Saturday, April 30, 2011

The South Gets Hit Hard

 
SPC's convective outlook for Wednesday April 27. High risk is very rarely issued. This version was issued very early on, and the target area would later move more to the East. 


This is the weather discussion taken directly from the National Weather Service office
 in Birmingham, AL. It clearly points out how dangerous the weather pattern was during 
the day and advised people to pay attention and take shelter.  
 
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
636 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

...SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK ONGOING...

.UPDATE...AVIATION DISCUSSION.

.DISCUSSION...

A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION IS CURRENTLY UNFOLDING ACROSS CENTRAL
ALABAMA...AND SUPERCELLS HAVE ERUPTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND
WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW TORNADOES HAVE
ALREADY TOUCHED DOWN...AND REPORTS OF MAJOR DAMAGE ARE STARTING TO
COME IN. THE 18Z SPECIAL SOUNDING THAT WAS PERFORMED PRESENTS A
DESTRUCTIVE SETUP...WITH 2700J/KG OF CAPE...EXTREMELY STEEP LAPSE
RATES...AND DRY AIR ALOFT. 0-3 KM HELICITY VALUES ARE ALMOST 700.
THE PARAMETERS WILL ONLY WORSEN AS WE GO THROUGHOUT THE REST OF
THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE TIME FRAME FOR THE WORST SEVERE
WEATHER WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS FOR
NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE STATE...ROUGHLY FROM 2PM TO
8PM...CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE...INCLUDING THE BIRMINGHAM
METRO AREA...FROM 4PM TO 10PM...AND THE SOUTHEAST SECTIONS FROM
6PM TO 2AM. I CANNOT STRESS HOW SERIOUS THIS SITUATION IS. DO
WHATEVER YOU CAN TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE AND PROPERTY NOW...YOUR LIFE
MAY DEPEND ON IT! ALL WEATHER WILL CLEAR THE AREA AFTER 6Z
TONIGHT...SO THE CLEANUP PROCESS CAN BEGIN.
There were over 180 tornado reports and just over 300 people that died in this deadly day of storms. 
Thoughts and prayers are with all those that are affected. The survey teams are still ongoing and checking
out every detail of the days of these storms. 

Sounds like a Fruit Salad

 
This is from Friday Morning. Not a very "pretty" picture, as I was sending it to my mom. Just noticing how much my belly is growing. I now look more pregnant than fat, wahoo!
 
Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks Today
Size of baby: size of a Cantaloupe! (and weighs 10.6 oz and is 6.5 inches long :)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Officially from the Doctor:  gained 6 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, and some shirts. Regular T-shirts are starting to fit weird
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've been kicked! The kicks are getting more frequent since a few days ago...what a feeling!
Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now. And have been on a grilled cheese kick this week.
Symptoms: None, but my hips hurt and have heartburn/indigestion.
Labor Symptoms:Nope
Milestone: Have 1 Doctor appointment this week; my regular Wednesday check-up.
Best Moment this week: Getting kicked! :)
What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing (more) and feeling movement!

That's right, I'm now officially a kick-boxing arena. Baby has been kicking me throughout the night, when I was working nights. Mainly when I sit up straight I can feel it right where my pants come to my belly. I think Baby is stretching out a lot more. Testing out the room in there! 


Sleep has gotten harder and more uncomfortable. I've always been a back sleeper, love it, but now I can't do that. Too much weight and it will cut off blood flow for me and for Baby. Sleeping on my side makes my hips hurt. I've been using a pillow between my legs but it doesn't help. I even went to get a body pillow, but nothing. I wake up about every 3-4 hours to shift but it doesn't get any better.

Hard to believe that little baby is now almost 3/4 lb in weight?! And I'm already halfway, man does time fly! 


Have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Someone is taking kickboxing lessons...

image here
Someone has been kicking me all day today...and no, it wasn't Josh or Lucy :) I've felt some little flutters here and there over the past week or so, which I've really had to tell the difference between gas bubbles and kicks.

Today, especially when Josh got home from work while I was begging him to make me some food (he ended up ordering chinese!) I kept saying "Someone is going to kick you in the face if you don't get me some food" half joking of course. And then it started. I really felt some kicks. And I felt some more a while later. It stopped for a bit and now, 2am, I'm feeling more of them. Maybe Baby is stretching out those legs? Of course I'm at work so I'm awake and apparently so is Baby. Hungry maybe? I should go eat anyway...


I've been super hungry lately. Like all day long hungry. Eating anything I can get my hands on. You don't want to know the combo of food I ate today. 

Just wanted to share the good news with everyone. I'm excited!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

It's Mango Time!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 19 Weeks Today
Size of baby: size of a Mango (and weighs 8.5 oz and is 6.0 inches long :)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Officially from the Doctor on Wednesday: gained 6 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, and some shirts.
Gender: Baby Dewey is either a Girl or a Boy :)
Movement: I've had a few more "popcorn" or "flutter" feelings...
Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now. And have been on a grilled cheese kick this week.
Symptoms: None, just finding a comfortable sleeping position.
Labor Symptoms:Nope
Milestone: Had 2 Doctor appointments this week; my regular Wednesday check-up and on Monday we had our big 2nd Trimester Ultrasound check-up.
Best Moment this week: Seeing Baby on the ultrasound :)
What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing and feeling movement!

Amazing to me that Baby weighs half a pound already! It's no wonder I'm gaining weight! I've been on a food kick, particularly wanting hamburgers still, caved in to the grilled cheese, had ice cream on Monday after our appt. I read that some of these cravings actually mean something. Hamburgers = likely need more iron or protein. Good to know! Grilled cheese = dairy. Which I know I need a lot of, being lactose intolerant. Though I haven't had much problem with that being pregnant, thanks Baby!

After our big ultra sound on Monday I was feeling pretty out of it. She had to push REALLY HARD to get a good look at Baby's heart and brain development. Baby was just facing away, toward my spine, and just didn't want to be bothered. So after over an hour of being poked and prodded, I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I was pretty sore! It was good to see Baby again.

On Wednesday, my bi-weekly appointment, I got to hear baby's heartbeat again and it was a good appointment. Got some news that I need to be resting more and off my feet and not lifting more than 10 lbs. Just precautions to keep Baby healthy and safe and keep me healthy, since I'm higher risk, and keep Baby inside growing good. Looks like Joshy will be doing a lot more around the house from now on, sorry babe!

I've been reading in my pregnancy by week book (not the official title of the book) and I love reading it. It is so fun to read and see what my body is going through and how Baby is growing and developing. I read that Baby can now hear sounds and begin to recognize voices. So I've been talking to my belly and Baby a lot more. I hope Baby likes that! I just talk about random stuff and ask if he/she is sleeping and what he/she is doing in there. Kinda fun! I poke around a little just to see if I can get Baby to move around a little and if I can feel it.

Friday, April 22, 2011

{Fabulous Friday} & Easter Yummies

Happy Friday to everyone! Also, Happy Good Friday and Happy Earth Day! I hope you are able to do something good for the environment this weekend.

This weekend is Easter. So many reasons to be thankful and celebrate. We'll be celebrating a little on our own this year. Lucky for me, I have this weekend off - wahoo!! I have quite the dinner/meal planned for Sunday. Upon talking with some of my family who will be cooking back in Colorado, I was inspired to make something up very similar to what they will be doing. So it will be just like we're there together to celebrate. I'm going to make my Grandma's homemade BBQ sauce and make pulled pork sandwiches. Can you say mouth-watering?! Her BBQ Sauce is soo amazing! 

Easter is another holiday that is hard for me, since I'm missing a very close family member, but it will be good that I'm cooking and making some yummy food that I know he'd be here to share with us. I'll be thinking about everyone back home who will be celebrating and be together. Josh and I will enjoy our hopefully quiet Sunday together.

 I hope you all have a great weekend in store for yourselves! I'll be posting a weekly update tomorrow on how Baby Dewey is doing. Thank you all for your sweet comments and thoughts.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

{Belly Picture & Weekly Updates}

Pregnancy Highlights:
Woah, I have 154 days left?!


How Far Along: 18 Weeks Today
Size of baby: size of a Sweet Potato (and weighs 6.7 oz and is 5.6 inches long :)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: gained about 5 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, and some shirts.
Gender: We don't know and won't know until September when I'm due :) and topic under debate.
Movement: I've had a few more "popcorn" or "flutter" feelings...
Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now, which is a GREAT feeling!
Symptoms: None, just finding a comfortable sleeping position.
Labor Symptoms:Nope
Milestone: Have two more Doc appointments coming up this week, starting to feel some flutters.
Best Moment this week: Seeing my belly picture that I took. Starting to look more pregnant and not just fat?!
What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing and feeling movement!
 
And here is a photo I took of my belly, and a new shirt I got, at 18 weeks. This was Friday so close enough to 18 :)
It's a cell phone picture. Had to send it to my mom :)

Also this week, I went to Babies-R-Us to look around and start working on the registry. Um...can I just say Overwhelming?! I know there is a lot to do and get. I need to organize myself and start in one area and move to the next. I think I'm making progress though.

More info on the {Great Debate} discussion that I posted last week, info to come later :)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Happy Weekend & Weekly Highlights

Happy weekend! My weekend starts promptly this morning as I end my string of overnight shifts, yay! This was a hard week for me, just didn't get enough sleep. Looking forward to this weekend as we have more visitors: Josh's parents and his sister and her family. Another house full for us (condo full in our case) but we're excited to have everyone and see them. Thought I'd throw out some highlights since today is my weekly change over. Seems like time is flying by right now...
 Pregnancy Highlights:



How Far Along: 17 Weeks Today
Size of baby: size of a Onion (and weighs 5.9 oz and is 4.6 inches long :)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: gained about 5 lbs.
Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, mine are too tight!
Gender: We don't know and won't know until September when I'm due :)
Movement: Not really, though I've had a few "popcorn" or "flutter" feelings...
Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable
What I miss: Nothing really.
Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now, which is a GREAT feeling!
Symptoms: None, just finding a comfortable sleeping position.
Labor Symptoms:Nope
Milestone: Had another Doc appointment this week, starting to feel some flutters.
Best Moment this week: Feeling some flutters here and there...could it be?!
What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing and feeling movement!
Nothing too fancy this week, fairly low key. Had my regular appointment on Wednesday and everything is checking out just fine.
This was 8 weeks ago, when I was 9 weeks. Need a new one!

The Great Debate

Not so much a debate among others...but more so between me, myself and I.

While it has long stood in my mind that when I got pregnant I did not want to know the gender until birth, I am now contemplating finding out. Let me first start by saying that no one person or people have influenced this idea. I've always been strong willed in everything I do and one of my favorite things are surprises, hence not wanting to find out. 

{image found here}

I've had many friends and family who have been pregnant over the last few years and I've always asked so many questions and been so curious about the whole pregnancy process, and excited for when it would be my turn. I've told many people that I knew I didn't want to find out when I would become pregnant and believe me I've gotten the looks and the "How could you possibly wait?". I've always thought how cool and special it would be to wait until birth to know if you had a little girl or a little boy inside that belly. After all, waiting 9 months to see what she/he looks like, why not wait to know if it is a he or a she?? I have a few friends who have waited and they've told me what a surprise and how fun it was to wait and the anticipation that built up made the labor process that much better; for one taking your mind off of other things. My parents waited to find out what I was and they were pleasantly surprised. My dad always told me he just knew I was a girl. Back 20-30+ years ago there wasn't the technology to find out the gender so everyone had to wait .

Now for the other side. 
{There is the whole planning and buying gifts bonus to knowing.} But I don't want to know just so people can buy me a blue blanket versus a green/brown/yellow one which I would love to use for either a boy or a girl. True, it would be much easier to plan the nursery, clothes, themes, equipment and such especially since this is our first child and we can use all the help we can take. But I'm completely fine with decorating in gender neutral colors. I personally love the greens/browns/yellows/blues and I would happily dress or carry or be seen with a girl or a boy in those colors.

{The name decision process.} While Josh and I have talked about kids' names for years, both knowing we wanted kids in our future, it is always fun to talk about possible names. This is one of the things I love about being pregnant and knowing we are creating a life. Names are so unique to each person's personality, I just think it is fun. It is just as easy to come up with one gender name as it is to come up with one name of each gender. However, I do agree with the argument that by knowing the gender and calling the baby by his or her name I would feel more like I "know" him or her and get to know him or her better. More personalized than talking to my belly saying "hi baby" for the next 6 months. Also, by knowing the gender, we can really decide if we like that name or not, but I feel like we are basically set on our names.

I suppose those are the two biggest factors in my mind on "to know or not to know". So hard. I know how most other people stand on this topic in my family and circle of friends. And I appreciate so much those that tell me "it's your baby, in your belly, you do what you want". Which is great. And I'm honestly not letting people influence me at all, I'm really taking this all into consideration. For one, Josh has told me how he feels: he really wants to find out, but I know he'd support whatever decision I make. I don't want to make a decision with the mind set "this is my baby" because it is our baby and he should have a say and an opinion in the matter. Such tough decisions!

I'm not to sure if you can opt to find out the gender after the regular 18-20 week window, so I suppose we'll have to decide soon. I go in for the ultra sound a week from Monday. 

Anyone have any tips/advice/suggestions/pros or cons to the topic? I know it is ultimately a personal decision but it's nice to hear what other people think/have done.

Friday, April 8, 2011

{Fabulous Friday} & Remembering

It is Friday..finally. But for me, it is Thursday and the end of my Thursday. How's that for confusing? I've been working overnights this week so my day is nearly done and I have one more shift to go before my weekend starts.

We have more visitors coming, how lucky are we?! Josh's parents and his sister and her family are coming. We are so excited to see them all! Josh's sister is pregnant too and about 7 weeks ahead of me, with her second child. I'm so excited to be pregnant with her, just wish we lived closer.

Should be a fun weekend. We don't have a lot planned, but that is what is nice about having visitors, it's just fun to hang out and be together while we can.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my Dad and Grandma. Makes me sad to know they aren't here anymore. It has been a very rough couple of months for me, but I'm here and making it work. I've had dreams at night with them in it and it is just so real to me. I constantly think back to different times when we were together and just seeing their face, hearing their voice is so real to me. I am very thankful to have these memories.

Alright, time to put a smile back on my face and head home from work here soon to go to bed.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Action packed weekend with great friends

This weekend was such a blast! So much fun that I hadn't been on the computer to post, check, nothing all weekend since last Wednesday. Tried to take some pictures here and there but mostly enjoyed everyone. 




Josh and I were lucky enough to get a long weekend off and our friends came to visit. Josh's best friend Brian came from Colorado. It was great to see him. He'd never seen the desert or been to Arizona before (I believe?). John & Rebekah and their little guy Landon also came from Colorado to visit. We had a house full! It was so great having everyone here, I loved having the house full. We grilled out just about every night and hung out by the pool just about every single day. No sunburns here though, we did good! 


Landon is a hoot to be around! He's walking and moving and talking up a storm. He grabs things and then trys to give it to you only before he takes it away again. He was in love with chasing Lucy around the house. I'm sure she is enjoying the quietness of not having him around anymore. She was a good sport though.


We cooked up some pretty amazing things this weekend, and of course I didn't take pictures of the food. I plan to cook these again very soon, so I will post pics then. 





 We even got to go to a Phoenix Coyotes vs. Colorado Avalanche Hockey game while we were out there, little surprise from the Davis's to us. Such a great time! The Av's are our favorite team and we don't get to see them play much anymore. The Av's won too! I'm sure we were the only row of Av's fans, appropriately dressed too!


We loved having our friends come visit and can't wait to see them all again!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

It's been....16 weeks

I didn't post this on Saturday like I should have, we had a very busy weekend! So a few days late...And I promise I'll get a belly picture up soon. I'm actually starting to get a belly!
 
Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 Weeks on Saturday (April 2nd)

Size of baby: size of a Avacado (and weighs 3.5oz and is 4.6 inches long :)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: zero.

Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants, mine are too tight!

Gender: We don't know and won't know until September when I'm due :)

Movement: Not yet, though I've had a few "popcorn" or "flutter" feelings...

Sleep: Have been super tired and now starting to get uncomfortable

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: Food?! I'm just hungry now, which is a GREAT feeling!

Symptoms: None, just finding a comfortable sleeping position.

Labor Symptoms:Nope

Milestone: Another Doc appointment this week.

Best Moment this week: Realizing I'm 4 months pregnant already?!

What I'm looking forward to: My belly growing and feeling movement!

So not too much going on. My belly is starting to grow a bit, though at times I think it looks like a beer belly so we'll see.  Excited for all of our visitors that we had this weekend and more to come next weekend and in the weeks to come. The weather is warming up here, we've hit our first 100 degree day already, April 1st (No fools joke there). I'm also working on cooking up some more goodness (of course) since so many things sound good right now!