Road Trippin'

A LONG read ahead.

I spent this weekend in Iowa. I ended up going alone because Jacob had his 10 year class reunion to go to. I ended up getting off work a half and hour early on Friday and hit the road. It ended up taking me 5 hours to get to Cedar Rapids, but I was happy when I finally made it. I spent my drive belting out songs from my favorite high school boy bands. Good times.

Saturday, Emily and I got to hang out all afternoon. We had lunch at Las Glorias. This baby loves Mexican...or at least its momma does. Then shopped at Target until we had to go meet Keith somewhere because the kids were misbehaving. While Emily had to go into the store, Jamie, Chloe and I stayed in the van. This is how Chloe and I passed the time:

Ran to the church to drop of the new drum set Keith and Dave had just purchased and then Emily and I took off again to do a little more shopping. (Minus the kiddos again!). It got very sunny and Emily couldn't find her sunglasses, so I suggested she wear Chloe's since she kept pulling them out of her purse.

Stylish, don't ya think?

We went back to the house and hung out a little bit more before I had to go.

Jamie with Buddy

Our traditional Remily picture.

Had supper at my parent's house and then went over to visit my grandma and grandpa for awhile. We took dessert over there and had fun visiting. Grandma couldn't remember where Kendra was, and decided she was in "Nicabooger"...which is better known as Nicaragua. I love that lady.

Went back to the house where mom and I decided to play with the Wii. (I am still amused that my parents own a Wii). We bowled and boxed. The boxing was hilarious! I won...but was almost doubled over with exhaustion so we had to stop!

I was so excited for yesterday morning! I went to Valley View for church and got to see almost all of the people that I've been missing so much! It was like a big happy reunion for me. I can't really describe it, but the best I could come up with to tell Jacob was I felt like I was back "home" again when I walked in there. The music was awesome. At one point I had to stop singing because my eye welled up with tears of happiness. Thankfully greeting time went on forever because I was able to talk to SO many people. Of course...I had to run and give Sheila and big hug as soon as greeting time started. Also, as an added surprise, Clay and Ruth were there yesterday! It was the first time I heard their new(er) (I think he's been there almost a year now!) pastor and I really enjoyed his sermon. Afterward there was a fellowship time for the graduates which I hung around for too. Gave me even more time to catch up with everyone.

You all know I'm a huggy person and that was one of the reasons Valley View meant so much to me. I was laying in bed last night and could sleep so I started thinking about all of the hugs I got yesterday. 16! I told ya it was a big happy reunion for me. I love that I hadn't been there for a service in over a year and was still welcomed back with such love and excitement. I miss it. A lot.

After church, mom, dad and I went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch and then mom and I went shopping at Coral Ridge. I can't say just how much I appreciate what my mom does for me. She's bought almost all of my maternity clothes so far. Yesterday I got another pair of shorts, 6 shirts and 3 dresses (although 1 of the dresses and 2 of the shirts I used a gift card on). I'm feeling much better about having enough clothes now.

Plus last night she and I went to her co-worker, Stacy's house because she had some clothes to give me too if they fit! (I used to take care of her niece when she was a baby!). It was fun. I got to hold their newest addition to the family. A 2 week old baby boy. There is just nothing like holding a newborn baby. I ended up with some capris and a pair of shorts and TONS of shirts. Mostly long sleeved which will be good for October and November. She had a lot of jeans, but I wear talls and her jeans were way too short on me.

Today I slowly got myself ready to go. I had everything ready by 10 but didn't leave until almost 11. I was excited to come home to see Jacob, but at the same time really sad to once again be leaving Iowa. I actually starting crying before I even took my suitcase upstairs. Why did I have to have such a good time!? Haha! Said goodbye to my parent's...and then cried for the first couple miles of my drive.

After that it was nothing but boringness. I made good time, but it still felt like the longest drive ever. I just wanted to be home! Funny how I cry because I don't want to leave one place and then I want to cry because I just want to be back home!

I was greeted by my hubby who had cleaned the kitchen, mowed the yard and washed the sheets! And I even got a back massage! We went out for breakfast for supper at Round Table after I got unpacked.

Yep. A great weekend in Iowa, but great to be back here too!

Garage Sale & More

This weekend I had my garage sale. The one I had been talking about having for a year now!

I started to set a few things up on Wednesday night, but ended up feeling really sick, so I had to quit almost right after I started. My mom got here around 6:30 on Thursday night to help me set it all up. We ended up working until about 9:00, but got it done. We had 7 or 8 tables filled. We lined part of the driveway with stuff and we turned bins upside down when we ran out of space and used them as mini tables!

Setting up

Mom apparently pulling her pants up while I snapped the picture.

And as I'm helping mom unload her bins, I pull these out:

Yes...my mother put Stayfree pads in my garage sale. The most hilarious part was that the 2nd lady to come through on our first day, bought them. I was amused.

The garage sale was scheduled to open at 9:00 on Friday morning, but by 8:15 people were creeping by the house and walking up the driveway, so we opened at 8:30. The first 2 hours were insane. I'm not joking...I think half of our items were gone in those 2 hours alone. We marked things super cheap and let people make offers. The goal was to get it all cleared out.

The afternoon was a bit boring. We still had people come, but we closed at 4:30 instead of 5 and came in to order pizza. Then mom and I tried to organize a little in the spare room. I took down my scrapbook table to use in the sale and decided just to leave it down since it had to come out of there at some point anyway. It was overwhelming and I was exhausted, so not a whole lot got done.

Yesterday we opened at 9 and closed at Noon. We started with probably 15 boxes (mainly the big bins) of stuff and ended with 4 tiny boxes to take to Goodwill. I was quite proud and probably couldn't have done it without my mom's help!

Non-sale related...I wore my first pair of maternity clothes yesterday. A pair of capris I got for my birthday. Here's a couple of pictures of my little bump that's starting.

Right about 14 weeks along:

She and I drove to Springfield after we cleaned up the garage and dropped boxes at Goodwill. Then had a late lunch at Burger King because I could not stop thinking about a double cheeseburger! Went to Hobby Lobby and then to the mall to check out Motherhood.

On the way into the mall, the door tried to kill my mom. The lip was raised off the ground and her flip flop got wedged underneath of it. She flew forward and her flip flop tore. I felt really bad when it happened, but then I kept replaying it later and I couldn't stop laughing. She wasn't supposed to walk barefoot in the mall, but the nice security guard allowed us to walk to Payless to get her a new pair of shoes.

Found a pair of maternity jeans (that are LONG enough!) and a couple of tank tops at Motherhood and then came back and went to the high school graduation with Jacob. 35 minute graduation, compared to the 3 hour ones that I've been accustomed too! Then had DQ at a treat afterward.

Today mom came to church with us and then we went out for lunch at Veracruz with Seth, Sandy and the boys before mom had to head back home.

Such a fun weekend. Sad it's over, but there's another 3 day weekend coming up this next weekend! And this time I'm headed to Iowa! Yay!

Baby Update :)

Today was my 12 week appointment so I got off work at 2:00 and headed to Springfield. It was a pretty quick appointment, but I expected it to be. No ultrasound today...I won't have another one of those until 20 weeks. I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat again though. She used the doppler and told me that sometimes in the 1st trimester its too hard still to hear the heartbeat with it, but not to panic if she couldn't find it right away. Well, baby cooperated nicely and she found it almost immediately. The heartbeat was 150bpm, which is great! Last month it was 172. The whole old wive's tale about the heartbeat now has everyone saying it's a boy, when last month they were saying girl. There's absolutely no truth behind that one though, but it's still funny hearing people tell me what I'm having.

Pretty soon I'll have to decide which hospital I'm going to deliver at. I have the choice between 2. I'll probably be setting up a couple of tours so I can check them out. I also asked my doctor out of curiosity if I'd be able to have an epidural if I chose to, since I have scoliosis. She told me that most are able to, but she wants me to meet with an anesthesiologist around 24 weeks so it can be determined if I could have one or not. It's not something I'm set on one way or another as of now. I'd prefer to start off naturarally, but would like the option of getting an epidural if I felt I needed it.

I'm pretty excited that I'm nearing the end of the 1st trimester already! I've always heard the 2nd one is the best. I'll let ya know how it goes.

After my appointment I stayed in Springfield and went shopping since Jacob was staying at school for the band concert. I hit up Kohls and walked away empty handed, although I enjoyed looking at the baby stuff. Can't wait to know if it's a girl or boy so I can buy clothes!

It was only 4:15 when I left there, but I was starving already and I had already decided I was eating at Panera, so I went and go my Pick 2 and enjoyed a tasty meal. I also grabbed some bagles for some breakfasts this week. I got a half dozen, but the cutter slightly ruined one, so she gave me an extra one for free!

Then I went to return a pair of jeans I bought online at Old Navy. Problem was I couldn't find the invoice beacuse I bought them awhile back. I had bought them with a giftcard anyway so I didn't mind store credit. Since it was an online purchase they have to mail me my store credit, which is fine, because I have my eye on some cute maternity dresses online!

I still had a little birthday money left after buying my camera (which I hope comes tomorrow or Thursday!), so I bought myself a new purse!

Came home and now I'm relaxing while the AC cools our oven of a house down. I knew this would happen. Winter FINALLY goes away and now it's 90 degrees!

An Eventful Weekend

I've still been slacking on keeping this up to date.

I had another really nice weekend. On Friday after I got off work we went to Springfield. We ate supper at Outback with a gift card that I got. It was really yummy...although I had to get my steak well done (another one of those pregnancy guidelines), when I usually like a little pink. Still tasty though.

We've had some Target gift cards to use and Jacob had a video game he wanted to buy. My mind was set on getting a new camera. I've had some issues with mine for probably a year, but they're getting worse. Mostly there's a huge delay when I go to take a picture if I have to use the flash. I've loved this camera so much, but I had the money and felt like it was time for an upgrade. I knew I wanted to stick with a point and shoot, but couldn't decide between sticking with a Canon, which I've always used, or switching to Nikon. After  looking at my options, I decided to stick with Canon. And of course...they didn't have the one I wanted in stock! I ended up ordering it online today though and I'm excited to get it later this week. Hopefully I won't be disappointed! Cameras are my favorite new "toys" to play with.  I really just wanted to make sure that I had a better camera for when baby comes along and since I could use gift cards and birthday money it seemed like the perfect opportunity!

Yesterday afternoon I went to a scrapbooking crop party. Got to hang out with a couple of friends and met some other really nice women as well. I was FINALLY productive! I did a Make and Take card and then scrapbooked about 6 pages of our Disney trip last summer. We're planning to have another crop this summer and I'm really looking forward to doing it again.

When I got home last night, Jacob handed me an envelope and said he couldn't wait until today. It was a Mother's Day card for an expectant mom! I loved that he even thought to do that for me! Then at church this morning a few people who still hadn't heard that I was pregnant found out when our minister had all moms and moms-to-be stand up. Sandy gave me a shirt for the baby for Mother's Day too. A t-shirt that has Fred Bird and says, "Born to be a Cardinals Fan". Love it!

This morning for the first time, I couldn't get my dress pants to button. Well, I could, but they were cutting off circulation of half of my body! I have a belly band though. For those who don't know what that is, it's this handy elastic band that fits around your waist so you don't have to button your pants. It just holds them up for you but gives you more room to breath. Kind of exciting to know that the baby is growing! According to Baby Center the baby is about the size of a lime now. (It cracks me up that it compares the baby to random foods each week). I enjoy reading how baby grows each week though. I'm 12 weeks along now, which means that I'm nearing the end of the 1st trimester already. I have my 12 week appointment on Tuesday!

We just hung out at home this afternoon. We both talked to our moms. And then as a treat we went to DQ for dessert after supper tonight.

I'm sad the weekend is over already!

Birthday Weekend

My parents came Friday night to stay the weekend and celebrate my birthday! They got here Friday night just after 5:00. I made pork chops and baked potatoes for supper and then afterward we headed to Wal-Mart (of course!).  Mom wanted to pick up some groceries to make me a birthday supper on Saturday and my parents were also buying me some flowers again like last year for the front of the house. Dad, Jacob and I went in search of the flowers. I found the hanging baskets that I wanted, but couldn't find the impatiens to plant in my big pots. After searching row after row of flowers and asking 3 employees (who each had different answers) we concluded that they hadn't arrived yet. We did grab some mulch and potting soil though.

Back at the house we all just kinda hung out and did our own thing. Dad was watching a movie, Jacob was in his cave and mom and I were hanging out talking about baby stuff. Lots of fun!

Yesterday morning after we were up and ready, mom and I went to the Edinburg community garage sales. I was hoping to find some good deals, but they were all super junky. Eventually we were just driving by and deciding if they were even worth stopping for. We gave up and headed back to Taylorville to go to my favorite little shop on the square and then back to Wal-Mart again since dad called and needed another bag of mulch. My daddio is awesome. While we were gone he planted all of my flowers for me and put all the new mulch down.

In the afternoon mom baked my birthday cake as I watched her lick the batter. No fair! I'm all about licking the batter. Normally I have to fear of raw eggs in my batter and dough, but I won't do it while I'm pregnant. 

Then she and I started pricing things for my garage sale. She also brought a bunch of stuff to sell! Plus she's giving me all of her profit as well....baby stuff here I come! Mom is also going to come back in 3 weeks to help me with the sale, so I'm really excited! While we were doing that, dad and Jacob went to the dump to get rid of some old mattresses and also some old shower doors that were still here from when we moved in. I read online that it was $1 per item. Well...apparently you have to buy tickets at the County Clerk (which isn't open on Saturdays) and the old dude wasn't going to take the stuff. He apparently scoffed at the fact that I read it on a website because, "You can't trust what a website says." REALLY? Anyway, some other guy sold them some of his tickets. At one point I was thinking it was taking awhile and had this thought that if something went wrong I could've seen them dumping them in a field somewhere. The funny thing was, they both made the comment to me later that they weren't coming back with that stuff even if they had to dump them in a ditch or field. Haha!

Last night we celebrated my birthday. Mom made a turkey breast and mashed potatoes for me. Yum! Then I got to open my presents. I got flip-flops from Kendra and several maternity clothes from my parents. A dress, some tank tops and some shorts and capris!

Yup...pretty soon I'll be wearing shorts with elastic. Probably not too long. My jeans are starting to get snug and I've only gained about a pound and a half which means my stomach must actually be starting to expand a little and it's not just a bunch of fat. Haha!

This is what you get when you let your husband take the pictures.

Cake!

This morning we went to church and then  had Round Table for lunch. I love Sunday at Round Table...Chicken and Rice day! Then we had to say our "goodbyes". I didn't feel quite as sad as I usually do, because I know mom is coming back in 3 weeks and we're going to Iowa in 4 weeks! I can't wait!