5 months

Well, I haven't even done a pregnancy announcement blog post. I am 5 months pregnant! Me and Nathan are just so excited. Next year will be a year of many changes for us.

 

HOW FAR ALONG? 5 months

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN: 8 pounds. November was a big weight gain month for me. Gained 5 pounds.

MATERNITY CLOTHES? Nope

STRETCH MARKS? Nope

BEST MOMENT THIS WEEK? Nathan feeling him kick for the first time.

MOVEMENT: Yup, every day now.

FOOD CRAVINGS: Cran-Grap juice. I really haven't had any other weird cravings and my appetite really hasn't increased much.

ANYTHING MAKING YOU QUEESY OR SICK? Nope

GENDER: Boy

WEDDING RINGS ON OR OFF? On, I have a feeling it won't last though.

MILESTONES: Seeing the baby full on kick me on the ultrasound and celebrating our 4 year anniversary.

birthdays

Me and Nathan both have birthdays in August so it's pretty fun. I know, I'm horrible for not doing a Nathan birthday post. We had just gotten back from the beach and we were tired and just went out to dinner and didn't take any pictures. This year we are putting our birthday money together and buying a new couch. We are so excited.

Yesterday was my birthday. I usually have low key birthdays and don't do a whole lot. But, yesterday we actually did stuff all day.

We got up and went to breakfast with my parents and nieces. We went to Wild Eggs which is my fav place of all time. If you know me you probably know my dad has struggled pretty much my whole life. He has never been around really for my birthdays. He has made same major changes in the last 8 months and has done a complete turn around. He is still working on things but the difference is crazy. He has been more involved in all our lives and I have gotten to spend more time with him. But, for him calling me and wanting to go out to breakfast is huge. It was really special to me. I was joking around with him at breakfast saying, "I think this is the first birthday of mine where you have been "alive"." He always jokes around now saying how he is now "alive."

Later on we went to Olive Garden with our good friends and then went mini golfing, and go karting.

Outer Banks

Last week we went to Outer Banks for a family reunion on Nathan's side of the family. I could live at the beach. I have never met a lot of Nathan's cousins so it was nice to spend time with them and get to know them better. We both really enjoyed spending time with Nathan's Grandpa and wife.

 

 

I have never really eaten seafood until about a year a go. I am gradually trying different kinds. I have been wanting to try crab for a long time but wanted to make sure it was quality. We went to a local sea food restaurant and I finally got to try it and loved it! Right before this we actually rented some jet ski's. Didn't get any pictures of it.

 

I got a splinter in my foot and Nathan had to dig it out

 

One morning we got up at 5:30 with Nathan's cousin Hannah to watch the sunrise. It was gorgeous!

 

The last couple days we went to some museums in VA. We learned so much history. 

this weekend

This week has been a weird week with so many random things.  I look forward to the weekends a little too much because I can sleep in and hang out with Nathan. Last night we went to the mall and then played one on one basketball at the park. I have to say, I won two out of the three games.

I have been looking forward to going to the pool forever because I am so pale. We went with our good friends Whitney and Lincoln and then we went to go see Superman.

 

This kid always carries my purse. I am convinced if I hadn't trained him since high school he probably wouldn't be such a good sport about it. Good thing!

Grandma's Closet

This past week I helped my mom clean out my Grandma's closet. It was such a whirlwind of emotions. I force myself to never think about it because it is just so hard. But, this just put it right in my face. Everything smelled like her and felt like her. It was so emotional and so exciting at the same time. I know this may sound goofy but it was like a treasure hunt. I just kept finding so many meaningful things and old documents. Almost every pocket had tissues in it and a handful had her handkerchiefs. She always had handkerchiefs.  We actually buried Hunter with one of her old ones. Here are the top 3 items that stood out to me:

Her journals. This woman kept a journal since she was 15. She has boxes and boxes of them. I could sit and read them all day. EVERY single year on Aug 17th, she wrote next to the date that it was my birthday. I got to read the one of when we got married. I really read through the year when I was two years old. She wrote in there, "I kept Jayme today. She took a really long nap so she was up until 11:00. Whew!" Another post read, "I took all the kids to church today. Jayme just looked like a princess all dressed up." It makes me tear up just writing it. I always knew that I spent a lot of time with her but reading her journals she really was with us kids all the time, all 7 of us. I remember when I would come home from school in Elementary and no one would be home I would be scared. I would call her and she would come right over. The thing that stuck out to me and taught me so much was that her life revolved around two things. Her family and the church. Her life was just that simple and she had the most meaningful, happy filled life of anyone I know. Those two things were her pride and joy.

My dress. As I was going through her closet I found one of my old dresses that I wore when I was little. She had kept it all these years.

This letter. In our church the women visit teach other women in the ward once a month to be a support system. My Grandma was assigned a letter route where she wrote to a couple women that were inactive. There was this one lady that she wrote EVERY month for 11 years. She never had gotten one response or even met her. Randomly, after 11 years she finally heard back.

We have finally gotten the stone for Hunter. I just want to thank our anonymous donator and my family. Without them we would have never been able to get it.

We went today to see it for the first time. It was also the first time we have been back since my Grandma was buried there. It was definitely bittersweet. The feelings for my Grandma are still so raw and then the realization this stone does for me and Nathan, it was just a lot of different emotions. It just makes me so happy that they are together. It means so much to me and its such a personal, sacred thing.

 The cemetery has certain rules and guidelines and we had to get a bronze marker

We explored the cemetery a little bit. It is huge! It literally is its own city. It is in the top 5 prettiest cemeteries in the U.S. There are so many old stones from like the 1700's and 1800's.

 

They also have a pond with tons of geese and ducks so we brought bread to go and feed them. So we get out of the car and they came running at us gawking. We started screaming and jumped in the car on the same side. Nathan hopped in on me and crushed me. It was hilarious. We had to feed them inside the car, we were way too scared to get out.

  

Memorial Day

It was so nice to have a day off work to spend extra time with Nathan. We went down to the waterfront park with my family. The weather was perfect! They re-did a bridge so that it is a walking bridge that you can cross the river. I just love summer and all the fun things there are to do.

On April 19th my Grams passed away at the age of 94. The funeral service was so perfect and so full of love. Nathan was able to say the opening prayer and to be a pallbearer. Us girls also got to go and dress her in her temple clothes which was such a spiritual experience. The difference between a body and a spirit is just so strong.

Honestly, it is so hard to put into words how we miss her and how much of an influence she was in our lives. She is just so special to me and my relationship with her is so sacred and something I will keep close to my heart. The hardest part is knowing that I have the rest of my life that I have to live with out her.

I am so grateful that I get to live with her again. I know that she is with Hunter and I just love knowing that they are buried next to each other.