Thirty

Welcome to my third trimester. It's all downhill from here, right? Is it bad that the thought makes me much more nervous than excited.

Here are some pictures of my progress. Don't be too grossed out.

 27 weeks. My belly is incredible high, like it's trying to overtake my entire being.

28 weeks.

29 weeks. Chris calls this my "morning face."

30 weeks. Large and in charge. Someone at church called me "big mama."

At about 26 weeks my boss returned from a trip that had taken him out of the office for a few weeks. I had seriously popped during his absence. The first thing he said to me was, "Wow, you have really plumped out." This coming from the man whose wife bore him 11 children. Remind me again why I think I am going to miss my job so much?

All in all, I feel good. I had some wicked heartburn until the doctor told me I was allowed to take Prilosec. Tums are for chumps.  I am still sleeping and working through the day well (knock on wood) and we are seriously enjoying our last few weekends of sleeping in.

Christmas Shopping

We braved the crowds this weekend, and attempted to do some Christmas shopping. University Mall was a madhouse. Through it all, we managed to only buy things for ourselves and treat ourselves to dinner. Yeah, we're great people. Merry Christmas to us.

Showered

I have been lucky to have two baby showers in the past few weeks. People love me, what can I say? Really though, I am so grateful for the friends and co-workers who have showered me with love and attention even though they know I am moving away and leaving them.

Chelsea and Jamie threw me a pink baby shower to honor the little one and it was fantastic. I got to wear a crown made by Mallory, eat lots of mini cupcakes, and open gifts to my heart's content. Well done, ladies. I heart you.

Hostesses

BFFAEAE

 Chels did awesome on the decor, as usual.

London Lovelies

I was also very excited about these onesies that everyone made. I even tried my hand at one and it didn't turn out absolutely horrible. I was shocked.

Emily threw a baby shower at work yesterday that was equally as awesome. There were also lots of delicious treats and great company. I have cropped the pictures from this shower to preserve my dignity, but here you can see my cheeks that are beginning to make me look like a chipmunk (you should see my other cheeks...wink, wink). Oh well, I'm pregnant and that's just the way it is. :)

The lovely assistants of TNI.

The spread. I was very excited about the hot pink plates.

I got lots of great things at both showers and am starting to feel like this baby is really coming soon. Thanks to all!



Sugar

This blog has been super dull lately, sorry. Work has been brutal. Here is something meaningless to read...
Last year, I went off of sugar from Halloween to Christmas, only allowing myself one cheat day on Thanksgiving. Things were getting out of control and I needed to develop some serious disicipline. It was a great idea. I lost a few pounds and didn't feel nasty for the whole month of December as per usual.

I tried to do the same thing this year. I think I lasted one week. After nearly ripping Chris' head off over something so dumb I can't even remember what it was, he suggested that not allowing myself sugar was probably not a good idea "in my condition." Yeah, those words really improved my mood.

Later that week someone at work emailed me a link to a study showing that those who eat chocoalate during their pregnancies have statistically less fussy babies. BS? Probably. But, this coupled with my mood was enough to get me to cave. I have loved every minute of the holidays since. Probably too much. Which is why you have not seen any pictures of me lately. :)

I may get brave yet and post some though.

A free weekend in the city.

What would you do if your husband's company was paying for you to spend a weekend in New York City? Go to a show? Eat lots of great food? Maximize your time on someone else's dime?

Me? Oh, I would spend the weekend getting food poisoning and barfing while driving all over Long Island looking at ridiculously old and dirty apartments that cost more than any human should pay to rent.

Although it was a weird weekend where I threw up more than I have in the past ten years of my life combined, we were successful in locating a cute and clean (albeit tiny) apartment in a great neighborhood in our budget. It only took us every last second of our four days there to secure it. We did escape to the city one night and enjoyed some walking around and great pizza, but I was disappointed we were not able to do more because of our lack of apartment finding skills and my unruly digestive system. At least we know we will be able to come back in the future.

Best news of all...we are like fifteen minutes from the beach. Hip, Hip Hooray! And we will have a washer and dryer! There was no way I was lugging our laundry plus a baby's to a laundromat every few days.

Here are the few paltry pictures taken. Bear in mind, my camera is lame, so I gave up on pictures pretty quickly  and figured I will get good daytime ones in the future.

Although this is a horrible picture, I thought it was kind of cool because these lights are so distinguishable that you can still tell it it is the Chrysler Building.

I would love to see the Rockettes at Christmas.

I am such a New Yorker.

Well, folks, there is no denying it now.

This senorita is pregnant!

25 weeks.

The bump is in full force these days and apparently other people think it is real cute, so I am good with it. I like that I now look obviously pregnant (either that or word has spread far enough at work) that people feel comfortable asking me about the baby. She moves and grooves all day, especially after lunch, which must be when she practices her aerobatics. It is now visible from the outside when I am being used as her personl punching bag. Chris was freaked when he first saw it.

I also had a rude awakening last week that is was time to bust out the maternity clothes. There is just something about a very pregnant women trying to wear her old clothes that reminds you of a 45 yr old in a miniskirt. Time to give it up, Grandma. And time to retire those pre-maternity clothes for a few months, even though they "technically" still fit.

All else is well in the Herman household. I leave for NY tomorrow to try to find a home that costs less to rent than a semster's tuition at BYU. Pray for me.

Friday nights, what a concept.

On Friday afternoon I got a call from Chris telling me that the heavens had parted and we would actually be able to spend a Friday night together. This would be the first time this has happened in six months, thank you very much, Mr. Traveling Consultant.

Every year, we decide that we really want to do a corn maze and every year we leave the corn maze wondering what exactly we just spent $20 on. You think we would learn. All in all, however, it was a good night and nice to be able to spend it doing something besides watching Office reruns and waiting up for the mister's flight to come in.

 

And welcome to Utah.

This post is mostly for Chris since I don't think he believed me when I texted him this morning that there was snow on my car. I am sure he was thinking something along the lines of "ok, dear, 1/16 of an inch of ice/slush is not snow."

Au contraire, my dear. There is, in fact, snow still stubbornly sitting on the ground.

Here are the pics to prove it.

Yes, I took these pictures while driving...in a school zone...in the snow. Best driver of the year award.

Current temperature on Long Island where Chris is--75 degrees. I think we will move there.

Progress

I hate to admit it, but I am officially over the growing waistline. I see no reason why I must get any bigger. I think we can just stop here. Yes?

I am starting to feel soft in many places, which I am sure is normal, but still not cool.I just keep reminding myself that it as all for a good cause, and that I really have not seen anything yet.

21 weeks. So excited when Chris took this picture and I looked way smaller than I did in real life.

Fancy-schmancy self portrait in the bathroom at 22 weeks. I have no idea why I feel the compulsion to take a picture every week, but I do, even if it means resorting to this.

23 weeks. Don't mind me while I try to seduce you with my new curves...seriously, am I undressing Chris with my eyes or what?

Nothing says October...

...like some caramel apples. Mine is the one that looks like a five year old spilled nuts and caramel on it by accident. Chris's--the one with copious gobs of caramel.

Oh so tasty.

Wedded

The blessed day came and went and now these two lovelies are forever wedded.

Is it too soon for me to say that I am glad the wedding is over? Poor taste? Probably.

Our house turned into wedding planning headquarters (nuff said). Combine this with a lack of sleep, too much estrogen, and an ever expanding waist and hormone level and I was not the loveliest of people to be around by the end of the week. I think two emotional breakdowns (over who  knows what) is not too bad, right? Yes, I realize I was not the bride, but we all have our moments.  

The upside was Chris was home for 10 blessed days!!! It was incredible. We also got to see all of the Herman family, including my newest niece who runs screaming in the other direction if I look at her the wrong way. She'll learn.

The wedding was beautiful. The couple was stunning. The company couldn't be beat. I have slept a full eight hours the last few nights and my sanity has returned. 

All is well.

Some pics from the day. (I have noticed that my face is filling out. Oh joy)

The bride and her bridesmaids. I heard one of them was knocked up...scandalous.

We were all very impressed with these shoes. I was mostly impressed that I survived.

BFF's

Chris was concerned with how short he looked next to me with my monster heels, so he stood on a planter for this picture.

Me and my mother-in-law. Love her.

The end.

Cougs

Way to go Cougs for pulling a win out of the hat, when quite honestly, we were all betting against you.

So much so, that Chris is out five bucks to his dad because of the upset. I am just glad they won since we had Chris' family in town and this was probably the last game Chris and I will attend for the foreseeable future.

Rise and shout. 

Halfway and a Birthday

We celebrated the hub's big 2-6 with a trip to the OB. Every man's dream.

We spent the rest of the day wedding planning and picking out tuxedos for his brother's wedding this weekend. I would say it was pretty much his best birthday ever.

Here is the obligatory 20 week picture. Yes, I am wearing maternity jeans (although I don't usually wear them with a see-through shirt) and I an in love. I may switch to an elastic band policy for all clothing here on out--pregnant or not.

We got to see the babe at this appointment during our in-depth ultrasound.

I am happy to report that Baby Herman is happy...healthy...

...and very much a GIRL! We were shocked. I had the tech check again and then still couldn't believe it. I was 100% convinced it was a boy. I have absolutely no maternal instinct.

Here we are after the happy news. Parents-to be.

Potty Emergency

Does anyone remember the episode of the Animaniacs entitled Potty Emergency? It is the one where Wakko is about to explode but cannot find a bathroom anywhere (what a great show). For some strange reason, this episode is engrained in my memory.

Maybe it's because I knew that someday my life would become a potty emergency. It is an exaggeration to say I have to go to the bathroom every five minutes. But seriously, not by much. Maybe every thirty. Every time time I stand up after sitting for longer than five minutes I have to go. I always thought this was an exaggeration on the part of pregnant women, but no, it's true and quite ridiculous. I am not even that big yet--I think I am in for a world of hurt these next few months.

On a completely unrelated note, I realized today that a shirt I have owned and worn religiously for years, I have been wearing backwards this whole time. I like it a lot better facing in the correct direction. Go figure.

Fenway

Chris spent yesterday evening  at a company outing to Fenway Park, sucking down ballpark franks and Coke Classic while enjoying the great American pastime.

Blackberry pic

I spent my evening doing laundry, P90X*, and the grocery shopping.

Who says life is fair?

*Don't be any kind of impressed with my pregnancy fitness. This workout was followed closely by a hamburger fix. Half of the reason I went grocery shopping was so that I could justify my burger purchase on the way home.

Shape Shifter

I have noticed in the last week that my stomach has taken on a life of its own. At any given moment in time, my belly transforms. On Monday morning, I woke up to a torpedo lodged in my lower abdomen. Later that day, I was all love handles and no belly. That night, I felt like I barely looked pregnant at all. Sometimes I am huge and sometimes I look almost normal.

People at work must think I am on some crazy binge-purge diet where I consistently fluctuate between weights. So, for what it's worth, here is a picture of me at eighteen weeks.I have no idea if this is really what I look like most of the time, but this is how I looked when mi madre took the picture.

In other news, I was feeling particularly skeptical of this irreversible life choice I made yesterday at work when my boss told me that his assistant would be needed for a company event on a cruise to the Caribbean in Febraury and in Phuket in the Fall of next year. All day long, I was thinking that it just might be possible to move to New York, have a baby, have a husband who travels two weeks out of the month and still keep my job in Provo. Cake walk, really.

Then as I was lying in bed wondering if I was ready for all of these changes I received a series of swift kicks in utero that put things into a bit more perspective. I think (and hope and pray) that this will be worth the postponed career. After all, what's a cruise when you could be in labor or a trip to Thailand when you could be changing a diaper in the great state of New York?

Seventeen

So, between yesterday and today I think the belly bulge is starting to look a little more pregnant and not quite so flabby. Here is the progress so far:

12 weeks. Someday that will be me again, right?

14 weeks..the thickening of the waist begins.

15 weeks

17 weeks. I feel like I exploded. I know, it's in my head.

Apology

So apparently my previous post was gross. My bad. I am kind of a gross person.

Sorry if I offended anyone other than my weak-stomached husband with the toilet picture. :)

Scenes of a graphic nature

I have not had much to write about this week. On Saturday Chris told me that he enjoys reading my blog from the road (Rhode Island to be exact...I kill myself) and since then I feel like the pressure is on. I mean, who knew he even read it? Now I have to be dazzling and witty to entice him to come home to me every weekend.

Regardless of this scrutiny, I thought I would share with you some of the random thoughts running through my head on this cloudy, gray Thursday.

First, pregnancy thus far.

Yep, that's my crotch. If you read the title, consider yourself warned. And yes, that is a belly band that I am fully rocking as an undershirt. Because, let's be honest how many of you were buttoning your size four jeans at 16 1/2 weeks? Let's be even more honest, how often was I really buttoning them before I got pregnant? Ummm, try never...size four, really? (There are some of you who have long been privvy to my "secretly" always unbuttoned pants...life is so much more comfortable that way.)

The reason that you have not seen any full-body shots is because I do not look pregant yet, simply bloated. The joy. I keep hoping that I will "pop" so I don't have to keep coming up with burlap-sack type outfits for work every day.

Next, the toilets at work.

Once again, you were warned. Ok, this is a topic that I have long wanted to air my grievances about. These are quite possibly the worst toilets ever. See the wads of toilet paper that refused to be flushed-- as gross as this is, that is not even my toilet paper. These must be some kind of "water saving" deals because the bowl only ever fills about once inch deep, so anything you want going down has to be flung behind you. Sick, I know. And every stall looks like this by about 10 am. I think we should make a pact among the 3rd floor women using this restroom that we will always fling our toliet paper behind us to avoid this monstrosity. I mean I spend a lot of time in those stalls.

In other news, how was our Labor Day you ask? Oh, it was wonderful, thanks for caring. We spent Satruday at the pool, at Men's Warehouse, and at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival listening to a British lady tell stories about "Fahrts"--it was awesome.

On Monday we bbq'd and celebrated the arrival of Chris' graduation present--the entire collection of Lost. We re-watched the finale and I cried just as much this time, but now I have an excuse.

Until I can think of anything else intelligent or inappropriate to write...

What's in a name?

(My legit name plate at work)

For some reason, it dawned on me today that I finally think of myself first and foremost as Erika Herman. Yesterday I ran into a friend from Freshman year and he called me Erika Abbott. I didn't really think anything of it, but later I realized that not only do I not think of Abbott as my last name anymore, but more amazingly, I am okay with my last name not being Abbott.

Is it weird that it took me almost three years to come to this resolution? Granted, it did take me one full year after marriage to even consider changing my name. Sorry, but 'Herman' versus 'Abbott?' Please. Pee Wee, anyone?

Chris was even okay with me keeping my maiden name until he found out it wasn't some civil rights thing, but simply that I thought his last name was ugly. Sorry babe. But, I no longer do, so now you can forgive me, right?

I guess I really am growing up. How long did it take most of you to get over your maiden name? And if you say two weeks, you will only make me feel like a crappy wife. :)