Blog Addresses...

Today I decided I needed to start adding peoples' blog addresses to our page so we can be better at following them! I was going to email people first to make sure it's ok, but I got on a roll of adding them and didn't want to stop. So if you prefer to not have a link to your blog on here please just let me know and I'll take it off ASAP! Also if you don't see a link to your blog on here please let me know so I can add it! There were some blog addresses I couldn't find and I'd love to have them so we can keep up on what's going on in your lives better!

Remodel Accomplished!

Hi! I'm so sorry we haven't posted to our blog in FOREVER!! We are mostly finished with our condo remodel and we are once again living downtown! Here is a picture of our kitchen. We just had to use the camera on my laptop since we're having some camera issues, but it gives you an idea of how it looks. It looks a lot prettier in person or on a normal camera so we'll post some better pics later. 

Where the kitchen is now is where the dining room used to be. What did you do with the kitchen you may ask? Well, dum da da DAHHHHHHHH...I present to you the nursery...

The nursery is bigger than this picture makes it look like. We actually now have a white futon bunk bed on the wall across from the crib so we can have family come and visit. Obviously we haven't decorated it much yet but I'm working on that.

The best part of the nursery is that Benny surprised me by staying up until 4 am one night to get it all ready. He went out to the store in the middle of the night and bought the mattress, a new baby dress, and flowers for me so that it would be a big surprise for me the next morning. Isn't he amazing? I went and looked at the room at least 25 rooms that day alone. 

I know I've had many people ask to see pictures of me pregnant. Ben posted some on Facebook today from his phone which are fun photos but I look HORRIBLE. I don't know if it's that I'm in denial or if the camera on his phone just makes me look especially bland and huge, but here is one from my laptop camera that I think is a more accurate representation. I look especially red, but at least you can see that I do have facial features.

I am 32.5 weeks pregnant, which means we only have 7.5 more weeks to go!! We're so excited!!! We keep hoping the time will go by fast now that the remodel is mostly done. I really don't mind being pregnant. I'm so excited about having our cute little baby the being pregnant part seems like a small thing to deal with now that I'm not extraordinarily sick anymore. However, there are still things I am looking forward to after the baby is born (in addition to meeting our cute little baby of course)! I am already dreaming of the day I fit into my old clothes again and can increase my heart rate with a little exercise without feeling like I'm going to faint. I am also already thinking of all the raw fish and sushi rolls I'm going to eat. Oh ahi tuna how I have missed you! 

And now for the Benny and Leslie picture of the day...

Ben was sweet enough to take a break from studying so I could include him in a picture. If you think I look especially tired it is because our sweet little baby has made it nearly impossible for me to obtain enough oxygen. Poor baby, I know she's cramped in there but I still keep trying to move her downward so I can get enough oxygen to keep us both alive. I'm sure I look funny out in public because as I walk I massage my tummy to encourage her to move down. The need to breathe always wins out over my sense of propriety. My doctor said I'm a bit anemic and my blood pressure is especially low right now which explains any loss of energy/faintness I may be feeling. I say if I could just breathe I would have any energy I need! Ben noticed this morning my belly is a bit lower than it has been so we're hoping that's a sign that she's dropping into place. Yay!

Ben has been extremely busy with school and work but he's doing a great job of staying on top of everything. Right now he's exploring his graduate school options. He may go straight into graduate school after he graduates at the end of the summer. He's heavily considering a program he can do while he keeps his current job. That means two more years of a lot of work for him, but he says it won't be a problem. I'm trying to figure out how I can do the school work for him so he has more Leslie and Cassandra time :). 

We love all of you and miss those of you we just don't get to see often enough. We hope you're having a wonderful holiday season and that you know we're thinking of you. We'll try to be better about posting updates! After I have the baby we'll probably be more into pictures so we'll be posting a ton!

Remodel is Under Way!!

I have no idea how so much time has gone by since we last posted! My morning sickness has decreased a LOT in the past few days and we started remodeling our condo. Almost all the cupboards have been torn out and the bids are starting to come in to remodel our place! I am feeling well enough I'm attempting to get a little temp job and I think I have a job offer pending (they called and left me a message this afternoon but I got it after they closed). Ben is doing a great job balancing school, work and the remodel and I'm so proud of him. My belly is a tiny bit bigger, but still nothing anybody besides me would notice. Ben's parents are helping us a TON with our remodel and have even been letting us stay at their house. We are so grateful. I can hardly wait until the remodel is done so we can decorate the nursery!

We have the BIG ultrasound where we find out what the baby will be in two weeks! Oh I can hardly wait. I still do not feel pregnant and I sometimes wonder if there's really a baby in my tummy or if an evil virus has just taken over my body. Some people who know we're pregnant refer to us having more, and more babies after this one. All I've gotta say is slow down speed racer. I start hyperventilating when I think about just having one baby! Ben's mom was taking care of our cute little nephew the other night who's only 2.5 months old. He is a good baby, yet even he likes to cry, and cry, and cry - and did I mention he cries? Seeing as how the small amount of noise from the downtown concerts that comes through our condo windows drives me insane I have no idea how I'm going to  react to a crying baby 24/7. Blame it on my refusal to baby-sit much or my inability to understand anything little ones are saying but I don't consider myself a kid person. I fooled myself into thinking I am when we were trying to get pregnant, but now I'm wondering what crazy Leslie impersonator took over my thoughts at that time. Does the man upstairs realize how self-involved and high-maintenance I am? Because if he did I'm sure he wouldn't have allowed me to get pregnant. Sometimes I'm sure some information slipped through the cracks up there when the whole "should we allow that crazy Leslie girl to get pregnant" question came up. However, at the end of the day in spite of my lack of experience with children and my aversion to any noise I don't control I have to say we're SO excited to have a baby. It's scary, mind-boggling, and overwhelming but what an amazing opportunity. We love the babies!!

Wow, We Really ARE Pregnant!

It's official, we had our ultrasound! We were amazed at the detail of the ultrasound and how much the baby moves at this stage. We had a really wonderful ultrasound tech and she spent a lot of time with us so we could see everything possible on the baby. The ultrasound machine was really good and it was almost like we could see every detail of the baby - even the baby's face! We're excited for our next one (which is also when we find out if it's a boy or a girl)! I will post the ultrasound on here later today or tomorrow. It finally is starting to seem real that we're having a baby, though I still feel like it's a dream.

After taking some measurements they determined we're actually 6 days further along than the doctor estimated which moves our due date up to February 4th!! As of today we are 13 weeks and 4 days along. I'm still not really showing and I haven't gained any weight yet, but my tummy is so sensitive it doesn't like any pressure on it at all so I feel like I'm bigger even if I'm not! I thought I was showing a tiny bit for a while, but I think I was imagining things.

Ben has been really, REALLY busy at work but he's still been so good to me and has been fitting in running every day! My finals are officially over so I can now relax which I'm hoping will decrease my morning sickness. We went to Park City Saturday night with some friends which is the first night out away from our condo or Ben's parents' house we've done in a long time, simply because my stomach doesn't tolerate it very well. It was fun AND I didn't get too sick until we were almost home so I was so proud of myself!

Pass the Steak

I adore my husband! He's so amazing and I don't know how I ended up getting to marry such a wonderful person. He always takes care of me more than I could ever expect, but this weekend he went ALL OUT. He spent most of Saturday deep cleaning our kitchen (he even pulled out the fridge and stove to clean underneath them) and he cleaned the rest of the condo too. Seriously, I've never seen such a clean kitchen and our condo looks so good. He spent the whole weekend waiting on me hand and foot, including cooking all my meals and cleaning up after me. I can't even explain how great it was.

Weirdest thing I found out this week is that I am a prego steak lover. Ben bought some really thin, lean, small steaks and cooked them on the grill yesterday and today and wow did they make my tummy happy. They were almost as satisfying as sushi which is nearly an impossible feat these days.

Tomorrow is our ultrasound so we'll give you the best update yet tomorrow! YAY!!!!

5 More Days Until the Ultrasound!!

We can hardly wait until our ultrasound!! It's been a long wait. On Monday we are telling EVERYBODY else though we've already told a couple of friends. I officially have a bit of a pooch that I can't suck in which is so weird! I still get morning sickness quite a bit but I do have moments of feeling better which is nice. Benny takes extra good care of me so I'll be able to get through the next few weeks. We are officially 11 weeks and 1 day along!

Ben officially has taken over the full responsibilities of his new job. The girl who used to be in that position is having her baby in a day or two! It's definitely a complex position - they planned 3 months to train him because it's so complex. Ben is really enjoying his new job and he's doing GREAT at it. I only have 8 more days left of school and I can hardly wait to be done!!

Sushi: God's Gift to a Prego Leslie

Apparently the 1.5 days of feeling decent were just a small reprieve but that's ok because we're gonna have a cute little baby at the end!! Good thing babies are so cute. We've found that I can't travel in a car (driving or as a passenger) for more than fifteen minutes without it igniting my upchuck reflex so unfortunately we won't be doing any trips for a while. I guess during the gas crisis is the perfect time to not be able to travel so I can't complain. Unfortunately the drive to Sandy is longer than 15 minutes so it's always an adventure when we attempt that, which we did yesterday and will be doing today and tomorrow. Yuck I don't even want to think about it. Unfortunately this also means I can't plan any trips home yet because I don't think I'd make it on the drive to the airport, much less the airplane ride so that's kind of sad.

Thursday night our friends the Newmans were in town so we ended up hanging out with them rather than getting sushi. I much preferred hanging out with them, but I was still really wanting sushi the next day. I told Ben that and weirdly enough somebody later brought in a platter of sushi to his work and he brought me some home!! Oh that was wonderful. I ate it ALL. Yum yum yum. I also discovered the Happy Sumo VIP club where they have certain nights where you can get half off a lot of their simpler rolls. Since I can't eat the more complicated rolls right now this is PERFECT so we are going to take full advantage!! Plus it's close so I'll be able to make it there without getting sick. I know, I get excited about a lot of simple things right now, but since I can't leave the house most of the time I'm learning to just enjoy the small things such as fabulous sushi.

We're so excited you get home today and we'll talk to you soon!!! Love you!!!