaution because short femur length can been a sign of a variety of things.  Brett and I actually left feeling rather okay about the news and not worried at all.  It wasn't long, however, for the worries and doubts to start creeping into my mind.  I suddenly had lots of questions and was especially concerned that I would not have any answers until after our 2 and 1/2 week trip.  Our Dr mentioned it might take a few weeks to get an appointment and not to worry about it.

3D image of her face with cute pursed lips

That night I wanted answers  so I took things into my own hands and turned to the internet.  I google searched endlessly  and read anything and everything I could find that I thought might somehow relate to my situation.  Needless to say, this was a bad idea and just filled my mind with unnecessary worries.  Brett was gone while I did all this and so that evening I was in tears explaining to him all that I had read.  Luckily he is so good at calming me down and reassuring me.  Brett reminded me of the peace we felt at the doctors office and we said some prayers that things would be okay and that we would be able to find answers soon.

3D profile

Our prayers were answered that next morning (Tuesday) when I received a call from the specialist's office.  Unknown to me, our doctor had sent a request that they try to get us in on Tuesday since I was headed out of town on Wednesday.  The local office didn't have any openings for that day but called around and got us an appointment with one of the other locations.  We were more than willing to drive the 30 minutes and were so relieved that we were going to be seen prior to our trip.

All cute and cuddly with her hand in the bottom right

The appointment on Tuesday consisted of a 2.5 hour long ultrasound.  The tech started and took lots of detailed measurements.  Then the specialist came in and reviewed the tech's information and then spent another hour looking around on her own. They were both great and explained everything they were doing.  Long story short they measured everything imaginable on the baby.  They were looking for any abnormalities or other signs that something may be wrong.  Things like the curvature of the spine, shape of the head, position of the ears, numbers of fingers/toes, etc etc.  They also measured the blood flow in the umbilical cord to see if the baby was getting enough nutrients.  When all was said and done the specialist explained that she did not find any other concerns or red flags.  During that appointment we learned that short femurs can be an indicator of a variety of things both fatal and non-fatal and ranging from a chromosomal disorder to skeletal issue to poor growth of the baby.  She informed us that although she couldn't rule anything out at this point she was not overly concerned about any one thing in particular.  She did tell us that she wanted a follow up in 3 weeks to see if things had improved/continued/worsened.

Her ear, right where it is supposed to be

Hands, Arms and Legs.  The curly thing in the middle is the umbilical cord

Once again we left the doctors office feeling a lot of peace.  We were also very grateful because they sent us home with a CD full of pictures.  Some of the images they took were even in 3D!  Although it was a nerve-wrecking appointment, Brett and I both sat there in awe as we saw our baby on the screen and got to analyze her little features.  Of course we think she looks beautiful, although I also realize the 3D pictures are kind of crazy.

Her spine.  Looks like a fossil and has everything where it is supposed to be.  

Fast forward the 2 and 1/2 weeks we were out of town and that brings us to this week.  Our appointment with the OB was not really eventful.  I'm healthy and my weight/blood pressure is measuring great (high BP would be another red flag in conjunction with the slowed growth).  She did measure my fundal height, which is basically measuring the size of my uterus.  It measured a few weeks behind but that was to be expected.

Another picture of her face.  All the extra stuff on the side is just the plecenta/fluids/other interference

Our appointment with the Specialist was Friday.  This time we were able to get in with the local office and so not only was it a follow up but we also got another doctors assessment of the situation.  I went into this appointment feeling like it was going to answer a lot of our questions.  I was 31 weeks by this point and things would have either gotten better or worse or stayed the same.  The results were encouraging and although some of our little girl's bone are still measuring short, the rest of her is growing and healthy.  They measured all the bones in the arms/legs and only the femurs and the humerus were short.  The doctor said that in order to qualify as a skeletal dysplasia (aka: dwarfism) all the bones would need to be short.  He also said that it could be a sign of down syndrome but with the lack of other indicators it was unlikely.  We decided against doing blood work to test for this because it wouldn't change anything with regards to prenatal care.  The last explanation would be growth restriction due to the baby not getting enough nutrients from me or failure of the umbilical cord to provide.  Based on the measurements he reported he isn't concerned about this either.  In fact he said that the blood flow and the amniotic fluid measurements were on the high side of the charts.  So that was reassuring.

A face shot from the most recent ultrasound and her little hand up by the face

The official measurements are that her femurs/humerus are measuring in the 5th percentile.  Anything below 10% is a concern but not unless they get below 1% did he say they would be super concerned. They are about 2 weeks behind schedule but grew consistently with the rest of her body between the last two visits.  She is also measuring small in weight (partially due to the lack of bone) and weighed in at 3 lb 5 oz which is 12.5 percentile.  Luckily for me her head is measuring nice and large in the 60 percentile.... oh wait, maybe that is not so lucky.  As I mentioned, the fluids were all higher than average and blood flow to the baby from me was good. Blood flow in the baby's brain was also doing well.

Another face shot where she doesn't look quite so happy

So long story short, our baby has short femurs and there is no current medical explanation for why.  While in Oregon my mom joked with me that our baby is just proving to already be a Johnson.  You see, the Johnson side of my family tends to have exceptionally long torsos so although we are tall we may or may not have short femurs.  It amazes me what the doctors can detect and although it was stressful, I'm grateful we had the chance to check everything out.  The plan of action is to have follow-ups with the specialist to monitor growth every 3 weeks from now until our daughter comes.  This does mean more doctors appointments and visits but I'm excited for all the opportunities to see our little one.

Profile view, looking left

We didn't get any 3D pictures from the most recent ultrasound but it was still fun to watch her and we were both surprised by how much she is growing and looking more and more like a baby.  At the very beginning she was looking straight at us and we watched in awe as she opened and closed her eyes multiple times.  Later in the appointment she got the hiccups so we watched her chest as it contracted with each hiccup.  We also got to hear the hiccups on the doppler machine as they measured the blood flow in the umbilical cord. The tech also pointed out that our little girl already has hair.   These were all just fun reminders that the little girl inside of me is real!

The tech zoomed in and got a picture of the foot nice and big

We are now officially two months or 60 days exactly to the due date.  Although a due date is far from an exact thing, its the best we have to count down to.  At one point the doctor did mention that if the baby was too small due to growth restriction, they might induce me early so they could provide care and help her grow.  It doesn't look like that is going to happen and I'm glad she gets to cook inside of me and hope she stays in until she is ready, but not a day longer!  

Baker City Trip 2012

After our time in Portland we made our way across the state to Baker City Oregon to spend some time with Brett's parents.  Or I guess I should say I made my way while Brett stopped to play at the Deschutes.

Brett and his dad spent Sunday night thru Tuesday for their annual steelhead fishing trip.  It was still early in the season so there weren't many steelhead in the water but they still had fun and came home with a few stories to tell!  The first story was that Brett caught a Sturgeon fish.  Typically these fish don't come into the river and wouldn't be interested in the bait Brett was using.  But, Brett caught it, despite it being against the odds.   The thing (as you can see in the pictures) was huge and they measured it at 51 inches long.  According to other fishermen sturgeon weigh at least one pound per inch.  Good thing Brett is strong and was able to fight the fish and then get him up and out of the water for pictures.  Most of the rest of the trip was hot and windy and slow but on the last morning Brett caught the only other fish in the river.  He caught a steelhead and enjoyed the fight.  Apparently steelhead fish give the best fight which is why he enjoys this particular fishing trip so much.  We don't have a picture on our computer of that fish, but I did see one so I know he is not just telling me a fishing tale.

While Brett was fishing, I was in Baker City with his mom.  She threw me an amazing baby shower and our little girl got throughly spoiled.  Let me just say that there are a lot of ladies in Baker who love Brett and I'm glad I get to reap those rewards.  We had 18 people in total and enjoyed some yummy food and good conversation.  I got some great advice from women who have raised children and tons of adorable baby clothes and baby supplies.  Unfortunately my camera made all the pictures fuzzy but here are some showing off the food and guests and one showing just some of the loot that we were blessed enough to get.  Brett's mom was awesome for putting this all together!

Brett and his dad showed up just as the baby shower ended (their timing was a little too perfect if you ask me... haha).  Of course I had to show him all our new stuff and he appropriately ooh-ed and aww-ed over it.  And of course he showed me all his fishing pictures and I did the same.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing (well, I relaxed.  Brett was a trooper and went and helped his dad at work), went out to dinner and then sat outside and enjoyed the cool evening air (something we miss greatly being here in Texas).

On Wednesday Brett and I decided to take a trip up to their family cabin.  We rode 4-wheelers, played games, had a campfire, slept in, rode more 4-wheelers, fished for little fishies in the little rivers and enjoyed our time throughly!

Beautiful, am I right!?

See, I told you they were little fishies

My hot "mountain man"  hubby!

Don't worry, I took it easy on the ride and baby girl was safe the whole time

I entertained myself while Brett was fishing by taking pictures of my belly

Brett would go wherever necessary to find the fish

And he was successful!  

He caught a fish every place we stopped!

While we were out fishing/riding my 4-wheeler ran out of gas.  Whoops!  According to Brett none of the 4-wheelers have ever ran out of gas, so we weren't exactly prepared for such an event.  Luckily he is country-smart (unlike me) and was able to pull me home to safety! 

After we got back from the cabin we joined up with Brett's grandparents and parents for a yummy BBQ dinner and some more lovely outside evening sitting.  Can I just repeat how much I love and miss being able to be outside at night and sleep with the windows open?  I mentioned how cool it gets in Oregon to a friend who was born/raised here in Texas and it blew her mind.

I didn't take too many pictures while in Baker (aside from at the cabin) so I apologize for not having more with Brett's parents.  You'll just have to take my word that we did hang out with them and had lots of fun!

Brett and I decided that our trip to Oregon will have to be a yearly tradition that is made possible by him being a teacher and having the summer off.

Portland Trip 2012

After wrapping up my time in Utah I flew to PDX to spend some time with my parents.  Brett had been in Baker while I partied with the girls so he drove over and met me in Portland. It was great to see him again and great seeing my parents.

For those of you who don't know my mom is recovering from radiation treatment that she had after having some cancerous growths removed from her neck.  It was hard being so far away from her while she went through the whole ordeal so I was looking forward to being around and helping out.  My mom was great during our visit and really pushed herself so we could all go out and do some things.  She is still recovering and gets tired easily so we appreciate her willingness to use her limited energy on us!  My dad has been amazing at taking care of my mom and the house in addition to working so I was also glad we got to give him a little bit of a break (hopefully we didn't cause more mess....) and he was able to take some time away from his work and play with us too!

Our first full day there was the 4th of July.  We decided to venture out in the afternoon to a nearby town called North Plains.  They were have a little street fair and so we walked around and enjoyed the non-humid weather.

My parents also convinced Brett and I to sit down and get ourselves drawn by the caricature artist.  I was hesitant at first but love the finished product.  It is baby themed and so I am shown pregnant and we are headed to the hospital with our suitcase.  The plan is to put it up in the baby's room.

That evening we had a yummy BBQ (thanks to chef Brett) and went over to watch the firework show that a local neighborhood puts on.  The show they do is long and legit and we enjoyed hanging out in the park prior to the fireworks throwing a football, people watching and talking.  I didn't take any pictures, so you'll just have to take my word that we had fun.

The next day Brett agreed to get up early and help my dad lay some sod while my mom and I went shopping for a few last needed pieces of baby fabric to finish up some projects.  We checked in on the men at the end, just in time to admire their hard work.

My mom then used the fabric to finish up some baby stuff she made for our little girl.  She has been busy sewing and crocheting adorable things!  Here are some pictures of the loot I ended up with.  3 adorable baby booties she crocheted, a whole slew of flowers to make into headbands/hair clips, a diaper changing pad with a pocket to hold the diaper/wipes, a portable bag to hold diapers and wipes, a receiving blanket and a handful of burp cloths.  All of that in addition to the beautiful baby blanket she crocheted!  LOVE IT!

That night we went to the Street of Affordable Homes.  It was like a Street of Dreams where you walk through a whole bunch of houses, only they were supposedly more affordable.  Although they were still well out of our current budget it was fun to look at and day dream with Brett about what we hope to have sometime in the future.  The benefit of the homes being "affordable" was that many of the homes were realistic as opposed to most Street of Dreams.  Because, lets be honest, even if I had a million dollars, I wouldn't spend it on an outrageously huge home with all theupgrades. We really did have fun though! Its always fun to think about the future with Brett.... which hopefully includes a house full of kids and good memories.   Again, no pictures... sorry.

Friday my mom, Brett and I took it easy and went for a drive while my dad worked.  I love where my parents live because they live within a short drive of downtown as well as within a short drive of complete solitude/forest area/farm land/beach.  We ended up at a little park area with some picnic tables and a fun/easy little hike.  We ate our yummy fried chicken picnic and then played some games with my mom.  Growing up my mom and I played a lot of Cribbage (a card game with a board/pegs that you use to count points).  I had my mom re-teach me and we taught Brett.  Surprisingly Brett beat us both that afternoon (although it was in part because we helped him... a lot).  Brett and I then went for a walk around the area and found a little river with lots of caterpillars.  Brett liked playing with the little caterpillars and piled them all together at one point. I did not like the caterpillars and kept saying how gross they were.  We also found a cool bridge that we walked across before returning to the grassy area to lay around and read and enjoy the fresh air.

Saturday we all went to the St Paul Rodeo.  We walked around and saw the animals, booths and carnival games then indulged in some carnival food for dinner.  It was bull riding night so we got to watch as rider after rider attempted to stay on the bucking bulls for 8 whole seconds.  I'll admit I gasped and shrieked a few times as they were thrown off and then were hit by the Bulls.  All the riders walked away and seemed to be okay, but still... such a crazy sport!  There was also a college competition of calf milking that was fun to watch.  The show ended with some fireworks and then we indulged again and all split a funnel cake.

Brett also went golfing with my dad but I don't have pictures of that and wasn't there so I don't have much to say about it.  Sounded like that had fun though!

We had such a great time hanging out and relaxing in Portland!  Thanks for the fun times mom and dad!  Hope to see you again soon!

Girls trip 2012

Lets begin with a story.... Once upon a time I ventured off to the great land of BYU.  I was a young 18 years old and blindly signed up to live in the apartment style dorms on campus.  I was matched with 5 other girls, 3 from Arizona and 2 from Texas.  I was the odd one out and quite shy.  It took me some time to warm up and make friends with my roommates, but I'm so glad I did.  Here we are 7 years later and the friendships made that year are still going strong.  We have all graduated and gone our separate ways but for one short weekend we got together again to rejuvenate ourselves with some much needed girl time. The last time we were all together was actually at my wedding over 3 years ago.  If you are interested, here is a flashback that includes all of them (plus some other amazing friends).  Its sad to say, but I've been less than stellar at keeping in contact with most of these girls, so it was great to reconnect!

A special shout-out to Sydney in advance for the pictures. I took three pictures the whole weekend and they were of decorations at the baby shower.  All pictures that follow are hers and I'll try to use enough of them to break up what is sure to be a lot of text.  Thanks for being the photographer Syd (although it means you aren't in a lot of the group shots, which is sad). 

My trip started off with a plane ride to Arizona.  Chelsea, lives in Arizona with her husband and two adorable kids.  I offered to help drive up with Chelsea because I knew it would a good excuse to play with the kids and chat with a dear friend. The car ride consisted of entertaining Claire with endless toys and songs, a surprisingly few cries from Emma, and me picking Chelsea's brain about being a mom. Although she was shy at first, I tricked Claire (age 2) to being my friend and was glad to have a little buddy for the rest of the trip.

Me playing with baby Emma

I may or may not have let the others do the craft "work" while I played with the kids

Our drive took us to the great state of Utah and the loving home of Sydney's parents.  They were gracious enough to let us crash their home. I'm not sure they knew going into this ordeal just how much we could take over a house (it started out as just the basement but turned into the kitchen area, dining room and living room too) but they welcomed us with open hearts and I for one greatly appreciate them!

The group (minus Syd the photographer) at the pool

Relaxing in the water while the little kids enjoyed the swing toy 

Prior to going I was a little anxious about how it would work out being together again with everyone after three long years.  Let me just say, it was as if we had never been apart.  I truly believe that it was so easy because these ladies are some of the best people out there.  (Like I said, I was really blessed with the random roommate selection my freshman year.) Throughout the trip everyone was so concerned about everyone else and excited to hear updates and stories.  There was no girl drama, thank goodness, but I should not have been worried because there never really has been any drama between us.

Me and baby Vivian waiting for our ice cream at the creamery 

Enjoying our lunches at the park and sporting our home made t-shirts

Our time together consisted of lots of girl talk.  Two of us (Elise and I) are currently pregnant so we made sure to get tips and tricks from three amazing moms.  Chelsea and Maria both have two kids and Tausha has one and all three are loving mothers to their children.  In addition to baby talk, Sydney has recently fallen in love and is planning a wedding so we got to talk with her about all things love and marriage.  Seriously people, are there happier things to talk about than love and husbands and babies?  I think not.  We had some great conversations and I know I learned a lot about myself, how I can be a better wife and how I want to parent our daughter.  Our conversations were incredibly uplifting and no one resorted to bashing husbands/kids/life.   It truly was great to be surround by such goodness and I left feeling empowered, rested and rejuvenated.

More chat time while chilling on the edge of the water at Bridal Veil Falls

The water was cold, but that did not deter Sydney from heading out with Creedence

Aside from talking, or rather during all the talking, we had some fun activities planed.  A special shout out to the planning committee....Sydney, Maria and Rebecca!  We had craft time, took the kids to the pool, took roommate pictures, ate ice cream from the creamery, had a picnic in the canyon, played at bridal veil falls, celebrated with a baby shower for Elise and I, surprised Sydney with a bridal shower, went to the splash pad at the mall and visited temple square.  Of course we also ate lots of yummy homemade food and indulged ourselves in a special splurge trip to our beloved Kneaders for breakfast one day.

Decorations at the baby shower

Food at the shower, Thanks Rebecca! 

There was also lots of time to play with and entertain babies/kids.  I jumped at the opportunity and enjoyed the chance to get some of my pre-mom jitters out.  4 of the 5 kiddos were girls so it made my heart long for our little girl to join us.  Hopefully she is just as cute and adorable as my friends kids.

Baby Emma's adorable feet in the water

Tausha and Harmony enjoying the refreshing water

Claire and I having fun

Have I mentioned yet that this was a GREAT trip?  We schedule the next one for February of 2015 and I'm already looking forward to it.  By then the number of kids may have doubled (at least) and hopefully we will all have some more exciting life stories to share (I'll have a 2 year old, say what?!). I know all of you girls read my blog (or at least you claim to) so I just wanted to say thanks so much for taking me in and letting me join to "cool kids" group 7 years ago!  You are all amazing women and I am so blessed to have you in my life to learn from and laugh with.

Elise, Sydney, Tausha and Harmony, Me, Rebecca, Chelsea Emma and Claire (Maria sadly had to leave prior to this picture being taken)