Now this was a surprise...

I had a doctor's appointment this morning (I am just over 37 weeks).  I haven't had any real notable "symptoms" lately, so the doctor gave me the option of whether or not I wanted her to check my cervix.  She didn't feel it was really necessary at this point.  With Lance being out of town next week (he has two '24-hour' trips leaving Thursday night and Sunday night), I thought it would probably be a good idea just to see where we are at.  I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or the doctor.  She said she could feel the head down pretty low and that I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced and that I may not make it to my appointment next week.  Talk about a shocker.  She also said it might be 2 weeks before he's born, but I'm most likely not making it to my due date.  I wasn't sure if it was good news or bad news with Lance being in both Chicago and Nashville in that time frame...I'm still in shock.  I just hope he either comes really soon or waits for Lance to get done with his travels!!

It's FINISHED!

I finally finished the little baby afghan I designed for our new little one. I made it out of super soft bamboo yarn. I think it turned out really well! I guess we're going for the brainwashing method to get him to like our same hobbies ;)

What Happened??

All of a sudden I have burst at the seams!  This baby must be growing out of control (or at least I am!).  Lance took a picture of me last night to document the belly progress and I was shocked how much bigger I've gotten since Christmas.  Here's a visual of how much I've changed:

21 weeks

29 weeks

32 weeks

36 weeks

Yes, the basketball is for real...or that's what everyone says my belly looks like these days.  I didn't know it could be so perfectly round.  I can't believe he/we have another month or so of growing to do!  Where is it going to go??

Thank you Lindbergs!

Here it is...our baby boy's bed for the first 5 months. It was one of the group gifts from the Lindberg shower. We figure we can buy a real crib when we move to wherever we are moving in June! Thanks everyone!

The Lindberg Baby Shower

My sister-in-law, Lisa, hosted an awesome baby shower the day after Christmas while we were in Salt Lake City. It was great to catch up with the Lindberg family since we missed the Lindberg family Christmas party by a few short hours. Thanks to everyone for doing announcements, food, and for coming! I promised to post a picture of the group gift once I purchased it. I have the crib, but am still waiting to pick up the stroller. Thank you all so much!

Our 3rd wedding anniversary

Poor Lance has a heck of an end to his year...every year. He has my birthday November 17th, our anniversary on December 13th, then Christmas less than 2 weeks later. I have to hand it to him, he did a great job this year. He surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of lilies and cooked me dinner (and did the dishes--even though he had to work all morning). He is such an awesome husband! I'm not sure how I lucked out. This was our last anniversary before the kids start rolling in; I'm sure it's just going to keep getting better!

Merry Christmas

We actually have a fireplace this year for Christmas so I had to hang our stockings (a.k.a. some wool socks Anna brought back from her mission to Ecuador...they are a little big to actually wear). Luckily we brought our handy-dandy Christmas tree. It's in the lower right hand corner if you missed it. At least it makes the presents look bigger!

Gingerbread Houses

I thought I was going to miss our annual gingerbread house extravaganza, but it turns out it was scheduled for the Sunday I was in town. Everyone's houses turned out looking great (even though Greg and Alyssa's had some structural issues!). It was fun to spend time with my family (even though it was a zoo) and eat candy until I was sick (as much a tradition as actually making the houses).

My first baby shower

I had my first baby shower on December 5th when I went home to Salt Lake City. It was so fun to see friends and family again after being away for almost 6 months. Everyone was so generous-our little boy has so many cute little things already! Now he just has to come (well, in about 9 weeks.) My mom did a great job planning and hosting. Thanks Mom!

Courtney Bryant

I was lucky enough to see my newest niece, Courtney Bryant, when I was in town earlier this month. I was sure to ask my sister, Kristin, about all the important details of childbirth while they were fresh on her mind. Even though she was only 1 day old when I saw her, she seemed huge to me, but only because I couldn't imagine another human being that size inside of my body. She came naturally a few hours before she was scheduled to be induced-talk about timing!

More Thanksgiving Photos

I made my first turkey ever and it actually turned out really well. I was pleasantly surprised!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.  We had my sister Allison and her husband Curt over as well as Lance's sister Becky, her husband Kevin, and 2 kids Aedan and Keva.  It was so nice to spend the afternoon with family.  I've decided that Thanksgiving is probably the best holiday of all because the main focus is being with family (and eating yummy food).  Living away from family for the first time I realize how much I miss being with family on special occasions!  I am excited to go home next weekend!

More Craigslist Confessions

This was my latest craigslist find! I got it for $50!!

Belly Status

It's been a while since I updated the status of my growing belly. Here I am at almost 29 weeks (just over 11 weeks to go!)

Musical Furniture

So, being unemployed for such a long time gave me way too much time to shop on craigslist. Since we moved to Denver at the end of June we have had 3 different couches. Yes, three. We started off with Lance's $75 D.I. couch (which I absolutely loved), but the place looked empty without another chair. I put my craigslist skills to work and found a really nice Pottery Barn oversized chair for really cheap. When I purchased them I noticed the seller had a matching couch (a sleeper sofa). They looked so cute, and with a sleeper we could have houseguests. I told her that when she was ready to sell, that I would buy it. A few months went by and I got a call from the seller, so I bought the sleeper (the green couch). I had to sell our D.I. couch right away because we had 2 couches in our little living room. I was able to sell it for more than double what Lance paid and had matching furniture! After washing the couch and chair slipcovers ONCE I realized how unforgiving it was. I decided that it would never hold up to the 'accidents' of a new baby, so I put the set up for sale not more than a few weeks after buying the couch (I'll never hear the end of this from Lance). I was able to sell the pair for more than double what we paid for them and used the money I made to buy a VERY nice brown leather couch that I LOVE. I found an awesome bargain and actually paid less for the leather couch than I sold the Pottery Barn furniture for...SCORE! Lance isn't too upset now that we have a WAY nicer couch and I think we paid ~$300 out of pocket for it!

Family Outing

So, we had our first 'family' bike ride today. Lance took the day off today and was nice enough to fix the 2 flat tires I got on my last ride (almost 2 months ago...). I had the itch to ride REALLY bad since it has been in the mid-70's for the past few days and we got over a foot of snow last week. I'm sure Lance needed to get out too. Junior probably wants to get out too, but now's not the time :) It's hilarious how much slower and more tired I am now...I'm lucky to average 11 or 12 mph on flats, but I've got almost 6 months of pregnancy (and nausea) to blame I guess. I look deceptively normal in the front shot, but the side shot tells a whole other story. It's nothing a little low-riding your shorts and sporting a men's jersey won't fix!

Little Lance, Jr.

Here's little Lance, Jr. He wasn't shy for the camera at all. I actually asked if it was a boy before the ultrasound tech had a chance to tell us. Let's just hope he grows out of that phase. He is an active little guy, I feel like he's kick-boxing in my belly sometimes. As far as we know, he is on schedule to join our family in mid-February. Now we just have to figure out what to call him!

Welcome to the world of blogging

So now that there's a baby on the way and we don't really live near family, it's probably time I bit the bullet and started blogging.  In a few months there will be much more interesting things to talk about and a cute little boy to look at.  So, bear with me for the next little while until it actually gets interesting.

To fill you all in, the last 4 months have been...interesting...to say the least.  We moved to Denver at the end of June (about a week or two after I found out I was pregnant) and the morning sickness decided to make its full-force debut on the day we were supposed to drive our moving truck out here.  Lance had the privilege of unpacking pretty much everything over the next few weeks while I stayed in bed trying not to throw up.  Thanks for the morning sickness genes, Mom.  Even though I still feel nauseated EVERY day (at 25 weeks), it has been at least 3 weeks since I worshiped the porcelain gods, if you know what I mean.  At least I feel pretty confident it will all be worth it.  I love feeling him wiggle around inside of me!

Lance spends all of his days and the hospitals (and every 3rd Saturday and Sunday), and all of his nights working on various assigned projects at home.  He is VERY busy with his residency, but has decided he wants to do a specialty residency next year in solid organ transplant (which will hopefully bring us back to Salt Lake City).

I spent the last 4 months looking for a job as a retail pharmacist (jobs were a dime a dozen in Salt Lake City 2 years ago).  I got a job with Albertson's only to be laid off due to store closures after my 1 week of training.  I never actually got to work in a store.  I have been picking up random shifts with a temp agency recently and have finally found a part-time job with Target and start training on Monday.

Highlights of our time here in Denver include mainly time spent with family.  My mom has been out to visit twice now (and is coming out again on Sunday); my sister Anna and her family came out during Conference weekend; and we drove to Vail to visit Lance's sister Becky and her family.

Taya and Kohl during October General Conference

Becky, Kevin, Aedan, and Keva at the Pumpkin Festival