Week 15 - Orange-alicious

How far along are you? 15 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? Pretty sure I've put on a pound since last week
Maternity clothes? Nope but my jeans are a tiny bit snug around the bottom of my tummy
Strech marks? No
Sleep? Plenty of sleep but the Dr indicated I needed to focus on not sleeping on my back.  Of course now I wake up often paranoid that I'm sleeping in the wrong position.  Pillows are beginning to surround me.  Any suggestions how to stay on my side?
Best moment this week: A little silly but drinking 72-80oz of water every day
Have you told family & friends? Yep
Movement: Nothing new, just obvious growth going on
Food Cravings: Del Taco's bean burritos and I cannot get enough green sauce
Anything that makes you queasy/sick: Still have to be careful with vitamins
Have you started to show? Maybe a tiny bit but nothing that most would notice
Gender prediction: The majority still go with boy
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or Moody: Happy, actually had an amazing week
Weekly Wisdom: Drink water!!!

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to every amazing Mom I know!

#45 - Fix the sofa

We were emotionally attached to our sofa.  It was ours and something we worked very hard for.  Honestly, we spent way too much money at that time in our lives to purchase the sofa but it lasted us 10 years.  I have no doubt it could have lasted us another 10 more.  Unfortunately it was the wrong shape for our new home so it was just too big.

Thanks to craigslist we found a new home for our sofa - a Christian family with kids and they were looking for a "spare" sofa for their basement/playroom.  Lots of people came to look at the sofa but it is BIG and so it didn't work for their home.  Thankfully this family had the space.  James helped load it up and take it to them.

Then it was time to find a replacement.  We searched high and low for a sofa.  It was no easy task.  But it's perfect for us.  We had to work a little hard to get it.  The store took it off display which meant they were or were almost sold out.  Thankfully we found one in La Mirada so our concerns were put to rest.

Introducing our newest piece of furniture ---

Week 14 - A tart little lemon

Well it seems that I'm coming out of the phase that requires 12 hours of sleep and a nap in the middle of the day, which means more updates and hopefully more blogging.  I've been surfing lots of pregnancy boards and came across this survey.  So here it goes!

How far along are you? 14 weeks
Total weight gain/loss? Down 5 pounds
Maternity clothes? Nope
Strech marks? No
Sleep? LOTS of it! 9 hours a night preferably though 10 makes me really happy plus a 30 minute nap on my lunch break. The weekends I get to squeeze in a 2-3 hour nap.
Best moment this week: Gigi making a great start on the nursery bedding/decor
Have you told family & friends? Yep
Movement: Lots of "streching" as I like to call it but none that I believe are me feeling the baby move
Food Cravings: Nothing really. Possibly fruit? Strawberries and oranges top the list.
Anything that makes you queasy/sick: Taking vitamins too early in the morning.
Have you started to show? Nope
Gender prediction: I have no clue! but the majority are saying boy
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or Moody: Happy unless I'm tired - then definitely moody
Weekly Wisdom: Take it easy :)

A place to call home

Escrow has closed! Now the fun part begins!

big, fat, positive

All I could do was giggle. Nearly 11 years of being with James, 6 years of marriage, buying 2 homes, moving 14 times, gaining my bachelor's degree, experiencing the highs and lows of life and here we are.  Pure bliss.  Then fear.  Are we really ready?  Guess we're about to find out!  We have waited a long time for this chapter in our lives.  We've set goals, met them, then set more goals.  It's finally time.  Now a little person will be completely reliant on us.  That scares the crap out of me.  But we're ready to take on the challenge.  Cheers to parenthood!

Anticipation

I'm like a kid, it's ridiculous.  When a big event is approaching, I get so excited!  Whether it's a vacation, a trip to see family or family is coming to see us, a new job or a party, I cannot contain myself.  I start waking up way before my alarm goes off.  I am nauseous constantly.  I'm a mess.  Thankfully I've found ways to help tame these reactions or whatever you'd like to call them.  Though I would love to find a way to make them go away.  Any suggestions?

Hawaii here we come!

Two weeks of pure bliss were in our future and I could not wait!!!  Back in July, for my 30th birthday, Bill (a close family friend) gifted James and I to a trip to any place we requested.  With James and I being the avid cruisers and our family trip to Hawaii been postponed, there was no doubt it my mind where we would be headed.  Within no time, our trip was booked and my lists of what to do and what to pack were started!  The trip was phenomenal.

Our cruise started with 4 days at sea. Plenty of time at the pool, tons of naps, trivia and food that stuffed us to the brim.  Somehow we were coerced into participating in the Survivor challenge; one of the ship's many contests that they have on board.  Fairly certain this was due to our youth in relationship to the majority of the other cruise passengers.  We watched lots of movies and read a few books.  Just our kind of conversation.  No cleaning, no cooking, no alarm clocks!

Next it was time to play.  Our arrival to the islands was magnificent.  The weather was perfect.  Not a drop of rain while we were there.  Plenty of time to work on our tans and explore the islands.

First on our stop was the Big Island.  We rented a jeep, immediately took the top off and headed to the Volcanoes National Park.  Our plan was to spend about 3 hours here but we ended up spending nearly 6 hours here.  Pictures do not capture the massive scenery that one is exposed to.  We drove a little further out to a black sand beach.  Such a pleasant surprise, there was a sea turtle sunbathing.  We nearly missed him, he/she blended in to the sand so well.

Lava tube

Steam vent

 

Crater at Volcanoes National Park

Sea turtle sunbathing at the black sand beach

On to our next day of events.  The island of Oahu.  We were up early and headed to Pearl Harbor.  We decided to go through the cruise line so we could be off the ship bright and early.  Plus, if you are familiar with Pearl Harbor, there can be a two hour wait to get on to the memorial.  The cruise ship gets the tickets for you early in the morning which means a minimal wait once you arrive.  We took a little tour around downtown then toured the USS Bowfin (submarine) before our time to head to the memorial.  Though this is a major tourist stop, it definitely jerks your emotions.  After our visit to the memorial, we made a brief stop at the battleship Missouri then headed back to the ship.  In no time, we were headed to Paradise Cove for a traditional Hawaiian luau.  Just as I had imagined.  Beautiful!  Quite the place if you are looking for a luau on Oahu.

Luau with the love of my life!

Hawaiian sunset

Pearl Harbor Memorial

USS Arizona

Our visit to Kauai wasn't quite as planned but it was our favorite island.  Probably because of what we did?  Regardless, I'm ready to go back!  We were planning to rent a jeep and head out for some exploring.  Unfortunately it was incredibly difficult to find the shuttle to the car rental location and the taxi drivers were looking for tour passengers rather than our short trip.  So we hopped on a shuttle to the town right up the street, walked around the shops and then headed back to the ship.  We found a taxi driver, who was amazing, and took us to Kipu Ranch for our ATV tour.  Four hours of fun!  Plenty of history about the property we were on.  It's private land so not the easiest to get on.  As with many parts of Kauai, there were tons of movies/shows that have been filmed on the property.  We had an outstanding time.

This five year old (note the floaties) showed us all up on the rope swing!

James didn't listen to me about wearing his swim trunks -

so he took a dip in his boxers :)

Our lunch spot - the cat eats anything you don't (including lettuce)

If you look closely, there are several piglets 

Peacocks on our ATV tour

The last island on our itinerary was Maui.  We were off the ship bright and early, only to hop on another boat and head to the Molokini crater for some snorkeling.  This wasn't quite what I expected but I still had fun.  James was feeling a little under the weather so he didn't spend much time in the water.  The magnificent part of this trip - the humpback whales.  I would say we saw at least 15.  Beautiful creatures!  We were even able to see two babies.  On our way back to the ship, we made a second snorkeling stop where sea turtles are often at.  They were certainly there!  I was a bit timid on swimming with these creatures so I stayed on the boat.  Thankfully there were plenty that surfaced and so I was content.

Submarine (fast attack) that was near our ship in Maui

We then headed home.  Another several days of complete relaxation.  We made a quick stop at Ensenada.  Just enough time for James and I to grab some tacos.  Mmmmm, mmmm good.

The bar crew that completed our trip!

Hawaii was quite the success!  Another check off my 101 list along with the best vacation of my life!