Almost 34 Weeks!

 So happy but starting to feel pretty huge!

25 Weeks Pregnant

And so here we are.

 In front of some dandy new "curtains" I made yesterday.

Is it weird to admit I forget I am pregnant a lot?

No, no... this mama has not been boozing it up or anything like that!

I just hardly feel "different" anymore.

It's pretty odd when feeling normal involves a little boy,

inside my belly,

head to the left,

facing front,

knees in,

and kicking my right side prrrretty much all day and night.

Yah. This is what normal is starting to feel like.

So it will be odd when in just a couple months I go back to being just *me!*

15 weeks to go... 

(Give or take. I am betting early because he seems like he already wants out! With all this pushing and kicking!) 

 I feel like my tummy has gotten pretty big but last time my midwife measured my belly
I was actually 2 weeks smaller than average.

Crazy right?

But don't get me started on the outie belly button.

I love it, because it's something I will only have for a short and wonderful time.

However I can't hide it. Even through thick shirts (and why would I want to wear those in July?) you can still see the obvious imprint of a popped out button and everyone and their mothers take this zippity quick look at it and then their eyes shoot in a totally opposite direction, as if they just saw something they were not supposed too. 

It's not dirty, or sexy or an alien or whatever the heck!
That is probably my only complaint at this point. Everything else has been just golden. 

 The only other "out of the ordinary" thing I can think of that has been happening lately is for the last 2 weeks or so I have been nesting, with explosive force. 

I can't rest until every shelf has been robbed of it's knick-knacks,

every desk moved and mopped under,

every unmatched sock gone to sock heaven,

every lame movie I ever bought from a clearance bin purged,
every "just in case I need this" shoe box ripped from under my bed,

every book I will read "when I get the time",
gone.

Everything is going away in a yard sale
(and until then all this stuff is sitting to the side of our living room and I can not stand it!)

and anything we don't sell we are bringing to a Goodwill.

Oh clean and uncluttered bedroom of mine, 

you feel so peaceful to be in.
Nesting can really get things DONE!  ;D

A "Sort Of" Anniversary

Today was a special day for us. 

Last year on this day, we had our wedding ceremony.

We were married in a little courthouse the year before, 

but we still wanted the dresses, cakes, balloons and all that good stuff...

And so we set the celebration date for June 28th 2011.

This was my handsome date. 

 These were my most beautiful bridesmaids, -2 ladies.

I wish my friends "Spiffy" and "Britters" were in the photo!
As a side note, sometimes I forget what I looked like before I was pregnant.
This is a good reminder!
Does that happen to any other preggos?
I wonder...

It was such a wonderful evening,

and it's been such a wonderful year.

Today while driving, Jared made me stop the car in the middle of the road so he could pick me these flowers.

I love that guy. 

Boy or Girl?

Today I had my first and hopefully only ultrasound. After 3 days of consistent abdominal cramps my midwife felt I should get an ultrasound ASAP instead of waiting 2 more weeks. Jared and I invited his parents and my mom, and boy the pressure was on!!!  We wanted to be the first to know the baby's gender and asked our folks to leave the room before the ultrasound technician made the announcement. Needless to say, they were they not thrilled with that choice! 

Afterwards we had lunch and it was so hard not to refer to the baby as her or him. Oh my gosh it was!

To be fair, we are having a "Pink or Blue" party this Sunday and we are going to announce what the little guy or gal might be!

We are still not sure what is causing the abdominal pain but the doctors are going to keep looking.

So on Sunday I will post whether we are having a boy or a girl!

I have never known this sort of love :) 

I can't wait to meet our baby.

I Have a Riddle For You!

What do these two things have in common?

My 10 Pregnancy "Must-Have's!"

Okay, honest Saturday time. I have something to admit. Eating well and working out during pregnancy, has been right in between extremely difficult and impossible. All of April the only food that has consistently sounded appealing has been Tim's Jalapeno Chips. Now don't get me wrong, Tim's chips just might be the food of the gods, but they are lacking just an itee-bitte bit in nutrients. Plus if the food aversions weren't enough the morning sickness ought to bring me right down to the ground. 

On a more positive note, next week I will be in my second trimester and I hear for most women, these bummer side effects should slow or stop. *Whew!* Part one is almost over! The thing is, I am not complaining about being pregnant in itself. My complaint is that it is taking so long! (And so fast! Time has been a strange recently!) I just keep imagining those chubby little legs doing the "mid-air baby march" and how sweet baby will be when it's napping with me. :) 'Til then I suppose these are my top 10 things keeping me going!...

1. New Pants
I actually had the hardest time finding decent look maternity pants. They either looked like jammy-pants or they had no butt pockets. Do you know what pants look like without butt pockets!? Pajama jeans! I bought my extra stretchy pants at Bosswear.

2. Saltines
When you feel sick, Saltines help a ton! (Okay, Gramma was right.)

3. Orange Juice
Gallons and gallons and gallons....

4. Belly Rub
Technically speaking, if you are in it to prevent stretch marks, bad news... Belly rub can not penetrate the skin layers far enough to combat those vibrant red lines, for the most part it's all in your genetics. However, if you are itchy or stretchy and any other weird thing you didn't realize happened during pregnancy, it's pretty nice to get a tummy rub, especially if it smells as good as mama mio's. :)

5. New boots

I haven't been super energetic lately and (Yes, I actually feel this lethargic) lacing up shoes seems way, way, way too tiring. Lucky for me, I got a new pair of boots, and those bad boys just slide on. No messing with laces. 

6. Maps

You might think I am crazy, but any time I am really feeling down in the dumps, who jumps onto me with eyes full of love? Little Maps. She is going to just love this kid.

7. Subway
Like orange juice, there will NEVER be enough!

8. At Home Doppler
Thank you to my sister in law for lending me her Doppler. I can hear babies heart any time of day instead of just doctors visits. Thu-thump! Thu-thump!

9. Tim's Potato Chips

I would just feel too embarrassed to tell you how many party sized bags I have eaten to myself.

Also I wouldn't know because I am going through them so fast. I think I may write "Tim" a letter,

"Dear Tim, 

Due to my massive consumption of your tasty jalapeno chips, my unborn child 

now has the heat tolerance of someone who could handle 5 star spiciness in a Thai restaurant. Thank you very much, this could make an interesting future.

- Chip Lovin' Challice."

10. Jared

And lastly Jared, who I have snapped at, cried with, laughed with and begged to get me a gas station hot dog with sauerkraut. You dear, are the best.

Life Lately

Here I am starting vegetable seeds indoors in their little growing tray. 

I've been spending most of my time outdoors lately since it's so nice out,
and when it is raining I feel like the kids from "The Cat in The Hat"...

Being pregnant and jobless has it's benefits, that is for sure. 

At this rate I probably would have called in sick so many times, I surely would have been let go.
But with that as a huge plus, comes a huge amount of boredom. That is why I am spending all this time gardening.
After all, once baby is here who knows how much time I will have in the next upcoming summers to garden? Plus, how many times in life are you jobless and financially stable? Yup. I am soaking it up.
 This is going to be the best garden ever! :D

I have probably watched 999 gardening videos,
read 999 gardening pages,
and I still cant get enough!

Aren't these cool purple beans?! My father in law is a wizard, I told him I had purple beans and he knew exactly what I was talking about. They are called "Scarlet Runners" and produce red flowers as well as tasty beans! 

Warm days in the back yard...

When it is sunny, I put all the plants outside...
and sing to them... and tell them how big they are going to get! Hehe.
I suppose I am as obsessed with plants as Jared is about mushrooms. 

Baby starts!

My tummy (and face and everything else it seems!) is getting bigger everyday!

I am so thankful I have Jared. He is the best!

Baby Fever

(Not to be confused with Beiber fever.
Just so you were 100 % sure.
Now that, that is cleared up I'd like to share some more thoughts.)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Word of the day, baby.

No, wait. I mean word of the week,

actually, let's just skip to word of the last few YEARS.

♥ ♥ ♥

Everybody's got a baby.
She's got a baby.
He's got a baby. 
Your mutha had a baby.
I bet YOU might even have a baby.  

Well dagnabbit. I guess I am going to have to be patient for a while longer.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

A little while back we officially decided to wait until I was done with my associates degree to have a baby. But 2 years seems like eternity! So, to fill the time Jared and I are going to compose a list if things we want to do in the next 2 years. (This means things like travel, knit baby ponchos, climb mountains... you know, things that would be harder but not impossible to do with said babie(s) ) In the few short years Jared and I have been together, we have already been through so much and there is so much to look forward too! I just can't wait for life to keep happening. We have a really cozy,  good and strong life now and I am SO thankful for everyone in our lives! I am thankful I live in a place I can go to school to become an elementary school teacher (I am going to need to remember that when homework starts coming! :P ) I am also pumped for this April, we are planting a huge garden, which I will be blogging about, no doubt! And lastly,  I am so happy the sun is going to come back this Spring so Jared and I can go on a thousand more walks down the Washington trails. Being alive can be so wonderful. ♥

These are the reasons why I live my life.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This was taken after a family member's wedding.                                               Halloween Party 2010.

At the Marina.

As we were leaving the courthouse. *married!*

After our actual wedding...the lovely ceremony 6 months later.

Downtown Seattle.

Going on a walk through the woods.                                                                             Backyard summers.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥

Today was yesterday's tomorrow.

2 Years and an Associates Degree Later...

This simple story begins about 6 years ago.

I was sixteen when my mom pulled me into her bedroom. I was not in trouble, I truly never broke her rules, (with my index finger I am circling and invisible halo around my head making oohing and awing noises) so I did not know what was going on. "I am pregnant" she said. I felt so many things, disappointed, worried for her health, the babies health, surprised, excited, but most of all,          alone.
She did not let me tell anyone for a while which was the hardest thing! My youngest brother was ten so there was quite a gap and my mom was not married so she was embarrassed. However my siblings and I did not care what others thought, we were just excited to have a baby in the house.

That year in a high school home ec. class, I started making a pink and black quilt. I was betting everything I was going to have another little sister. Then out came Landon, 100% boy. Dang! What was I going to do with this 90% finished quilt?

I heard that a friend in my family had a baby girl, a reason to finish the quilt! Nope, she had so many blankies already. What to do, what to do? A couple years later my sister in law conceived her first child. A beautiful baby boy, but a boy none the less. Who would I give this little pink quilt too?
It is just sitting in my hallway closet collecting dust.

A couple of days ago my mother in law told me her friend was starting a quilting class and... "SIGN ME UP!" I interjected... She did not even get a chance to ask if I wanted to go! I love sewing and I know how to quilt but I want to go anyway. Jared asked if I had ever quilted. I was confused, had he not ever seen the little quilt tucked away in the hallway?

Last night I brought it out and showed him. I laughed at the fabrics I chose back then. I was very into the whole "emo" scene so I picked hearts, polka dots, and stripes. What a combo! Heehee. I laid it on the living room floor and asked Jared what to do with it. Should I just toss it? He smiled. That sort of smile that gives me shivers down to my feet, the sort of shivers I felt when we first kissed. He asked when I am done with my 2 years of college and I have my full degree if we could welcome a little baby into the world.(Which I had been bringing up a ton these last few months) He says he feels in his gut we are going to have a girl first. I guess we shall see. Either way  I am beyond excited, and these next 2 years are going to seem like eternity. We have names picked and we have been talking a long time about what kind of parents we would like to be. Hopefully the world does not get too bad before then, but that is a topic I'd like to keep to myself. It is crazy how time flies. It seems like just yesterday Mr.Vangus was walking me to my first grade classroom. Ah life. :)

Drama Mama's!

Jared was playing one of is old childhood video games and as I was watching he told me "I avoid getting into fights, they slow you down while you're trying to play." I laughed and asked if he meant in Chrono Cross or the game of life.

My husband and I rarely ever disagree, on important things at least. (He likes eggnog. There are some things we simply can not agree on. Ew! Hehehe) But today like the rest of this month, both of our mothers have been pulling on our heart strings in attempt to be the mother to have us over for Christmas. I am sure this sounds familiar to many couples, and the woman is always thinking, "Why can't he just stick up to his mom?!". But then Jared asked me a valid point, why don't I stick up to my mom?

The easy solution is to swap every other year with the in-laws...right? I can't think of any other way to make it fair, can you? Seems easy enough but I am on married Christmas #2 and last Christmas one mother complained how unfair it was. Now on Christmas #2 the opposite mother is heart broken. So what do you do? How do you make both sides of the family happy? Is this even possible? All I know is I can not wait until we have our own little kids and we can just do Christmas at our own home most of the time. This time of the year is not supposed to be about stress, money or endless bickering, so let's not make it into that. All we want is to be with our family on Christmas without crushing half of the family members. It does not matter if one mother is buying everyone who comes to her house, tickets to Paris, a new car, and a life time supply of chocolates. (Well that might sway my opinion a little!)

His parents.

Her parents.

His parents.

Her parents.

I wish it was that easy.
....................................................
Men. Easy going, passive creatures that would do anything to avoid confrontation... especially when a bunch of ladies but 'em in the middle of it.


Ladies. Always putting men in the middle of things!

Unconditional

      Marriage. The dreams of a long, well planned out wedding ceremony were just not happening for us, so being a fiance did not last long.

      Marrying my best friend was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. We eloped in secret, away from anyone's worries or cares in a courthouse across the street from my city apartment. I chose a Judge based entirely on his name. And I don't believe a man ever loved his job any more than he did. Shaking and wiggling my legs saying our "I do's" with just my mother and elementary school friend thinking, back on how I thought, I would NEVER get married.

    We went to The Cheesecake Factory that night with an amazing little secret almost no one on earth knew but us. We, were married! In a fancy hotel we drank champagne and watched the stars go by. That was the most exciting, nerve-racking day of my entire 20 years at that point. That was the day I knew I truly had something others coveted, cherished and desired with all their hearts. I am so blessed.

I have Unconditional love, 

     I am no princess and it took more than a little strength, a million tears and long sleepless nights to get my prince. So if I may, I would love to share with you what my version of "happily ever after" is. My projects, recipes and all my ideas are fueled entirely by the love God has in me. I would not be me if I had not accepted this mind blowing fact.

                   Truthfully, Challice