December 17, 2009

Tomorrow, I graduate from ASU.

Can I have a quick minute to brag?

*I'm proud of myself.

*I'm 21, and graduating with my Bachelors Degree in Education.

*If you go straight to college out of high school and go full time every semester, that's normal. But so often college students switch majors/don't know what they want to do and it takes them longer. I was fortunate to know what I wanted to do since I was little, and just went after it.

*I also completed it in 3 and 1/2 years, instead of 4. I'm graduating a semester early.

*A few times I didn't want to do it anymore. I went through a rough patch in life and school definitely got put on the back burner on my list of priorities. My grades tanked, and it took A LOT of work to get them back up.

*I've learned a lot about myself through my years in college. I definitely don't have a lot of school spirit, and I don't bleed maroon and gold, but college in general has been good for me. It's helped me grow up.

*I love teaching. Maybe I won't teach right away, since I'm going the family route, but I know I do want to do it someday.

*As of tomorrow night at 9 pm, I will be a college graduate. The first in my family.

*I am proud of myself.

Please don't take this as conceited or snobbish or braggy. I think it's ok to be proud of yourself as long as you're not prideful. I'm just happy I'm at this point in my life. Share in my happiness :)

This past week, Mr. Holmstrom and I had the pleasure of having our pictorals taken by the fabulous Kate Lines. She was kind enough to quickly edit some of them and email them to me to display at my baby shower 2 days later.

Um hi. I am in love.

PS I almost fell off this branch into the Salt River below. Pre-pregnancy I wouldn't have been afraid at all to walk out and balance on that branch.

I'm a little more protective of my body these days.

I can't say it enough.

I love this man.

I love this baby.

I love that in a month and a half I'm going to be a mom.

Christmas Help

What do you guys get your husbands for Christmas? Do you go all out and spend lots of money and get them big things? Do you do something sentimental? I keep asking Albert and all he tells me is small things like movies. Maybe it's just me...but I want to get him something better than movies for our first Christmas. He's so hard! He will put like zero thought into it so I'm pretty much on my own....and I have zero idea what to get him. Any ideas?!?!?

Things That Are Making Me Happy Today

1. Waking up to my husband who said, "Good morning beautiful."

2. Bajio chicken salad at my parent's casa for dinner.

3. My new pajama pants. I LOVE wearing pajama pants in the winter. And my cute belly on top of them. Ya, I just said it was cute. Pregnancy is beautiful, and I love my belly.

4. Having a husband who does this: (I hate doing the dishes without a dishwasher. Like, I HHHAAATTTEEE it.)

5. Remembering this moment:

6. And this one:

7. Feeling my little one move all around inside me, all day long. Seriously, this little girl is an acrobat or something!

8. The fact that I'm due 3 months from today!

9. That Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and knows what's best for us, even when we don't. Like how he let us know it was time to start trying for a baby 3 WEEKS into being married. We thought it was crazy too. But, he had a plan for us...and today I'm happy we had the faith to follow it.

The Great Pumpkins

So tonight we carved pumpkins with my family. We've carved pumpkins every year as long as I can remember, it's definitely a family tradition. Mr. Holmstrom said they never really did it too much growing up, along with a lot of other things my family does, so I love bringing him into our family traditions. I also love carving pumpkins with him because it reminds me of this:

This was the night we met. Well, it was technically meeting for the second time, when I randomly invited him to my pumpkin carving party, and we totally hit it off. Started dating the very next day! And you all know the rest of the story. So pumpkin carving with him will always be special to me.

Back to tonight. We went to my parents house and carved pumpkins as a family, minus Amber and Erik, who were camping. My grandma/grandpa Neel and cousin Steven even joined us!

I love how albino I look compared to my hispanic husband.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Holmstrom's and my pumpkins blew everyone else's out of the water.

Can you tell we have baby on the brain???

His is an ultrasound picture and mine is a pregnant lady silhoutte. Creative right??

Oh...and for those of you with dirty minds, those are the babies LEGS. Get your minds out of the gutter!

Thank my sister Ashley for pointing that one out.

Opinions needed....

Black crib? Or white crib? I think white cribs are really cute and would look great with the bedding I have picked out, but I think black or brown are cuter with boys bedding and want to be able to use it when we have a boy someday. I don't really want a brown one though, i'm not a huge brown person. Help me decide!!!

Dear Babycenter.com

Thanks for telling me my 25 week old fetus weighs about as much as an average rutabaga. She was once a kumquat, and now she's a rutabaga??!! Where do you come up with this stuff?? It was a much needed chuckle after a long, hard day.

PS: did you hear that? 25 freakin weeks!!! Ya baby!!!!

PPS: My mom just walked inside and literally said these exact words: "Does anyone know where my balls are?" to which her, my sister, and myself all started giggling. I'm still cracking up at it. We're so mature.

PPPS: Albert was talking to the fetus the other night, and whispered to her: "Please don't be a lesbian." I may or may not have cracked up really hard at that sentence too.

Edited to add: it's now a few hours later. Sitting on the couch, pouting, my mom said: "I lost my balls" in a sad, sad tone.

Mail Time

So there are several letters I need to write. Some things are just driving me crazy, and others I need to thank. Feel free to make fun of me, or don't. I don't care either way. Here is an insight into my brain. And keep in mind, it's a pregnancy brain, which is prone to all sorts of craziness anyway.


Dear constipation: Thank you for leaving. My rumplestiltskin is very thankful. I could take a break from the gas though, and I think my husband would agree.

Dear heartburn: Take a hint from your good friend constipation, and get the heck outta here.

Dear guy who lives in the studio next door to us: Why must you ALWAYS be showering/using water at the same time I need to shower? This whole scalding hot/freezing cold water thing is getting really old. And I'm tired of having to climb back into bed naked because I'm too lazy to put my clothes back on while I'm waiting for the water to heat up. I mean my husband's not complaining, but really...cut a girl some slack and just don't shower, do dishes, or flush the toilet in case it's when I need to shower. K? Awesome.

Which brings me to....

Dear builders of our apartment: Why did you put two apartments on one water heater? It's really quite annoying.

Dear sugar cookies: Get in mah bellaaaayyy!!!

Dear Boobs: Really? REALLY? You think getting even bigger is a good idea?!? I'm pretty sure you're going to be the size of bowling balls when all this is over. I hate you.

Dear Patrick Dempsey: Why are you so dreamy? Thank you for providing me with some eye candy every Thursday night, even though you are the same age as my dad. You slay me.

Dear Baby: I am so freakin excited to meet you I can hardly stand it. I love you more than I knew possible and you're only the size of an ear of corn! Even when you kick me in the boob, I still love you. Hurry up and get here so me and your dad can love all over you. He's pretty excited you know. And he's going to be the best dad you could have ever asked for. Him and I are so grateful you're being sent to us.

And lastly...

Dear Albert: I don't know how you put up with me every single day. I am a snarky, crabby, grouchy old preggo lady who somehow finds something negative in just about every situation, and you still love me. You make me a better person, and for that I am grateful. Thanks for already being a terrific dad to this cute little fetus. I love you!

Workin' Woman

Does anyone know of any part time evening jobs? I know it's a long shot, especially in this economy, but I could really use an evening job that I can do after student teaching and on weekends. Let me know if you know of anything. Thanks!

Viente Tres

So I never posted a pictoral last week at 22 weeks, going along with my 4 week pattern. Not that I'm growing rapidly, I've kinda peetered out and am growing a lot slower now. I think I just made up the word peetered. Is that a word? I don't even know. Anyway, here I am today at 23 weeks. (I know I chopped my head off. Pregnancy hormones have taken over and I had a tear stained/puffy eyed face. Aint no thang.)

Well hello thick arm, how nice of you to make an appearance.

Seriously, why does my arm look like a tree trunk??

Overall, things are going great. She moves all the time now! Mostly only I can feel it, but my mom and Mr. Holmstrom did feel her the other day. If I annoy her long enough by poking my belly she usually gets ticked and kicks back real hard. She's feisty, just like her mom. I hope that's a good thing. And she's more than 11 inches long and weighs over a pound now. What I want to know is how babies weigh so little when they're so long?? Sleeping has become a little difficult, I wake up everytime I need to move, and a body pillow takes permanent residence in between my knees every night. Mr. Holmstrom says he shares a bed with two people: me, and Thomas. The body pillow. Yep, he named it. And my back is in shambles already, even though I'm only halfway! So I got one of those sexy maternity belts you wear under your clothes, and it seems to be helping. Pregnancy wise, we're in good spirits, and we just can't wait for the next 4 months to fly by so we can see this little sweet girl!

Oh the Drugs...

So. As you all know, because I wasn't too quiet about it, this summer was horrible for me. As in the bane of my existence, HELL, a crapfest all around, you get my drift. I enjoyed this summer about as much as I enjoy having my entrails cut out and BURNED! I spent basically the entire summer like this, except replace that toilet with one of my mixing bowls we received for our wedding that I'm pretty sure I will never use again:

Not fun.

But then, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel, in the form of a little yellow pill!

Oh Zofran, how I love thee.

The sweet release you give my poor, achy little tummy.

You saved me heart, body, and soul this summer.

We shall never be apart as long as my womb is being rented by a vicious (although very cute) little tenant.

You see folks, I love this medicine. Probably too much. What is that doctor? You want to ween me off my miracle drug that brings me light and joy? Ok yes I will do that.

secretly pops sweet yellow pill in mouth

But then, last week something terrible happened. I ran out. Ok no big deal Erica, call in a refill. Looks at budget. No money! AAAHHH runs around in a fit of despair. Don't panic, i can do this. And to my surprise, I could. I wasn't feeling too crappy so I thought hey I must REALLY be over the worst of it! I can totally not take this anymore!

cue evil laughter from the depths of the womb

The fetus had a plan. A plan to make her mother hate life all over again! Hello, fetus, am I not the one who gave you life? Gives you food? Sings sweet songs to you to make you happy? Heck, I contributed in making you so darn cute, because I know you totally are! And do you see all those cute clothes over there? Those are for you when you decide to grace us with your presence. And sure, I may shine a flashlight in your eyes, or poke at you occasionally to get you to move, but cut a woman some slack she just wants to know you're still ok in there! Sheesh! No need to go all summer of 09 on her again!

Yes, the unthinkable happened. I woke up this morning barfing. Barf. Heaving. No no no I thought, I can't do this again! My body has been riddled with enough! So I continued getting ready, decided to try to go to student teaching anyway, where I was told I looked green. Perfect.

After throwing up in the trash can and having to track down the janitor, I decided to call it a day. I just didn't want to be running into the hall every ten minutes to empty the contents of my stomach so the fetus could have a little more play room!

I called my mom just to vent my situation a little where I got a butt chewing about letting my meds run out. But mom! money! it's expensive! But she just wouldn't have it. And guess what she did? Went and got it for me. Geez I have the best madre ever. I'm sure she wasn't complaining about me when my little fetus form made her miserable.

So anyyywwwaaayyy...long story short...I heart Zofran.

The End

The Big Announcement

So...I'm a bit of a dork. I didn't like the way I told my family about being pregnant, because I thought it was a little lame. I have heard of so many cute ways people tell their families, but I just couldn't contain myself long enough to plan anything so I just told them that night. So when the time came to tell them the gender, I really wanted to do something cute. But then again it's ME we're talking about and I'm not that creative. So after 18 weeks I still couldn't come up with anything. This is how the morning went down:

*Find out it's a girl

*I decide I'm starving and must have a bagel from Einsteins NOW so we leave the doctor's to get one, and Albert tells me he's going to call his mom and tell her. We had decided not to tell anyone from my fam til that night so we could do something cute, but then when I actually found out I was so anxious and couldn't wait!

*Go get a pink It's A Girl balloon and surprise my mom at her work. She about peed her pants because she thought she was going to have to wait until that night. She convinces us to drive out to Phoenix and surprise my dad at his work. I already told my mom, so what the heck??

*Go to walmart and get this shirt: (We're a big D-Backs family)

*Drove out to Phoenix...dad was at lunch. We hung it on his door and hid in his office, then when he came back he was all surprised and happy and gave us hugs and congratulated Albert on not being able to make boys either.

*When we were at my parent's later that night, Albert accidentally slipped to my little sister that it was a girl. So she already knew, so did my parents. They all played it off for the other 2 sisters though and acted like they didn't know. My mom went a little overboard and actually got mad at them for not being on time because "she really wanted to find out!!!"

*We hung the shirt on our little chalkboard door and covered it with a sheet

*Albert guarded it with his life and wouldn't let anyone peek.

*Everyone waited and waited and finally everyone was there

*TADA!!! It's a girl! Hugs, screams, you know how it is...

So everyone was real excited. After having all girls in my family, we know girls....We can do this!

IT'S A.....

YAY!! We had our ultrasound today and found out our baby is a girl! We are beyond thrilled, and not at all surprised. I had an extremely realistic and special dream when I was in the hospital that it was a girl and ever since then I have one hundred percent thought it was a girl. Don't get me wrong, I would have been happy with a little boy too, but I'm glad my intuition was right! Now I get to start planning all the cute things I can do!!!

Bumpalicious

It's that time again!

I try to post a bumpalicious picture every 4 weeks to track my progress. Last time I was a few weeks late, so for those of you getting sick of the baby bump...too bad! :) I am 18 weeks tomorrow so let's just call this the 18 week baby bump! Personally, I like the way it looks. I am very comfortable in my skin these days (well I'm technically very uncomfortable, physically, but looks wise I'm good!) and don't mind my belly growing. It's a reminder there's actually a little miracle inside me! And now for some other good news...

Tomorrow we find out what we are having!! I am beyond thrilled, a little nervous, and definitely anxious. I haven't even had an ultrasound so I just want to see the little one! So stay tuned for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

*Edited to add: What do you think of the haircut? The hubbster did it :)

Cal-I-Forn-I-A

Last weekend the fam and Albert and I packed up and headed to Cali for the weekend before school started for most of them. I had already been student teaching for 2 weeks and Aubrey had been in school for 2 weeks too, but for the other 3 college kids it was a last hoorah! before school started. It was so fun. I am exhausted and don't feel like writing a lot (ya right, I always say that and end up writing a novel) so I'll let the pictorals do most of the talking.

I lalalalove the beach. We checked into the hotel and headed straight to huntington beach for a little bee bee que. PS I also enjoy this picture of me. I look so happy.

Don't mind my shiny boobs commonly called headlights when this happens.

More often than you think.

The flash just likes to reflect off my bra.

Aint no thang.

Nothing like a weenie roast and smores on the beach.

This is what la padre has to do when he offends la madre.

Grovel.

Feeling Free.
Ignore the headlights :)

This is what happens when you combine a crappy camera with moisture in the air.

My whole family minus Ashley.

Don't you love how my little sisters tower over me?

This is also what happens when Erik and Albert get together.

Their gay sides come out.

At night Amber read out of the scriptures to us.

I was listening, I promise.

I just documented it by taking pictures of everyone and of myself laying in bed looking sexy in pjs and no makeup. Love it

I love my husband. He makes me smile

I hope I'm as cute and still in love as my grandparents when I'm their age.

This is how I spent the whole day. In a lounge chair, watching my husband play,

workin' the floppy hat.

I'm not sure if I pulled off the look, but I sure enjoyed trying.

We rented beach cruisers and rode up and down Newport across the ferry to Balboa Island.

My dad rode tandem with his mom.

Adorable.

I love Newport Beach. There is ALWAYS something going on and some form of entertainment.

This old black fella stole my heart with his amazing rendition of Unchained Melody.

He was also a bit insane.

Old man+wind pipes+pocahontas music+little hip wiggle=entertainment at it's finest.

Newport Pier. I love this man.

I almost lost my hat to the wind. I took care of that.

Huntington Beach regular who hammers a nail into his nose.

Sick.

Yet I stayed and watched the entire thing.

And I'll end with this gem

It was a great weekend.

I was sad to come home and get back to reality.

Cali, I will be back SOON!

14 Weeks

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago but I never got around to posting it. I am now 16 weeks and look basically the same but this was taken at 14 weeks. I am constantly reminded of how "big I am." Thanks family. I'm sticking with the story that I am short and have no torso so the baby has nowhere to go but out, as I have read online several places. It makes sense. Considering I have LOST a ton of weight, not put on any, I can't say it's weight gain that is making me big. I don't really like these pregnancy pictures because I always look like I'm sick, and my boobs look weird in them. Boobs is a funny word. So anyway here is the 14 week baby bump:

I went to the doctor today for my physical exam, since I had yet to have any sort of appointment that actually did anything besides talk to me or ask "are you sick? are you puking?" After today I would rather have those talking appointments. Nothing like stripping down and having an old man all up in my goodies. How do they just look at you and try to carry on a normal conversation while they're doing that?! I mean hello sir, that is my boob you are squeezing, can I please just stare at the ceiling in embarrassed silence or do we really need to discuss your childhoood? You are old enough to be my grandpa. Oh great, now I just imagined my grandpa in this situation. Awkward. And one other thing. Warning: If you don't like female reproductive words or want to know my personal biznass, stop reading. So to recap: strip down, old man doctor, legs in stirrups...you know the drill. Wait, I'm sorry, did you just ask me if I wanted to see my own cervix?! As in, the inside of my yayhoo?? Um...no thank you. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. That is one thing I never need to see. DO WOMEN REALLY DO THAT?!



Ok, enough about my lovely appointment. I just thought it was an interesting start to the day. Women with babies: Have you had any weird situations like that? Do you feel as uncomfortable at these appointments as I do? Hit me up with your stories, I really want to know.



Sidenote: I really do like my doctor. He's fab. But really...my cervix???