28 Weeks! (Plus Bunco and Jake, of course)

Third Trimester update :) Lets see if theres any noticeable difference between 27 and 28 weeks

I still have little-to-no interest in making food, but enjoy the finished product. I, also, still spend $15-$20 a week on milk. It has been a while since the last update on my pregnancy, though, so here is whats new:

- My back hurts a lot. My spine curves inward anyways (Blaine can tell you the scientific word for it) and it has had some pain in general the last couple of years. I always hated it growing up because you can't have a flat stomach when your back curves in because it makes your front curve out... Anyways, my back especially hurts when I have to sit for an extended amount of time... like more than an hour. We saw Divergent a couple weeks ago in the movie theaters and it wasn't even enjoyable because I had to keep tossing and turning. I prefer to stand, but then that gets tiring after a while. But I ordered a lumbar support pillow that I keep behind my back while I sit and it has made a huge difference!!! Granted, I am THAT person that drives with it and then carries it into school to use throughout the day and then carries it back out to drive home, but oh well. So worth it.

- My feet have also hurt when I walk or stand a lot (you just can't win, huh). So I got a new cute pair of shoes that I love. And they're perfect - blue for boys!

- My sleeping is horrible. I only sleep for 7 hours (yes, ONLY). My body really needs 9 but I just can't make that happen during the week. Plus I wake up 1-2 times a night to go to the bathroom and drink water. Then I'll wake up even more because of Blaine or Jake. Plus,  I can't get comfortable and I've been waking up on my back lately. So I bought another pregnancy pillow that is 100% off limits to everyone but me. But it still isn't great.

- I think I've also hit the "nesting" stage - I want everything ready!!! I have 12 weeks until he's due, but I want it now! We hung up some decorations in his room and I've picked out things that I want, but haven't bought them. But my online shopping carts on a bunch of websites are full. My mom and dad bought us our first baby shower gift, though!!!! The cute new crib that we wanted :) It's supposed to arrive this weekend, so hopefully we can get it set up over the weekend.

-We've unofficially settled on a name, but sometimes I overthink it and then I don't know. You know when you say the same word over and over and break it down so much that it starts to sound funny and not even like a word? Well we'll see...

-I don't have many maternity clothes, so I cycle through the same couple of outfits. My students are always extremely complimentary, though ;)

- Last week at my appointment, I took my gestational diabetes test... and passed :) I had to drink this extra sugary gatorade type drink, wait an hour, and then get my blood drawn. They always stab both of my arms because they can't get it the first time. I've gotten my blood drawn a lot over the past couple years and I feel like each time I have to do it, I hate it more and more.

BUNCO

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but me and a couple other girls from church (mostly dental, medical, law wives) play bunco. Its a dice game and each month a new person hosts it at their house, complete with a theme and some snacks. April was my month, so I decided to have a spring flowers girly tea party theme. I even bought fresh flowers!!! I always want to, but rarely go through with it just because of money and I figure they'll die anyways. But my mom ALWAYS had fresh flowers. I should just do it more often. Anyways, it was the first get together I've had at my new house and it was fun. I made 2 of my favorite desserts - Mississippi Mudpie brownies and creamsicle pie (the ONLY pie I like). For the winners, I put together mini Easter baskets with candy, nail polish, and different egg coloring kits - tie-dye, sparkle, and marble.

(When I first heard of Bunco, I thought it was a funny old lady game. Then my grandma told me that other wards have banned it because people would use it as a way to gamble. Then I told a couple of my coaching colleagues and they all knew about it and love it-or their wives do- and the softball coach and her friends call it "Drunk-o Bunco") 

 When Blainey and Jakey got home from their run after all the ladies had left, they helped me finish off the pie. It was the first time Jake had ever had it, but he loved it! I think he just loves all things cold.

Then Jake and I were tired after a long afternoon, so we took a nap.

This is just a snap we sent Blaine last week. Look at how handsome he is. He'll be 7 months old this week, and even though his body is pretty big, his face and his eyes still show that he's a baby.

We also fed him his first ice cream. We took him with us to run an errand and went through the drive-thru at McDonalds for a 99 cent ice cream... which he also liked...

This handsome Eagle Scout built his dog a doghouse on Saturday. It still needs to be painted and all that good stuff, but its big and it has a sunroof and door frame.

Dental Prom 2014

I never went to prom. Shocker? Well I chose not to spend money to be stupid with random classmates whom I did not enjoy. So instead, my dad took me to London and Paris. Much better experience :)

Anyways, 7 years after high school, the cutest boy in school asked me to go to the prom with him!!! OU's Dental Prom 2014. It was last Friday night on the 50th floor of the Devon Tower- the tallest building in downtown OKC (probably the state, actually). It was a nice view of downtown and all the lights. We only stayed about an hour and mostly hung out with 2 of Blaine's friends that I know pretty well, but I'm glad we went. Two things made it pretty cool though:

1. We got our picture in the photo booth:

2. I was complimented on this, my very blog!!! I usually write posts to keep a record of our lives and share our pictures with our family across the country, thinking that the only one reading this is my grandma and my 11 year old sister. But some of Blaine's classmates that I had never met before said that they read it and like it (so shout out to you!) So that actually made me feel pretty good. But now Blaine's a little nervous about what I write - I guess he'll just have to be as avid of a reader as others.

Afterwards, we went home to our recuperating puppy

And here are a couple other random pictures from the night

And finally, here is a typical post-prom picture... except that I'm pregnant and exhausted and not drunk and passed out. Blaine took this picture after I fell asleep during our 24 marathon - can't get us enough Jack Bauer!! #JackisbackMay9  :)

Jakey: Post-Op

Last Thursday, our sweet Jakey went in for his neutering operation. Blaine dropped him off in the morning and then I picked him up in the afternoon. I've never had a dog before, so I don't know much, but it was part of our "puppy package" with the Vet and I guess its the widely accepted responsible thing to do. (Many of my family members, though, still express their disapproval... specifically the boys).

Anyways, I picked him up and we (of course) were so excited to see each other. He sat patiently by the door while the people at the desk took their sweet time wrapping things up. In the meantime, a lady walked in and saw Jake and was playing with him, saying "you're such a handsome boy!" Which he is... but the lady working behind the desk must have missed the day of sensitivity training and said, "haha - not anymore, he's an "it"

... I was fuming. First of all, I haven't liked this vet office at all because I feel like they are ALWAYS making up crap to get more money out of us. (they did that visit as well, but I caught them in time) The only reason we stayed with them is because we had already bought our puppy package with them. But now that that is over, we are definitely leaving. I was already sad about Jakey's operation and then she called my sweet, beautiful boy an "it" - Excuse me, ma'am - he has a penis!!! What actually came out of my mouth at the time, though, was "No, he IS a perfect handsome boy." So then we left and he immediately went to the bathroom once we got outside... Guess they didn't let him go to the bathroom either.

For the rest of that day he was pretty tired and would let out random cries, which isn't like him. You may have seen the picture of him sleeping in my $70 pregnancy body pillow that now belongs to him. Half of his underside is shaved and then a patch on his arm where his IV went. We had to give him a pain pill for the next 3 days, but other than that, you would never know he just had surgery. He wants to run and play so bad, but he's not supposed to so he doesn't irritate the healing area and cause complications with his recovery. They said he would be more mellow and more tired and some people said it would just change him, but I am pleased to report that he is perfect and himself. If anything, he is MORE rambunctious than before. But thats also probably due to him being cooped up inside and not allowed to run.

He LOVES to swim, also, but he's not allowed to get in the water or take a bath for 10-14 days after surgery. There is a nice park by our house that we go to a lot and let him swim and its like his favorite thing. He's a natural - the first time we ever took him, I was so scared but he loved it. He used to swim so efficiently, flailing his outstretched arms high up and down. I was worried that he was going to get tired and drown, so I kept telling Blaine to get ready to go in after him. He was always fine, though. Now he's a pro and a very efficient doggie paddler. He loves retrieving balls and sticks out of the water. It gets deep, too.

A couple weeks ago we were at the park and an older woman with an old golden retriever came up to us and was talking about how great golden retrievers are with kids. She said, "just treat them like siblings, let them be involved, they're part of the family." At first I thought the sibling reference was funny, but lets be real - I treat Jake like my son, anyways. There are lots of cute pictures and videos of dogs and babies interacting and I can't wait for the boys (Jakey and Baby) to be best friends. I've read some things that suggest training your dog while you're pregnant - like taking him on walks with an empty stroller and things like that. We'll see about that... I'm just glad he's safe and healthy.

My brother Aaron turned 14 on Saturday and Jake sent him this snapchat

Final Four 2014

The first time I ever went to the Final Four was in 2002 when my dad was working at Indiana University and they made it to the Final Four in Atlanta. Me and my sister Alexis ran around with 2 other kids of a guy my dad worked with, making commercials, interviewing the players, and even singing IU's fight song on MTV. Those videos are some of our family's favorites - they are hilarious! I've always loved pictures and videos and documenting memories. It was my own video camera that I carted around back then. I've kept it up with pictures, but my videos have DEFINITELY fallen by the wayside. I took a couple of videos at Blaine's track meets, but I need to pick it up. Especially before our babe gets here :)

Anyways, I continued to go to the Final Four with my dad:

           2004 - San Antonio

           2005 - St. Louis

           2006 - Indianapolis

           2007 - Atlanta

           2008 - San Antonio

Each time has had its own funny memories, and after 5 years on the bench, I made an appearance at this year's 2014 Final Four in Dallas. We are only a little over 3 hours north of Dallas, and Alexis and Craig had bought plane tickets months ago because the found an amazing deal. My dad probably wouldn't have gone this year, had all of that not been the case. Plus, this was the first time having "North Texas" host, which was not my favorite location. Everything from the hotels to the concerts to the arena should all be together within walking distance, like it usually is. But this time everything was spread out between Dallas and Arlington and nothing was walking distance. 

We still had a good time together, though. It was a quick trip since Blaine and I had to get back to school on Monday, but we got to come from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Friday night, Blaine and I got to the hotel before Alexis and CJ landed and my dad had already checked in and was at meetings. So we stayed at the same hotel as Kentucky and were welcomed by this lovely sign and this festive Reese's peanut butter cup - a family fave.

We all snuggled into one room and gave Blaine and Craig (aka "CJ," so as not to be confused by my dad) their first little taste of Final Four-ness. I really wanted to see Jason Aldean (as part of the free outdoor concert series that go with the Final Four), but he performed on Friday night and we didn't make it in time. On Saturday, though, we got to see Tim McGraw!! Well, for a little while until it got too rainy and windy and cold. No one was really prepared for the weather except for Dad. But we did have time to go on the ferris wheel and (unfortunately) listen to LL Cool J, play games at the Coke Zero and TBS booths, and Blaine and CJ even signed up for a 2-on-2 tournament at the Powerade Booth to win tickets to the game. We were excited to cheer for them, but then it got rained out. It was such a quick, rainy trip, but still fun. Thats just my excuse for how few pictures I have. The other excuse is because we mostly used CJ's phone for pictures because his is the best ;)

My dad went out to the car and we had to meet him down there, but we got roadblocked in the lobby to make way for Kentucky's team making an entrance.

I like to do all the cheesy little booths and get free stuff when we go to these things, so after we walked in, I said "yes" to the first thing that was offered  - a free photo of ourselves and a free chapstick if we signed a pledge that we would not drink and drive... Easy- been doin that my whole life. So me, Blaine, Alexis, and CJ signed the banner and got our free picture (which I'll have to put up once I get home), but here are our names. I guess Dad couldn't make such a big commitment (oh, just kidding, people)

Waiting in line to win random stuff at the TBS booth by shooting 2 free throws... Little did we know, though, the ball had ZERO grip and was HEAVY. We all tried for it though

Don't know about that form, but he was the ONLY one from our group to win something... What a superstar... Just like my son :)

Again, the trouble with having other people take the picture is that they don't care what it looks like and theres a good chance that they'll miss what we obviously wanted in the picture... But here is us in front of the ferris wheel.

Dad was sitting on our side of the little carriage, until we started to feel a little unstable, so he braced himself between the 2 halves to balance the weight... I'm a little heavier these days... no big deal

View from the top of the ferris wheel... While we were up there, we also saw Kevin Hart and LL Cool J while they were on stage. Not a huge crowd because of the weather

Not a good angle, but it was necessary to capture yet another picture of Dad sleeping that weekend. What a tired boy. Thats while we were sitting in the Powerade bleachers waiting to watch Blaine and CJ dominate on the court.

You can't tell, but Tim McGraw is performing behind him. He's one of our faves. I wish we could have heard him more. I was worried about my baby during LL though because his rapping and bass and "yeah!"s were loud and annoying me, so I'm sure my sweet son didn't enjoy it. 

Tim was much more soothing.

AT&T Stadium - which I always referred to as Cowboy Stadium... Its HUGE... they even have Dallas Cowboy porta-potties on each row of the parking lots

Here's another picture of sleepy Dad 

(I have more similar pictures, but I'll save them for the family calendar)

And you can kind of see my tummy in that picture. Alexis got to feel him kick, which was really exciting for both of us, but it was a little too weird for Dad. First time grandfather...

Sleepy Alexis "watching" Conference and snuggling between the 2 Craigs 

We had to leave on Sunday afternoon, but I included a couple extra pictures from CJ's phone of what they did without us... including eating steak at Cattleman's Steakhouse... Thats right up my ally :(

UCONN won... men and women... again... boring...

Fun story though: last time that happened (in 2004), Alexis and I were sitting in our seats watching the National Championship and Dad was seating somewhere else with work people. He had a cell phone, but that was before we ever had one. Anyways, I got really sick and spent the first half in the bathroom. Alexis would come back periodically to check on me and give me the score updates. Eventually she used the calling card number (which we all memorized) to call Dad. So at halftime, he came over to pick us up and we left. He had to half carry me out of the arena and on the way we passed someone he worked with. We all joke because it probably looked like he was escorting some drunk college girl to the car. The other joke about that walk to the car was that I felt horrible and Alexis took a picture of Dad dragging me to the car, so I got mad at her insensitivity. So the next day at the airport, I asked to see the picture because she said it was so funny... but she DELETED it! I guess since I got mad at it the night before... 

Oh Final Four... Fun times. Thanks Dad. Can't wait to take our little boy :)