Big bellies and shoes

I've been pretty bad at taking belly pics lately. There's been so much going on that it's kind of slipped through the cracks. James was actually home last night so even though I was already in my comfy pj's, we took some belly pics.

Almost 33 weeks pregnant :) That is one BIG belly! This picture cracks me up because if you look close, you can actually SEE my belly button popping right through my shirt! I look like a turkey but I'm not quite done yet ;)

Like my pants? They are James's pajama pants. Soooo much more comfortable than any maternity pants! Slightly embarrassing to be posting a pic of me in my husband's pajama pants but after last week's fiasco, I think I'm beyond embarrassment ;)

Now, not only are clothes uncomfortable, shoes are too! I'm a shoe girl, always have been and hopefully always will be. I love shoes, especially cute high heels. However, I had to break down and buy a pair of flats the other day. I had zero flat shoes. At five foot three, I need all the height I can get! I felt so short when I wore those flats but my feet thanked me. The only clothes that are comfortable are sweat pants and dresses and the only shoes that work are tennis shoes and flats. Hmmm, that could make for some interesting combinations huh? ;)

I jinxed myself

A few days ago, I was thinking about how blessed I have been during my pregnancy. Yes, I've had the normal nausea, pains and fatigue but nothing big and scary. I haven't had any UTIs, no diabetes, no high blood pressure, no pre-term labor symptoms, etc.... I was feeling pretty good about being able to make it all the way through this pregnancy with no major bumps in the road. Well... apparently I jinxed myself thinking that I had it so easy. Yesterday, at about 2:00, I was out in the back parking lot waiting for the kids to be picked up when I started feeling a bit light-headed and dizzy. I walked up to the office, slightly off-kilter and wobbly. I made it to the restroom splashed some water on my face and thought I was ok. I needed to get back to my classroom and get my stuff because I had a Dr's appointment at 3:00. However, I walked out of the restroom and almost fell over from the dizziness. Luckily there were some other teachers there to catch me. That's when things starting going downhill FAST. As I was sitting trying to regain my balance, I felt an instant wave of nausea and had to make a beeline to the restroom. *Side note: even during my morning sickness in early pregnancy, I did not throw up ONCE!* Anyway, I barely made it to the restroom, not pretty having to hug a public toilet in the middle of the teacher's lounge with tons of people milling about! I was so embarrassed! My good friend Jill was there to hold my hair back and reassure me that the baby was fine, which I was very concerned about at that point. So I finally get up the strength to get up off the bathroom floor (yuck!) and stagger to the work room, where I collapse again and toss some more cookies. I am so grateful at this point that there are so many caring people at school. Joan, Cheryl, Dawn, Jill and Thad were all there to help me. I can't tell all of you how much I appreciate your help. I never could have had the strength to do any of this on my own during this ordeal. So I'm sitting in the copy room and I can hear people discussing things but my head is so foggy and it's difficult for me to even hold my head up and speak. They all decide that they are going to call James, put me in a wheelchair (how embarrassing!!!), put me in Dawn's car and she'll take me to the Dr. I was glad I actually had a Dr.s' appointment because not only was I worried about what was going on with me, this had come on SO suddenly, but I was also worried about what all this was doing to the baby. So I make it out to Dawn's car and she carefully drives me to the Dr. When we get there, the Dr. takes my vitals and seems to think that I have food poisoning or a flu bug. Ok well that I can deal with. James shows up, thankfully, and asks the Dr. all the questions that I wanted to ask but couldn't because I was in so much agony. I was glad that the Dr. was able to check me and baby and see that everything was ok. The baby's heart rate was good and he was moving around A LOT. Things seemed a lot more complicated than just food poisoning or a flu bug when you're pregnant. Anyway, the Dr. sent me home with directions to try to stay hydrated, rest and take the day off from work the next day. So when I went home I was still ridiculously dizzy and nauseous. Dawn had graciously volunteered to run to Wal-green's and pick up some stuff for me, thanks Dawn!!! Meanwhile James helped me into bed where I stayed for the next eight hours or so. And after a few more visits to the thrown room, I slept for a good long while. When I woke up, it was as if nothing had ever happened. I wasn't dizzy, nauseous, nothing. I felt SO much better. It was then that I starting remembering all the stuff that had happened to get me to that point and BOY am I embarrassed!!! I'm so thankfulto everyone who helped me: Mary who kept me from falling over and getting my laptop and keys. Jill who held me hair and comforted me when I needed it most. Dawn for driving me to the Dr., getting stuff from Wal-greens and taking James back to school to get my car. Joan, Cheryl and Thad for getting me out of the school and into Dawn's car. And anyone else to asked if I was ok and volunteered to help me out. So from now on, I will try not to jinx myself by thinking how lucky I am. Yes, this could have been much worse. In my mind, at the time, it was pretty bad, but looking back, it was not as bad as it could have been and I'm thankful that this turned out to be just a minor incident, embarrassing, but minor. Now all I have to do is show up at work tomorrow and try to hold my head up! ;)

Hiccuping Henry

I thought I do a very random post tonight. After reading my friend Nicole's blog, A New Normal, I wanted to make sure that I take time everyday to truly enjoy my pregnancy. So today when I got home from work, I starting feeling baby boy move around. He likes to wake up and wiggle when I get home from work. It's like he's celebrating being home from work too :) Then I starting feeling a very familiar, rhythmic thumping in my tummy. Little Henry had the hiccups! From what I've read, this is completely normal and a good sign that he is doing some practice breaths :) Well if this is true, then my little guy should be REALLY good at breathing by the time he's born because Henry gets the hiccups AT LEAST once a day! It's a very regular event in my days now. It's more fun when there is someone around when it happens so they can feel my belly bounce. It's ridiculously cute when he gets the hiccups now, I'm sure it won't be so fun once he's out. So I'm enjoying it now while I can . There are no pictures I can think of to go with this blog so I'm posting a random one to go with the randomness of this post.

31 weeks!!!

Yesterday marked exactly 31 weeks of my pregnancy! I'd been feeling pretty good up until this point. The second trimester had ended and the third trimester began with no truly bad side effects... until this week. I think that God knew when to put the hard stuff on me. He waited until fall break to kick in the morning sickness and then he graciously waited till spring break to bring on the exhaustion, growing pains and mood swings! This way, I can get used to all these new joys before going back to work... which I am not looking forward to. I can make it through by reminding myself that I only have eight weeks of work left before I start my maternity leave. On the plus side, little Henry has been more active than ever! Which I am hoping means that he has flipped himself around and is now in the correct head-down position :) I've also been taking this time away from work to re-organize the nursery after our spectacular amount of gifts from our baby shower :)

Here is the before shot of the nursery with all the gifts.

And here is the after! With a beautiful new toy basket from Ami and a newly constructed rocker from Dawn! Btw, I put that together, all by myself!!! A huge accomplishment for me considering it had lots of parts and required tools for assembly, snaps for me :)

Here is another view of the nursery with baby Henry's bassinet. It will end up being in our room when little boy gets here.

Here is the changing table with diapers, wipes, etc... ready to go along with a diaper champ from Mary! Plus a new swing! It's pretty fancy, you can plug your ipod in to it so the baby can rock out! ;)

So I'm feeling better about being ready for baby Henry and I'm working through the rest of my pregnancy pains. I continually remind myself how blessed and lucky I am to be pregnant and to have made it this far with very few issues. Hopefully the pains will subside soon and I can coast through the last eight weeks of work. And THEN baby Henry will finally be here! :)

My baby shower!

Yesterday, James and I had our baby shower! It was so much fun! My good friend Ami, mother of triplets and party-thrower extraordinaire, graciously opened up her home for a fabulous baby shower :) There was food, fun and of course games! Thanks again Ami, we had a blast! Here are some pics that James's friend Brian took for us. I was a bit pre-occupied so thank you Brian! If it weren't for you, I'd probably have zero pictures!

Me, James and the master of ceremonies, Ami

Ami is a big fan of games. Usually this game would be played with stuffed animals or dolls. The object is, future mom and dad race to see who can diaper, clothe and get the baby in the car seat the quickest. Well since Ami just happened to have two little baby boys for us to practice on, James and I used Colton and Ethan for our game! Like the look on my face? I was having issues getting Ethan to cooperate!

Ethan was so interested in getting into the car seat that he kept getting away from me as I tried to change him. You can't see in this picture but James is having a much easier time with Colton! I feel like I won this game :)

The banner welcoming baby Henry to our lives!

Opening the many, many presents our generous friends and family got for us! Thanks everyone!!!

The awesome cake my good friend Nicole made for us. She made this from scratch, with real fondant and everything! Gorgeous!! Thanks Nicole! :)

My girls! A couple girls are missing and couple boys are thrown in ;) Anabelle, Ami with Colton, me and Henry, Nicole, Aimee. Lookin' good!

My two little sisters and family friend, CJ. They are busy making onesies and burp cloths. Now I have a ton of cute onesies and burp cloths people have made :) I didn't get any pics of them but my brother, his wife and my mom were there too. Thanks for making the trip up guys! I didn't get pics of a lot of people who were there! I need to get better at taking pictures!

The aftermath of presents in little Henry's nursery! WOW!!! Someone had asked me earlier at the shower if everything was ready in the nursery... well it was! Looks like I have some more organizing to do now, good times :)

Thanks again to everyone who came, who didn't come but brought a present, who helped put this together, who took pictures, who made food, who helped me in any way etc... I have the best friends and family!!!

Spring training

I love spring in Tucson! The weather is gorgeous and thankfully, in Vail we get two wonderful weeks off to enjoy it. Another plus for Tucson is the Arizona Diamondbacks hold their spring training games here... well unfortunately, this is the last year we will have spring training here :*( Anyway, spring training, pre-pregnancy, meant short shorts, a bikini top, lying in the grass, getting a tan and drinking some beer! Needless to say, this game was a bit different ;) No short shorts, definitely no bikini top (yikes!) and no beer. We did still sit in the grass and catch some rays and it was still a lot of fun! We just kept thinking how sad it was that we would not be able to take our little boy to spring training games now that they are moving to Phoenix. At least baby boy got to go to one spring training game!

Catching some rays ;) It was gorgeous!

A better view of baby Henry's first game, he really enjoyed the loud music!

Our attempt at a self portrait.

Our view from the lawn.

The view from behind home plate, we took as we were leaving, I think they might have won!

I'd like to make it to at least one more spring training game this year, since it is the last year they'll be here. I'll have to rest up for it though! The walk from the parking lot is pretty long and I'm not the fastest walker any more. Plus, sitting on the lawn is not the most comfortable thing to do when seven months pregnant! I had a blast though :) Go D-backs!!!

Does this baby make me look fat?

I sure feel like it these days! Here are some recent belly pics, I know it's been a while since I've posted any.

I am about 30 weeks here, not quite but I like to round up!

Whoa belly!!! But at least people have told me that I don't look pregnant from behind! If I get brave one day, maybe I'll post behind pictures ;)

Saturday was James's 31st birthday, here is the cake I made for him. 31 and he finally gets to be a dad! :)

So now that my belly has taken over my body, here are some things I have noticed...

Things that are getting difficult:

1. Sleeping - lying on my side puts a lot of pressure on my big belly and my hips. I tend to toss and turn A LOT before I feet comfortable. I put a pillow between my legs and try to support my belly. Funnily enough, just when I get comfy and fall asleep, I get kicked awake and have to go pee! Then the whole cycle starts again, Fun times :) AND I'm trying to get as much sleep as possible because I know it will just get more difficult to sleep as time goes on and THEN impossible once baby boy gets here!

2. Getting dressed - Not many things fit properly anymore and maternity pants are SOOOO uncomfortable with that giant band right across the belly. Then putting on the pants causes another problem as it is difficult to lift my legs to put on the pants! Shoes are another challenge. My cute shoes don't fit very well and tennis shoes are hard to get down to tie!

3. Eating - I know it sounds strange but since my insides are getting squished by an almost three pound baby, my stomach doesn't have much room anymore. So I'll be STARVING and then eat like five bites and be full, an hour later, I'm starving again! You get the idea.

4. Working - Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but there are days when it drains me so much. It's not only mentally challenging but physically as well. I'm on my feet literally all day and I have to walk my kids across a pretty big campus at least four or five times a day. It's quite tiresome. Thank goodness for Spring Break!

5. Restroom - I'm trying to drink plenty of fluids but then those fluids have to go somewhere! When I'm at home, it's not a big deal to get up to pee every hour on the hour. When I go anywhere, work, shopping, car trips, I have to worry about where I can find a bathroom.

Things that are almost impossible:

1. Shaving - My legs are so far away and it's difficult to bend down to reach them. It's been fine so far because it's been cold out and I can cover up my hairy legs. I'm truly afraid for summer to come!

2. Painting my toes - Again, they are so far away! Once summer hits, I may have to invest in a pedicure or two!

3. Riding in cars - I've always been very sensitive to motion but it seems to have gotten exponentially worse with pregnancy. I can't go on even the shortest rides without getting really sick. I'm not looking forward to being in labor and having James drive me to the hospital! Maybe I can drive myself ;)

4. Backaches - Sitting, standing, walking, lying down... any position for too long hurts. The only thing that I can find that helps is getting on all fours and doing the islamic praying pose! And Lord knows that I can't do that in public!!!

5. Worrying about labor - I know it is still a long ways away but I can't help being concerned about it. For every great labor story I hear, there are five horror stories to scare the snot out of me!

Now I don't want people to read this and think that I am not enjoying my pregnancy because I really am! I love being pregnant. I love feeling the baby move all day long. I even love feeling him get the hiccups! I am really trying to enjoy every last minute of being pregnant because I know that I will miss it when he's out. So please don't think I'm being really negative. These are just things that I'm feeling are getting hard. Not everything is rainbows and butterflies! A lot of it is and I'm happy for all the great stuff but tough stuff comes along with it. I know everybody says this, but being pregnant really is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life but it also the best and the happiest I've ever been as well. Nothing in life that is worth having comes easy, right? :)

Little Sean's baptism

February 12th, 2010 my brother, Matt and his wife, Kenya had their precious baby boy, Sean Douglas Spencer. Sean's middle name is a tribute to my dad, his middle name is Douglas. Sean's initials are also the same as my dad's SDS :) Yesterday we had Sean's baptism. It was so wonderful to see my daddy baptize my new nephew and my mom hold him and be his witness and Godmother.

Sean receiving the sign of the cross from my dad.

Little Sean getting the water poured on his head, he was not a big fan but he was so good he didn't even cry once!

Parents and Grandparents.

Little Sean saying hello! ;)

I just LOVED his teeny shoes!

I'm excited for James and I to have our little boy baptized in a few months! :)