Thanksgiving x2

That's right, two Thanksgiving dinners. Talk about amazing! Thursday we had dinner with Jason's dad's family up in Albuquerque. It was really nice to see everyone! We haven't seen them since I told them I was pregnant, so that was kinda fun. Then yesterday we had dinner with my family. If you count the babies there were 34 of us at one point! It was so crazy but incredibly fun. I actually was able to carry on a tradition, with the help of my Gran, of making homemade noodles in a broth/gravy type sauce. They actually turned out pretty good! They would have been better if we had some of the turkey drippings instead of just using chicken broth, but I think overall they turned out pretty good. Now I have the confidence to make them without my Gran here, if that happens. I'm glad they came out for Thanksgiving and I think they might be coming for Christmas, so that is going to be great. We used a pasta extruder for cutting the noodles and she said either we have to use that when she comes here or if I go out there I have to take it, lol. She surprised me by letting me use the extruder this time, because she is very much for tradition, but it was so easy that I don't think she could resist getting away with less work! It was fun spending yesterday cooking with her and learning some of her tricks.

Today we are going to go shopping in town. Hopefully all the maniacs went yesterday and the crowds today will be much more pleasant. I have some clothes picked out that I want to show my mom for Christmas present ideas (on her request). Then we are going to go to an Arts and Crafts fair and have dinner with my grandma. I love the holidays! Between all the eating, the family, and the time off work, I don't think there is a better time of the year.

Uneventful doctor's visit

Which I guess is a really good thing, right? We didn't have to wait an hour like last time, which was awesome, and the appointment pretty much consisted of getting weighed (+7 lbs so far), the midwife answering questions, then hearing the heartbeat again. It is the coolest little sound. And next time we go it will be for an ultrasound! I haven't had one yet, which I thought was kinda uncommon, but apparently that is the norm, and those who get ultrasounds more often are the exceptions. I am so glad that everything is going well for me, though. The only problem I am having is sciatic nerve pain like crazy. It is the worst when I walk around for a while, sit down, then stand back up. I feel like I am going to crumple from the pain. Not cool. Other than that I'm doing well. I'm still tired all the time but I think I have to attribute that to being a first year teacher and not so much the pregnancy anymore. I have a 5 day weekend right now, so hopefully I can fill up my energy stores and be able to make it through the next three weeks (until Christmas break) with gusto. We'll see.

Before you ask, yes, at the ultrasound we are going to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am too much of a planner not to know. I thought it would be fun to have the surprise at the birth, but then I realized how much I dislike the color yellow, and everything I would buy would be yellow or green, and I'm not a fan. So this way I can be prepared, have the nursery ready, and I think I will finally get Jason to start thinking about names. We think we have a nursery theme picked out (the colors at least) so that was a big step for him. He doesn't want to talk about these things yet, I think because it isn't quite real to him. Although, he has started talking to my belly periodically.

In house news: They have knocked down our existing livingroom wall and opened up the space into the addition. It looks SO DIFFERENT!! I couldn't believe it when I came home on Friday and saw it because it totally changes the way our house feels. The stucco is done on the outside, although by "done" I mean it is just the gray scratch coat because we aren't going to stucco the whole house quite yet. We have to replace the windows first and that isn't going to happen for a while. Constant work in progress I guess. The fireplace is installed and they should be working on the stone and all that around it here pretty soon. They only have a week from today to be finished, so they better get on it! When they are done we are going to put carpet in the livingroom (our easiest, cheapest solution since the hardwood we like is really expensive) and stain the existing parkay floors (hideous, but we can't afford to take it all out to change it yet) to match our kitchen floors. We are kinda just hoping it works well because we don't really have a backup plan at the moment. We shall see! The roof is finished thanks to Jason, my dad, and Jason's parents. The wood for our front and back porch beams and posts is being stained as we speak and there is also a drywall guy here finishing up mudding the drywall so it can be sanded and then textured (which I think is happening today if I remember correctly).

I think that is all from me for right now. This turned into a much longer post than I had anticipated. My grandparents are here from Texas to stay with us for a week, so we are really enjoying that. I will be sad to see them go whenever they have to leave. I'm really looking forward to all the Thanksgiving activities, but yesterday my midwife told me to stay away from sweets. That is a HUGE bummer because holiday sweets are my FAVORITE sweets. I guess I will just have to pace myself. I hope everyone has a fantastic, blessed Thanksgiving!!

15 weeks

That is my official week count as of today. Unfortunately, I don't have many new things to say, other than I am feeling pretty good and I'm excited that I'm starting to show a little. And I'm finally looking less fat and more pregnant. Here is a picture I took last Sunday at 14 weeks. I haven't changed much, hence no new picture.

Belly

And so it begins- the growing tummy. Last night I noticed that when I laid down my tummy no longer sank down and my ribs nor hip bones show anymore when laying down. It was actually pretty exciting seeing the proof that my tummy is growing. That is weird for me to say, that I'm happy about getting fat, but knowing what it means makes it all better. And I took a picture of myself recently (when I was full and slightly bloated, mind you) and there is definitely a "pooch" which I am going to think of as a bump rather than just a big belly. I went shopping today for some clothes with a friend of mine and actually had to consider what I am going to look like in a couple of months (or sooner). (The girl I went shopping with is exactly 4 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy, so it is fun getting to shop with her and talk about having babies and compare stories and feelings. She is really close to me in age and it seems like we have a lot in common, so that helps, too.) I feel like I am starting to gain quite a bit of weight, but I've also realized that my weigh fluctuates like crazy, so I have no idea how much I have actually gained. I like the scale at the doctor's office, so I think I will probably go by their measurements :-)

I got to go to a training today to learn how to use my new interactive whiteboard!! It was so informational and wonderful, and I learned a TON of stuff. We even got to start making things we could use on our board, and practicing some different tricks to make the board even cooler. I'm very excited to start using it as soon as I get the remote that turns the thing on! (Long story...)

I think that is it for the updates for now. Oh, our remodel is coming along quite nicely. The livingroom is completely framed in, and the bones of the front porch are up. The windows and the fireplace are installed in the livingroom but there is no insulation, drywall, or anything else up on the walls yet. It makes the space feel very real, though, which is cool. I don't know what the next step is, but things seem to be moving along pretty quickly. The roof is going on this weekend, in fact Jason's parents already started putting it on today. It is really going to make our house look different! It is a silver metal roof, rather than the red and black shingles that were on there before we started this whole project. I think the contractor's next move is to put the stone around the fireplace, so we have to go pick out the stone we are going to use for the hearth. It is pretty exciting that we are to the point that we get to pick out more details! I asked Jason to take some pictures of the house yesterday afternoon, but I don't know if he has or not. You know how guys are ;-) Hopefully I can get some good pictures soon!