Quick (but very long) Update

So......I have about half an hour to do a quick blog update. Ready, set, go!!! 

In January Sawyer and I, thanks to the generosity of my dad sharing his airline miles, had the golden opportunity to go visit my Brother Ben and SIL Chantal and their kids, Jett and Eden, in Arkansas. We were supposed to travel down there with my mom, but a day before we were going to leave she was struck down with the flu! Struck is very accurate because she was SUPER sick and it came out of nowhere! Noooooo! Bad timing to catch a yucky virus. So Sawyer and I went by ourselves, which for some reason I was really nervous about! I think my nervousness stemmed from not having flown in years. I like to travel with another responsible adult who can tell me which gate I am supposed to be at and at what time so I don't have to be the one worrying about it! It was crazy to think that Sawyer hadn't flown since he was nine months old when we went to Australia. Of course flying with a four year old is way easier and much more fun since he was BEYOND excited to fly, as evidenced by the photo below. Thankfully everything went smoothly and I was able to get us to the correct gates on time.  

He was fully captivated while looking out the window during take off and landing, but mid-air I had to try my best to keep him entertained with an arsenal of snacks, games on my phone, his Leap pad  and coloring books. The drawing below I had to take a photo of because it's the first time he has drawn people that are recognizable as, well, people. Sawyer is the big person in the middle who is wearing a hat and holding balloons. I am to the left and he said he didn't draw my big belly because the baby is out of it and is the stick person below me wearing a diaper. Matt is stick figure to the right of Sawyer and has the long beard.  The little details, like Sawyer's shoes, Matt's beard and the baby's diaper make me smile. 

We got into Arkansas pretty late and my brother Ben was nice enough to come pick us up even though he had to get up early the next morning for pilot training exams, which he had a lot of during the week.  

Above is my cutie patootie niece Eden! She is so stinking adorable from head to toe that the sweet way she talks was almost too much cuteness to handle! I sent this pic of her to Matt to let him know I was getting some practice doing pigtails on a little girl since we have that to look forward to in our future! 

Jett and Sawyer had lots of fun and, for the most part, got along really well together! Jett was super good about sharing all his toys, which is really hard for a four year old kid to do, so thanks Jett! He also is a major self esteem booster as he would randomly give me hugs throughout the day and say "Aunt Kristen, I love you".  Soon Eden caught on and would start giving me hugs around my legs and saying "I wuv you too". I've never felt so loved as I did that week! :) 

For some reason Sawyer's Cars sleeping bag was a huge hit and every day the cousins had fun playing in it. 

 Here is a pic of Chantal and I when we 'bellied up' to document the girl cousins in utero. The photo  below is of us doing the same thing back when we were pregnant with Jett and Sawyer in 2009!

Some other highlights of our Arkansas trip included riding the trolley. 

 Eating at a train themed restaurant where your food was delivered to your table via a toy train. 

Going to the park to play in the evening. 

Feeding the ducks. 

Going bowling on base. 

And then there was Sawyer's absolute favorite part of the whole trip which was when Uncle Ben set up a time for us to go in the flight simulator at his school. It was super realistic and really cool! All three of the kids got to be the co-pilot and fly the plane. 

Since we have been back Sawyer has been obsessed with all things airplane. Looks like we might have another pilot in the family eventually! 

At the end of the week it was time to say goodbye and head back to Idaho. The cousins were pretty sad to say goodbye, but we are sure glad we got to see them (and Ben and Chantal too) one more time before they move to Long Island! 

On the way home we had a four hour long layover in Denver, but thankfully Sawyer was a champ the whole day. He got to pick out a toy at one of the gift shops there for being so well behaved and of course he chose an airplane! He has already taken it to Show-and-Tell as preschool twice since we have been back . 

Since being back home I have started school and am wrapping up the second week of my last semester of nursing school. Wahoo!!! So far it's been exactly what I expected, as in very time consuming and a LOT of prepping for the NCLEX (which is the test I take after graduation to become an official RN). 

Thankfully Matt has perfected the art of making a macadamia nut mocha on the new espresso machine that his mom got him for Christmas so those has been my energy back up. 

Look at that beauty above! Now he just needs to learn how to make fancy designs in the foam and we could start charging for them! 

And as far as my pregnancy goes I am roughly 35 weeks and my BabyCenter app on my phone put it very accurately when it sent me an update saying "Fatigue has probably set in again". Yes, I couldn't have said it better myself. I. am. tired. I've gained about 25 lbs so far and that extra weight alone can slow you down, but then the ever increasing basketball on my midsection is making it difficult to bend over or even get out of bed. Plus I have had a lot of uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions the past few weeks which has been a new experience for me since I never had any with Sawyer, or at least not that I remember. 

This past Monday I had to be at an orientation at the hospital in downtown Boise by 6:45am so Sawyer and I stayed at my parents house Sunday night to make it easier the following morning. I barely slept a wink that night because I couldn't get my brain to shut off. Literally, maybe two hours of zzz' s and then I got up at 5 in the morning to get ready for my orientation. Then I was gone all day at the hospital and then at school for a skills lab until 4pm. All day long I didn't feel good. I was having what felt like menstrual cramps, TONS of Braxton hicks and lower back pain. Finally when I got to my parents house around 4:30pm to pick up Sawyer I thought it might be wise to call my doctor just to see what he thought since I was technically only 34 weeks then. I was only able to talk to the triage nurses at his office, but they recommended I go to the hospital to get checked out. My mom accompanied me to the hospital and Matt headed over to my parents house to hang out with my dad and Sawyer in the meantime. I was afraid I would get there and they would see me in my nursing school scrubs, hook me up to the monitor, not see a darn thing and think "Just another paranoid nursing student!". Instead, they hooked me up to the monitor and sure enough I was having regular contractions two and a half minutes apart, so I'm glad I went in! They monitored me for about three hours total, all while having me drink a bunch of water to see if hydrating would help the contractions go away. I was only dilated to a one, so the contractions thankfully weren't were making me dilate, but they were definitely uncomfortable! They didn't go away after downing a bunch of water so they ended up giving me a shot of Terbutaline to relax my 'irritable' uterus and within five or ten minutes the contractions dissipated. Miracle drug! The nurses said had I been 35 weeks or over they wouldn't have given me anything to stop the contractions. I'm thankful I wasn't that far along because a) I wouldn't have wanted to go home feeling that way and b) had they continued and started to make me dilate I really didn't want to go into labor that early not only for our baby's health, but also for my own mental well-being because I think school is going to be much easier with baby girl IN rather than OUT :) If she kindly would continue to bake for another four to five weeks to allow me to get some preceptorship hours completed that would be greatly appreciated! 

However...if she insists on making her debut early we have almost everything ready for her. Her crib is set up, her room is decorated, the car seat is ready to go, diapers and wipes are out, all her clothes are washed and folded, and the only thing left is to wash all the bottles. We've been really lucky to have so many friends and family give us hand-me-downs to keep or borrow such as bottles, baby shoes, baby clothes, a super nice Medela breast pump, nursing tanks, crib bumpers, baby wraps, etc. 

So there you have it. A QUICK update that only took me an hour to do. YIKES! It's been an hour?! I have homework to complete! Hopefully I can give another update in the next few weeks, but who knows, my next one might not be until I'm writing the story of baby's birth. Until then! 

December in a chestnut shell

I'm currently at my most favorite place ever. No, not Disneyland. And no, not anywhere in Australia either (I wish!).  I guess I should clarify.... I'm at my most favorite coffee place ever. In Eagle there is a coffee shop called Rembrandts that is in an old Catholic church so the ambiance is fun and so much more original than any ol' Starbucks. Not to mention they have the most delicious white mocha's made with white Ghiradelli chocolate shavings and they serve it in a mug with a ridiculous amount of whipped cream on top. Can't go wrong there. Anyway, I dubbed today 'me' day because after the holidays I needed to recharge and spend some time solo. I started the day out by dropping Sawyer off at preschool and then was planning to work on some of my research stuff at Rembrandts, but once I got here I realized I didn't bring everything I needed to work on. Aw, schucks. Guess I will have to blog instead :) After Rembrandts I plan on going to Cosmoprof to get some new shampoo and conditioner and peruse the aisles of hair products as long as I feel like since Sawyer won't be with me begging to push the shopping cart around and fill it with brushes and tint bowls. Then I'm gong to hit up some consignment stores in search of some maternity clothing.

 I've been set with maternity clothes up until now thanks to a good friend who gave me a magical bin filled to the brim with clothes from her past pregnancies as well as the maternity clothing of other women from church. Plus I had all the maternity clothing I bought off Ebay back when I was pregnant with Sawyer, of which I plan on donating to the bin once my pregnancy is over. I forgot though how rapidly your body shape changes towards the end of the second trimester and into the third! Maternity pants that were way too big a month ago I can barely squeeze into now! Yikes! I was feeling kind of bummed about it, but I'm still right on track with weight gain and since the weight melted off with Sawyer I decided I'm just not going to stress about it. Plus this is my last pregnancy so I might as well embrace my widening face and hips, right?! ;) Ever since getting rid of the horrible morning sickness back in the beginning, I can't complain with how smoothly this pregnancy as gone. Baby girl is great and measuring right on track. I passed my glucose test with flying colors and haven't thrown up since that last unfortunate incident in the rental car a few months ago, thank goodness!! I did have one worrisome symptom when I had bad pain in my right leg (only my right leg) and went to the doctor about it who suggested I get a venous ultrasound to rule out a blood clot. Thankfully everything was fine (except having to pay for that expensive test, sheesh) and the pain ended up going away on it's own a day later. Then recently at my parent's house there was one night where I was about doubled over from pain in my ribs. I could barely breathe and it hurt to move or talk. Then I felt this little girl shift downwards and the pain completely disappeared as quickly as it had come! I'm guessing she had some sort of appendage up under my ribs or something! She has been moving around a TON, usually between 8-11 at night. I had forgotten how cool and extremely bizarre it is to feel and see a creature moving around in your abdomen!  The only new symptom I've had recently as I have moved into the third trimester is needing to recharge my batteries a lot because I've been so incredibly tired. I spent an inordinate amount of time napping during the past two weeks over Christmas break. Matt mom's was here visiting for Christmas and New Year's so hopefully she didn't mind the lazy afternoons at our house spent catching zzzz's. I did find out my iron levels are low, so that explains in part why I've been dragging and then the burgeoning belly has slowed me down quite a bit.  

I don't have very many pics with me right now of how we spend Christmas, except for the ones on my phone, but figured I would document what I have! 

Earlier in December we went to go see the lights downtown in Caldwell. It was freezing, but it was free and Sawyer had a lot of fun seeing all the lights. 

We have had snow for most of December and he has had fun making me 'food' out of it. 

Matt and I found this normally $60 dollar priced Hot Wheels track for $20 at Target a few weeks before Christmas.  That, along with the Hot Wheels cars from Grandma and Grandpa and a hot wheels track from Nana, and Sawyer is set on the Hot Wheels front! 

Last year we didn't do very much related to Santa, but this year Sawyer was way more into it so we set out some milk and cookies for Santa, which admittedly I had a lot more fun with than I thought I would! 

Matt has been growing out a beard for me. He calls it my 'rally beard' or 'good luck beard' for my last semester of school and is going to shave it off once I graduate. I have to say that I agree with the sentiment on the socks that Santa put in his stocking. I like how manly my man looks with a beard! 

Sawyer wanted in on the sock action too of course. He didn't really get why I was taking a photo of Matt with socks next to his face, but thought it must be funny! 

Speaking of shaving (or not shaving), Sawyer got a shave set in his stocking along with a bunch of bath crayons, markers and color fizzies. 

He made sure to get all the 'hairs' off his face and even offered to shave my face too. How thoughtful :)

Santa also brought him a razor scooter and new Cars helmet, which is specifically what he asked for. Little did I know that when he sat on Santa's lap at the mall he apparently told him he wanted a remote control robot so he was perplexed as to why Santa brought him a scooter instead of the robot he had requested. That took some explaining. I'm not even sure where we would have found a remote control robot anyway! Eventually he warmed up to the idea of the scooter and wanted to go take it for a spin around the block. 

One night while Matt's mom Carol was in town she watched Sawyer so we could attend my cousin Aubrey's wedding and go on a date. I had Sawyer snap a pic of us before we went since I have hardly documented any photos of us the past year. This one was the best he got, out of about 50+. Apparently if you keep your finger pressed down on the photo button on the iPhone it just takes photo after photo after photo in succession. Who knew! 

New Years Eve Carol watched Sawyer again so that we could go to our friends third annual NYE party. I tried to have Sawyer take another photo, but this one is the best we got. 

New Years Eve was so much fun!! Matt and I have been super blessed to make such awesome friends since moving here to Idaho three years ago and joining the Faith Community Bible church. I absolutely LOVE all these women! 

My friend Lisa on the left is who hosted the party and my friend Rhonda is on the right. 

They are two of my very favorite people! 

My friend Michelle and I were the only ones not partaking in any adult bevs that night so we indulged in some sparkling apple cider together to toast the new year with. It was a great night getting to visit with everyone and celebrate the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, which will be a very big year for our family! 

During the night we played a game where each person was an event, person, or thing that happened in 2013 and people had to guess what they were by strictly asking yes and no questions. I was the movie Argo and no one was guessing it! Matt was Nelson Mandela at first, but was guessed pretty quickly so he bought back into the game. He was Paul Walker that time and was guessed in about less than five minutes after buying back in! Once you guessed someone's event, person or thing correctly they had to give you their slip of paper that listed what they were so that whoever was the last person standing had all the slips of paper in their possession. Once the people left in the game narrowed down to about six or seven it got more intense so I bowed out and gave my paper to Matt so he could keep playing.   In the end he ended up winning and what a prize it was! He won a fireman calendar with all the faces of the guys at the party pasted onto the bodies! This is Mr. June below, my new favorite month :) He also won a $50 gift card to dinner and a movie which was an awesome prize, but I think the calendar just might be my favorite of the two! 

We got home around 1 AM from the News Years party and then got up early the next morning to take Carol to the airport. The rest of our first day of 2014 was spent lounging, napping, playing with Christmas toys, and Sawyer asking us repeatedly when Nana was coming back. 

By the looks of the photo below I think he had lots of fun over Christmas break with his Nana. When I asked him what his favorite part was he said the 'dance party' that they had together :) 

Next blog post I will recap the rest of our Christmas and Christmas Eve with actual photos of those events!