Swollen fingers, feet, and ankles! 28 weeks and counting

Who said pregnancy is a beautiful thing? Everything on my body is retaining water, possibly even my fingernails. Ugh! In the home stretch...

My friend, Aubrey, is being induced in a few days and I can't help but wish to trade her places. Or better yet the moms that never seemed to even show until they are practically due. I think I've been showing since 8 weeks. :) I carried Drew the exact same way, all out front. He sits so low that I feel I'm waddling and squeezing him in by the end of the day just so he doesn't fall out. The 8 hour days at work are really taking a toll on me and I have cut back to 5-7 hours at max. I finally feel pretty good since morning sickness has almost subsided besides the occasional teeth brushing or Mexican food I just HAD TO HAVE, then immediately regretted. Tuesdays are generally my longest day at work and I come home every Tuesday and put my feet up. I swear a few weeks ago, my ankles were the same size as my calves! Mike is super supportive and tells me how sexy I am and that my fat swollen kankles are "cute." Uh, ya, he has to say that. I'm pretty sure everything below my waist is covered in cellulite, although I can't see it, so maybe I can pretend its not there.

Let me just vent for a minute...

Why is it (especially) elderly women think its okay to ask "How much weight have you put on?" or "Is your doctor concerned about your weight?" I'm pretty sure its not appropriate for anyone to ask a fat person that. Why when you're emotional, fat, and pregnant do people think you can!?

For that matter, I am really getting tired of the, "Oh, you look like you could have that baby any day?" or "When are you due again?" with raised eyebrows. Hello retards, I'm having a baby, what the hell is your excuse for carrying around your extra weight. I'd really like to tell some people off and try to bite my tongue when I'm compared to any other pregnant woman, saying, "Oh she's only _____ weeks!" Ummm...pretty sure all women are different and everyone carries babies differently and no matter what in a couple months I will be having a significant weight loss plan, so when I lose 20-30 lbs suddenly and you're still staring at your fat ass in the mirror, guess who will be laughing now!

Almost 30 weeks and still a nameless boy...

We still haven't completely decided on a name and now I'm beginning to believe we'll have to see him to decide. We love Camden Micah or Bentley Micah, but my family said they know a dog, door company, and car named Bentley. Mike's reply was, "Yes, but Bentley is an expensive car, not like a Geo Metro." I did hear another lady in the salon say she just got a dog named Bentley, but my parents have a dog named Bailey and there are still lots of little girls named that. Or our friend's parents have a dog named Mandy & Drew thinks that is hilarious that she has my name, too. So the search continues...We're still open for suggestions and I am the one to write out the birth certificate. I may just name him Landon and Mike will have to live with him being called "Lando Commando."

Jingle Bells...Jingle Bells...Jingle all the way!

Every year we make our own ornament to hang on the tree. It has to be something significant that happened to us that year. Its fun to look at what was significant to each of us in previous years when we open the ornament box the next year. Mike is always thrilled to do it but I make him anyways. It's always fun to see how creative (or non-creative) we can be with stickers, ribbon, and embellishments, but it's a good memory nonetheless.

This year Drew has been working very hard on his letters, sounds, and numbers. He recognizes all of his letters, knows most of their sounds, and can recognize most numbers. I can't believe how much he has advanced in the last 6 months. We thought it would be fun to write a letter to Santa, so I wrote out 6 items he said he wanted and he copied them onto a letter to Santa. It took him almost an hour and 2 sheets of computer paper (the letters were almost 3" tall), but he did it. Mike was extremely patient and pushed him to continue, even when Drew wanted to quit. I have to admit, I had a hard time not correcting mistakes, but Mike just let him make them and pointed them out later to fix. I guess Mike will be the parent helping with homework. :)

We decorated a gingerbread house, ahem, from scratch, which I would not suggest doing! They ran out of the gingerbread house kits so we bought graham crackers, frosting, and all sorts of candies. We had a 2 story gingerbread house with many, many gummy bear children running around. We also had a pink pond with gummy sharks and Swedish fish swimming about. Mike tried to make it "architecturally correct" but had issues when the pitched roof wouldn't stay up. He caved and settled for a flat roof which the gummy elves and Santa did much better sticking to. Jelly Belly rocks surrounded the house and it even had a sucker mailbox. It was fun putting it together, oh, and licking our fingers during the process, but next year will will get the kit early.

Drew is still scared of Santa and was unsure when he showed up at our family Christmas party at Mike's aunt and uncle's house. The party is always a good time with a white elephant gift exchange. Mike picked the most coveted gift this year, as seen below. It was immediately stolen and thank goodness it was because he would really wear it around town just to humiliate me.

Drew got way more then he ever needed for Christmas. He has been wanting a Bumblebee shooting gun for more than 6 months and Santa finally brought him one. My mother in law just happened to get the Bumblebee helmet that went with it, she's tight with Santa. :) We all had to admit those toys were really fun and now we can all play Bumblebee from Transformers. Drew got a ton of transformers, games, and books. I got the best present of all, a Snoogle! Its a pregnancy pillow that goes between your legs, around your belly, and around your neck. I have never slept better. I have caught Mike and Drew in it occasionally, but it is all mine! The baby got a few toys and some outfits. Mike got a book to read to the baby, Top Gun, and he says, "socks." lol Funny how once you have kids, they get all the cool things and parents get the basics...socks, underwear, jeans. Santa must think we stink, he always brings deodorant, toothpaste, and body wash...

24 weeks and the sickness continues...

December 5th, 2009 I was 24 weeks. I had to have another ultrasound because they couldn't see everything they needed to at 20 weeks. Mom, Cassie, and Bryson went with me to get a glimpse of the new Etcheson. Bryson thought we were really going to see and hold him and was not very impressed with the 2D ultrasound on the tv screen. When Mom told him we aren't really going to see the baby, he said, "You're kidding me???" lol He's not so impressed it is another boy either, I think mostly because he may not want another Drew around to bite, hit, and steal his toys. I'm sure once he gets here Bryson will be excited, but as for now he's not so crazy about the idea.

With Drew the sickness finally subsided about 24 weeks, but nope, not this time. It has gotten better. I usually just get sick when brushing my teeth, when I eat too much, oh and when stinky teenage boys get their hair cut. I tried to blame it on just eating lunch and hopefully he bought it, but my god, at least put on some deodorant before you get a haircut. Ugh...boys! (Guess I better learn to love that smell or teach them to be clean!)

Its a Boy!

We found out we're having a boy

November 9th, 2009. My mom made a card and we took it to the ultrasound appointment where they put the sex of the baby in the card. We then took the card to Babies R Us and picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit. We gave the card to the cashier who put the appropriate outfit in the gift bag. We went to dinner at Carino's with lots of our friends and family and opened the card and the present. It was quite a surprise especially since I just "knew" it was a girl. Drew is beyond excited and can't wait til his little brother gets here. I think Drew is going to have a hard time understanding he's not going to come out wanting to play soccer and watch Scooby Doo.

I had a little bit of a hard time at first accepting it was a boy only because I wanted a girl so badly. As time has gone on, I'm really excited to have another boy and they will be buddies, hopefully. :) Mike said he'd be thrilled either way, but I know he's ecstatic to have a boy. He would be the last of our last name if he didn't have a boy, so all in all it is a wonderful thing.