Belly Pic

And quite possibly the last one you're getting--I'm not putting on any weight, so this is probably as big as I'm getting.  Which means I don't have to take more of these awkward pictures!

I look like a Spice Girl.  Apparently there was some weird lighting in there--I swear I haven't dyed my hair.  Ever.

I Made It!

As of today, I am officially full term (37 weeks)!  That's a big deal since I've been stressing about delivering a pre-term baby.  Now Jon and my mom can relax about all my painting and other nesting projects.

At this point I feel...frustrated.  I'll have hours and hours of contractions 5 minutes apart (more than just Braxton Hicks) and then they'll just stop.  Yesterday I thought for sure we were headed to the hospital.  They were strong, consistent, and getting stronger.  But then I laid down, she did a crazy 10 minute dance routine in my belly, and the contractions stopped.  Stinker!

I'm thinking she's posterior, or 'sunny side up', like Seth was.  I'm having lots of back labor (awful, awful stuff).  Plus, being posterior can make labor start and stop since the baby isn't correctly positioned.  Luckily my awesome friend Dawn sent me some sites about how to get her to turn--cross your fingers that it works!

Picture coming soon--I promise!  It's on my camera, but the camera is upstairs and I'm not.  :)

Okay, okay...

I was waiting for my sister to get her wedding pictures back before I did my Christmas post (you know--to keep things chronologically ordered) but if I don't do it now, it's not going to get done.

So...Christmas!

This year we headed to West Virginia to celebrate with the Bloods.  We decided to open most of our gifts early so we didn't have to haul them on the drive.

Seth was incredibly spoiled (once again!) by Grandma Cathy--Signing Time DVDs, a Lightning McQueen sleeping bag, a Thomas the Train set, and--the favorite--a rocket that lights up and makes noise.  Much, much cooler than the gifts we got him (a dresser and bookshelf for his big boy room).

Jon and I didn't make out too badly either--Jon got himself a TomTom GPS and he got me...a KitchenAid mixer!!!!  My old (seriously pushing 30 years) Sunbeam was falling to pieces.  I LOVE MY NEW MIXER.  Merry Christmas to us!

This year the grand total was 22 people in one house.  Actually, I think we maxed out at 20--Stephen and Claudia scored a room at a neighbor's house.  We were all very, very jealous of their warm showers and quiet house.

Most of Christmas vacation looked like this:

The boys playing Wii.  Specifically, golf and some game involving tanks.  But we did get a little stir crazy one afternoon and decided to get out of the house for lunch and some fun and games.  I got to participate in the lunch part, but it turns out pregnant ladies don't get to drive go-carts or play laser tag.  Lame.  So I was the photographer/videographer (videos coming later).

Here's poor Claudia who is still learning how to drive.  How she ended up racing with Kade, Scott & Stephen who were all trying to run each other off the track is beyond me...

I like how Stephen is doing the Mr. Burns hands in this one.  I believe he was celebrating his victory over Scott & Kade.

And here's (a really, really good picture of--and thus, rare) Jonny!  He tried to take Seth in one of the double carts, but Seth kind of panicked and wouldn't get in.  Of course, once they were done he was all ready to go...

I didn't get any pictures of laser tag, but it was lots of fun.  They actually let those of us who weren't participating hang out in the room and basically be distractions.  Seth was in heaven--he kept calling all the players 'astronauts'.  Something about the glowing vest and guns, apparently...

Christmas Eve we tried to pull of a Nativity play with all the grandkids (and the younger Bloods).  Seth was supposed to play Joseph to Jocelyn's Mary, but he was having none of that.  Then he got demoted to a wise man, but he just threw the crown off.  So instead he was the monster running crazy in the middle of the Nativity.  This picture pretty much sums up how the Nativity story went at our house:

Seth understood a lot more about the whole Christmas deal this year.  Not quite enough to be excited about Christmas morning, but he recognized Santa Claus and he LOVED opening presents.  Especially when those presents contained chocolate or candy canes.

We learned our lesson this year--no more opening presents early.  Poor Seth had to sit and watch his cousins open their fun toys while he was left with the dregs (all his fun gifts were back at home--we didn't want to lose pieces).  Next time we'll be hauling them ALL to West Virginia.

We tried to stave off his frustration by letting him open all of our gifts, but the only one he really cared about was the one with all the candy in it.  It almost killed him to have to wait for our turn to open the gift:

Finally getting some of the good stuff:

Once the candy was open, he entertained himself by playing with Megan's new toys.  I love this picture--Wendy lecturing Megan, who was lecturing Seth for playing with her new toys.

Someone gave James a bunch of knives for Christmas.  No idea what they were thinking.  ;)

And here's Seth's opinion about 22 people opening Christmas gifts in one room:

Later that afternoon we went out and enjoyed the Christmas snow we got.  Please ignore the unmatching gloves--that's what happens when you're living in chaos.  This is also the part where I dropped my camera in the snow and didn't realize in until bedtime that night.  Thank heaven it survived!

That evening we celebrated Rebekah's 2nd birthday.  She loves buses, so Scott and Mary requested a bus cake.  It's always hard to make cakes somewhere different, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  My favorite part was the flavors--they requested chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate mousse filling.  So good...

Rebekah was so excited about the bus.  Unfortunately, she didn't realized that it wasn't actually a bus and was pretty upset when it crumbled in her hand.  Poor thing!

We usually stay until after New Years, but pregnancy and air mattresses don't mix for long, so we cut our visit short.  It's always hard to leave, knowing that we won't all be together again until the next year.  But we can't wait for the chaos next time--there will be at least 3 new babies in the mix by Thanksgiving!

Thank you once again to Mom & Dad Blood for feeding us and putting up with all our complaints about cold showers.  You know it can't be that bad because we keep coming back every year!

(Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing pictures!  Let me know if you want any of mine!)
 

One Month

(insert belly picture here, if I ever remember to take it)

I'm 36 weeks today.  Which means (allegedly) only 4 more weeks until this baby will make her appearance.  One part of me is thinking four more weeks of pregnancy sounds horrendous.  But the part of me that still refuses to pack the hospital bag is thinking that four weeks is really, really close.  Nine months sounded long at the beginning, but it sure went by fast.  Much faster than it did with Seth.

At this point we're playing the waiting game.  After last weekend's adventures (of which all symptoms are now gone, thank heaven) I have it stuck in my head that she will show up early.  As in 'any day now'.  Which means I'm on hyper alert, thinking every ache, twinge, or Braxton Hicks could be the first sign of labor.  It's a pretty miserable way to live.

But I've found a good way to distract myself: keeping busy.  That's what nesting is really about--it's something to think about instead of thinking about when this baby is going to show up.  And I'm a professional.  In the past three days I have baked and decorated three cakes and am currently in the process of burning and labeling 70 CDs for Primary.  My mom is going to read this and yell at me for not taking it easy, but at least I'm distracted!

And don't worry, I have more!  Next on the list is to finish our bedroom--finishing painting and putting up hardware.  Then there are the sewing projects--hemming our curtains and making a valance for Seth's room.  And if that doesn't last me until labor, I can scrapbook 2009, or finally put all our videos on my computer.  Or hang the family pictures in the empty frames that have been up for months.  I figure that's enough to keep me busy until summer.  And if I haven't gone into labor by summer, we have bigger problems on our hands than distraction.

But I still haven't sorted those piles of pink clothes.  It's funny--I always thought nesting was primarily preparing the nursery for the baby.  So why is that the one thing I'm avoiding?  Analysis, anyone?

Please Tell Me...

..what in the world is going on with me?  I'm driving myself (and Jon, and my family) crazy trying to figure out what this baby is doing.

Yesterday afternoon I went into the hospital because I had been having contractions every 5 minutes for over an hour.  They weren't painful, but they were definitely coming from my back instead of just my abdomen like the Braxton Hicks I get all the time.  I was 70% sure they would send me home, but better safe than sorry, right?

Obviously, they did send me home, which is good since I'm only 35 weeks.  But my doctor said that should I go into labor, he wouldn't stop it.  That makes me a little less nervous about things.

But...the contractions didn't stop.  They didn't get stronger, but they didn't stop.  They were coming every 2-3 minutes until 2am last night.  At that point I got in the tub for a couple of hours and things seemed to calm down.

As of today, I haven't had very many contractions in my abdomen. But my back is just aching--throbbing.  I've felt slightly nauseous for two days, and I have absolutely no appetite.  I'm feeling a lot of pressure, which is no surprise since, as my doctor said, 'her head is really low.  That's not going to be comfortable for you.'  (She dropped two days ago--goodbye heartburn!).

So now it's the guessing game--am I in labor?  Is the back pain just because she's sitting so low, or is it back labor?  Why in the world is my appetite gone?  At this point I swear I'm not going back to the hospital until my water breaks or I have some other undeniable sign of labor.

But if my back is going to feel like this for the next 5 weeks, I'm going to kill someone.

Any insights?  Anyone else been through this?  This is NOTHING like I went through with Seth--he was textbook 'Braxton Hicks contractions become stronger and more painful' type labor.  I didn't have back pain with him until I was already at the hospital.

At this point all I want is to go into labor or I want the pain to go away.  I will gladly wait another 5 weeks as long as I don't have to feel like this in the meantime!

Tell me what you think!

In Five Years...

...we've done the following:

-moved from Utah to Texas/Arkansas to Iowa to Maryland

-graduated (Jon: MSBA from Texas A&M, Megan BA in English from BYU)

-bought our first (town)home

-bought our first car

-become parents to a little boy and soon-to-be-parents to a little girl

-flown across the country to visit family more times than we can remember

-had some jobs we loved, and some jobs we hated

-gone from an apartment with nothing (not even a table) to a house full of toys

I can't believe it's been five years already.  Watching my sister get married on the 18th brought back so many memories of our wedding day.  It just doesn't seem that long ago.

I love you, Jonny.  Marrying you was the best decision I've ever made.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures--I managed to leave my laptop cord in West Virginia and Jon's computer has NO pictures on it).

Because I Just Discovered the Ward Website

 Some gems I found on our ward's website:

A great shot of our Halloween costumes.  Wish I'd found this one sooner!

Seth with Santa at the ward party on Saturday:

Santa looks a little nervous that Seth might go into hysterics.  

 

Seth is thrilled to see Santa Claus.  He can barely contain his excitement.

And for those who keep insisting that I don't look bloated at all, may I present the following picture:

Not convinced?  How about this one:

I am so thrilled that I have two more months to get even more puffy.  Seriously, no more pictures allowed until after delivery.

And, just a reminder of what I look like normally.  You know, not swollen from pregnancy or underweight from nursing.  I'm afraid you won't be seeing me like this again for a LONG time...

Me and Abbie at the Girls' Camp Fundraiser last February.  She was having a bit of a hard time leaving Mommy...

Life at 30 weeks Pregnant

Hi, my name is Megan and I'm terrified of pregnancy pictures.

Okay, I'm actually 31 weeks, but this picture was taken at 30.

Not long ago I was commenting to one of my friends that I felt great--most of the time it was easy to forget that I was even pregnant (except at night when I had to make two bathroom trips).  Well, my friends, the honeymoon of trimester #2 is over.

Sometimes I think the sheer uncomfortableness of the third trimester is specifically designed for people like me.  You know, the kind of people who are terrified about having a baby, even though they're already more than halfway done producing one.  It's not that I'm not excited to meet her, it's just that the logistics of two kids terrify me (kind of like how the logistics of one kid terrified me with Seth). 

I have a good friend who is due two weeks before me.  About a month ago she made a comment about how long this pregnancy seemed to be taking.  I was actually a little shocked--I'm amazed at how FAST this pregnancy is going!  Maybe it's because life is busier now.  Or maybe it's because I'm definitely nervous about how I'm supposed to be a mommy to two, plus keep doing all the things I was doing before. 

I know, I know.  People do it all the time.  I know everything will be fine.  But I'm a planner (read: worrier) by nature.  I want to know exactly how things are going to go before they happen so I can anticipate every possible discrepancy.  And you can't do that with babies. 

The good news is that between now and February, life is going to be busy.  So busy that I (hopefully) won't have time to worry.  Instead, I'll focus all my energy into my various nesting projects: paint our bedroom, sort baby girl clothes, hang pictures in Seth's room, finish our 2009 family scrapbook...  This nesting thing is new to me--I didn't have ANY nesting tendencies with Seth.  But I kind of like it. 

Here's to the next 10 weeks (plus or minus a couple weeks for good measure)!

Thanksgiving in Tucson

All pictures have been stolen from my mom & sister's Facebook since I didn't take a single picture that week.

We survived a LONG flight across the country with only minimal stress (meaning we managed to forget one entire suitcase and Seth didn't sleep a wink), then survived the 90 minute drive from Phoenix to Tucson (why can't fares into Tucson be cheaper?), then survived having Seth sleep in the same room with us (he was on the floor by our bed since he's too big for a pack and play now).  Despite being up WAY past his Maryland bedtime, Seth never adjusted to the 2 hour time change.  Either Jon or I was up every morning at 6 am with the monster...

Seth's big boy bed

We definitely packed a lot into the one week we were there.  Seth was, of course, totally spoiled and got to open some gifts as soon as we got there.  Sunday clothes?  Not so exciting.  But rockets?

Those are VERY exciting.

And what would the holidays be without family pictures during church?

Seth's photoshopped head

This is the one we're sending out in our family Christmas letter.

And this picture is why I'm instigating a ban on more pregnant Megan pictures.  Yikes.

The week's big project was carpet removal/installation.  After 13 years of kids and pets (but mostly pets) my dad gave my mom new carpet for her birthday/Christmas gift.  They got a great deal, part of which involved us removing the carpet and padding. 

Here I am getting in trouble with my mom for helping move the couch outside.

Dad & Brian pull up the carpet

What it looked like underneath.  You'd think we lived by the beach!

What your house looks like when you have to get everything off the carpet.

Where you sit when all the chairs are lost in the piles.  Good thing ceramic tile is so comfortable...

During the day it was easier to find somewhere to sit--the couches on the back porch!

We tried to convince Dad to put them out front as a permanent lawn ornament, but he wasn't impressed with the idea.

Did I mention it was 60-70 degrees while we were there?  So, so nice...

Seth has his own method of couch sitting.

Of course, we had our traditional dinner at Macayo's (oh, good Mexican food, how I miss you!) and Seth was just as obnoxious as we expected him to be.  I think he ate every single sugar packet on the table.  You people who take your toddlers to restaurants are either very lucky or insane.

After Macayo's was Mom's 50th birthday party which Walmart tried to ruin by messing up the photo order for her scrapbook.  Sometimes it's a good thing that pregnancy makes me more assertive (or irritable, depending on how you want to look at it).  I got everything straightened out and then made Marah demand that they fix her messed-up order, too.

Seth had a great time at Grandpa & Grandma's.  There was so much to do!  There were animals to torment:

And there was Grandpa, who needed Seth's help a lot.

How could Grandpa possibly try to nap without blankets, pacifiers, and a book to read?  Silly Grandpa!

And how could Grandpa try to take a bath without all the bath toys (including some rocks from the plant pictured)? Good thing Seth was there to help.

Carpet was installed the day before Thanksgiving.  Jon, Marah, Kenna, Brian & I headed to Honeybee Canyon in hopes that we would get out of baseboard cleaning after the carpet was installed (didn't work--we came back too soon).

Brian the conqueror.

Jon the slightly less impressive conqueror.

Meg the ticked off because Jon wouldn't let her climb anything.

I'm still waiting for Marah to put up the video of how long it takes Kenna to jump off a 7 foot wall into a sand bank.  What was it?  8 minutes?  And then I'm waiting for Kenna to put up the video of how long it took Marah to jump off the same wall.  9 minutes?  My sisters are so tough. (Once again, Jon wouldn't let me participate.  Boo.)

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the beautiful new carpet, which Seth decided to initiate with a blow-out diaper the next morning.  He hasn't had a blow out since he was a year old, but decides to pull one on Grandma's new carpet...

We didn't really take any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, but we did get some good ones of our post-Thanksgiving Christmas gift exchange.  

Beth is so glad that Jon & I have awesome taste in Christmas gifts.  She wanted sweatpants and got a Snuggie instead.  A camo Snuggie, no less...

And after the Christmas party came the surprise bridal shower for Kenna and Brian who are getting married December 18th.  Jon is so glad he wasn't around for my bridal shower after Brian was forced to pose with these:

Welcome to the family, Brian!

Because of cheap fares, we had to fly home the day after Thanksgiving.  But don't worry--we managed to take more pictures that morning.

Four generations (see?  NO MORE PREGNANCY PICTURES!) 

An hour before we needed to leave for the airport, I got a call from my good friend Hilary saying that she was in town and wanted to see me.  Not only that, but she had Kristina, my first roommate from BYU (who ended up marrying a Tucson boy) with her.  We managed to squeeze in a half-hour visit while Jon loaded the truck.  Then Alicia showed up five minutes before we needed to leave.  We have got to coordinate this better next time!

Kristina, Meg, Alicia & Hilary  (not the best picture, sorry)

We managed to make it to the airport on time, and Seth had to say goodbye to his aunts and Grandma.

Obviously he was very broken up about the situation.

He did get confused as we went through security, wondering why Grandma, Aunt Marah & Aunt Bubba weren't coming.  But then he got distracted by the X ray and we made it through without incident.  Of course, once we got on the plane we realized we had forgotten his blankets and pacifiers.  So yes, another sleepless flight.  Thank heaven for portable DVD players!

Our time with family always goes so fast--good thing I'll get to see them all next weekend for the wedding!

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Just for you, Catherine!

Not sure I have dates for all of them, but here we go!

1995--One of my annual Christmas plays, written and directed by me.  This was definitely the best one.

1995 again (I think?)--Christmas at the Mikesells.  I love this picture of Kenna.  Possibly even more than I love the picture of her in the snowman outfit as seen previously.

1998?--Christmas Eve Nativity play with the Sharps.  Somehow Matt & I got conned into playing Mary & Joseph...

 Quite possibly 1998 also.  Why my sisters are all in dresses and I'm in jeans is a mystery to me...

2004--I was a sophomore at BYU and Kenna a Senior in high school.

 Same year as above (2004).  I made that scarf because one of my roommates had a dream about me wearing a white sweater and red scarf ("and you looked so hot!").  Apparently I thought I looked pretty good since I'm wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT in our Blood family picture two years later...

 You think there are a lot of people in this picture?  You should see us now...

And, because I want my sisters to hate me forever, here is Christmas morning 2007 in all it's glory:

 Notice that both Jon & I have double chins.  We're a match made in heaven, we are.

 Christmas 2008--Seth's first Christmas

...and Christmas 2009, a stunning picture taken after a very, very long night.  And yes, that hair is still recovering from my Scully costume haircut disaster.

I'm not sure I want any family pictures taken this year as I am definitely in my third trimester, and thus definitely starting to wonder what happened to the cheekbones I used to have.  Why can't I be one of those women who just get cute bellies instead of cute bellies and swollen feet, hands and face?