Baby in Cali! Week 25

So I mentioned briefly in the previous post about my upcoming work trip! I must admit I was so not looking forward to this trip. Not only was it the first time Brian and I had been apart overnight since we got married, but being 25 weeks pregnant and spending 9 days away from home living out of a suitcase and walking a crazy amount of miles made it even more unappealing. Luckily, I have some of the greatest co-workers and bosses ever that were super accommodating and made the trip a ton of fun, and pass quickly! (Shout out to my awesome roomie, Kourteney) I came home looking about 3 months more pregnant than I did when I left, gained 8 lbs from all the delicious gourmet food we ate, and had swollen feet and ankles that it took 3 days to get back to normal, but it was such a great opportunity and I feel lucky to have experienced it all!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 1: Thursday, November 3 we flew out to San Diego and immediately started touring hotels. Our first day we saw and met with our contacts and toured 9 of our hotels. We had a super amazing lunch at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and got to spend some of the afternoon at SeaWorld. I hadn't been since I was little and have only ever been to the one in Orlando so this was neat to refresh my memory. That night and the following we stayed at the Hilton San Diego Airport. Great location, cheap Uber ride to Seaport Village, and pretty views!

Day 2: Friday was another day in San Diego!
7 hotels and the San Diego Zoo! I loveee the zoo. Like any zoo. But the San Diego Zoo is like the National Zoo in D.C., it's a classic! Of course my favorite part was the elephants, but they had baby giraffes and of course the panda bears! Such a great experience. I have to say I loved it so much more than SeaWorld and I probably could have spent the entire day there! We went shopping and had dinner in Seaport Village and it was so cute!

Day 3: Finishing up in San Diego and heading to Carlsbad!
We finished up San Diego with 2 of our most popular S.D. hotels, then got to check out the USS Midway Museum and have lunch at the Fish Market Restaurant before heading up to Carlsbad. This was my first time in Carlsbad and the town itself is really cute with great shopping outlets that we hit hard that night. We saw 7 of our Carlsbad hotels before checking into the Legoland Hotel! Which is insane. And I'm not sure I ever want to stay there hahaha. It's like Chuck-E-Cheese on steroids for a hotel. But it was cool because of course all the rooms are themed and they all have king beds with bunk beds so we all got our own rooms. I had a pirate room and they have these great Lego chests that you follow clues around the hotel to get the code to crack the safe and get your goodies.

Day 4: Legoland and Huntington Beach!
Sunday was one of my favorite days of the trip because we spent the morning touring Legoland and their Sea Life Aquarium (above photos) before heading to Huntington Beach and we had pretty much the whole evening off. We stayed at a SUPER nice hotel called the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach which had a private entrance to the beach, was only about a half mile from the pier and all the shops, and was overall a beautiful resort. We all headed to the beach for a few hours and then got cleaned up and went shopping before finishing the night at Duke's on the pier, which is incredible, if you've never been. It's their only stateside location, the other being in Hawaii. Super yummy!

Day 5: The first day of Anaheim and the worst day of the trip.
So one thing a lot of our guests love about us is our partnership with most of the hotels up and down Harbor Blvd., AKA the hotels closest to Disneyland. While this is great, it made for a rough day for me and two of my fellow pregnant co-workers as we walked the entire length of the blocks around the parks and toured 13 hotels. It was a long, long day. That night we checked into the Disneyland Hotel for that night and the following, and we had a special dinner in the Blue Sky Suite in the top floor of the Disneyland Hotel with our awesome Disney contact, following by VIP seating for the original World of Color show in California Adventure Park! So, so magical and a great way to end a tough day. I slept well that night (and included a photo of the light up headboard I slept under)!

Day 6: More Anaheim, Knott's Berry Farm, & Medieval Times!
10 hotels this day, then a few fun hours at Knott's Berry Farm! Which meant no rides for me since it's all big roller coasters, but I did play a few of my co-workers in a 3-point competition... which was super awkward with my own personal basketball under my shirt. But the very best part of the day happened when we got to Medieval Times. For anyone who doesn't know how this goes, you're placed in a specific section that corresponds with a knight who fights to win the games, so it's always most fun when your knight wins. Not only did our knight win but he also had a crush on one of my co-workers and roommate, Kourteney. He couldn't keep his eyes off her and it made for quite the show!

Day 7: Last day of hotels!
By Wednesday, we were all getting to be beyond exhausted. We had another long day of touring hotels and meeting with contacts but we finally had a light at the end of the tunnel! This night and the last, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim. This place was like a vacation in itself, which is actually what they want out of it so it's funny that it's located so close to Disneyland. This hotel has a huge indoor water park, complete with water slides, a lazy river, FloRider, a wave pool, splash pads, and an outdoor pool. Downstairs they have miniature golf, bowling, and so much more. It's a kid's paradise! We didn't have much time to enjoy it since we had a reception with most of our hotel contacts for drinks and hors d'ourves, so once we got back to our rooms we crashed.

Day 8: Disneyland will forever be ruined.
On our last full day in California, we were in Disneyland by 8 am and didn't get back to our rooms until almost 11 pm. I was warned that being treated to a Disneyland day with our contacts was like nothing else I would ever experience and would ruin every other Disneyland trip for me from here on out and now I know why. We were treated like royalty! They saved our Disneyland day for November 10 because it was opening day of the holidays, and I'm so glad they did. I forgot how magical Disney is around the holidays. We rode all the new rides (and the classics) without any wait since we had 4 private tour guides who took us on to the front of the line at every ride. My lucky co-workers got to ride Tower of Terror one last time and we went on a few baby-safe rides for us pregnant ladies. We got to see the new Frozen play live at the Hyperion Theater in California Adventure Park, eat lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe in Carsland, watched the Christmas parade, had a private dinner party with Jasmine and Aladdin, and had VIP seating for the fireworks that night. I successfully checked off my food bucket list with a churro, a jalapeno cream cheese stuffed pretzel, and of course, a Dole whip. This day was worth the wait and I'm so glad it was saved for last!!

Day 9: Our final SoCal day and Universal Studios Hollywood!
Full disclaimer: I am SUCH a nerd. I was so excited for Universal to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it did not disappoint! We rode a good amount of rides and walked around Diagon Alley, got our frozen butterbeers, and enjoyed the last of our time in California before flying out of LAX, but we were all so excited to get home. It was a long trip, but a good one and I'm so grateful for my wonderful co-workers who have become better friends and for all the laughs we shared. Get Away Today is such a great company to work for and I'm so glad I got to experience this opportunity!

Read More

Catch Up: Weeks 20-24

Week 20: Baby is the size of a mango!

Highlights: Conference weekend! I say this every time conference comes around, but it really comes at the best time. I love listening to the leaders of our church talk about issues that we face currently and ways to strengthen our faith in this crazy world we live in now. My favorite talk was Saturday afternoon when Elder Cook spoke. If you haven't listened to it, you should! It can be found on LDS.org under General Conference.

Halfway through the week on October 5, we had my 20 week ultrasound! They confirmed it is a girl as best they could see. She was being so stubborn (just like her mama!) and they couldn't get her to roll over or put her arms down. I couldn't believe how much she's developed and how much more you could see. We saw all 4 chambers of the heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, etc. Her fingers and toes were so much clearer and she was moving around like crazy. Any time they tried to push her one way or another to reposition her she put up a fight and wouldn't let them! It was pretty amusing to me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 21: Baby is the size of a banana!

Highlights: Dayne and Ashley's sealing! Some good church friends of ours and fellow converts were sealed in the temple on October 8 and Brian and I got to be there to witness it! It was a beautiful ceremony and their three children were sealed to them at the same time. It was the first time I'd been to a live sealing with children and it was so sweet and special. Another fun part of it was that Brian's and my sealer, Brother Schultz was sealing Dayne and Ashley and he had been randomly selected to perform the sealing, so it was fun to see him and hear how he was doing.

Baby highlights: Baby girl is moving like crazy now. Brian keeps poking my belly and singing the popular Adele song, "hello from the outside..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 22: Baby is the size of a spaghetti squash!

Highlight: Brian officially felt baby girl move and now she does it all the time!

We had our ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat and the chili I made for the cook-off won 2nd place out of 13, so that was fun! I wish trunk-or-treat was more of a thing where I'm from because kids make out like bandits and there's no reason to even trick or treat! After feeling like crap and being in pain all day from my back, I was a total party pooper and didn't dress up, but it was fun anyway. The young women were in charge so we had fun games and face painting for the kids also.

We bought baby girl's dresser so we officially have all the large furniture for her nursery and I've started creating some of the other decor for the walls!

Cravings: LEMON YOGURT. For like the last 5 weeks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 23: Baby is the size of a papaya!

I had to work Saturday, October 22nd so I had off on Friday which was super nice because it was Brian's day off also. We both slept in and then got some stuff done around the house before going out to lunch together and heading to Target to finish up our registry! It's now done, except for a few small things. I didn't even begin to put any clothes on there because I figured it's pointless and people will give us a ton anyway. Plus we have SO many clothes once she gets bigger from Kevin and Amanda. I started sorting them out but I don't know where I want to put all her bigger sizes...

Time is going so fast (yet so slow) at the same time. I can't believe it's the end of October and we only have 3 1/2 months until baby girl is here. The next couple months are going to be SO crazy busy I don't even know where to begin. The end of the first week of November-end of the 2nd week I will be in southern California for a super fun work trip, so I'm excited for that, but also excited for it to be over so we're closer to the holidays!

Baby news: She's killing me from the inside. Round ligament pain and sciatic nerve issues are real. More than one day this week I was unable to either get out of bed all day or walk more than 100 feet without almost collapsing. I feel massive and I know it's only going to get worse. I'm starting to question why I wanted a baby bump because now when I see a pregnant woman who's bigger than me, my anxiety at the thought that my stomach will soon be that big is out of control. It's taking everything in me to stay positive and optimistic. At least I know at the end of this I'll be holding my beautiful little baby girl and I'll be grateful for that!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 24: Baby is the size of an ear of corn!

Halloween weekend, yay!! I have to be honest and say I didn't do much that weekend except clean and cook and relax (which was super nice). Sunday, I taught YW at church and Brian had lots going on with church and school... I swear we never stop moving. But Halloween day we had a big soup cook-off at work and I made a loaded baked potato soup that won 3rd place! I'm on a roll with soup/chili this year. That night we went to Brian's parents house for Lindy's annual Halloween dinner with both sets of Brian's grandparents which was fun. We stayed to hand out candy for awhile and then decided we were too old and boring and went home to relax and watch tv. And of course, Brian did homework.

Today I went to see the chiropractor to get my back fixed before my big work trip! I'm hoping I'll survive this trip (both physically and mentally since this will be the first time Brian and I have been apart for a night since we got married and I'll be gone over a week). We leave bright and early tomorrow so my next week's post will be much more exciting than these mini-updates. 

On a side note... I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE COMING HOLIDAYS. That is all.

Read More

The Real World: Pregnancy Edition

Disclaimer: I am in no way unaware of how blessed and lucky I am to be pregnant and carry my own child. I am writing this for friends of mine who have asked "what is pregnancy really like?" to share my experiences, and shed light on the fact that it's not always as glamorous as celebrities and fashion bloggers try to portray it to be. The act of having children is a beautiful and miraculous thing, but getting to that point isn't always so...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I've been thinking about writing this post for weeks but couldn't quite come up with the words to describe it until now. I've feared people would judge me for this because I'm fully aware not everyone can have children and would kill to experience these things to have their own child. I hope everyone reads the above disclaimer and realizes I am extremely happy to be having a baby, but I would be lying if I said there aren't ugly parts of pregnancy, and I'm not even to the gory birth part yet ;) This is not to complain about the hard parts, it's to let other pregnant moms and friends who are thinking about getting pregnant know I'm either sharing their struggles and don't intend to try and make it look perfect, or warn my friends to cherish their bodies now haha.

Many of my close friends know that Brian and I planned on waiting at least a year or more before getting pregnant, but that all changed (literally) the day after we got married. I've always chalked it up to Heavenly Father subtly letting me know that I needed to readjust my plan. Almost immediately after we were married, I became subconsciously obsessed with babies. I would dream about them or think about it constantly and it was really freaking me out. I made it about 3 months before finally telling Brian I couldn't stop thinking about babies. He laughed at me until I started telling him details of the dreams and the weird things that kept happening to me in relation to babies. It was finally him who suggested maybe we should pray about it to see if now was the right time.

I immediately freaked out and didn't want to pray about it, fearing I would receive the confirmation that we should indeed start preparing for children. When we finally decided to, I was surprised that I didn't feel an immediate "YES" kind of response, but the thoughts and feelings I had had before kept steadily increasing and we looked at our timeline of goals and plans and decided we would start trying in May. We were blessed to be given the opportunity to be parents so quickly.

However, there are so many things about being pregnant that I wasn't prepared for. I would look at pregnant women before and think they had the cutest baby bumps, they always dressed so fashionably, and they were truly glowing (like the most common adjective to describe pregnant women EVER). I however, am not in the category of women I mentioned before.

I'm currently sitting here writing this fresh out of a shower and the biggest annoyance I have right now is my face. EVERY DAY since around week 8, I get out of the shower and my face is BEET RED. And it lasts FOREVER. My skin is dry and itchy and I'm constantly scratching my face which only makes it even more red.

No amount of cocoa/shea butter/miracle cream has stopped stretch marks from appearing in the most undesirable places. Growing pains? THAT'S A REAL THING. This past weekend I barely got any sleep because I kept waking up in agony. Round ligament stretching KILLS. The "quickening" that people speak of when the baby starts moving? SO UNCOMFORTABLE FOR ME. It feels like someone is trying to gut me from the inside. And because my placenta is in the front apparently, Brian hasn't really gotten to feel her for the last 4 weeks that she's already been kicking the crap out of me.

I have a weird line horizontally across my middle where my pants would normally sit because all my organs are getting squished up into my stomach while the baby chills on my pelvic bones. That "baby bump" I keep taking pictures of is actually my organs causing me agony. It's so great.

I've developed a fat roll under my boobs and above my stomach, so that's awesome. Hair growth? So not what they tell you it's like. The hair on my head definitely isn't growing any faster but arm hair, leg hair, even my eyebrows? Oh you can bet your bottom dollar they're growing at 3x the speed as before. I basically have to get my eyebrows waxed once a week now. Also I have these weird baby hairs sticking straight out from the top of my head and the front of my hair line. If I do lose a ton of hair after I give birth, I'm basically going to be bald because I haven't gotten anything substantial on top of my head.

I told myself I didn't care how much weight I gained. That it's my first pregnancy and as long as I'm eating healthy that I'll be okay. I've changed my mind. I didn't realize how much my weight weighed (pun intended) on my self-esteem. As someone who has always been extremely active, playing basketball, running, etc., the amount of weight I've gained is absurd to me. Especially since my baby is currently only as big as a spaghetti squash and weighs one single pound.

I thought I owned enough big sweaters/comfy clothes to get me through for awhile. But alas. Maternity clothes are the worst because they're either super ugly or super expensive. Pants are the devil. I bought a pair of maternity jeans and I hate them because my bump isn't big enough to hold up the elastic part so I'm hiking them up all day. I can't sleep in anything but Brian's t-shirts. I'm 100% the basic white girl who wears nothing but black leggings all the time because my squishing organs are giving me mad love handles so I can't wear any of the pants I own. Also, don't even get me started on how uncomfortable sleeping is, in any position. Or on the fact that I wake up in pain every day no matter how I've fallen asleep. I won't go back and reflect on the nausea, you get the point.

I totally took for granted the way my body was before. To people's credit, I did hear that your body is never the same ever again. But I couldn't possibly imagine how true that was. So I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to look or feel beautiful while I'm pregnant, and I'm trying to be okay with that. People don't show how difficult it is growing a baby. The world tries to make these women look glamorous and beautiful and making us feel like that's how we need to be. For 80% of the women I've talked to, "glamorous" and "beautiful" are not words they would use to describe how they feel about themselves right now.

But that's okay. The beautiful parts are the lives we're creating, not the paths we're on to have them. I'll gladly go through this because I know despite all this, I have it pretty easy. I've had what they consider an easy pregnancy: low-risk, and everything always seems in line with how it should be at the time. I'm ecstatic that I get to be a mom and bring another life into this world. But I don't always feel good, either about myself or physically. So for the next friend who sees me and thinks, "wow, you are not glowing..." I hope you've read this and know it's for your own safety that you don't speak those words out loud. :) 

Read More

Gender Reveal & Weeks 18 and 19

Well, the secret is out! Baby GIRL is joining our family! We are so excited. It was really funny because Brian totally predicted it and kept saying he thought it would be a girl. I kept agreeing but when the doctor told us it was a girl, we were both kind of taken aback! I guess we both subconsciously assumed it would be a boy due to the trends in both our families, but like usual, we're never like anyone else haha.

I have to admit I am so excited. Little girls clothes are so cute and I keep finding more and more that I love for the nursery that is strictly "little girl-like." My parents are beyond thrilled, as I knew they would be. Especially since my dad was already texting me every week asking "how is my granddaughter doing?" He thinks he's funny.

It was so fun to have family and friends over for the gender reveal and Lindy and Sabra did so much for us! We had balloon popping with blue and pink paint inside for the kids to play with, super cute blue and pink food, mustaches and bows for everyone to wear their guesses, and then when it came time for the big reveal, we had pink confetti in black polka dot balloons that we let go and everyone shot them down with BB guns! We are so lucky to have had so many family and friends come out and support us and Baby B. We're already feeling the love so much and we're so blessed.

Week 18: Baby is the size of a sweet potato!

On Friday when we had the gender reveal BBQ, it was actually my first day of week 18, so that was an exciting start to announce it to the rest of family and friends! Even though I didn't actually put it on social media until Sunday... It was a super busy weekend though and Brian and I spent most of Saturday down in Salt Lake for my friend Jordan's endowment in the Draper Temple. Every time I think life is settling down, it proves it's not! But oh well, it keeps us on our toes.

This week I started really noticing all my slowly developing aches and pains. My round ligaments are apparently stretching..? And they love to give me random sharp pains all over my sides which is just super awesome. I feel like my whole body is ballooning and I'm a tub of lard because I haven't been able to work out like I used to before. I'm trying to be okay with it but I would be lying if I didn't say I hate it AND my uber round face. It's no bueno.

Week 19: Baby is the size of a tomato (what the heck, that's smaller than a sweet potato in my opinion...)

Either way, baby girl is definitely getting bigger and it's getting harder for me to hide the bump. On Friday, the first day of week 19, we were down in Salt Lake again for Jordan's wedding at the SLC temple and for the first time, someone that didn't already know asked if I was pregnant. Granted I had just eaten about 5 lbs of Brazilian food at Tucanos, but I was happy someone finally noticed!

This week's chronic pain is in my back which I think will be a continuing trend thanks to my scoliosis. The right side of my back will begin aching so bad and feel so cramped by about 7 or 8 pm every night that Brian has to massage it out or I literally writhe around on the bed in pain and can't fall asleep until he does.

The great news is I can finally cook again! I made a delicious dinner of lemon pepper salmon and parmesan garlic asparagus tonight complete with peach cobbler for dessert. But the most exciting thing to happen this week is that we finally got the crib and glider and set those up! I spent a lot of Friday night and Saturday morning moving everything out of Brian's office to make room to make it into the nursery and Brian set all the furniture up that morning. Now we get to start on the fun part: decorating! But it is somewhat comforting that I don't have to worry about anymore of the big furniture, other than a dresser, despite the fact that we have a lottttt of other things to get. Baby steps!

I also got in the autumn spirit with the cool weather front that came in and started doing a little decorating. Out with the summer, in with the fall! I just love boots and sweater weather. I'm excited but also nervous because I feel like the next 4 1/2 months are going to fly by and baby will be here soon! We are so excited and I'm so blessed to have Brian. He's so supportive and enthusiastic about this that it makes me even more excited. We have so many wonderful things going for us!

Read More

Normal Life These Days & Baby: Weeks 16 & 17

Week 16: Baby is the size of an avocado!

Baby news... This week has been interesting. I have a day where I feel wonderful and then the next I'm totally exhausted. The nausea hasn't been bad at all and I'm able to eat more, even though my diet cannot be considered healthy in any way. I've decided I don't care how much weight I gain for this pregnancy and I'll take it as it comes. The first one is a learning process anyway, right?

I forgot to take a picture this week because on Sundays (when I usually take photos because I'm actually dressed up and looking semi-professional for church) I was dying and exhausted and didn't make it out of bed until 4 pm. Probably because I attempted to do too many things the following day. But I was highly pleased with our Labor Day weekend project of painting cabinets! Originally we were just going to do the kitchen cabinets but then I convinced Brian to do the bathroom cabinets as well, since the project wasn't as time consuming as we originally feared. 

I did so much research trying to decide what the best way to paint them would be.. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the cabinets, in fact they were in almost perfect condition, but the problem was the color. When we bought our house and ripped out the disgusting carpet and linoleum in the downstairs and replaced it with our beautiful dark hardwood flooring,the contrast between the light oak cabinets and the dark floors drove me insane... because I'm OCD like that.

I covered for a co-worker and worked all day Saturday, so when I got off work on the 3rd, Brian and I met at Home Depot and got the supplies and our paint selection! I had looked at so many different options for milk paint vs. sanding and painting vs. deglossing and painting, etc. After talking with a guy about what he's seen work best for people, we opted for the deglossing and painting, which worked out amazingly! Because you're supposed to paint within a certain number of hours after stripping the cabinets, we wound up taking all the cabinet doors off, stripping the base and fronts and backs of cabinets, and painting everything with once coat Saturday night. We got everything finished up on Monday (Labor Day), including both bathroom cabinets which took probably 20 minutes each total. I am SO happy with how they turned out! I'll have to post before and after photos here.. 

Week 17: Baby is the size of a turnip! (Which what size is that really? Turnips are all shapes and sizes.... but whatever)

This week has been so much better. I've still been tired, but it's been more manageable. I taught Young Women's on Sunday and we had a birthday party for Grandpa Daylong on Monday. AND I remembered to take a picture. Saturday I even got a little motivation to do some crafting for Halloween and I re-potted some festive autumn mums to decorate the porch. I cannot wait until it starts getting cold and I can decorate for fall and Halloween! I am soooo excited for colder weather, probably because being pregnant and sick during the summer was a terrible idea. Never again if I have control over it.

Let's see what else has been going on... Brian is back in school finally starting his last year. So that also means he's back to working 2 jobs: his internship and the insurance office. It's nice that they wanted to keep him on at his internship and he actually added another position with them in their finance department on top of the contracts work he already does. Brian being Brian is still determined to work full-time with them on top of school and doing the health insurance for the office, so he puts in 12-13 hour days in SLC on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sometimes it's rough not seeing him as much but I work late on Wednesdays anyway so it's manageable. 

Every week I try to organize the garage and spare bedroom more and more so we can combine the office stuff into that room when we start planning the nursery! Our crib came in the mail and I've ordered the glider, so I'm getting so excited, but I haven't actually cleared out what will be the nursery... I'll start adding photos once that happens.

In even more exciting news.... WE FOUND OUT BABY'S GENDER!

On Wednesday, I had a GREAT day. First I had a dentist appointment and was told I still don't have a cavity, which I'm extremely proud of ;)

But then we had our baby appointment! At first, our doctor wasn't going to do an ultrasound, for the first time since we've started going there. but I had to know.... especially since we had a family BBQ planned for Friday! So we were able to hang out for an additional 20 minutes after our appointment and find out! I'm not going to lie, it was stressful planning the gender reveal party!

First, we waited until Wednesday to buy all the food in case we didn't find out and had to change the date of the party. I work Wednesdays and Thursdays evening shifts, so I was up early every morning and up late every evening making food and getting ready.

Luckily I have the best mother-in-law and best friend who did SO MUCH to set up for the party and have all the props. Sabra made the cutest bows and mustaches on pins so everyone could "wear their guess," we had a photo booth, paint balloon popping (with blue and pink paint), and then the big reveal! We put confetti in black polka dot balloons and let them go and people shot them with BB guns! Which then led to blowing up multiple balloons and letting everyone shoot them with the guns.

We will be revealing on social media tomorrow Baby B's gender, so stay tuned!

Read More