31.5 Weeks!

The other night Trevor and I were talking to an older gentleman whom we had never met when he turned to me and said
"You are expecting a girl." (it wasn't a question)
"Yes, I am, a little girl, we are really excited."
"When it's that far along I can usually tell if it's a boy or a girl, I have never been wrong."

Now here are some important details to the story: when talking to this nice man Trevor and I were inside an LDS Temple and this man was a temple worker. 

So of course I am thinking I bet he knows it's a girl because he can see her or something. She must be here and this is an awesome spiritual experience. etc. 

So at this point I feel like I trust this guy more than the ultrasound, and am now confident that it is a girl growing in my belly. Not that I wasn't confident before this, but now I am super duper confident and really glad I kept the pink pack 'n play.

As we got up to leave a little bit later he stops us and says
"Do you want to know how I know it's a girl?"
"YES! Yes I do!" (prepping myself for him to tell me she is beautiful with blond curls and brown eyes)
"When the belly is pointy it's a boy and when it goes all the way around it's a girl."
Wah-wah. Bummer... you mean you can't see her little spirit angel standing by me?
"Oh really? That's very... interesting."
As I walk out of the room I start to think: ...Goes all the way around?! Those are my love handles! Maybe those are just the unfortunate proportions my body has.

I think he was implying that I have a basketball belly. Which... he would probably be right:

I did take this picture in the bathroom at work, don't worry it was after I washed my hands. I know, it looks a little silly with my head cocked way to the side but I was actually on my other phone with Trevor, I was trying to hide it but it just looks funny. ......Fine, yes it's true, I went to the bathroom while I was on the phone. I actually do it all the time, so lets just say if you and I have ever talked on the phone there is a good chance you were "red flagged" as we called it in college. Give me a break, when my bladder is clear, my head is clear and therefore can have a better conversation. You're Welcome.

Pregnancy Brain??

Here is a conversation I had with my mom a couple weeks ago:

Ape: "Hello?"
Ruthie: "Hi, April, quick Aleena (sister) is at costco and they have a blue pack 'n play. Have you taken the pack 'n play that we got you for your baby shower out of the box?"
Ape: "no, it's still in the box."
Ruthie: "Oh great! so do you want me to tell her to get the blue pack 'n play?"
Ape: "Is it cheaper?"
Ruthie: "I don't know if it's cheaper, but it's blue."
Ape: "Well do you have the receipt for the one you got at target?"
Ruthie: "Oh, I don't know, and if I don't you could only get store credit huh?"
Ape: "I am fine with store credit, but if it's not cheaper then why don't I just keep the one that I have?"
Ruthie: "It's a blue one, don't you want blue?"
Ape: "uh........ well I am having a girl so I prefer the pink one."
Ruthie: ".................Oh April, you are having a girl! I forgot, uh..... never mind."

(the amazing thing to me is that both my mom and my sister forgot I was having a girl. maybe that was some divine intervention and I really am having a boy.)

Keepin it Real

#1: Trevor and I are headed to Idaho tonight to spend the rest of the week at a cabin for the Millar Family Vaca! I am really excited. It will be so nice to hang out with family, eat good food, swim in the lake. Especially because we have yet to immerse ourselves in any body of water this year. I am serious, not a swimming pool or even a bathtub. I haven't even ran hobbled through the sprinklers. So my hefty body is definitely looking to feel weightless with a good float in the lake.

Aren't we a good lookin bunch? And guess what? by November we will have three additional members to this photo! We produce like fruit flies!
***Note: only Jamie and I are expecting but in this picture Stacy was still pregnant with Carli, therefore the 3 additional members.

Picture was taken by: CallieMaePhotography

#2: I wear compression socks to keep my feet and ankles from swelling. Like a grandma. And I really like them. Wish I had some in every color.

#3: Some people are angels and they don't even know it. Yesterday I got an incredibly sweet note in the mail. I don't know who it is from, it was not signed and there was no return address. So this is my attempt at thanking whoever sent such a thoughful card, you will never know the impact you had. It was truely a blessing and an answer to prayers, thank you for being my angel.

How often is too often

to play the pregnant card?

I am really finding some great benefits from my whole predicament. Or maybe I have just developed a distinct attraction to the sin of gluttony seeing as most the "benefits" deal with food.  

Much to my indifference shame, here are a couple examples:

Trevor and I decided to go to dinner one night, my choice: pizza BUFFET! After we both ate double our money's worth and sitting and chatting for a while to digest we decide perhaps it's time to go. I can't get it out of my head that I need just one more cookie from the dessert table. But as I approach the platter all the cookies are gone! Bummer, right? Of course I realized the other 2 cookies and unnumbered pieces of pizza was probably enough anyway so we left... wrong. I convince Trevor that he needs to ask them when they will have more cookies out, and that his pregnant wife really needs one. I honestly was just thinking they would have another batch out in a few minutes, but in reality we may have waited an additional 15 minutes for them to make me my own plate of cookies... of which I ate all 5.

I may or may not have recently threatened a fellow co-worker (complete with a point at the belly and a stink eye), that I was major craving jamba juice so he should probably not challenge me as that particular gift card came up on the block at our work auction.

I am almost beginning to believe that nothing will be denied me as long as I use the belly as an excuse! Better take advantage in my remaining 10 weeks.

Did you know?!

The very last Harry Potter Movie came out last night?!

Of course you know. 

But did you go to an awesome Harry Potter party with a midnight showing? we did. Mostly because we wanted to dress up... and the Sweet Tooth Fairy made cauldron cakes for the party... AND we totally won prizes. Let me explain. 

Don't I make the best incredibly pregnant Dumbledore you have ever seen?

Best lookin Harry, smokin hot in his quidditch robes!

 So unfortunately I forgot to take pictures during the party, but it was put on by Launie at Gracious Rain. You can go to Launie's blog and check out some pictures of the event. For the past few months she has been collecting donations from businesses and etsy shops to give away as prizes. There were over 200 people there and everyone got a prize!

Trevor got an awesome fridge magnet that

makes sure everyone knows how you feel:                          I got this lovely Hogwarts 

                                                                                              crest necklace:

 There were also goodie bags on our seats in the theater full of: coupons, candy, pins, fake "dark mark" tattoos, MANY other treasures, and these fantastic crocheted finger puppets: (Dumbledore and Ron)

We had a blast!

And guess what? THE MOVIE WAS FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, it was by far the best Harry Potter movie! And you need to know, I judge these movies very harshly. I am a huge fan of the books and a not so big fan of the movies, but this one I feel like they finally did right. That review is even coming after staying up until 3:00AM and getting 3 hours of sleep last night, I usually hold that against the movie.

So Yes, I highly recommend Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2.

If I Had One

If I had one complaint about my pregnancy it would be that I get some INTENSE HEARTBURN.

I would get heartburn before I was pregnant whenever I ate oatmeal. I don't know why oatmeal, I really like it.

But now, with my baby where my stomach was and my stomach in my throat I get heartburn with pretty much everything (well mostly when I eat gluten and sugar.... so pretty much everything I eat). It burns so bad that it makes my mouth salivate like I am about .2 seconds from throwing up.

But because I am an American and I love happy endings, there is one for this story (is this a story?) This stuff has to be made in heaven! 

It is a bazillion times better than tums. 

Please know that if you are one of 60 million Americans who suffer from the silent pain of heartburn, you don't have to suffer alone. There is relief available. 

But seriously, this stuff is a miracle. 

Recipe

Here's a great recipe for the bum runs...

ENJOY!

I know I did. Ask me again in a few hours.

Do you want to know Bridget will look like?

According to "Morph Thing" 

somehow this:

 + this

 = this:

Besides the minor.... I don't know what you would call that, a cleft cheek? She is pretty cute.

The New Addition To Our Family

No. Thank goodness Bridget is still in my belly.... she has a lot of growing to do in the next three months.

So who's this new addition you ask? Well since Trevor has been working in Provo and myself in Lehi, to save on gas I drive the Truck to work and he drives our red car.

I totally just realized I have never even introduced you all to Tabitha! Last November I wrote a huge sob post about how we sold my Honda, Twanda (and Jimmy) but I never let you meet Tabi our Oldsmobile Alero who replaced her, I promise we do love her.

Anyway back to the present. Trevor and I talked about it and realizing when the baby comes I will need to drive Tabitha seeing as anywhere I would put a car seat in the truck would most likely be frowned upon and would probably get me a huge ticket. Can I just interject here and say, most of us survived the 80's, heck we survived the 90's too and I totally remember running up and down the isle's of our astro van, sleeping on floor, driving on my dad's lap, making beds in the back window. In fact I don't even know if I knew what a seat belt or a car seat was for many years.

Again, back to the present. Long story now getting to the point: If Trevor drove the truck everyday to Riverton, Provo, and back to Draper we would be spending a large fortune in gas every week. We decided we should probably look into buying him a commuter car, and that's where Louis comes in!

You may notice that it is exactly the same car that we sold back in November. Yes it is a '96 Honda Accord, Twanda and Louise are... Siblings? Twins? (fraternal of course, their coloring is different, and Louis is a little more developed with automatic locks and windows).
Sorry, what was that? Why didn't we just keep Twanda? That is a very good question and I asked Trevor the same thing, he said if we kept her we would still be in the same predicament we found ourselves in anyway. And to be honest, Tabitha, the Alero we got for a steal and is a fantastic car.

But now our "driveway" looks like this: So please meet our family:

(and it's Louis as in "Louis XIV" Well actually it's Louis as in "Louis VII" This car is literally the seventh car we have owned since we have been married.) Also Trevor considers his dune-buggy a vehicle because it is "street-legal." Although when I asked him why he didn't drive that to Provo everyday then? He said a semi truck would probably blow him off the road if it passed him... point proven.

It Has Happened!

I was seriously getting nervous that it wouldn't happen to me and I would officially be a bad mom before I was even a mom!!! But I want you all to know that it has happened, last week I had a vision and I went into nesting mode!

I do feel like I have had a legit excuse for my delay in planning and preparing a nursery: Trevor's job is in Provo so we had decided that when our lease was up in October we would move to Provo. So how could I prepare a room for a child that will most likely never use it because she will be sleeping next to my bed for the two weeks before we move? Makes sense, right?

But then something changed, Trevor was chosen to teach seminary part-time starting in September and his school is in Riverton, so based on the commuter link it is best if we stay in Draper, at least for another year.

Next hurtle: I would look in the spare room and see everything we owned that didn't fit somewhere else in the house and it was overwhelming, so I just left it, for a long time. My biggest problem was the closet, as you can see in the pictures below, the closet has been used to the max... food storage. But then one night I was laying in bed and I literally had a vision, I can put Bridget's closet on the OUTSIDE of the wall! I saw shelves and curtain rods and Trevor helped me turn it into a reality!

So please prepare yourself for some awesome Before and After pictures:

BEFORE

Please notice the closet of food storage. Also, everything that I have gotten for Bridget at this point is piled in the middle of the room, I know it doesn't look like it but I swear it was nicely piled.

AFTERAwesome, yes?

BEFORE

AFTER

We really don't have any room for an actual crib, so I am really loving the Pack 'n Play!

p.s. shout out to my sister's and sisters-in-law for letting Bridge use their kids clothes!

BEFORE

Somewhere I must have had the thought that if I put the vacuum in the middle of the room somehow I would use it... apparently I am already getting really good at ignoring mess.


AFTER

We got this fantastic chair on clearance at RC Willey this last weekend. It's SO CUMFY!
AFTER

This is hanging on the wall above her bed, it was part of the decorations at my wedding reception. I promise I am not that vein, I plan on changing the pictures out once I have some pictures of her. I considered it but I don't know for how long I would love having a huge blown up picture of her ultrasound.

It's not completely done yet but I hope you enjoyed the before and afters.

2/3rds DOWN!

It's official, I am in my 3rd trimester!

I feel like it's gone by so quickly!

Some of you out there may hate me for saying this, but I LOVE BEING PREGNANT! It seriously has been so great. I mean, don't get me wrong I am not at my peak physically, emotionally, even mentally; but I have loved everything about the experience.

Now here I am sitting a mere 12 weeks away from a baby in my arms and not a stress in the world... She has a place to sleep, a couple of diapers, a few clean clothes, and some parents that can't wait to smoosh her with kisses. That's all a baby needs, right? Of course we can live on love, we have been doing it since we got married.

Spiders

I am surprised I am not more afraid of spiders seeing as though I have had a few run in's with them. Currently our house is... I wouldn't say infested per se, but we definitely kill quite a few spiders on a weekly/daily basis. (It probably has something to do with the empty fields and pastures that surround our house.

So this morning, I was on my way to work, driving a long on the freeway when low and behold a spider comes dangling down right in front of my face!

picture: via

So I shriek a little bit, but I'm driving and I have no way of outrunning the thing and I can't kill it because it's in midair! What do I do?! For some reason it felt way more important to dispose of this little spider than to actually pay attention to the 2 ton machinery I was operating at 75 miles per hour. So as I tried swatting at the string while trying to make it so the spider wouldn't drop in my lap I may have been swerving in and out of the lanes, but alas the spider did drop! Luckily it was on my foot, so I stomped on it with my other foot. At this point I finally look up out the windshield feeling relieved but somewhat disgusted that I had spider guts on my foot instead of a loose spider crawling all over my body. As I corrected my steering wheel and got more in the center of my chosen lane, a grandma in her Buick passes me with her middle finger glaring me down... I don't blame her one bit.

Would you like to hear more of my past with spiders?

This one is a good one.

It was the last few days of Summer and I was heading back up to Rexburg for my very last semester of college, ever. My room was a disaster as I was trying to pack everything up to move. I had been out with my friends one night and by the time I got home I was exhausted, I had a few blankets and my laptop on my bed so as I went to move my laptop out of the way I saw something move. I looked a little closer and it was a huge spider with a massive white butt! Talk about making your skin crawl! I audibly screamed but unfortunately my parents and brothers were out of town so no one was there to rescue me! I was so sicked out I couldn't go anywhere near the spider so I just left it and went upstairs to sleep in my parents bed.

Well when the next day came so did the stark realization that I had to pack up my entire room and I left an abnormally large and disgusting spider loose in my room. I looked around where it had been the night before but I didn't find anything so I put tube socks, rain boots, and a scarf on (to protect myself from the heinous monster) and went to work. Not too long later I was folding the blankets that were dumped on my bed when I folded one back and there was the monstrous white-butted beast! I screamed a little more and then did a very noble thing, I called up my buddy to come kill it for me. Bless him, he really did come over to kill the spider that was in my bed. (I just realized that could totally be a pick-up line "come save me, there is a spider in my bed!") When he saw the spider he determined that it would be better to catch it rather than kill it. Sure, whatever, just get it out of my bed!!!!!

My hero! he catches the disgusting spider and I immediately google it to figure out just how poisonous white-butted spiders are. Now here is where it gets worse/better, later that night I go to check on my creature and there are a ba-gillion little spiders all over it's back and all around the glass! (see above picture) That horrible monstrous spider was PREGNANT!!!! And it almost had all of it's horrible baby spiders IN MY BED!!!!! I should be traumatized, right?!

On a completely non related subject I decided to make cookies to take to our neighbors that moved in next door but I ended up taking the dough to work with me today and I ate all the chocolate chips out of it.

Why can't I be a better neighbor?