Last Minute Merry Wishes

Shannon took some pictures for us yesterday. She is not quite finished with them, but I wanted to post one for Christmas anyway and document our growing family. Wishing you the very best!

November and Then Some

Or should I say Movember. . . 

Vote for Pedro

Before I let him shave off the goatee

While Justin grew facial hair, I continued to grow a baby.

36 weeks

38 weeks

We set up the Christmas tree (which has yet to be decorated) and set up the crib. Well, I say we, but Justin actually did both of those things. I point and he picks up :) It goes back to my childhood really, but I'll save that story for another day.

Justin and I are both out of school, so now we get to rest and get ready for our little bundle of joy to arrive. He could get here any time within the next few weeks! And since I have been quite infrequent about posting, the next time I do, it might be about a family of three instead of two!

October

Let's do this chronologically shall we?

I went up to Vegas for the PHAST. If you weren't there, you should have been. If you were there, well, you know what I mean. I should have got a picture of the relay team, but alas, I did not. Let's just say that Jamie in the pool + Doug on the bike + Shannon on the home stretch run = a pretty fast time. I am determined to train for a triathlon and complete one on my own after baby gets here. Who's with me?

Jamie came down too and brought me the cutest thing you can imagine made with her own two hands. I mean it just makes me melt every time I look at it. I can only imagine how I will feel when our boy is wearing it!

Speaking of baby, 28 Weeks of pregnancy came and went. He is going to be here before we know it.

Hat by Jam

28 weeks

Was able to snag my brother for a half a day. We went to lunch and went shopping at Bass Pro. I gave him some old international calling cards I had collected and a pack of socks we never used. You would have thought he had just won five hundred dollars. Boy likes socks and calling cards.

Justin and I also did some shopping of our own. . . one time for a little stroller and car seat research if you will. We want a fairly good quality contraption. Something that can carry the car seat, is durable, and folds up nice too. Any suggestions? One we liked at Target was kind of an all terrain baby pusher. 

On one of our Target runs, I don't remember what we went in for, but we left with the very last one of these:

Irresistible.

Halloween. About this. Justin has had this brilliant idea for my costume pretty much since we found out I was pregnant. The day of our ward Halloween party--after some Photoshop action and some tricky ironing--we finally made this dream a reality. (Costumes made possible by Hobby Lobby.) 

P.S. There is now a Hobby Lobby in Rancho. If you haven't been, you should go, and if you have been, well, you know what I mean. It just might become an addiction for me.)

P.P.S. Yes we are wearing short sleeves on the NIGHT of October 29. Also, today in a meeting, someone mentioned the possibility of having one of our Christmas party activities outside. I love California weather. That could never happen in Idaho. I'm just sayin.

Oh, it's just the Death Star blowing up Alderaan. 

Look who else we ran into.

In case you haven't seen enough, let's throw in one more belly picture. This one was actually taken today. And that about sums up October.

31 weeks

Milk and Pico de Gallo

Justin loves a good pico de gallo.
I got the Trader Joe's version once recently and he loved it.
Would eat it by the spoon full if I'd let him.

Tuesday was a long day for me at work. When I was finally able to head home I decided that despite my tiredness and how late I was, I wanted to stop to pick up some pico de gallo for Justin. He would love it. He had suggested having burritos for dinner earlier that day and this would be the perfect topping. As I got to the store I thought about calling to see what else we needed, but I decided against it as not to ruin the surprise. I thought we might be low on milk so I just left it at that.

A gallon of milk, and a tub of pico de gallo.

I smiled in anticipation as I lugged Baby and me with all of my school stuff and groceries up to the third floor where we currently reside. I walked in to find a beautiful burrito bar laid out on the table complete with sauteed peppers and onions. As he finished warming our tortillas, Justin saw my grocery bag and said reluctantly, "Ooh, I already went to Trader Joe's."

"But did you get this?" I said hopefully as I pulled out my great surprise.

Yes. He did.
He also got milk among other things.

I think that about sums up our relationship. He does everything for me and asks for nothing in return. It's really quite ridiculous the number of times I have tried to surprise him in some way or another and fail miserably. . . like I am trying to prove something but the universe is against me because really, I don't have to prove anything.

The burritos were excellent.
And to top them off, a glass of milk.

(Disclaimer: I didn't give up on my quest to do something nice so I surprised him the next night with a book on tape from the library that we've been meaning to read. He came home while I was making dinner this time, which turned out okay after a second try in the oven. Nobody wants to eat crunchy rice.)

24 Weeks

24 Weeks

Feeling good!

Baby is growing and moving lots. 

I have a doctor appointment this week. 

Work is keeping me busy and Justin studies every chance he gets.

But we try to have fun too and enjoy this wonderful life we have.

Thanks to some friends who gifted us movie tickets!

We saw The Help last night. 

Excellent movie. 

Very touching.

I thought.

Growing Baby

Just for fun. . . 

19 Weeks

21 Weeks (almost 5 months if you're counting the months)

More to come. . . since I'm pretty sure he's growing bigger each day!

Updates

Baby: As far as we can tell, everything is perfect. Baby's been growing for about 20 weeks now and it's starting to show!

Justin: After being back to school for one week he had his first test, which he thinks went well. At home, Justin is so good to me. He makes me breakfast every morning while I am still waking up in the shower, AND he packs my lunch every day before sending me off to school and starting on his own work.

Me: I am feeling quite good. School is busy but going fairly well so far. I'm teaching more technology this year, which is new and fun for the kiddos.

We are blessed.

Summer Break: Week 8

Well, our last week of summer break has finally arrived. We kicked it off with an exciting ultrasound. The findings were just as I suspected. . .

Proof

Boy!

And boy are we excited.

The rest of the week I will spend getting ready to go back to school. Justin will just have to have fun without me because I am simply NOT ready.

It's been a good break, but we knew it couldn't last forever. 

Here's to another year.

Summer Break: Week 6 and 7

Week six was largely spent doing some early preparations (aka deep cleaning) for the arrival of our little one. Speaking of our little guy/gal, we had some more pictures taken and it was right around this time that I started to feel little kicks from the inside. They are so cute. Last chance for predictions. . . we will most likely be able to end the suspense tomorrow. Morning. 10:10 AM. Don't worry, if it's not killing you, I'm dying to know enough for everyone!

Week seven was monumental. Justin had a birthday. But that's not the monumental news. The real news is that in honor of his birthday, we became Costco members. I wish I had a picture to document our excitement about this event. Thanks to Justin's parents for the birthday present!

I was also able to surprise Justin with a little gift myself (which is saying something because for some reason I always seem to blow my cover). The best part is that I got it right under his nose when we were both in the same store. I got him a book. It's one he wanted, something about a woman with a worm in her head? Infectious diseases? Doctor stuff. He's reading it as we speak, so it must be good. . . if you like that kind of thing.

On his actual birthday he got to do all sorts of fun things like play basketball (boy loves to play basketball), go surfing, and go out to eat. What more could a guy want. Wait there's more. What made it even better was when we got to meet up with the Williams family, three (four) of our most special friends. They took us to a great beach for surfing and Justin gave it a go. Highlight of Justin's birthday: Luke leaning down to scoop up a pile of sand with his mouth. Repeatedly. Love that little sweet guy!

Justin with Tyler the professional. . . 

Turns out the waves were a wee bit too small for that short board of his.

Here's to summer.
Stay tuned for exciting news to come.

Summer Break: Week 3. . . and 4 and 5

Week three was mostly spent getting ready for weeks 4 and 5 that we spent on vacation.

First stop: Utah to visit these fine folks.

Rachel, Abigail, Josh

While Justin's parents went to a wedding reception we decided to hit up the roof top concert series in Provo. Justin's sister and her family came with us and my sister and her husband made it down from Salt Lake too. It was quite a fun show and well worth it if you are in the area for the next one.

 Our view of the stage

Jamie and Doug 

Enjoying the pre-show show

Next it was on to Idaho Falls for the best fireworks show this side of the Mississippi. . . plus dinner right across the river from the show.

Dessert

Lauren, Jeff, and Ava sporting the patriotic t-shirts

Mama and Papa Delatore, the ones who made it all happen

Marcy and Kelsey

After Idaho we lost no time and headed right out the the beach the very next day. We stayed at a beach house with my sister and her family and some friends of theirs. We had a blast playing on the beach, digging for sand crabs, eating good food, reading books, and playing games after the kiddos went to bed (if we could stay up for it).

Marlee, probably eating an "ogre bar" aka granola bar

Darin

Shannon with the frisbee. Yeah, Darin fed that one to the sharks. The frisbee, not Shannon.

Sand crabs!

And the smallest traveler of the bunch but definitely not the least:

More baby updates are soon to come. Will we need to get a cute little bathing suit or cute little-man trunks? What do you think?

Summer Break: Week 2

Week two included but was not limited to:

• Cold Sores
• Fathers Day

Showing off his two Father's Day presents at my request: 

the tie and the ball

• Shoe shopping
• Some swimming and some walking
• Dodge ball
• A morning lake trip

• Sore muscles
• A temple trip

Redlands, CA Temple

• Some Cafe Rio
• The dentist
• Basketball
• Stake conference

Summer Break: Week 1

So, Justin is now a second year medical student. Well done. And the best news is that we have 8 weeks off together, which is pretty much the last summer break we will have. Ever. Sad. But happy too. You see, next summer Justin will be taking his boards (step one out of two) AND we will be moving to Oregon. Then the summers after that he will be doing rotations, and then there's residency. . .  Fun stuff.

So lets get right down to it.

Among other things (like a movie and a pool party), week one of summer break involved a trip to Newport Beach for a two night getaway to a really fancy hotel. (Thanks for the tip Papa D) The Balboa Bay Yacht Club. It's the kind of place people stay if they own a couple of these:

We headed down early the fist day to meet some friends for a day at the dog beach (one of the couples has a dog) where we got really sun burnt, but had a good time none the less. Justin even got a surfing lesson from one of his friends and fellow medical students. It's quite a funny story, you should ask him about it some time. Alas, I do not have any pictures from this day because I forgot to pull out my camera and snap some. Blast.

The next day (after and amazing breakfast brought to our room) we headed out to enjoy the town. This time I totally planned to take pictures but accidentally left my camera in my other bag. Blast! Blast! So use your imaginations. We took a boat tour of the bay where we got to hear about all the ridiculously expensive houses and lots located on the water along with the famous people who have owned them. We also went out to the open ocean were we saw sea lions, and as an added bonus, rode along with a huge pod of dolphins. (This is the part where I realized I had left my camera.)

The bay from our balcony

That evening we walked across the street to a couple of little shops Justin likes to visit when he's in the neighborhood.

He especially enjoys this one. I just play along in admiration and let the man dream.

After perusing the merchandise, we headed off to Lido Island to pick up Grandma Tilly. She took us out to The Ritz Restaurant, which is probably the nicest restaurant I have ever been to. The food was DIVINE. Fabulous. I mean, there really aren't words. Thanks Grandma Tilly! It was a wonderful evening.

The next morning we again enjoyed another perfect breakfast (at the restaurant this time) with a view of the bay, and then slowly packed up and made our way down to check out. Did I mention this whole deal came with free valet parking? I think the valets were all BYU boys too. It was funny, each time one brought our car around they saw the sticker and gave us a shout out.

Well, here's to the Yacht Club.

We thought this fancy hat was a must to go with our fancy stay.

To wrap up the week we got another little peak at our growing babe. His (or her) heart is still pumping away (we heard it)! Have I mentioned that his estimated day of arrival is December 31st?

Looking a little less like an alien and more like a head and a belly?

Until next time,

Summer Beginnings

Justin and I have 8 weeks off together to enjoy however we see fit. We hope to make the most of them. While I was wrapping up my school year, however, and before Justin finished his last test (and his first year of medical school I might add) a few things happened. Here they are in chronological order.

1. I won a dress. Won. See? It was one of those blog give aways. What are the odds? About 1:163 actually, and I was the lucky winner! I won it from a neat-o blog called Bloom. I think that name is a coincidence in and of itself.

2. The same day I won the dress, my homeroom class won a pizza party for best attendance. Pinky was right, I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

3. On June 1st, the day of my birth, I got to be excited about another hopeful birth when I saw this little peanut. He (or she) was quite active and his little heart was beating away.

4. I left Justin home to study while I went to visit my sister and her little bundle of joy. You must look at these pictures she took while I was there. So precious.

5. I came home to find that my dress had come in the mail and that my sweet husband had made my favorite birthday cake: Rainbow Chip. And he only messed up on one digit.

That 8 actually started off as a 7. Ha! Love him.