Basketball

...is not a sport I necessarily play. Or really love for that matter.

But it's what my little sister Addie thinks is under my shirt. (She is turning 2 this week.) When I see her now she points at my stomach and repeats "basketball, basketball" to try and understand why there is a large bump sticking out of my body. A few people have tried to tell her there's a baby in there, but she really doesn't buy it. She just looks at them like, "yeah like I'm really gonna believe that" and then continues to think I am just sporting a basketball under my shirt. Sometimes she'll try and lift up my shirt but she doesn't need proof anyway. She knows it's a basketball.

(Meet Addie. She eats Dora off of her birthday cake. She doesn't care if it's plastic or not.)

My little 3-year old nephew Tayden doesn't think it's a basketball. He knows there is a baby....somewhere. He doesn't quite understand that it's actually inside of me but he knows two things. There is a baby somewhere and it's a boy. Whenever we see him he'll ask, "is that boy at your house?" or sometimes he'll just ask, "where is that boy?" If I try to tell him it's in my tummy, he immediately needs to see and will start trying to pull up my shirt, so we've stopped with that and now we just say he isn't here yet. He's pretty content with that answer.

(Meet Tay. He poses for every picture ever taken with a face very similar to this.)

Pregnancy is weird.

I guess I like it since I like the little boy in there, but sometimes I still can't wrap my head around the fact that there is really a human inside of me. And better yet, a human that is a little piece of me and Mike. I can't even imagine what he will look like. It could get a little scary with the vast gene pool we've got going. He could be dark, or light, or blonde, or black-haired... the possibilities are really endless. We even have red-haired genes on my side of the family. What if we have a brown red-haired baby? I can't really imagine that combo being cute... but I would hope that we would at least think it was.

You know what else is weird?
How the general public starts to take so much interest in the fact that I have a human inside of me.

I feel like any old lady I see puts their hand on my stomach and does a little "ohhh." The funny part is that every time they ask after they have already put their hand on my stomach, "Oh you probably hate when people touch your stomach huh?" Well if I did it would be a little too late now. I actually don't really mind at all. It's not like I love it or anything, but I don't really care if they need proof that there's something in there.

One thing I don't really love, but can get a laugh out of are the "Poor girl..." comments that I can hear. Okay so I've only heard one. But I'm sure there have been more! And it was a pretty "poor girl" type sight so I understand. I was trying to follow my very quick-walking brother in law and Mike as they crossed the street and I started to sort of jog across to make sure I didn't miss them. I must have been jogging weird because all the sudden it felt like my back was about to go out. Or break. Or both. So I had to slow it down and waddle across instead. I heard a guy behind me say quietly laughing to his wife, "poor girl.." haha I guess it was pretty pathetic looking.

The ones I don't mind though are the sweet 30-40 year old women who take the time to stop and tell me I look cute. This mainly happens at Target or Walmart in the check-out or parking lot. I totally don't believe them, but it's sweet because they have probably been in this situation before and know how it feels. If they could see my ankles (or lack there of..) though they would probably retract their comments.

All in all,  it's been a good experience though. I've learned how to eat a lot healthier. (even though I don't put that into practice all the time..) I've built up about 9 months worth of motivation to get back into shape after this baby too. Hopefully that sticks. It's also been a fun little experience to go through in our marriage. Mike's been so good to be supportive and making sure I'm feeling okay when we are out doing things. We have had a lot of fun getting excited about putting his room together too and imagining how things will be once he finally arrives. I can't say I'm gonna miss it. Maybe when it's over I'll miss it.. but right now those words and thoughts are definitely not coming. I'm just so excited to have my ankles back, stop the weight gain that seems to never cooperate with my wishes, and most of all to meet this little guy and be able to see physically that he's healthy and happy.

7 more weeks...7 more weeks...7 more weeks.

Party Time!

Last week was insane. 

As was this weekend. 

But oh so fun!

Mikey's birthday was on Wednesday so we did some fun little things for that. I got him "25 gifts for 25 years" and had him find things around the house throughout the day and then a few things after work. It was fun and he was a good sport about me making him follow my instructions. We went to dinner at Tucano's and then went to get our shop on at City Creek and Gateway. Mikey got some running shoes and found some dress shoes at Ross on the way home. I love his birthday. He's such a sweet boy and it's fun to have a day dedicated to him for once. :)

The next day was my mom's birthday. My step dad Nick threw her a surprise party over the weekend. I'll talk more about that in the pics below. :)

Friday we went to the temple, a wedding reception, and had dinner with my Dad and Tara. They are always so nice to cook for us. I love my dad's cooking. That's for sure.

On Saturday, my sweet friends Makenna and Kortnie put together a little baby shower for the little guy. It was really fun and they did such a good job with the decorations and food and all the other things that go into throwing a shower. I am so grateful for friends like them. Here are a few pictures. We meant to take some with the belly displayed but somehow forgot. I've got to get a grip on this picture taking business. That will be my mid-year resolution.

I forgot to get pictures of the guests, but I did manage to get one of my work girlies after everyone else had already left. They are so cute. I feel so grateful to get to work with them, they've become some of my besties.

Then later that day we went to my mom's surprise birthday party! We all met at Buca Di Beppo and had some dinner. She was super surprised and had lots of friends come to wish her a happy birthday! 

They had a DELICIOUS coconut cake for her too. I could have eaten the whole thing it was so good.  

Then on Sunday we celebrated Mothers Day with our Mothers. All 4 of them. They are all so special to us in different ways but we are grateful for all of them. The day started with Mikey speaking in church. He did a really good job and focused his talk on how to make sure we express love to the women in our lives. (mostly directed toward the guys I guess) But it was really sweet and I loved listening. I love when he talks in church and I get to listen instead of talking with him and being so nervous haha. Then after that, we went and visited our step moms and brought them a little gift. We have some awesome step moms who teach us lots by their examples. We wrapped up the day by hosting a Mothers Day dinner at our house for my mom and Mike's mom. It was fun to give them a break from hosting and they had a good time relaxing. Through the weekend, I thought a lot about the things I learn from each of the "mothers" in our lives and I wanted to write down some of the things that I love about each of my mothers. 

Michelle (Mike's step mom): Michelle is the sweetest lady. She's so compassionate and cares about everyone's feelings and how everyone is doing so much. She is always there to listen and will always make sure each child and grandchild feels loved and cared for. Such a good example of a good, nurturing mother. 

Tara (my step mom): Tara is the most generous person I know. We rarely go over there without coming back with some sort of gift or something sent home with us. She's also so fun to talk to and we always have fun around her. She always invites us over for dinner just to be nice, and best of all she shares Addie with us. Another thing I love about her is that she really tries to always make us feel welcome and loved and she'll always tell us how much Addie loves us. She's a really good friend to us which is really unique to have in a step mom I think. We love being around her.

Dawna (Mike's Mom): Dawna is a little party animal. She is always up for anything and it's so fun. She makes herself and others feel comfortable in all situations which is a rare quality I think. (Mike has taken after her which I always admire about him.) She is ALWAYS willing to help with anything. No matter what it is. She also is always willing to rearrange her plans or whatever she has going to spend time with us, which makes us feel loved for sure. She is so energetic and talkative. I admire her energy a lot of the time. 

And last but not least...

My mom (Darlene): My mom is the most organized lady in the universe. She labels everything. She is really productive and she's the type of person that sets goals and reaches them. She's not your typical teary-eyed, hugs all around mom, but I love her the way she is. She's driven and she tries hard to make God a part of her life each day, which I think is really admirable. We are really different and maybe a little bit opposite in a lot of areas, but she teaches me strength where I am weak which is really important. She's really smart and is really good at making decisions which I can definitely improve on. One thing really unique about her is that she is really hard to offend. She doesn't think into things a whole lot (like most of us crazy women) and I usually don't have to worry about ever unintentionally offending her by the things I say or do. She's really low-drama and it's refreshing a lot of the time. She's also really straight-forward. She will tell you what she thinks without the filter. I've learned that if I want the truth on something I can ask her and she'll pretty much always deliver. She's a good lady. 

I love all my mothers and hope everyone else had a great Mother's Day as well! Here's to more birthdays this week!  Happy birthday to Bethany, Jenn, Mikey, my mom, and me! 5 birthdays in 10 days! Woo hoo! 

My Mikey

It's this boy's birthday today! He is 25 years old. I can't even believe it. 

25 seems old. 

I love him oh so much and can't imagine finding anyone in the world who treated me as sweet as he does. 

I hope he has the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday to my Mikey!!!

(PS sorry about the ancient picture-- I don't seem to take many pictures lately... maybe because of the extra huge stomach...yeah probably because of that)