Waiting...and Waiting

Christmas came and went. And (estimated) 8-pound Oliver is still in my belly. I don't know why my body won't just start labor already, but I'm getting so frustrated! I can hardly move, I can't sleep, and I can barely breathe a lot of the time because I have a huge bowling ball shoved up against my lungs! Two weeks ago I was thinking they might induce me for high blood pressure. I thought for sure I'd have him by now. I'm officially 39 weeks. It feels like all I do is complain these days.

But, you know what? I know when I meet my snuggly, warm baby boy that I will forget every single bit of discomfort and unhappiness I've felt throughout this pregnancy. I know that when I hold him in my arms there won't be even a tiny bit of regret. I can't wait to meet this little guy. Everything I'm going through right now is worth it because, at the end of it, I will have the most precious gift of all.

What's Happening In December

Joseph and I are officially done with classes. This week is FINALS WEEK! And after those we will be officially done with school FOREVER. Or...until January 18th. But I like to imagine it's for forever. Tonight, our school is having a "late-night breakfast" where students can go get free breakfast food and study for finals from 9pm-2am. Free food? I'm so there. And tomorrow they're giving out free Jamba Juice. Seems like they know how to encourage us.

Oliver is coming soon, and that's hard to believe. In fact, I don't think we do believe it. It feels too surreal. I am on "moderate bedrest", which means I can only get up to go to the bathroom. I'm really not sure what straight-up bedrest is like, and it's not something I'd want to find out. Anyway, the doc put me on it because I have higher-than-usual blood pressure, and there is a worry I will develop preeclampsia or PIH. We have been checking my blood pressure at home, and it seems to be going down, so I will be okay to go take my finals. But if the symptoms get worse or don't go away, there is talk of induction this week, which I would welcome with a big, fat "LET'S DO IT".

Christmas is almost here! Joseph already got his present. I hate the idea of early Christmas presents, but it was on a Black Friday sale...and he picked it out. It's a new computer. He got to build it and he's very proud :) I could have made him wait until Christmas to build it, but that would be just cruel :P He's been really excited to build a new computer, so I'm happy he could do it. We still have a list of people to buy for. I'm hoping to get the shopping done this week! I love buying and wrapping presents; it's the best part of Christmas for me! But this year I'm obviously focusing on very different things, like finally buying a crib mattress and going to the fire station to have them set up Oliver's carseat the right way. The best Christmas gift we could get this year is our little baby in our arms. And for me to not have to pee every flipping five minutes.

Here's to getting through finals, a wonderful Christmas, and our very-anticipated Olive!

Update for November

     Today we are 34 weeks along in this pregnancy! Happy 34, Olive. According to my "Mommy2Be" widget on my cell phone, Baby is estimated to be 17.72 inches long and weigh 4.7 pounds. Big boy! In fact, Joseph and I think he is bigger than that by a lot. My abdomen has been measuring large since about week 28, and Dr. Long told us we'll have at least an 8-pounder when he's born! Oliver seems to have started dropping. I've been feeling a little lighter in the ribs, but not enough to feel like I can breathe normally yet. At our last O.B. appointment, everything looked perfectly normal with his heart rate steady in the high 140's. I'm feeling pretty well, all things considered. At the very least, I can get out of bed, pick myself up from the floor, and walk around for an entire school day (even if all those things do take me three times as long as normally).
     Below is a picture of Oliver's nursery area. I am almost embarrassed to post it, but at least we are showing some signs of progress. Hey, we put that furniture together all by ourselves! We still need (oh boy, here comes the list): a crib mattress, bins for the changing table, more onesies, bibs, and wipes, and to rearrange almost every piece of furniture and clean every surface in this entire apartment! Daunting tasks, all of 'em. But we gotta do what we gotta do for Oliver! One step at a time, right? Now, onto step one...

     In other news, school and work are going along as always, with a couple exceptions: Finals week is just around the corner (three weeks away!) and we are busy with our last assignments and projects. Joseph will be choosing his new work schedule in December, and it will become effective in January (so they say). We have decided that morning shifts will be best for our lifestyle. We are excited to have family nights at home together, and because we are both taking all of our classes online next semester, school won't conflict with the morning shifts. In between school and work, we still somehow find time to watch The Office, give each other back massages, and have long discussions about our future, Oliver, technology, and lots of other things. We are lucky to be able to spend the time together that we can, and it's easier knowing that we'll get a lot more of it starting in January (even if all of our time together is devoted to changing poopy diapers and singing lullabies).
     We are planning on a trip to Highland to see Joseph's parents and siblings for Thanksgiving, but we are waiting to see what the weather will be like before we decide for sure to go. It has been snowing pretty hard for the past few days and the weather reports aren't looking too awesome. If we end up not being able to go, I think we will buy a tiny precooked turkey and some potatoes, stuffing, and rolls,  watch the Macy's parade in the morning, and still have a good time. Better safe than sorry, and Joseph's family is planning to come up when Oliver arrives so we will get to see them then anyway. Oh, how I wish we didn't live in a snowy place.
      In a nutshell, that's our lives right at the moment: school, work, Oliver, snow, and The Office. We're getting closer and closer to that "BIG" post, so here's to the next 6 (or less!) weeks!

Can Still See My Feet...When I Stretch Them in Front of Me

Here's a silly video I thought I'd share. It's my view of Oliver and my feet! This video was made around 26 or 27 weeks.

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A Nice Day For Walking

Yesterday was Joseph's day off of work, so after school we went to the CSI corn maze. We enjoyed a nice, long walk, following the right edge until we found our way out. Afterwards, we went to Costco to get some juice and walk around trying free samples (gotta love free yummy stuff). On our way to D.I. to get the makings of our Halloween costumes, we ran out of gas! We pushed the car into a nearby parking lot and walked to the nearest gas station to get a gas can.
It sounds like a hassle, but it was really nice to be able to just walk hand-in-hand and talk. We try to do a lot of fun things together, but I don't think we ever have as much fun as we do when we go for a walk. I've definitely found my new favorite pastime with my wonderful husband! What a way to feel closer to him. Yesterday was such a great day and I'm so excited to have many more like it with him.

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Seeing Blue!

We found out this week that we will be welcoming a little boy into our family!!

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Baby Makes 3!

We're expecting our first baby! We are due on January 3rd, 2011. We don't know whether we have a boy or a girl yet, but we are so excited to meet him or her. We have names picked out, but we're going to try to keep them a secret until delivery! (Just watch us blow that one :P) We are so filled with happiness about the new addition to our family and are excited to share all of the updates on our little one!

4th of July

It was our first 4th of July together this year! We were lucky to get to spend it with some family and really good food! We managed to get to a BlackCat stand just as they were packing things up, so we got tons of fireworks for really cheap. Joseph started bbq'ing a little late, so we missed the CSI fireworks :( But the chicken he made was worth a hundred fireworks shows, it was so amazing. When the show was over, we went to pick up my sister, nephew, and cousins from CSI (they got to see it) and went back to my grandparents' house to do our fireworks, eat bbq chicken, corn on the cob, and apple pie, and play some Apple Jacks poker. We had a really fun night and made some really good memories!

Our Marriage

     We were married on June 12th, 2010 at the Highland LDS Stake Center in Highland, UT. It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception, although it seemed like we spent most of our time in the receiving line or taking pictures! Our colors were pink and orange, so Joseph wore an orange vest and tie under his tuxedo and looked incredibly dreamy. My dress was made by a wonderful lady in Joseph's parents' ward, Lisa. She did it in 4 days and it was amazing! I felt like a princess, even with my fake hair ;) The groomsmen were Joe (Joseph's dad), Alex, Zakk, Robert, and Maddox, and the bridesmaids were Krissi, Ashley, Amanda, Beverly, and Diana. My mom walked me down the isle and Krissy (Joe's mom) did the music. It was such an amazing (and surreal) feeling to walk back up the isle with my new husband.

                                                               Wedding pictures are coming!

     We spent that night in an awesome hotel in downtown Salt Lake City called Hotel Monaco. We were on the 12th floor so we could see a lot of the city! We couldn't help but take a couple things from the minibar and wear the cool animal print bath robes.

     For our honeymoon, we went to Park City for 4 days. It was wonderful driving in the mountains and seeing all the pretty scenery, eating at fun (and some fancy-ish) restaurants, and just spending time together. At the end of our honeymoon we went to the zoo, and then got to spend a few more days with Joseph's family.

    

     Our wedding, honeymoon, and time spent at the Shulls' house were so fun and we'll always remember them. So many people did so many things to make sure we had a beautiful wedding, and we are so grateful for them all and the love and support they gave to us. I'm now the proud Mrs. Joseph Shull, and we couldn't be more excited for our new life together!