A lot can happen in 29 1/2 weeks

I don't have much to say today. I don't think. 

Eric and I are both battling classes we hate. Me, stats, him, Shakespeare. We both told each other we'd rather be doing the other person's homework. 

We also learned yesterday that some of our only friends here in Hermatilla are expecting a baby! They've just started sharing the news, so I won't name names. But, we're very excited for these punks. That's what she gets for saying we couldn't be friends because I was pregnant and she was childless! 

Can you believe the girth on this lady?

The little countdown on our blog says we have 74 days to go til our due date. To me, that doesn't seem long. But, then I think about how I'm just going to keep getting bigger and bigger until then. 

Maybe that is a long time after all.

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Remember Cabbage Patch Kids? Anyway...

Yesterday, handsome husband and I trekked to Pasco, Washington for some pumpkin patch fun before partaking in some Endless Shrimp. 

Here are the results. 

*warning: you'll see my hair looking very strange. there were hurricane force winds.*

We went to a place called "Country Mercantile." They have a cool, not so little store & cafe. Lucky for us, (mainly lucky for Eric) they had free samples out of many of their sauces and dips. We stayed in there for a little bit, but it was pretty overwhelming. Apparently we picked a very popular time to visit.

We conquered this hay tower. 

Put in our Xmas wish list to Rudolph. Shortly after this, Eric had his hand bitten off by a miniature horse. Ok, not really, but almost. No wonder nobody else was petting this animal in the "petting barn." It probably didn't help that Eric slapped it's bum just prior to attempting a friendly pat on the neck.

They took us on a tractor ride past the corn maze and down to the "patch." Surprisingly, the tractor and trailer were NOT blown over by the wind.

In true male form, Eric picked a 40 pound pumpkin. See his grin? Such pride!

These are pumpkins.

Strange hair alert.

My warty pumpkin, along with the one Eric picked out for baby girl.

The three additional pumpkins we got were only 1/4th of The Great Pumpkin of 2011.

We'd patched up a hunger, so afterward we slipped over to Red Lobster to pretend we were ritzy and eat endless amounts of shrimp. Then we spent money on baby clothes. Our little girl NEEDED a dress, and we found one for 40% off. Plus, we found some clothes for our first nephew, Topper (Travis Otto Petersen). Stan & Elizabeth were in town briefly this weekend for a wedding, so we had to spoil their soon-to-arrive bundle, as well. 

(For reference, I'm including some of their wedding photos from March 2011)

Brothers. Are annoying.

Before the cousins were conceived.

Stanibeth.

And just for kicks, why don't we revisit our engagement shoot of September 2010.

Aww, fer cute!

it's raining babies

No word from my prompt doctor. No news is still good news, right? 

My lovely mother threw me a lovely baby shower last weekend. Morgan, Aunt Steph and Liz all were contributors who deserve kudos for helping it be an enjoyable time. It was so nice to have so many friends around! I couldn't believe that Laura and Jen both made the drives down and over . . . what swell folks! Here's a photo recap.

(I tried to put captions on these photos four different times. Blogger sucks. So, make up your own captions. It's like a fun game!)

Fun, fun. Thanks to all who came, or stopped by. Your presence was much appreciated!

Now, for some rocky road ice cream because the doctor hasn't told me no yet. 

Yeah, I'm a boundary pusher. Hard core like that. 

A Fire Still Burning

So, I've always enjoyed The Killers' music. 

And now I really respect their frontman. 

Check it out. 

glucose

Yesterday, prior to my regular OB appointment, I made a friendly visit to the hospital lab to get started on a routine 1-hour glucose test. 

You have to drink 10 oz. of the sweetest soda-like substance in the world, within five minutes, and then exactly 1 hour later they draw your blood and run some kind of test on it. 

The lab tech gal was very nice and got me some crushed ice in a cup. 

It was pretty painless. 

However, they called today and said my test came back abnormal. 

What???!!! 

The doctor was just remarking 24 hours ago how perfectly normal and "textbook" my pregnancy has been and is expected to be. And how he thought my risk of having a c-section was less than 9% when for most first time moms it's around 15%. 

I'm trying not to worry much, because about half of all women who get abnormal results on the 1 hour test pass the 3 hour glucose test just fine and don't develop gestational diabetes. And only 1-5% of all pregnancies end up with the mother developing gestational diabetes.

I'm taking my 3 hour glucose test Monday. 

More fasting. And more blood drawing. Something like 3-5 times during that three hour period. 

Luckily, my work has continually been very understanding of my appointments. 

I'm trying not to be a drama mama, but it's my first time, and I'm a little anxious.

Send some positive chi my way, eh? 

P.S. Holla over to my pal, Betty, on turning a quarter of a century yesterday! 

Whew, I think that makes you "vintage" which is totally in right now. 

Stay classy!

i heart cowboys

Sometimes I get to do fun things at work. And those times are when I love my job. 

Here's my latest little project.

Of course, you still have to please others ... and thus it's a little more cluttered than I prefer (my personal mantra in design and ads is that "less is more"). 

However, I'm really happy with this. 

Edited the photo myself, even. 

It will be running nationally at the end of the year.

Enjoy the rest of your Chewsday. 

(I've decided that Chewsday sounds way cooler than Tuesday)

Cauliflower

So, on Friday I was officially 27 weeks. Which means by this Friday (a mere 3.5 days away) I will be in my third trimester. 


I've been negligent in taking my side profile pictures - in between work, school and keeping up with the Kardashians, can you blame me? Anyway, so I had Eric snap a shot this morning. 

Apparently, I'm very excited.
Further, I dedicate this photo to Suzanne - had to buy a matching sweater to the onesie she recently sent us! 

I was about to apologize for the sack of potatoes at my feet, but it's fitting, I decided, as my stomach is feeling more and more like a sack of potatoes. I officially prefer having a pillow under my stomach when I sleep. 


Anyway, Eric was looking pretty handsome in his new work clothes and he wanted in on the belly fun. So, here's his shot. 

Sexy, right? 

Here's what BabyCenter says about 27 weeks: 

How your baby's growing:

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

For the record, I have yet to determine if I've felt hiccups. And I haven't yet felt Braxton-Hicks. However, I have felt the great sensation of a uterus growing and seemingly tearing to sizes it's never been before. Aside from backaches, evening heartburn and the occassional swelling of my usually petite ankles, I am really enjoying this time. She's still small enough that I can feel her literally "swimming" around, but not so big that I'm completely uncomfortable. Plus, people actually acknowledge I'm expecting a baby - not that I've just enjoyed binge eating for the last 6 months or so. 

Anyway, family photo! 

This is gonna be one good looking kid! 

Scarf Days Are Here?

Today was the first day of the season that I wore a scarf.

Today's choice?

It's a classic. My orange fuzzy one that Mom knit me long ago.

Face is looking quite round here, yes? 

My post title has a question mark because it's 55 degrees today, whereas just on Monday I was sweating in my car at 82 degrees.

It's also rain rain raining here in Umatilla County.

Husband and I both agreed we'd rather be cuddled up on the couch than at our respective places of employment.

What would you rather be doing?

"We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!"

First post of October 2011. Wow, I'm not really sure where summer disappeared to. But, here's a sparse photo recap of our quick and not-so-dirty weekend dash to Salt Lake City.

Friday night we went straight to Satan's School - (University of Utah, obviously) 

where we attended a mission reunion for the Arizona Pheonix Mission. 

It wasn't quite as dry and boring as I'd imagined. In fact, it was really great to see and meet the people Eric had spent two years of his life serving and teaching the Gospel with. 

Couple of my favorite parts: 

1. President Gill's message on attending the temple. 

2. The mission "hymn" - what a powerful way to feel the Spirit of missionary work.

3. The mission 'fight song.'

4. The beam on my husby's face the whole night. 

It was a great prelude to the rest of the weekend. 

Elder Eric Lougee, Elder Drew Ensslin, Elder Kyle Smith
We actually met some of Drew's family when we visited Porterville, Calif. this summer. That's where he grew up!

Saturday afternoon we found an Asian Market where I picked up some much anticipated Kewpie as well as large, bargain priced boxes of curry. 

My handsome man texting some folks from his mission during our lunch at Chili's. 

Because of Eric's mission connections, we got two tickets to Sunday morning's session of General Conference. Sunday morning is always my favorite. Music & the Spoken Word, Motab, and the Prophet always speaks during this session. 

Waiting at the Trax (Utah's public transit train) early Sunday morning. 

In the Conference Center - Bird's Eye View.

This place holds 21,000 people. 

I can't figure out how the roof doesn't collapse in because there are NO beams impeding your view. 

It's just a fact of life that it is either rainy or fairly cruddy weather every conference weekend. 

However, October must've snuck up on Mother Nature, because it was beautiful and warm. 

I even sunburned a little. 

From the roof of the Conference Center - which I'd never been up there before - with a view of the Salt Lake Temple behind me. 

I finally got to meet Ms. Teri Lynne Carroll and her two boys Joey and Charlie. 

Eric became great friends with this family during his mission. It was so nice to meet them face to face, such a warm and fun family. 

Teri served a mission in Guatemala, Joey just came home from a mission in New Jersey where he spoke Spanish, and Charlie will be leaving in December to serve a mission in Mexico City, Mexico. 

They'll all speak Spanish, and I think that's awesome!  

Eric, Charlie, Teri and Joey

We had a nice weekend. We enjoyed our time with Ken and Jan's family as well. They're always such generous hosts. 

We also bought a few things for baby girl - the biggest being a car seat, the smallest being a picture book of Christ. 

It's crazy to think I'm almost into my third trimester!