Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Random Post: Missing Nathan
I'm home alone going a little stir crazy missing my wonderful husband. He is in Utah the next few days for a programming conference. Trying to find something to entertain me and keep me from going insane; I looked through my camera and found this little treasure. Awhile back in a moment of boredom for Nathan he made this, and although it made me miss him more it made me smile, so I thought I would share it. I love him so much. Hopefully you can get the stop motion feel even with the photos presented like this.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Pregnancy and the Holidays
Well it has been awhile, so sorry to our avid readers; mainly my mom :). Anyways September was a good month mainly filled with trying to keep our newly discovered pregnancy a secret. It was a lot harder for me then for Nathan, but we managed to make it to at least ten weeks before we started spreading our exciting news too much.
The first half of our pregnancy has been fun. It started with me sneaking out to the dollar store to buy a pregnancy test. I was sneaking because I was only a few days late and Nathan thought we should wait till I was at least a week late before testing. I tried to assuage my guilt by telling myself I probably wasn't pregnant, and if I was I would find a fun way to tell Nathan. Well I bought two pregnancy tests just in case and headed home. Two trips to the bathroom later, and both pregnancy tests saying positive I paced around excitedly. I was pregnant! I had moments of excitement than freaking out, then excitement, then freaking out because I realized that I needed to tell Nathan, and I promised myself I would do it in a cute way if I tested positive.
The next two hours were a whirlwind. I cleaned up, went to the store to buy a stuffed puppet monkey we both loved at Barnes and Noble, and then I started making dinner. I had it planned out perfectly.. sort of. The idea was Nathan would walk in and be happy to see the place clean, and smell the awesome food I was cooking. He would then see the adorable monkey on our coffee table with a sign saying: "Soon we'll be having a little monkey of our own..." Then being the naturally curious person he is he would pick up the sign and see that I had wrote: "in 9 months." on the back. Then in his excitement he would pick up the monkey see the pregnancy tests hiding underneath. Boom he knows I'm pregnant! Mission accomplished. Well it actually went like this:
Nathan walks in, and I'm in the kitchen cooking.
Nathan: "Smells good, what are you cooking?" *gives me kiss*
Me (trying to act completely normal): "Spaghetti with meatballs."
Nathan: "Awesome." *He walks from kitchen to bedroom glances at the monkey as he passes by.*
"Cute monkey." * He then proceeds to walk into the bedroom to hang up his jacket and put his shoes away.*
At this point I'm not pretending to cook. He had walked nonchalantly by my adorable stuffed monkey! I wish I had been a little more patient, but I had already been waiting to tell him for two hours. So while he was still in the room I said, "Babe, I think you underestimate the significance of the monkey."
Nathan: " Wait what? Are you pregnant? Did you get a pregnancy test without me?" He comes out of the bedroom and I tell him yes I am as I show him the other side of the monkeys sign and the pregnancy tests.
Then we hugged and kissed, and finally I am able to share my excitement and freaking out with the person I love most in this world. Nathan was fun to watch as he comprehended his impending fatherhood. Mainly he sat on the couch and played with the monkey, wearing an excited, but scared look on his face. Love him.
Below is the first picture we took of my "belly" at 6 weeks pregnant during our trip to Boston. I don't think we have done any belly shots since then... We probably should.
I guess our pregnancy announcement on Facebook was a sort of belly shot too. This shot was at 14 weeks, but to be honest I didn't really start getting a baby belly at all until 19 weeks.
Pregnancy has been fun adventure for both Nathan and I. Luckily my first trimester was not the horrible puking and super nauseated experience I have heard from others. Not to say I didn't have those symptoms but they weren't that bad. I have puked 5 times in total the whole pregnancy which is pretty good if you ask me. Weirdly brushing my teeth and pizza have been the main contributors to those times I puked.
Mostly I would just get nauseous if I didn't eat frequently enough. Which was tough because it was hard to find food that actually sounded good. Poor Nathan has been so patient with me trying to find foods that I would actually eat. We ate out a lot, and I didn't cook very much as just looking at some foods would make me nauseous. And a lot of times over the last couple months I would hole myself up on our bedroom with my bucket to get away from the smelly food Nathan was cooking in the kitchen.
I haven't had very many cravings. What I have craved is mainly junk food: mashed potatoes, pizza (half the time I craved it, half the time it made me puke; silly pizza), sunflower seeds, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and caramel popcorn. I think that's about it. As far as food aversions: tomatoes. Everything tomatoes, no more tomatoes chopped up, sauces were hard, even pizza sauce. I only had to look at tomatoes and they would make me feel nauseous. I would get frustrated because Nathan would leave the cutting board and knife out where he had cut a tomato for his sandwich in the morning, and I would see the juices and seeds left over, and immediately my stomach would flip in circles and I had to quickly put it in the sink and flip it over. Silly Tomatoes. Thankfully ketchup has remained my ever faithful friend.
That's about it for nauseousness, other than brushing my teeth was really hard. The mixture of mint and the toothbrush near my tongue set me off gagging frequently. The other thing about the first trimester was just being extremely tired. I found for the first time in my life enjoying going to bed at 9:30pm. Then I would wake up at around 8:30 the next day. That's about 11 hours of sleep! Craziness, especially considering at about 11am I would take about an hour and a half nap as well.
I just want to say how grateful I am for the wonderful husband I have. He has helped me so much through all of this. He worked really hard to feed me, and was always there to bring me a glass of milk and make me toast when I would be laying by my bucket; hoping a little food would make the nauseousness disappear. He would carry me to bed when i passed out at 9:30, and always encouraged me to take a nap if I looked tired. He would read out loud to me and the baby before bed. He would smile and be patient with me when I cried over food (this has happened a few times). He would brush his teeth if I said his breath was making me nauseous, and so much more. He is the best I feel so blessed he is in my life. He has been so sweet and understanding, and he continues to be so as we approach the other stages of pregnancy.
Which I have to say the second trimester of pregnancy has been fantastic! I got my energy back and was able to crunch out the online homework I had been putting off. Two classes worth of homework squished into two months instead of four; bad idea. I wouldn't recommend it. I did it though, and with those two classes I finished up my associates degree in visual arts from UVU!
This trimester I finally started gaining weight instead of losing it, and finally I am starting to look pregnant! I have upgraded to maternity clothes which have been fun, and I am so grateful for all the maternity clothes that my in-laws gave me for Christmas. I desperately needed them. Also this trimester the baby has become a wiggle monster. At least it feels that way to me. He kicks, flips, stretches. I don't know how to distinguish when he does which, but I definitely feel him moving all the time. Its fun and I love it when he kicks hard enough that Nathan can feel the kick with his hand, and sometimes even see it with our eyes. Oh which we reminds me we found out on December 16th that we are having a bouncing baby boy!
After Halloween we threw a shindig for Nathan's 25th birthday party. It was at Brooke's house because our apartment is too small. It was a bring your own meat barbecue. We loaded our barbecue in the car and brought it over along with the side dishes we had made. We were 30 minutes late for our own party; it was pretty sad. Thankfully Brooke and Ben were good hosts till we showed up. It was a fun night. Kind of chaotic, but fun. Someday our apartment will be big enough to have a little party and at least we wont be late showing up.
Then came Thanksgiving and our wonderful trip out to Las Vegas to spend turkey day with the Tates. It was a blast (other then the homework I had to do). We played games, and I was finally able to learn the rules of Rook and I actually did pretty good. I also was able to almost win Settlers of Catan twice! This is a big deal, really it is. I had never even been seen as a threat at Settlers when playing with the Tates, but this trip a few times they wouldn't even trade with me because I was ahead! Oh what an honor. I'm finally becoming a true Tate. If you're not a Tate reading this I just want you to know I am not being sarcastic at all.
Actual Thanksgiving was fun as we all helped to prepare a beautiful meal. Thank you everyone the food was fantastic! Thanks especially to the Barnettes (Nathan's sister and her family) who let us stay with them and fed us the whole trip. You guys are the best.
We also went on a family hike in Red Rocks National Park. It was a beautiful hike but a little more strenuous than what I had mind. I wasn't really looking pregnant but I was feeling pretty pregnant as I tried to climb up rocks and keep my balance. It was fun, but scary, for me and the dogs anyway. Nathan had a blast he loves rock climbing and hikes that involve bouldering. Here are some pictures from that beautiful hike.
The first half of our pregnancy has been fun. It started with me sneaking out to the dollar store to buy a pregnancy test. I was sneaking because I was only a few days late and Nathan thought we should wait till I was at least a week late before testing. I tried to assuage my guilt by telling myself I probably wasn't pregnant, and if I was I would find a fun way to tell Nathan. Well I bought two pregnancy tests just in case and headed home. Two trips to the bathroom later, and both pregnancy tests saying positive I paced around excitedly. I was pregnant! I had moments of excitement than freaking out, then excitement, then freaking out because I realized that I needed to tell Nathan, and I promised myself I would do it in a cute way if I tested positive.
The next two hours were a whirlwind. I cleaned up, went to the store to buy a stuffed puppet monkey we both loved at Barnes and Noble, and then I started making dinner. I had it planned out perfectly.. sort of. The idea was Nathan would walk in and be happy to see the place clean, and smell the awesome food I was cooking. He would then see the adorable monkey on our coffee table with a sign saying: "Soon we'll be having a little monkey of our own..." Then being the naturally curious person he is he would pick up the sign and see that I had wrote: "in 9 months." on the back. Then in his excitement he would pick up the monkey see the pregnancy tests hiding underneath. Boom he knows I'm pregnant! Mission accomplished. Well it actually went like this:
Nathan walks in, and I'm in the kitchen cooking.
Nathan: "Smells good, what are you cooking?" *gives me kiss*
Me (trying to act completely normal): "Spaghetti with meatballs."
Nathan: "Awesome." *He walks from kitchen to bedroom glances at the monkey as he passes by.*
"Cute monkey." * He then proceeds to walk into the bedroom to hang up his jacket and put his shoes away.*
At this point I'm not pretending to cook. He had walked nonchalantly by my adorable stuffed monkey! I wish I had been a little more patient, but I had already been waiting to tell him for two hours. So while he was still in the room I said, "Babe, I think you underestimate the significance of the monkey."
Nathan: " Wait what? Are you pregnant? Did you get a pregnancy test without me?" He comes out of the bedroom and I tell him yes I am as I show him the other side of the monkeys sign and the pregnancy tests.
Then we hugged and kissed, and finally I am able to share my excitement and freaking out with the person I love most in this world. Nathan was fun to watch as he comprehended his impending fatherhood. Mainly he sat on the couch and played with the monkey, wearing an excited, but scared look on his face. Love him.
Below is the first picture we took of my "belly" at 6 weeks pregnant during our trip to Boston. I don't think we have done any belly shots since then... We probably should.
I guess our pregnancy announcement on Facebook was a sort of belly shot too. This shot was at 14 weeks, but to be honest I didn't really start getting a baby belly at all until 19 weeks.
Pregnancy has been fun adventure for both Nathan and I. Luckily my first trimester was not the horrible puking and super nauseated experience I have heard from others. Not to say I didn't have those symptoms but they weren't that bad. I have puked 5 times in total the whole pregnancy which is pretty good if you ask me. Weirdly brushing my teeth and pizza have been the main contributors to those times I puked.
Mostly I would just get nauseous if I didn't eat frequently enough. Which was tough because it was hard to find food that actually sounded good. Poor Nathan has been so patient with me trying to find foods that I would actually eat. We ate out a lot, and I didn't cook very much as just looking at some foods would make me nauseous. And a lot of times over the last couple months I would hole myself up on our bedroom with my bucket to get away from the smelly food Nathan was cooking in the kitchen.
I haven't had very many cravings. What I have craved is mainly junk food: mashed potatoes, pizza (half the time I craved it, half the time it made me puke; silly pizza), sunflower seeds, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and caramel popcorn. I think that's about it. As far as food aversions: tomatoes. Everything tomatoes, no more tomatoes chopped up, sauces were hard, even pizza sauce. I only had to look at tomatoes and they would make me feel nauseous. I would get frustrated because Nathan would leave the cutting board and knife out where he had cut a tomato for his sandwich in the morning, and I would see the juices and seeds left over, and immediately my stomach would flip in circles and I had to quickly put it in the sink and flip it over. Silly Tomatoes. Thankfully ketchup has remained my ever faithful friend.
That's about it for nauseousness, other than brushing my teeth was really hard. The mixture of mint and the toothbrush near my tongue set me off gagging frequently. The other thing about the first trimester was just being extremely tired. I found for the first time in my life enjoying going to bed at 9:30pm. Then I would wake up at around 8:30 the next day. That's about 11 hours of sleep! Craziness, especially considering at about 11am I would take about an hour and a half nap as well.
I just want to say how grateful I am for the wonderful husband I have. He has helped me so much through all of this. He worked really hard to feed me, and was always there to bring me a glass of milk and make me toast when I would be laying by my bucket; hoping a little food would make the nauseousness disappear. He would carry me to bed when i passed out at 9:30, and always encouraged me to take a nap if I looked tired. He would read out loud to me and the baby before bed. He would smile and be patient with me when I cried over food (this has happened a few times). He would brush his teeth if I said his breath was making me nauseous, and so much more. He is the best I feel so blessed he is in my life. He has been so sweet and understanding, and he continues to be so as we approach the other stages of pregnancy.
Which I have to say the second trimester of pregnancy has been fantastic! I got my energy back and was able to crunch out the online homework I had been putting off. Two classes worth of homework squished into two months instead of four; bad idea. I wouldn't recommend it. I did it though, and with those two classes I finished up my associates degree in visual arts from UVU!
This trimester I finally started gaining weight instead of losing it, and finally I am starting to look pregnant! I have upgraded to maternity clothes which have been fun, and I am so grateful for all the maternity clothes that my in-laws gave me for Christmas. I desperately needed them. Also this trimester the baby has become a wiggle monster. At least it feels that way to me. He kicks, flips, stretches. I don't know how to distinguish when he does which, but I definitely feel him moving all the time. Its fun and I love it when he kicks hard enough that Nathan can feel the kick with his hand, and sometimes even see it with our eyes. Oh which we reminds me we found out on December 16th that we are having a bouncing baby boy!
This was our Christmas card we sent out to spread our happy news.
Which I think it's time to switch gears and talk about the holidays! Let's start with Halloween! We were able to attend Brooke and Ben's (my sister and brother-in-law) adult only Halloween party! I had been wanting to go to this Halloween party for a few years because I could never find a good enough reason to dress up. It was fun and I was able to do most the decorations because Brooke was making a legit Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy costume for her and Ben. The decorations were time consuming, but fun, and I was grateful that I had quit my job a few weeks earlier so I had the time to work on them. Here are some pictures:
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| Mr & Mrs. Darcy |
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| Nathan and I dressed up as Zombie and Zombie survivor. Nathan was kind enough to let me attempt Halloween makeup on him... I hope I will do better next time. |
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| Nathan and I helped figure out the skits. This is Nathan instructing the troops. |
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| My decor. Here are lots and lots of bats I cut out. |
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| Some of my more "creepy" art I could find to hang on the wall, and I added wiggly eyes for good measure. |
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| Boo! Ghosts |
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| Mummy Lanterns, I used dryer sheets because I didn't want to buy cheese cloth. |
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| And a few fun Halloween photo embellishments for good measure. |
After Halloween we threw a shindig for Nathan's 25th birthday party. It was at Brooke's house because our apartment is too small. It was a bring your own meat barbecue. We loaded our barbecue in the car and brought it over along with the side dishes we had made. We were 30 minutes late for our own party; it was pretty sad. Thankfully Brooke and Ben were good hosts till we showed up. It was a fun night. Kind of chaotic, but fun. Someday our apartment will be big enough to have a little party and at least we wont be late showing up.
Then came Thanksgiving and our wonderful trip out to Las Vegas to spend turkey day with the Tates. It was a blast (other then the homework I had to do). We played games, and I was finally able to learn the rules of Rook and I actually did pretty good. I also was able to almost win Settlers of Catan twice! This is a big deal, really it is. I had never even been seen as a threat at Settlers when playing with the Tates, but this trip a few times they wouldn't even trade with me because I was ahead! Oh what an honor. I'm finally becoming a true Tate. If you're not a Tate reading this I just want you to know I am not being sarcastic at all.
Actual Thanksgiving was fun as we all helped to prepare a beautiful meal. Thank you everyone the food was fantastic! Thanks especially to the Barnettes (Nathan's sister and her family) who let us stay with them and fed us the whole trip. You guys are the best.
We also went on a family hike in Red Rocks National Park. It was a beautiful hike but a little more strenuous than what I had mind. I wasn't really looking pregnant but I was feeling pretty pregnant as I tried to climb up rocks and keep my balance. It was fun, but scary, for me and the dogs anyway. Nathan had a blast he loves rock climbing and hikes that involve bouldering. Here are some pictures from that beautiful hike.
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| A fun place to Boulder. |
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| I became the unadventurous photographer. |
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| :) |
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| The view at the end :) |
To end our trip to Las Vegas; Nathan and I headed to The Strip to see a show and check out the sites. We went and saw La Reve the Dream at the Wynn casino. It was a beautiful show and visually stunning. The acrobats and dancing were fun and some of the magic tricks were pretty nifty. We had a great time and I'm glad we were able to have that fun experience. We also walked along the strip and saw the volcano go off, the Belagio fountains dancing to Christmas music, and a really awesome street performer who held still enough in an uncomfortable position to look like a statue. Still don't know how he held himself like that.
It was a really fun trip, and we had a great time spending it with family. I also ate a lot which was really fun for a pregnant lady getting over her morning sickness.
Then came Christmas and our two week adventure in Logan to visit my side of the family. It was good to see everyone and it was great to be spoiled with all the yummy treats: my grandma lewis's salsa and dorritos, rootbeer milk from Gossners, caramel popcorn balls, pecan logs, scones, flavored popcorn, skittles... yum it was so fun. I definitely gained some pounds from this trip. We also saw a lot of movies: The Hobbit, Frozen, and Ender's Game. Frozen was my favorite and Nathan agreed it was a Disney movie we would want to own. We talked and hung out with family. We were introduced to Duck Dynasty which my Dad affectionately calls ducky ducks, and we worked hard on Christmas gifts.
This year I collected the boxes and boxes of old photos my parents have created over the years and brought them out to Colorado with me. My goal for a very long time now has been to try and organize the chaos that are my parents photos. I'm still working on it, but I was able to organize our family vacation photos for Christmas. I printed out yearbook style photobooks for my siblings and put together a scrapbook style photo album of the original photos for my parents. It was a lot of work, but worth it as we all thumbed through my photo creations Christmas morning and reminisced over the memories.
We also worked on the gift for Brooke and Ben a lot. We transferred my parents living scripture VHS tapes over to DVD and gave it to them. It was a lot of work as we had to keep switching the tapes after each twenty or so minute video. Don't worry we followed copy right laws. My sister's DVD's are the only ones in use. The VHS's have officially been retired.
Our two weeks in Logan were really fun. I got to go get Indian with my besties, Jenny and Chelsie, and I got a lot of things done. I got an eye appointment and new contacts, I got my hair cut and a dyed a streak of it teal. We also got Nathans haircut and we have learned to style it a little bit! He looks pretty hot. I went and got maternity clothes, and I was able to see my painting I did for my mom over a year ago framed. It was a good trip, but at the end of it Nathan and I were ready to go home. I wanted to see my new blender (gift from Nathan) and sewing machine (gift from mom and dad) that we had to send home with Brooke and Ben because they drove and we flew, and I wanted to sleep in our own bed. So we partied and played Yahtzee and watched a movie New Year's eve then on New Years my parents took us to the airport and we said our farewells to them and to the holiday season.
Well that about covers our last four months. Hopefully I will be more diligent and write more frequent shorter posts for this year, but we'll see. Happy New Year everyone! Love you all!
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