Dear Olivia

Dear Olivia,

We had your "28 week" appointment yesterday and everything went fabulously!  You are growing exactly as you should be.  I say 28 weeks in quotations because I was actually only 26 weeks and 4 days along at our appointment.  Because we have recently switched over to daddy's health insurance plan, we needed to get our two appointments this week in before September 1.  Exciting stuff, huh?   I was not complaining because it meant that there was a shorter time between visits and I got to listen to your big heart beating sooner. 

Your daddy came to the appointment with me and that made everything more fun.  He had not gotten to hear your heartbeat or be at an appointment since we found out you are a healthy little girl.  My weight gain is right on track, blood pressure was good, I do not have gestational diabetes, and my belly measured right where it was suppose to. 

We met with a new doctor at this appointment.  He was a new doctor to us, Dr. Hancock.  He was very nice and very informative.  Both daddy and I were able to ask a bunch of questions and get good clear answers from him.   I had to get a shot at this appointment, because my blood type is A-, and the shot was not too bad. 

I can't wait till our next appointment in about 3 weeks.  We will get to hear you and see you every 2 weeks after that appointment,  then at about a month before you are due we will get to see/hear you every week until you arrive.  Your estimated date of arrival is exactly 3 months from today.  We can't wait!

Love,
Mommy

Canyon Lake and Thor's Adventures

The Jollys are in town from Georgia!  Philip is stationed at Ft. Gordon and recently got back from a year long deployment.  They traveled down to Texas to visit with family before he has to go back to work on a regular schedule in September.  Dave and I were able to visit with them in Austin a couple of weeks ago, and last Saturday my parents, Sarah and I went to Canyon Lake to meet up with the whole Contreras/Jolly gang.  (Dave stayed behind working on the nursery.)  It was gorgeous and so empty on the lake!

Krystal, Tyler and Philip Jolly

We had to split up onto two different boats because they only had two 8 passenger boats left.  We were able to turn off the engine and tie the boats together and then just hang out and swim.   It was also fun swimming back and forth between boats. 

Dad over on the Contreras' boat. 

Captain Dad

Mom had such a good time in the water!  She has been on boats tons of times before, but this was the first time she actually jumped into the lake from the boat.  I couldn't believe it!  She's scared of lakes, so I'm glad she overcame her fears :)

Sarah driving the boat.  Our propellor suffered some damage that my parents had to pay for, but it really was not Sarah's fault. 

Pregnant me.  There are some more provacotive swimsuit pictures of me in all of my belly glory floating around, but I will try and keep those private. I have no problems bearing it all while out on the water. :) Olivia doesn't like to be covered and it's much easy to swim and get on and off the boat without extra wet clothing weighing me down.  I will spare you and just not post any of those glorious pictures. 

We were out on the lake for a good couple of hours before we had to head back to Leander/Harker Heights.  On the way home we had an eventful trip.  My parent's car suffered a flat tire.  Luckily, they had a decent spare that my dad was able to put on that would take us close to my house.  Dave picked me up from the Walmart where they were getting the tire repaired.  It was such a fun day!

And in other news.....

Thor escaped from our house on Tuesday while we were at work.  "Escaped" isn't really the correct term...afterall, I must have left the front door unlocked when I left the house for my doctor's appointment and a storm rolled into our neighborhood.  The only thing that we can both imagine happening was that the wind blew so hard against the front of our house that it blew the door open, leaving Thor with opportunity to check out the neighborhood.  It's crazy because we have just begun letting Thor roam free on the first floor of our house.  This was only his 4th day of being loose.  Dave got home from work before I did and immediately knew something was up. 

Thor was in the house when Dave got home, but he said the house smelled like wet dog and there were leaves and water puddles in the entry way.  Apparently what had happened was Thor got out somehow and ran around our block terrorizing little neighborhood children.  A lady from down the street told Dave that she had found him running around.  I guess she knew where he belonged because she knocked on our door and it swung right open.  She said Thor then ran from down the street and into our house (THANK GOD), and then she closed the door behind him. 

Dave did not recognize this neighbor lady, and I haven't really met any of our neighbors, but we were very lucky that she recognized Thor!  I guess walking him everyday around the neighborhood has helped people know where he belongs as well as helped him know to stay close to home.  I almost had a small heart attack when I came home and Dave informed me of Thor's adventure.  I could not help but think of all of the horrible things that could have happened: he could have jumped on a kid, could have gotten hit by a car, could have had Animal Control called on us, could have run away and never come back.  He has a microchip, but he was not wearing his collar with dog tags.  (We prefer him naked, and they jingle against each other too much.) All is well that ends well.  

Thor was quite worn out for the remainder of the night, so we know that he got some good exercise while he was a free man.  I have definitely been much better about double triple checking all of our doors before we leave in the morning.  I felt like such a horrible dog mommy!

Thor and Dave cuddling/wrestling while the Titans played.

Thor tends to take the wrestle sessions a little too far and has to be pinned down by Dave to remind him of his place.  This used to be much easier when he was just a 60 pound puppy...now he is a 135 pound dog with a puppy brain.

Unexpected Date Night

What a pleasant surprise it was when Kelly asked me on Thursday morning if we wanted to go see the Broadway play, Jersey Boys, that was in town at 8pm that evening!  For free!  Kelly has a job with a company that tends to have a lot of extra tickets to local events and she has been able to go to the plays and movie premieres and such.  She had gone to see Jersey Boys on Wednesday night and when she got to work the next morning they had even more extra tickets for last night's performance.   

Boy, did it take some arm twisting to get Dave to agree to go with me!  Dave is not the biggest fan of musicals.  After some back and forth phone calls and text messages, and asking Lexie if she could go (which she couldn't because she worked), he finally agreed!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I love musicals and plays, and I had seen this one advertised for sometime and kinda really wanted to go.  I wouldn't have actively pursued going because we have so much other stuff going on right now, and it's not really in the budget, but we were blessed with a cool opportunity!  Thank you, Kelly!

The only downside to this play was that it was on a "school night."  We had to go home to Leander after work to take care of the dog's needs, first, and then we had go all the way back downtown Austin to the Bass Concert Hall which is on the UT campus.  We made it over to home and back downtown by about 7pm, grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local sandwhich & burger shop and then headed to the concert hall.  The seats were pretty darn good.  We were on the orchastra level and about 6 rows back.  We were seated a little to the right so Dave could not see the stage full on, but I don't think he minded that much. 

The show was great!  It was about the history of the group The Four Seasons, a boy band from the 60's.  I had no clue they were the artist to a lot of the songs that they sang.  The talent was great too, and we both agreed that overall they were better performers than the Elvis show we saw in Las Vegas during our honeymoon. 

So this was a nice little surprise and evening out that was virtually free, aside from dinner, parking and gas.   

Weekend in the 'Der

Dave and I have not had a lot of weekends close to home lately, so this weekend was a very nice change of pace.   Saturday morning I got to do some of the weekend chores that I love.  I know, I'm a huge dork.  I really look forward to the mornings that I have free to get my house in order and work on some of my "to-dos" that piled up from the work week.  

Thor and I started off our morning with a nice hour long walk at 6am.  This weekend was one of the hottest weekends this summer so far so I knew if we didn't get our walk in early it would be too hot.  Even walking from  6am till 7am the humidity had both Thor and I panting when we got back to the house. 

Thor then got a bath outside in the backyard.  He is really the easiest dog to bathe that I have ever owned.  So easy that I'm able to bathe him alone at 6 months pregnant with no problems.  He loves standing under the water hose, drinking some of the water here and there, and he even loves being lathered up and getting a little shampoo massage.  We finally found a dog shampoo that successfully makes him smell clean.  I sniffed him this morning and he still smells fresh!  Let's see how long this lasts.    

Thor also got a new dog toy this weekend and so far he loves it.   This was Thor shortly after his bath just hanging out at home.  Following me from room to room.  Dave says that he notices that Thor has been following me a lot more, and staying closer to me than normal.  Thor is usually glued to my side when I'm at home, but I have also noticed him being a little closer than normal.  Before he just had to be in the same room as me, not he has to be sitting right up next to me. 

The rest of the day was filled with chores.  Dave and his dad, Reese, worked in the nursery putting up crown molding.  I did some grocery shopping, cleaning and organizing followed by a wonderful nap.  I then went to Kohls in the evening and spent about 2 hours there just looking and shopping while Dave watched the Titan's preseason opener at home.

Saturday morning, after another nice long walk with Thor, my parents and my sister came into town to hang out with me for the day.  They took Dave and I out to lunch in Cedar Park and we tried a new little Chinese restaurant that was really good.  Then Dave went back home to get ready for his NFL Fantasy Football league draft.

My family and I went to watch a women's professional fast-pitched softball game at the Round Rock Dell Diamond.  The Chicago Bandits vs. the Florida Pride. 

This game was the last game in a weekend series and there was a lot of hype around it because it was suppose to be Jenny Finch's last game, however, Finch wasn't even in the line up.  That was kinda a bummer so we stayed until about the 3rd inning.  It was a hot Texas summer day.  We were lucky to move into some seats in the shade and that made a huge difference, but we were all still slowly roasting. 

Dad started out really interested in the game.

Then the heat plus the over-excitement just wore him out!

After we left the game we ran the streets a bit.  We went to the Round Rock Outlets (where I could not find a thing to buy!) and then to Target.  My parents spoil me sometimes (okay, maybe more than sometimes) and I really had a nice time out with them!  They keep telling me, "Oh, it's not for you, it's for Olivia."  Fine by me! :)

This is Sarah and I at the RR Outlets.  She looks just like our Dad in this picture!

After my parents left to head back to Killeen, it was just Thor and I.  I was able to relax and watch some trashy TV (Teen Mom, Jersery Shore, and Top Chef) while Dave was still gone.  When Dave got back home he came bearing gifts for me: fried pickles!  The fried pickles topped off with a warm bath and some reading in bed made my weekend 100% perfect. 

Mr. & Mrs. Marcos Gallardo

My cousin, Pamela and her husband, Marcos, now my new cousin, had a beautiful wedding this past Saturday in San Antonio.  Pamela looked absolutely gorgeous, and the wedding was gorgeous as well!  We all had such a great time.  Dancing and eating tons, you can't go wrong there!!!

Congratulations Marcos & Pamela!

Cousins! Samuel, Me, Pamela, Sarah, & Kathleen.  We had a bunch of other cousins there at the wedding, but unfortunately did not get more pictures with them.

Dave & I. (and Olivia, she LOVED the garlic mashed potatoes!  So much so that Daddy gave me, I mean her, all of his.)

Mama & Popo.  Both Dave & Popo are comedians. 

Mom & Dad! Hubba hubba!!!

Sisters! Sarah is getting tooooo pretty.

 My mom and I!  Love her!

I loved getting to see so much family at Pamela's wedding.  I hope we don't have to wait too long until the next Jimenez family get together. 

24 Fabulous Weeks

How far along? 24 weeks


Total weight gain/loss: I had an "official" weigh in at my doctor's office.  I have gained 16.4 pounds total. 

Maternity clothes? I should probably be wearing 100% all maternity clothing, but I'm still getting away with a couple of my regular work shirts.  Also, I haven't bought any maternity workout clothes so I've been able to wear all of my shorts (elastic waist band) and all of my old oversized Texas State t-shirts. 

Stretch marks? Still none.  Thank you, God.  I'm being really good about putting lotion on my belly and other places ladies have told me they got stretch marks.  I know there are conflicting reports about whether lotion makes a difference on stretch marks or not, but I feel like it has helped keep my skin smoother and elastic-y. 

Sleep:  I still have crazy amounts of energy.  A couple of nights last week the house was just entirely too hot to sleep and I would wake up sweating.  By time I would get up, take the dog out and put the A/C on a cooler temperature I was no longer tired.  My mornings would start at 2am and I actually liked it because I would get a lot done in the house and Thor would get an extra long walk.  I'm just going to go with these early mornings whenever they happen.  Other than those freakish 2am wake ups, I usually go to bed around 1030pm-11pm and get up at 5am. 

Best moment this week: My doctor's appointment was the best moment this week.  I got to hear our little girl's heartbeat and was reassured again that she is growing and thriving like she should be. 

Movement: Still moving in my belly.  I feel her a little more throughout the day, and I feel her everyday now.  I feel  her on my bladder a lot more now, too.  Almost as though she is jumping on it, or pushing off my bladder to swim around in there.  Sometimes it will take me by surprise and I will feel a strong urge to pee and then that will go away.  Crazy kid. 

Food cravings:   I really wanted a pickle shaved ice this week.  I finally got to a shaved ice place and they had the pickle shaved ice flavor, but not the one with the actually pickle in it.  So I got a Red Chamoy shaved ice instead and it was very dissapointing.  (Chamoy is a mexican candy that is made from a dried plum that has been soaked in vinegar and spices.)

Food aversions: Milk.  When I'm not pregnant my body does not process straight milk very well.  If I have a glass of milk I will get an upset tummy.  I started drinking more low-fat milk once I got pregnant because it is an easy low-fat way to get some calcium & protein.  For awhile my stomach problems were non-existent when I was drinking the milk, however, recently I can't drink the milk anymore without getting an upset stomach. 

Labor Signs: No labor signs but I can feel some very distinct stretching of my uterus and stomach muscles.  Almost like a quick spasm here and there.  Upon Dave's encouragemnet, I checked with my doctor who informed me that these aches and pains are completely normal.

Belly Button in or out? Out and it has become quite the talk of my family.  Ask me and I am not shy to show you my freakish bellybutton.  I also checked with my doctor to make sure this was "normal".  She said that she sees belly buttons that come in all shapes and sizes...including my belly button size...Thanks? lol. 

What I miss: I miss more vigorous exercise.   I realized that before I was pregnant I could eat a lot more and not gain any weight because I could go to the gym with Dave, do an hour of body pump, 20 minutes of elliptical and run a couple of miles.  I would maintain my weight because I was always burning the calories off.  Now, I only walk for about an hour a day and I'm just not getting the same satisfaction, and I'm still gaining weight.  Good weight, but the numbers are going up, and up, and up, and up nonetheless.   

What I am looking forward to: I'm looking forward to my next doctor's appointment, and the glucose test.  I would like to just get those things out of the way with and move on.  I'm also looking forward to doing some more baby shopping this month!!!

Weekly Wisdom:  Spend time with your husband and pets now.  Lots of time.  Talk about the future and the ways that your lives are going to change.  Ask theoretical questions about the baby and how you are going to manage your time and responsibilities once she is here to get the conversation started. 

Dave hates theoretical questions, but some of our best conversations have spurred off of one.  Also really try hard not to get in an argument over an answer one of you may give.  It's only a theoretical question and answer and how the situation is really handled may be completely different once the time comes.    

Milestones: 6 months (24 weeks) !!! Wohooo.  We are almost at the 27th week which is the vitality week.  If Olivia were to be born at 27 weeks she has a much higher likelihood of surviving and thriving. 

Olivia and I all gussied up for Pamela & Marcos's Wedding - August 7, 2010.

Quarter of a Century

I  have been alive for 25 years now.  Twenty-five years. 300 months.  I'm officially, officially, officially an adult and out of my early twenties.  I'm now on the upward swing towards 30 years old.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of this... 

On one hand, I feel a sense of urgency of what I still want out of this life, and how quickly all of these 25 years have already passed me by.  But on the other hand, I also feel slightly accomplished in life, what I have seen and done, and where I am after these past 300 months. 

I am so incredibly blessed that it often makes me wonder what I did to deserve some of the great things in my life.  There are so many ways we are a lucky family, Dave and I.  We never go hungry, we have clothing, we own our home, we love our neighborhood and little community (so far), we have great jobs and great educations, we have supportive and involved parents, siblings, and extended family, we have love and a deep respect for one another,  we are growing a baby whom we both love so deeply already, and we have the best dog ever.  The list could actually go on and on.

My biggest concern as I look back on my 25 years of life is that time is seriously going by too quickly.  I want to enjoy these days, weeks, months and years to come as our family grows. Our lives are about to irreversibly change for the better.  I want to truly enjoy these these last 3 months as a couple before we meet our baby and officially become a family of three.  I know that it may be difficult at times as I continue to get closer to delivery, but I don't want to take this time for granted.

I also want to focus on living in the moment of every activity that we are going to do once Olivia gets here.  I want to relax more, and focus on those things that I can control, and not worry about the things I can't control.

I want to be a better wife to my husband.  I want to say I love you to him more.  I want to raise our children with 100% of my effort and energy towards making our kids strong and productive individuals.  I want to live up to the high standards that my own mother has set as far as being a working mom while being the most nurturing and caring mother I have ever met.

Career wise I also want more.  I was blessed with a wonderful entry-level paralegal position a semester before I graduated from grad school.  However, I've reached somewhat of a plateau with my current job.  I do like it, don't get me wrong, I just know that it may be time to grow professionally elsewhere.   Then I reach the next question of: what next?  Stick with the paralegal career field?  get my alternative teacher certificate? go back to my first true love of Social Work? stay at home mom? (<---haha, just trying to see if Dave will read this :) ).   So many options, and so many things to consider professionally...but at 25, I think that is pretty typical.  The goal is to eventually find that position that I love and never ever dread going to on Monday morning.

All in all I could not be happier with life right now.  It may be the happy pregnancy hormones talking, but right now at this very moment I'm completely satisfied with life. 

Rockport - Summer 2010

Rockport with the Copelands

What a fun trip!  Sort of as a last minute planned fishing trip (planned a couple of weeks in advance), Reese, Annette, Dave and I headed to Rockport, Texas.    Rockport is about 5 hours southeast of Austin right by the gulf.  It's a really small, nice and quaint Texas town that is completely fueled by the fishing business in this area. 

We headed out of town bright and early on Friday morning from the Copeland's house and arrived in Rockport around 1:30pm.  We were able to check in right away and headed to our cabin on Copana Bay.

The Bay House was absolutely adorable.  It was a 1 bedroom with a loft house.  It had a fully equipped kitchen, dining table, washer & dryer, full bathroom and a little living room.  The view from the house was absolutely gorgeous.  We could see our pier and the open water, and in the evening we had a great view of the sunset! That was my favorite part.

This was were Dave and I stayed, up in the loft.  The light in the loft was great.

The sunset from the house.  Also, there were ducks everywhere!  They were really good looking ducks, too.  You can tell that the locals and all visitors keep them all well fed.  On the last morning that we were there I took all of our left over bread and fed it to the ducks.  I started out feedind about 8 ducks and by the time I was done with the bread I was surrounded by about 20 ducks and 2 geese. 

Friday night we did fishing from our pier.  It was sooo convienent and fun to do.  I also throroughly enjoyed the fact that there was a bathroom so close by :).  We did not have much luck the whole weekend.  Everyone caught a couple of fish each, but unfortunately, it was not anything we could keep.  It was still really nice to be out there.

On Saturday morning, Dave and Reesee took the kayaks they picked up in Port Aransas the day before out for a daytime fishing excursion.   They loaded them up with fishing rods and packed backpacks with water and all the bait they would need for the afternoon and headed out. 

They headed out around 6:30am after Dave cooked us all breakfast.   They had several coves and bays they planned to head to. 

Annette and I stayed at the house for a couple of hours before heading out to downtown Rockport to visit the local shops.  We went to a quilt store, a woodshop store, and a couple of local stores, too.  We then headed back to the house to wait for the guys.  Dave & Reese got back to the house around 12:30 and unloaded, showered and then we all ate lunch at the house.  Although they were empty handed they still had a good time out there.  Dave finally got his fishing & kayaking itch scratched!

Saturday we all headed to Port Aransas to return the kayaks. Loading the ferry to get across was miserable!  It took us about 2 hours to board the ferry for a 3 minute ferry ride.  Once over there we returned the kayaks and turned around and headed back to Rockport.  Getting off of Port A was much quicker!

We ran a couple of errands in preparation for our second night of fishing.  Then headed back to the Bay House and started cooking dinner.  Annette had planned a contingency meal, just in case we had not caught anything we could eat!  We had steaks, potatoes and watermelon followed up with a yummy blueberry and peach cobbler.

After dinner Dave got all of the fishing rods ready and we headed out.  I seriously had to pretty much bathe in bug spray anytime I was outside in the evening.  For whatever reason the mosquitoes will find me in a big group of people.  I even get bitten through my clothing if I don't apply a layer over my shirt & shorts.  It's crazy. 

We were using live shrimp and I was finally able to grab my own bait and bait my rod.  For whatever reason it gave me the hibbie-jibbies.  Maybe because the shrimp was still alive and I had to poke the hook through it's HEAD!

Dave, Annette and Reese.

David fishing.

We were able to take a group picture outside of the Bay House on our last morning once Dave figured out the timer settings.  The group shot turned out great!

Reese & Annette.

Dave, Olivia and me.  I love trying to get as many pre-baby pictures as we can.  I can't wait to one day tell Olivia all of the cool things we have done this summer, the summer before she was born.  She has been on amusement park rides, kayaking, swimming, hiking, fishing, through a move, lots and lots of shopping and hopefully many more fun things to come while she is still in my belly! I also can't wait until this time next year when she will get to be in our family pictures as well.

Can't wait to do this again next summer!

Thor's Weekend with his Grandparents

My mom and dad were awesome and agreed to watch our ThorBoar.  Originally, we had planned to board him at his new vet's office in Cedar Park, but my parent's weekend plans changed and they would be staying in town afterall.  It was very last minute so we had to make quick plans to get him to Grandma & Grandpa's house. 

Thursday after work Dave and I went over to JonO & Lexie's house to help them do some moving.  We were able to help make a couple of trips from the old apartment to the new one, but I really wish we could have done a lot more.  The next morning, Friday, at 4:45 am while Dave still got some more sleep, Thor and I loaded up into the Jeep and headed to Harker Heights.  I love the drive from our house to both of parent's homes.  We are able to avoid all of the major highways and see the prettiest parts of the Hill County.  It's especially nice early in the morning when no one else is on the road.  Thor and I rode with all of the windows down most of the way. 

The drive back was a bit scary though.  I was rushing to get back home to Leander because I stayed and chatted with my parents a little longer than I intended to.  I was taking a back back way that we sometimes take and got pulled over for going 80MPH in a 60MPH area.  The cop was super nice though and told me to slow down and that I was lucky he was just giving me a warning.  He said my fees and the ticket would have been outrageous because I was going more than 30% over the speed limit.  WHEW!  Needless to say, after that I was definitely driving much slower. 

My parents kept me updated on Thor's daily activities and it was so much fun to get to see text message pictures of him throughout the weekend!

Dad loves walking Thor, which is perfect because Thor absolutely loves going for walks!

Keeping Thor nice and hydrated.

Another one of Thor's favorite pastimes.  He will literally just stand over the sprinkler for 5 minutes, then drink some of the water, and then continue to stand. 

Thor and his own personal fan.

Hanging out inside.  This weekend it was HOT.  It is finally hitting the hundreds here. 

Thanks, Mom & Dad & Sarah!