Birthday and Mother's Day

I wanted to blog about my first Mother's Day and my 30th birthday, because they are both very important events!  I wrote the previous entry early on Mother's Day morning.  When I logged into Facebook that morning, there were so many posts on my feed about Mothers.  I saw so many nice posts from people about their moms, and so I got really teary-eyed.  It was probably the hormones combined with the fact that it was my first Mother's Day, but it was impossible not to cry.  As I wrote my previous entry (you can read it by clicking here), I cried all the way through - happy tears of course.

I set a goal when I finally decided to have kids that I would try to be pregnant before I was 30.  I am grateful that I pushed myself to accomplish that goal, because it wasn't easy.  I still want to write my Trying to Conceive blog entry so I can share some of the things I did to prepare myself to start trying to have kids.  Some believe it is really easy, and for some it is.  For some it is not, and so I feel like sharing my story will help some.

After I wrote my blog entry on Mother's Day morning, Arthur and I spent some time together watching the Mother's Day specials on TV that we'd recorded.  We watched Ellen's baby shower special and everyone in the audience was pregnant.  It was so funny.  While I watched TV, Arthur made me breakfast.  He made me a delicious omelet.  I ate almost the whole thing.  It was nice to eat breakfast in bed.  :)

Arthur then brought me my Mother's Day gifts.  He got me some cute baby outfits and a first Mother's Day snow globe.  The snow globe made me cry, because it was so sweet and thoughtful.  It is all silver and it has 3 ivory colored seahorses in it, swirled around by silver fish.  It was personalized with an engraving on the front. 

It says:
1st Mother's Day
May 12, 2013
Love, Arthur

Here are some pictures of it:

I really appreciated having something that would remind me forever that I got to spend my first Mother's Day pregnant, and before my 30th birthday.  :)

I also got Mother's Day flowers earlier in the week, and they are beautiful:

For my 30th birthday, it was the next day on May 13.  I took the day off so I could spend it with Arthur and do something fun.  I slept in a bit and relaxed in the morning.  Before we got up and got ready, Arthur brought me my birthday presents in bed.  I got some really nice ear buds, some baby clothes and a brown Fossil watch.  Arthur told me that I had one more present that was downstairs, but I had to go see it because it was too big to bring upstairs.  I went down to the main living room, and there was a box with a stroller/carseat combo in it!  I was so happy!  I made him put it together right away. 

I pushed it around the living room for a few minutes, and then we went to get ready for the day.  I had plans to go to a restaurant in Salt Lake called Finn's.  They serve breakfast and lunch and the style is Norwegian.  After I was ready, Arthur took my picture by the door with my new stroller because I was so excited about it before we left.

Here's my new stroller and me in my birthday outfit with my new watch on:

We got in the car and started driving towards Salt Lake.  I realized that we didn't have enough time to go to Finn's and go see the Mummy exhibit at The Leonardo museum downtown.  So, we decided to go to Finn's another day and spend more time looking at the Mummies. 

We parked at The Leonardo and went in and paid.  We walked around and saw all of the Mummy exhibit.  It was really cool!  I loved studying about ancient Egypt when I was in elementary school and junior high.  I had always wanted to see mummies like that, and so it was a great activity on my birthday. 

After we went to the Mummy exhibit, Arthur took me up to my pregnancy massage appointment.  He'd gotten me a massage back on Valentine's day and I hadn't traded it in yet.  He dropped me off and I went in.  The massage table was amazing, they had pillows that lifted my body up that allowed me to lie on my stomach - which I haven't done in months.  I used to sleep on my stomach before I was pregnant!

The massage was great, very relaxing.  I appreciated having such a relaxing time on my birthday.  Arthur picked me up an hour later and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  I ordered the Thai Salmon with jasmine rice.  It was so good!  Afterwards, we shopped around at the mall a bit. 

Overall, it was an amazing birthday and I was really grateful that I had such a fun husband to share it with.  One of the main reasons why I married Arthur is because he always makes holidays so special.  I never have to worry about being forgotten on my birthday.  :) 

Vegas Birthday Babymoon!

Arthur's birthday was on February 23.  We had been planning to go to Vegas for his birthday for awhile, and to get the most out of the days we had off, we decided to leave right after our doctor's appointment on Friday night.

We had packed the night before, so as soon as the appointment was over, we said goodbye to Arthur's mom and headed down to Vegas.  The drive was really fast, because I had a nice long nap during the ride.  I have been craving french fries a lot lately, and so we had to stop at Dairy Queen halfway down so I could get some fries.

The first night we had booked at the Westin resort in Lake Las Vegas.  Lake Las Vegas is a man-made lake about 20 minutes outside of the strip.  The resort had incredible rates for one night, because it recently became a Westin.  When we checked in at the hotel, I told the front desk guy that we were celebrating Arthur's birthday.  He upgraded us to a slightly larger room with a balcony.  That's a secret!  If you ever travel to a nice place, tell them you're celebrating something and they might give you an upgrade!  :)

Here is a picture of the resort:

 
The room was nice, but the view was the best part.  You can see we had a view of Lake Las Vegas and some palm trees.

The night we checked in, Arthur and I didn't go out and do much, we just hung out around the hotel.  They had some fire pits and some comfortable couches by a fountain.  Here is a picture of some of the fountains we sat by to relax:

The next day was Arthur's birthday.  We went to this place called The Omelet House for breakfast.  Arthur had a lobster omelet and I had an omelet with mushrooms, green peppers, cheese and bacon.  They also have delicious breakfast potatoes and banana nut bread.  We found it on Yelp, and it's a local place.  Arthur have started doing that in cities we've been to a lot of times because we get tired of some of the mainstream places.  It's a great way to enjoy some of the local food.  :)

After we had breakfast, we met up with Mike and his girlfriend to go get our tickets to see a show that night.  Arthur and I always use the Tix 4 Tonight kiosks in Vegas so we can get discounted tickets.  We love to see shows in Vegas because we're not very big on gambling or other stuff.

After we got tickets to a show (more on that later), Mike, his girlfriend, Arthur and I went to Shark Encounter at Mandalay Bay.  Arthur and I have been there a few times but Mike hadn't ever been.  We went through and got a bunch of pictures of the fish and I think Arthur had a great time.

Here are some pictures of the Shark Encounter.  This one is of the walkthrough shark tank tunnel:

Here's Arthur and me posing with a photo bombing shark:

Here are some cool Jellyfish we saw:

After the Shark Encounter, Arthur and I went to the Palms hotel to check into our room because I needed a nap.  Once again, I mentioned to the front desk person that we were celebrating Arthur's birthday, and he upgraded us to a renovated room in the main tower.  The room was really nice, but kind of weird too.  There was a weird mural on the wall of eyes that you can see a reflection of in the TV as you are sitting on the bed.

We had a view of the other Palms tower from our room, and we were pretty high up:

After I had a nap, Arthur and I left to meet up with Mike at the Excalibur to see our show called Tournament of the Kings at the Excalibur.  Arthur and I have seen the show a bunch of times, and it never gets old.

We played some arcade games for a few minutes while waited for Mike and his girlfriend.  We won a weird little blue stuffed animal.  It was fun!  When Mike got there, we went into the "arena" and waited for them to bring our food out.  Yes, it's a dinner theater!

Here's a picture of us waiting for our food.  We were in the Norway section, cheering for the king!

We finally got our food.  It's a delicious and random meal of a whole chicken, potatoes, broccoli, a biscuit and the most delicious tomato soup you've ever eaten.  The best part?  They don't give you utensils!  You have to eat with your hands!

We totally enjoyed the show, and cheered a lot.  It was a good time.  After the show, we gambled a bit with Mike.  Mike convinced me to try the Blackjack table.  I put down 20 bucks and I won back 80!  Not bad for my first time playing.  :)

The next day, Arthur and I got up and went to another local breakfast place to eat.  It was called Babystacks and they specialize in making all different types of pancakes.  I ordered the Red Velvet pancakes and Arthur had the Rocky Road pancakes.  They were amazing!

After breakfast, Arthur and I went to the new Cosmopolitan casino.  It was amazing!  They had these incredible chandeliers made out of crystal. 

We also went the Aria to get tickets to see Zarkana that night.  It is a new Cirque du Soleil show.  After we went there, Arthur and I went to check into our hotel for the next two nights at the Hard Rock.  I took a nice nap for about an hour or so, and then got up and got ready to go to the show.  The room at the Hard Rock was really relaxing, and the beds were really comfortable.  Yes, I said beds.  Even though we got a nicer room on a higher floor, all they had when we checked in were rooms with two double beds!  Ugh!!

We were planning on going to eat at Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant called Burgr at Planet Hollywood, but we didn't end up having enough time to do it before we had to be at the Aria for the show.  We planned on going after the show instead.

We had a snack at Planet Hollywood at a restaurant that had lobster fish and chips style with fries and stuff.  I ordered just french fries and Arthur got what was called a Lob-sicle.  It was an entire lobster tail on a stick, fried and served with a lemon and tarter sauce!  It was 14 dollars!  He loved it so much, he said he would have paid double for it.  :)

We got to the theater and got a drink and some popcorn.  The show was amazing!  We had ok seats, in the middle, but really far back.  It's because the show is really new and the seats were kind of expensive.  Thank goodness for my blackjack win!  :)

Here is a short clip of the show so you can see some of the cool stuff we saw:



After the show, Arthur and I were really hungry!  We walked across to Planet Hollywood to find Gordon Ramsey's restaurant.  We walked around forever and finally found it close to the front.  I was so excited!!  I had been wanting to eat at one of his restaurants for so long.  We waited about 20 minutes or so, and they had a texting system to let us know our table was ready.  I got a text and we walked back and got seated really fast.  The menu had different types of burgers, but everything was really simple.  I ended up with an American Burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle and cheddar cheese.  Arthur had a Farm Burger with an egg on it.  To me it looked gross, but he loved it!  We shared some french fries that had truffle oil and Parmesan cheese on them.  The menus were the best part!  They were hilarious!

That night I had a rough time sleeping, probably because of how dry the air was or maybe I was just not liking some of the smoky air.  I tossed and turned, and ended up on the other bed because of how small the beds were.

The next day I got to sleep in and eventually got up to go to breakfast.  Arthur found another local place called The Egg and I.  It wasn't too far from the strip, and they are famous for their delicious egg meals.  I ordered an egg panini, it was so good.  They had this funny system they used to get the waiter's attention.  You would turn this little egg sign on your table around so it looked sad, then the waiter would know you needed something.  I didn't use it because the waitress explained to me that the system is good for customers, but bad for servers.  :P  I realized that they probably don't like people using it much.

Thank goodness for Yelp!  It was easy to find places to eat that were the normal strip joints.

After the Egg and I, Arthur and I went to Tix 4 Tonight again and got seats at the new America's Got Talent show for that night at the Palazzo, which is an extension of the Venetian.  We decided to head over to the Venetian early so we could trade in our tickets.  We looked around the mall a bit at the Venetian and because it was Chinese New Year recently, they had some really cool decor for the holiday.

Heres's a cool dragon:

Here's a Dragon Kite and lanterns.  It reminded me of Tommy Tricker!

There was also a really cool (probably expensive) car and some weird water tornado things in glass.  Interesting to look at, for sure!

We also got some Gelato at the Venetian and relaxed a little in the shops area by the canal.  It was nice to not rush around and actually enjoy the vacation part.  :)

We ended up going back to the hotel for another nap since I seemed to need one every day that I was in Vegas.  We got ready and decided to grab a snack and then head to the show.

The show was awesome, we ended up getting front row tickets.  My favorite part were the dogs that performed cool tricks.  Here's a video with some of the acts:



After we saw America's Got Talent, we drove back to Planet Hollywood to eat at our favorite restaurant in all of Las Vegas called Lombardi's.  They have the world's most delicious Fettuccine Alfredo I've ever eaten.  They make their pasta on site and the sauce is to die for.  I don't even like Fettuccine Alfredo, and that's all I ever order there. 

After we ate, we went back to the hotel for our last night in Vegas.

The next morning, we woke up and checked out of the Hard Rock.  We have a tradition to go to the Bellagio and eat at Cafe Bellagio for breakfast before we head out and go home.  Arthur ordered the Lobster omelet and I got a club sandwich with french fries.  So many cravings for french fries!

After breakfast, we got in the car and headed home.

It was such a great vacation, and I really had a blast!

SuperBLOG Sunday!

I hope you enjoy my very clever title to this blog post.  I though of it in my sleep.  I think I was dreaming about the fact that I hadn't blogged for a little while.  :)

I've had a good week, and I think I'm starting to feel better.  I haven't had as much of an issue with headaches, and I'm really grateful for that.  My nausea stays generally under control as long as I'm eating before and after I do any sort of physical movement.  That includes going up or down stairs, etc.

I keep saying I want to start exercising, and I definitely plan to do that starting this week.  I know Arthur will be overcome with joy that I've finally decided to move around more.  I just have to make sure that I eat before and after.  :)

This week was good, and not too busy.  I went to a fun birthday activity for Arthur's little brother, Eli.  He planned this crazy 2 part party so he could do everything he wanted for it.  We went to Sweet's candy factory just west of Salt Lake City.  There was a 40 minute tour and samples afterwards.  It was really cool to see how they make all of the candy!

Here are some pictures from their website showing some of the stuff we saw.  I would have taken some pictures myself, but for security reasons, I couldn't take my cell phone with me into the tour.

 After that, we went to a little bakery downtown SLC called Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop.  I've driven past it a million times growing up, but never actually went in.  I was in heaven!  I understand now why they call Salt Lake City "The Place".  It's because of this pastry shop.

The pictures below show the front of the shop and a panoramic shot of the inside of the store:

 I couldn't decide what I wanted, because there were so many options.  I ended up deciding on a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream frosting on the top.  It was so delicious.  I also got a Valentine's sugar cookie with fondant frosting.  *DROOL*

 So, that was the highlight of my week.  :)

Later today, Arthur's family is going to come over for a Superbowl Sunday party and we're going to have snacks and play games.  I'm not too much of a football fan, but I will definitely enjoy the company and the food!  I'll try to take some pictures of the fun and post later today.  No promises!  :P

How far along:  17 Weeks, 3 Days

How much time left:  22 Weeks, 4 Days

Top two symptoms:  Lately, it's just been some minor exhaustion and nausea here and there.  Nothing too bad!  :)

Favorite thing I ate today:  So far, I've only had Green Tea with Jasmine and some hashbrowns.  I'm sure I'll eat something more delicious later, so I'm leaving this spot empty!

Mood:  I had some ups and downs this week, mostly related to how well I can handle other people.  I seem to have lost a lot of the patience I used to have before I was pregnant.  I tend to have a short fuse and I let things get to me easier.  I just have to focus on the positive stuff and it helps. 

Worried about: I keep worrying that I'm not showing too much, and then I remember that I am still not super far along, compared to others I know.  I keep comparing how I look to how other pregnant people I know look, and it's probably not a good idea.  I can feel a difference in how my clothes fit, I guess that's good.  I think because I'm a little more overweight than most of the super skinny pregnant people I know, I am not showing as much as they are.  I just need to be patient here too. 

Excited for:  My 18 week doctor's appointment a week from yesterday!  Next Friday, February 8 is the day!  Wooo!  I don't expect an ultrasound, but I can certainly hope for one.  :)

Every other day?

I seem to be trending every other day for my blog updates.  I know I committed to every day, but some days it is really hard to sit down and dedicate this time.  I know how important it is, so I will really try harder this week to blog every day.  I also know that there are going to be a lot of things going on leading up to me telling friends and family that I'm pregnant, so I want to keep this blog updated as much as I can.

Yesterday was Friday, and I had to work all day.  I went in around 8:30 AM and had a bunch of meetings until 1 or so.  My afternoon meetings were cancelled, which was nice.  I had some pretty annoying nausea and head pressure, so I was grateful to go home a bit early at 3:30 PM. 

On Friday night, I drove home and took a nice long nap until about 5:30.  Arthur came home at about 8 with Chinese food.  I wasn't incredibly hungry.  However, I did have this amazing head pressure that wouldn't go away.   I started feeling it about the same time I started feeling the nausea.  It feels like I've got my head saran wrapped to a piece of board and it's wrapped really tight around my head.  I can feel the pressure in my forehead and scalp just pushing up against my skull.  I got kind of scared last night that it was my high blood pressure, or something similar.  I tried to do some deep breathing to calm myself down, and that seemed to help.  I still have the problem today, it just isn't as bad.

Today was my lazy day.  Arthur had to go to work at 6:30 and be there at 7.  I woke up that early and tried to go back to sleep.  I couldn't until a little later in the morning after I'd eaten something.  I usually don't feel nausea right away when I wake up, which is weird considering that morning sickness is called morning sickness because of how early you usually feel it.  I don't start feeling it until I've been awake at least an hour.

I ate a lot today, but only because I felt extra nauseous.  I made myself French Toast, I had a salad with ranch dressing and green peppers.  I also had a peach and some french fries that I made in the oven.  All delicious things.  :)

Tonight we went to my nephew Adam's birthday party.  I took a bunch of really cute pictures.  I'll try to get them up in this entry a little later.  I would do it now, but the camera is far away and I'll need to upload the pictures. 

Tonight I spent some time at Arthur's mom's house and I was trying to help with some legal things that his brother is dealing with.  I really hope it will work out, and I believe it will if his brother gets more involved. 

How far along:  6 Weeks, 2 days
How much time left:  33 weeks, 5 days
Top two symptoms:  Head pressure and nausea.  The head pressure is the worst part. 

Favorite thing I ate today:  The French Toast I made myself for breakfast.  So delicious, and so easy!  Who would have thought I could cook French Toast?!

Mood:  Today I felt good, due to multiple distractions.  Being around people doesn't allow me to dwell on my symptoms.  I need to remember that.

Worried about:   This darn head pressure.  It's driving me crazy.  It never goes away except for when I'm lying down and about ready to sleep. 

Excited for:  Telling my family on Thursday and Friday.  They will all be so surprised!!  :)

Caturday Saturday

Today was a really lazy Saturday.  We were both home all day and didn't get much accomplished.  We did do some wrapping and that was really fun.

We were supposed to go to my nephew's first birthday party today and we couldn't because everyone was sick at my sister's house.  I was a little sad because Arthur and I had made him his first birthday cake.  Since we couldn't go up, Mike is going to eat it tonight and we're going to put a candle on it and take his picture.  That will be fun.

Here is a picture of the cake:

While Arthur and I were wrapping today, we played with a ribbon with KitKat.  It was really cute.  She is such a good cat.  She never gets mean, and she just licks your fingers if you pet her.  :)

Later this afternoon, I was sitting on my couch in my office, and Arthur came in to join me.  He asked me if he could sit by me, so I cleared a spot for him.  He asked why I hadn't opened up my Eric Carle books, and I told him I was saving them for when our baby is here.  He said he wanted me to read the Hermit Crab one, so I did.  Out loud.  He said he loved it when he was little, so I did it.  You could tell he enjoyed hearing me read a kid's book.  It was a fun moment, and it made me look forward to having those moments with a baby with us too.

Tonight, Arthur is making Pineapple Curry and Pad Thai.  It's my favorite meal.  So good!

Tomorrow is chore day and also I need to prepare for an interview I have on Monday.  I'm not sure if I really want the job because of the added stress and the additional time I'll have to take off to have my baby.  I'm still debating whether or not I'll bring it up in the interview.

If I do get the job, it would be a great opportunity, and a raise.  Who doesn't like a raise?!

How far along:  5 Weeks, 2 days
How much time left:  34 Weeks, 5 days
Top two symptoms:  Exhaustion x 2

Favorite thing I ate today:  I haven't eaten it today, but when I do, it will be Pad Thai.  *DROOL*

Mood:  My mood was good today, but mostly because I was so tired, I struggled to feel super happy.  I think I've felt closer to Arthur today than I've felt in awhile.  I think it's because I had that bad dream last night and I never want to feel that angry at him. 

Worried about:   I hope my exhaustion isn't related to something that is wrong with my baby.  I am sure it's normal, since I read everywhere that exhaustion is just a part of the first trimester.  I'm also a little worried about my job interview and how it could affect my world if I get the job.

Excited for:  As I was decorating the cake for baby Adam last night, I kept thinking about what I would do for my baby's first birthday.  I'll probably do it inside/outside since it's going to be in July.  We might even do a combined party for the July birthdays... but I would prefer to have our own party so my baby can eat a whole cake by themselves.  :)