I can’t believe I’ve only taken one picture being pregnant!  Well, I’ve taken fun shots at my cousins wedding but not showcasing the belly….so here it is, on my way to church yesterday I made Rob snap a quick pic!

Ok, so I’m starting to look into car seats, strollers, etc.  And I feel so torn!  How in the heck am I supposed to know what works great when I’ve never done this before? So I need help from all of my friends who are Mother’s…and yes, you need to leave comments!  I am going to just list my random thoughts….they might seem all over the place but that’s what happens when I should be in bed and I’ve read so many reviews I can’t think straight!

-Looks like the Graco and Chicco car seats have great reviews and people have told me to get one that holds the baby longer (has a larger weight maximum) but online everyone says they don’t fit in shopping carts or restaurant car seat holders.  But it seems like everything is now being made for bigger babies.  Do I really need one that carries my baby up to 35 lbs? I’m not sure I could even carry that bad boy around once you add the weight of the carrier!  And a lot of people say they don’t fit in cars well.

-Also, we stopped into Babies R’ Us briefly tonight just to browse and get ideas of what is out there and this lady walked by us in the car seat area and told us the one she had and how her baby is really, really hot in it because the fabric doesn’t breath well.  The fabric she pointed to was the fabric they seem to be making them out of now…more mesh like.  Rob says just put a towel down first, is that what people do? I’m just thinking that it’s already hot in AZ and if I could avoid getting one where my baby gets super hot that would be great!

Strollers seriously give me a headache!  Now here is something I really want help with! Get ready for some random thoughts!

-I really, really don’t want to buy a stroller that will only work for the next 1-2 years before I need a double one.  And, I like to walk in the mornings so I’m thinking a jogger is definitely the way to go because I’m thinking that is when I will use it most.

-The only jogger I’ve seen that can convert to a two child stroller is the Phil and Teds.  My bestie has one and loves it and it has good reviews but there were a lot of people who thought it was really hard to fold down and you have to take the back seat off to fold it down….and they said it was really bulky folded down.  These are things I haven’t really asked her about yet.

-I’ve also heard that people love the City Mini brand…but it’s either for one kid or two.  The reviews are all really good because it folds easy, moves easy and isn’t bulky when folded.

-Some have told me if I’m going to spend money on anything it should be the stroller….but it doesn’t seem like a one kid stroller is really going to last me…or anyone else very long.  So why buy an expensive one kid jogger when I’m going to have to upgrade the bad boy in a couple years?

-Do I just buy the cheap snap and go type of stroller and hope it holds out for my walking?  I mean, I’m not walking on crazy terrain, just the sidewalk or do I go for something better?

-I’ve never wanted the travel system because I’ve been looking at strollers but seriously, those things are WAY cheaper than buying the car seat and stroller separate.  Do I just buy one and hope that it works good for walks and then when I have to upgrade for two kids I go big and spend more on a nice one?  It is crazy to me how much cheaper it is to buy them together….well, crazy and annoying!

The few people that I’ve talked to either use their stroller all of the time and would recommend getting something durable and nicer or they hardly ever used their stroller at all.  I guess it comes down to me not wanting to have to buy 50 million strollers while having kids. I know that eventually I will own more than one stroller but having to buy one now and then another one in two years….and the fact that most aren’t cheap, just seems annoying.  I think they need to make more strollers that can hold one kid and then somehow be turned into a two kid stroller…that would make my decision much easier! lol.  So as you can see I really need some advice from the Momma’s so that I can stop going back and forth about what I want to do!  Help me ladies!!!

**Post edit….the jogger does have an attachment that almost all car seat carriers snap into, so that’s good.  And I definitely don’t plan on carrying a heavy kid in one but I don’t want to buy one infant car seat and then they are too big for it and I have to buy another infant car seat just for them to be in the car….I’m loving all the input!!!! It is very helpful!

No, not the kind that go on your house, but the kind you get after having the chickenpox….yes, I have shingles.

Last Wednesday I found a small, tender bump on the back of my head but just figured it was a bug bite of some kind (we were just in Mexico).  Thursday I left for Utah and I noticed another bump next to it….ummm…that’s weird.  Friday I found a few small one’s and by Saturday they were hurting pretty bad.  I was really freaked out but the first bump seemed to be going down and I was out of town so I just dealt with the pain and hoped they would go away.  I was so wrong!  Sunday we were driving home (me, Mom, and Heather) and the pain was getting worse and worse.  When I got home I had Rob look at them…there were quite a few bumps all on the right side of the back of my head…and he said that some looked gross, like an infection.  We decided that I should go to Urgent Care to make sure this wasn’t something seriously that might harm the baby…so off we went.  Luckily they weren’t bust and it didn’t take long to get in. The doctor came in, asked questions and took a look at my head…oh, those are definitely shingles.  What?  I’ve heard of older people getting them but not young people!  I guess once you have chickenpox the virus stays dormant in your body and sometimes certain nerves become “frazzled” or “stressed” and it can result in shingles. They are small water blisters that slowly form and then scab over.  They also stay in one area due to what nerves become irritated. Not sure what “stress” could have caused them…I’ve been pretty relaxed these days.  She tells me that usually you start medicine within 48 hours of discovering them and if you start after that it doesn’t do much and I’m pregnant…awesome.  She goes to check the medicine and finds out that I can take it and writes me a prescription.  She also tells me that I am contagious for another 7-10 days to those who have never had chickenpox.  And worst of all, she casually throws in there that it can cause birth defects…um, WHAT!?

That night I went home and started doing research…..turns out that chickenpox causes birth defects and shingles has never been linked to causing them.  I also find out that to pass them on or give someone chickenpox their skin literally has to touch the shingles….good thing they are on the back of my head!

The next day I call my OB to let them know what is going on and to make sure that I can take the medicine…just in case the lady was wrong.  They tell me to take it and hopefully it will help them run their course faster.  They also confirmed that it won’t harm the baby because they don’t pass through the umbilical cord….what a relief!  I was really worried! Ok, maybe I am still a little worried but I’m trying not to be.

These little blisters are painful and I want to just scratch the crap out of them but can’t!  I started the medicine last night so hopefully I will get some relief but from what I understand the medicine helps it go away faster and doesn’t do much for the pain.  I can’t even describe the pain….sometimes they don’t hurt and then BAM! They are burning, itching and I feel like I am being pinched really, really hard!  Basically it is not fun and I’m trying to endure them and not complain about how much they are KILLING me!  But there is nothing I can do but let them run their course. Who would’ve thought that I would get shingles!?

Every time this little guy moves…which is all the time…I think of this song!  I just love feeling him and especially watching my belly when he lands a nice big kick I can actually see!  He seriously loves to be really low on the left hand side of my belly…and when he does venture out of that spot he always pushes his head, bum, whatever he can against me and makes a nice big bulge in my belly, it’s hilarious.

The best part of feeling him so much is that Rob can now feel him move.  The first time he felt him a couple of weeks ago was amazing….it made things real for him and he was in awe at how well he could feel him kick.  I can’t imagine what it is going to feel like when I’m 9 months…I’m guessing it won’t be so funny! haha.  We are so grateful for this little guy and how well my pregnancy has gone, I can’t wait to meet him!

Last night I was at Target and found this little beauty for 50% off….they only carry them online and someone must have not liked something about it and returned it to the store, but the tags were still on and it had all of the “stuffing” still in it so I know it wasn’t used.  I have no idea what to look for in a diaper bag but many of my friends have told me they liked the one’s that looked more like a purse and I looked it up online and all of the reviews were good so I think this might just work!  And don’t worry, the color in person isn’t so neon green.

I realized that I haven’t really blogged much about being pregnant, partly because I’ve been lucky and haven’t been super sick…tired yes, but other than that things haven’t really bothered me.  Here are a few things that I have experienced thus far:

-At first I wanted salty food…nothing but salt!  Ice cream wasn’t even appealing to me at all.  And this usually meant I wanted chips!

-Now I do crave sugar more than I did before, I still want salt, but it’s not as bad.

-I’ve always liked pickles but they are even better pregnant!

-I can’t get enough fruit, especially strawberries!

-My belly so far is sticking straight out…hence having to buy maternity clothes when I was 4 months prego.  It doesn’t bother me to wear maternity clothes, others would rather leave their pants undone….that is an issue for me a) I’m tall, so it shows easier.  b) My butt has gotten bigger…I’m not ashamed to admit it…sadly I didn’t need a bigger butt! haha. But that means that my normal pants are a little more snug than I would like. c) Seriously, maternity pants are so comfortable!  Why would I suffer and wear normal pants unbuttoned, unzipped and with a long shirt or bella band when I can just wear maternity pants and feel great!  Who cares if they aren’t the cutest things out there…they are cute enough for me to wear and feel comfortable in!

That is all I can think of right now…..

In the last couple of months I have finished a few different books….I won’t go into detail about them but here they are:

My mom had this book in her “collection” and even though she hasn’t read it yet I decided to give it a try.  It was such a different book that I just had to finish it.  The book is about a young girl who sees God (but it’s a female) and starts speaking in tongues/healing people.  The points brought up about religion and how it affects everyone differently were interesting and in the end I liked the book.  Not a major page turner or amazing by any means but more on the interesting side, if that makes sense. lol.

This actually a series my mom also had in her “collection.”  I usually don’t read books like this…it is more on the mythical/magical side but since I didn’t have anything else to read and my mom and Heather both liked it I gave it a try.  Of course it sucked me in and I read all three books pretty fast.  I was surprised I liked as much as I did but that might have something to do with how the author would leave you hanging and you just HAD to find out what happens! haha.

My mom bought me this book for Christmas and I finally made the time to read it…it’s a large one.  Years ago I read Fire of the Covenant by Lund and I loved it, it’s one of my favorite books so I was super excited to read this one. Sadly, I was disappointed because it didn’t really focus on the trek to/through Hole in the Rock but more about the main character David and his conversion/life story.  After reading the preface I was excited because Lund talks about how difficult this journey was and how many have since said it was impossible to do what they did.  But the part about actually going on the trek wasn’t until the book was 3/4 of the way over.  I do realize that this trek was different than the first pioneer trek’s because they had learned from those early pioneers on what to do and what not to do so they were more prepared but still, I was sad that they didn’t focus more on the actual journey.  Overall I still enjoyed the book but I just thought it would be different.  One thing that was interesting was at the end of each chapter Lund had notes on what was true and where it came from.  Some of those notes were more interesting to me because it gave more insight to what the actual people said/experienced.  Obviously he had to make fictional families to pull the story together but I thought that the first part about David’s youth was a little drawn out.

Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

I don’t know why but I was instantly grumpy and not my normal, happy self.  I didn’t stay up too late….I slept well, considering I’m prego.  But I let my bad attitude get me instead of changing it right away.

Naiya was instantly hyper this morning…ready for our walk, I wasn’t in the mood…I think that was my first mistake, not walking.  I decided to take her to the park by the mailbox, that way she could run around like crazy and I could collect the mail….it sounded like a good idea…

Until we got there and instead of running around like she usually does she decided to ‘pounce’ in the big bushes and hunt for who knows what.  I was so mad at her!  I kept yelling at her, smacked her bum a couple of times but she kept going back…ugh.  Rob will say I wasn’t mean enough, trust me, I was mad and she knew it but that bush kept tempting her back in.

Finally she decided to listen to me and run around in the grass…perfect, now I can stop babysitting her and go get the mail…she always follows me…but then as I bent down to look in the mail box she was gone…hmmm…weird…I walk down to the grass and guess where she was? In the dang bushes again!  I actually laughed a little at first because she pounces around like a deer or antelope would and she was catching some good air, crazy beast of a dog!  But then I got mad….and even more mad at her….and I grabbed her and angrily walked her up to the sidewalk…and lectured her real good!

As we were walking home I just couldn’t take it any longer….I actually started to cry.  I felt bad for being mean to her…I was mad at myself for being in a bad mood and not wanting to do anything about it…I guess this is what you would call ‘extra’ hormones thanks to being pregnant.

We were almost home when I thought about last night.  I went to bed before Rob…this happens a lot now that I am so tired but when he came to bed last night I woke up to someone rubbing my expanding belly…it made me remember how much he loves me and how much he loves our baby…and so I cried some more.

I’m so grateful for this pregnancy happening when it did and I’m grateful for how well my pregnancy has gone.  My heart goes out to those who are experiencing heartache due to not being able to get pregnant…I’ve been there, it’s awful and at one point I never thought I would be able to dig myself out of that dark place.  But the Lord knows us, He loves us, and He will never give us a trial we can not endure.

Rob just called…and I lost it…he asked me what was wrong and when I told him I didn’t know he just laughed….that’s how he is, he finds the humor in everything…so then I laughed at myself.  I just love him!

And guess who smells like a nasty bush…yep, Naiya does. And how could I ever stay mad at this….

She just loves to cuddle!

I can’t count how many times these words have left Rob’s mouth, no really, he wants to be a cowboy.  When we talk about raising kids in this world and how awful it will be by the time our kids go to high school he tells me that we will buy a “compound” in the middle of nowhere where we can live our lives peacefully and where he can be a cowboy.  You wouldn’t guess that this was his little “dream” but really he wants to be a cowboy.

Lucky for him he was able to live this dream out last weekend.  The Killian family was kind enough to have us join them for their annual round up.  Their ranch is in NM and Rob LOVED it.

We arrived there late Thursday night and thanks to the wonderful directions we had….we ended up just sleeping in the car and watching the beautiful sunrise…um yes, we were given bad directions but hey, life goes on right? haha.  Luckily we noticed one of their workers down at the corrals and he told us to keep going…we were told it was by the 3rd cattle guard, but really it is after the fifth one.  But Friday morning we arrived just in time to help with breakfast and to see the boys out the door.

Here is how our Friday and Saturday went:

-Nancy and I prepared a hearty breakfast for the men around 7am.

-The men would eat and head out the door.

-Nancy and I would shower, and prepare what we needed to for lunch (which is more like dinner because they come back HUNGRY!)

-They would drive to the corrals, prepare the horses, receive their instructions on which field to ride out to and then proceed to hunt for the cattle.

-This process of riding out, gathering and riding back would take about 3-4 hours, yep, that’s a long time.

-Nancy and I would take a guess at when they would be arriving with the cattle and head down to the corrals and wait for the men to arrive.

-Of course their were drinks and snacks waiting for them….which they promptly devoured before starting the real work.

-They would then rope the calves, tag them by gender, give them a shot so they don’t get sick, brand them and castrate the male calves…I’m thinking I’d be pretty happy to be a female right about that time! haha.

-Nancy and I would watch for a little…from the comfort of her car…ha!  And then we would head back to finish lunch.

-And then they would send the cattle out into a pasture, re-organize the horses and saddles and head back to the house.

-The men would arrive….dusty, smelly and tired….eat their meals and then either shower or take a nap.

And that is the life of a rancher my friends.  Luckily they do the roundups twice a year…not everyday.  We had a great time hanging out with friends and making new one’s….and we learned so much about cattle and ranching! Did you know that if your cattle get out and the calves aren’t branded yet…you just wait until the calves find their momma’s…because they always stay paired up.  Isn’t that cute?

Now for the pictures…..

The cattle coming over the hill…the cowboys are on the right and in the rear. Once they start herding the cattle one of them will usually take the lead…and then the rest will follow, but once they get to the hill the babies get confused and think their momma’s are behind them, when really they are in front of them, and they turn around and head back….that’s when the men have to be on their toes and ready to keep them in line.

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