Pre-Thanksgiving

I'm 29 weeks now, which is well into third trimester, but have yet to post my thoughts about trimester #2. Everything that happened between mid August and mid November was positive. We found out that Baby Boy is growing well (measuring at 2 lbs 4 oz at my last ultrasound), and is developing on schedule. My AFP test and glucose tests were both normal (my odds of having a Downs Syndrome baby went from 1 in 170 to 1 in 10,000 after the test), and everything anyone could tell us was positive. My doctor told me that it is more common to have "cord accidents" when there are only two vessels, so I will start doing non stress tests at about 34 weeks. Also, near the end, sometimes the babies stop growing, and so the perinatologists are a lot more likely to recommend induction a couple weeks early. That sounds like good news to me--smaller baby, born earlier. He said he doesn't think I will be pregnant in February, so I'm kind of keeping that in the back of my mind.

I also gained close to 20 pounds (which I always seem to do in the second trimester) and truly became a fatty. Here are the shots to prove it, from 24 weeks and 28 weeks.

My sickness went away around week 14 and that's when I started to get hungry. I am mostly hungry in the afternoon and I could eat continuously for hours if I didn't force myself to stop. The foods that have defined this pregnancy have been turkey sandwiches and chips/queso. I have yet to get sick of either one. All other cravings seem to be under control and/or completely normal for me.

I have had heartburn earlier than my other pregnancies (all the queso maybe?), but not too bad yet. I know it's going to get a lot worse and am not anxious for that at all. My biggest complaint is the ligament pain below my belly. I have never been one of those women who could still go running late in pregnancy (even if I were a runner, which I'm not), but I can no longer carry Kyla around or I will be sore for days. Mopping the floor, vacuuming, and going up and down stairs are all relatively painful and I am not eager to find out what the end of this pregnancy is going to be like if I am already struggling. I have a belly band, but it was accidentally left in St. George, so I am hopeful when I get it back that it will help. It's too early for me to stop cleaning and living life! I also had to start wearing my compression stockings again (affectionately known as my "hoses"), so I am quite the fashionista. Fortunately, it's winter and no one has to know. :)

I can't chase this one around anymore, so I have to hope she will be cooperative and obedient. And stay out of the mascara.


We stayed in Provo for Thanksgiving this year, and decided to go out and have an adventure. On Wednesday, we drove out to the west desert to the Dugway Geode Beds to search for geodes. After an hour of digging in holes that looked promising, we had found nothing, and everyone was discouraged. Damon was ready to go home and Kyla and Allie were whining and crying. We wondered what we were doing there. But Jeff drove around a little and found the commercial digging site, where a backhoe had done all the hard work. We just had to pick through the rocks to find what could be geodes. Just like that, our search became more of an Easter Egg hunt, and we couldn't keep all the geodes we found. Here are the kids sitting by our stash. We need to get them cut open, but we are hopeful that we found some good ones (some of the ones we broke open were really pretty, which is great!).



We also drove to Topaz Mountain to try to find topaz, and came away with some small crystals. The kids were cold and it was a lot of work to find it, so we didn't stay long. No pictures of that, sorry. It was a fun day of treasure hunting, and we only saw 7 other people all day long. It was a bit eerie to be so far out (we took the old Pony Express Trail) and away from civilazation. Delta looked like an urban mecca when we made it there!

At the beginning of November, we brainstormed all the things we were grateful for, and came up with enough for one for each day of the month. Damon traced 26 hands and we cut them out, labeling each one with something we were grateful for. By Thanksgiving Day, we had created quite the tail for our tiny turkey! It was a fun activity, and I hope it helped the kids remember what we were really celebrating.


Jeff has the pictures from Thanksgiving on his phone, so I will finish this post later about our actual Thanksgiving dinner and the rest of the week.