Weekend Recap - Saturday and Sunday

So, to continue with my weekend recap!  I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday, and for that I apologize.  I know I committed to every day this month, but some nights I get so tired!  That's pretty normal for being 8+ months pregnant, right?  ;)

So on Saturday morning, Arthur and I were able to sleep in a bit.  I woke up around 8 because I heard my niece Brielle out in the living area talking.  There is nothing better than waking up to that.  :)  I went out there and hung out with her for a little while.  Arthur woke up and we ate breakfast.  My mom made some really good pancakes and scrambled eggs.  I loved the pancake... it was so good!

A little later that morning, my brother and his wife showed up with my nephew Jackson.  They decided to go swimming, so I watched them do that for awhile. 

Around noon, we all had a lunch of turkey sandwiches and chips.  I had one, it was delicious.  We then all got ready and headed out to Heber to go on the Heber Creeper railroad.

We arrived and waited for them to allow us to board the train.  We got on and found a seat in the oldest car.  As we went on the ride, it was pretty warm, but the breeze coming in through the windows was good.  I loved watching how excited Jackson got as he rode the train.

The whole train ride was about 90 minutes long, and when we got back my family and I drove up to Main Street in Heber to go to a restaurant called the Dairy Keen.  We waited in line and ordered our food.  I got a cheeseburger and French fries.  We took our food across the street to the park since there wasn't a lot of room in the dining area at the restaurant.  We sat at the pavilion and ate our dinner.  It was really good, and I appreciated being able to eat something... pregnancy makes you hungry!

After we ate, Arthur and I left the park a few minutes before the family because we needed to get food for breakfast in the morning, since we were cooking.  We went back to Park City and stopped at the Fresh Market.  We got eggs, potatoes, turkey sausage and bread for French toast. 

We got back to the condo and put the food away and hung out with the family.  We played some games, but I couldn't stay up too late because I was pretty tired. 

The next morning, I woke up at around 9 and got Arthur up to make breakfast.  We made cinnamon raisin French toast, white French toast, turkey sausage patties and shredded hashbrowns.  Everyone commented about how delicious everything was.  I was happy to get to cook for my family.  Arthur did a lot of the work, but I helped a little.  :)

After breakfast, I took an hour nap and got up to play some more games.  We all played Wacky 6s and that was really fun.  Sitting in the chairs at the table hurt my back, though... so I had 3 pillows for support. One behind my back, and two in front to support my stomach.  Ugh!

After we played games, Arthur said he wanted to go for a walk to the main square of Park City by the Alpine Slide.  I got ready and we walked down with my mom, my sister, my brother and his wife along with their kids.  Brielle couldn't go because she was napping.  She had not been feeling well the day prior, so it was good that she rested.

We all walked around and checked out the activities.  I'd love to come back some day and take Finn on some of the fun rides and stuff. 

We all walked back up to the condo and Arthur and I packed to go because we needed to get back in time to clean up the house a bit and do laundry before a new week.

We said goodbye to everyone and headed back to our home.

When we got there, we prepared dinner and watched some TV.  While we were eating, the power went out and we were really surprised, because the power rarely ever goes out.  We have underground powerlines, so it is very uncommon for it to happen.  We called the power company and they confirmed that there was an issue with a fuse.  The power came on after about an hour of being off.  Phew!

That night we did laundry and got ready for a new week.  Overall, the weekend went by really fast but it was really fun to spend some time with my family away from home.  :)

Weekend Recap - Friday

I wasn't able to get to a computer on Friday to update, and I was out of town for the weekend with my family so updating was really tough yesterday.  I wanted to make sure to blog today so I could at least catch up.  :) 

Friday was a good day, I was able to work from home in the morning.  I really appreciate that I have that benefit with my job so I can have a day in the week that I don't have to rush to get to work super early.  I normally get to work on Monday through Thursday at 7:30 AM and work until 6 because Arthur works 4 10 hour shifts, and we carpool.  So by the time Friday rolls around every week, I've already worked 40 hours as it is.  I love that I can chill out a bit some Fridays and get caught up on a few things.

Some good news related to my job that I haven't yet posted... I applied for a position working on a team that manages the knowledgebase at my job.  The knowledgebase (or KB for short) is a tool that teammates use when they take calls to look up answers for common questions the customers ask when they call eBay.  I applied for the job a couple of months ago and the hiring process was a bit slow, because they were posting it in Europe too.  I was able to pass the first interview round, which was with the person who would be my boss, and his boss.  I also passed the second round, which was a written assignment to see how well I would do actually working the job.  The last round was with a couple of the people who are already on the team.  I was offered the job just before Memorial Day weekend.  I was so excited to hear that I'd gotten it!

I will work in my current position until June 26th, and then I will move into my new role until I go out for maternity leave.  I will admit, it will be nice to not have to worry about my work here while I go out.  I am the type to stress about making sure everything is going smoothly while I'm away from the office... and being in a new position will force me to not stress because I won't to know too much about the job as it is, only be in the role for a couple of weeks until my due date.

I will be out on maternity leave for 6 weeks, and then I will take 6 weeks off for what is called "bonding time".  It's an optional benefit I can take, but it is unpaid.  I will then take 4 more weeks off for my 5 year eBay sabbatical.  Once you have worked for eBay for 5 years, the company gives you 4 weeks off, completely paid, on top of your normal Paid Time Off accrual.  I ended up saving mine back at the end of 2012, which was my 5th year.  I wanted to add it onto my maternity leave so I would have 16 consecutive weeks off to spend with my baby.  I'm so lucky to be able to have this time, and I'm definitely going to take advantage of it.  :)

Anyways, back to the updates.  So after work on Friday, Arthur and I went to our 35 week doctor's appointment with our Midwife.  I was excited to hear Finn's heartbeat and check in to make sure things were looking good.  We went in and waited for a bit, but not as long as I had to wait for my previous OB at past appointments.  She was really tired because she had been on call all day before and the previous night, and then had to come to the clinic for day appointments.  She was still attentive and remembered everything she needed to, which I appreciated.  Having no sleep and working two days in a row is really tough, I know.  She answered my two questions that I had and checked his heartbeat.  My questions were about the position he is in as well as about his hiccups. 

She had me lie on the table and she felt my stomach to locate where he was.  She confirmed that he is head down and his back is facing my right side.  She also told me that hiccups are totally normal, and are good practice for his diaphragm and lungs.  I felt great after hearing these two answers from her.  She measured me and my fundal height was at 34-35cm, which means he is measuring right around where he should be for 35 weeks. 

We left our appointment and went to have a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Sandy because Arthur had a Groupon.  It was really good, and the servings were big.  I had a beef burrito with beans and rice on the side.  Arthur had a seafood burrito with shrimp.  We then got ready to head up to Park City to meet up with my family.

My mom and Dad had traded their timeshare weeks to get a few units in Park City for the week.  Because I have to work all week next week, I told them we would only be able to stay Friday and Saturday nights.  I was really sad to not be able to stay the whole time, but I figured I would give as much time as I could.

We arrived up there around 6:30 or so and got unpacked and settled.  My sister and her husband and kids arrived around 8 or so and we all had pizza and stayed up and talked.  I shared a bunch of my Hypnobirthing information with my sister, and I was really grateful to hear she'd like to try it on her next pregnancy.  She is very into natural medicine, and so I figured some of the information I had to share would be interesting to her. 

We went to bed pretty late, around 12:30 AM, which is the latest I've gone to bed in awhile.  I was pretty tired, but Arthur and I still made time to practice our Hypnobirth breathing and a script as I went off to sleep. 

I'll be posting Saturday's update soon!  Check back!

 

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!

"It's been days!"

While cooking dinner tonight, Arthur asked "Are you going to blog?  It's been days!"

Yes, it's been days.  2 weeks and 1 day since I blogged.  I'm really sorry for the delay.  I was on vacation for the first week and didn't have a computer.  The second week my only excuse was being extremely busy and trying to get feeling normal after a week of theme parks.

The vacation was really fun.  Arthur, his brother and I left Utah on Sunday and drove to Vegas.  We stayed at the Flamingo.  The room was really retro with pink walls and lights.  It was pretty crazy.

We woke up early on Monday morning so we could drive to Anaheim.  It was a 4 hour drive.  As soon as we got there, we went right to Disneyland.  The rain stopped just as we parked, which was really nice.  I've been to Disney before when it's raining, and it's miserable.  We went to California Adventure the first day because Eli loves Ariel, and so we went on her new ride first.  We also had dinner at Ariel's Grotto.  We took pictures with all of the princesses.  I got a picture with my delicious dessert.

The next day we got up extremely early and went to Universal Studios.  I was really struggling, because the drive was really long and I was very sick the whole way there.  I slept on the ride, and when I woke up when we got there, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to spend a whole day in the park.  I sucked it up and got out of the car.  I had to go to the bathroom before we got into the park, so I went to the public restrooms by the elevators.  It was so stinky in there, I started to throw up.  Well, kind of throw up since I can't actually throw up.  It's more of a very painful hiccup over and over again until the feeling passes.  So dumb.

At Universal Studios, we went on the fun rides.  When I say "we", I mean Eli and Arthur went on the fun rides.  I couldn't ride any of the exciting ones like Simpsons, or the Studio Tour or the Mummy or Transformers.  I could only go to the shows and stuff like that.  It was ok, though because I kept reminding myself of how important it was that I keep my baby safe.  I spent a lot of time eating food and people watching.  :)

I didn't get any pictures of myself at Universal Studios, but Arthur got a picture with Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.  He just got mad at me because I wasn't sure who each of them were.  So, I'm posting both pictures of him with them.

That night we went to the No Doubt concert at Universal Studios.  I started feeling better towards the second half of the day, so I was looking forward to sitting and listening to the music.  Before we went in and got our seats, Eli wanted to look at the merchandise they were selling.  The stuff was all really expensive, but we found something we liked.  Arthur and I decided on a onesie with No Doubt on it.  It is gray, and it has blue, green, white and pink on it.  It will look good on a boy or a girl.

The next day we went back to Disneyland to ride the rides there.  There are actually a lot of rides I can go on in Disneyland.  I rode Pirates, Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World and Toy Story.  I had a lot of fun!  My favorite part of the day was meeting the Queen of Hearts and seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle at night with the Christmas lights.

I also found a fancy hat that I loved!  Everyone at Disneyland wears Micky ears hats, and this one was amazing because it was brown.

I didn't buy it, though, because I wasn't going to be in Disneyland much longer, and the only place you can wear Mickey ears without looking crazy is in Disneyland.  :)

The next day we went to Sea World in San Diego.  I told Arthur that the only way I was going to go to Sea World was if I could go to my favorite restaurant in Pacific Beach called the Broken Yolk.  They have the most delicious breakfast burritos!  We went and I got my photo eating my burrito.

At Sea World, Arthur saw a Shamu-themed bug.  He wanted his picture by it.

When we got into the park, we saw the Sea World Christmas tree.  Arthur wanted us to stand by it because it was ocean-themed.

At Sea World, we saw shows, and rode the sky ride.  My favorite part of the day was feeding the flamingos.  They were so sweet, they ate right out of our hands.  We could pet them even!

The next day was going to be a half day at Disneyland and then drive to Las Vegas.  We went on a few of the rides that we'd already gone on, and Arthur and Eli went on the new Cars ride.  They had to wait in line for nearly 2 hours.  I had a nap on a bench.  :)

Disneyland is very magical at Christmas time.  Everything is decorated!

After Disneyland, we drove back to Vegas.  We stopped at this place that had a real mermaid in an aquarium!  It was so crazy!  She had these oxygen hoses that were spread throughout the tank so she could breathe.

We spent the night at the Luxor and then got up the next morning and came home.  It was a really fun trip! 

Thank Goodness It's.....

FRIDAY!!!

Finally.  The week is over.  This has been a very long week.  I had a couple of really bad days and a couple of ok days.  I think I would classify today as an ok day. 

I got to work around 8:30 and I started working as soon as I sat down.  I was busy the entire day!  I had to prepare a bunch of stuff because I was going to be out of the office all next week for California.  Hurrayyyyyy!

I had lunch with two really great friends, Terri and Chet.  We went to Thai food and I had the lunch special.  Terri was kind enough to pay, which was so nice. 

I learned that the Social Media position that I'm interested in is going to be posted next week, and I'm excited to apply. 

Tonight I'm craving mashed potatoes so Arthur is making some.  Also, a pizza.  He got a weird frozen pizza in the mail from a survey company.  He's supposed to try cooking and tell them what he thinks.  I'm excited for the potatoes.  ;)

Tomorrow is get ready for trip day.  I will, however, be sleeping in.  I don't think I can deal with another 5:00 AM wakeup day.  Ugh!

How far along:  8 weeks, 1 day
How much time left:  31 weeks, 6 days
Top two symptoms:  Headache and Exhaustion.  My nausea was under control today because I really tried to keep my stomach half-full.  The headache was really bad before lunch, so I tried to eat some chocolate before I headed out.  It seemed to help. 

Favorite thing I ate today:  Tom Ka soup from the Thai restaurant.  It is a coconut milk soup, and I had it with some Jasmine rice.  Soo good!

Mood:  My mood today was good to great.  There were a few times during the day that I was super exhausted, but I tried to stay as happy as I could.

Worried about:  A few things.  The workload when I get back from vacation and being comfortable on the ride to and back from California.  I hope I can have a chance to get out and walk on the drive.  My legs will go crazy!!

Excited for:  Not thinking about work for a whole week.  :)

Whoops! Sorry I'm late...

I don't think I've meant to not blog these past 3 days... I think I just haven't felt very well and logging in to type how I'm feeling just hasn't sounded very fun.

My last post was on Sunday, and I was really struggling that day.  Since then, I've appreciated coming back to work and focusing on something other than being pregnant.

As of yesterday, I've started dealing with nausea at night that is so severe that I'm starting to throw up.  I went to Panda Express last night with Arthur and his little sister to celebrate her birthday.  When I got home, I was so nauseous that I threw up.  It was bad news bears.

I took a bath after to try to calm down and feel better, but going to sleep is really the only thing that helped me feel normal.  I am feeling slightly out of it this morning.

The good news is all of this, I'm not too tired today and I'm looking forward to this weekend because we are going to California!  We planned this vacation before I knew I was pregnant, and so I'll just have to be careful with not riding most rides.  We are going to Vegas on Sunday night, the driving to Disneyland on Monday.  We'll stay 4 nights in Anaheim and during those days we'll go either down to San Diego to Sea World, Universal Studios or to Disney.  We'll stay Friday night in Vegas at the Luxor, and then come back on Saturday so we can spend Sunday getting ready for a new week.

I'm looking forward to the time off most of all.  :)

In other news, my mom brought me a "care package" at work yesterday because I was so sick the night before.  I called her crying on Tuesday night because I was so sick.  She brought me some Andes mints, some caffeine free Diet Coke, some protein shakes and some mint tea.  She also brought me a couple of baby toys, the first ones we've received.  It was so nice of her.

Arthur and I also had fun last night with his little sister to celebrate her birthday.  We went to a place called "Color Me Mine" and we painted pottery with glaze.  It was really fun.  I will post pictures once they are ready to be picked up.  :)

How far along:  8 weeks TODAY!
How much time left:  32 weeks
Top two symptoms:  Nausea and bloating

Favorite thing I ate today:  So far, I haven't had much to eat.  I'm looking forward to eating something for lunch.  Not sure what I'm going to have, but I'm feeling like a TeriYaki Grill salad.  Yum...

Mood:  A little hopeless and frustrated with my body.  I know that it's a good thing that I'm feeling so gross, because it means that my baby is growing.  I struggle to feel positive and excited when I feel like dying inside.  I'm sure that focusing on something else, like vacation will help me get my mind off of everything.  :)

Worried about:  Being sick while on vacation.  I'm going to try to pack lots of snacks so I don't get an empty stomach and make sure I have plenty of time to sleep when possible. 

Excited for:  Pirates of the Caribbean!  Also, Disneyland food!  And, buying baby stuff from Disneyland!!  Wooo!