Observations

• I look a lot like a plump stuffed turkey in my maternity shirts these days.

• My baby loves jamba juice - it sends him on a dancing/kicking spree for several hours.

• I love stretchy pants and maternity pants. How am I ever going to go back to wearing regular pants? All pants should be maternity pants.

• A few months ago Nate and I decided to commit to him starting his own company. We feel great about that decision and like the Lord has really been guiding him. Nate is always a hard worker (much of our dating life was spent in the library), but he has been working especially hard these past few weeks. We're talking up till 1am programming, sleeping for 5 hours, then up again at 6am. Him and his friend Lee are both computer programmers and have been designing a client management system for life insurance. After over a year of hardcore working on this project, they are weeks away from finishing it, which is exciting.

• Does it bother me he has to work a lot? Not at all! Because I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I come first. And he is doing all of this for the future of our family and our baby. He always cares most if I'm happy and sets aside time just for us each day. I think it is important to be a supportive wife rather than a complainer about him having to work. I am so proud of him and grateful for his efforts!

• I am excited to see all my family next week at Thanksgiving. And I have been drooling over Thanksgiving food on blogs and the Food Network. I can't wait for pumpkin pie, turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

• I am extra excited about the Christmas season this year. Not that my baby is coming anytime around Christmas (let's hope not..). I just think it's really enchanted to be 8 months pregnant around Christmas. Like I have the greatest present of all inside of me.

• It really bothers me that it never gets cold in San Diego. People always talk about that like it's a positive thing, but I love seasons! As excited as I am for Christmas, it is just not as festive without the cold.

• Nate looks handsome in his new glasses. I like it when he wears them.

• I am excited and nervous about being a new Mom. There is nothing else I would rather do with my life right now, but I can't help feeling a little nervous sometimes. I used to feel kind of bad for being nervous. But then I thought about how my old cross country couch used to tell us that if we weren't nervous before a race, it meant we weren't taking it seriously enough. At the same time he would say it isn't good to be overwrought with nervousness to the point of not functioning - but a little nervous energy can be a good thing.

• It's definitely just moments I feel nervous. Not constantly. I don't think you have to be nervous to be taking it seriously, but I personally feel nervous sometimes because of what an important responsibility it is to be a Mom.

• I am in love with our baby. I can't wait to meet him. I keep his ultrasound pictures by my bed and look at them before I go to sleep a lot. I already think he is the cutest baby in the world. Probably because I think he has similar facial features as his Dad!

Moving and Nesting Mode

Many of you probably already know - but Nate and I decided to move to a bigger apartment before we have the baby! We love where we live now and there were many pros and cons (beyond the obvious need for more space) that came with deciding to move. But overall we think it is the best decision for our family! We searched and searched for about a month for 2 bedroom apartments in San Diego. Everything is so expensive! But we actually ended up finding a great deal at a fairly new apartment complex in the La Jolla/UTC area. Its in a great area, has lots of places to walk, is next to a new park/library, and much closer to the beach than where we're at now! We are moving November 29th and I can't wait to get everything set up for the baby.

Now that we're moving I keep having to control my urge to redecorate. I have all my projects in order for the nursery and have been making progress on those. But I keep dreaming of redecorating our living room. Probably another product of being in nesting mode. I love blog stalking design blogs like high street market and stephmodo and these pictures have totally inspired me!

I have been doing lots of craigslist hunting and thrift store browsing to bring in some of these ideas at our new place. It's fun to see what you can do on a budget and what deals you can find! More to come later!

Spades is Trump

Growing up, I always knew that part of being a Whitt was being able to hold your own in a game of cards. My family is huge into games and this tradition goes back generations. When I was a kid my grandparents used to live 15 minutes from us and a lot of my Dad's family would come in town for various holidays. All us grand kids knew what it meant when my Dad, Grandpa, and his brothers would gather down at the large oak table and break out the dominos. We would disperse and leave them be as they all engaged in the much anticipated and competitive, father-son domino games. The kind of dominos they play is not the "Mexican train" kind - but rather the real game of dominos, that takes quite awhile to get a grasp on.

From a very young age my parents taught my brothers and I how to play cards. Nate and I are heading back east for Thanksgiving this year and playing Spades, Pinochle, and Up and Down with my family is something I always look forward too. When we were little my parents started us out playing Hearts. Hearts can get old quick so they then taught us more complicated games like Spades. It may take an afternoon to learn how to play Spades, but it definitely takes a lifetime to master. The family dynamics of these games are so familiar and fun.

In addition to counting cards and studying the nuances of the game my Dad would always be teach us "card etiquette" about proper shuffling, dealing, and playing cards. It's ironic because I feel like I learned how to play cards properly, but have never met anyone outside my family who would actually notice. Card playing in general is becoming kind of a lost art. I remember at indoor recess in Elementary school some of my friends had cards and suggested we play Egyptian Rats. I remember saying we should play Pinochle and having everyone stare and not know what I was talking about. I didn't realize how rare it was to play real card games! Every once and awhile I'll sign onto Yahoo games and join in an online game of Spades. But its usually boring and slightly disappointing. Getting to play with my family is the real treat! It's been funny introducing Nate into this aspect of my family because his family didn't play a lot of games growing up. Nate likes Up and Down best but tells me he secretly feels stressed during Spades. I think he does great! It's all just for fun. In addition to playing cards, all my cousins and extended family love playing other games like Settlers of Catan, Risk, etc.

We are excited for Thanksgiving this year and, amongst other things, are looking forward to playing some games!

What a Wonderful Weekend...

This past weekend we went up to Provo... My friends threw me an adorable baby shower.

Have I mentioned I have the best friends ever?
We flew up Thursday night and stayed at Kasee and Jason's apartment the whole weekend. They were fabulous hosts! When I arrived at Kasee's apartment on Thursday night - Caroline and Jessica were there to welcome me! It was a great surprise. I just love them.

On Friday highlights of the trip included:

Going up to campus and enjoying fall leaves... Oh how I miss them!

Brunch with Danielle

Nate visited his engineering friends and professors.

I visited my professors and my old work.

The classroom where Nate and I met!

Enjoying J-Dawgs of course!

And BYU ice cream...

That evening my friends threw me a "little" themed shower.
I couldn't have thought of a cuter theme!

The "It's a Boy!" banner Jess made - so much cuter in person! I love it.

We didn't get a group shot of everyone but here are a few!

After the shower Caroline, Jess, Jen, Kasee and I stayed up till 2am talking!
Such quality girl time :) We could talk forever.

On Saturday we went to breakfast with some of Nate's friends. It was great to see Broc/Joanna and Brett/Sydnie. We went to Magelgy's Fresh and guess who walked in while we were eating? Nienie! Sydnie and I introduced ourselves and said we love her blog. It's always kind of been my dream to meet NieNie. She was so nice!
After breakfast we went to the BYU Football game.

Hello baby!

My handsome hubby!

After the game Jess, Kasee, and I went thrift store shopping and Nate went to hang out with some of his friends. Later we all met up with Jen and Lasee and our husbands for dinner at Terra Mia. Yum!

Love them.

And good thing our husbands love each other! Because even if they didn't they would still have to hang out.

Then we went back to Jen and Lasse's house for a hilarious game of "Battle of the Sexes". Naturally the girls won. It was a hoot.

Jen and Lasse's house is amazing! They have completely gutted the house and are in the process of re-doing everything. Such talent!

On Sunday we went to church and had a lovely brunch at Jess's. We also hung out with Nate's little brother Mikey.
Overall it was a fabulous weekend with:
Tons of girl time
No sleep
Laughing
Quality conversation
Reminiscing
And excitement about baby!

Thank you girls for making it so great! We sure have lots of people we love left in Provo!

24 Weeks!

Here is my bump at 24 weeks!

I was under the initial impression that our boy was fairly gentle with his kicks and only moderately active. At 20 weeks he cooperated very well during the ultrasound and a few weeks before that I had started feeling the first pings and kicks movement. At first it felt like popcorn and was very faint, but definitely the baby! Over the past few weeks, he has become extremely active. He now does huge kicks, somersaults, and enjoys pushing all over in my stomach. Nate and I can now just sit back on the couch and see him move all over from the outside of my stomach! I love it. Although he especially likes resting and kicking my pelvis which can get uncomfortable.,,

He doesn't move all day and seems to have developed a pattern. He moves most after meals and at night when I sit down to relax. I read in a book that's really normal. You always hear about babies moving the most when Moms lie down at night because the swaying and rocking of your stomach when you're running around during the day usually puts the baby to sleep. Then when you sit down and finally relax the baby wakes up! Ironic right? Given how strong his kicks already are, I am slightly concerned about when he gets bigger. But mostly I love feeling him move because it reassures me that he is growing and developing away!

I get weekly emails from babycenter.com (which I love!) that tell me about the exciting things happening in the baby's development. A few weeks ago I read that my baby can now hear noises outside the womb, including my and Nathan's voice. Last week I was making some frosting with a hand mixer and as soon as I turned on the mixer I felt him leap and kick really suddenly! I think the loud noise of the hand mixer (which was right near my stomach) startled him and woke him up! Poor thing. But so cute and cool that he could hear the noise!

At my most recent appointment eveything still looked good and healthy. The ultrasound pictures were all normal after review and the baby's heartbeat was just where it should be. As far as how I'm feeling - I have been great! I know it sounds crazy, but I actually love being pregnant. Strangers are nicer to me, I get to register for things at Baby R'Us, and nobody can judge me for eating every 2 hours at work.

I haven't been seriously sick or naseous at all. The only things are that my feet and hands have been getting more swollen lately. My ring is quite the squeeze to get on these days and I will probably have to get a fake one soon. Also sometimes if I've been overdoing it, running around a lot I'll get cramps. I still have trouble sleeping. When I sleep it’s only for an hour or two before I have to wake up to go to the bathroom, roll over to shake out my sleeping arm or throw off the covers in a heated fury. Sometimes I forget that my body looks completely different and catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror or window during the day. It surprises me how big I am!

I can't believe this month I'll be in the third trimester! It seems like the 1st trimester dragged on, but the 2nd trimester flew by! And the more I think about it, the more excited I am we're having a boy!