Never Naughty Always Nice

This is one of the darling Christmas onesies that I got for Carter at Old Navy! It says "Never Naughty Always Nice and it has a picture of a monkey with a Santa hat on. He is so cute! I just can't even get over it! I got him another one that says "Baby's First Christmas" that is super cute. I just love Old Navy! We also got him a Santa suit from JC Penney. It is so cute too! We got family pictures taken on Sunday and did his newborns (finally) and we had him wear the little suit and it's just darling! I will post them as soon as I get them back from our photographer! I seriously can't wait! They are freaking adorable!

Carter and Riley (his bestie) got their pictures taken on Santa's lap on Black Friday at the Newgate Mall. I had so much fun spending the day with my mom, John, Crys and Riley. We went shopping and saw Harry Potter! It was such a fun day! :D

I just think my little guy is so handsome. I might just be biased since I'm his mom and all...ha ha ha. I took this today :) He is getting so big! He smiles now and he makes the cutest noises when he's happy. He sleeps great at night and he will be 2 months old on the 22nd! I can't believe it!

This picture is kind of hard to see since Mo is black, but our dogs LOVE Carter. At first, I was really scared to bring them around him because I didn't know how they would react. I was pleasantly surprised to learn they they can't get enough of him. This is a picture of Mo snuggling with Carter on the day of the "Big Blizzard!"

Just being cute as always :D

I'm pretty sure this is Thanksgiving morning. John LOVES to snuggle with Carter. It is seriously his favorite thing in the whole world. He just loves his little guy as much as I do and it's fun to see them together

He sleeps with his mouth open. Cute, right???

Here's a picture of his ADORABLE smile! I just love that he's getting a little personality. I wonder if he's going to be more like me or John? I guess only time will tell

Oh and here is our HOUSE!!! It's been so long since I've posted pictures of it! We've come a long way in the past month! We put in our windows on Saturday and hope to put our doors on this week. It's really coming along and I just can't wait until it's done and we can move in and REALLY be a family with our own home :)

I really love this time of year. Crystal (my sister) and I were talking about how we were having a hard time getting into the Christmasy mood. What better way to get into the spirit than to get gifts for a family in need??? That is honestly my favorite thing about Christmastime! We know a family who has been struggling and we were able to give them some gifts last year and it just makes me feel so great to know that I am able to help someone else. The family is still struggling so we are going to help them again this year. I can't wait to see their faces light up on Christmas Eve when we deliver the gifts and inform them that Santa must have delivered them to the wrong house :) I hope everyone can find something this holiday season to help remind them of the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Jesus is the Reason for the Season! :D God Bless!

I am thankful for...

In no particular order...
My amazing husband, Johnny Poo

My beautiful baby, Carter

My crazy, awesome, zaney, looney, family!!!

Warm clothes and a roof over my head

My wonderful job working with the coolest kids and co-workers EVER!

Disposable diapers (seriously, I don't think I could live in the olden times)

Hot chocolate

Make-up ;)

The freedoms we enjoy in this country

My in-laws for allowing us to live with them while we build our house

My AMAZING mother. She is my idol!

My best sister/friend Cryssy :D

The gospel and plan of salvation

My silly dogs

True friends

Modern medicine

My favorite TV shows :D

My camera

My husband's job

Honestly, I could go on and on and on for hours and hours listing all the things I am thankful for. These are just a few that I could think of off the top of my head. Some silly and some serious. I honestly have the most loving and wonderful family in the entire world. They are all so patient with me, not to mention they are freaking crazy fun! I love Johnny Poo and Carter more than anyone could ever know and my life is just awesome! I try not to complain too much about the little things in life and if I catch myself doing it, I try to stop. I'm so thankful for my Heavenly Father and all the wonderful blessings He has blessed me with in my life. I miss my daddy so much but I know, without a doubt, that he is doing so many wonderful things in Heaven and I know that I will see him again because of the wonderful Plan of Salvation. I feel like I should end this by saying, "Amen" ha ha. Peace out! :P

Update

It's been quite a while since I've updated our blog. I've definitely been a busy girl and I haven't even gone back to work or school yet...oh boy. Life is going to get interesting, come January. All of my time has been devoted to Carter and building our house so I guess that's what my post is going to be about :) I guess I'll start with the house...Well, we got SO much done on Saturday. Our building supervisor told us we were going to set a new record! Here is the outside with all the interior walls up. The garage is all sheeted now so it looks a little different, but you get the idea...

This is one of the bedrooms...I may make it Carter's because his was supposed to be bigger but ended up being 10 inches smaller than the plan said. If not, it will be our office.

This is the super cute arched window in Carter's room :) I love it

The rest of Carter's room.

Guest bathroom that is super tiny. Just a sink, toilet and tub.

Master bath that is bigger lol. I like it that way.

Master bedroom

Living room

Entry way

Kitchen, laundry room, dining room...and my pantry! I wasn't supposed to have a pantry, but our building supervisor loves us so much that we are getting one anyway :) (obviously the laundry room and pantry weren't framed yet, they are now)

Stairs

If we're lucky, we will get our roof trusses put on at the first of next week. It is really coming along and I'm getting so excited. I just can't wait til it's all finished and we can move in! It's been really fun getting to know all the families we're building with. It will be fun to have them all as neighbors when we're finished :)

John and I had our 3 year anniversary on Tuesday but we had to work on the house so we are going to celebrate tomorrow night. We are probably going to go to dinner and go bowling. We love to bowl and it's been a long time since we've been. We were going to go see Harry Potter, but we decided to go for my birthday with my family instead next weekend. John is such an amazing husband and dad. He goes to work 3 hours early 3 days a week so he can leave to work on the house and then he comes home and still has time to snuggle with his little guy and hang out with his wife. I couldn't ask for a better husband and I hope to have many, many more anniversaries :D

Carter will be a month old on Monday! It is crazy to me that he is already that old. I've enjoyed every single second of having him in our lives. He is so cute and so much fun! He is such a good baby. He hardly cries and he sleeps pretty well at night...who could ask for more, right? Here are some recent photos of him


This was a couple weeks ago...we were hanging out with my mom and sister. I think he's totally doing the Zoolander face lol.

I just love him in hats :)

His first real bath after his umbilical cord fell off

I think he's starting to look more like me...no?

This one is sideways for some dumb reason but I think it's totally precious :D

John put him in the laundry basket ha ha. Don't worry, it's clean ;)

So handsome

He is just getting so big! It's crazy to me that I will be 23 in a week and I have this amazing baby that we weren't planning on bringing into the world for another 3 years or so. Now that he's here, I wouldn't trade him for anything!!! Life is definitely going to be a lot more interesting with him around. I'm going back to work in 2 weeks...wow that flew by. Then I'm going back to school in January. Luckily, John will be able to watch him most the times I have class and my sister in law has volunteered to watch him the other times. I'm lucky I have such great support. Then, of course, we'll be working on the house...life is DEFINITELY going to be an adventure for the next little while, but I wouldn't change a thing. That's all for now :)

Carter is FINALLY here!

I'm still getting used to life with Carter around but it's so great! Now that he's here, I don't know how I ever lived without him! He's fantastic and I love him more than anything! So here's what happened...we scheduled the c-section for Tuesday, October 26...well, my baby decided that once we had it scheduled, he could come whenever he wanted because, well, that's just how it's been the entire time. So Friday morning, I'm laying in bed (sorry this is kinda gross but whatev) and I felt like I had just started my period, so I stood up and WHOOSH! Yep, my water broke and it's TOTALLY like it is in the movies, only way worse! So I wake John up and tell him, his response is "Jessica, it's 10 o'clock in the morning!" (He works a swing shift so 10 AM is super early for him ha ha, and I was prego so I slept in as much as possible because I couldn't sleep at night...don't judge). I really just laughed when he said this...it's so typical of him, but it was funny. So I go into the bathroom and wow...if you don't want to hear about this, please skip to the next paragraph. But for reals, has anyone else had their water break??? It's freaking ridiculous! I had John go upstairs and get me some pads, I stood up and 3 second later sat down because I'd leaked through them already...he ended up bringing me one of the baby's diapers...that lasted about 30 seconds ha ha ha. We're so clever. I called the hospital to let them know I was coming in and asked them what they suggested...the nurse told me about the only thing I could do was put a towel in my pants and come to the hospital...AWESOME! So that's what I did. John put a garbage sack and a towel on the seat of our car seat so I wouldn't soil it...again, typical John ha ha. By the time we got to the hospital, my pants were soaked to my knees. It was pouring rain out and the parking lot was PACKED so John went and got me a wheelchair and wheeled me up to labor and delivery with a towel in my lap so I wouldn't be embarrassed lol. He's so sweet. So I get in the room and my FAVORITE scrub tech, Amy is working WAHOO! Her kids go to my school and come to the program I work for. I love them and she is so great! She just jokes with me about how my water breaking is totally "Hollywood". Some people just have a little leaking...nope, I'm not that lucky ha ha. So I go change into my little smock thing and John goes to check me in. I come out and I'm literally leaving a little "snail trail" on the ground. Everyone just laughed...awesome. So I lay down and Amy hands me a towel and says "Just put it between your legs, it'll help". Ha ha, my life is so awesome!

So the nurse comes in, her name is Candis and she's totally awesome too! She asks me all the routine questions...yadda yadda. Then she and John start giving each other crap, I love people who get John's sense of humor...it makes for fun times! Crystal showed up with Wilbur, the freaking cutest giraffe I've ever seen in my life...here we are with him...Everyone who knows us, knows how silly we are and how much we love each other. We had so much fun with the stinkin' giraffe, it made time go by really fast. When they brought John his scrubs to wear during surgery, we just had to put them on Wilbur. And here he is, Dr. Wilbur, ready for surgery :)

Anyway, Candis comes to put my IV in and I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda freaking out. I was way more worried about her sticking that needle in my arm than I was about them cutting a baby out of my stomach...seriously. I have the tiniest veins known to man and people have a tendency of missing and having to re-stick me, or heaven forbid, fish....ugh! I hate even thinking about it! Anyway, she put it in and made it on the first time! YAHOO!! I knew I liked her. I was feeling a little faint so I laid back, almost passed out, but made it through. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my sister-in-law, Stacy, was scheduled to have a c-section Friday as well. She had hers at 1 and I had mine at 2. So after waiting a couple hours in labor and delivery, the wheeled me to the OR. While we were waiting, they told me about the Spinal Block that I'd be getting and I wasn't really nervous about it. When we got to the OR, they sat me on the table and told me to lean forward and have really bad posture. The anesthesiologist was super cool! John and I both really liked him. He poked me with some Lanicane to numb me and then he gave me the Spinal. It really wasn't bad at all. John held my hand the whole time. He's a champ. After he was done, they hurried and laid me back because you get numb SUPER fast and they don't want you to fall off the table. So I laid back and they immediately started prepping me. I was amazed at how fast everything happened. They prepped my belly with alcohol. That was definitely the weirdest feeling in the world. It felt like I was in a swimming pool and someone was waving water in front of my belly really fast, but not touching me...if that makes any sense at all. Then they put up the "blue sheet" which means it's sterile. John and the anesthesiologist stayed up by my head. John wanted to watch the whole thing. He was totally fascinated by it all. I told him not to tell me what was going on but he said they already cut me open. I thought he was just joking but the anesthesiologist said "no he's serious". Again, I couldn't believe how fast it all happened. They told me I was going to feel some pressure up by my chest and they pushed on it twice. My doctor kept saying, "whoa he has a big head"...great. Lol. After the second push on my chest, I heard the most glorious sound in the world, the cry of my baby! They brought him over to me and showed me his beautiful face! Then they hurried over to weigh him and clean him off. They weighed him and told me he was 8 lbs 14 oz. So no 10 lb baby for me ha ha. He was still pretty big but that just means there's more to love! John went over and got pictures while I, I assume, was getting stitched up and all that jazz. The nurse brought over a clean Carter and snapped this precious shot of our little family.

After this, they took Carter to the nursery to do all the stuff they do there...not sure what ha ha. John went with them. Then after I was all stitched up, they wheeled me into recovery where they took all my vitals and such and after a bit, they brought me Carter so we could have "skin to skin" and I could nurse him for the first time...boy was that a weird experience but there's nothing in the world like it, that's for sure. Then they took him back to the nursery to have a bath and get a shot and check his blood sugar etc. and I went up to Mother/Baby. When I got to the room, I saw the only other person I'd want to see, other than John, my Cryssy Sissy. My mom hadn't made it yet because she was in the hospital the night before which is a whole different story...ask and I'll tell. My mom showed up about 20 minutes later along with John's parents. They had already been to see Stacy (John's sister) and little baby Brooklyn (who weighed a measly 6 lbs 1 oz. ha ha just kidding). We waited, for what seemed like years, when John finally showed up with Carter. I didn't even get to hold him before everyone else had to get their hands on those squishy lil cheeks. There were so many people in and out...that night was kinda a blur. But I did get a few GREAT shots of Johnny Poo changing the first poopy diaper. And anyone who's had a baby knows how disgusting those first few poopy ones are. I think John used at least 10 or 15 wipes to get his butt completely clean ha ha.

He did a great job though. I just love these 2 so much! Like I said, the rest of the night was pretty much a blur but here are some more fun shots from the rest of the days at the hospital.Carter and Brooklyn, side by side...he is HUGE!

Cute Halloween Onesie I bought for him a couple weeks ago...I'm super glad it fits him lol.

Hanging out with daddy while I was in the shower.

I love this picture because John isn't even looking at the TV, he's just marveling over our beautiful baby. Such a cute daddy :D

Outfit we brought him home in. This is what I wanted his pictures taken in but they told me, right before we left, that they took his picture right after he was born. They had 35 patients that day and to save on time, they just took all the pictures right away. I was a little bummed but oh well.

FINALLY home and they both zonked out ha ha. I love this picture with all my heart! John just LOVES snuggling with our little guy. It melts my heart!

Well, I think that's about all! Thanks to everyone who was so supportive and loving towards me and John while I was pregnant. I'm so glad Carter is finally here! It feels like our lives have finally begun and I know they're going to get a lot more interesting :)

Emotional Day :(

I guess I'd better let everyone know what's going on today. So I went to the doctor as planned. When I got called back, I realized I didn't recognize the ultrasound tech (I have been getting one every week or so, I know them all). When I got back to the room, the other tech told me that she was a training radiology student and that she was going to be performing my ultrasound...no biggie. It took a really long time...I get it, she's learning. She got all his measurements, listened to his heartbeat etc. The other tech had to jump in a few times just to help out...that's what she's there for, right? So after all is said and done, she asks me if I want to know his estimated weight. "Hit me with it...I'm ready", I thought. When she told me, I almost had a heart attack...let's just say that. I really don't even want to put on here what she said but for, what I'm sure will be curiosity's sake, I will go ahead and tell you...10 FREAKING POUNDS AND 4 OUNCES!!!!!!
Needless to say, I was almost on the floor. I had 2 ultrasounds...one 3 weeks ago and another 2 weeks ago and they both said he was around 7.8 or 7.9. How on earth could he gain almost 3 pounds in 2 weeks?!?!? is that even possible???? When I left the ultrasound room, I was close to tears. I knew if I had to talk about it, they would overflow out of my eyes and that would be the end of it. So I walked out to let the secretary know I was ready to see the doctor (again, not MY doctor, he's still out of town). After waiting a few minutes, the nurse called me back...did the usual, weighed me, I peed in a cup...but when she took my blood pressure, it was OBVIOUSLY elevated...I just found out my kid is a GIANT!!!! Of course my blood pressure is going to be higher than normal! I told her why and she totally understood. She also told me that at 38 weeks, she had an ultrasound that said her baby was 9.4 and at 39 weeks, she delivered an 8 pound 4 ounce baby...so I know they're not always accurate. That's what I'm praying for in this case. I think since the tech was a student, there is definitely room for error...right?! Anyhoo, I went into the office and waited for Angie, the doctor I was seeing today. She came in and asked me how I was doing...I immediately burst into tears. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm very emotional and very sensitive. She handed me a tissue and told me she knew exactly how I felt. She is the same doctor I saw when my doctor was out of town last time...the one that shared the wonderful story about her first child ripping her so badly that she never wanted to have another child...but I still like her...weird? I dunno. Anyway, she just told me that she didn't have any special instructions from my doctor but that he wasn't going to be back in town until Thursday...I was under the impression that he was going to be back on Wednesday and he was going to look at my ultrasound and call me to let me know if he wanted to induce me Thursday. Once I found this out, I cried even harder because I was just so frustrated. I just wanted answers and I wasn't able to ask questions to the right person...yeah, I was frustrated. After I calmed down a bit, she told me she was going to measure and check me and listen to baby's heartbeat. Still just dilated to a 2...of course...measuring right at 40 weeks so he's freaking ready in there! She told me to call the office Thursday morning to talk to Dr. Horsley. I was still upset...this just didn't seem like a good answer to me but I didn't have much of a choice and I'm never one to disagree when someone tells me something, even if I'm screaming inside my head, that's just how I am, get over it. So I left, still very upset. I had to call my sister because she is my rock through all of this. I'm of course crying really hard when I get into my car. My sister is talking about driving up here and giving the hospital a piece of her mind (we're complete opposites when it comes to confrontation). She would do it too. While I'm on the phone with her, I get a call from the hospital. The scheduler told me that she just talked to Angie and she thinks that I should come in on Thursday and talk to Dr. Horsley instead of talking to him over the phone. This is a big decision and she thinks it should be done in person...I agree. So basically, we'll be deciding if I'm going to get induced or if a c-section is a better option at this point. John is coming with me of course...this involves him just as much as it does me. I'm going to let the doctor give me his opinion on what he thinks I should do. If he thinks I can deliver him vaginally, I am going to try it, but if he even thinks for one second that I should have a c-section, I will most likely do that. If I get induced, it will more than likely be on Friday (the same day my sister in law is having her c-section, go figure) and if I have a c-section, it will probably be scheduled for early next week...just depending when he has an opening I guess? My gut tells me that he is still going to suggest induction and I'm totally fine with that. I'm just a little nervous that I'm going to be in labor for 20 hours and be so tired, only for them to tell me that he's too big and I have to have a c-section anyway...but that's a risk I'm willing to take I guess. Who ever thought that having a baby would be this much of a hassle?! ;)
I honestly deserve all that I'm going through right now. It has been a SUPER easy pregnancy thus far and I know a lot of women have HORRIBLE pregnancies so I got really lucky. I think I deserve to have a little trouble now because it was so easy from the start. Now that this post is about 10 pages too long, I guess I'd better end it since you're all probably falling asleep at your computers ha ha. Thanks for reading :)

It's been a while...

OK, so I guess it's been a bit since I've blogged and I feel like nothing has happened that is "blog-worthy" but I guess that's not true. Last week I had the entire week off work because the kids had Parent-Teacher Conference and UEA. That would have been the PERFECT time for me to have a baby, right?! Ha, that's what all my co-workers thought and then when I came to work today they were all like "you STILL haven't had that baby?" Nope, story of my life, folks! I haven't really told anyone other than my family because I'm too dang embarrassed but we ended up at the hospital AGAIN early Saturday morning. I was having pretty bad contractions from about 10 PM-2 AM. I kept trying to just ignore them and fall asleep but I just couldn't do it. They were really hurting so I got up and tried moving around to see if they'd stop...nope, they just got worse. By 2 AM, I was having them every 3 or 4 minutes and they HURT! I woke John up after much debate in my head. I knew he had to wake up at 6 the next morning to go out and work on the house (which I fully intended on helping him with before this all started). I told him I was pretty sure this was it...I had to call my sister, Crystal, of course because that's just how we are. She was out of town for her anniversary with her husband but told me to call her no matter what, so I did. She told me she thought I should go, so that's what we did. Went up to the hospital, did the normal drill, peed in a cup, blood pressure, monitors, got checked etc. When they checked me, I was dilated to a 2 so she let me labor for about 2 hours. I was still having contractions about every 3 or 4 minutes and they were pretty painful. I just had to breathe through them but when she came back in to check me...still a 2. I was really upset, to say the least. I was hoping that this was it. Needless to say, I felt HORRIBLE for waking John up for nothing. She let me labor for another hour because she could see how frustrated I was, but my body just wasn't having it....so she sent me home. We got home about 5:30...with John having to wake up in about a half hour to go work on the house. We decided that he needed a bit more sleep so he went out around 8 instead and I just stayed home, hoping I'd start contracting again...but it just didn't happen. CARTER, you little stinker!

Yesterday was our friend, Jaron's, homecoming speech. He did such an awesome job! He went to Seattle. We missed him terribly but are really glad to have him home! We are really close to his entire family and it was great to spend the day with them. After his talk, we went up to their house for lunch. After lunch, the boys all played scatterball while I just watched ha ha. They kept telling me to play but it's a game where you have to sit down and stand up A LOT and I just can't do it fast enough. It would take me 5 minutes to stand up and the game would already be over ha ha. It was really fun watching them though. I love watching John play sports of any kind, he's so good! It was a really good day :D

Oh yeah....I guess I forgot to talk about Friday...well, John and I just spent the day together running errands. I absolutely LOVE spending time with him, no matter what we're doing. We went out to Lowe's to get some plywood for his nephew's Christmas present. We draw names and this year his sister had the brilliant idea that we should all MAKE our gifts...yeah, great idea :/ But John, being...well, John...thought of the AWESOME idea to get one of those 3-D, wooden dinosaur skeletons and trace the little pieces, blow up the pictures, and then cut out bigger pieces and put it all together, making a big dinosaur. If that makes any sense at all ha ha. But here are a couple of pictures I took of him working on it on Friday night :)


He was getting the sawdust out of his hair ha ha


Cutting out one of the pieces

And I guess I haven't posted any recent pictures of the pregnant belly, so here I am on Saturday...38 weeks! I wasn't feeling well this day so excuse my sick-looking-ness ha ha.

Well...I guess that's all I have for now. I have my appointment tomorrow and after my doc looks at the ultrasound, he'll most likely give me the OK to be induced on Thursday. That makes me oh so very very happy! I just hope that's still the plan! As always, thanks for reading :)

Get this baby outta me!

Alright...everyone knows what's going on with the baby. He's just measuring really big and I've had 2 ultrasounds in the past 2 weeks and have another one scheduled for Monday. If I don't have him before then, (Please pray that I do) then my doctor is going to look at the ultrasound and determine if he wants to induce me on the 21st. I really don't want to be induced. I really want him to come, but I don't think that sounds fun. My sister's water broke and she had to be induced and because it was her first one, she was in labor for 21 hours!!!! She wasn't progressing and they talked about doing a c-section, but then she finally started dilating so she was able to have him natural. I just don't think that sounds fun AT ALL!!! I think I'd much rather go into labor on my own. I just hope it happens soon. And yes, we've tried all the "do it yourself" remedies and none of them have worked up to now. My sister told me about this pressure point in your foot that you can hit to induce labor...I'm going to look into that one. Today I freaked out and started crying to John. I don't want everyone to think I'm just impatient. I realize he isn't due until the end of the month but with all the doctors and nurses freaking out because of his size, it's really gotten me on edge. I don't want to have any problems. And I know he's going to come when he's good and ready...I get that people, I really do...but I kinda just feel like no one understands what I'm going through or how I'm feeling. Maybe I'm just overreacting...maybe it's just my pregnant girl emotions, but I feel justified in my freak out so deal with it ;) If you're reading this, when you kneel down tonight, please remember Jessica in your prayers. Ha ha, I'm not even joking. Just pray that everything will be ok. I don't need you to pray that he'll come right now, just pray that everything will happen the way it's supposed to with minor problems or complications. Thanks for reading :D

Pointless appointment and finished nursery!

So I told everyone I would update today after I had my appointment. Well, I'm sad to say that I don't have much to report :( I went in, not really knowing what to expect. I went to the Mammography and Women's Imaging Center at 11 AM and checked in. Once they called me back, I went into an ultrasound room and was asked to "show my tummy". So I laid down and the tech just started performing an ultrasound EXACTLY like the one I had on Tuesday of last week. Measured his head, abdomen, etc. She even admitted that she wasn't sure why I was there if I had just had an ultrasound less than a week ago but she proceeded on anyway. Everything looks great! Carter is still right around the same weight...this time he's measuring 7 pounds 8 ounces (1 ounce less than last week). The lady told me that he could literally come any day now. I guess that was good news? Yes, I'm definitely excited about that. Then another doctor came in, just to go over a couple things I guess. He told me that, yes, I could have him within the next couple days, but I could also go til my due date, but not to worry if I do. He should only be about 8 and a half or 9 pounds, even if I go til the end of the month. He said not to worry about having a 10 or 11 pound baby. As long as I'm eating right and taking care of myself, he shouldn't get too big. That was about the extent of my visit...I didn't even see MY doctor which I was a little upset about. I haven't seen him since the middle of September and I have a lot of questions for him. I have one with him on Monday...we'll see if I even make it that long. Anyway, after my appointment, I went to the store to get a few things that I still needed. I realized I didn't have a baby book yet and I definitely want to record every feeling and memory that we have throughout the entire pregnancy and labor so I got a great one at KMart for 13 bucks that goes all the way to his 5th birthday! I also wanted to get a diaper tent but couldn't find one :( Guess I may have to find one at Babies-R-Us. KMart was also having a huge sale on all their summer clothes so I got a few things that Carter could wear next summer for 2 bucks a piece (can't beat that) and I got me some shorts that I can sleep in and be a little more comfortable...NOTHING fits anymore and it makes sleeping that much more difficult!

As most of you know, we are currently living with my in-laws while we are building our house. They were kind enough to make arrangements for us to have a bedroom for Carter and all of his stuff. Over the weekend, we were able to get it all put together and here are a few of my favorite shots...
His crib and bedding all put together! John is so sweet! He put the crib together on his birthday! I'm really excited with what it looks like all put together!


Changing table area and cute decorations in the window!


And this, ladies and gents, is the BEAUTIFUL dresser that John refurbished for Carter! It's so gorgeous and I'm thrilled with the results! I really wish I would have taken a "before" picture of this dresser! It was a big mess and I'm sure most people would have just gotten rid of it, but my wonderful husband made it into something amazing for our child! I could not ask for a better husband!

Happy birthday Johnny Poo!

Aww! Here's Johnny Poo's birthday cake that I made him. It's made out of cupcakes. He wanted this last year but his sister made little spider cupcakes instead. They were really cute, but not what he wanted so this year he told me I had to make it so it would be what he wanted ha ha. He's so particular about certain things. He had his favorite meal, homemade potato soup with red potatoes, carrots and onions fresh out of his dad's garden. It was really good! I still need to learn how to make it so I can make it for his birthday when his parents (Heaven forbid) aren't around anymore. John got lots of fun gifts for his birthday. His sister, Stacy, got him jerky and Dr. Pepper...his favorites! My mom got him a big bag of Kit Kats and some money. His parents gave him money (that's all he asked for). His sister, Jen, got him some work gloves and a hat for when he works on the house. I was going to get him a new MP3 player but I ended up having to get it for him a couple weeks ago because he couldn't survive one day at work without his beloved audio books ha ha ha. He is such a nerd. So I got him a game called Rummikub that we recently discovered in his parents' basement that we really enjoy playing. I decided it'd be fun to have our own set so we can play at our house when we move out.
Since it's his birthday, I decided to put up my favorite picture of him from when he was little.
Love you Johnny Poo! May you have many, many more birthdays to come! I hope 24 was a good one :D
Love, JessicaP.S. The year on this picture is wrong...don't ask me how that happened but he wasn't even born until '86...

What a day!!!!

Alright...here we go. So today started out like any other day...woke up, had breakfast etc. John had to wake up early so he could go to work early. He has to leave for a few hours to work on the house. So we shower, get ready, he leaves yadda yadda...I go to my doctor appointment. So yeah, I go in for my ultrasound...as you all know, I had to get another ultrasound because Carter has been measuring big my entire pregnancy and they just wanted to make sure everything was ok. I am borderline diabetic with the pregnancy so they're assuming that's what's causing it. So she told me that he is head down, which is good...he's not going to be a breach baby. I was a little nervous about that. I asked, since John couldn't be there, if she could get some pictures for me. She said she'd be lucky if she could because when they're head down, it's hard to get a good picture of their face...well she got lucky and here is the result...


isn't he freaking CUTE????? I just love him already! He's got cute squishy cheeks and pouty lips :)

After the ultrasound, I had to see a different doctor because mine is out of town. She was absolutely awesome though! I got a flu shot and then she told me that according to the ultrasound (which sometimes they are right on and sometimes they are WAY off so who knows...) he is already 7 pounds 9 ounces!!!! Someone please kill me now!! I just can't believe he is already THAT big!! I hope and pray, that for my sake, this is one of the times when they are WAY off! Please pray for me...
The doctor I saw was freaking me out telling me the story of her 9 pound 10 ounce first child and how she ripped during delivery. She said the recovery time was way worse than if she would have had a c-section but no one gave her that option. She pretty much told me that if my doctor even mentions the word c-section, take him up on it. I never thought I'd even CONSIDER a c-section before today but now it's not sounding like too bad of an idea...especially if he's going to be freaking 10 pounds when he gets here!!! On your first baby, they usually won't induce you until you're 41 weeks, but he's pretty much going to be a toddler when he comes out if they leave him in there that long!!! I'm hoping my doctor will see reason when I have my appointment on Monday and let me schedule something for sooner than that...if not, I'm just going to have to try some other methods to have him when I want him ha ha.

So after my appointment, I went to work and carried on with my day like normal...until we got done with announcements. I was feeling some pain so I stood up, which usually helps, but today it made it worse. I tried to play it off like I was totally ok...but I was not ok. I had a club today so I had to get everything all ready for that. We took the kids outside and I explained to them what we were going to be doing and then I let them loose so I could go sit down. I was in a lot of pain. Everyone kept asking me if I was ok...I wasn't lol. So after work, I went home and laid on the couch. I decided I'd better start timing the contractions like they tell you to. They were usually about 10-12 minutes apart and that's not good for only being 35 weeks. I called the hospital and the girl told me I could talk to a doctor if I wanted but if I was having contractions, he would just tell me to come in and get checked...so that's what I did. My mother-in-law took me to the hospital, I checked in, peed in a cup (for the second time today), had my blood pressure taken, and I got hooked up to a heart monitor for baby, and a contraction monitor for me. When I got there, my contractions were about 1 and a half minutes apart according to the monitor. The nurse was not happy about this so she went and talked to the doctor on call and he said I had to have a shot to stop the contractions. I can't remember what it was called but that thing hurt WAY worse than the flu shot I had earlier. The nurse told me it would make my heart rate increase way fast and make me feel like I had just ran a marathon...it made me dizzy and want to throw up!! Not fun! It did what it was supposed to though and stopped the contractions. I had to get my blood pressure taken every 15 minutes for an hour before they'd let me go home. I also had to get my cervix checked for the first time...boo!!! That was so NOT fun!!! But she said I was only about 40% effaced and not dilated so once the contractions stopped, they let me go home. So not a fun experience!!! I think me being so freaked out about him being so big was the reason I was having the contractions...I stressed myself right out. But I'm glad I went to the doctor or who knows what would have happened?

Well...that's my fun day. Thanks for reading ha ha.

John and Jessica Day :D

So yesterday, John and I decided that we just needed a day to be with each other and not worry about anything else. We decided to name it "John and Jessica Day". I think every couple should have these days every now and then. It was much needed and we both had such a great time. We've both been feeling a little stressed lately, what with baby Carter making his arrival in about 5 weeks, building a house and working...yeah, we're feeling it. We just needed a break. We began the day by having lunch together. Then we went for a drive...to nowhere in particular. Those are our favorite kind...the kind where you just drive and end up wherever the roads take you. We ended up on top of the hill in North Logan. There are some HUGE houses up there....like ridiculously huge. John and I only saw about 2 or 3 houses that had less than a 3 car garage...the most being 7!!! Why on earth would anyone need 7 garages???? But we decided in order to be able to live up there with less than 3 garages, you either have to have a pool or a home theater in your house...no exceptions ;) we're silly and I love it!
This is a GARAGE, people!!! I'm sure it's bigger than the house we are currently building and I'd guess it has a loft above it as well. We just had to take a picture of it...

...and THIS is the house it belongs to!!! John said "it has business doors!!!" ha ha. We were laughing. It's a beautiful house...just a little outrageous for my taste. But nothing compares to this one...

The picture definitely does not do it justice! It seriously looks like a ski lodge!!! We went and looked at it up close and it's just unreal how huge it is!!! Again, people are crazy! Unless you're the Duggars and you have 19 kids, this is completely unnecessary!

Anyhow, after our fun drive, we went to the park and played in the water for a bit
it was FREEZING, but fun. John liked throwing rocks at the skeeter bugs and making them jump in the water...boys. Ha ha!

John snapped this one of me...not too bad. There's no belly in it ha ha. And this is my favorite...


John doesn't usually let me get decent pictures of him so this is rare. I really like it though. Just lounging on the grass...being in love ♥ so cheesy lol.

After the park, we headed home. John decided to put the last coat of poly on the dresser that he is refurbishing for Carter. It is absolutely GORGEOUS and once we put the handles on, I will post a picture so everyone can see what a handy husband I have :D He's so excited that Carter will have something that his daddy made just for him and he will always know that. I think I'm going to go and exchange the handles though. I picked out some bronze, antique-ish looking ones but the color is really close to the stain. I think I'm going to go with a more Nickel color. We'll see...
After that, we decided to take our crazy dogs for a walk. This is something we like to do on Sundays but it's gotten increasingly harder for me to do it lately with being SO pregnant. Our dogs are not those dogs you see people walking that are all nice and walk right beside you....OH NO, they seem to think that it's a race and they need to hurry and get wherever we are going, which, eventually, is home. If they'd realize that, I think they'd enjoy the scenery a little more ha ha. So yeah, our dogs are "pullers". Mo recently broke his collar so we got him a choke chain...I know, we're so inhumane...whatever. But it seemed to really help. Once he realized he was going to choke himself if he pulled too much, he stopped and was pretty decent for the walk. I only had to have John take him for a couple minutes after we walked up a hill so I could catch my breath ha ha. Carter is getting pretty squished in there, which means my diaphragm is pretty squished as well. I get winded super easy! After our walk, it was getting dark and we decided to call it a night, cuddle up and watch a movie before we went to bed. Honestly, I just love my husband so much! I hope everyone will take my advice and take a day every once and a while to just be the two of you. It may seem silly but it will keep you in love and help you to remember the little things are the things that make every relationship great! ♥♥♥