Night and Day

We had our first great Halloween in many years. Halloween is one of our favorite holidays, and it had been soured for many years living at the townhouse. The first year at the townhouse we figured there would be a lot of kids, so we went out and spent about $50 on candy. Then only a handful of kids showed up, and we were left with a butt-load of candy. We found out later that the local church decided to have “Trunk-or-Treating” rather than going door to door in the neighborhood. Trunk-or-Treating is going from car to car in a parking lot and collecting candy. Basically its a hand out with no work involved. I remember walking up and down long driveways as a kid, it was quite the task, but that was part of the fun!! Trunk-or-Treating has got to be one of the dumbest ideas for many reasons, one being that it's boring! And two, it excludes people that are not part of the local congregation. Year after year we never knew how much candy to buy because they would do this stoooopid Trunk-or-Treating. One year we did hear that they decided NOT to do Trunk-or-Treating, so we went out and got a ton of candy again, and STILL only a handful of kids showed up...We figured that another reason we didn't get many kids coming could be because the design of our townhouse is a bit confusing because the door is hidden in the back of the complex. Anyway, we basically stopped buying candy and doing other things on Halloween night....BUT, this year we were in a REAL neighborhood, with a real driveway, and FRONT door!! We had a TON of kids show up, and it really sparked the excitement of Halloween back in us. We got a couple great pumpkins at Pumpkinland and we carved them out and put them on our front steps. The kids were really cute and very polite, saying “thank you” for the candy. Some of the neighbors came by to introduce themselves....We are very excited to finally have Halloween back, especially because we will taking our own little trick-or-treater out in the near future.

Buttor Head

It's been 28 weeks, and Liam is a little over 2 lbs, and is about 15 inches long. My belly is looking more like a basketball these days. Sometimes when he moves my belly looks lop-sided and there is a round lump poking out and we figure it must be either his butt or head. I'm officially in the 3rd trimester, and time is just flying by. I'm excited, but at the same time I don't feel quite ready. I was hoping to be more settled and have our townhouse sold before he was born...but it just may not be in the cards because it's not like I can call Liam up and tell him to wait a few more weeks until we are ready for him?!

Becoming More Apparent...

At 26 weeks, Liam is a little under 2 lbs and is about 14 inches long. It is definitely becoming more apparent that I'm carrying a little human inside me. His movements are more obvious and are less like little finger pokes, and more like rolling, and nudging. At night when he's the most active, we can actually see my skin move! Sometimes there will be a hard round spot poking out, and it kinda feels like it might be his head...it really is a strange feeling for sure! My skin and ligaments are stretching, and sometimes I get tender spots that feel like bruises from the inside. Yesterday it was especially sore in a spot that Liam was hanging out most of the day, and kicked a few times....it REALLY hurt! But I know I do need to toughen up, since it's only going to get worse! : )

25 Weeks and Counting

This week Liam is about 13.5 inches, and weighs about 1.5 lbs. He's going to start to fill out now, which means I'm gunna be getting even bigger! Sometimes I look at myself and think I'm soo big, but other times I think I'm not THAT big for being 6 months pregnant. His growth is checked at the Dr.'s once a month, and he is growing just right, which is a relief because I'm a semi-vegetarian. I say semi because I do eat fish on occasion. Since I found out that I was pregnant, I struggled with whether I should start eating meat again. I stopped eating meat about 6-7 yrs ago, and the thought of starting up again was difficult. If I wasn't going to eat meat, I knew that I would need to increase my protein intake in other ways, so I decided that I would increase my dairy intake, start eating eggs, drinking lots of soy milk, and snacking on nuts, mostly in the form of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I make sure I take my tums, which is a calcium supplement and my prenatal multi-vitamin everyday. And as far as fresh fruits and vegetables, I enjoy making juice with my juicer. And I've also cut down on sweets and junk food. I do feel that I've made a conscience effort to make sure I'm eating enough of the right stuff for a healthy baby. At times I do feel I should be better about it, but I know I'm not perfect. And I figure that what I am eating is certainly better than some of the cravings others get, like sardines with ice cream or drinking bleach?!

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Do you ever get that feeling where you have so much to do, that you just feel overwhelmed? I have been feeling that lately, mainly because we have been moved from the Town House for a few weeks now, but we aren't completely moved out, or completely moved in?! After a full day of work, I stop by the Town House on the way home to get the mail, and to pick up a small load of stuff....Oy the never ending stuff....It's just so hard to believe how much stuff 2 people can collect over the years. It really is me though, I'm the guilty pack rat...I get it from my mom...If it were up to Mike, he would just throw it all away...I just have this thing where I have a hard time parting with things. I think, well one day I might need this. Then after I get home, I have to unload the car, find places for all the stuff, then I need to let the dogs out...one by one because we don't have our fence up yet! Thankfully we have ordered it, but they are 2 months behind schedule, so we won't be getting it till November! By the time I have let them all out, I'm completely exhausted, but still feel like I need to do more, like make and/or help with dinner, unpack some stuff, tidy the kitchen, do some yoga, do some weeding, pick up dog crap in the yard, or nag Mike about calling our old neighbor to get a move on getting a bid for fixing the damage to the complex?! The year is slipping by me, and we still have soooo much to do before the baby comes! One major one being getting the Town House clean and fixed up to sell. Especially because making 2 mortgage payments really just sucks! So, guess what we'll be doing this weekend?!

First Symptom

It's been 23 weeks now. Liam is more than 11 inches and weighs just over a pound. It's crazy to think that he will gain 6-7 more pounds in about 3 months!! So far I have had a pleasant pregnancy. I never got sick in the first trimester, and other than a little indigestion, I have hardly noticed that I'm pregnant....until last night?!! I awoke from a dead sleep with the worst charley horse in my calf I've ever felt! I screamed so loud I probably scared my husband into thinking I was dying...Before our move, I had been really good about having an exercise program. I alternated days of aerobic exercise on a stationary bike and yoga. Since the move, I have been busy everyday finishing up packing the loose ends at the townhouse and unpacking/organizing at the new house. I read on the Internet this morning that leg cramps are fairly common in the 2nd and 3rd trimester...guess its time to start exercising again!

Well, there used to be a shed there.....

Last night a big storm blew into much of Northern Utah. There were warnings of flash floods, high winds, hail, and lightening. Also, some people reported seeing funnel clouds. This is pretty unusual weather for Utah, so it was enough to make a person a bit nervous. I was pretty nervous being in a new house with lots of windows. It was especially nerve racking when the weatherman has breaking news, and circles YOUR town and says “ There could be a funnel cloud forming right here, right now!!” In the end we did get some pretty good winds, rain, and lightening, but thankfully it had calmed a bit by the time it got to our area. Salt Lake City, and west of it seemed to get the brunt of the storm. Our house held up amazingly well, but I can't say the same for the Rubbermaid shed in the backyard! It had a broken door and the wind just blew in and exploded it into pieces?!

On the baby front...well it seems we have a name that seems to be sticking. I hesitate to share names with people because before we found out the gender, the name that we liked kept changing. But, we both really like the name Liam and we have been calling him that for a couple weeks now. The name is unique yet not too strange that it's hard to say or remember.

About the name Liam: Resolute protector "Teutonic"

You are a deep thinker and student of life using your intuition and natural detective ability to seek truth and hidden knowledge. Peaceloving and compassionate you are nonetheless strong-willed and courageous in confronting challenges. Although your approach to life tends to be on a mental level it is important for you to see your ideas and concepts take form in the material world. Your talents and leadership skills give you great potential for a distinguished career.

We haven't decided on a middle name yet. But we do have some time to think on that. Liam is already taking after his dad, in that he likes to be up late at night, and sleep in. He's fairly quiet during the day, and like clock work he starts moving like crazy at about 11pm. Although, I sure hope we can change that schedule after he's born!