The Lost Sea

Last weekend Paul & I met up with Holly and Cameron in Tennessee. We had a lot of fun but the best part was just being able to hang out with them and the kids. We love those kids and as usual really hated to say goodbye. I wish it was more often but I am glad we get the opportunity to see them as much as we do. While we were there we went through this cave called the Lost Sea. You basically take a tour through the cave and then take a boat ride in the lake inside the cave. We all had a good time although the walk back up was a little rough for someone who is 7 months pregnant but it was definitely worth it.

Holly & Cameron thought they would give Paul some parental training.

You can't really see much of the cave in these pictures. What you can see is that the humidity really did a number on my hair!

Baby Blanket

For Christmas this year I decided I wanted a sewing machine. I am not really sure why. I have not sewn anything since Home Ec in Jr High but I have two talented sisters that have taken it on and I guess I decided since I am going to be a mom soon I better get start getting domesticated. When I got it, I took it out of the box and threaded the machine but after that there was not a whole lot I could do but just kind of look at it. A few weeks later I decided to try making the baby a blanket. I did a rag quilt which was actually pretty easy and it ended up hiding a bunch of my flaws. I do have to say I was pretty proud at my first sewing project. We will see if there is more to come.

Baby Belly

I was kind of trying to avoid this picture but I have had a few people bugging me to see a picture of me pregnant and since most of my family does not get to see me pregnant I decided just to go ahead and throw it up here. So mom, this is for you.

Goodbye Ice Cream

So since I got pregnant my relationship with food has not been so good. The first 4 months of my pregnancy I couldn't eat anything. My appetite progressively got better but now all I want to eat is sweets which is probably not the best thing to be eating especially when I am pregnant but it was nice to want to eat something. Anyway, I became best friends with ice cream. I probably could have eaten for every meal. But I had my first doctors appointment since my kidney stones this past week and we were discussing that little incident. He told me I should probably lay off the dairy a little. Paul decided to open his mouth and tell the doctor about my ice cream addiction and of course the doctor advised not to be eating ice cream. I could not handle that. I even told him I would eat my cereal with a fork. And to compound all of that I got a call a couple days later informing me I failed my one hour glucose test so today I had to go in for the three hour test. If that did not go well I really might have to say goodbye to ice cream for the rest of my pregnancy! I am crossing my fingers that I passed this one but I guess we will have to see once I get my results. But the good news is that the baby is healthy and doing well which is most important.

Snow Day!!

So this is not going to be very exciting for those of you in Idaho & Utah because you are all probably sick of the snow by now but today we had a real snow day. We probably got about 4 inches which may not seem like a lot but around here it pretty much shuts everything down at least enough that Paul & I could not make it to work. I was mostly worried about being out there with the other drivers after hearing about how many accidents there were this morning on the news. It is a good thing we had plenty of bread and milk because that is usually the first thing to fly off the shelves at the stores when there is snow in the forecast.We did not get to see any snow here last year and probably won't see anymore for awhile so we just have to enjoy it while it lasts which will probably only be until tomorrow.

Hospital Preview

Of course I am also a little late posting this but that just seems to be the way things are going right now.

A couple weeks ago I got a nice little preview of the "Labor & Delivery" in the hospital. Paul and I were just sitting there on a Sunday night just being our usual lazy Sunday selves when all of a sudden something did not seem right with me. I thought maybe I was getting a Urinary Tract Infection so I just thought I would call my doctor the next day and see if I could get in to see him. About an hour later the right side of my lower back started to hurt really bad and I was so uncomfortable. So I called my mom crying and asked what to do. She said I needed to go to the hospital because it sounded like I had a kidney infection. So Paul drove me to the emergency room and it turned out to be Kidney Stones. . They couldn't do a CAT Scan with me in my current state but they were pretty sure judging by my symptoms that is what it was. They put me on some morphine for the pain and transferred me to Labor and Delivery where I stayed all night and all the next day until I was released on Monday night. Everyone kept telling me that they have been told that kidney stones are worse then delivering a baby so I guess I am all ready for April! (There will be no pictures with this post despite how hard Paul tried to get one.)

Christmas

I know Christmas was over a month ago so hey, I am a little slow but better late then never.

This Christmas was spent in Virginia with Paul's Family. Heather was here from Utah so it was nice being able to spend time with her and have everyone together. For the first part of our Christmas vacation we went up to Stanton to Grandma & Grandaddy Cauley's. We drove back to Richmond on Christmas morning and were able to spend some time at Emaw & Grandaddy Butler's with the whole Butler family. Christmas is my favorite time of year. It is so nice just to have everyone together and be able to spend time as a family. Paul and I are so blessed to be able to surround ourselves with wonderful family and friends no matter where we are.

This is the gift that keeps on giving. Last year at work we did a white elephant gift exchange. The gift I brought was a toilet seat wrapped in plastic wrap with tootsie rolls in the middle. Everyone thought it was pretty funny except for the one that ended up with it at the end of the game. I felt bad so I traded it back for the gift I ended up with. I had to get my monenys worth and reuse it again so we decided to wrap it back up this year and give it to Heather. After that some one had the idea to wrap it up again and give it to Grandaddy Butler. I do have to say that is one toilet seat that we have gotten some good use out of. (Don't worry, it has never been used on an actual toilet)