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.