7 Months!

How the months fly by! In the beginning, it seemed the days dragged on, but towards the end, I can't keep up with the days! Here I am at essentially 7 1/2 months pregnant, or 30 weeks. I've noticed the biggest change this month. I feel like this is the month where you can definitely tell I'm pregnant. Last month I still was in the "she could be just fat" stage.

I'm 90% sure we have her name picked out. We think we will name her Maya Long. The middle name is still not decided upon. I kind of want to do a family name, but Daniel is stuck on the name Elizabeth but I say NO GO! He killed my dream of Olivia, so I guess it's payback... Not really. My pick for the middle name: Norene or Jenine, my grandmother and mothers name.

Maya Jenine Long or Maya Norene Long... Hmmmm

I really want to emphasize the way I'm really feeling here! :) Doctor Hoffman says I am carrying her inside me, which sounds like an oxymoron. He says women either have their uterus fall forward or hold it inside, which is what I'm doing. So moral of the story, my back is starting to ache. Mostly noted while working my 12 hour shifts. On my feet. Running around. Sometimes without breaks. No. Fun. But I like my job, and am grateful to have one!

Can't wait to meet you my little sweet, precious, angel, princess Maya Long!

6 months... 3 weeks ago!

I cannot believe that I am 27 weeks pregnant! This picture was taken over three weeks ago and in another week, I'll be taking my 7 months picture. Time sure does fly! It's insane to me that in three short months, our little baby girl will be an official member of our family. Pregnancy is going pretty well. A few weeks ago, I developed some horrific sciatic pain and have since been going to physical therapy. The last week I've been completely pain free and it's made all the difference! Pregnancy is so much better when it's not spent in a lot of pain. I can only pray that the pain free state continues! I have so much compassion for my brother in law Rich who has had horrible sciatica for two years and will soon be getting surgery. Sciatica is just an awful thing to suffer from and I'm so glad I only suffered for three weeks or so. Makes you grateful when the pain stops.

Still no name yet for our little one. We kind of agreed on Taylor Olivia Long, and I'm hoping that we'll just call her Olivia. I really love the name and I am hoping that if I keep calling her Olivia, Dan will get confused and think that's what her name already is and then there you have it, she'll be Olivia. Doesn't that sound so cute? Olivia Long. I like it. It has a nice ring. This is how I see it going:
Stephanie Olivia Long
Olivia Stephanie Long
Taylor Olivia Long
Either way, I want her to be Olivia!

22 Weeks

I haven't been the greatest with the blogging as of late. It's sad actually. I did take a four month picture, but never posted it. If my laptop ever starts working, I'll post that at some point. So as you can see, I'm 5 months pregnant. Technically, I'm 5 1/2 months today, but who's counting?

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I discovered we are having a GIRL! We were both under the impression we were having a boy, but neither one of us cared what we were having so long as it was healthy. When she said it's a girl, I was totally surprised. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'm SO happy it's a girl! Dan and I both talk about how when we see little baby girls our hearts melt. I am very happy to have a girl because we know she's going to be a little spitfire, just like her mom! She's a wiggle worm for sure! She's always moving and kicking. And I've discovered she's a fan of Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Anytime they're on, she starts with her exercises. I think it's adorable! Cannot wait to meet these little monkey!

12 Weeks (3 Months) Prego

I'm 3 Months Pregnant!

I recently went to Dr. Hoffman for a check up and heard the baby's heart beat for the first time! For the last couple weeks I've been a little worried that I wasn't pregnant any longer because I really didn't feel "super" pregnant, whatever that means. So when I went, I was full of anticipation to hear the heart beat. When he placed the doppler on my stomach, he found the heart beat immediately. I was so happy. I can't really describe the feelings that went through me. I felt peace, happiness, and a calmness, as well as a total sense of amazement that I really am carrying a person inside of me. It's a feeling of amazement that cannot be described, and I don't think should be. It must be felt. If words could adequately describe that feeling, all women would get pregnant and their would be much less selfishness when it comes to whether or not to have children. I feel so blessed to be trusted with such a holy and important task as motherhood.

Baby Crib set Project

I'm trying to decide whether or not this fabric would work for either a girl or a boy. It definitely fits for a boy, but I'm up in the air as to whether or not it's girly enough. One thing I'm not up in the air about is that I LOVE THIS FABRIC! It's so my taste and style. I want it but am too afraid I won't like it if it's a girl. Any opinions? And your honest opinions are appreciated...

Sisters Night Out

Escape From Reality: Sisters Retreat!

Because all eight of us were in the same city, we decided to make a night of it and stay at a hotel. We stayed at the Marriott. This picture is actually at the end of the night. We stayed up WAY too late playing games. We played BS, where Michele's infamous line is now often quoted when she announced rather matter of factly that she had two elevens! HAHA, clearly she didn't have any jacks!

We also went to dinner at Stanfords. We ate sooo good that night. We ordered a myriad of appetizers, including: macaroni and cheese, wood-fire grilled portabello mushrooms, and beer battered onion rings. Most of us had salads for our main course and me and Mindy shared an amazing berry cobbler! Such a good time!

All of us together. Wish we would've got a picture of all of us eight together!

And after four or five Diet Cherry Cokes (not spiked, I swear) our true colors came out. Lindsey, looking very beautiful tonight.

Mindy didn't know what to do with all the sugar and caffeine running through her veins when the camera clicked.

And Michele may or may not have thought that I was Rich while taking her picture!

Proof that they are cute little danty girls!

This was a night to remember! Yes, it may have took us twenty minutes to decided that the bar was NOT too loud for us Vrtiska girls but one thing we learned is that we have fun no matter where we dine! Love you sisters!

Two Months!

8 WEEKS PREGNANT

I know, I know, I'm not showing... but I promised I'd track the progress of the bump. So far I've gained 5 pounds, which I'm upset about because I wasn't even eating because of that darn nausea! My cure was "Mommy Bliss" which is a supplement that has ginger, B6, red raspberry leaf, or something like that in it. It has really helped with my nausea a lot. I can eat almost anything, though it never sounds appealing. Cravings as of late: cereal! Can't get enough of it! And I am NOT a cereal person, just ask my husband.

Catch-Up Blog

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DANIEL!

On April 7th, Daniel turned 30 years old! I threw him a birthday party with all of our family and some friends. We had a Bunco themed birthday party. Because half of the attendants where part of the Vrtiska clan, the party was L-O-U-D! It was soooo much fun. Everyone but Mike and Emily came from Daniel's side (Mike got sick) and everyone who lives in the area from my side came, including Stephanie and Daniel who drove up from Corvallis! Some of our friends came too. It was a lot of people and exactly what Dan wanted!
Unfortunately the game involved all of my attention and I wasn't able to take pictures until the end when everyone was leaving. I resolve to be better about taking pictures in the future! I didn't take pictures of the food or the socializing before the game, darn! I had two different chocolate fondues. For the dipping: pineapple, banana, strawberries, brownies, angel food cake, and pound cake. Yummy! I also had an antipasto platter. I thought it turned out delicious.

The biggest loser, Erica! Erica got out with $20 for losing the most! Craig won $50 for most buncos. It was a roll off between Craig, Harvey, and Alexis. Alexis was very unhappy about losing, as a true Timmerman always is! But her husband is a doctor (and I work with him! Weird working with family!) so I'm not feeling too sorry for her! Kayleen won $40 for most wins and Harvey won $10 for last Bunco which he stole from me in the last few seconds of the game!

Our friends Branden and Kehaulani, who got engaged a week ago! We're happy for them!

And our Paleo friends Kayleen and Bob! :) The big winners of the night! See Kayleen, this is one side shot with your mouth closed! :)

Michele and Dan, they're too cute.

I had so much fun that night and didn't feel stressed at all. Sometimes it's hard to through such a large party, but it ended up being just fine. The most important thing is Daniel had a blast, and that's all that matters to me!