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!