Hawaii

Well we are back from our amazing vacation! It's bitter sweet to be home, I was ready to come back to our life but once we got home I wanted to go back. We had such a great time! This year it was us, Afs, Tyler, and my parents that went to Maui. Here are a few things that we did.
We snorkeled:

Ate:

This is near our hotel called Hula Grill

Played in the pool:

Saw an old lava flow:

Drove up Haleakala crater:

Here's a sign posted in the restroom on top of Haleakala...

And Shopped:
Front Street, Lahaina
We also saw five whale's from the shore! It was SO cool! We saw two one day and then three another day. It was amazing! We didn't see any turtles but we saw five whale. We shared our suite with Afs and Ty and it was right on the lobby level with our sliding door facing the pool. We were a 30 second walk to the pool and the beach.
This is both of our sliding walkouts:

I loved it!! Along with how much fun we had, we had some strange experiences as well. This is kinda long so get ready:
First, we had a connecting flight in Pheonix and that was only an hour and a half so it wasn't too bad. The flight from there to Maui, which is 6 hrs, was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. My doctor said I had to wear support hose to help prevent blood clots and those were SO uncomfortable! I had to stand up and walk around every hour and that was nice to be able to stretch. But the craziest thing happened on our flight. For those of you who watch Lost will understand. So first of all, there was a guy sitting a few rows ahead of us that looked almost identical to Ben Linus. Anyway, I stood up for my 3rd hour stretch and not even 10 seconds later the plane seriously tipped on it's side! I tumbled over and luckily grabbed a chair so I wouldn't fall and a guy in the aisle seat had to reach across the aisle on the opposite chair to support him, that's how tipped we were! I hurried to my seat and grabbed Zac's arm and started bawling! The plane kept shaking and had bad turbulance and I thought we were going down. After a minute it stopped and finally the pilot came on and explained that a 747 jet had flown only 1,000 ft above us and the turbulance was from their jet wave. Are you kidding me? Of all the places to fly in the sky it flies directly above us! Why couldn't they have seen it on radar or something? Anyway, let's just say I love flying and that really shook me up. Any turbulance from then on I was freaked out.
Second: We were all sleeping and at 1:43am the fire alarm goes off. Yes it was blaring and I freaked out again! I flew out of bed and yelled "Zac what the freak is that?!" Haha Zac is my protector, I always run to him! Anyway, a recorded voice came on say "Attention all guests, please evacuate" and repeated three times. Zac went to the other room and Afs was still in bed and he asked if she was getting up and she said no...Afs is so tough and had NO reaction to it :) so she says. Haha but she said to Zac that since we're on the lower level we don't have far to go. My poor parents were 4 floors above us and were all shaken up too. Tyler had gotten up to see what was going on and at that moment an employee came on and said it was a false alarm. Wow. I was all shaken up and I couldn't imagine what it was like for parents that had little kids probably scared out of their minds. Anyway, the next day we were in our room like at 2 or something and the alarm went off again and this time nobody even moved. But today nobody got on and said it was a false alarm, so leave it to my mom to call and asked if it was real and after hearing the guy say no, she got mad at him and said "Well why haven't you announced that it's a false alarm?!" Haha after she hung up lo and behold there was an announcement!
The third was on our flight home from Maui to Pheonix, red eye aka Zac's favorite time to fly :), the flight attendants started going back and forth quickly so I look back and a guy is carrying a lady who looked like she was about to pass out, to an area that she could lay down. The flight attenedants kept going back and forth with cold rags and paper work. Then one of them got on and announced that if there was a doctor on board to please ring the call button...where is Jack Shepard when you need him? Anyway, I saw one of the ladies get a glass of orange juice, so I figured the passing out lady was diabetic. We never found out what was wrong with her...
Oh and one more funny thing that happened on the fight to Salt Lake, we were on this small 15 row plane and Zac had ordered a sprite and with it on his tray, he kinda fell asleep listening to his head phones. When he went to change the song or something he hit the tray and his glass half full of sprite and ice went flying.
Anyway, we finally got home and we had such a great time! Thanks Mom and Bob for giving us the opportunity to enjoy such an amazing place! Our hotel was beautiful and we would never be staying in a place so nice if it weren't for you guys, we love you!

 

A rumbly in my tummy

I can't believe how much this baby is moving!!! She kicks my bladder all day long. She's up in my rib cage which kinda hurts and she crowds my lungs so it's hard for me to breath. She sits on my stomach and gives me heart burn, which I've never had until being pregnant and wow is it uncomfortable! Up until a couple weeks ago I've been awesome but lately I've been really uncomfortable. It's a lot harder for me to get comfortable enough to actually fall asleep and not being able to breath fully is pretty bad too! But it's so worth it! Being able to feel her move and know that she is growing stronger and bigger is such a great feeling! Last night I was laying on my right side which is when I can feel her the strongest and it's my most comfortable position. And I'm pretty sure I felt both of her knees digging into my skin. She has a habit of that. I feel like I have a bruise on the inside of my stomach on that particular spot because apparently she likes to kick that same spot all day every day. She likes to stick a boney elbow, foot or knee there and keep it as long as she can. She is a feisty one already! We can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like!
It's crazy, this whole time I've been counting up 4,5, now 6 months, but when I thought, wow I only have 3 months left, it hit me! This has gone by very quickly! Maybe it's because we didn't announce that we were pregnant for the first three months, but three months to go is so soon! I'm so excited and also starting to freak out a little. I want to get her nursery started so I can relax. We haven't gotten anything yet furniture wise. Luckily I won $200 from my work so we decided that's going to be her crib money...thank you Uinta! I have a doctor's appointment next week and that begins the twice a month appointments. We still need to go take a tour of the hospital because we decided not to do any of the classes...our doc said not to worry about the classes since I decided to do the epidural! Thank goodness for the epidural option! My mom and sister bought me a pregnancy book that explains each week of the babies growth and my body changes and it also preps you for labor, birth, taking the baby home, breastfeeding, the whole shabang. I feel so clueless! So for you mother's out there, any advice on anything related to going into labor, the whole hospital experience, breastfeeding, anything. Any advice that could be helpful, I'm all ears! I'm going to post about Hawaii soon I just need to get my pictures together so stay tuned!

Update

Well, my third trimester is just around the corner. I'll be six months this Saturday April 18th, which is the day we leave for Hawaii! Yay! The baby this week should be the size of an eggplant. She is a little longer than a five dollar foot long (13 inches) and just under 2 pounds (1.9 lbs). She has been moving SO much lately, it is such an amazing feeling! The best is when I can feel her on both sides of my belly, like she is in a full on stretch! Anyway here is a picture of my belly today:
(I have more pictures to come but I can't find the cord to my camera so pictures from my phone will have to do) Alot of people tell me I'm small for being six months; so far I've gained about 16 pounds, but wow am I getting big! The other day I was trying on clothes out of my closet to see what I can take on our upcoming trip, well not much fit. So I made my way to the mall with my mom and tried a bunch of stuff on. It's funny because I was prepared to gain the obvious baby weight, but I don't think your ever really prepared! I don't know how to explain it. I know I'm getting bigger but I didn't know how big I had actually gotten! It was refreshing when I heard another prego lady in the store trying stuff on say to her husband, "Look how big I am, when did this happen?" Pregnancy has been a lot of fun for me, it's been a really good experience so far and interesting to see how it affects me. My body is changing every day and I feel great! But let me just say how much I love my mom. She is SO amazing!!! She knows how frugal I've been about spending money lately and she knew that I needed some summer clothes that I could be comfy and cute in so she bought me some stuff that fit my new baby body and she even bought me an adorable swimming suit! I can't wait to go on this vacation, it is very much needed! It's weird to think this is our last vacation just as me and Zac with no kids! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure vacations are great with kids too, but believe me we'll be enjoying every last minute of it! :)

Pregnancy hormones: you gotta love 'em

Still no morning sickness which is amazing. My hormones are definitly in full gear right now and it's really hard to deal with! One day I'll be upset and very unpleasant. And I know I'm upset for a reason but later (after I've bawled my eyes out, which always feels good when I'm done with my tantrum) when I look back, it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought. Then one day I'll be super happy and it seems like nothing can get me down! I love those days. If only everyday we could all feel like that. The worst day is the day I feel depressed, although Zac might say the worst day's are my upset and very unpleasant day :), I don't know how people deal with it. Since I know it's my hormones, I know that I will have my happy day soon but I don't know what I would do if I felt this way constantly. I can't keep up with these hormones! Today has started as a depressing day and being at work doesn't really help. But hey, American Idol is on tonight and that gives me something to look forward to. Hopefully as the day wears on it will turn into a happy day! On another note, other than my hormones driving me nuts, physically I'm doing great. My belly is filling out more and more even though it's still really small. The baby has now made it to the 1 pound mark and she is moving a lot more! I can't wait to meet her! Our lives are going to change so much but I am looking forward to it. I went baby shopping with my mom and dad, who by the way already have their nursery bought and set up for our baby! Zac and I need to get our butts in gear. We went to BabiesRUs and I found the bedding and possibly a crib that I really like! The stroller is another thing. I have no idea what I am looking for. There are SO many different models and I don't know which is the most convenient. I always thought the travel stroller where the car seat can be placed in and out would be the best. But maybe the convertible car seat and then just a regular stroller is easier. Any feedback on the travel stroller??? Advice from anyone would be very helpful! I just can't believe how expensive all of this baby stuff is, I had no idea! Let's just say I'm very excited to begin baby showers! Hopefully there we get most of what we need so we can go back and purchase that lovely crib that I want :) Typing is a great way to vent, thanks for listening! Hope everyone has one of those wonderful happy days today!