For your enjoyment!

Hi everybody! Well, I am finally posting some pictures of me and the belly! Our very good friend, Will Parris (parris-studios.com) took some great photos of us last weekend, at Huntington Beach. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the pictures turned out great! Thanks to Will! I asked him to please hide my double chin and blemishes with photo shop! ha! After the fun pictures, we went to dinner down there with The Parris' and the Macshane's... Good times :)

So here's the belly, and the happy couple :) Enjoy!

I hope you love them as much as I do :)

Time just keeps flying by

Hello! It has been a while hasn't it? busy, busy, busy! Well, I'm getting to the point where I can't even believe it's me looking back in the mirror! ha! I love my belly, but wow, it just keeps getting bigger! Joshua moves around all the time, and I simply love it. It makes me smile every single time. Jude has FINALLY felt the baby move! I don't know if I announced that in my last entry... but it's quite exciting! I really like to just sit on the couch and stare at my belly, and watch my stomach move around. Pretty amazing.

I can't believe I only have three months left of pregnancy! There is SO much I have to do! Jude and I have started to clean up our backyard, which really feels good. Come to find out, I just can't do as much as used to... duh! Planting flowers isn't as effortless as it once was, and although my 'belly belt' has come in handy, it still is not comfortable to be bent over digging in the dirt! Who knew? Jude also started the painting process, but there is still a ton more of that to do. Our life is consumed by the 5 year old living in our house, and so it's really hard to make time to do anything else. Especially because we seem to be exhausted most of the time.

Our Valentine's day was really nice! My mom and dad were kind enough to babysit overnight on the 15th, so that's when we celebrated. It was really, really nice to have the evening to ourselves again. And Jude is so sweet and romantic! He got me a really fancy ring to wear in lieu of my wedding ring, due to my fingers being swollen, and a beautiful diamond necklace! It was a really, REALLY nice night. It was a little hard on me, just because this was our last valentine's day without a baby... but not really. Again, I'm a whiner, but it was hard for me to get past that. It's almost a little embarrassing to say outloud, but I'm just tired of sacrificing things that are important to me. I know, big whiner right? :)

I'm in the middle of planning a Women's Retreat for our church. It's in two weeks, and that kind of scares me a little! I told Jude that the next time I have a bright idea to volunteer for something like this... to knock some sense into me! ha! I've made a lot of progress this week though, so that feels good. Last night I was able to sleep without waking up and my mind racing with all the things I have to get do. I hope all goes well!

With my growing belly, I become more and more uncomfortable... and I know, It will only get worse! My back aches pretty much all the time now, and sleeping ... is more like an idea... ha! The doctor told me to take tylenol to help my back ache, and to use those hot/cold pad things too. We had our doctor appointment last week, and my belly measures at 36cm, and his heart rate was at 140. All looks good! Before I go in for my next appointment, I have to get my gluclose test done. And then after my next appointment, I visit the doctor every two weeks instead of every month! Yikes! That means it's getting closer! I still need to contact St. Jude to pre-register and take lamaze classes... lots and lots to do! My doctor also gave me the green light to go on vacation in April! Jude and I plan to take our Babymoon to Monterey! So exciting! Our good friends will be coming with us too, so I'm really looking forward to it. I've figured out child care arrangements, because this is not something I'm willing to give up.

I know I suck about posting pictures, and I'm planning on doing that soon... hopefully! Don't hold your breath though ;)

I think that's all I have for now :)

Definitely Popped

Hello! It's finally Friday, and I am so looking forward to the weekend! This week has actually gone by pretty fast, which is a good thing. Work has been going good, and I've figured out my maternity leave situation, which is quite exciting to me! Our next doctor appointment is next Tuesday, so I'm going to ask her about disability etc. I'm feeling Joshua move around SO much! In the middle of the night, he's a bit of a stinker and likes to kick my bladder, which makes me have to go pee more often. Lovely! I was able to get some more maternity clothes for work this week, which is so much fun, and SO much more comfortable! I got some really good deals from Old Navy, which always makes my shopping experience that much more enjoyable! I actually feel really cute in my new clothes, which is an improvement! Don't get me wrong, i still feel very large, but at least with clothes that are made for my new shape, I feel much better about it! Jude was really sweet and let me have a night to myself :)

Valentine's day is next week, and I've always really loved this holiday! I know it's not really a holiday, but you know what I mean. My mom has been kind enough to offer to babysit overnight! How excited am I?!! We'll be able to get a glimpse of our 'old life' for about 24 hours.

We had a meeting last week with Tyquon's permanant social worker, and then we drove to Long Beach again to visit his mom and grandma last week as well... and I'm pretty hopeful that they can get their act together before the baby comes. I wish there was a way to guarantee that, but for now, I will have to settle for hope. Jude and I are both wanting that for our new family. Good news is, that we will start getting some sort of money from the state to help pay for Tyquon's child care. It's really made money be tight lately, something that we're just not used to. It has taught us a valuable money lesson though... when you HAVE to do something, somehow you make it work. I'm really clinging to that lesson for when the baby comes, and I'm out of work.

Some days I'm still really crabby about the whole situation. But now that there is somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel, I'm just anxious. This week was busy, so Jude and I haven't had a lot of time alone, and that really makes me cranky. I'm sorry Jude :) I really don't mean to be a turd.

Our little baby Bosco isn't feeling well right now, and it's scarey. If he doesn't get better by next week, we're going to take him to the Vet. If anything happen to that dog, I don't know what I would do. We actually have a lot of health issues in our family right now. My uncle (dad's brother) had a massive heart attack last week, and my grandpa (mom's dad) has been in the hospital for the past two weeks. My uncle looks like he might be able to recover, and my grandpa is going to be able to go home soon hopefully, with a live-in nurse or something. Not that I don't care about these people, but ever since Josh passed away, I seem to be so immune to pain... if that makes any sense at all. Or maybe Jaded is a better way to put it?? I don't know. Kind of weird...

I'm kind of rambling, can you tell I'm bored at work? :) We went to see Tyrone and Erin last night at the Plush cafe in Fullerton. It was really fun, and great to see people perform that you know personally. But every time, Tyrone end with his song "when all is said and done" and I CAN NOT hold it together. To me, it will ALWAYS remind me of Josh, no matter how much time passes. A lot of Tyrone's Snapshot CD reminds me of Josh... for some reason after he died, i couldn't listen to anything but that CD. It was too painful to listen to my normal country music, because that reminded me too much of Josh, but now, almost every song on that CD reminds me of Josh... and brings me back to that day/weeks/months after we lost him.

Anyway, I guess I've rambled on enough :) And plus, I'm getting hungry! ha!

Thanks for reading my crazy thoughts.