All right, it's time for an update! Sorry I've been so long in getting it here! Okay, well the trip to Arizona went quite fantastically. My wonderful friends Carrie, Tish and Ashley put on a great baby shower for me and for that, THANK YOU! It was unforgettable... especially that "diaper cake" that Carrie made, hehe... Oh, and the fact that I came in first out of EVERYONE there in putting a diaper and a "onesie" on a baby doll!! Wow, that really boosted my self-confidence (as well as my ego) hehe,... okay, more seriously, really the shower was fantastic. Happily, I was starting to show and everyone got a chance to check out my little poof. As well as lay hands on, I might add! We did a few fun games which included a cup of ice with a little plastic baby inside the ice... whoever's baby floated free first was supposed to win, but since a couple were floating free almost immediately, we decided that whoever's ice melted first would win. Jacque Bogue won that round, I believe! Also, Carrie passed around all of these little jars of baby food with the labels taken off. Whoever guessed most of them correctly would win a prize. Tish won that one, (no suprise there, honey!) She's the one with the kid closest to having just been on baby food. Althougth Logan is quite happily chomping on adult food now! The last game we played was with the "diaper cake" Carrie picked it up and showed it to everyone in the room (a few of us had studied it quite closely already) and then took it out and had us guess what was on the "cake". Whoever guessed the most, won. And believe it or not, my very own numero uno mommy won it! Congrats, mom! The cake was made up of infant diapers rolled up and tied individually and then stacked into tiers. She then tied it all up with pretty cord and ribbon and had little charms on it such as a bottle, horse, pacifier... also little things like a spoon, nail clippers and nail file were placed down into the middle of the little diapers, there was also a teething ring on it and a couple of cute stuffed animals on the very top. It was adorable!

Oh, by the way, those of us that won got these beautiful mugs with various teas, candy, and a pen/cute writing pad inside. Allright, other than that, there was a lot of reminiscing (did I spell that right?) and chatting and just down to earth fun! I received lots of wonderful gifts which I still have yet to send out thank you's... (mom, I might need help with some addresses)

Okay, other than that the trip was a success... my dad took the time to get the pool cleaned and I really meant to take a swim (pool temp was 70 degrees) but I never got the chance. I'm actually having dreams about that pool now and dad cleaning it and me swimming in it, so maybe I should have taken a dip. Ah well... My mother and Tish and I did a lot of fun shopping at Babies R Us and one of the gifts I recv'd was a crib from mom. I won't go into all of the gifts because there's too many to name, but the crib is important you see, because it actually was complicated enough that my husband had to READ THE DIRECTIONS to put it together! Of course, your's truly probably could have handled it stone cold, but we won't go there. :P That's not the point, anyway. Mom got pictures of him gazing at the instructions!!!! They will go in our soon to be hall of fame. Okay, now that I've shared that... if my husband did a blog he could probably tell you all about the lovely time he had going to Prescott for lunch and to do some shooting with my brother and father during the baby shower, but since he doesn't, I guess he won't.

New news regarding baby! In church with my parents that weekend, I felt the baby move (for sure) for the first time! I told Noel right away and after the service we "spread the word" no pun? intended?
Anyway, I was really excited, and later when we were in the airport ready to hop on our plane, I felt two much more decisive kicks and told Noel who had to feel for himself. I felt another kick and he said he felt it too! I totally believe that because later at home with my own hands I felt the little kicks, too! Imagine feeling kicks for the first time at 16 weeks! Most say it wouldn't happen until 20 and that dad wouldn't be able to feel anything until much later! And since then, I've been feeling softer little bumps and kicks now that I know what I'm feeling for. Baby is definitely making his/her presence known!

Well, I'll soon run out of energy if I keep this up. Love you all!! I'll write more soon!
Sarita

Hello, how are you today? I'm fine as well, thank you. OH, I see you're looking at me strangely. My apologies, how rude of me... Let me introduce you to my ZIT! It IS a little bit hard to miss since it's RIGHT ON THE END OF MY NOSE!!! Now that you're acquainted, lets get down to baby business... hmm... I guess I don't have much to say today. I'm starting to show a little bit. (I think) It might be baby; then again, it might be my last meal. Gosh, how frustrating! Okay, two more days and I'm in Arizona. For those of you coming to the shower, please try not to stare if I haven't gotten rid of this explosion on my nose by then. For someone who's never had acne problems before, I'm a bit disturbed. I go from zero to bullseye in one day. Well, have no fear, Clearasil is here! That's what's been recommended to me by the thoughtful people I work with, anyway. Okay, enough for now... gotta go have a sit-down with my little friend here!

Well, I had an appointment today to test for spina bifida and Downs...the doc says the results will be back in about a week. I've scheduled an ultrasound for the 11th of May, and that will be the first time we see the baby. Pretty cool stuff!

Noel and I did some budgeting and figured out that we could afford for me to stay at home on his income. One thing we didn't figure though, was putting me onto his insurance. But it looks like it'll still work. I'm thinking of taking a year off after the babies born. I might be able to get some sort of extended leave w/out pay, but I'll have to chat w/my benefits people. I've been running different "work at home" scenarios through my head, as well, so that I could bring in a little extra to help out Noel. Anyone have any good suggestions? I've thought about teaching piano to beginners, but I'll have to do some research and brush up on theory.

Well, that's all for tonight. My tummy is all twisted up and I'm just watching the clock waiting to 10pm to come so I can go home and go to bed.
Later!

It's been a couple of days, but not much new news. I did go out to Target with Noel and used a gift card from mom and dad to get some maternity jeans. I was looking for the kind my friend Tish had, but they were sold out. So I ended up with 3 pairs of the kind that have stretchy elastic in the back. Two size 8's and a size 10 for when I start getting a little bigger. They're not bad, really. I might keep on wearing them after the baby is born and I loose my pregnancy weight. The only thing weird though, is they button and zip on the wrong side. Like guys jeans. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I AM sure I was in the right department!

Oo, on another note, I read a bood called "The Red Hat Club" by Haywood Smith and I think I've found a new favorite author. Mom, you would really like it. It was for our bookclub, and I think it's one of the best books I've read in awhile... it'll be interesting to see what the others in the group thought. The book starts out with the poem, "Warning" I can't remember the author, but probably most of you know it... the one that starts, "When I am old I shall wear purple, with a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me"
Anyway, kudos to Talisha for recommending it in the first place...

Other than that, not much going on. I've got an appointment set up for this coming wednesday with the doc to do that blood test, so we'll see what comes of that. I'll keep everyone posted.

Oh! I've been offered the services of a mid-wife if I want to have the baby at home. One of Noel's paint ball buddies (his wife) is the mid-wife and the offer came from her evidently. It's tempting in a way, but I've decided that if theres any complications, I'm better off in a hospital. So what's a few thousand in hospital bills, right? Haha

Goodmorning! It's a cloudy, rainy day up here in Nampa and can I just say that I LOVE weather like this? There was thunder and lightening last night and I just stood watching it out my back door for a good 20 minutes. Idaho gets some pretty cool lightening. Most of it was streaking across the sky and not touching down.

So, to get to the point! I've never been much of a person for thinking about or writing down my dreams, but now that I'm pregnant, (and since this web log is dedicated to all things pregnant!) I've been having more weird pregnancy dreams, so I thought I'd share one particularly disturbing one I had last night.

As you all can probably tell from previous posts, I'm a bit obsessed with my husband actually being able to FEEL my pregnancy. Well, last night I was laying in bed (and this might have been part of the dream, I don't remember) feeling my lower abdomen and thinking, "wow, I can definitely feel it, I'll have to tell Noel when he wakes up! So where I'm sure the dream starts is when I start pressing it from all sides, and when I press from the bottom, it starts to move away from my fingertips and roll up under my skin towards my chest! About the size of a small canteloupe, I start rolling it until it lays just between my breasts, and finally my shock wears off slightly and I push it back down to where it belongs! At that point, I can't help testing it, and sure enough it starts rolling again and I think to myself, "I must have some pretty stretchy ligaments!" Anyway, the rest of the dream involves me calling my friend Patty, who has two young children, and she comes rushing over with all of her pregnancy books on pregnancy problems and we sit down like two students cramming for mid-terms trying to find out what the heck the problem could be! One theory is that the baby's umbilical cord never formed and he's floating around free in a sac of amniotic fluid! After that the dream gets a bit fuzzy, and we never do find out what the problem was. Needless to say, I was QUITE relieved to wake up and find it all a dream.

Now that that's out of the way, can I tell you I just tried to eat some cornbread with butter and it tasted like urine? I'm sure that got your attention. It certainly got mine! **Sigh**, what else lay in store?

I've discovered rubber bands!! WOO HOO!!! I was having a candid discussion with one of the dispatchers here at work about the "in-between" stage I'm in... walking around in unbuttoned jeans, but not ready for maternity stuff... you know. Anyway, he's says, 'just use rubber bands to hold your jeans up', and I said, "WHAT?" I thought he was kidding! Nope, he hands me the rubberband, and while I'm sitting there still trying to make sense of what he's saying, he puts in on for me! (Don't worry, he's cool and I'm sure he wasn't getting his jollies off or anything!) Just stuck the band through the buttonhole, and then looped it around the button! Pretty cool! It's nice and stretchy keeps the top together pretty well. I felt moved to share.

Good morning!

It's almost 10am and I've been outside already this morning! :D haha Yup, all the way to the convenience store because I was too lazy to go to Fred Meyer. I needed milk, baby! Anyway, came back and admired my daffodils and hyacinth in the front yard. My iris haven't come in yet. If I get up the motivation, I'll turn over the ground in our garden and add some fertilizer. Somehow, I think that will wait until a less breezy and cold day, though.

So I mentioned that we had an event last night. Our friends Patty and Joe invited us. It wasn't BirthRite, as we were all kind of thinking. It was a program called Lifeline, which is a Christian Ministry. It's basically a pregnancy crisis center where women and teen can go to get help regarding abstinance, adoption, supplies (which are donated by volunteers) and counseling regarding abortion. They have a few outreach programs going on right now in our schools regarding abstinance. Basically saying that that's the way to go. I don't know if they also emphasize safe sex where they KNOW kids are already doing it and will continue to do it. I believe they try to concentrate on helping kids make a choice and set up boundaries regarding how they conduct themselves in given situations where sex could happen. It sounds like a really good program. There was a woman speaker, I'd say about in her late 50's, that stood up and gave a testimony about an abortion she had at age 37 and how it affected her life. She moved most of the audience to tears... including yours truly, who tried to be discreet about it! Anyway, the program was excellent. They had some singing and an auction. They had a retired auctioneer come in to do it and his voice got to be a bit hypnotic! They auctioned off a painting done by one of the members of a little girl with a flower. They did a trip for 6 to McCall to stay in one of those mansions on the lake, and last but not least was a beautiful quilt, done in a diamond style. If I knew the pattern, I'd name it, but I don't. The quilting on top was incredible. That went for almost $1000. With all the work put into it the truer cost was much greater, but it was for a good cause. They fed us dinner there... we had turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, and a truly lovely cheesecake that I never finished. (that was about the time the lady was giving her testimonial on her abortion) and coffee, which I'm afraid to say I indulged in, but I can say, on that same note that caffiene-wise, I'm doing very well. Maybe only a cup of tea (or coffee) twice a week.

So, that was a success and on to other things - I managed to hack down the rest of the rosebushes yesterday as well. Noel had started the job but was really being too kind. I hacked those suckers down to waist level or a little lower and called it good. And if our neighbor still has problems, then I guess she'll let us know! :)

As for baby stuff, nothing too much new. I gag when I brush my teeth, which has never happened in my life before, so I partially dread even going there... and to make matters worse, I'm seeing a bit of swelling in my gums, which I'm hoping and praying is not that pregnancy gingivitis they talk about. I've started attacking with my teeth with a new vengence and flossing like theres no tomorrow and if I'm dry-heaving into the sink by the end of it, well then, I'll manage. At least I won't have to worry about how I look when I smile at someone! Other than that, I'm still basically in my same jeans. I can pass my hand over my lower stomach and feel a definite protrusion (and almost see it when I stand sideways) but Noel swears he can't feel anything yet. He blames it on his calluses.
I'm just hoping to have a little something to show off for this baby shower... I know showers are usually done later in the pregnancy, but since I won't be able to come back down until after the baby is born, we decided to do it in April. I hope no-one doesn't mind that I'm not as fat as Santa. I swear we're not making it up! :D