57 years

There is this old man that I work with at the rec center. When I say old I mean OLD. He's like 86-89 years old. I can't exactly remember. I know for sure he's in his 80's. He does some of the janitorial work around the rec center. Let me tell you about him.

His name is Dean and he pretty much makes my day every time I see him. He's always so happy and kind even though he cleans windows and sorts through the nasty lost and found items. He also whistles when he says his s's which I can't help but smile every time. He also brings the front desk a huge handful of fun size candy bars every time he works. One day while at work I got assigned to this ridiculous task of making these ginormous signs for Spooktacular. I was basically 7 months pregnant and had to be on my hands and knees taping these huge sheets of paper together to make an even bigger piece of paper of 96 inches by 112 inches. I was on my hands and knees on a concrete floor taping them together. And who came along to offer me some help? 80-something Dean! He got down on his hands and knees and helped me tape these papers together. I felt almost guilty accepting his offer but he seemed to be more capable than me!

The other day he came to empty the lost and found bin and I asked him how long he had been married for.

57 years.

57 YEARS.

I know my next question was probably stupid but I couldn't help but wonder...
me: "And you still like her?"
dean: "oh yes, she's a sweetheart. I think I'll keep her."

And I knew he meant it. Not just one of those things you say to someone because the real answer would be awkward. I know that being in love and being married forever is a very possible thing but I have to admit that I don't know very many people who have been married for 57 years.

I have every hope and desire for this kind of longevity with my marriage. In fact, I want it for forever.

I think my next question I'll ask is, how does one stay married and in love for 57 years?

If you blog it...They will come.

My last post I said I had no pictures of me because my friends hadn't posted any as of yet so I was just waiting on them. And voila! Both friends posted pictures. And no I assure you I am not having twins (I was asked that today) I've just gotten HUGE in the last month. So here I am in all of my large whale-ish glory....

me and one of my best friends Lisa who is due 2 weeks after me!

5 of the 6 of us from high school

I look ginormous in this picture but I had to post it because my husband is so darn cute

And these last 2 were taken of me today at 35 1/2 weeks
Look how much I've grown since month seven!

Although I've basically lost my waist you can see I'm pretty much just carrying this little girl out in front. Which according to a man named Roger who comes in to my work is how he could tell I was having a girl. He's kind of crazy so I attribute his correctness to a 50% shot at getting it right.

month 8

I would just like to point to the little count down ticker thing to your right....

5 more weeks! whoa! I can't believe I'm 35 weeks.

Every day I think to myself, "There is no way I can get any bigger or more uncomfortable." And then it only takes until the next day for me to get bigger and more uncomfortable.

Some of the things people say to me a lot are....
"You just keep getting bigger!"
"Wow! You're huge."
"You're looking good!"
"I think you're going to pop!"
"You look uncomfortable."

Some of these things I'm not really sure how to respond. "You look uncomfortable" Um... thank you?

Since I work in customer service I get a lot of random advice from people I've never seen before in my life. I also think it's funny when I help other women who are also pregnant and they start talking to me like we're best friends.

Right now....
I love apples.
I crave salad.
I walk really incredibly slow.
Walking short distances puts me out of breath.
Sometimes when I eat I feel like I'm going to puke because I'm so full.
I get an insane amount of braxton hicks which my doctor doesn't seem worried about. It just bugs me because every time I have a contraction it makes me need to pee. And walk weird.
My baby has yet to (and hopefully won't) kick me in the ribs.
She does however enjoy kicking me in what I think is my ovary. It hurts.
She still moves a ton and some how manages to switch from my right side to my left about every other day. I'm not sure how she does I just know that my stomach moves a lot when she does this.
I sleep with 5 pillows.
I take a nap every day.


And I haven't taken any pictures of myself but my friends have (you know who you are) and I'm waiting for them to post them so I can....ahem.

A bit behind...

All of my friends wrote posts about what they are thankful for during Thanksgiving and I wanted to do the same but now it's December 1st... oops.

I'm thankful for...
My amazing/incredible/fantastic/sweet/loving/generous/sexy husband
My happy marriage
Family + Friends
the wonderful FREE country I have the opportunity to live in.
those in the military who help keep our country free.
My house
My 2 dogs
Having 2 working vehicles
Leisure time
My education
A warm bed
Food in my cupboards
Our jobs
Health Insurance
the ability to grow human life
medical advances
nap time
indoor plumbing

Plus 1001 other things!

I'm really not trying to copy my friend Lisa's "things that must go" post. I was planning on doing an "I'm so over..." post before I read hers. Plus, Lisa is copying Radio From Hell so I don't feel that bad :)

I'm SO over....

• aching feet
• aching back
• acid reflux
• feeling ginormous
• crappy sleep
• back acne
• body parts jabbing me (painfully) in random places
• braxton hicks
• wearing the same 4 outfits over and over
• feeling tired all the time
• always feeling much too warm
• people asking me every day "how are you feeling?" I get the gesture, it's nice and thank you but I feel fine enough to do whatever it is I'm doing. So please stop asking.

In other news, I had another doctors appointment today and everything still looks great. I still seem to be right on track with everything. However, my doctor did give me some pretty shocking news... like send me into mini panic attack mode, shocking.

She told me that once I hit 34 weeks which is a little less than 2 weeks away... IF I go in to labor they won't do anything to intervene to prevent me from giving birth. AAHH!!

I know that most likely I will not go in to labor at 34 weeks, but still it made me think... in 2 weeks I could have a baby! AAHH!!! We don't even have a crib yet! On the way back from our appointment I was a little panicky about how unprepared we are to have a baby in 2 weeks. Troy had to remind that I'm due in a little less than 8 weeks and not 2 weeks. Which made me feel a little better.

Until he said, "But just in case... you should probably pack your hospital bag."

Good grief. With all of this anxiety this news has caused me I'll probably send myself in to early labor.

What a beautiful mess I'm in...

I'm pretty darn lucky because this guy married me....

We've had a lot of surprises these past 8 months. Some good, some bad. It's taken a lot of adjustment for both of us. There have been a lot of tears (mostly on my part) but Troy has always kept me looking on the bright side and laughing. He's been so great to me during the pregnancy too. Even when I'm having a ridiculous mood swing and I'm being rather unpleasant he just laughs at me instead of being offended.

Even with everything going on and all of the things we have to figure out I wouldn't change a thing as long as I can have him by my side. We have so much to be grateful for. And we're so grateful and so excited for our biggest surpise to join us in SIXTY DAYS!!!

Finally finished!

I've had a few friends who wanted see a picture of the Halloween costume I made (but never wore). I was so sad I didn't get to wear it because I worked really hard on it but luckily it only cost me the price of an extra large roll of bargain brand aluminum foil :) so here it is... my bun in the oven costume.


And then remember this...

Well now it looks like this....
I was originally planning on using a lot more glaze but I ended up really liking the look of the antique white paint. So I did a very light coat of glaze, just enough to make the little details stand out better. The picture doesn't quite do it justice.