Hurry up and wait!

That's what I've been doing these days.  Just waiting.  Waiting for anything.  A contraction. A pain.  A broken water.  A sign.  A voice.  But nothing so far.  Well, I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing serious or painful.  A couple weeks ago I was checked and dilated to .5cm.  (not five, but half).  Is that even possible?  Half a cm?  Really?  I think the doctor just wanted to give me a little hope.  Well, now more than 2 weeks later I'm dilated to.................wait for it.......1cm!!!!!!!!  What?  That's it?  I know.  Tell me about it. At that rate I'm going to be 18 months pregnant before he comes. When you're this close to go time, the hours seem like days and the days seem like weeks. 
Last Saturday night I was getting ready for bed and wouldn't you know it, my ankles were gone.  They were swollen up and gone.  It was a little disturbing because I had had no swelling before.  The next day they were still pretty swollen, but my nurse friend told me to drink lots of water and I had my blood pressure checked and was fine.  The swelling went away and has not come back.
Comfort and sleeping in a lying position are things of the past.  My short term memory is pretty much non-existent.  Breathing easy is no more.  But all in all I can't complain.  It has been a really easy pregnancy with no complications.  Hopefully labor and delivery with be the same.  I am still working and will do so until he decides to come.
As far as a name for this here baby.......no-name.  Some people think that we are just keeping it secret, but we really haven't decided on a name.  We have a small list that we are working with but are open to new ideas and suggestions.  Here are a few from our list.  Tell us what you think.
Renner (I think this is Trent's favorite)
Benson
Heston (this one has been growing on me)
Hadd (family name, it was my grandpa's nick name all his life)
Grayson (also a family name and the former name of Blanding. BUT, I have a cousin that just had her first baby a few days ago, a world away, in South Africa, haven't talked to her in months, and we found out that she named her little boy Greyson.  For real?  What are the chances?)
Waylon
Elway (I try not to think of Noelle's dog)
Anyways, hopefully when we see him, we will just know.  But we are still open to suggestions.
We are anxiously awaiting his arrival.  We are excited to meet him.  We are nervous to have him.  And we sure do love him!

Shipping 2011

It was good to finally get out to Colorado.  It was the first time Trent and I have been out there this year.  Fist time to see the new "cabin."  It was good to behold this sight again too.  Never gets old.  It's so pretty, it looks like a painting to me.  Love the Lone Cone.  And cowboys!

After much convincing and coercing, Trent got on a horse!   All the cowboys were on their way back to the corral so I kicked Payton off his horse and put Trent on.  He rode for all of 15 minutes and half a mile (if that).  I went to the cabin and the horsemen rode on to the corral.  A few minutes later Trent shows up at the house and claims, "I almost died!"  He said it was the last time he was ever going to ride.  He said his horse "went down."  So I pictured a big rodeo with Trent being thrown in the air and  landing hard on the ground, or him being drug around from the stirrup or something.  But I guess his near death experience was his horse took a little stumble and went down on his front legs for a short second.  It was pretty dramatic for Trent.  He says his riding days are over.  I say, not!

The kids had a serious game of baseball.  The kids and Tyler that is.  I think it boosted his ego to play with the kids. (not that he needs an ego boost).  He was in on every play.

One of many meal times.  I didn't get a shot of the "cabin" from the outside, but here is a shot of the kitchen on the inside.  It is a "cabin" not just a cabin.  Some say it's too nice to be called a cabin.  Some say it's not made of logs, therefore is not a cabin.  It is nice and it is big.  We had about 75 people there for dinner each night and about 40 (give or take a few) sleeping there each night.  Awesome!

Two beauties!  Chezney, 2 weeks old.  Taylor almost 14 years old.

Addison the little cheese ball.

I was a lot of help, being 36+ weeks pregnant and all. I never got on a horse but I did ride around on the four wheeler a lot.  This is Trent and I taking a break out in the field, rounding up cows.  I was always the driver, cause my belly didn't fit behind Trent.  : ) 

Michele and Lloyd doing business.

Shipping Day!  Working hard!

We had the annual performance by the dancing queens.  This was their final act in their glow-in-the-dark costumes.  It was a big hit for everyone.  The girls loved it and the audience loved it.

Dancing queens.  Young and sweet.....

And of course, the boys got involved too.  They entertained us during intermission with some wrestling matches.

LOVE COLORADO!  LOVE SHIPPING!

Mish Mash

Heather got married!!!  I know it was several months ago (April 29th, same day as the royal wedding) but I realized that it never made it on the blog, and if anything is blog-worthy, this is!!!!!  Yeah for Heather and Kent!

Erin-Nicole-Heather-Lisa-Tamia-Cindy

 

 Heather is now happily married and is already anxiously awaiting a baby girl.  She is 11 weeks behind me.  It's been fun to talk baby/pregnancy talk with her over the weeks.  It's all still pretty surreal at this point. 

Annual Girls' Trip!!! (9/10/11)  We had a hard time aligning our schedules this year, but a few of us managed to make a day trip to Moab for pedicures, dinner and a movie.

Cindy and I and our big bellies waiting for the movie "The Help" to start.  Cindy-35 weeks. Me-32 weeks. (Cindy has since had her boy! Tohaanii Jared Born 10/8/11, 7lbs, 19.5ins.)

Trent and his motorcycle posse went on yet another trip.  (9/22-25/11)  Besides the regulars, there were several others that joined them on this trip.

They made a big loop down to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  They made several stops for sight seeing.

Baby Progress

18 Weeks 3 Days

22 Weeks

27 Weeks 3 Days

32 Weeks

36 Weeks

We finally got the crib put together.......

And we couldn't have done it without Aspyn's help.  We also got some painting done, some cleaning done and some house repairs done.  It feels good to cross some things off "the list."

My AWESOME sisters-in-law threw a baby shower for me.  Love them!  I got loaded up with lots of baby loot.  So exciting....I feel a lot more prepared now that we have the crib put together, we have a car seat, stroller, lots of clothes and a small stock pile of diapers and wipes (that Trent thinks is going to last forever, I think he's going to be surprised at how fast they disappear). I've started organizing all the loot, I hung some clothes in the baby's closet and it gave me a small anxiety attack.  Aaaahhhh!  The closer it gets, the more real and scary it becomes.  I'm 37 weeks tomorrow.  I had a doctors appointment today and I'm dilated to 1/2 cm.  Ha ha.  Not much, but it is a start, right?  : )  We are excited and I'm anxious to finally have him with us.  We can't wait to meet him and see what he looks like.  (I also can't wait to see what name we'll come up with, he's still a no-name at this point).  We can't wait for this baby to rock our world.  : )

South Dakota and Elk Ridge

 Trent and his motorcycle posse went on a 4-day, 2,000 mile trip (give or take a few miles). (July 7-10)  They went from Blanding to South Dakota.  They all loved it!  Trent said it was the coolest, prettiest trip they've been on.  They saw lots of cool things on the way to their destination, Sturgis, SD.  Sturgis is a well known place for all those who ride hogs.  There is a huge motorcycle rally there every year.  They were there about two weeks early (on purpose). 

Mt. Rushmore, in all her glory!

Sturgis is famous for being the location of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world.  Attendance has been estimated as high as 754,844.  Population of Sturgis is usually 6,442.

They went to a buffalo jump. (where the Indians would run buffalo off a cliff).  Trent said there were some students from a university digging these buffalo bones with little picks and brushes.

Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.  It's the first National Monument established in the US. (1906)

Camping on Elk Ridge

July 

Here are the die-hards that made it  for a long weekend of camping.

That's me, shooting some skeet.  I hit one!!!  I was pretty proud of myself.

 

We played a lot of horse shoes.

Neither Trent or I were very good.  But it was a good time!

Fur Cute!

Fur Cuter!

Coming Soon.......

This little boy......is coming soon.  I still feel like I have a lot of time left, which is good because I'm not prepared for this little man yet, but I know that the time is going to fly by and he's going to be here before I know it.  I just I hope I get around to painting his girly purple room with a nice boyish blue color.  Besides not being prepared, all is well.  I feel good.  I love feeling him move around (which always seems to be right about bed time.  A pre cursor for things to come?  I think so).  I love it when others can feel him move too.  Right now,  I am loving cold cereal.  I could eat it for every meal.  I love that my nasal congestion that was driving me crazy is SOO much better these days.  I am not loving the heart burn that seems to be getting worse each week.  Nothing serious, very manageable with a few TUMS.  I am going to love it when we finally decide and agree on a name, which might not be until after he's born.  We'll see.....  We're open to suggestions. 

22 Weeks

A few weeks ago Trent was in one of his good buddies' wedding.  Don't they all look so handsome in their bright colors?

Trent and I at the wedding luncheon.

Half Way There!

That's right!  We are half way there.  I'm 20 weeks today.  That is so weird to me.  I feel like it just started and now it's half way over.  Crazy.  Within the last few weeks I have been able to feel him moving around in there.  Which is very cool.  I have still been feeling really good.  I've had a little bit (very little) heart burn.  So if the wives' tale is true, maybe this little babe is getting some hair.  My pants are getting a bit tight so I did some maternity clothes shopping.  I feel like I eat all the time.  But I feel like I'm hungry all the time too.  We had an ultrasound right around 17 weeks (May 31) and we were hoping we would be able to find out what this little baby is.  The Dr. told us 60/40 boy.  But that was so close to 50/50, so I didn't count on it.  Two weeks later (June 14) we had our "big" ultrasound with the ultrasound tech and the good machine....and I saw it with my own eyes, it's a BOY!  We are excited.  Trent is very excited!

18 Weeks 3 Days

Here is our little boy!

Little foot.

This is random but recent.....the other day Trent and I hopped on the motorcycle and rode to Moab and did the La Sal loop.  It was an awesome day and an awesome ride. 

On our way to the top of the La Sals, over-looking Castle Valley.

And a shout out to the mighty, mighty hunter!  Trent spent a lot of days and a lot of time hunting for this bear.  Lots of miles in the truck and lots of miles on foot.  Lots of early mornings and lots of long days.

And it was worth it.  Look at that beast!