Maternity Days

Pregnancy changes you. If you've been pregnant before then this fact certainly won't be news to your ears. I expected changes, I knew my body would change and that I might get morning sickness or even "pregnancy brain," but I really had no idea just how much I would change.

I feel like my brain was cut in half. Literally, I feel like I can only use half my brain now. Blonde moments seem to occur way to much lately, half the time I can't even remember my own name or how old I am and I can't seem to remember what I ate for breakfast most of the time. Sometimes I feel utterly useless. I was fully capable of handling the high stress job I had prior to getting pregnant but during pregnancy the job was just unmanageable for me. I was constantly having panic attacks or mental break downs or crying on my husbands shoulder. Granter my job and my boss were the cause of most of these problems, but pregnancy certainly seemed to make it harder. So, I quit! I just couldn't do it anymore and I didn't like the way the negativity at work made me feel at home. I certainly didn't want the baby growing inside of me to feel constant unhappiness before she even made her appearance into this world.
So, I quit. I an certainly not the kind of person to quit a job if I don't have anything else lined up and I have never really been "unemployed" for more than a few weeks so it's a scary and new challenge. But it was the right decision and I am happy at last. So I am looking for a new job, although it's quite a challenge nowadays, not to mention I'm 6 months pregnant. But it's ok. I am a strong believer that life happens the way it is supposed to and that Heavenly Father will look out for our little family. He always has before ;-)

On a lighter note... we are starting to prepare for our little girl and I am getting quite excited. We have actually picked out a name for her and although I tell Chad that I reserve the right to change her name once we actually see her, the name we have picked out feels right. So for now we are calling her Afton Elizabeth. Hopefully she will feel like an Afton after she is born.
We are also starting to prepare Afton's room...Finally! Our spare room/office/room collecting boxes and junk has started to look a little more like a nursery. We cleaned it out a little and we also sold our huge monstrous desk (pictured below) to make room for....

Afton's Crib!! Tadah!
We found our crib at Target for $150 bucks and it also included a free changing table. Yay! We were going to just get a crib and be creative with a changing table so this was a very unexpected blessing.
I have also finally picked out my nursery theme/colors. Below is a rough idea of the colors (as good as I could do in "paint.").
And my wonderful friend Lindsey has agreed to do some beautiful paintings for the baby's room. Below are the beautiful paintings that inspired my nursery idea. Thanks Lindsey!!



And last but certainly not least: some pregnant pics! For my sister especially. I feel like I am finally actually looking pregnant and not just completely bloated and fat. So I am now willing to post these :-)

22 weeks

24 weeks
I am happy! Although I am jobless, I am happy. I can honestly say I have never been happier than I am now. I have a wonderful supportive husband who makes me feel beautiful everyday despite my constant weight gain and growing belly. And I have a baby growing inside of me. Heavenly father has blessed our family tremendously. We couldn't ask for more.

Summer Continued- August

August was a good month. We kicked the month off with a trip to Monterey with Chad's family. This our favorite vacation spot so we visit as often as we can. Chad, Emily, Bobby and I left later than everyone else because of work. So we headed out of Modesto about 6 o'clock. To our major disappointment after about 20 minutes of driving on the I-5 we ran into this:

Cars were at a complete stop with no hope of moving. After about 20 minutes of waiting we drove along the shoulder and were lucky enough to find somewhere to get onto the other side of the freeway. Then we googled and map-quested on the three i-phones we had in the car until we found what we thought was a reasonable alternative route. Instead of heading all the way up the 99 and around to San Jose we found a road that by-passed that and headed straight west. "This will just be great" we thought. It will take us hardly any time at all. After two hours on a road that was so windy it would put switchbacks to shame we had to finally stop on the side of the road. Let's just say there may have been some throwing up and there was definitely a lot of peeing on the side of the road. And no, not all of that was done by the pregnant woman. I do have photos of after the detour but they are too embarrassing to post, so use your imagination. We hopped back in the car and continued on our winding road of hell. When we saw the bright lights of San Jose we all almost started crying. We ended up getting to Monterey after Midnight. So, not a fun car ride there, but definitely a fun trip to make up for it.
The boys rented wetsuits and boogie boards and even a longboard and braved the waves. Meanwhile the girls sat on camping chairs on the beach and took naps. Much better past time in my opinion...what's better than napping on the beach?

We also visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

Those are tiny minnows swimming behind Chad's head if you are interested to know.

Group Picture outside the aquarium. Yes, I am pregnant. No, I have not just gained a ton of weight. I'll just clear that up now.

Also in August is my wonderful mother's birthday. Can you believe this lady is 49? I can't!

We went to Chevy's to celebrate the occasion.

And finishing up August Chad and I headed to Monterey yet again to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. Chad's dad gets quite a bit of hotel points racked up from working away from home so often so he kindly offered to get us a hotel room for two nights. We decided it was probably now or never to get a romantic trip for our anniversary since our little one will be due before our next anniversary. We also decided to take Oliver with us even though we were a little hesitant because we couldn't leave him in the hotel room because they "technically" didn't allow pets.
But we opted to bring him and were so glad we did. It forced us to do more activities outside and more walking on the beach. It also helped us to save money as well, which never hurts. Not to mention Oliver had the time of his life with an unlimited supply of sand to dig in and many seagulls to chase.

We did leave Oliver for about an hour to go on a Catamaran ride in Santa Cruz. It was a blast and very eventful. It was so windy the boat owners opted to use the sails instead of the engines, but about half way through the ride, the sail ripped! We also sighted Dolphins as well.

And this was our last morning on the beach trying to soak up as much as we could before we headed back to Modesto. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip and gave Chad and I some time to just be together. Even though we live together it seems like we don't get enough time just to take walks and talk. So this trip was well worth the wait!

All in all August was a fantastic month and a great way to end the hottest of the summer months.

Summer in Review- July

So remember last post when I said I would never go that long again without posting. Well, I lied. Apparently I am a liar. So here we are again...two months later...and I did it again. But you know, it happens. So let's see where we left off:

Sometime in July:

We picked peaches from my mom's peach tree and I tried my hand at canning. It went well but took FOREVER! I knew it wouldn't be easy but it was very time consuming for such little results. But we do have some fresh peaches canned now to add to our food storage. So that's a plus.

While Chad picked the peaches.... Oliver... ate peaches off the ground...

and flirted with Whiskers through the window.

The end result.

Oh and this is what Chad and Oliver did while I canned until my hands bled(ok they didn't bleed, overreaction)...made funny faces. What's new?

Oliver has kept his summer schedule pretty open so that he could get in plenty of naps.

He also decided to nap even more when I told him come January our house would be getting little sleep. I encourage his naps because I get to snap cute pictures such as the following:

July also brought more garden sensations. The watermelons didn't get as big as we hoped but turned out really good.

They looked a little different but tasted delicious!

We took many walks at dry creek (a nice walking path in Modesto) when it wasn't too hot. Ariana liked to tag along too. Oliver just likes walks period.

It really is a beautiful place to walk, very relaxing. Except when your pregnant and are trying to get used to feeling like you constantly have a full bladder. Then walking gets a little trickier. I have started to perfect the art of walking

That's one happy dog.

July also brought family birthdays and a chance to catch up with my dad's side of the family.
Here's the birthday girl/woman laughing at all of the Alkire's funny and sometimes inappropriate for kids birthday cards.

Cody and Chad listening to colorful conversations and trying to stay entertained...or rather staying entertained without trying. There is certainly never a dull moment with the Alkire's.

Aunt Debbie, Aunt Sue, Great-Aunt Donna and Micki.

Last but certainly not least...July brought us a surprise visit from Jill, Dixie and Parker. They went to Disneyland with Chad's family and decided last minute to make a stop in Modesto for a few days so that we could see them. It's always fun to have them around!

July- Check. On to August....

Lack of means more of

Our fourth of July weekend was pretty uneventful...in a good way. So maybe that's why it took me a whole week to figure out if I even wanted to blog about it. But alas I am...so there must be something I want to say.

I have been tired lately to say the least. I am starting to get more energy but I really just wanted a relaxed three day weekend. I wanted to have fun but I also wanted to some basics that I have been to tired to do. You know, like dishes, cleaning the toilet, mopping floors. Our house has look like a tornado has hit it lately.

So the weekend was good because not a lot happened. Don't we all just need those weekends once and a while? We did manage to fit in a few fun activities in between all the relaxing. ;-)

Friday night we drove to Oakland and attended the temple...finally. We have been trying to go for the last three weeks and of course something else always comes up. But we finally did it and it was wonderful as usual. We always feel our household runs a little smoother and our snotty comments (ok, my snotty comments) and our annoying fights over nothing decrease a lot. I'm sure no one else has those fights that start over one person not rinsing a dish right? Well after we attend the temple those fights seem to stop..until we haven't gone for a while. Then they reappear out of nowhere and we know it's time for another temple trip.

I think the only time I think Oakland it beautiful is from the view at the temple. It was a beautiful day when we went.

Saturday day we went to Chad's parents house for a little family BBQ. It was nice and relaxing and the food was good which always helps.

Saturday night we wanted to see some kind of professional fireworks and the only place that was putting on a show was after the Modesto Nuts game. So we made the trip to the other side of Modesto and camped out behind the stadium with a million other people to wait for the fireworks to start. Chad's parents are frequenters to the Modesto Nuts firework shows and had been there the night before. They got there about 9 right as the show started. So we got there at 9 on Saturday thinking it would start at the same time. Well it didn't. Pretty soon it was 10 o'clock and the game showed no signs of being over. Everyone was getting restless and it was pretty crazy. Our next doors neighbors had 2 24 packs of Corona and were going through them pretty fast. They were also throwing around the F bomb like it was their favorite word. Oh and the best part was their cigarette smoke that lingered into our area. Not to mention they had a little girl who looked barely one with them. So I'm sure she was getting her fair share of smoke too. Nice huh?

Chad's face explains perfectly how I felt at that point. But it gets better..or worse. Better because the story gets more funny to tell. Worse because it wasn't funny while we were there.

So 10:30 rolls around and I've just about had it. Then...the corona and ciagarrette group next to us gets a few more visitors. It's this older couple so I think "ok this shouldn't be too bad." Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The older guy has a trumpet. Yes, sign, a trumpet. And he's drunk. Already. So trumpet+ drunk old guy= really annoying. He starts playing salutes to each arm of the military and then continues to yell after each one, "lets hear it for the ___(fill in the blank, army, marines, etc). Then all of the other drunk people in the crowd start yelling/clapping/whistling. Ugh. Then when he's through with that he continues to play other patriotuc songs while chugging a corona and swaying around. Let's just say I was ticked and getting more upset with every song.

But the saga still continues. Pretty soon the police show up, thank you! They start making people with open beer bottles away and are making sure things don't get out of hand. Where were you an hour ago?

Finally to top our night off we got to see a man getting arrested, in front of his whole family I might add. Classy right? That was when I decided it was time to go. I didn't even care about the flipping fireworks at that point. I was tired, annoyed and I had to pee. And there was absolutely no way I was going to use the public bathrooms there. I have standards.

So we left after two hours of...that...without seeing fireworks. Oh well. Life goes on. At least we were safely out of the ghetto of Modesto before too much more started happening.

Again, refer to the picture above to know how we felt when we left.

Sunday was again, relaxing. Church, food, nap and then we went and did a few smaller fireworks with Chad's family again.

Monday I had the whole day off...PAID...yes. Unfortunately Chad had to work. First thing I did was take our deprived dog on a walk for some much needed exercise (for both of us). I slipped my house key in my pocket along with my iPhone for musical entertainment, strapped Oliver in his harness and leash, tied my tennis shoes and we were off. We had a very enjoyable walk but it was getting hot and I was ready to be in an air conditioned area. So we got to the front door and my house key is not in my pocket. Great...it is on the sidewalk somewhere over the mile or two we just walked. Plus our front office is closed for the holiday. So long story short we waited 45 minutes while someone came and gave us a spare key. I hated wasting so much of my day off but what can you do?

After I finally got back in the apartment my mom came over and we layed out by the pool and chatted. It's always nice to have some mother-daughter time. The only thing that was missing was my older sister Nichole :-(

And after that I cleaned! It was so nice to have a clean house. I felt instantly better that night. There is something about a clean house that just gives you a good feeling.

Oh and I even managed to make Chad a homecooked meal for a change. It's been a while. I missed my kitchen.

Low key weekend? Yes. Wonderful weekend? Yes. Thank you 4th of July for giving me a much needed recoup.

A day in the life...

I wanted to record a day early on in my pregnancy, because let's be honest I won't remember it later unless I do. Especially because this particular day I will definitely try to block out of my memory. I didn't have it too hard. I wasn't sick constantly and I only got really sick a handful of times. And by week 11 or 12 I wasn't sick hardly at all and the only time I got nauseous was when I didn't eat enough (or when I had to clean left overs out of the fridge). But non the less I still had a few BAD days to go down in the history books and this is one of them:


6:57 AM- Can't sleep another minute because my bladder feels so full that it will explode. So I get up and do the obvious. I don't realize it's 6:59 when I lay back down. My alarm goes off one minute later. Ahhh!!! I hate that! So I push the snooze and sleep for 10 more minutes.
7:09 AM- I drag my tired self out of bed.
7:15 AM- Will it be jean shorts or stretchy cotton pants today? Stretchy cotton it is because the other's just feel to tight.
7:30 AM- I pour myself a bowl of cereal so I don't get too nauseous before I get to work. I eat it but don't enjoy it. I hate eating that early.
7:38 AM- I go to brush my teeth before I leave for work. I am VERY careful not to brush too far back on my tongue. If I do? I gag and then the i-need-to-throw-up feeling won't go away until I actually do. TMI. Sorry. But that's what happens....
8:35 Am- I have to pee again.
8:45 AM- The nausea hits me like a freight train and I rush to the kitchen at work to make myself a piece of toast.
8:55 AM- The toast doesn't quite curb the nausea so I get some apple sauce.
10:00 AM- Bathroom break
11 AM- Even though lunch is in an hour I am hungry again. I just can't wait. So I snack on some trail mix.
11:45 Am- I pee again before I leave for lunch. That should hold me until I get back to the office. Hopefully.
12:10 PM- I am driving home for lunch willing myself not to think about throwing up. I am so hungry (even though I only ate an hour ago) that I am sick to my stomach. I have to continually take deep breaths and think "you are fine. you will be home any minute now. Just a little longer."
12:15 PM- I make it home without any "incidents" in the car. I am grateful.
12:20 PM- I eat. Ahhh. Relief. No nausea.
1:30 PM- Another bathroom break...
3:oo PM- Another snack...This is the longest I have gone without food the whole day. Two whole hours.
3:45 PM- Another bathroom break...
4:00 PM- I am starving again but decide to wait until I get home to eat again. I just get so tired of fixing snacks. I can only bring so much food with me to work.
5:05 PM- I stop by my mom's house to water my garden, but I make a stop by the bathroom on the way to the backyard. Of course.


FYI the following story is not for the faint of heart. In other words it's gross but I want to convey it because looking back on it now it is slightly funny, only slightly. Also it's just one of those horror pregnancy stories that must be shared so that other's won't feel as bad about their horror stories.

5:30 PM- I am in my car driving home now. A few minutes away from home I cough a little. I have been sick and am still not over it. I have some dreaded phlegm in the back of my throat and it won't seem to go away. I start to panic...let me explain why. Phlegm normally= no big deal. Phlegm while I'm pregnant= makes me gag and throw up. So this starts to happen and I can feel my stomach heaving. No! This can't happen. I am driving the Jeep, in the open, where everyone can see. Plus I really don't want to clean throw-up out of my car because chances are that will make me throw up again. It will be a vicious cycle. So most likely I will end up asking Chad to do it and I don't want to make him do that. So panic is setting in...what do I do? I feel it coming....there it is. It can't be stopped. (This is the gross part...and stupid part. What was I thinking?) I try to swallow it because it's only a very small amount. SOOOOOOO NOT A GOOD IDEA. Makes it worse. It comes again, this time it goes in my hand. Still not in the car, whew. But now what do I do? So I pull over with one hand, the other has the well...you know... in it. I jump out of the car and continue to throw up on the side of the road. Meanwhile there are many cars behind me and I am mortified. I finish, sort of and luckily there is a rag in the jeep that I can clean up with. I get back in my car and drive the 30 seconds home. Oh yes, did I mention I was only 30 seconds from home? If only I could have waited 30 seconds right? I thought I was done getting sick but then I think about trying to swallow it and I get sick all over again. I get my key in the door and sprint to the bathroom. I barely make it. Finally I am done. I am a MESS. A TOTAL MESS. I feel so disgusting. I am surprised at this point that I haven't started crying yet but I feel too utterly exhausted to think about crying now. I clean up and call Chad and relay my horror story. Meanwhile sweet Oliver is sitting by me looking at me like, "Mom, whats wrong?"

6:00 PM- I am laying on the couch wishing my throat would stop hurting eating saltine crackers and drinking water.
6:30 PM- I tell Chad he is on his own for dinner. The only thing I can think of right now that doesn't make me sick at the thought of it is cereal. So I settle for cereal for dinner.

6:45 PM- Can you guess what goes here? It starts with a P and ends with I am soooo tired of doing this! I might be saving on tampons, but we, and when I say we I mean me, are definitely using twice as much toilet paper.
7:00 PM- I fall exausted onto the couch and will veg on TV for the next two hours maybe interspered with some dishes or laundry...who am I kidding...probably not. That will wait until the weekend.
10:00 PM- Chad and I crawl into bed. This is my favorite time of the day. Sleep time! I am comfy in bed and I am not feeling sick. This is the only time of day that I don't feel sick at all.

And that, that was my horror of a day. I haven't had one nearly as bed since and I am hoping to never have one again, because let's face it: it sucked. One thing I learned: Always keep a bag of some sort in the car with me.