i guess i shouLd bLog...?

lately, i just haven't been feeling in the blogging mood! i feel like so much is changing so fast! but at the same time, nothing is really new! you ever get that feeling? haha. so i keep waiting around for something to happen that is blog-worthy, but then i remember that life is in the day to day. so, sorry for the boring update post with no pictures (sorry... no camera near by). haha. all we've been up to lately is getting our lives ready for the arrival of this little lady, so i'll just update you on a few of the things we've been doing.
first, everyone asks "do you have your baby's room all ready?" haha. one word answer. NO! when we first found out i was pregnant, i knew that meant i was going to have to pull all the boxes out and condense everything. unfortunately, i was so sick from day one, (well, week 4, to be exact) that i was largely confined to lying down and that process took MUCH longer than it should have! i finally took a weekend in june to gut the spare room and paint the walls. what a task! (a task that has been waiting since we moved in...) and i had to stop after each wall because i got so nauseated! oh the joys. :)
but, since i didn't want all the baby stuff we needed to be one big financial weight at the end, i have been buying stuff along the way as i found good sales. (seriously, an awesome way to go! i found SUCH great deals on craigslist and in stores that i was able to get exactly the things we wanted without feeling like the cost was going to kill us!) between that and our fantastic family and friends, we've got most of the big stuff covered. so i have spent a few hours every weekend getting that all organized (into piles later to be re-organized, of course, once everything gets setup). haha. so that is where we are at with that. and i am counting down my days at work so i will be able to finish that up in the few weeks before she comes.
another question i get all the time is about how i'm feeling, so i'll sum that one up. honestly, i have been sick from day one and it still hasn't gone away. it's let up quite a bit over the last month or so, but we are down to one month left and when it's not sick stomach, it's heartburn. but i have to admit, being at the tail end of it all has made me a much happier person! i realize that it is all worth it whenever she knees me in the ribs or has the hiccups. everyone told me the end would be the hardest, but i'm actually feeling the best i've felt yet... one month left and i'm sure i'll be getting that uncomfortably huge feeling soon.
but this little lady is healthy and that's all that we care about! it's amazing how you really can get through anything when you trust that it's for a purpose. we did have one little bump in the road when we heard that her ultrasounds looked like she had some kidney problem, but our midwife assured us that it almost always goes away (it totally did). the positive side of that was that we got to have an ultrasound again at 33 weeks. wowee! was that ever great! the first thing the technician said was "did you know that your baby has a ton of hair?" (um, how were we supposed to know that? haha) she showed us on the screen and it was crazy that she really does have hair on her head! and that you really can see it in a picture! so this is definitely dave's baby. hehe. he was born with a FULL head of curly blonde hair! i, on the other hand, was totally bald so it will be SO fun to see what she comes out looking like! oh yeah, and according to the ultrasound, one foot measured 6.9 cm. um, that HAS to be wrong? that's HUGE! we didn't get a final total size measurement so i have no idea, but wowee. she's gonna be tall. :)
we have been having our classes at the birth center the past few weeks and we are just getting super excited. we LOVE where we have chosen to deliver and we love our midwives. after the first class, we were both a little freaked out and dave's response to me at the end of the class was "i'm so sorry," but since then, we have felt more and more prepared. dave has been working hard to be ahead/caught up with work and his masters so that he can give us girls his full attention when the time comes.
in between all the crazy preparations, we are just loving this stage of our marriage. it is so neat to go through things together and realize that it is actually possible to love eachother more! we are SO grateful to be able to become parents and so excited for everything that is coming our way. we know it will be hard, but is there anything out there worth having that ISN'T hard!?

OH. MY. GOSH.

definitely a bit of spoiling action in this preview... but OH. MY. GOSH. this mama is peeing her pants and crying at the same time. i cannot wait! if you can't find me come november, it's because i'm doing some reading in preparation... sure hope this little lady will cooperate!
http://www.mugglenet.com/trailer.php

joRdy's biRthdAy

Okay, to finish out the past month, we had a birthday party for the jordster. seriously can't believe she is 12! time goes by SO fast! we had SUCH A FUN PARTY! of course, it was a pool party. :) AND we tye-dyed shirts! SO MUCH FUN!hattie helped. :)and dave and i made onesies!then, since chex was involved in the party planning, of course there was a messy event. :)but jordann got attacked with the majority of the mess. :) guess that's what happens when you're the birthday girl!
Happy Birthday Jordann! we sure do love you. :)

I guess it's beeN A whiLe...

i never mean to let this go unposted for so long. sometimes life just gets ahead of you. :) we sure have been busy but we're loving every minute of it! Here are a few things we've been up to...

cousin Katy-nana brought her babies down to the beach in May and we had SO much fun hanging out with them! They are such fun kids!

At the end of may, we went to Oahu with dave's family. SO MUCH FUN!

chex happened to take a trip the same week, so we got to spend a little time with them there. this is perhaps one of my favorite pictures of all time! :) Hattie loves that camel back!of course, glenn found a friend. haha. they were EXACT twinners. and when we pointed it out to the guy, he just laughed and laughed. and of course, posed for a picture for us. :)and of course we ate plenty of this... mmm. i could eat that stuff every day! Sorry to any Matsumoto's fans, but Shimazu kicks it's butt. :)Then, the first week in june, we went to santa barbara for my cousin's wedding. it was a short trip, but nice to spend time with family. :) on the way home, we stopped at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. It was super cool to see.

Old Air Force One. that thing is HUGE!and a piece of the Berlin Wall. So crazy to think of everything this signifies...and i'm gonna put the rest up in a new post... i'm sick of dragging pictures down...

ALieNs

So we had our "anatomy" ultrasound last week. what an event. I gotta tell you, i was way freaked out. a few weeks ago, we had our genetic ultrasound where they check for problems in the brain and heart and i had nightmares about missing it. ONLY to wake up early and drive to the wrong office and actually miss it! yes, i broke into tears and yes, i felt like an idiot. when i went to the rescheduled appointment 2 days later, the lady at the counter actually apologized. out of all the pregnant ladies she sees daily, she remembered that she had made me cry. my only response was "no worries. i'm seriously pregnant and it wasn't your fault." yeah. anyway...i digress. so setting up this appointment, i knew i should brace myself for some anxiety. the night before, we talked and talked about all the what-ifs. about problems, and miracles, and fears and excitements. and i felt like things were pretty good for both of us. that is, until i woke up at 3 AM to the most terrifying dream. in my dream, our baby was dead, it was an alien, and it had (sorry for the honesty...) a half formed little boy part. seriously, it was a lifeless, green monster with a little taquito. i was terrified. the next few hours of dreams were just as bad and i got out of bed early in a terrified fog. man, pregnant dreams feel SO real!

The U/S tech starts out taking pictures of different parts of my insides before ever getting to the baby. i'm just dying inside thinking "what's the point, it's gonna be gone anyway." but low and behold, i was wrong. :) 2 hours of taking pictures of every nuance that is the human body. AMAZING. what a miracle to see that little thing that was once a blob with a heart beat, then a wiggly worm with arms and legs, and now is a full fledged functioning body. we just loved every second of it! and of course i had to tell the technician about my dream and we got to have a good laugh about it. so she takes an awesome opportunity to snap this one for us to hang on our fridge.

how's that for a freaky alien baby? haha.

the good news from our appointment...our baby looks healthy. everything measures right and it is one wiggly worm. also, for anyone who cares, we're about 90 percent sure it's a girl. :) she wouldn't QUITE spread her legs (good girl...) so the view wasn't 100%. we go back in 3 weeks to get a few better pictures of her heart for her records and hopefully we'll be 100% then. Dr says "i wouldn't quite paint the room, but go ahead and shop." that's enough for me. :) we are SO SO SO very excited.