Dean and I just got home from our week-long trip to Wisconsin!  I can't believe it's already over!  We were gone for nine days and it didn't feel like anything longer than a weekend...how does that work?!  It was really nice to be able to spend time with family!  And just a side-note...I realize it's important to eat a little more while I'm pregnant, but during our trip, I think I ate enough to be having quadruplets.  No kidding. 

Guess what?!  Grandpa (Peterson) FINALLY felt PIP move while we were up there!!!  They were just two tiny little kicks, but he felt them!  She's been pretty stubborn with him...as soon as he puts his hand on my stomach to feel her move, she stops!  Hopefully he'll get to feel some of the bigger ones!

While we were gone, I noticed a LOT more big movements...the tiny little kicks and flutters have almost completely given way to huge rolls and pushes.  I even saw either an elbow or knee drag from one side of my stomach to the other.  Very weird sensation, but I love it!   It's crazy to watch her shift sides and distort my belly!  I got noticeably bigger this week...I kind of felt like I had grown, but I didn't take much time to really look at myself in the mirror.  When we got home last night, I was in the bathroom and decided to lift up my shirt to check it out...holy BELLY!!!   I am ROUND.

This trip was our last baby-free vacation together...our next trip will be to Ohio for Thanksgiving and at that point, she will be about 6 weeks old.  Dean and I have gone on some great trips in the past several months though, so I'm not complaining!  Chicago a couple times, San Diego, and Tucson.  And to be perfectly honest, I'm great with not traveling again before she arrives...the 9-hour trip home yesterday seemed a lot longer!  My back started to bother me towards the end so I was really ready to get home.

Remember how I was saying that getting out of a car had started to become a bit of a struggle?  Well, the situation hasn't improved.  Neither has standing up from any sitting or lying position.  It always makes me shake my head and giggle at myself because I THINK my body is moving to get up, but then I realize I have not budged.  It either takes a couple of tries or Dean heads over to pull me up (he giggles at me too.)  My calves have started cramping while I'm asleep...not gonna lie, it sucks.  It's not every night, at least!  My feet get just a little bit swollen by the end of the evening...they're not too bad yet, however, even when they're not swollen, I feel like they look wider.  If they don't go back to normal after having the baby and I can no longer cram my feet into all of my cute heels, there will be huge problems.  Huge.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed...

I hope everyone had a great LONG 4th of July weekend!  Certainly can't get enough of those!  It was also Dean's 29th birthday this weekend (Saturday the 5th).

On Thursday night, we just stayed home and relaxed and played a few games of rummy (sp?)...just for the record, I kicked Dean's butt!!  

On Friday, we did stuff around the house and had some friends over to watch our neighbor's fireworks show...Meghan and Chris brought little Heidi over all decked out in a cute 4th of July outfit!  She did GREAT!  She actually slept through most of the noise!  PIP was pretty still through the smaller booms, but once the big ones started going, she was moving all over the place. 

For Dean's birthday on Saturday, we ran a few errands during the day and then had a yummy dinner with the fam and headed out for a few birthday drinks/waters.   Dean didn't give all of us too many ideas for what he wanted for his birthday...basically, he said he needed some new polos...that's it.  SOOO, between both sets of parents and myself, he received 11 polos.  Eleven.  I think he'll be more serious about ideas when Christmas rolls around.

And today, Sunday, we slept in and eventually made it out of the house around 2:00p (we're bums).  We went to Babies R Us to finally finish up our registry...we needed a break after doing our Target one!  It's still so overwhelming!  Hopefully we covered everything!  We had a really early dinner and then we went to a movie...we saw WALL-E...very cute!  PIP was rolling around during the entire movie...I think she liked it too.

We finished painting the wall shelf for the nursery...the last thing that had to be done.  Now it just has to be hung up and we're good to go.  Hopefully we'll get that up this week sometime.  I'll get pictures posted then!

I was telling Dean today that although I'm still feeling well, I can definitely feel my body slowing down a bit.  Getting in and out of cars is starting to get a little annoying...I feel like I have to roll out and just hope for the best.  Ok, it's not THAT bad, but it does take some more effort...as does getting off the couch or any other sitting position.  And I get random little aches and pains here and there...mostly in my feet and legs...I'm still trucking along though!

This coming weekend, we're going on vacation!!!  We're heading up to our cabin in Wisconsin for a whole week!  We're planning on leaving early Saturday morning...it'll be about an 8 to 9-hour drive...possibly longer since more bathroom breaks will most likely be needed this time.   This is a yearly summer trip, but last year Dean and I didn't get to go because of a cruise we decided to go on, so we're both anxious to get up there.  It's always a relaxing, low-key week...a great time to read, play games, and spend time with family (I think there will be 10 of us there...plus 2 dogs!)

I had my monthly check-up today.  My doctor was only 15 minutes late!!!!  That's nothing compared to the typical hour I spend reading random charts in the room! I was pretty happy about it!  My mom went with me...she thought it would be fun to see what appointments are like these days.  Everything was normal and right on track...I can't hear that enough.  She found the heartbeat right away, but only for a few seconds...PIP kept wiggling from one end to the other!  She eventually got her to stop moving long enough to get a good count.

And the kicker--I've officially gained 20 pounds since I found out I was pregnant. Crazy!!

At my next appointment, I get to drink that weird orange stuff so they can check for gestational diabetes. Not really looking forward to it!

Dean went and picked up the crib this weekend and set it all up for me!  I put the bedding on it right away, of course.   I REALLY love how everything looks!  We're about done with everything in the room.  We just have to paint a wall shelf white and hang it up (and put some stuff on it.)  I bought a hot pink accent rug today but it's still rolled up in the packaging...I'm trying to decide if we need it or not.  I also picked up some fabric baskets...one for the dresser/changing table area and three for the top shelf in the closet.  We were going to paint some dark brown baskets white, but I figured this would be a lot easier!  I posted a couple pictures of the crib...once we get everything done, I'll take more pictures of it all.  Dean really is great for humoring me and being okay with such a pink, GIRLY room.

So I went to the grocery store a little bit ago to get stuff for sloppy joe's tonight.  I always go with a mental list of what I need, but since I've been pregnant, I seem to always buy one random thing that is not on my list.  I always tell myself that I'm not going to do it, but somehow I always find something.  It usually has to do with ice cream or chocolate...once it was fruit roll-ups...today it was apple butter.  I'm not even positive I've ever had apple butter, but for some reason, I decided it sounded good...and I've heard good things, so we'll give it a go.

Jamie needed a full-body profile picture of me for an invitation idea (baby shower), so Dean took several of them last night...they turned out kind of cool, so I'll post a couple of them along with my regular belly picture. 

On a different note, I hope everyone stayed safe during that crazy storm on Friday...how scary!  I had no idea what we were in store for!  I was leaving Ping and Lindsey's house at 189th&Harrison and heading to our house at 156th&Fort.  I honestly thought I would be able to make it home before it started, so I left...even after they suggested that I wait it out at their house.  How bad could it be, I thought?  It usually only takes me about 15 minutes to get home from there.  As soon as I turned onto 192nd, I saw the clouds lowering and swirling and also saw how dark the sky was.  I started to panic, but it wasn't raining yet so I kept going.  Just before Center St., it started to get super windy and then the rain started coming down.  I couldn't see anything!!  They were reporting 90mph winds on the radio...I didn't know what to do, so I called Meghan, hoping that she would be home so I could stop driving...no luck!  Just past Pacific St., I saw things flying in the air and then I felt my car getting blown to the side.  I ended up pulling over just before the Dodge overpass...there were over a dozen cars stopped all around, so I figured if anything happened, I would have people there to help.  Worst case scenario, I decided that if my car (a SUV) blew over, I'd rather be stopped in a grassy area than driving through the storm on the road.  As soon as I pulled over, I called Dean, crying, because I didn't know what to do...the storm hadn't reached his office yet, so I don't think he realized how bad it was!  Storms have always fascinated me but having a 360 degree view of the rain, wind, hail and hearing the sirens sounding while my car rocked back and forth was a bit too much for me.  Obviously, I wouldn't want to be in that situation anytime, but being pregnant added to the stress and fear.  I ended up sitting there for less than 10 minutes before I headed back on the road...bad idea.  It was still pretty bad out, but I couldn't find another good spot to stop so I just kept heading towards home.  By the time I got there, it had stopped.  All in all, it was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done...but I did make it home!