It's the final countdown!

So I am officially in the last week of my pregnancy (hopefully!) And it's very weird to think that nine loooong months are coming to a close any day now! I didn't do a very good job journaling things along the way (mostly because cooking a human is exhausting) and I wanted to look back at some of the more enjoyable moments in the last few months right now that I'm feeling so antsy to be done! 

Looking back...

We found out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve. Super funny timing. I will always think of this boy as our Christmas present that one year. Ha. Also I felt really uncomfortable taking a picture of something I urinated on but there you go, I thought it ought to be documented. Josh and I were very lucky and blessed to have this little baby come into our lives so easily, I have thanked Heavenly Father every day since, and my heart aches for those that struggle with fertility. Though it definitely made me regard every moment of pregnancy as a gift!

The first trimester: Was not nearly as bad as some poor women go through! Though I was definitely nauseous a lot! I didn't tell most people I was pregnant until the end of the first trimester and I remember the pungent lunches my co-workers used to eat every day! I will never forget listening to one of my co-workers eating her lunch and peeling pepperonis off her pizza and throwing them in the trash can one by one. I can still hear those pepperonis hitting the trash can... I also remember being the hungriest person alive 24/7. And all of the pregnancy books I read told you nice things like "you don't really need extra calories right now" and "you shouldn't really gain any weight for 3 months or else you'll be morbidly obese the rest of your pregnancy." Yet I was the hungriest during the first 3 months than the rest of my pregnancy combined! Josh made me a protein shake every day for breakfast because it was the only thing I could eat that would keep me full until at least 9 am. I didn't crave anything too weird, though I mostly just wanted to eat the greasiest, saltiest things I could get my hands on. I remember driving to work one morning wondering if Taco Bell would be open at 7 in the morning. Pretty gross...

The second trimester: Felt the baby kick for the first time. I had the lap top resting on my stomach one night and all of the sudden the lap top kind of jumped and I realized the baby had given it a kick. He still does this if he senses anything is touching his home. I guess he has space issues. We found out we were having a boy! We both were really certain we were so during the ultra sound it wasn't really a surprise at all. We both just looked at each other like ya ya ya, we know we're having a crazy, wild little boy. The name war began! I was already set on Oliver, which Josh initially liked and then decided he didn't. Josh liked Finley, but I was worried that there are going to be too many Finn's running around. And so we would make list after list and vetoed everything the other one had picked. One day we decided on one we both liked and we've been referring to him by name ever since. It feels like the right fit. We are still fighting the middle name war though. This was also the awkward stage where I just looked kind of fat instead of pregnant. I would have to sneak outside and eat a snack during church and someone would always see me and I remember thinking how I wished I looked obviously pregnant so people wouldn't wonder why I was standing in the parking lot eating a granola bar during relief society. I also remember coming home crying from a planning meeting where I was helping throw a church activity and one of the lady's said "we were going to ask so and so to help but we found out that she's pregnant so we wanted to let her rest." And I wanted to scream "hey I'm pregnant too! special treatment please!" 

The third trimester: The most uncomfortable by far. I finally gave up exercising at about 7 months because my feet are so swollen and painful. I can't even be on them long enough to go grocery shopping. The baby kicks turned from precious little nudges to kill shots and I started getting medical advice from every stranger that happens to walk by. My mood swings got out of control! I would cry for no reason about 5 times a week. And Josh would just laugh himself silly that I was sobbing because I couldn't reach something. And to my credit I only snapped at 3 strangers during my whole 9 months. Josh thinks I'm crazy but I think those are pretty good numbers! That's only one person per 3 months. Also I would like to say I'm sorry to the man at the gym who walked through the door Josh was holding open for me, the lady that accidentally walked into me at the zoo, and the lady that was in my way at TJ Maxx. My apologies all around. Josh also had to start hiding things from me that made me upset, like my pregnancy book, the scale, and my wedding ring that wouldn't fit. This trimester also included some wonderful baby showers where everyone was so generous and kind, doctor appointments where my slightly insensitive doctor would make jokes about my weight gain, and peeing my pants whenever I sneezed (which apparently was Josh's favorite part of my pregnancy.) If you're really looking for amusement let me tell you about the time I peed my pants on the couch and had to get a pet stain remover to clean it up before Josh got home from his work meeting! 

So those are some of our memories of pregnancy, maybe now they've been written down, the baby will decide it's time to come out. ???

Maternity Pictures

Warning: Contains pictures of a bare belly!

Nursery!

This nursery has been in the works for many moons and we are still finishing up a few little projects but I wanted to share some pictures now that it looks pretty put together! Funny fact: when we hadn't found out what we were having I was trying to think of what colors I wanted the nursery to be, I thought of grey and yellow immediately for a boy and could never decide colors for a girl. I guess I already knew we were having a boy!

Most of this room is made up of projects I made myself (as if you can't tell) and most of them turned out great! I wanted to make a lantern cluster instead of a mobile but it proved pretty hard to hang them close together on the ceiling. It didn't turn out quite like I envisioned but oh well. 

So I made the art above the crib myself using the same elephant fabric I used on the rocking chair. AND... sewed my own dust ruffle! It is officially my sewing debut (and truth be told my mom did most of the work) but I did learn how to sew straight lines. Maybe one year my child will want to be a box for halloween and I'll make his costume. 

We got this old rocking chair on KSL for 15 bucks, I am terrible at taking before pictures, but basically it was like a dark wood with forest green cushions. Not pretty. So we painted it white and Mr. Beach sewed this new cushion cover for it! He is a man of many talents!

Some more artwork I made and the changing table we painted yellow (it used to be a light wood color.) 

Basically everything baby is SUPER expensive! Bedding, furniture.... and it's all for someone who isn't little for very long! The only piece of furniture that we bought new was the crib and the rest of the stuff we made or fixed up ourselves. It worked out well for us!

Pregnancy Updates:

So I am now 34 weeks along.. We're getting maternity pictures taken this week which is good because I never take cute pictures, I just take these...

I took this one because I was trying to show Josh that the baby had dropped. I am much more comfortable now! After having baby feet in my ribs for 3 months, it is a strange feeling to have my ribs to myself. Even though I'm pretty sure my little man bruised a few of my ribs, I miss his crazy little tootsies up there. As I'm nearing the end of things, I've been thinking about the things I will miss and the things I won't and really the only thing that has been awful that I won't miss has been my swollen feet. I don't know if any picture could do them justice.

Ah I just want to cry even looking at this. Stupid feet. Josh has had to grocery shopping by himself for the last 3 months because I can't hobble through the store.

Funny story: Josh and I went to birthing class this weekend and they had all the men take turns trying on the pregnancy belly while the rest of us were listening to the teacher. We were sitting in the back of the class and when Josh had the belly on, I whispered to him to try and sit on the floor and then get up off the floor by himself. Josh was quite confident he could do it. So he got on the ground and then after a few failed attempts, jumped up from the floor, fell over, and knocked over a stack of chairs. Everyone in the class was staring at us and I was laughing too hard to explain what had happened. It was pretty great. 

Pregnant Josh. Not very coordinated. 

He supremely hates attention like this but I could not have gone through any of this without him, he has waited on me hand and foot for 9 months now. Has made me breakfast, lunch, and most of my dinners, has done the housework, has rubbed my fat feet (which he lovingly refers to as seal pups) and has been very patient with his hormonal, emotional wife! The other night I asked him as we were going to bed "aren't you so glad this is almost over?" and he said surprised me greatly and said "no." What a loving guy!

California Trip

Josh and I went to California last week to visit his family. Seeing his family was awesome! Vacation at this particular point in time was less than awesome... My feet were SO swollen. The last day they wouldn't even fit in my flip flops. 

Josh and I standing in line for the San Diego Zoo

The next day we went to Disneyland/California Adventure and we saw the super cute Cars land. 

Confession: I most definitely rode through Disneyland in a wheel chair! HA! Thank you to my Josher who pushed my big booty around all day long. And to all the 7 month pregnant ladies that are running marathons- feel free to kiss said booty. ;)

My little Star Wars nerd tried on some nice hats. But we did find something to purchase we could not live without----

It says "Hungry I Am" Ah! Cute! Hopefully our baby doesn't come out at like ten pounds because he needs to at least fit in this once.

We ended the day with the coolest light/color show. It's amazing what Disney can do.

Next day we went to some beaches... with some Beach's- ha. Josh and I at Laguna Beach (our favorite.)

Pretty boy- HATES having his picture taken. 

Finally I must include this classic self, bathroom mirror shot. Haha. I was getting ready one day and looked in the mirror and wondered when I started looking like I'm shoplifting a basketball.

Interestingly a new hire at work told me today that she couldn't even tell I was pregnant. Hmm?

Parties and Moving!

Let's just say I am so efficient at updating this blog already, just like all those journals I used to try and keep! But cut me some slack because we've been busy moving! And may I also say that moving at 6 months pregnant is less than enjoyable? I looked like I had elephant feet for 3 days. But we are starting to reassemble and I've been wanting to post these pictures of my lovely friend Alisa's bridal shower we threw her a few weeks ago. Let's start with the food! Thank you to my awesome friends who created these culinary treats! We had fruit kabobs, chicken pasta salad, bruschetta, and italian sodas.

These are handmade cupcake boxes so each person could take their own individual cupcakes home! Wow to Rachel who made them!

I made these letters for Alisa and Dustin! Aren't I so crafty? ;)

Shawnee made the real crafty thing. A banner that says Alisa & Dustin.

Some of her guests! Let's just ignore the big sweaty pregnant lady shall we?

The blushing bride to be-

Alisa's co-workers gave her a big thing of salt and pepper! How very fitting!

A snowcone maker!

She clearly had a blast. 

I have a mere 3 months to go before I have responsibility of another person so Josh and I are frantically getting the nursery together, I keep having these stress dreams that my baby will come tomorrow! We painted the baby's room and our room this week a color I could not be more in love with! It is called cement grey and when Josh went to Home Depot for another gallon he asked them for cemetery grey which is what we know lovingly call it. 

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The nursery still has boxes and stuff all over it so I'm to embarrassed to photograph more of the room. But it's going to be grey and yellow and super cute! And we finally got our crib set up!

Once again please excuse our moving mess! But this is the changing table we painted yellow this week. Things are slowly coming along!  

My super lazy pregnancy picture for the month of May. But actually better this way, you can't see my double chin and you get another glimpse of cemetery grey! I know I should be less lazy and I should take super cute pregnancy pictures every week and decorate some chalkboard with all the details of my pregnancy, but I don't! Sorry pinterest, it's not happening. I will just say that our baby gets hiccups about 4-5 times a day, usually after I eat when I assume it's lapping up all the food I just consumed. It also kicks me so super hard! Especially when I bend over (sorry for encroaching on your square footage baby.) And we went and saw Avengers last week and the little guy kicked me the whole entire time, I think he didn't like the noise (my apologies again baby.) And my heartburn is starting to feel like I am going to start spitting fireballs like a dragon! Oh and my feet and cankles are ten times their normal size! (Josh lotioned my feet the other night and said "Woah! I didn't realize your feet were THIS big!") Nice, Josh. Speaking of the mister, he did very well on his GRE and will be starting his MPA this fall! Such a scholary man!

Pregnant Paige

March: About 3 months

April: About 4 months

Some new experiences for our family! I am gaining weight at an astronomical pace, Josh and I have both been able to feel our very active baby boy squirming up a storm, and we have doubled our trips to the grocery store! Josh has been so helpful to me, he makes me breakfast and lunch every day to help me with my never ending appetite! And he sits there patiently during all my mood swings! 

Speaking of the Josher, he took the GRE this morning and did very well! He should be starting his Masters of Public Administration this fall! Way to go Joshua!