27 going on 28

i turned 27 on the 25th of july (yeah...another year older) and am now 28 weeks along and FEELING it! i'm not one who looks forward to their birthdays anymore, so i tried super hard to be positive and not cry. it also doesn't help that im on edge with these crazy hormones so it took a lot for me to suck it up and think about different things. we have family in town, so that distracted me enough so thats good.

here i am at 28 weeks, looking pretty huge and feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute. crazy how much faster pregnancy symptoms hit you the 2nd time around! here are some things i have been dealing with. again, im not trying to vent. just journaling, if you will, what has been going on with me during this pregnancy as i never wrote anything when i was pregnant with brynn:

*getting crazy painful charlie horses ONLY in my left calf in the middle of the night. i eat at least 2 banana's a day and have tried other vitamin supplements to help, but nothing is really working. the best advice i got for this was from my sister in law janae who told me to flex my foot (NOT POINT IT!) when i feel one coming on. definitely helps, so thanks again janae!

*having issues with my sciatic nerve. never EVER felt this type of pain before and its not that great. i walk like an old man and am always stretching my legs in hopes that it will relieve some pressure. don't get me wrong, this is all worth it! but in the meantime, its sort of cramping my style as i can't move around as fast as i am used to. its such a weird pain to experience!

*already feeling my hips widening and getting lose. not cool as i didnt experience this while pregnant with brynn till the very end! ahhhh! how much wider can i possibly get?!

*constantly thirsty. i can't get enough water and crystal light. and in case you're wondering, the strawberry-orange-banana is the best! i can slam 2 quarts a day by myself.

*already up 16 pounds. so so depressing. and im sure i've gained a few more as i haven't weighed myself since last week. the scale and i are enemies at the moment as he always makes me cry. stupid scale. i don't plan on revisiting him until my next appointment, and im considering closing my eyes as i don't want to know.

*my sense of smell is amazing! i'm basically a bloodhound these days.

*so incredibly overwhelmed with how i will manage with 2 kids in tow. i have nightmares about running simple errands like going to the post office and grocery shopping...i think i will be home bound the first few months to work up enough nerve to step outside!

*only comfortable sleeping on my left side. even this kills me as my hips are always aching so really, any sleeping position isn't super comfy.

*having crazy dreams. some are very disturbing and i often wake up in tears as i think it has really happened.

*always adjusting and readjusting my pants! people around me must think i don't understand the whole pants concept as im always tucking, and retucking the fifty million layers of clothing i have to wear to make clothes work for me. i'm pretty close to giving up altogether and succumbing to the whole muumuu thing as thats just easier. i'm pretty sure i could get away with that here in alaska...some people dress pretty interesting here...

*have discovered that proactiv really works! i started breaking out pretty bad towards the end of my 1st trimester, so i gave the ole infomercial another try. i tried this stuff back in highschool, but it didn't do any difference for me so i didn't have the highest expectations that it would work this time around. but, im happy to say that it works and im thrilled with the results.

*pretty sure that im carrying a ninja and not a human baby. this child is super active and wakes me up in the middle of night from all of it's craziness! i just pray that it isn't this crazy active when it comes out in october as i honestly cannot deal with that!

*already in nesting mode. i can't stop cleaning (but then again, when have i NOT stopped cleaning?! lol). i seriously can't relax anymore as SOMETHING (in my mind) has to be cleaned, scooped, changed out, or fixed. seriously, i hardly have sat down the past few weeks as i'm on constant mode to clean clean clean!

better late then never

sorry i have been lacking lately with my posts! we have been crazy busy here with our anniversary, brynn's third birthday, and having family visit us. plus, i'm exhausted. when i have any time to myself, i'm NAPPING or stuffing my face. hey, why fight it anymore right? i'm gaining weight at an incredible rate no matter what i do, so i give up. food wins. plus, how else am i going to stay warm in the crazy cold alaska winters?! blubber baby, blubber.

ANYWAYS. here is a recap of the last month:

brynn turned three on thursday july 9th, but we waited to celebrate till the following saturday (11th) as we had family coming in that day and knew brynn would much rather celebrate her day with her cousins. decorating her cake was stressing me out BIG TIME as the frosting was either too thick or runny when i was decorating, so i was pretty embarrassed when i pulled it out for everyone to see. so, i had to keep reminding myself that it was just a friggin CAKE and not the end of the world (lame how us moms get so worked up over trivial things!). what mattered was that brynn loved it and it tasted amazing. i can always work on my cake decorating skillz after i've attempted all the other hobbies i want to get into...(as steve rolls his eyes)

brynn had a blast opening up her gifts and asks us daily when her next birthday is. she is thrilled to be three (and has no problem telling the whole world this), and is proud of herself for knowing how many fingers to hold up just in case people ask. she got a toy shopping cart, clothes, dora and diego lego's, a cowgirl outfit from grandma and a ton of dress up stuff as she is now entering the princess phase. i am not too thrilled with this to say the least, but can't fight it anymore. she is all about wearing her plastic princess heels and layering on the mardi gras and princess necklaces. if mango would allow it, she would be dressed up as well but she is a poor sport and chooses to spend her days under the kitchen table plotting to kill us all. well, everyone but me as we are tight.

steve and i celebrated our 6 year anniversary the next day (sunday, the 12th). lucky for steve he had to give a talk in church so that was nice (picking up my sarcasm here?!). i was just glad I wasn't the one asked to talk as that would have been too much stress for one weekend. but steve is sweet, and let the whole ward know that it was our anniversary and even bought me a dozen red roses. i picked up some art at seagull book when we were in logan a few weeks before so that counted towards my anniversary gift. but geez, i can't believe how fast the past 6 years went! it's been great for sure. lots of laughter and i'm definitely lucky to be by his side. he is a fabulous person and makes me smile all the time. ok ok, no more mushy stuff...

steve's sister kristen, her husband charles, and their three boys soren, anders, and anson came up and stayed till the 22nd with us. we had a blast with them and saw a lot of the area. its nice to have family come as it definitely forces you to get out! we did a few local things around here, and spent a weekend up north at denali national park. brynn also discovered the joys of putting things up her nose (ie. a bandaid from her owie on her finger) so steve and i had a blast pulling that baby out on the drive up there. thank goodness i always carry tweezers in my makeup bag as there was no way i would have dislodged that thing! i think brynn's favorite thing while they were here was going to chuck e cheese (it was her first time) and putting her own "money" into the machines. i had to monitor her as she kept putting coins into random machines and walking way so she didn't like it too much when i decided to be in charge of her money cup. brynn was so happy to have her cousins here and cried her little eyes out the morning they left to the airport. so sad! here are a few pictures from the 11 days they were here:

the party:

super embarrassed to be sung to by everyone!

grandma maher made brynn a cute cowgirl outfit that i just love! thanks grandma.

around the anchorage area:

brynn's favorite game at chuck e cheese! loved trying to catch all the flying bee's and put them in the jar.

brynn LOVES her cousin anson although i'm sure she drove him insane while they were here. she copied everything he did/say! poor guy...sorry anson that you had an extra shawdow while you were.

cute anders! we just love him. when i first met steve, anders was barely crawling so it just boggles my mind at how fast he has grown!

denali:

view from the front or our cabins. it was so cute and cozy!

the first night we arrived, brynn was running around the outside of the cabins and fell pretty hard on her hands. as we picked her up to calm her down, we realized that she had a few nasty deep splinters lodged in her finger tips. she was IRRATE that we wanted to get them out so it was a struggle for a good 20 minutes trying to get those things out. we felt awful as steve had to dig pretty deep with the tweezers so there was a lot of blood...and she doesn't do too well when she sees blood so you can imagine the screams that were coming out of our cabin. here she is showing her bandaged fingers.

we visited the sled dogs of denali while we were there and watched them do their thang with the sled. they are so fast! brynn had a blast petting the dogs and even drove a few of them crazy when she walked by...it must be her gorgeous long blond locks! it was pretty funny and we were asked by the dog keepers to not get so close with her as it was too distracting!

our little family on the one of the little hikes we took. it was so gorgeous! oh, and did i mention i'm as big as a house now?! GAH!

cute ford family on our hike.