23 Weeks, A Wedding, & Christmas!

This has to be quick. So my goal is to make it more pictures than words... which is hard for me because I like to story tell. But Ah well, here it goes.

A Wedding

The weekend before Christmas Sam and I drove over to Spokane for our BFF's wedding. Ryan got married! The wedding was gorgeous, the reception was a blast, and we had SO much fun hanging out and pretending to be experts on marriage. Congrats Ryan and Christie!!


Christmas

Christmas this year was with the Nielson fam. It was a rare year as ALL FIVE Nielson kids were able to be together to celebrate. We had a really good time playing games and eating lots of food with the whole family. And all the grandkids are getting SO cute. We had a blast watching them all play together. It was really good times. Unfortunately, I'm getting ultra awful at taking pictures and I didn't take a single pic all week. I know... it's horrible. So, I have nothing to show for our awesome adventures in Clarkston... sorry!! :(

23 Weeks
Well, I think this is when the weeks start crawling. It feels like they've just flown by til now. I mean... there were huge differences between 13-15-17-19 weeks, but I feel like the 20's are all gonna mush in together. Nonetheless, I've taken a belly shot and there's been some definite growth. Baby Boy N. is growing! AND, he's moving! A lot!


This morning I laid in bed w/ my hand on my belly for a good 10 minutes and just felt him rolling and kicking and swiping at my insides. He was rearing to get up and go this morning! Love that.

Well, that's it for today folks. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL New Year's Eve celebration and I wish everybody the happiest of New Years!!

2009 was a great year... now bring on 2010!! Woohoo!!

21 Weeks & Sam Goes to Jail

Ok, so Sam didn't actually go to jail. He did however go to San Francisco on a guys weekend to celebrate Ryan's last weekend of bachelorhood with Ben, and they did visit Alcatraz. Here are some pics from that weekend full of shenanigans.

Headed out to "The Rock."


Just trying out an old jail cell for size... maybe this one was Al Capone's?


They went to a Sacramento Kings game Saturday night and Ryan couldn't pass up this photo-op. I guess he better get his thrills while he can.

So maybe it wasn't all evil shenanigans... they did manage to fit in a trip to the Oakland Temple. It's so gorgeous!!

It sounds like they had a fun trip and hopefully Ryan got some words of wisdom from the two happily married travel companions of Sam and Ben. We're so happy you finally found a girl to put up with you Ryan, and we can't wait for the big day tomorrow!!

21 Week Update
Well I'm over the halfway hump. I don't know how this pregnancy can feel like it's crawling and speeding by all at once.

We got to have another ultrasound yesterday since our 17w one was a bit early and they just wanted to have another look at Baby N's organs when they were a little more developed. I had no problem with that! Bonus ultrasound! Yay :)

He looked great and was super active and wiggling all around. He was pulling his feet up to his mouth and stretching and kicking and moving around like crazy. Here are some of the pics from our Ultrasound...

And here is this week's belly shot!

I definitely have a belly now... And Baby N is moving SO much now! It's so fun to feel him squirming around in there and to know he gets to go everywhere with me. It's probably the only time he'll have to suffer through a spinning class with Mom or work for the Department of Ecology. Kinda fun.

Well that's it for now! Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season!

20 Weeks & I Got Clams

Broken Heart... Valve. An Update!

So, first off... thank you to all of you who have expressed your concern about my Dad's surgery. The surgery went well and although he's had some bumps in his recovery (I guess that's why no one ever says open heart surgery is easy??) he's doing remarkably well. He's so optimistic, and even through the moments of excruciating pain, he manages to find the bright side and has totally managed to keep his glass-half-full attitude!

Dad, you are SO loved by your family and friends and we are all pulling for you to get through all this recovery stuff as soon as possible. Thanks for being so strong and managing to put smiles on our faces even when we are frustrated and think you have every excuse to be too! You manage to keep up your "good spirits" and go with the flow. I love you so much and am so grateful for the wonderful example that you are to all of us.

Razor Clam Digging 2009

If there's one thing that the Nielson family loves to do, it's get together and have a good time. I suppose if there was only one thing you could love to do, that'd be a good one, right?

So this weekend Sam's parents, sister and her husband all came up and it was a grand ol' time. Sam and I had already been planning on getting our Christmas tree Saturday morning and it worked perfectly into the Nielson weekend agenda o' fun. We cut our tree down and then Maria and Jodi went to town with the decorating! Woohoo! Let the prego girl just stand aside and hand off the light strands, I was TOTALLY ok with that :) It was so much fun and there is nothing like having your tree up and decorated. Love. It. Thanks Maria and Jodi!!

Then, it was off to Ocean City (just north of Ocean Shores) for the Razor Clam dig! If you've never done this, then you've never experienced the feeling of being up to your knees and elbows in ocean water/sand/muck, in the pitch black, in the freezing cold. So. Much. Fun.

I opted to sit this one out and play the supportive lantern-holder role. You know, played the prego card. Which seriously isn't that lame of a move since Sam is always sick after we go clam digging for at least a week afterwards. But it's always a blast.

I also thoroughly enjoy the chocolate milk/donuts ritual that usually follows the whole event.

20 Weeks - Half Baked
Crazy, right? How did this thing get half done already? I'm feeling good, and apparently so is Baby BOY N.! He's moving. A lot. He loves to wiggle around a bunch at night while I'm trying to get to sleep... I'm afraid I have a night owl, and I only have myself to blame for that.

Oh, and we hit another fun milestone! Last Saturday morning when Sam and I were just waking up Baby N. was really hopping around in there. I told Sam we should maybe start seeing if he can feel him, knowing that usually it takes many many tries until the husband successfully feels said baby. Nope. It took about 30 seconds. Baby N. reached right out and gave Sam and pretty good high 5 right in the palm. Pretty cool.

So here's today's belly shot. Actually, this was taken yesterday and I fully feel that my belly has gone down a bit today. It's kinda weird and is very influenced by how much is in my stomach and um... bowels. Nuff said.Still, pretty significant difference, right? How did I think I was showing at week 12?

It's really a strange feeling though. It just keeps growing and I have no control over it! So, on that note... I think it's about time for my afternoon snack :)

19 Weeks & a Broken Heart... Valve.

I gotta start off the beginning of the post by dedicating it to my Dad. He had OPEN HEART SURGERY today! I'm happy to report that everything went well with the surgery and he is currently recovering in the Intensive Care Unit.

He found out last week he had a failing aortic heart valve and needed immediate surgery for replacement of the valve. This is a major surgery. They take a jigsaw to your chest, separate the ribs, and stop the heart. That's the easy part. They then have to remove the valve, put in a new one, get your heart going again, and sew you back up with such precision - can't even be off by a hair - or else you could mess up normal blood flow and need a pace maker installed for the rest of your life.

All reports say the surgery went as good as it possibly could have and my Dad's now on the road to recovery. I am SO relieved!! I was kicking myself I didn't stay down there all week instead of flying home last Monday so that I could be additional support in the waiting room, but it sounds like he had a great cheering squad... all 3 of my sisters, one bro-in-law, and my mom sat in the OR waiting room throughout the whole surgery, and were all there when he woke up.

So Dad, thank you for opting to have this surgery ASAP because we all need your ticker workin' for another 66 years! This world would be a much worse place if it was minus one Ladd C and I am SO happy you're on the road to recovery :)

If only we just lived closer...

So, now on to the weekly pregnancy update!!I am 19 weeks!! How did I get so far along? This is ONE week from being half way through... crazy.

I am feeling definite movement, but I wouldn't say I've felt "strong kicks". But the movements feel much more distinct and much less like other weird things that could be going on in my body. I love feeling him move. Love. It.

Other than out-growing most my pre-prego jeans, everything is going great. I feel good, have tons of energy, and have not had any strange-off-the-wall cravings yet. Darn. The belly is definitely showing but could still be mistaken for A Too-Much-Thanksgiving-Peanut-Butter-Pie Belly (Mmmmm, thanks Shelley!!)

Speaking of the belly... here it is at 19 weeks:So that's about all there is to report this week. It's been super busy around here and life's not slowing down anytime soon. We got Sam's family coming to go clamming out at the ocean this weekend, so maybe I'll post some fun pics from that. It's always a guaranteed good time :)

Big Ultrasound, and...

We had our BIG ultrasound two weeks ago and Baby N. was NOT shy about letting us see HIS parts. He was super active throughout the whole thing and was squirming around and sucking his fingers and waving his arms and sticking out his belly and arching his back and putting on a whole big show!

There was one part though, when the tech wanted to get a profile shot, and all he wanted to do was lay face down. She had me roll to my left side, then back to my right side, then back on my back to see if we could get him to move. Sure enough, he was now looking straight up but quickly rolled over to cover his face again! It was too cute.

She told us we had a "difficult" baby and I could only reply that he is his father's child.

Here are a few of the ultrasound images we got to take home with us :)
Since our ultrasound was so early (17w) and they usually don't do them until 20-21 weeks, we got to schedule another one for 21 weeks! I can't wait. It's two weeks from today and I am so anxious to see our little boy again.

I'm starting to feel him move more and more and yesterday I popped into my Dr's office to hear his heartbeat just for fun. It was beating healthily away at 150 bpm and the nurse had to move the doppler multiple times to find his heart because he kept wriggling away and she would lose him!

I am loving pregnancy and all the planning and am starting to get REALLY excited to shop nursery items and plan a theme. A post regarding preliminary nursery thoughts will be made soon, and so will the 19 w update!!

The weeks are just flying by!

Viva la Mexico!

Ok, so yes, I know the gender. Hooray hooray! If you don't know by now, then you're not my Facebook friend (ultrasound pics and the announcement are posted there) and probably just not my friend. Just kidding. Kinda.

I'm not ready to move onto that subject just yet. I have to cover the big Vacay!! So here we go. I'll run you through day by day and I'm sorry the embedded pics are pretty impossible to see, but if you click on them they get bigger and I think if you click again they magnify and you can see them in real size. Ya know, if you're interested.

So we set out from LA for our 7-day cruise... it was super fun! It's hard to come back (but I was willing, since we had our BIG ultrasound!! But... I digress).
Day 1 - Embarkation, pretty uneventful. Just explored the ship, ate some food, had to do an emergency drill (which we never had to apply to real life, THANK GOODNESS!), watched a show in the auditorium, and probably ate more food. Chocolate ice cream? Yeah, for some reason the baby wanted that every night. Who am I to say no??

Day 2 - At Sea all day. Another day of boat exploration, hitting up the gym (I walk/jogged 3 miles! A real accomplishment since the rocking boat makes you really have to work to stay in the middle of the treadmill), laying in the sun, eating lots of food (and yes, ice cream), going to more shows, and watching movies. Good day.

Day 3 - Cabo san Lucas. Our first stop. We only had about 4-5 hours here so we didn't go far from the boat (you can see it's just out on the water from us). We shopped vendors, walked the boardwalk, ate some pretty tasty Mexican food, and got our tan on.

Day 4 - Mazatlan. Again, we only had like 5-6 hours here so we didn't get TOO adventurous. However we did take a taxi from the port to the shopping districts which was quite the eye-opener as we drove through the city. Wow. Talk about poverty and a run-down area! Houses that are just falling apart and look like they must be vacant would have curtains and clothes lines out front. Every building and every store looked dingy and like it could crumble at any moment. Pretty nuts. Even the "Gold District" where the shopping and restaurants are supposed to be wasn't much to see.

BUT, the food in Mazatlan was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Oh my gosh. Mexican food is one of my fave cuisines, but since I've been back, I've had zero desire to eat it here. It's just not the same. I don't think I'll ever be able to go to a Mexican restaurant in the U.S. and not be disappointed, from now on. Mazatlan, you were worth the drive just for your quesadillas. And your enchiladas. And your beans, and your rice, and your guacamole. Oh my. The guacamole. Ok, you get the point.

Day 5 - Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta was our favorite stop. We had the longest amount of time here, so maybe it's just because we got to see the most of it, but it was bar far the most beautiful (of what we saw). I was amazed the whole time at how I felt we were walking through a rain forest... with the giant trees, the humidity, the crazy cawing birds, and the lush green every where you looked. So pretty. So tropical.

We started off by checking out a big flea market (that was embedded in the huge trees) and shopping all the same ol' crap we'd seen everywhere else. Bracelets, necklaces, sun dresses/swimsuit coverups (I bought two, and am wearing them in these pics... purple & black ones :), blankets, plates, etc. We walked the shopping district and I was awed by the gorgeous white buildings and the cobblestone roads. Loved Puerto Vallarta.

We did lunch at Senor Frogs. They're everywhere down there and I think it's probably like eating at Red Robin here? Not too fancy, but we weren't disappointed in the food. The definite highlight was the chips and salsa, which I highly recommend. They brought all the ingredients out and made it right in front of you... Loved it!!

After lunch, we continued exploring and then hit the beach to cool off in the warm yet refreshing ocean and work on our tan (or my burn, as you can see in some of the pics). After walking around for hours and working up another appetite, we hit up Senor Frogs again for chips and salsa round 2. It was that good.

Day 6 - At sea. Apparently I didn't take many pictures this day. But I did manage to capture this sunset that night. This day was spent sleeping in and resting our worn out legs from the 3 previous days of exploration. We played some cards, watched some movies, worked out, ate food, watched shows in the auditorium, and enjoyed this sunset. How romantical.


Day 7 - At sea. Apparently I didn't take many pictures this day either... and it was our last day! I'm realizing I took like NO pictures of the boat, which was a sight to see in itself. These ships are amazing. Ours had 14 decks, like, 12 elevators, who knows how many restaurants, the list goes on and on. I'm saddened I don't have pictures to share, but if you're really curious I'm sure you could Google the "Norweigan Star" and get plenty to look at. There I feel better.

Our last night, after we played Trivia (see picture), we opted to eat in the fanciest restaurant on the boat. You have to actually pay to eat at these ones, but it was definitely worth it. Like, 10 oz. filet mignon worth it. And um, more chocolate ice cream. haha.

However, this whole day was pretty windy and we couldn't spend much time on the upper decks (and my tan suffered from it), so we hunkered down in our cabin most the day trying not to feel sick. Sam actually took some motion sickness meds due to the rocking... I was a little anxious to get on land by the end of this night, but sad to see our vacation coming to an end.

Day 8 - Disembarkation, LA, & HOME! Since we had a ton of time to kill before I flight took off at 6:30 pm, and we didn't feel like sitting in the airport for 8 hours, we decided to rent a car and explore LA. So much fun!

We drove down Hollywood drive, ate at In-N-Out Burger (mmmm!!), drove through the Hollywood Hills to get a good glimpse of the famous "Hollywood" sign, drove through the ridiculously impressive neighborhood of Beverly Hills, drove down "Rodeo Drive" to try and catch a glimpse of a shopping celebrity (no luck... dangit) but saw way more paparazzi and tourists, and explored the grounds of the LA Temple. A total bonus to tag on to the end of our vacation!!

So there you have it! A run down of the crazy fun relaxing and hectic week. Does that make sense? We got home Saturday night at 1:30 am and just crashed. I'm not sure I've ever seen Sam that tired and I still don't think he's recovered.

But I know we both would do it all over again :)

17 Weeks & an Update on an Update

So I gotta make this quick. It's late, I'm exhausted, & we have our BIG ultrasound tomorrow morning at 9:30, so I'm eager to go to bed and lay there wide awake with anticipation! Seriously, I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight.

So we got back from vacation Saturday night at 1:30 am. It was perfect! I always get nervous before big vacations because I start thinking about what could go wrong... what if we lose our passports? What if we can't make it back to the ship at one of the stops and we get left behind in MEXICO? How are we getting from the airport to the cruise ship terminals? Seriously, my brain reels with how these things will be dealt with all the way up to the trip, and all the way through.

Despite this craziness, everything was just fine. The whole thing went smoothly, no lost passports, no missed flights or ships, no vital toiletries left at home. It was AMAZING.

But. This is not that update.

I am working on an efficient way to post some trip pictures and it's taking some time, so today is merely a weekly prego update.

Here is my 17 week shot:There was definite growth in the last two weeks. Trust me, something's in there. I'm definitely feeling small movements, but I don't think I've felt any big kicks yet. Just a little onion-sized Baby N. flipping and swimming around in the comfort of my belly. I describe it as a worm wriggling around in Jell-o. CRAZY.

Since tomorrow-day will be full of a doctor's appointment and the aftermath of that, and tomorrow-night is booked for "New Moon", I probably won't be able to blog until Saturday. Expect a big post then!

Until then, here's a taste of what's to come:

Goodnight... and wish us luck tomorrow!!

15 Weeks & a Vacay!

Yes, yesterday marked 15 weeks prego! Woohoo... only 25 more to go. I think there's been some definite growth in the belly department this week although the pic doesn't quite capture it as much. I swear there's been a few times I've felt movement in there, but really, I never really know what is going on in there so it could be anything. But there have been some very distinct "slithering" feelings and little "pops" and such that I can't help but wonder if it's Baby N. I pretty much have decided that it is, and it makes me pretty dang happy.

Here is my 15 week pic:So Sam and I have a pretty huge vacation coming up soon and I am SO freakin' excited. Like, beyond excited that using exclamation marks to describe it just cheapens the whole feeling. So yes, let me assure you I am ecstatic. I haven't really been thinking a ton about it because dwelling on an upcoming vacay to me just makes it come that much slower, but now that it is just around the corner I am starting to feel so unprepared and overwhelmed with how much I need to do before we go!

Do I have enough summer clothes that will fit? Where the heck is my passport? I need to do like 14 loads of laundry, some toiletry shopping, picking up around the house, and throwing away of everything perishable in our fridge. I suppose these are good problems to have though, and don't get me wrong... I'm not complaining. I love this feeling! We have people watching over our house/house sitting so at least that's taken care of. I won't be able to post my 16 week update next week (oh darn! I'm sure many of you are going to have to mark that off your calendar for next week... shoot!) but I hope to post lots of pictures of a tan prego Amy in two weeks :) So I'll make up for it, I promise. I don't want anyone to feel cheated out there!

So on top of being baby obsessed at the moment, I'm also feeling a bit puppy-hungry. I have ALWAYS been a dog person my whole life, and not having a little mutt of some sort running around the house has been hard for me. Well, at times. It's also really nice and the freedom that comes from being pet-free is pretty liberating too. But I think the perks of pets mostly outweigh the negatives. Luckily, we have some friends that have the CUTEST little English Bulldog puppy and we often get to puppy-sit. Last weekend "Duke" stayed with us and reminded me why I could probably go puppy-free a little bit longer. That guy was a TERROR. He's lucky he was made so cute because I'm not sure how long he would last otherwise.

I got a small taste of what having a toddler will be like because this little guy needed CONSTANT attention. If he wasn't within eye sight, he was definitely up to something. And even when he was within eye sight, he was up to something. He even cried off and on all night, waking Sam and I up at least 3 times. Am I ready for parenthood??

Anyways, we enjoyed it but I definitely got my fill of puppy-dom for a while. I wanted to blog about this a while back but got distracted and now seemed like the perfect time to talk about something other than pregnancy.

So folks, I'm signing off for a week or so and I will post pictures upon our return! When we get back, there will only be 5 more days until we find out what Baby N. is (hopefully it's a boy or girl) so leave your votes in the meantime... until then, adios amigos!

14 Weeks

So yesterday makes 14 weeks! Yay! Baby N. is the size of a lemon and weighs an ounce and a half! I feel like my belly has grown by leaps and bounds this week. I'm sure it's not correlated to the abundance of Halloween candy that has been available to me and I'm sure today's belly pic wasn't at all influenced by last night's dinner at Olive Garden. Nah, it's all baby.

We had our first appointment with our OB doctor yesterday, who has been my "female doctor" for 3 years now, and I love him. He was with us all through the mystery of trying to figure out why my cycle was messed up and he was the one that referred us to the reproductive specialist in Tacoma. It was SO cool to see him yesterday with me being all knocked up and such. He was super excited. I actually remember him saying something to me last year at my annual appointment like, "I want nothing more than for you to come in here some day and tell me you're pregnant." (I'm sure it has nothing to do with how much he makes off of prego-girls. I mean, he is kinda in that business. Nope, totally genuine.)

Anyways, the appointment went great and we got to hear Baby N.'s heartbeat for the 3rd time on doppler. Love that! I even recorded 10 seconds of it on my phone and have listened to it at least 30 times since then. Ok, maybe like... 40. Who's counting?

Things went well and I decided to finally out myself on Facebook, so it's official. The whole world knows! Three cheers for complete exposure!

Here is this week's 14-week Belly Shot:See? Definite improvement.

And lastly, be sure to take the "Boy or Girl" POLL to the right -->
(There are actually clicky buttons where you leave your vote. I know it's kinda hidden by the pale font but the days are a tickin away and I need this scientific approach to tell me what I'm having.) Looks like so far, ya'll are pullin for a girl!

I think I will be posting later this week in non-baby related news just so this doesn't completely become a pregnancy blog. There are other things going on in our life. In fact, there is something very BIG coming up in our life in just 9 days!! Look for that announcement soon.

13 Weeks

So I am officially 13 weeks and this is officially the first post of many weekly posts to come. At 13 weeks, the baby is about the size of a medium shrimp... about 3 inches and weighs almost an ounce. I am SO close to the 2nd trimester! Although I like to say I am in the 2nd, most people say it's not really until 13w4d when you're really in the next tri. My iPhone app has said I'm in the 2nd tri since I hit 12 weeks though, so that was kinda exciting to see when I loaded up my phone.

In other news, I have officially scheduled the BIG ULTRASOUND!! Yay! It's November 20th at 9:15 am. I can HARDLY wait!! We are super excited. I'm gonna post a poll and y'all can cast your votes for what you think Baby N is. I honestly have no idea and can't wait to find out so we can start shopping and planning and pinning down names. Although, I know we have plenty of time to do these things, it just makes it feel so much more real.

Here's this morning's 13 week shot:
That's first thing in the morning when I'm at my best. Get some food in that belly and the thing doubles... so weird! Even though that little baby is the size of a shrimp, having a uterus that's bigger than a grapefruit has got to count for something!

Welp, that's it for now! Short and sweet and more frequent... I promise!

Now take the poll... boy or girl?? -->

AND BABY MAKES THREE!!

Hello Cyberspace! It's true. All those rumors you've heard the internet bloggers speculate about... I'm leggo-my-prego! Knocked up! With Child! Got a bun-in-the-oven! A pea in the pod! Etc, etc... you get the point.

How did this happen you ask? Really...? Dumb question.

Ok, not so dumb... we didn't think it was possible either and yes, I was having problems in the normal-female-reproductive-functioning-area (aka: very irregular cycles. TMI? Maybe). Then one day at a check up with a reproductive specialist (think back to my "mystery health problems" post) where we were like, "Hey doctor, why don't I have periods like a real girl?" He was all like, "I don't know... let's do an ultrasound and take a look!"

After about 30 seconds he starts laughing. "Oh, I see why... you're pregnant. Yup. About 5 weeks." Apparently this is what 5 weeks pregnant looks like:

Crazy right? No, the black part isn't the baby. That TEENY TINY little white speck in that black part is the baby. Or really, more like a ball o' cells. The black part is my ute.

He told us to come back in 2 weeks and if all is well we should be able to see the heartbeat flicker. I'm telling ya, two weeks have never taken so long in my WHOLE life. Sure enough though, it did come and this is what we saw:

Yeah, this time it actually kinda looked like something... a little monkey, I think.

I thought after seeing that little heartbeat (beating at 140 bpm) all nerves would settle and this would start to feel real. Nope. I left the doctor's office feeling pretty good, but by the next day I still wasn't convinced. Luckily, we had another appointment set up for two weeks later (9 weeks) and he said we should see some baby movement. Yet again, the longest two weeks of my life. September 24 DID come. And yes, there WAS movement!! Yay!!

Not only did we see movement, but we got to see the heart flicker again, even in such detail that we could watch all 4 chambers of the heart move. Pretty crazy that a teeny little 9 week grape sized thing could do that. (Btw, the pic at the top of this post is from that appt.) We also saw all 5 fingers on one hand and watched the hands wave and the feet kick. Pretty cool.

Sitting in that doctor's office I thought... "ok, I can relax. The baby moves, the heart functions well, the heartbeat was 175 bpm... things are looking good. I'll never worry again." Yeah freakin' right.

I've heard the heartbeat on doppler twice since that last appointment Sept. 24 and am STILL on pins and needles for my next doctor appointment next Wednesday. Is that normal?

Well, today marks 13 WEEKS exactly, so I thought I better take the plunge and out myself to the world. It's official... I have a baby growing inside of me. My mom would probably freak out and think I'd gone all-porno if I posted bare belly pictures on here, so I'll keep it PG for the world wide web and save the skin shots for my personal collection. Sorry blog lurkers (I know you're out there!)

Here is my last week "belly" pic (please be nice and ignore the fact that it was first thing in the morning, in my PJ's with no makeup because that's the time of day when the belly looks best. aka: post-bathroom and pre-breakfast. TMI? Again?? Maybe. Let's blame it on the baby.) Ok.. here's the pic:
Yup. That's what a 12 week pregnant Amy Wang looks like. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. It might include a 13 week shot.

Well folks, that's enough for one night. Now that I've outted myself, I promise I will blog more (I know you guys have given up on my empty promises) but really, I was avoiding blogging because with news this big since August, I was afraid to blog since I knew it would somehow spill out. These little fingers can be mischievous.

Oh, and please keep all pregnancy/delivery horror stories out for now. I'd love to hear them in 6 months. Sweet.

Goodbye Summer... Hello Fall!!

This is me being sad. At the moment I was being sad because I was about to send my niece off on an airplane back to Utah after a super fun extended weekend visit. I thought this picture was appropriate though since I am also sad to say goodbye to all the fun we had this summer!

We did SO much this summer!! Obviously I was just too busy doing all these things since I got absolutely NO blogging in. Maybe that will change. Big fat "maybe". Some of the things we did this summer are:

• My mom and dad came to visit for a whopping 10 days! It was SO fun and super nice to have them here for so long.
• Went to Boise for my sister Shelley's first Ironman 70.3.
• Did my first sprint triathlon.
• Sam played Hoopfest in Spokane.
• My niece Jessica came to visit for a long weekend (pictured above).
• I went to a week of Girl's Camp to be a YCL leader! Yay!
• Had a visit from Sam's brother Kasey & his family.
• I got my first black eye... from my husband! (Don't worry, it's not what it sounds like... it was merely an innocent jetskiing accident!)
• Hung out w/ Sam's other brother Brad in Seattle & his family.
• Had a long weekend visit from my sister Shelley and her family.
• Had two of my nieces and a nephew here for a quick visit.
• Went to the Long Beach Kite Festival w/ Sam's parents and sister & her husband.

And that about sums it up. It was insane here at the Hotel Nielson. Seriously. At one point we had housed 15 people over the course of 1 week. But we love it... wouldn't want it any other way!

Ok, so this blog really hasn't had any point other than just the fact I'm going to start blogging more regularly (seriously!) and making shorter posts. It doesn't have to be a novel! Don't I say that every time?

This week we have a LOT going on... it's Labor Day weekend and we're meeting up w/ Jodi & Jason in the 'Couve to do some river rafting (pray for good weather!), then it's my B-day on Friday!! Yay! Then Saturday is the Cougar game in Seattle, then Sunday is Sam's THIRTIETH B-day!! Woot woot! Whodda thought he'd make it this long huh?

Welp, this is me signing off and saying g'night until next time! There will be a next time, much sooner than this last time was... I promise!!

Allow Myself to Introduce... myself....

Well Heeeelllllooooooo!!!!

(Said in loud, bellowing, Jerry Seinfeld voice... you know, the one where the whole episode he does the voice that he thinks his girlfriend's stomach would sound like?? You don't know? OK, never mind.)



Ok, I'm gonna give this another shot. I loved blogging. Loved it. But it takes time! And I know all you mothers of small children with busy schedules are like, what?? You don't have time?? Are you crazy? Well, no. I'm not crazy and yes. I don't have time for everything. Who does?

Lately I have taken up digital scrapbooking due to some not-so-gentle prodding by my sisters and mom. They have a vested interest in this hobby since they run a pretty successful online-scrapping business found at www.weedsandwildflowersdesign.com. You can find it here. So that has consumed a lot of my computer time. And everyone knows that when one thing gets added to your plate, something else falls off. Well, for the past 6 months, that was blogging. And since I'm blogging today guess what doesn't get done? My hair? Maybe. The clean dishes put away? Hmmm, maybe. Some digital scrapping? Definitely. Ah well, such is life.

So, what shall the topic of my big triumphant return to blogging be about? An update of the last 6 months?? Nope. Too much work. Let's pick up right at today and go on from there. Updating the events of my last few months is too time consuming and is one of the reasons why I have avoided blogging for so long!

Oh, but yes, we did go to Australia. And YES, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Pictures have been posted on my facebook page for months so if you're not my FB friend I guess you'll just have to miss out on the pictures of Heaven-on-Earth-white-sandy-beaches-clear-blue-water-incredible-food-etc.-etc.-etc. Moving on.

So, another thing that many of my friends and family already know is that I have been dealing with a little health issue for almost two years now, of which I'm not really gonna go into too many details about. Don't worry, it's nothing life-threatening and I think I'll probably make it. If you really wanna know what it is, just ask. Seriously. It's not embarrassing or anything, but still not something I want to post for the whole world to see. So. I have been playing around with different doctors and different treatments for a couple years now and each new avenue leads to something else. One doctor leads to the referral of another. Every. Single. Time. It's crazy because it just keeps getting more and more specialized with every referral. I mean, if you had hiccups for a week, I bet 7 referrals later you'd find yourself at a doctor who specializes in pre-menopausal-female-lung-abnoralities-who-were-born-in-the-month-of-July-and-like-to-sleep-in-a-curled-fetal-position. Trust me. There's a doctor for that.

Since it's no secret that I love to work out and watch what I eat in the form of tracking calories, my most recent doctor-specialist sent me to a nutritionist just to make sure I was getting sufficient dietary intake and that I wasn't overdoing the workouts while underdoing the eating. And although the nutritionist determined that I was definitely eating enough (duh! I love food too much to restrict it that much!) she concluded that I also ate too much junk. Oops. And that I should actually lose a few pounds. Of fat. Yikes.

AND NOW, THIS BRINGS ME TO THE TOPIC OF TODAY'S POST!!! FINALLY!!

Drum roll please................................................................................................................................


AMY'S NEW DIET. DOCTOR'S ORDERS.

I've been getting lots of questions from people about what this lady said I should be doing. Well, she definitely did a number on my diet, that's for sure. And I'm going to be following this strictly for one month to see how things feel. She even banned some of the things I thought were "healthy"!!

Goodbye Lean Cuisines. Goodbye Clif Bars. I will surely miss you. And goodbye Kashi-Go Lean! Crunch.... hello Kashi-Go Lean! (I will miss you "Crunch"!) Yes, those are two seperate cereals.

Oh, and goodbye calorie counting, hello portion counting!

This way of eating is very close to a South Beach Diet-esque approach, and even similar to the new and improved Atkins Diet. Very low grains, and absolutely under no circumstances would you allow simple carbs! No, no, no. No! Guess what that means? NO SUGAR!! No sugary snacks, no junky chocolate, no ice cream, no cookies, no brownies. No, no, no. No! Again.

She thinks my body is pretty intolerant to grains and starches in high amounts. And I'll admit. I was eating lots of cereal, pretzels, crackers, breads, granola bars, trail mixes, and ummmmm... sugars. So this is sure to do a number on the ol' system.

Wow, this post is getting really long. Is anyone reading anymore? Maybe I will stop here and then post what the diet even consists of later. What I CAN eat. Etc. Etc. Yup. I'll do that. Leave ya'll in suspense! How much fun is that??