30 Weeks and 6 days

Yes, I'm counting EVERY SINGLE day of the week at this point of the pregnancy. I only have 64 days left my friends. 64!!!! My education friends from BJU are probably laughing because the number 64 was a certain professors favorite number :). But hey, I'm really excited about it!!!

So here I am, 30.5 weeks. I turn 31 weeks on Sunday and I'm just thrilled. I have been pregnant for over a year now, with a 2 month break between Ezekiel and this one. I am extremely anxious for this baby to be born now :). I've gained 2 more pounds than I normally do at this point, which I guess isn't too bad. Although I'll probably be more careful for the rest of the pregnancy. :) I must say, this pregnancy as been the worst as far as pain goes. My lower back has really been hit hard for some reason. I also really struggled with bad ligament pain for about a week. And my veins are much worse as well. But it will be so worth it in the end. Have a mentioned that we still don't know what the gender is? I seriously can't wait for Matt to see it first! We have a girl name that I love so far, but I'm not 100% sure about the boy name. We will see!!!

I found a wonderful group of doctors to take care of me here in Colorado. They also have 5 midwives that work with them. This group always has one doctor and one midwife at the hospital. As of right now, I plan to deliver with a midwife. If I have a faster labor, I'd like to not have an epidural. I know...crazy to some, but seriously, those things make me SO sick. I don't even want to hold my baby after I deliver the sweet babe I'm that sick from those horrible drugs. We will see what happens. I know that I will only be able to do drug free if it's a faster labor though. I can't handle the pain for THAT long. Yes, I don't like pain. I mean really, it really really hurts people. I know this from delivering Ezekiel without an epidural and he was under 2 pounds.

So far, I've had one non-stress test done at this office. My 32 week check will have an ultrasound to monitor growth. I will then start getting more non-stress tests at my appointments from that point on. I still haven't been able to meet with a midwife at any of my appointments because they have been booked. I'm going to try and make a few appointments in advance next time I go in so I can get in with a midwife.

Lord willing, the rest of this pregnancy will FLY! I would love to deliver around 38 weeks. I realize that almost every woman says that....but um, I really have been pregnant for a really long time!!!!

Here is a picture from earlier in the week. We hiked in the Rocky Mountain National Park so I wanted my picture there :).

30 weeks and 4 days! 

Colorado Springs

I'm working on catching up on the blog... so this is also from a month ago. Oh well. At least we have the memories on the blog now.

When we first arrived in Denver we didn't have any of our stuff. We were blessed to stay with some amazing friends. Matt took several pictures of their gardens while we visited, but I can only find one and it's of a lizard type of creature. I have to admit, I am not a fan of Picasa. Anyways, on day 2 of our stay with our friends who we now call Uncle Bernie and Aunt Kim we visited Colorado Springs. We took the kids to Focus on the Family and the Air Force Academy. They seemed to really enjoy both visits.

The lizard at Uncle Bernie's.

Jewell playing in Adventures in Odyssey.

Jewell showing off her money that Uncle Bernie gave her that morning :).

Jewell and Daddy recreating the Wod-fam-choc-sod picture 3 years after their first one.

I know I have more pictures of Jewell. I just can't find all the Air Force pictures. I even took a picture of Matt and the kids. Bummer. Hopefully I will find them soon. The kids really enjoyed going somewhere that they could actually go play at. I think they were afraid they'd be stuck in the car all day again :). Colorado Springs was gorgeous that day. We were able to enjoy a wonderful view of Pikes Peak while we we there as well. It was amazing.

Our Move to Denver

This is a long overdue post. But I know it's always better late than never :). We've officially lived here one month now! The trip really was a blast. It definitely had it's ups and downs at times, but overall it was a great trip.

The first day was rather interesting. I didn't realize 140 was such a boring and slow road :). Seriously, it was slow, and boring. Jefferson and I entertained ourselves by looking for cattle. Eventually, we got to drive through some cool canyons and mesas after we got through the most boring part of Oregon. While driving through the boring part of Oregon, Matt called me and said he was thinking we should have stopped for gas at this little station. When I looked at my gas levels I decided it may be best as well. So we turned around because we just weren't sure it was worth risking the 87 mile drive we had until the next station. Well, it's a good thing we turned around, because we found out that the next stations pumps were broken, so instead of driving 87 miles, we'd have to drive almost double to get to the next station (see what I mean...really boring drive). I was so thankful the Lord gave my husband the wisdom to turn around.

This is the pump that was supposed to have gas.

This is the town that was supposed to have gas :). 

After we made it to the town that was supposed to have gas, we were even more thankful we stopped 87 miles before then. But shortly after getting back on the road we saw the aftermaths of a tragic fatal accident. Matt got out to help, but there wasn't much any of us could do. And sadly, the poor teenage girls that survived had to wait for emergency services to drive over 100 miles to get to them. We drove the rest of Nevada very carefully after seeing that. After a few more hours of driving on 140 and then 95 we finally saw a real interstate. I was more than thrilled! It was a little trickier following Matt on the interstate at times, but I didn't care about that at all! I was just thankful for a fast road with lights.

Part of Nevada were really cool. The canyons and mesas were so neat. I couldn't help but wish I could take all my old 4th graders to see what a mesa really was. Both kids really did enjoy the scenery through those parts of Nevada.

We figured out that it takes about an hour at each meal stop with kids. They just had to get their energy out after sitting in the car for so long. We drove for about 14 hours that day, arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah a little after 1. We were exhausted!! But we were so thankful for a safe trip for our family.

The next day we were able to go to breakfast with Josh Roland's family. It was so nice to catch up with them. The kids definitely had a blast playing with each other in the restaurant. After breakfast, we headed out for our last day of travel. The kids did pretty well after we stopped 3 times for Jewell to go potty in ONE HOUR :). The first few hours were rather boring desert, but then we hit Colorado. And let me tell you friends, there is nothing like driving the scenic route into Denver. It's just gorgeous! We drove about 10 or 11 hours that day. We had to stop a few times in the mountains because I was getting a bit sick from all of the mountain driving. The altitude was getting to me at first. But, the kids didn't seem to notice. Once we arrived in Denver we decided to head to Chick-Fil-A. I think it was at Chick-Fil-A that it finally hit us as to how exhausted we were. We were so glad to finally be in Denver. The kids of course loved the play area at the restaurant, and Matt and I just sort of sat there zoned.

We were so thankful for a safe trip. The kids didn't even get fussy until the very end (once in Denver). Jewell even taught herself how to color in the lines while we drove. She insisted that every picture she colored was for Grammy too. It was really cute. 

Matt took several pictures on the road. Here are a few that I liked.

Jefferson thought the tunnels were the coolest thing about the trip.