Ankle bone's connected to the foot bone.....

Well, that's the assumption anyway... I haven't been able to see my ankle bone in quite some time. Or maybe I should say that I hadn't seen it.... It reappeared this morning!!! Hallelujah!! My feet still aren't back to their normal size and they will get bigger throughout today, but it appears that my strict regimen of de-swelling techniques is finally starting to pay off. While the requirement to return one's foot to a normal size may sound fun, all in all I find them tedious and even painful.

Step 1 - Elevate your feet. This is accomplished at work with an upside down trashcan under my desk and can only be done for 30 minutes at a time cause I can't stand to do it longer :P At home, a large stack of pillows on the couch is accomplishing this purpose.... it gets painful though after awhile.

Step 2 - Don't sit down, stand up, or walk for too long. I have a somewhat regimented get up and walk schedule to break up the elevation of feet.

Step 3 - Drink copious amounts of water. Drink as much as you think you can handle and then.... drink more. I have a certain number of ounces I have to drink each hour.

Step 4 - Go to the bathroom... ALOT. This is not so much a technique as a result of chugging water non-stop.

Step 5 - Use stretches and ankle rolls to promote circulation

Step 6 - Avoid salty food...... I don't like this one. I REALLY don't like this one.

Step 7 - Foot massages... this one makes up for Step 6 :)

Step 8 - Go to the pool as much as possible and do water aerobics.

Keeping up with my de-poofifying efforts is my second full time job and when I throw in carefully monitoring my diet to ensure proper calcium and protein intake, I have pretty much exhausted my mental capacity for keeping track of stuff :)

Normal, but not TOO normal :)

I have been a big fan of name popularity sights for some time now. Baby Name Voyager is one of my faves, but I always wonder... how reliable is that info? Well, another fave of mine is the Social Security site. You heard me correctly.... Social Security. They document which baby names are most popular and publish a list every May for the previous year. The list can include the total number of babies born that year with that name as well as a percentage and it has them ranked 1 to I think 1000. Anyhoo, I've been dying for the 2007 list to be published so that I could see how Micah was faring.... and it finally is!!

Micah is ranked 126th among boys names for 2007, which is fine and dandy with me. It means he has a normal name that isn't too overly popular. I always find it amusing though the names that come in ahead of him. On this year's list, more people in the US named their boys Angel, Julian, Wyatt, Sebastian and Josiah than chose Micah. In addition, three different spellings of Aiden were higher on the list than Micah. I am gratified that Micah managed to stay ahead of Giovanni by a few spots, but I have to admit that I was slightly dumbfounded to see Stephen at number 172.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd give a quick shout out to Abigail way up at number 8 on the girls list. My parents were WAY ahead of their time. The year that they gave me my name, it was only 151st on the list.... it didn't get too popular til about 2000 or so. Way to go Mom and Dad :)

Growth Chart

Whoa baby :) The above pic is my 31 week picture and as of today, I am 32 weeks pregnant!! Gosh, that's scary :P Right now I am just hoping that Micah holds on until at least July 1st as that is our last birthing class. I'm learning so much each week that I can't imagine going through labor without completing the program first. Now, it is unlikely that Micah will show up before maybe July 9th and very unlikely that it'll be before July 2nd, so I'm not worried :)

How big is your baby?
Your baby is anywhere from 15 to 17 inches long and weighs between 4 and 4 1/2 pounds.

What is happening with your baby?
Your baby is continuing to grow. His toenails and fingernails have formed. The lungs are continuing to mature but will not reach full maturity for several more weeks. Your baby's skeleton has completely formed, but his bones are very soft and pliable.

Pregnancy, the new normal

I've realized something this weekend..... normal is in the eye of the beholder. Wait, scratch that... I knew that already, but it was emphasized this weekend :)

I had the distinct pleasure of spending time every day this weekend with a different group of people that I hadn't seen in awhile. It was great getting to see old and new friends that we just haven't had any face time with during the vacation/ moving / family in town portion of this year :) The main topic of conversation? Pregnancy. People love to talk about it! The most fun is to talk about it with girls who have never been pregnant. I'll admit, it's like this big secret that nobody fully tells you about before you get there. I mean, sure... I knew that swollen feet happened.... did I know that I would spend my whole third trimester in flip flops? (or at least I hope I will... they are getting tight, so people at work may have to be ok with me showing up in slippers soon :P) not so much :) The funny thing is, I'm used to it.. all of it now. And when something new comes up, I just add it to my new normal list and move on... it hardly fazes me anymore.

My new hobby is answering non-preggers' questions about pregnancy and watching their jaws drop and their faces fill with horror. I think the constant change and barrage of weird stuff going on in your body during pregnancy just prepares you for being a mother. I mean, think about it.... what is parenthood if not unpredictable and full of amazing joys as well as very unpleasant situations. You get through the unpleasantness because you love your kids, and you put up with pregnancy for the same reasons.... the reward is so much greater than the sacrifice could ever be.

You can dance if you wanna.....

Yesterday marked the season premier of So You Think You Can Dance and I am SOOOOOOO ready!!! I wish they did two seasons a year and not just the summer, but I suppose they are trying to keep it fresh :) If you've never watched the show and you think dancing is cool in any way shape or form, you need to watch this year.... Thursdays on Fox!! It is in the audition phase right now and there have already been two absolutely phenomenal hip-hop/ poppers, which even if you don't like dancing, you will think these guys are amazing. Anyways, that's my sales pitch... happy Friday ya'll!

Thorough Check-up

Pretty much my whole life I have tended towards recurring dreams. The earliest one I remember involves me, in a mall obstacle course.....with Richie Rich. He cheated in order to win (like he needed the prize money, puh-lease!!!) and then for some reason I accompanied him to Radio Shack where we obtained a copious amount of nuts, bolts, and screws. I can't even tell you how many times I had that dream over a span of at least 3 years.... craziness.

Well, as we all know by now, pregnancy = craziness, so why should it not also come with it's very own recurring dream? I have to warn you, this dream is a little stranger than the Richie Rich dream... I think. But then again, Richie and I go way back :) Here is the plot line-> Basically every time I have this dream, it is the day before a doctors appointment. In the dream, I go to the doctor, I sit in the waiting room forever (it's very realistic :) and then I go into the back for my appointment. As a part of the "routine" check-up, my doctor removes Micah and gives him the once over just to make sure he's developing like he should. She declares him "not ready yet" and places him back inside me. Kinda like I'm an oven or something :)

Anyways, me and my bun (in the oven) are going in for another appointment tomorrow (they are now every two weeks) so I may have a very familiar night tonight :)

Growth Chart

The belly pic once again did not make it to my work computer in time... I need to work out a system or something :) Anyhoo, Nate and I started birthing classes last night through a ministry called "First Birth Ministries". It is a comprehensive class which is not only well known around town for being one of the absolute best ones at getting you prepared, but it is also Christian based and teaches you to find your strength in Christ through labor.

I'm particularly excited because, although it teaches you about your options, she seems to pack the class full of information to help you avoid an episiodomy, c-section, or induction while also teaching you how to go sans epidural if you want to. I want to avoid all of these things, so I am looking forward to learning more!! She kept telling us last night that we will really need to rely on God's strength to give birth naturally... no kidding!! I am fully aware of my inability to get through that on my own strength and am looking forward to growing in dependence on God through the process. Anyways.... growth chart :)

Today (depending on whose calendar you follow) I am 31 weeks pregnant~

What is happening with your baby?
Your baby is continuing to develop a layer of fat under his skin. This is in preparation for his arrival into the world and gives the baby more of a newborn appearance. During the next several weeks your baby will really begin to put on the weight. Remember the average size of a newborn is about 7 1/2 pounds and 19 to 21 inches long.

How big is your baby?
Your baby is continuing to grow and has reached 15 inches in length and weighs anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 pounds.

Pictures!!

Hey kids! For your viewing pleasure, I now have pictures from this weekend as well as an album full of Maui pics posted on my photo website~

http://abbyjoy.shutterfly.com/action/


In other news.... we got our counter tops installed yesterday!!! They are so pretty and such an improvement! I'm looking forward to actually being able to use them tomorrow night and maybe even getting my kitchen into somewhat put away and working order :)

So Fresh and so Clean (clean)

This weekend was fantastic and this morning stinks because of it :P I am SO TIRED!!! That is what happens when Ben's whole family and also Nate's mom and sister come into town all at the same time :) It was Micah's baby shower this weekend and it was great! I felt so blessed that so many girls were able to come and it was fantastic to be able to catch up with everyone! It was almost a best of type thing. I mean I had my college roomies there (who drove from afar.... thanks girls, I always have fun when you are around); I had good college friends like Ashley and Stephanie; I had a whole bunch of Lighthouse girls some of which I have seen recently and some of which I haven't; I had a mother, mother-in-law, 2 sister-in-laws and a nephew; I had a good friend from the Newlywed class/ Veritas; and I had a couple of girls from a small group I was in last year. It was great!!

I don't have any pics as I am waiting for them to be uploaded by the sweet girls who had cameras, but I have to give some props..... Sheri, the cake was beautiful! Leslie, the diaper cake was so cute! It is on my table right now because I can't bear to disassemble it quite yet :) and most importantly to Leslie and Jen, you guys are both so busy with life and I was blown away by the time and effort you put into planning this. Thank you so much!

Speaking of the dark side.....

I won't make you read this whole news story, although there are many fun little nuggets which can be extracted from it :) Here are the highlights....

The headline- "Man Dressed as Darth Vader Spared Jail for Attack on Founder of Britain's Jedi Church"

The story- Basically there is actually a church founded in the UK for people who want to follow the ways of the Jedi.... as in Star Wars. As a matter of fact, "In the 2001 United Kingdom census, 390,000 — 0.7 percent of the population — listed Jedi as their religion." A man dressed as Darth Vader came into the church and attacked the founder. Why, you ask? "Hughes claimed he couldn't remember the incident, having drunk the better part of a 2 1/2-gallon box of wine beforehand." Well, that clears it up :P

The nab- But how was Drunk Darth captured? "Unfortunately for Hughes, his March attack was recorded on a video camera that the cousins had set up to film themselves in a light saber battle."

Ok, so these grown up guys were in their "church" filming themselves in a faux light saber battle when Darth Vader came in drunk and attacked one of them with a metal crutch? The mental picture is fabulous :)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355268,00.html

"I wanna be in the light..."

No seriously, it would have been nice to have light in the house this morning :) We woke up and the house was pitch black.... well, nothing strange there, that's how it normally is when we get up. Nate flips a light switch and....... nothing. Well, now that isn't so normal :P Luckily, Nate had put a flashlight in the desk two days ago and so he knew exactly where to find one.... I just found something last night that I have been actively looking for since we moved. All that to say that finding exactly what you are looking for, quickly, in the dark, in a house that had nothing in it 7 days ago is impressive. I learned a few things through this experience and overall I think I will grow as a person because of it :)

Darkness taught me-

~ I can still get ready in 10 minutes, even without power. This is helped out greatly by the fact that during the week I take my showers at night :)

~ My makeup "routine" (if you can call 2 steps a routine) is so inexact and such a minor part of my day that it can be done by the light of a 1 inch diameter flashlight and it looks the same as it does every day. One of the benefits to being physically low maintenance.

~ Nate and I learned how to manually open a garage door. Probably would have been much easier had either of us owned a house with a garage before, but as it was we used our indispensable flashlight to find the directions on the inside of the door. P.S.- if anyone out there wants to steal anything from our garage, now is probably the day to do it :P

~Pregnancy does not prevent you from holding open the garage door so that your husband can back out after he held it for you.

~Our garage door is surprisingly light :)

Growth Chart

30 weeks pregnant today.... how crazy is that?!! The first pic is me at 28 weeks and the second is me at 29 weeks, just cause I missed posting the pic last week :)

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How big is your baby?
Your baby has now grown to be 14 3/4 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds.

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What is happening with your baby?
As your baby continues to grow, he takes up a larger portion of your uterus. You may not feel that your body can handle your growing baby, but it will compensate by allowing your uterus to extend underneath your rib cage.

Your baby’s eyes are becoming more mature, and now he can tell the difference between light and dark. Babies at 30 weeks can even follow a light source with their eyes. Once your baby is born, he will spend a great deal of time with his eyes closed. This is completely normal. Newborns only have the ability to focus on objects a few inches from their face. While "normal" adult vision is 20/20, a newborn's vision is 20/400.

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The email goes on to describe all the fun things that you may already, or might possibly start experiencing including mood swings, insomnia, swelling (check), and permanent enlargement of your feet...... I suddenly have so much more respect for every mother out there :P Anyways, Micah is doing great and is moving even more...or I am feeling him move more at least. He doesn't seem to have been effected by the oil paint fumes from last week, so that's good :) (For those who are about to cane me, I was NOT the one doing the painting, but it was going on before, during and after the move so I was exposed somewhat. We kept all the windows and doors open for ventilation and I made sure not to linger in the kitchen area)

The cutest blog EVER

No really, ever. I've seen many a blog for peeps with little kids, but I gotta say that my sister Amy's blog beats them all. She and my brother take pictures of such a higher quality then you see on most mommy site that there is no contest. Let us also not forget that the subjects of said photos are quite possibly the cutest children ever.... just sayin :) So check it out.... if the carrot or lollipop pics don't convince you then nothing will

http://comewhatcomemay.blogspot.com/

36 days of work left (after today) and counting ya'll. I'm ready for the mommy phase, and as sad as it is to say, I would have missed my job at HNTB.... I DO miss my job there (except of course having to interact with a certain person :P)... but I am not going to miss my job here. I like the people just fine and I'm sure it would have gotten better, but right now I am bored silly by the projects I am being put on and I am getting more and more frustrated that they just don't give EIT's here the type of responsibilities I had at my old job. They are essentially raising up a generation of engineers who will have no idea how to manage a project when it comes time for them to do so. Anyhoo, soapbox. I'm ready to leave though... no regrets. Maybe that was the reason for God's timing :)

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die...

...this is the motto I have chosen for the Katy freeway, or at least the approach it's drivers seem to have embraced. It loosely translates to "Drive as fast as possible now, for at any point on the road, you may have to stop." I can't complain about my first Katy fwy commute experience though. I left home at 5:35 and got to work (Woodway and Augusta) at 6.... all this by the fact that the freeway never slowed down to under 60 and generally flowed closer to 70. I am not naive enough to think that every day will be so easy, but for now the Katy freeway and I are best of friends. I have a couple of factors going for me that will make this friendship easier to maintain....

~ I only have 8 weeks (including this one) of commuting left before I'm gone on permanent maternity leave
~ Those are summer weeks.... summer= people on vacation = lighter traffic
~ Since this is just a two-month thing, I'm hoping to get my boss to approve a 6-4 day so that I can keep taking advantage of the early morning traffic pattern

For those of you who enjoy moving updates, I thought I'd do a quick overview of where we are on that..... we're in!! The condo is (mostly) empty and has been cleaned so that it will show presentably. The house is in fairly good shape, although some rooms more than others :)

Rooms in perfect condition (everything set up, nothing much left to do)-
~ The nursery
~ The two other upstairs bedrooms
~ All bathrooms, except the master

Rooms in good condition (less than 30 minutes of work left to make them ready to go)
~ Master bedroom and bathroom
~ Dining Room
~ Den
~ Gameroom / Office

Rooms that need CPR
~ Kitchen
~ Living Room

Now, the kitchen is getting a cabinet and counter top makeover hence why nothing has been able to be put away yet. The kitchen stuff is all in the Living Room in boxes along with misc. items from other areas of the house. I can't decide tonight whether I want to focus on the good rooms and get them ready to go, or just dive into the beast..... I know you are on the edge of your seat awaiting my decision ;)

You are where you live

Soooooo, I went online to change our address on our Target registry and it told me I had to call in to do this... annoying since Babies R' US allowed it to be changed online, but whatever. I got through the Target menu maze and finally found myself connected to a friendly voice.... in India. We've all had this experience so I don't need to tell you that while I have nothing against this people group, they can be really hard to understand on the phone and of course they have trouble understanding you too.

He looked up my registry and very kindly asked what I needed after verifying in fact that I was Abby Ezell. After several repetitions of the address, it seemed that he finally had it down correctly. Well, the address at least. As soon as I told him "Katy, TX" I became "Katy" instead of "Abby". It was a weird sort of out of body experience really. He called me that 4-5 times while telling me something about how I should go into Target and spend more money.... I didn't catch the whole thing, but that was the gist.

Anyhoo, I went online a day later to check that the address had been changed and it in fact had not been. At this point I went into investigator mode and I found a way to switch it online.... I forgive Target for lying to me about having to call in, if only because it gives me something to write about :)

Side Note~ Nate and I move tomorrow!! This means the likelihood of a blog entry is slim to none tomorrow... FYI.

Growth Chart

I am 29 weeks pregnant today! Wow, that's weird to say :) The pic above is me at 27 weeks because, although I loaded it at home, I forgot to send myself the new pic. Just so you know, I am a little bigger than this now :P

How big is your baby?
Your baby now measures 14 1/2 inches and weighs 2 3/4 pounds.

What is happening with your baby?
Your baby is rapidly growing at this point. Obviously your baby is continuing to gain weight, and his/her head is also growing. This is due to the rapid brain development that began in week 28. Muscles and lungs are also continuing to develop and mature.

For a personal update, Micah has gotten more consistently active and I have started doing kick counts so that I will be able to tell if he slows down. So far I have done two days worth and he reached 10 movements within 30 minutes Monday and 20 minutes yesterday. Friday I go to the doctor and ask such insightful questions as, "Is it ok for me to push on him or poke him to get him to change positions?" I really hope she says yes, because his favorite little spot involves snuggling up to my lung and making it hard to breathe :P On a pregnancy note, I have officially entered the swollen foot phase wherein the only shoes I can comfortably wear to work are flip flops :)

A Whale of a Tale

I just realized that I never did any sort of in depth blog about Maui. Don't worry, I won't go into a forever long dialogue, but this is pretty cool. If you are unfamiliar, in the winter the Humpback whales from Alaska migrate to Maui to breed. They are typically there from December through end of March, occasionally spilling over into a bit of April. Nate and I were not too terribly optimistic about spotting a whale since our arrival was a good 2 weeks after the official end of whale season.

Well.... forget that :) We went on a sailing/snorkel trip and saw 14 whales!!! It was amazing! After that we made it a point to sit on our balcony at least a half hour or so of each day and we saw at least 1-3 whales every day just by doing that. One day we even saw 10 whales while we just sat there on shore. It was truly amazing. Getting good pics of them without a telephoto lens is pretty darn tough, but I tried my best. We saw on several occasions, whales throwing themselves fully out of the water including a calf who did it over 10 times in a row after his mom showed him.... unfortunately they were too far away for any good pics, sorry!

This is a pod of 3 whales, a baby, it's mother and a male escort. The new mothers are the only ones still around at this time of year because they have to wait for their calves to be ready to make the journey back to Alaska.

Whale tail :) You will see a whale gliding along several times and then when you see the tail it means they are diving deep and won't be seen for awhile.

Stereotypes

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a Texas stereotype, and unfortunately we did it to ourselves. Below you will see the graphic used by the Texas DPS for online license renewal.....


.......that is some SERIOUSLY big hair :P Get thee to a country western bar, Ima, get thee to the bar!

Asking for Prayer

Over the past two months, Nate and I have had some really cool news. First we found out that his cousin Sammie and her husband were pregnant with their third child and due just a few months after us! We found out a little later that his cousin Jeremy (Sammie's brother) and wife Vicki were pregnant with their 1st and due in November! This was very exciting for us as these are his cousins that we feel the most connected to.

Well, we found out yesterday that earlier this week Vicki had been in a car accident ( a fluke, and not her fault). When she and Jeremy went to the doctor the following day, the baby's heartbeat could not be found. They confirmed that the child had died as a result of the minor accident (she was right around 2-3 months pregnant and thus in the highest danger zone) and performed the D&C. Please be praying for Nate's family and in particular Vicki and Jeremy as they begin to heal from this. I cannot even imagine the pain associated with losing a child, even one that you haven't met yet. It makes me that much more thankful for every movement I feel Micah make, and it makes me ache for Vicki.

We're Home!!!

I feel fantastic today :) I was worried because of my inability to sleep on planes and my inability to keep myself from passing out at my parent's house yesterday afternoon after I reached 30 ish hours straight of being up, and my normal inability to sleep at night after I take a (four hour) nap during the day. But hey, no problems and I am at work ready-ish to face the day!! I want to do a more in depth Maui post soon, but for today I thought I'd just mention a few things and show a few pics :) Random stuff-

~ Maui is AMAZING.... definitely my absolute favorite tropical destination.

~ Every time you spot a whale out in the ocean it is a cool thing, you don't get used to it, you don't get tired of it... even if it happens multiple times a day, every day (after whale season my eye..... I am so thankful they hung around for us... in mass :)

~ When you get burned and you're pregnant it takes forever to heal and then it is a deep deep brown way beyond a normal "tan". This is annoying if only one random spot got burned... I'll let you know when I know how long it takes to return to normal :P

~ On Maui, there are one lane roads and then there are one lane roads. The first might stress you out, but the second will leave you face to face with a Jeep and only (I kid you not) 8 inches of room. P.S.- type two requires that you back up to the last part of the road that is maybe 1.5 car widths wide and hope for the best... don't let this frighten you about Maui though... type 2 roads are driven for strictly scenic purposes and are not necessary to traverse the island.

~ For you math buffs- Getting up early and flying + walking a decent amount in Oahu + sitting on a plane for another 8 hours + 6 months of pregnancy = Feet and ankles swollen to over twice their normal size (not exaggerating about the size....wish I was)... these will take 24 hours to un-swell.

Maui coastline

A cloudy sunset

Luau dancers

Haleakala Crater

Us at a luau

On our balcony

The moon!

On the road to Hana

More on the road to Hana :)