Advice anyone?

I spent part of Christmas morning cuddling with my too-cute-for words nephew Titan. He really is a doll and I think he even liked my penguin Christmas pajamas. Every time I hold him it is perfect reminder that all the lovely preggo side effets are completely worth it and it makes me so excited for our new little one next August.

I am now 9 weeks along and we have seen our little peanut's heart beat. It really was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

Overall I am hanging in there and we are doing great. But I would love to solicit the advice of all you mommies and preggos out there.

Please bombard me with every piece of advice you have about having a fantastic pregnancy. I freely admit that there are times .... okay days .... okay weeks ..... that I am a nauseas insomniac zombie. My goal this pregnancy is to me more proactive with my health and to think more positively.

Just ask my sister. She had a great pregnancy and a fabulous delivery. At the end she said, "That's it? I thought that was going to be much harder." She is ready to have 10 children. Contrast that to my labor where I was vowing to everyone within earshot that Lily was going to be an only child. In fact, my younger brother arrived at the hospital a few hours before Lily was born and just as the fun was beginning. As he was going to enter the room, he passed the anesthesiologist. He asked if it was okay to go into the room, the anesthesiologist responded, "Not if you value your life or your ear drums." That pretty much sums it up. It also could have something to do with me having the smallest veins imaginable and being among the 2 percent of women who epidurals don't work for. Add preeclampsia meds, pitocin, and no sleep in 48 hours to the mix and it makes for an interesting labor.

I remember my mom telling me that I would feel differently later and me thinking that she was nuts. Yet, here I am 18 months later ecstatic to be pregnant. Once Lily turned 1 it was like a ticking maternal time bomb yet again. I love kids, I love babies .... it's just the ucky parts of pregnancy and labor that I could do without. That is where you come in. Everyone has preggo advice right?

What saved you during the first trimester morning sickness? (okay let's call it what it really is ... all day/all night/ when you least expect it sickness).

How did you get enough sleep? Especially if you have older midgets running about?

What was your favorite form of exercise while you were pregnant?

How did you prepare for labor and delivery?

And although I am going to cling to my lovely epidural for as long as it lasts, I am going to inevitably be going partially au naturale this time around. What techniques worked best for you if you went epiduraless?

Are prenatal massages worth it? And if so, where are the best places to go in Utah?

So those are my questions. Feel free to add any other tidbits of knowledge to it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being pregnant. I would go through all the worst parts of my other pregnancies a thousand more times to have another cutie patootie like Lily. I am so excited. I just need a little help convincing my body that it is fun to be pregnant, too.

An Exciting Announcement for our 100th Post

Lily is sporting a brand new t-shirt as her Christmas jammies. The second part of her gift arrives on August 4, 2009.

Chill

Our December has been pretty quiet so far. I tried not to plan too much since I knew Johnny would be busy with finals. We are looking forward to all the parties in a few weeks! Lily and I spend lots of days chilling with our favorite treat - Jamba Juice :). Did you know that you can get a Jamba Juice with a sleep vitamin? Apparently that is what Johnny got for Lily :).

November Happenings

We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Johnny's and brother in law Broc's birthdays. Their birthdays were actually in October, but, due to the birth of Baby Titan, their birthday dinner was slightly delayed.

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Johnny's brother's home. Afterward, we returned to my family's home for pie. Kyrie and Lily had fun playing together while we planned our Black Friday shopping. (which was very successful. Only took me four hours to get my precious GPS system).

Lily's first advent calendar. My dad bought the grand kiddies advent calendars. Lily loves hers. Whenever she sees it she shouts, "Num Nummy!"

We also had fun at Festival of Trees. We were able to see Ada dance and we had a great time looking at the trees. Lily, suprisingly, loved it and was a good girl in her stroller the entire time. She enjoyed waving to the other children. I think she thought people were there to see her and not the trees.