the lovely effects of Ellery in my tummy

These are my toes. They aren't too bad- I expected little sausages by now. But it is important to keep them painted nice, especially in the Summer. Especially when I almost exclusively wear sandals.

There is one little problem with that... I can't reach them anymore. Well, I can touch them you know, but I can't reach them enough to paint them myself. I know, because I tried. It won't happen.

Yes, I try to save money by painting my own toe nails... not all the time, but sometimes when I am really inspired to be...how shall I say it, *cough* cheap *cough.

So- today I went to get a Pedi. I don't have "a place" yet out here. I saw a sign at Victoria Gardens for Mani/Pedi $20 if you come before 1pm. No prob Bob. So I got it. I don't usually get my nails done because they chip too fast. But I got clear nail polish. I wasn't impressed per se with the place (usually I judge places by their massage and if they seem at all interested in what they are doing) but then what can you expect for $20? My toenails are a little longer than I prefer which worries me but I think its fine.

Now, Onto some other EFFECTS of growing my precious daughter in my body. Pregnancy is by no means a cake walk, but it's also the easiest you are going to have it taking care of your little one... I mean, for the most part, my body takes care of everything and I only notice some little side effects! She eats, grows, sleeps, etc without my conscious involvement. So, ya, there really shouldn't be too much complaining about pregnancy. But I did have the classic first trimester nausea, vomiting, and exhaustion. In the second trimester I experienced the beginnings of Braxton Hicks and and irritated bladder thanks to the uterus growing in its space. Now, in the third trimester I have an achy breaky pelvis, I wake up sweaty (thanks dearest hormones), and I'm tired a lot again. But hey, no mood swings, outrageous cravings (some natural naughty cravings but I really can't blame them too much on the pregnancy), sciatica, etc etc... can't be too upset. All three trimesters I've experienced uncomfortable bloating and indigestion. Yaaaaay.

Well that's it! I just wanted to document this for documentation sake. I know it was OH so exciting for you too.

Stuff you could find in Ellery's nursery (or is in mail)

self conscious cat??

This is a common occurrence in our house. It has been for months. And no, its not because I'm a slob. For months now (approximately since I got pregnant) we have found little "gifts" from our cat Hobbes traveling around the house. They usually come from one side of the house over to the area near our bed. It started with a stuffed animal. Then it expanded into just about anything: gym shorts, shoes, hair ties, you name it. Now that we moved to the new house we leave our shoes at the bottom level (where you enter). Hobbes brings shoes from the bottom level and drags them up the stairs into the bedroom. Its frequently a sandal or two but sometimes he even brings Adam's dress shoes or gym shoes. Its hilarious. Now if only I could train him to bring a matching pair up to our closet... he's sooooo close! I wonder if he feels self conscious and feels he needs to bring us gifts. Its so funny, especially when you catch him mid drag.

road trip weekend

Adam on the boat getting ready for the day. Love being out on the water :-)
31 weeks pregnant.. ready to go out on the boat :-)

Weekend Summary:

Adam had a mandatory compliance conference in Reno, NV from Sun-Tues. for work so I decided to tag along! We were scheduled to drive up to Reno on Saturday. Thursday night we were planning our route and discovered that there were two ways to get there- one was the 395 and the other was the 5. Well, as it turns out, my parents were going to be at the Sacramento River Delta for a short boat trip. My brother and Anna were going to drive down from San Francisco to get a little time on the water as well. Well, since we discovered it was actually on our way we figured we would drive up after work Friday night and then spend Saturday on the water with them. We would leave Sunday after breakfast to finish the last couple hours on the road and get to Reno in time for the first session at the conference! It turned out to be a great choice. We had a fabulous time out on the water (I even enjoyed myself despite not being able to ski or anything!) and enjoyed trying out the new boat. We look forward to many more times using that boat in the years to come! We all had dinner together Saturday night before Matt and Anna drove back up to San Fran (matt had to be back at the hospital 6am Sunday for a 24 hr shift).
Adam and I left Sunday morning after breakfast and made a quick stop in Truckee (cute town) then continued on our way through the mountains (beautiful) to Reno. We arrived just in time and he went on to his conference while I relaxed in the nice hotel room (comfy beds!). I was pretty wiped from being out on the water the whole day before and all the time in the car. Sunday night we went to a nice (fancy and delicious) dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel (picture a vegas style hotel) that was paid for/part of the conference. We spent 3 hours at dinner and were stuffed.... we had salad, prime rib, and a huge piece of delicious cheesecake! Monday morning Adam was back at the conference while I relaxed a bit in the room. I met up with Amber, another girl who also tagged along with her hubby and we went to lunch together then relaxed out by the pool. It was wonderful. That night there was this massive bowling tournament with the whole conference. It was at the National Bowling Stadium.... we're talking huge. As in a serious professional bowling stadium. It was a crack up. I had to buy some socks from a vending machine there and when they came out they said "I heart bowling" around the ankles. Total keepers. HA! We had a blast with the Bakers (Amber and her husband Daniel) and then we crashed when it was all over. We all drove home together (they had flown up and drove back with us) on Tuesday after the conference was over around 1. It was a long but beautiful drive home and we laughed at least half of the way home :-0 Once we passed Lone Pine there was a massive lightening storm to our left that was probably one of the biggest I've ever seen. There was almost constant lightening and it was so big that it remained on our left for the next few hours til we made it home. Beautiful.

Well, that's it!

Baby and Birthday!! (long post!!)

Like I mentioned in the previous post, we had a very busy weekend- but it truly was all fun and games!

First, we went to the Dodger game on Friday night. It was very very fun but it was sad that we lost :-( We must have picked the wrong game because they won the next two games in the series. I enjoyed my hot dog and some peanuts. I love peanuts at baseball games...or anywhere really.

Then, Saturday was my baby shower!! I really don't have words to describe it. I felt so blessed and enjoyed seeing people whom I love so much but rarely get to see. My only regret was that I couldn't spend hours and hours spending time with each one of them! Linda Browning and co. prepared a FEAST of salads (I LOVE salads) and a table with different varieties of cupcakes. It was so hard to decide what to try!
We played a quick memory game where Aunt Karen walked around with a tray of baby items and we had to write down what we saw on there from memory. I didn't even get close to winning :-)

Then it was gift time. There was a HUGE pile of gifts sitting below a beautifully hung clothesline of sweet baby girl clothes. It was oh so cute... everyone kept mentioning it to me and it took me a long time to realize those were for my little ELLERY! :-) It took a long time to open all the gifts. People were TOO generous- I have no words. We are pretty much all set with what we need. We received a wonderful variety of necessities and clothes, not too much of anything.
Sometimes I just look through her nursery and stare at all the things. They aren't organized or put away yet but it is just so fun to look at. We received many books (love!) and diapers as well to get us started.

After the shower, we took off to go to Sycamore beach with close friends and family to celebrate Adam's 25th birthday (which was the day before). We had a wonderful evening of just hanging around and enjoying the sunset, salty air, and the oh-so-sentimental smell of a charcoal BBQ. We had burgers and s'mores of course (and some leftover salads from the shower!!).
Adam was showered with gifts...he got everything he wanted, seriously. A new briefcase from my parents, tickets to see Roger Waters perform the Wall in December (apparently life changing?) from his family, etc etc! On Thursday night (birthday eve) he and I went out to dinner together and I gave him his gifts from me: nothing tooo fancy, just a new black hat he's been wanting/needing (but won't buy for himself) and a new devotional journal and sermon notes journal.

We CRASHED Saturday night and stayed in the guest room at my parents' house. Its secluded from the rest of the house and very comfortable...slept in until 10am!!! It was very refreshing, my body needed it for sure! We woke up and go to work organizing all the lovely gifts...and Adam got to have a chance to see what we got!

We had lunch with Adam's family and then met up with the Thompsons and the Hinkles for some spontaneous chit chatting. The Hinkles stayed for an hour or so and then we just continued chatting with the Thompsons for a couple hours. :-)

At the end of the day we had some fabulous steak and shrimp quesadillas for dinner at my parents' house, packed up the car, and made our way back to Rancho Cucamonga and enjoyed talking about how wonderful the weekend was.

Next weekend, Adam and I are off on a road trip to Reno, NV since he has to go to a work conference there. I figured I'd come along, no sense staying at home for all those days!

big weekend ahead

I am very excited for the weekend. I will try to be good and take lots of pictures!
Tonight (yes, it is Thursday but I am adding it to the weekend) Adam and I are going to go out to dinner for his birthday. His choice. We have a busy weekend with family and friends so I wanted to make sure we get our "just the 2 of us" celebration in too! I wonder what restaurant he will choose??
Friday night (tomorrow... which is the ACTUAL birthday, 25 yrs!!) we have tickets to go see the Dodger game with Adam's family. Erin flew in for the weekend because its my baby shower AND Adam's birthday... a double whammy! The dodger game will be awesome. I hope we win but am not getting my hopes up....poor guys.
Saturday morning I am going to my Baby Shower!! I am excited to see everyone and to shower little Ellery. After that, we will have a couple hours of down time and then we head off to sycamore beach for a Birthday BBQ for Adam's birthday! Now I am just hoping we get a bbq spot!!

So, as you can see we have a fun and busy weekend ahead. Pics to come...if I'm good.

Oh ya, and tomorrow I will be 30 weeks pregnant. WOW. :-)