On The Way Home

Right now we are currently on our way back from Quapaw, (yes you read it right and it sounds just the way you think it does) Oklahoma. I'm in the front seat trying to keep boredom away by doing what else but blogging.

I am so happy to have found other friends that blog, but the trouble is they are all much better bloggers! They write better, know how to show pictures from other sources (such as a phone), and their lives are just more fun in general... I know our lives are about to get more hectic when our little one decides to make his appearance, but until then it's pretty slow, especially since our last trip of the summer is now over.

So in short if any of the 3 readers I do have have any suggestions on subject matter (things I could blog about like how Mark and I met if that would interest you or mu decision to stay home, etc.), or on syntax, or on anything else that you think would make this blog better please let me know. I wanna get in the habit of blogging a few times a week so people can keep up with us and they don't get bored. This I guess is my cry for help on how to make your reading experience more enjoyable...

Last Hooray. . . Probably

Well this week Mark and I are at Macedonia Baptist Church's youth camp with the Cliftones. They are playing music for them all this week, which is cool, because it happens to be the third year they have been asked. We really really really enjoy this camp very much, it is a great time to do something Mark loves for a week (music), get together with family, and just get away for a little while with some great preaching! This year Gaylon couldn't go sadly, but on the flip side my brother, Adam Jones, was able to fill in on base. Adam said he puts the "ones" in CliftONES. Haha.

Anyway, this camp is in Oklahoma, which is about 8 hours (all together) from Harleton. This is probably the last hooray before we have a baby, something which is starting to sink in and become harder to swallow. It is getting to be more uncomfortable to do things, even simple things, such as sit in a chair for a prolonged period of time, which is quite frustrating. Reid does like listening to his daddy and uncles, especially when Uncle Blake gets to going on the drums. He thinks he has to dance around I think. It is weird to think this is the last trip we will take kidless, I keep wondering what life will be like when he is finally here.

To be honest it is starting to really kinda scare me, the same way marriage did before we actually just jumped and did it. I have a huge fear of the unknown, and this is one of those things . . . I worry that I wont be able to get him on a schedule (and from all the books I have read, and from all my education classes I have taken, I KNOW kids do better on a schedule), take care of him, you know all of those things that are essential to keep him alive. I know I will do good, I really have no choice, I just want to be the best mom I can be, and do things right.

So yeah, that is what is going on right now. Last camp of the summer, last week away from home, last hooray before children, last everything. . . Sounds good!

27 Week Pregnancy Highlights. . . Thanks Lydia

So this is something I stole from a blogging friend of mine who is currently 41 weeks! Good luck Lydia, and thanks for the highlights.

27 Week Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 27 Weeks and getting bigger everyday. We now begin to go to the doctor every two weeks and then sometime after 34 or 36 weeks I think, we go every week. You know what that means, it is getting closer and closer! Aggghhh!

How big is baby: According to our last ultrasound at 24 weeks he was 1 pound 6 ounces. The app I have now says he should be about 2 pounds and anywhere from 14-16 inches long.

Weight gain/loss: I think I have gained about 25-30 pounds thus far. . . I was so surprised to learn I only gained 4 pounds since the last doctor visit I had. Considering all the junk and stuff I ate on the way to and from Wyoming, I figured I had gained at least 10!

Maternity clothes: Still in them, have been for a while now. . . Sadly my choices are in the beginnings of becoming slimmer and slimmer.

Stretch marks: Not yet thank goodness. I hope that isn't about to change, but I am afraid it probably is.

Sleep: It was amazing in the beginning, I had never slept better than I had when I was pregnant. However, it is now becoming harder as it becomes harder and harder for me to move. Rolling over is starting to be a chore and little aches and pains are making falling asleep difficult.

Best Moment of the Week: Finding out that when we get back from camp this week we have only one more week before we head to the doctor again. I don't ever get tired of hearing his heartbeat, which when I heard it yesterday, he also had the hiccups! Too cute!

Movement: Everywhere and a lot, especially late at night and right after I wake up!

Food Cravings: Nothing really, I am just liking food!

Gender: Still a boy :-)

Labor Signs: Nothing at all, which is what we want as of right now. Give me another 10 weeks and you will begin to read differently.

Belly button in or out: Still in, but severely stretched out!

Daddy: He has been wonderful lately, helping get me up off the couch, clean out the baby's room and closet, hanging curtains, you know just getting stuff done! I think we have both hit the nesting stage.

On a different note, Mark, me, and my brother (an honorary Cliftone for the week) are heading out with the rest of Mark's brothers to a Sky Ranch Camp in Oklahoma for the Cliftones to play at Macedonia Baptist's youth camp! This is our third year to do this, and it has been a blast each and every year. It is definitely a week I look forward to all summer and am so glad when it comes. I know this will probably be my last road trip for a while, which I am sure I will be ok with in a couple of weeks when I can't sit for too long. I am just ready to get everything done and squared away. It will just take me getting off this computer and couch to do it!

Getting Things Done (because it is getting closer)

Howdy fellow blog readers (all 3 of you). Right now I am sitting on the couch at my parents house, watching TV, while everyone else is down at their new motor home working on it. I was told to stay back and not get too hot, one of the perks of being almost 7 months pregnant. Along with being 7 months pregnant comes the feeling of becoming more and more uncomfortable. I am getting bigger everyday and stuff that was once considered easy, now either surprisingly hurt, or are just harder to do. I know it is for a good cause, but I am well on my way to the point of being ready to be done.

I am ready to be done, yes, but the "what happens after I'm done" (aka the baby coming out to play) scared me a lot. I am afraid of the HUGE life change that is about to take place. Mark related it back to the feeling you have right before you get married. You know that in a few weeks life is going to change, it is not going to be about only you anymore, it is about your spouse. Well this is about 100 times more scary than that. I am excited about meeting him, seeing his little personality, being his momma, teaching him, and all of this other stuff, but that also comes with anxiety too.

Anyways, because it is getting closer to d-day, I have begun the nesting stage (unofficially). I have been cleaning out all these things that have been bothering me. My dresser drawers are clean, my closet is getting that way, Reid's room (his closet for the most part) is cleaned out, now it is on to decorating. We need to get paint and get started doing that, along with a dresser, and everything else. We are wanting to go ahead and get it done before our showers, so that way we can just take it in there and set it up. I am so worried we are going to get sssoo much stuff that it will just TAKE OVER THE HOUSE! I guess that is what happens when you have a child though.

So yeah, we have a lot of stuff to get done over the summer before we can have this baby. Hopefully it will all happen in a relatively quick manner and BEFORE he decides to show up ;)

26 Weeks and Counting, and. . . Nesting?

I cannot believe that I am 26 weeks pregnant! Time has really just flown by in this pregnancy! I am hoping it continues to do just that! I cannot believe how big my belly as gotten and I know it will only get bigger, believe me no one has to tell me that, even though everyone seems to think they must remind me of this fact. It is hard to believe that we are on the downward slope of this thing. I don't know how ready Mark and I for this though, because as of right now his room is still a wreck.

We have been so busy lately that when we got home we have just crashed, are lazy, and don't feel like doing anything. Seriously, there are so many things in that room that we have to get out of there. We have to also choose a paint color, paint the room, and then decorate it all. I also have to reorganize my kitchen to where I can fit all of our food, dishes, and the new things such as bottles and all that I am sure will be coming into our house shortly. There is also the decluttering that must ensue too, our bedroom looks like Wyoming threw up on it (in the words of Mark).

Obviously nesting has just set in, I guess, but the motivation to do it is still lacking. I really really need a maid or something, someone to push me along and get me to do something. It will all come in time, I just need to take the time to get it done. Welp, its off to bed.

Back from Wyoming and 25 Weeks Pregnant

In case you didn't know, Mark, and me along with other adults and a few youth headed up to Wyoming to do a week long mission trip called World Changers. At World Changers your church group is split up onto different crews (with only a few people of who you came with) and you do house repairs for people in a chosen community. It was a great week, we got a lot done, I didn't sweat at all due to less than 15% humidity and it didn't get above 85 degrees the whole time! My crew took out 9 windows and put them back in along with new trim on both outside and inside. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I made it there and back without too many problems.

I am currently 25 (almost 26) weeks pregnant and getting bigger each and every week (duh). Reid is doing good, kicking away when I lay down and get still. He supposedly weighs up to 2 pounds now and is 9 inches long crown to rump. I am beginning to feel more and more discomfort as he grows, especially in my back where I have a rib out of place. It hurts the most when I have sat with no side support for a prolonged period of time or if I overexert myself. I fell asleep on a heating pad just about every night, but it was because of sitting in worship, not working.

I am ready to have my body back, though I know it wont come for at least 14 more weeks. I am just ready to look normal again and feel normal again. I am ready for the next doctor appointment to see how he is doing and how much he has grown. I also have a glucose test scheduled for that day. I have heard these are not so pleasant, but it is worth it. I just hope everything is ok, especially after all the junk I have consumed in the past 10 days! Needless to say I am looking forward to my bed tonight. I was grateful to the air mattress for keeping me off the floor of a jr. high school, but am more excited about my memory foam tonight and a long hot shower that is calling my name right now!