Halfway Through Third Trimester

Here are some real bad bathroom photos showcasing my ever growing belly and a mind dump of latest pregnancy related happenings:

This is me at 17 weeks.  I still look a little sickly and pale at this point.  To think I was already so upset that my waist was going away.....

Hello 34 weeks! (well 33 weeks and 6 days, but close enough.)  Look at that baby! He's so huge, and I still have 6 weeks to go.  I took my passport photo this week, and a friendly PSA: do not take a passport photo 8 months pregnant - if you do not want to look like an angry chipmunk.  It's not pretty. But I honestly can't believe I'm at this point.  Well, yeah I can, but now I feel like maybe I won't be pregnant for forever.  I'm still feeling pretty good.  I'm sleeping pretty well, and I don't quite have a waddle yet.  The past couple of weeks my nausea has gotten a little worse, but nothing too bad.  I'll just need to take my medicine until the very end.  I found 3 stretch marks on my right hip the other day.  (THE HORROR.  I only cried a little.)  I'm confused as to why they are only on one hip and not the other.  I'm sure they'll show up, and when they do I'll be equally upset.  I have 5 more weeks of work until maternity leave.  I'm so excited, but also had a little freak out yesterday because I still have quite a bit to do.  Plus I am lacking in energy and I would much rather be home prepping for baby.  The nursery still isn't done, but this weekend we'll make some good progress.  That's the plan anyway.  I also want to start getting my hospital bag ready so I won't have to worry about it.  I'll just keep it in my car in case I go into labor at work.  I am so ready to meet this little guy.  I had my first dream about him last night.  He had dark hair and looked like a little Kevin, and then the next day he was a toddler and walking around.  I guess it's my subconscious telling me how quickly time flies by and to enjoy every minute.  I will try to remember that while I'm sore and sleep deprived with a newborn baby.  I really am so so so so so excited.  I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Second Trimester

I have officially been in my third trimester for a couple of weeks now, but I thought I should recap what I can remember of my second trimester before pregnancy brain completely takes over and I forget my first name.

Everyone talks about the magical 2nd trimester and how wonderful, blissful, and easy it is.  So when I hit 14 weeks I hoped (and prayed) and expected to feel suddenly better.  Well, duh, that didn't happen.  I was still puking quite a bit until around week 17 or 18, then it slowly started to get better.  However, my energy did come back full force pretty much instantly, which made a HUGE difference in my mood.  This is when I felt like I could start doing things again.  It really was wonderful. 

The second trimester was a busy time.  We bought a house, packed, and successfully moved into our first home.  The home that we will take baby boy home to!  (ahh!!!!)  Soon I will upload some pictures once we finish getting everything ready.  The nursery has a long way to go, but everything else is coming together quite nicely.  I felt pretty helpless during the move, but we had a lot of help so it went by fast.  Thanks everyone!!!  So far, we LOVE it!  It's so nice to have more space, a dish washer, a washer and dryer, air conditioning, a fridge with ice and water, and a garden.  We pick raspberries every evening, and it's so fun to see everything grow.  I can't wait for my tomatoes to come in so I can make salsa!  We're slowly getting to know our neighbors, and we haven't been to our ward much, but I'm excited to get to know everyone there, too. 

The second trimester was a success, and I am so, so excited that I am in my third and final trimester.  Even though I am still terrified of giving birth and the recovery process, I can't wait to meet this little guy.  Whatever his name will be.

When Baggy Shirts Aren't Baggy Anymore

It's happening.  I'm getting bigger and bigger everyday.  It's bound to happen, I am 23 weeks and 5 days. Trust me, those 5 days are important to say.  I was getting ready for bed the other day, and I put on one of my 'baggy' shirts and to my surprise/dismay it was fitting quite snuggly across my belly.  I guess I'll just have to wear Kevin's shirts to bed from now on. ;)  I also am quickly realizing that the rubber band trick is quickly coming to an end, as well.  Unfortunately rubber bands only stretch so far.  It's really weird to see my body change so suddenly and dramatically.  It doesn't feel like my body at all.

 Most of the time I am feeling much better.  I am now throwing up around once a week. (YAY!)  But I feel sick if I don't eat enough, I feel sick if I eat too much, and I have a sour stomach right after I eat, no matter what.  Even with a gross feeling tummy, I've still somehow managed to gain 15 pounds. Thanks, Obama!  *I say this because I went out to lunch with some of my co-workers and this lady taught her 4 year old son to say this whenever anything goes wrong.  So if he's riding his bike and he falls, he says 'Thanks, Obama!'  Which I found hilarious.*

I have been craving fruit like crazy lately!  Kevin, bless his heart, does all the grocery shopping now. He asked me what I wanted from the store and I replied, 'all of the fruit.'  which reminded me of this.....

Anywho, this isn't a way of me bragging on how healthy I'm being.  I still eat whatever the heck I want.  Which includes daily nutella toast and shirley temples. (not together, obvi.)  I just really love fruit.  Especially grapefruit, which is interesting.  The sourness used to bug me a little before pregnancy, but now I love it. go figure. 


Overall, I feel like I'm really getting the hang of things when it comes to this pregnancy.  All the new symptoms feel like cake compared to how I felt before.  I can handle the having to pee every 2 minutes, backaches, leg cramps, and gross taste in my mouth. (except the last one makes me angry sometimes, it's so so so so so disgusting.)  Work is getting more and more tedious as the days go by.  All the stupid work issues feel secondary to everything else I have going on in my life.  This pregnancy has really put things into perspective for me, for which I am grateful.  Family is the most important thing.  Work drama = way less important.  September still seems like it's so far away, but on the other hand, I still have so much to do.  Pack, move, unpack, get the nursery ready, and start buying baby boy things.  Poor guy has almost nothing right now.  But I don't want to buy things now and have to move them to the new house, when I could just buy them in a few weeks. 

Keep on cooking in there, baby.  Can't wait to meet you.

   

Yes, I just took a picture in the bathroom at work and was too lazy to take off my sweatshirt.

Pregnancy Milestones, so far.

Jan. 13th - took a home pregnancy test.  Found out I was pregnant!  

Feb. 14th - 9 weeks.  Told our parents and siblings.  Told Kevin's parents with a grandparents book and Kevin's siblings with the 8 week ultrasound picture. Told my family with a sneaky cupcake insert that said 'Baby Bowen ~ September 2016.'  

March 4th - 11 weeks, almost 12 weeks. First big ultrasound!  Found out baby is doing just great after a little scare.  So weird to see a little jumping and squirming human when I could feel nothing.

 16 weeks - Really felt baby kick!   Kevin could feel it a few days later.  (We have a mover and a shaker.)

19 weeks - 2nd big ultrasound!  The tech was able to tell the gender, but we asked her to put it in a sealed envelope for our gender reveal party.  

April 29th - Gender reveal party!  My awesome friend, Alexis prepped for the big reveal.  I gave her the sealed envelope and she filled  black water balloons with homemade paint. We bought a canvas board and stuck tacks through the back - and when we were ready we threw the balloons at the board.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  We had our friends and family there, and everyone was so supportive and helpful.  My mom and brother brought delicious cookies, and Kevin's mom decorated with the cutest onesies and prepared fruit and bought yummy candy.  The 5 day wait was definitely worth it.  We cannot wait for our BABY BOY to arrive! I was so excited when I got home from the party, I could not stop looking up baby boy things.  I even woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't go back to sleep because I was so excited.   As hard as this pregnancy has been, I feel so grateful for this little guy.  Pregnancy truly is a miracle.    

1st timer 1st trimester

I thought it would be fun to start blogging about my pregnancy!  Right now I am currently 20 weeks, but let's bring it back to the beginning.........

WARNING IT IS NOT PRETTY.  CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK.  BRUTAL HONESTY COMING AT YA.

For quite some time, I have felt the pull to become a mother.  I just felt like there was a sweet spirit waiting for us to decide when the time was right.  When Kevin graduated, found out he had a job, the time finally felt right for both of us.  I'm one of those weirdos that knew they were pregnant almost immediately.  I felt this fuzzy feeling in my gut, little twinges here and there, and I just felt different.  I snuck a pregnancy test home, took it, and I was planning to tell Kevin in a really cute and fun way.  Well, that didn't work out too well because I was just way too excited and blurted it out.  I told him to come look at the test and his response was, 'What does two lines mean?'  We were both shell shocked, that's for sure.

The next week flew by and I was feeling great and I was so, so happy.  Then BAM week 5 hit me like a freaking freight train.  Constant nausea from sunrise to sunset, and fatigue like I've never felt before.  I would wake up, make myself a piece of toast, go fetal on the couch and take a bite every ten minutes.  Then I would drag myself to the shower, which was the most exhausting thing on the planet, and then go back to the couch to rest.  I would pack up  my unfinished toast, drive to work, and try my very best to actually finish the entire piece of toast before lunch time came around.  I never wanted food.  EVER.  It was awful.  The worst part was feeling so incredibly alone.  Since I wasn't throwing up at this point, I talked myself into thinking that this was minor morning sickness and I should be handling it better.  I was really hard on myself.  There were times when I would come home from work, go back to fetal on the couch, and then walk and collapse to take breaks on my way to the kitchen and/or crawl to the kitchen because I knew I needed food.

I went to my first doctors appointment during my 8th week and saw the little glimmer of a beating heart.  What a beautiful sight!  My sweet doctor took one look at me (and the number on the scale), and immediately put me on some medicine.  I am so grateful for Diclegis.  I still felt like crap, but I could actually eat my toast in a half hour instead of 3 hours.  BUT around 9.5 weeks the vomiting came.  I am lucky that I would rarely throw up at work.  I have this weird super hero power where I could hold it together until literally the minute I got home from work.  I did some crazy breathing exercises to make it through rush hour traffic, yelled at some idiot drivers, (just to myself, but my road rage was outta control), and cursed to myself driving down 2700 south. WHY CAN'T SOMEONE FIX THAT ROAD?  I would walk through the door and start gagging, and then continue throwing up until I went to bed. (I told you it wasn't pretty.) The only time I felt good was when I was asleep. 

There is a light at the end of the puking tunnel, and even though I still feel sick most of the time, it is much better.  The first trimester sucked.  Big time.  Thank goodness for sympathetic family, good friends, understanding bosses, a sweet husband, chocolate milk, bagels, strawberries, and smoothies, and so many jolly ranchers.  I survived. 

  

Ummmmm hi?

Nobody blogs anymore.  Is it because it's not cool? Not the latest fad? I have some downtime at work occasionally and I like to look at peoples blogs.  Then I remembered that I have a blog that I never use.  So I stalked myself and it was run to read these little memories that I would have forgotten about if I didn't write them down.  Therefore I want to start blogging again.  Just for fun and just for me.  Here is a short and simple review in the form of bullet points, because there is no way I can possibly recap an entire year and a half.  whoops.

-Yesterday was our 2nd Anniversary!  woohoo.
-Kevin got accepted and is in his first semester of grad school.  He will get his MSF either this May or next fall.
-Kevin also interviewed and got an internship.  He will start sometime this week we think.
-Kevin gets to go to NYC over fall break and I don't. :(  It's a networking trip where he will visit quite a few finance firms.  I have always wanted to go to NYC in the fall and I am so jealous.  
-I am no longer teaching at Wasatch.  I am super bummed I didn't blog last year because I had a great time.  I learned a lot, it was terribly difficult, so much fun, and I miss it.
-I got a job at the U in the college of education.  It's fine.  Nothing special.  It will give me health insurance and a steady paycheck.  Not quite a career, but it's good for now.
-I am still teaching at CBT two evenings a week.  I really enjoy it. I feel like it's something I will always want to do.


This update was just the last couple of months.  I cant' seem to remember much else.  I will be a better blogger.

Happy Fall!!

Happy Reminder

This school year is coming to a close!  Thank goodness!  It's been fun, but I am ready for a break.  I've lost my mind many a time this year so the summer can not come soon enough!  I have my students write in journals to write goals, reflect, talk about their assignments, etc.  I had one final journal entry where I told them to review their goals and reflect about the semester one final time.  I want to share one because I don't ever want to forget it.  It made the entire year worth it.  This is from a talented, hard working girl who never danced until this year. She was in both my dance 1a and dance 1b classes.

This semester in dance I feel like I have really progressed.  Out of all of my goals I feel like I have really gotten better at dancing and I can dance faster as well.  I am more comfortable dancing in front of everyone but I still have a ways to go before I am completely confident in myself.  I'm a little farther into my splits but I could have worked on it more than I did.  My kicks definitely got higher not by much but they did improve.  Out of all of my goals the one that I did best at was perfecting my spins.  My pirouettes have gotten so much better than they were at the beginning of the semester.  The feeling that I get when I'm dancing is incredible and I feel like I was born to dance.  It's incredible to think that a year ago I had no clue what a tendu even was and now I'm dancing around my kitchen everyday practicing my skills just because I can and it makes me completely happy.  I'm so proud of my progress this year and now that I discovered this amazing world I don't think I'll ever leave it.  Thank you for teaching me so much this year and helping me to come so far.  If it weren't for you I don't think I'd have gotten as good as I am now.  Thank you for being such an amazing dancer and teacher and inspiring me to do my best.  This year has been great.

Nothing makes me happier.  If I only help one student this entire year or my entire career it will be worth it.