Family. Vacation. Friends. Parties.

Earlier this month I was able to fit alot of family and friends time together as well as traveling into one weekend. It was so worth it! Here are some pictures to show off the weekend. It started out in Las Vegas for my oldest Nephew's High School Graduation at The Orleans Hotel. I was able to see all my neices and nephews that live in Las Vegas, that is all 5 of them (I have 7 total)! Congrats Brandon!!
Then on to Colorado for my baby shower put on by my lovely mom and best friend Kim. They did a wonderful job and I loved seeing so many great friends and family! I loved seeing my sister Steph and comparing our belly's. We are about 9 weeks apart in pregnancy, she is farther along and due July 16!

I wish Josh could have come along with me, but our schedules just don't work out like that. He will be able to take some time later this summer to go visit family in Colorado and to see his newest neice or newphew when his sister has her baby.

{Swimming at the Rio, Las Vegas My mom, dad and neice Shelbey}

{Me and Dad swimming at the Rio Hotel, Vegas}

{My Neice and Nephews swimming}

{Mom & I at Brandon's graduation, The Orleans Hotel, Las Vegas}

{Me, my brother and neice Shelbey, waiting for graduation to start}

{Nephew Andrew, my mom and brother}

{Newphew Andrew, me and Jim}

{My brother Jim, nephew Brandon & nephew Andrew and Dad}

{Oldest Grandson (my nephew) graduates High School}

{Congrats Brandon! Oldest Nephew graduates High School}

{My neice Shelbey & brother Jim}

{My youngest Neice Gracie & I}

{Brandon & his Graduation Cake}

{My Sister (in-law) Steph and I. 27 weeks & 36 weeks apart!}

{May and Ava helping me with gifts}

{Some people at the Baby shower}

{Beautiful diaper cake, made by my mom. Giraffes, think that might be the theme for Baby D!}

{Mini cupcakes: Spice cake w/cream cheese frosting, Strawberry w/strawberry frosting, Chocolate brownie w/chocolate frosting & Lemon w/lemon frosting}

{Cute baby shoes with jelly beans, made by my mom!}

{Fruit Pizza made by my momma!}

What a fun filled FULL weekend. And now I'm back in the desert to live out the rest of this heated summer before baby gets here in 12 short weeks, eek!

Chicadee China, The Chinese...Cabbage?!

Officially in the 3rd trimester already...WOW! Can't believe it. Only 12 weeks to go? 3 short months? Time has been flying by ever since the nausea stopped, which I'm thankful for! 83 short days left...holy moly!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 Weeks on Saturday
Size of baby: size of a Chinese Cabbage?! (and weighs 2lbs 6oz and is 14.8 inches long)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Since last Dr. appt: 16 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants and shirts. Regular T-shirts are starting to fit weird are just about too tight to wear!
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've been kicked and can feel hiccups! Now I can start feeling when Baby is changing positions. And the kicking downward is uncomfortable!!

Sleep: Have been very tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really...my regular clothes?!
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now.
Symptoms: None, have some heartburn/indigestion, hiccups for both baby and me. Can now tolerate dairy?!
Labor Symptoms: Might be starting to have Braxton-Hicks ?!
Milestone: Doctor appointment on June 15th marked my last "every-two-week-appts".
Best Moment this week: Baby kicked Josh in the head when Josh was talking to my belly :)

What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing (more) and feeling MORE and constant movement!

Looking back at this post about the progression of my belly pictures, I got a lot of responses. Thanks everyone! I had fun with it and am loving taking pictures of my belly. Though, I have forgotten a few times, and am trying to get better, it happens that most of my pictures are on my phone and taken in the bathroom. I guess next time I'll have to have a designated place and someone else to take my photos :) I'm trying to stay in the same position so each time I can see the progression. I love seeing it grow! 

In the last 2 weeks I have noticed how much heavier my belly has gotten and have, sadly, had my hands and feet swell a little bit (and...shhh...a few stretch marks!). Which now requires me to wear my wedding ring around my neck on a necklace. Takes some getting used to by not wearing it every day but I still have it with me. The swelling and shh..stretch marks...will all be worth it though!


In other news, staying cool (or trying to!) in Phoenix as we're well into the double digits in the 100's. Yes, daily highs above 110. Joy. Our overnight low temperatures have been in the 80's, and upper 80's at that. That is right, we "cool" down to around 84 degrees overnight. Lovely. Welcome to the desert!

Mini Vaca

I'm excited for my mini vaca this weekend. I had to plan way ahead for my baby shower since I'll be going back to Colorado for it so this weekend was planned way back when. Sadly, I didn't realize it until it was too late that it is Father's Day. So I'll be doing something special for Josh when I get back :)

Since I had this weekend off we also made the most of it, by going to Las Vegas a day or two before I go to Colorado for my oldest Nephew's High School Graduation. Congrats Brandon! Then it's on to Colorado to see some family and friends. I can not wait!! 

Josh isn't able to go with me this time, but he will head out to Colorado later this summer for his sister's second baby when baby is born.

Here's to some traveling and spending time with family and friends!

Here are some fun pictures....

{Belly Pictures}

Thought it would be fun to link up with this "Rockin the Bump" button for today to show off some of the belly pictures. Hope everyone has a wonderful day & fabulous week ahead!

Here are some belly pictures throughout my pregnancy. 

{18 Weeks}

{21 Weeks}

{23 Weeks}

{25 Weeks}

 

Less than 100 days to go!

Happy Monday everyone! I almost forgot, I'm less than 100 days until my due date. Talk about a shocker! As of Saturday, 98 days to go. Yikes! Time is just flying by. Meanwhile, just about all of my T-shirts don't fit anymore. Some of them are very tight but I don't want to stretch them out too much. When at home, I just wear a tank top and shorts; its simple, easy and cool.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks on Saturday
Size of baby: size of an Eggplant! (and weighs 28oz or 1lb 12oz and is 14.8 inches long)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Since last Dr. appt: 10 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, and some shirts. Regular T-shirts are starting to fit weird are just about too tight to wear!
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've been kicked and can feel hiccups! Now I can start feeling when Baby is changing positions.

Sleep: Have been pretty tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now. Have been liking grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, peanut butter m&ms...nothing too strange, though I did make a grilled cheese with mustard and pickles. Don't hate until you try it!
Symptoms: None, have some heartburn/indigestion, hiccups for both baby and me.
Labor Symptoms: Might be starting to have Braxton-Hicks ?!
Milestone: Doctor appointment this Wednesday to get checked up again.
Best Moment this week: More kicks and hiccups.

What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing (more) and feeling MORE and constant movement!

Well not much more to  update on right now. Baby kicks and definitely tells me when I should eat or when I'm sitting/laying the wrong way!

The Monsoon - Weather for Arizona!

What's that you say? Arizona has weather? That's right! And we're just gearing up for an active weather season this summer. Arizona has a Monsoon Season, which is a lot like a severe thunderstorm season.  Starting June 15 through September 30 this denotes the Monsoon Season for the Southwest, namely Arizona. 

Temperatures during the summer here in Phoenix can get as high as 120 degrees with overnight low temperatures in the 90's. That's right, "cooling" down overnight to near 90 degrees. Yuck, I know. But with these extreme temperatures we also can see severe thunderstorms, just like the rest of you out in the plains and east of us.

Along with the start of the Monsoon, we also focus on how to avoid dangerous situations during hazardous weather events. There are many dangers about weather; heat, flash flooding, lightning, to name a few. 

This weather geek is pretty excited about the start of the season and is hoping for some good storms this summer!

Silly Lucy

Lucy is so silly. She is such a character and definitely keeps us on our toes. Half of the time she acts like a dog, hence Josh's nickname for her "puppy". He also calls her "pickles". Both of which she responds to. She "speaks" when she wants food or water. However, she doesn't like to eat by herself or alone. When I get ready for work in the morning she is begging me to come out to her food dish so she can eat, and I stand next to her. I'm not sure how she picked this up but she is pretty picky about that. 

The other day Josh and I were searching around on our phones for different ringtones and sounds and searched for "cat meowing". While playing this, Lucy comes running and looks all over for the other cat. She even picked up Josh's phone in her mouth and dug under it looking. So cute!

Our Visitors aka Family

About 3 weeks ago (wow already?!) we had some visitors come. My mom, step dad and brother all drove down from Colorado and stayed for a week! It was so nice to have them here, it really felt like we were back home in Colorado just hanging out.

I didn't take too many pictures, some on my phone that I'll share with you. We mostly just enjoyed spending time together. Drove around to show them the area, saw lots of areas around Phoenix, had some tasty food at Rula Bula (local irish pub & restaurant - Yum!) and spent a whole day walking around old town Scottsdale. So much fun!

 A day spent in Scottsdale. We all had a blast and it was so much fun!

Apparently it was too cold in the pool for the boys, so they went to the hot tub. How funny!

 Stopped by an old car dealership and found this little "ride". My brother was so intrigued by it. Actually thinking of buying it! Yes, it is a bar stool set up on a go-cart base. Get's up to 35 mph!

Took lots of photos with the phone camera and some pretty random photos too.

I had a blast! Thank you guys for coming to visit!

Summa Time & New Hair

Summer has officially started. Well I guess not "officially" but here in Phoenix, it has warmed up enough to say it has. However, we've just barely hit the 100 degree mark, and our warmest day so far was June 5th with a high of 105. This time last year we were well into the 100's consistently day after day and on track to hit double digits above 100 toward the later part of June. So far, we've only had a handful of days actually at or just over 100. Take it while you can, because once it gets to 110+ it won't stop. So it has been nice, but odd. 

Satellite images of two large fires burning in Arizona; Smoke now spreading into mid-west states

 Also with our "warm" up, but not so warm start to summer has been the dryness. Yes, we know Arizona is a desert, but consistent days of 2-3% humidity? This has only aided in the growth and devastation of two of the large fires burning in Arizona. The Wallow fire, as shown in the above satellite image, is now grown to 389,000 acres and burning with no end in sight. It is just massive and very sad. So many people evacuated. The smoke plumes reached parts of Colorado, Wyoming and beyond. It has become the #1 fire priority in the nation, growing by the hour.

Smoke has been seen as far east as Iowa, Wyoming, Colorado. Forced planes to divert. Ash has fallen over New Mexico.

Not a great start to summer in that sense, but just a heads up as to how dry it is here in Arizona. 

 Since summer is fast approaching, so is our Monsoon Season here in the desert. I can't wait and hope we get some great storms this year! This week has been Monsoon Awareness week as we look for all of the weather hazards that will become evident this summer. 

Now on to the personal life a bit...

That's right, I've chopped my hair again. Thought it was getting a little long and wanted to change it up a little. Do something fun. Well it sure is a lot shorter now! A little shorter than I really wanted, but its grown on me and I like it. Plus, at this rate, it will be nice and long by Christmas.

The before hair picture

...And the after! Way short!

 Shorter, but I like it so far. Can't put it up in a pony tail but its so nice to dry and takes almost ZERO time to get ready in the morning (or whenever time of day I'm working!).

Weekly Updates with Pictures

I guess I missed last week's update, which was the official 6 month mark, whoops!

Doctor appointment this week, everything went well! Got to see baby again on the ultrasound and things look good. Baby was shy and had a hand over the face most of the time, but the tech was able to get a few good pictures.

{Nose picking!}

 

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks Today
Size of baby: size of an Eggplant! (and weighs 28oz or 1lb 12oz and is 13.8 inches long)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Since last Dr. appt: 10 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, and some shirts. Regular T-shirts are starting to fit weird are just about too tight to wear!
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've been kicked and can feel hiccups! The kicks are getting more frequent...what a feeling! Hiccups are pretty steady.

Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now. Have been liking grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, peanut butter m&ms...nothing too strange, though I did make a grilled cheese with mustard and pickles. Don't hate until you try it!
Symptoms: None, have some heartburn/indigestion, hiccups for both baby and me.
Labor Symptoms:Nope. 
Milestone: Doctor appointment was on Wednesday and things look good.
Best Moment this week: More kicks and hiccups.

What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing (more) and feeling MORE and constant movement!

{Little Elvis lip?!}

{Side profile}

 When Baby finally moved the hand from the face we were able to see some of the face in 3D! Check out that curled lip?!