it's a boy!

just thought i'd let you all know that our little one arrived safe and sound last sunday. my water broke at 5:30 in the morning and after cleaning the kitchen floor, the dog's dishes, taking a long shower and going for a walk with LH and bozeman, we headed to the hospital where lucky baby was born that afternoon. i'll post more later about our great labor and delivery experience as well as how much fun it is being a mom and watching LH be the amazing dad that he is.

just when you think you've got it all figured out...

for months, i visualized exactly how our thanksgiving was going to go this year, from the sparkling clean kitchen floor to the ironed guest sheets to the perfect dinner conversations centered around my perfectly arranged table. a week before everyone was supposed to arrive, i made their welcome goody bags and the place cards for the thanksgiving dinner table, made sure all of the guest towels were fluffy, i swept, swiffered and cleaned all of our hardwood floors, reworked my menu and cooking plans for the gazillionth time and went running a few times. that week, i also made another trip to the grocery store, made dinner for a family at LH's office who had a new baby, and hosted some friends for dinner.

i guess i did a little too much, because i started spotting that weekend. this being the third time that i had experienced bleeding during this pregnancy, i honestly wasn't too worried. every other time, i've gone in and they've completely checked me out with plenty of ultrasounds and everything else you can think of, and the only thing they ever told me was that the baby was perfectly healthy, the placenta was just where it needed to be, and my cervix looked just like they wanted it to look. they really never had an explanation for the bleeding. however, since this spotting lasted a couple of days and our guests were due to arrive the next day, LH and i decided to call my doctor and let her check me out once again. same story this time with everything where it should be and the baby looking exactly like he/she should (although it's getting really hard not to find out the baby's gender with all of these opportunities to do just that), only this time, my doctor told me that she really wanted me to take it easy and be careful not to overdo it. this was definitely not something i wanted to hear right before i was about to entertain 7 extra people in my house over the next 5 days. LH assured me that he would help out and everything would go just great.

well, there were dirty dishes in the sink and dog hair on the floor when everyone arrived, but i learned that i had to live with it. LH delivered on his promise and was unbelievable all week long. rather than let me stand on my feet in the kitchen and cook for everyone, LH made me sit on a bar stool and direct everyone who was working in the kitchen. as difficult as it was for me to just sit there, i had a blast watching everyone work together. my mom, my MIL, LH, my brother, my brother-in-law and his girlfriend all helped in the kitchen at least once during the week. on tuesday night, i had planned to make a southern cornbread salad and fish tacos. LH, my MIL and my brother did all of the chopping, slicing and dicing for everything in that dinner and it was absolutely delish. my brother even did some research on the internet and taught us all the proper way to slice a mango for the mango salsa that tops the fish tacos (a recipe i think i need to share with everyone here). our thanksgiving dinner was prepared the exact same way, with everyone pitching in. my mom made her famous stuffing, my MIL made her famous homemade dinner rolls, my brother in law made the salad, and the list goes on and on. i could not have planned it any better if i had actually wanted all that help. i think everyone appreciated the meal so much more because they helped, too. it also helped me get used to accepting help for when the baby gets here. usually, i'm the kind of person that likes to do it all myself and let everyone else enjoy it, but after last week, i have learned that it's okay to ask for help and you don't have to feel guilty about accepting it. of course, i'm making sure i send out plenty of heartfelt thank you cards to everyone involved so they don't shy away from coming to visit again =)

my babies

bozeman has most definitely been my baby since we got him over two years ago. i don't think he's going to mind one bit sharing the attention with the new baby, though, because he absolutely loves having extra people in the house. i'll tell all about our exciting thanksgiving week later, but for now i thought i would just post a picture of me with my babies - bozeman and my baby bump =)

pregnant running

i'm still running while pregnant, albeit much slower and for much shorter distances. occasionally, a group of high school boys will drive by on their way to school and honk at me. it always makes me laugh because they usually honk while still coming up behind me and then i get to watch them look twice when they realize that 1) i'm at least 10 years older than they are and 2) i'm pregnant.

for the most part, i'm still able to wear all of my regular running shorts and pants. shirts, however, are a different story. you'll notice in this picture that i'm wearing two shirts. the bottom shirt is an extra large t-shirt that i bought on clearance at old navy. because it is an extra large, the neck and shoulders are way too big, but the length is perfect, so i just top it off with another shirt that actually fits on top, but not on bottom. with the two combined, i have the perfect running shirt =) i suppose i could just buy some maternity running clothes, but as much as i love this running skirt, i'm too cheap to shell out the money for it. besides, it's kind of fun to have the challenge of creating new outfits out of the old pre-pregnancy clothes.

there's a twenty pound bird in my freezer

i don't think i've mentioned yet that we are doing thanksgiving at our house this year. LH's family and my family are all coming into town, minus my sister-in-law and her gang who just have to far to go and too many kids to tote all the way out to us. some people might get freaked out by having so much family in their house at once, but i'm stoked. i've been planning the menus and table decorations and every little bit for months now.

yesterday, i went to the commissary to get everything but the produce for our thanksgiving week. i was officially THAT lady walking around with the shopping cart stuffed as full as it could possibly get. after every aisle, i would pull my cart over to the side and try to rearrange everything so it would fit in there better. i'm sure everyone was looking at me and thinking, "oh that poor girl. her husband must be at home watching her ten children while she does the grocery shopping." my pregnant belly and high heel shoes probably didn't help the situation at all, especially when i practically had to get a running start to get the cart moving.

as silly as it sounds, i had a lot of fun putting all of the groceries away. i love organizing things... any excuse to rearrange the refrigerator or pantry makes me happy. i even had to use the top shelf in pantry that i usually reserve just for extra foil, baggies and paper plates. if i have time and think about it later, i'll take a picture and post it on here. has anyone else done their thanksgiving shopping yet? are any of you entertaining this year?

mustard toast

people keep asking me if i've had any weird cravings during the pregnancy and i keep answering "no." however, LH heard me answering the question a few weeks ago when my mom asked, and he corrected me. apparently, i have a thing for mustard now. i made baked potatoes with our dinner one night and proceeded to cover mine with yellow mustard. it tasted way better than my usual sour cream topping and added a nice little kick. while eating lunch with a friend a week ago, i had tons of mustard with my french fries (i never liked ketchup anyway). and then to top it off, this week i made a super yummy lunch for myself: toast with grainy dijon mustard and a few slices of hard boiled egg on top. i thought it tasted absolutely delish and might even pass for a gourmet egg salad sandwich, but LH didn't quite agree.

i've also been eating a good bit of cereal lately, although at odd hours of the day... and night. i think our baby goes through a growth spurt about every 3 or 4 weeks, because at those times, i tend to find myself waking up at 3 in the morning with a very rumbly tummy. one bowl of cereal usually won't do it, either... i have to eat two bowls and have a glass of water before my belly is satisfied. it's amazing how fast my tummy will feel full and then how fast it will drain and be hungry again within a 30 minute period. this week, we went out for a hibachi dinner with some good friends and i ate quite a bit of steak, veggies and fried rice. not thirty minutes after getting home, i was hungry again and hit the cabinet for some cereal.

my tummy is rumbling right now with all of this talk about food. i'll leave you with a recent belly shot. i'm not good at remembering to have LH take a picture when he is home, so i usually resort to my lovely mac's built in camera. you've probably noticed the wonderful green color that graces the walls of our office. right now, it is the last room on our list to be painted, so you'll just have to suffer through the agony like we do every day.

baby brain

i'm blaming my blogging absence on baby brain =) it's so hard to believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by and i have to say that LH and i are thoroughly enjoying every little bit. i feel like i have so much to learn, not just about baby, but things i want to teach baby one day, and i'm also trying to make it a point to spend extra time with LH before the baby comes. we have also been ridding the house of anything that we don't use or find necessary, because we know that we are about to be adding quite a bit of baby stuff.

as far as the actual pregnancy goes, i could never have dreamt that it would be this good. the only time i even felt remotely sick was when my body decided that it no longer like bananas, although i tried them the other day and they are okay again. i've needed more sleep than pre-pregnancy, but nothing crazy. i have the most amazing husband who i respect so much; he has taken the time from his busy schedule to go to every regular checkup with me thus far. he is going to be the best daddy ever. i'm convinced that the baby already looks like him, too. when i saw this picture printed from the ultrasound, it made me smile, because it looks just like LH's profile from one of his baby pictures. silly, i know, but i really can see the resemblance.

another "side effect" of this pregnancy has been that i've become a little bit more private with my life, other than with friends and family, of course. i guess because i'm not only "eating for two" but living for two, i feel very protective of this growing baby that constantly lets me know he/she is in there by kicking and rolling and bumping me. i love it. oh, and we decided not to find out whether we are having a girl or a boy. there are so few surprises in life now, and i think this is going to be such a cool surprise to wait for. plus, it will help me get through the labor when i have such a desire to know whether it is a boy or a girl!

anyhow, that's a little update on our lives right now. i'm still here, just enjoying being pregnant and trying to make the most of my time. unfortunately, that means i don't always take the time to sit down and blog much. just know that no news is good news =) feel free to email me if curiosity is getting the better of you. my email is visible to everyone in my profile.