josh. karee. ellie

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Joys of pregnancy

Being pregnant is an adventure. Everyday more and more things pop up to make life unbearable exciting. For instance, during my family's vacation to Outer Banks, a fun new pregnancy symptom popped up. Quite literally, my feet popped up to be the same size as my ankles, which plumped up to be the same size as my calves, which of course expanded to the same size as my thighs. So, to sum it up, my legs and feet were all the same width from the hips down. What an adventure. 

This is the first stage, just a little swelling, then I got sunburned which I think escalated the process... 
To this. BAM.
Notice the lines on my feet? Those are flip flop indentation lines from shoving my feet into my shoes. Luckily, I had a few private doctors with me who let me in on a little secret called compression socks and life has never been better. (Thanks Dr Cory and Dr Darin!) 

The very first real warm Sunday this year, I was teaching my 9-10 year olds in church and feeling awfully hot in our tiny classroom. Before class started the boys fought over who got to open the window and whether it should even be open or not which then resulted in some crying and hitting. So, I closed the window and told them to forget about it. Big mistake. About halfway through the lesson, in which the kids are actually behaving and listening to me, the other lady who teaches with me walks in the classroom, says, "Wow, it is hot in here!" and opens up the window. Happy to get some relief from the heat, I finish teaching then go to the bathroom. As I'm washing my hands I look into the mirror and see this...
Yes. I was the teacher with the sweaty pits. The teacher you can't even hear talking because all you can focus on is their wet shirt. No wonder the kids were quiet! No wonder Giuliana opened the window the second she walked in the room! How embarrassing. Unfortunately this is not a one time occurrence, I  have reverted back to a very awkward stage in my life where my wardrobe was mainly white, black, and very dark colors such as navy and well, black. Oh, and a lot of jackets. Dark ones. The days when I was afraid to raise my hand in class or give someone a high five. Back when I was a very sweaty middle schooler. (ok fine and part of high school too...) Luckily my underarm problem dissipated OR so I thought. Hopefully it goes away when I'm not pregnant anymore! Until then, I am just embracing the sweatiness... no use trying to hide it! I'm way too hot anyway!

I am also training myself to get up every two to three hours each night to prepare for when the baby comes. Just kidding; my bladder is training me.  I'm sure I have a  smaller bladder then the average human, but now with someone sitting on top of it, I find myself spending a lot of quality time in the bathroom. Let's just say I now locate the bathroom in each store/restaurant I walk into... just in case. 

I could actually go on and on about the heartburn, the congestion, the random bloody noses, the fact that I can only eat a  little at a time because my stomach fills up too fast, that I can smell better than a bloodhound, but I won't. The thing is, I love being pregnant. I love feeling my baby move. Sure, sometimes she tries to break my ribs, but mostly I love knowing she's safe and happy. I love feeling this little person inside my belly because it reminds me that something amazing is happening. My body is incredible and I can't get over the fact that it knows exactly what to do to grow a tiny baby. I just eat and sleep and work and play and all the while my body is working and working on creating a tiny beautiful babe. And in 12 short weeks she'll be here. And we are SO excited! 

Sunday, June 16, 2013

critters and camping

Last week, Josh and I went out one evening to shoot our bows in the yard. As we were shooting, we noticed the tall grass behind our target start to really wave around like something was in it. So, we stopped and watched the grass. Within a few minutes, a family of ferrets came out! There were 7 or 8 of the cutest little guys and they all darted back and forth from the tall grass onto the lawn and back. We watched them dart around the border of the yard, peaking in and out of the grass and eventually they crossed the lawn and went into the flower beds then disappeared around the corner of the house. One of them was a little scared to leave the safety of the tall grass and was left behind. So, we watched him play around for a good 10 minutes. He even came over to a sprinkler in the lawn and maneuvered it around so water would drip out and he could get a drink! It was really cool to watch. Eventually we ran to get the camera and he hid in the bushes again. After waiting 10 more minutes, and taking some pictures of the pretty flowers we have around the yard...

we heard him rustling around again and we recorded this little video. 
It was so fun to watch him exploring around the yard! The next day, I was walking home from work (across the driveway.. haha) and noticed a huge ball of fur scurrying across the road. It was a huge rock-chuck! This picture is from far away... he looked a little scary :)
Since living here, I've seen tons of different animals that live here too... literally in my yard. We have ferrets apparently, a family of deer, tons of different birds, cranes, snakes, mice, rock-chucks, ect. Some of them aren't so welcome like the mice and snakes, but I love watching all the other animals. I guess that goes with living on a mountain!

This weekend I convinced my hard working husband he needed to take the weekend off. He just finished a big landscaping project earlier in the week and has a little break between projects and his employees. He works so hard everyday! He leaves home around 7:30am and I rarely see him before 8pm that night. And he's been working Saturdays as well... I'm so grateful I married such a hard worker! Anyway, I told him he needed a break and we were going camping and it wasn't that hard to convince him to go. I played tennis Friday morning and he worked then at noon we loaded up the truck and drove 15 minutes away and we were all alone in the mountains at our campsite! Another reason I love living here... we live 15 minutes away from great camping. We only saw 5 or 6 people the whole time we were there, so we felt pretty secluded. We did all the things we love to do while camping... shooting guns and bows, roasting hot dogs and smores, cooling off in the stream, and playing cards in the firelight.
Shooting guns and thinking of names for Baby Green! 
Roasting the perfect marshmellows

Happy smore face 

The next morning I laid in my warm sleeping bag while Josh started the fire and breakfast

The delicious eggs I tried to cook... I'm an amateur at campfire cooking. UNLESS its hot dogs :) 

Shooting my bow with my 26 week pregnant belly

We stayed around camp until we started getting hot and tired then decided to drive home. It was a very fun, relaxing day of camping and it was so fun to some time alone with my husband before our baby comes!