3rd Trimester . . . Already?? AH!!!!

So, according to TheBump.com (related to TheKnot.com and TheNest.com), tomorrow I officially switch over to my 3rd Trimester! WHAT?!?! How did that happen? I seriously am having trouble believing that it is already here. Or maybe I am just in denial about how close this baby really is to arriving, since I still have a lot to do, and a LOT to get! (Still haven't even started the nursery with the exception of ordering the crib!) I'm sure it will all fall into place, but for now I am feeling just a little bit panicked!

Sunday marked Philip's first "Father-to-be" day. We celebrated by going to see the Disney/Pixar movie "Up." If you haven't seen it, it is absolutely a MUST see. It is emotional, funny, sweet and definitely entertaining. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Last week we also saw "The Hangover" when my cousin, Owen, and his girlfriend, were in town. It was HYSTERICAL! I laughed through the entire movie. Funniest movie I have seen in a LONG time!

Tomorrow we leave for San Diego for the wedding of a childhood friend of Philip's. We haven't been out to California since we left four years ago. I can't believe it has been so long. I personally am looking forward to the moderate weather. It has been over 100 degrees here for the last week (at least), and though I understand that it is summer in Texas, I can't get used to this much heat. I can't wait for the short respite!

I still feel good, although despite having not too much to do during the day, I am totally exhausted. I am chalking it up to the heat, and enjoy getting into bed early. I just stocked up on three new books, which I can't wait to read: Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth; Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns (which I have been dying to read; and Anne River Siddon's new book, Off Season. I'll let you know how they are :)!

And, finally, a VERY happy 30th Anniversary (yesterday) to my parents. I feel SO lucky to have such amazing role models for my own marriage. I know they were having a quiet anniversary together, and I hope it was perfect. M & D, wish I could give you that trip to Ireland that you both deserve, and hope someday I can :)! Love you both so very much!

My little worm . . .

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is passing. I am almost in double digits of days left in this pregnancy, and am only about a week away from my third trimester. I still have a LOT to do :)! For now, I am feeling pretty well. For most of my 2nd trimester, I was feeling great, but I am starting to feel pretty tired again. I am exhausted by the end of the day, no matter how much (or how little) I actually get to during the day. Fortunately for me, having the summer off makes resting much easier, and I am able to sleep in most mornings.

If I thought our little boy was moving a lot before, he is really moving now. I told Philip last night that it feels like a little worm moving inside of me, wriggling about, and Philip put his hand on my belly last night and got quite a few big kicks to let him now baby appreciated the attention (as did I)! Belly is getting bigger, although still isn't too worthy of a belly "pic". I'll pass along one when I have one worthy of sharing!

Still not a lot of cravings. I did, however, perk way up today when I went to Wal-mart to look for something, and found that they carried Cappuccino Coolers. These are basically coffee flavored, individually packaged, sugar packets that you combine with a big glass of milk (and ice for me). They are delicious, and since moving to Texas, I have not been able to find them ANYWHERE. I bought two packages at Wal-mart, but will no doubt be making multiple trips now that I made this amazing discovery!

On Saturday, I tried my hand at making a dessert. I usually avoid making desserts--one time I made chocolate chip cookies and halfway through baking the batch I had made, I got bored, and put the dough in the fridge to make at another time. I think I just ended up eating the dough instead of baking the rest of the cookies. Anyway, I digress. My mom suggested this super easy dessert pizza, and it turned out amazingly. (I think the recipe is Pampered Chef, or maybe Gourmet or Bon Appetit--she got it from one of her magazines!) The "frosting" on this dessert pizza is so good I wanted to drink it. For those of you looking for an easy dessert, this is it! Buy a package of crescent roll dough. Roll out and pinch together so it makes a "crust". I also used a rolling pin to roll it out slightly thinner so it didn't puff up TOO much. Bake according to directions. Let cool. While cooling, make the frosting. Combine 1-pkg. 8 oz. cream cheese and 1/3 c. granulated sugar (I used low-fat cream cheese just so I felt a little better about myself), and I whipped using my stand mixer. Spread frosting on crust once the crust is cooled, and then top with fresh fruit. I used Texas peaches, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, but obviously any fruit will do! Here is a picture of what mine looked like just in case you are a visual person (like I am)!

Summer is Here . . . Finally!

School is finally done for the year. For some reason, this year has felt particularly long, perhaps because it ended after Memorial Day, or perhaps because I was feeling like I had SO much to do to prepare for baby. Either way, I am happy to report that I am officially on vacation. Since we ended school last Thursday, I have been making my lists and trying to get things in order. We finally purchased and put together bedroom furniture (a bed and a nightstand) for ourselves, ordered our crib, and I started my registry. I'm on my way . . .

Two things I discovered yesterday that made me happy. First, Babies 'R Us is not nearly as overwhelming when you are excited about acquiring baby stuff. The first time I went in there (to purchase a gift for a friend), I nearly had an anxiety attack. But yesterday, I found it much easier to navigate. Maybe it was the scanner that gave me my false sense of security. Either way, I only managed to register for a few things, since I still am clueless about some more of the technical aspects of baby . . . namely feeding, changing, bathing, etc. Hopefully I will learn some from a class, and hopefully more as we go with this little one. We are certainly in for an adventure.

Secondly, in my trip to the grocery store yesterday, I discovered that most goat cheeses in HEB are PASTEURIZED! Now, that may not seem like such a revelation to the rest of you, but as someone who LOVES goat cheese and has been avoiding it because there are a list of cheeses you are supposed to avoid while pregnant because they are normally unpasteurized and goat cheese is on that list. Alas, my life is complete once again as I discovered that is not the case, and goat cheese is back on my list!

Other than that, the pregnancy progresses well. I am tired from not sleeping through the night, though I suspect that is in preparation of the many sleepless nights that lie ahead, but I do have energy, and still can't complain. I am quickly approaching my 3rd trimester, which I find hard to believe, but the excitement builds as the culminating event approaches! Baby is moving like crazy, especially at night, and according to 3D pregnancy, has fully formed ears that can hear what we say. Guess I better watch my mouth.

Finally, I leave you with my first attempt at using our new camera. MUCH better quality pictures, and believe me it is NOT because the photographer (me) has improved . . . although hopefully with practice, I will. The following pictures are of our crazy (but cute) puppy, Oliver. My brother taught him to climb one of the trees in our backyard when he was here in November, and the thrill has not worn off for Oliver, although he likes it better when he has an audience (he barks at you if you don't follow him to watch). The first picture is of Oliver up in the tree. The second picture is of Oliver with his new "toy" which he has not figured out how to use yet. We bought him a little pool because he loves the water, and because it is already approaching 100 here in Austin. So far only the birds in the backyard have gotten any use out of it. Oh well, maybe he will figure it out soon enough.