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I've been wanting to post something for about six months now. But every time I think about posting, I can't ever decide what to talk about. Do I have to recap everything that's happened in the last 10 months? Or should I just jump right in and go with the now? Trying to recap from months ago would be too hard....jumping right in would leave out a lot...so this is the dilemma I'm faced with :) Which in reality, I shouldn't have to think that hard about it - DUH! So, I'm just going to make it simple, and post a couple pics, try harder to post more often, and see how things go. So here we are, 29.5 weeks pregnant - been on modified bed rest for 5 weeks now. The first few days of bed rest were HORRIBLE. But I'm getting better at this lazy thing. I'm actually impressed with myself. All I have to do is keep telling myself it's best for our little man...and get addicted to some stupid tv series on Netflix 1 month free trial. No wonder we cancelled our last free trial subscription. It monopolizes my time! I lack in self control in that department. That's partly the reason I don't want to have Cable when we move in to our own place. Aaaand now I'm just rambling. Hehe, anyways, here's some updated pics of the last few months. I'll just start with maternity shots for now. So here's the first maternity pic we took. I'm somewhere before 17 weeks. My guess is maybe 14ish? Feeling pretty proud that there's something there. Looking back makes me laugh because, really, I don't look prego. Besides the huge boobs issue, my belly is hardly a bump. But hey, I was excited.

K, here we are 17 weeks 6 days. I saw a cute pic on pinterest using this idea to make the big announcement. There had been a ton of road construction going on 6 blocks from our house and every time we passed a bump sign I just really wanted to hop out and snap a quick one. Bradley and I were just on our way to the movies for our date. I think we saw the Avengers? GOOD movie, by the way. So I hopped out and Bradley started taking the picture. Then this kid started walking across the cross walk and kept staring....until he finally got it. Hahaha it was pretty funny. A little embarrassing, but I figured I'd never see him again so who cares??

19 Weeks 2 Days. Bradley and I decided to take a summer road trip to Utah and Idaho. Here I am with my bestie, Ashley who is 12 weeks ahead of us and expecting her sweet little girl any day! Bradley was taking the concealed weapons permit class so he dropped me off at Ashley and Dave's place to hang while he did his thing. We went shopping at Carters. I bought our little man his first couple outfits. It was so great to see everyone - we had a blast on the trip!

21 Weeks. What is it with me and horizontal stripes?? Bad idea, I know. But the shirts are just so cute. Not necessarily on me, but oh well :) Pregnancy doesn't mean you have to always look your best.

24.5 Weeks. Right before we hit 24 weeks I went up to the Wagstaff's cabin on Priest Lake with bradley and some of the other family while they did some work on the cabin. I was just going to relax. I started having some braxton hicks contractions the night before, but wasn't sure if I should be concerned or not about the frequency. So I went. and spent a day. Then the next day I decided to call the doc because they weren't going away with rest or hydration. So as soon as I called....they immediately told me to go to the hospital. Um hello! Panic time. I was not expecting that. But then again, what was I supposed to expect?? So bradley and I packed up and headed home 2 hours to Sacred Heart. They put me on some monitors to check and make sure baby was doing good, and to monitor my contractions. After a little bit, the doctor decided she didn't like what was going on. Soooo they gave me a shot of turbutalene (spelling? I don't know. They just call it 'getting turbed' for short.) Anyways, I'm a wimp and almost passed out/barfed after getting it. Then the side effects started - racing heart, low blood pressure, shaky hands - pretty much like you're on a major caffeine high. But it worked!! Stopped my contractions and then they sent me home with instructions to drink till my pee had no color and to modify my activity level. So here we are in Seattle. We'd been planning this trip with the Bowers' for months. Dave and Lisa bought a camper trailer thing for it. So we figured we could probably be safe to go 'glamping' as they call it. Glam camping. This is at Port Angeles beach. I took it easy, bradley carried everything for me, even my water :) We ended up having to go to the hospital in Port Townsend after this day's adventures. I did a little too much and started contracting again. But everything turned out just fine.

26 weeks! We decided that every Sunday we would celebrate our progress by making some sort of treat. I'd been wanting to experiment with ganache (basically just real chocolate mixed with heavy cream to make a really smooth and semisoft glaze. It's usually used to top cakes, eclairs, etc. While we were in Seattle with Chris and Courtney, we spent a day over at their friends house. Aften was making a ganache cake for a friend and that's how I got the idea. She also used this stuff called pastry pride. It's like whipping cream - you whip it up and it has a little bit different texture to it. But it's really good to use between layers of cake. So we (and I mean Bradley - because I sat in the computer chair in the kitchen while he made everything) made a cake. Then he experimented with the ganache and whipped it up, put it in a frosting bag and did some pretty piping. He's so talented! I love that he loves to cook and bake things. That's where we spend a lot of time together - making yummy things.

And 29 weeks - getting bigger! This year, just like the last three years or so, we planted giant pumpkins. Bradley harvested them a week or so before this.

And I couldn't resist. This pumpkin looked too much like my belly, so I had to do a comparison shot :)

Tomorrow we'll be 30 weeks already! I can't believe our little man will be here in just a few short weeks. I'm not ready yet! That's the hard part about being on bed rest. I can't do a whole lot of prep at one time. Just a few here and there things. So there will be plenty to do when I get off bed rest! I had an appointment yesterday and was measuring 33 weeks! That's 3 weeks bigger than I should be. So they ordered an ultrasound and found that I have a lot of extra amniotic fluid. Sometimes it can mean that baby is not swallowing - like if his esophagus is blocked or something. But they found fluid in his stomach so that wasn't the reason. He's all healthy. I just have lots of fluid for no good reason. But that can cause contractions - so that's one explanation why I keep having all these braxton hicks contractions! Also, I had to take another trip to the hospital last night. I was having 8 or 9 braxton hicks contractions just laying down. My doctor said no more that 6 an hour. So we got the hospital about midnight, got monitored a bit and then they gave me a shot of turb again and checked my cervix. Everything was still good there, so they sent me home after the contractions stopped. We're getting pretty used to the whole hospital visit thing. I just need to be better at timing! We didn't get home until 3am and Bradley had to be up at 6:30 for fire training today :( He's such a trooper. I'm glad I have him here to take care of me.