Heat Wave

It has been in the 100's this weekend in Phoenix.

This would be fine and dandy with me if my natural body temperature wasn't already 10 degrees hotter at the moment. Talk about a hot and sweaty mess, my friends!

I wish I had more exciting things to report, but lately I've mostly been laying on my bed at my parents' under the fan while watching Gidget and really dumb chick flicks. Ah, leisure...

Also, we had a pretty rockin' garage sale the other day at my grandparents' house. I scored some sweet things for our new place, wherever that may be (I love hand me down decorations :) and got to take on the responsibility of Assistant Bag Lady.

I am leaving to head back to Charlotte in a few days, and Jord and I will finally be reunited on Friday. Hallelujah!

We are getting really excited to be in Chattanooga so we can find a place and settle in. This whole "not having a real home" thing is kind of draining. We are also hoping to find out baby's gender in the next couple of weeks. Hooray!

A big thanks to my sweet mom and dad for putting me up all this month and listening to me complain every day about how my life is "sooo hard" because I am away from my husband. Whiner. Also, thanks to my grandparents for just being so wonderful and for introducing me to the amazing Dr. Spock. I have been reading, and I already feel so much more prepared :)

Here is a little peek at the 17 weeks belly!

Update: I have already gained more weight than I expected to (ha!), can't get enough apples (or Frosty's.... :-/), and I am pretty sure I'm feeling some little rumblings and kicking in there! It mostly just feels like bubbles are popping inside my stomach, though.

Thoughts on First Tri Part Deux

My first hamburger in four months... Soooo yummy

I am going post-crazy today, but I left out some things from the last one (that was super long-winded... apologies).

The creme-de-la-creme.

The Foods That Are Oddly Delicious and Satisfying, Even When You Feel Like Your Insides Are Trying to Become Your Outsides (some suggestions provided by sisters-in-law, mothers, and friends):

-Frozen grapes (green sour ones)

-Fudgesicles

-Popsicles in general (try to get real fruit ones for some nutritional value)

-Pudding

-Chocolate milk

-Lemonade (Simply Lemonade tastes like Chick-Fil-A's to me... sooo delicious)

-A little bit of caffeine free soda, even if you don't usually drink it. Coke was pretty delicious.

-Pretzels

-Frozen yogurt

-Smoothies

-String cheese

-Citrus in general. Grapefruit juice is really tart, but makes the yonks go away. At one point I was eating straight lemons, and they were amazing.

-Macaroni and cheese

-Cereal... I was really into Honeycomb and Honey Nut Cheerios

-Vanilla Greek Yogurt

-Baked potatoes (plain or with sour cream)

-French fries (not healthy, but they will keep you full for a little while)

I am sure there are lots of other things that I am forgetting. I really wasn't into hot foods, but I know everyone is different. Hopefully, this will help someone in the future. Much love!

Thoughts on the First Trimester

IT SUCKS!

Just kidding :)

While I do not claim to be a professional on pregnancy, (or babies... I literally asked my best friend the other day if her 5 month old had started talking yet. Really, Alyssa? Shall we just name this baby "guinea pig?")I thought I would share some thoughts/tips that I have discovered over the past few months.

Like many, I did not have a very easy time the first trimester. Around 6 weeks, I started getting morning, afternoon, and night sickness that lasted up until a week or so ago. Not fun. I hate complaining, because I know this is a sign that baby is doing well and that all the hormones in the body are doing their job, but it is definitely difficult. Especially when you are working full time and trying to survive through the day without yonking on your co-workers.

I know that not everyone experiences "the sickness," but for friends that are pregnant, will be soon, or plan to be again in the future, here are some things that helped me survive months 1-3:

-Going to bed early! Seriously, sleep is your best friend

-Keeping some kind of something by the bed to keep your stomach full; I hated saltines and crackers after a while, so I tried dry cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios), tortilla chips, and prezels.

-Stay out of the kitchen. Seriously. All of the smells of the refrigerator and cooking will just make it worse. Buy some freezer meals or Taco Bell for your husband/family and just let it be.

(Also, have someone do your grocery shopping. It sounds really needy, but being around all of those food aromas in one place can be really awful and overwhelming).

-I know that not everyone is this way, but I could not take hot showers without feeling like I was going to faint. Try to stay cool!

-Don't feel obligated to do anything or be anywhere for any reason. Since we weren't telling a lot of people, I felt bad turning down plans to spend time with our friends, but who really wants a barfy sick person at their get-together anyway!? If you feel sick, let your body rest.

-Don't beat yourself up about that fact that you laid on the couch all night for four nights in a row eating Push-Pops and watching Friday Night Lights. You aren't "boring." You're growing a human.

-There aren't a lot of medicines and remedies that worked for me, but maybe you might have better luck. Ginger gum and Seabands were kind of a bust, but I have heard other people say they work. I used Emetrol and Zofran (prescription) when it got really bad, but your doctor has to okay them.

Mostly, just take it easy, sleep a ton, drink your weight in ginger ale, and try to remember there is a little nugget in there who is excited to meet you in 7 or 8 months.

Easter Feast(er)

I realize that it is way past the holiday, but I wanted to share some pics from our Easter holiday. Somehow, every year Jordan and I manage to not be together on this wonderful holiday. So sad. Maybe next time around? Let us hope. Thankfully, I had these beauties lying around to remind me of him! (the poor irises that were originally part of the bunch decided that the AZ heat was too much for them to handle)

Since my poor blind, diabetic dalmatian was feeling under the weather, we decided to take advantage of his docile state and torture him with embarrassing pictures. Poor Rowdy. Someone call animal control. Isn't he such a cute Easter dog, though? ;)

Pure joy.

Later on we had a delicious feast at my grandma and grandpa's house, complete with yummy fried chicken, potato salad (which I have been craving for a month), and lots of other fixins. It was so wonderful to spend time with my family, even though Jord couldn't be there with us. :( Later, we took some fabulous bunny ear photos, complete with a 16 week tummy update! A blurry phone picture, but I'm sure you get the gist.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays; not only does it happen during springtime when everything is so bright and beautiful, but it is such a reminder of how much my Savior loves me and how blessed I am every day.

Life is pretty grand, isn't it!?

There's a Baby in There

It's true! There is a new little member coming to the Rose clan in September 2012.

Sorry to leave a lot of you hanging all that time (even though most probably had a feeling there was something different). The true Scotsman in me is way superstitious, and I didn't feel like blogging about anything until we were out of the first trimester (which was a doozy... more on that later). Needless to say, we are pretty delighted!

Back in January, I started feeling SUPER weird... just tired and icky and had a bad appetite (which, most of you know, is definitely not normal for the girl who takes seconds of everything). Thinking I might be "with child," a took a test that came back negative, and just chalked it up to maybe catching something on the plane coming home from the holidays or just being worn out.

One Wednesday night a little bit later, Jordan and I went out for sushi (probably one of my top 3 favorite foods), and after eating about 3 or 4 pieces, I just couldn't stomach any more (unheard of). That's when we realized something was definitely up :)

That weekend, we took some tests and sure enough, those beautiful double pink lines showed up (within about 10 seconds... seriously).

Warning: the following is a photo of said tinkle sticks. Let's try to be mature about this ;)

We may or may not have been both terrified (well, me mostly) and elated at the same time, as evident by the following picture.... Also, we aren't jaundiced. Blame it on bathroom lighting!

The further along I get (I'm almost 16 weeks), the more and more excited we become, if that's even possible. It's been an adventure, even in this short time, but we can't wait to meet our little nugget and squeeze and kiss it to pieces!

Here is an ultrasound from my most recent appointment a while ago at 12 weeks.

Cute, no? ;)

Right now, we are just biding our time until the beginning of May when we can find out if is a little HE or SHE and really get to planning and preparing for the little one! I feel like it's a girl, but every dream I have had about baby is a boy.

Do you have any guesses!?

Thanks so much to our friends and families for being so congratulatory, positive, and helpful! We love you!