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!

Looking Forward to:

1. Finishing my baby crafts and things for the nursery!

I looked at crib bedding and nurserys for hours and nothing was quite what I wanted. So I decided to make my own crib bedding! As well as a few other fun crafts for the nursery (like a bird mobile, lamp shades, pictures, etc.). I searched for a few days to find the perfect fabrics and just got everything I ordered in the mail. I LOVE the fabrics! Last night I started cutting, sewing, and crafting away. I ended up staying up wayy late working on it because it was so fun (and partially because Nate had to stay up late working from home). In the past I've never really had time to devote to a hobby like this, so it feels good to be creative and actually make something. Plus making everything is way cheaper than buying everything so it saves money. We'll see if my limited sewing skill pull through. More posts to come on on this later!


2. Going up to Utah November 4-7 for a baby shower my lovely friends are throwing me!

I am so excited to see these girls!

We are also going to hang out with some of Nate's friends and their wives, see Nate's brother, and go to a BYU Football game. Yay!

3. Seeing my family for a whole week at Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving my parents decided it would be fun to rent a beach house on Topsail Island in North Carolina and have everyone meet there. Usually going to a beach house in the Outer Banks is my family's summer tradition. It will be fun to go at Thanksgiving as well! We are going to do awesome southern things like deep fry a turkey.

Some of my cousins and extended family will be coming and going throughout the week as well. Seeing my family for a whole week is a dream - granted I usually never have enough vacation time from work to take off that long. It will be great!

4. Mini Babymoon!

The first weekend of December Nate is taking me on a mini "babymoon" for the weekend up to LA. We are going to see Westside Story on LA Broadway and I can't wait! I love musicals. It will be fun to have one last get-away just the two of us before the baby arrives.

5. Caroline's Wedding on December 18th!

Aren't these two adorable? Caroline is my dear friend from freshman year and long ago she and Aaron feel in love. We were all in the same freshman ward together and now they are both back from missions and are getting married! I am SO happy for them! I can't wait to go to their sealing and see her on her big day! It will also be fun to see all our friends from freshman year. Nate and I finalized our trip plans earlier this week! Yay!

6. Christmas/New Year's with Nate's family!

We are doing Christmas with Nate's family this year and all his siblings are coming in town again. I can't wait to see everyone! It is great to be part of such a big family, ever-growing. Since this picture Steve and Angela had their cute daughter Alice. Nate's older sister is also pregnant and due about a month after me!

It's also nice we live in San Diego and get to see everyone without having to travel more. Nate's mom and my sister-in-laws are throwing a shower for me over the holidays as well. So nice of them!

We are having the baby about a month after all these fun events occur! That is by far the best thing to look forward too.

I'm excited for the upcoming weeks and everything we have planned!

Best Friend

I know it sounds cheesy - but I am convinced I have the best husband ever. I think a lot girls think that about their husbands too and its great. Everyone should think their spouse is the best. Nate has been an all-star husband throughout my whole pregnancy. This past weekend has made me realize yet again how lucky I am. On Friday I had a terrible, horrible day at work and as soon as I got home Nate took me to my favorite pizza place to cheer me up. A date night of talking, good food, and laughing with him was exactly what I needed!

Later that night I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. I had lain in bed falling in and out of restless sleep for a few hours and woke up for the millionth time to realize our comforter had slipped off the bed. In my insomnia, I irrationally thought about how I found a big bug in our apartment earlier that week and got scared that a similar bug might be on our comforter because it had fallen on the ground. I woke Nate up told him I couldn't sleep and was scared of a bug being on the blanket. I know it sounds really girly and dumb to wake up your husband for this reason which I realized in the morning. But he didn't act like it was dumb at all! Nate shook out the comforter (there was no bug..), brought me a drink of water, and insisted that if I couldn't sleep we move to the couch and watch a movie till I got tired. It was 1:45am and I didn't want to keep him up just because I couldn't sleep. But he said he wouldn't be able to sleep if he knew I was uncomfortable anyway. So we moved to the couch, ate bowls of cereal, and watched "New in Town" on Netflix on my lap top from 1:45-3:30am. It was the best. We were both so loopy and, even though the movie was dumb, couldn't stop laughing the whole time.

I slept great after the movie and couldn't help thinking that Nate really is my best friend. In the past I've been skeptical when people say that about their spouse for 2 reasons. One - I think your spouse should be much more important than a best friend. And two - I've always thought of a "best friend" as a girlfriend you stay up late giggling with while watching Ever After and eating red vines/drinking diet coke. Even though Nate is way more important than a typical "best friend" its nice to know that we can do anything together and its fun. I would rather spend time with him than anyone else. He works so hard for our family, always comes home in good mood, never complains, and is the smartest man I know. He makes me laugh and makes life more simple.
I am lucky to be his wife and our baby will be lucky to have him as a Dad!

Celebrating Fall

In addition to watching conference last weekend Nate and I celebrated the beginning of fall. It cooled down this past weekend as compared to earlier in the week so it seemed fitting. Every year the first Thursday-Sunday of October is "Oktoberfest" on the main street of our town. We live about a block from main street which is fun because there is always stuff going on in La Mesa. La Mesa has a farmer's market and flower market on Fridays. They also have car shows every Thursday and in December there is a "Christmas in the Village" festival. On a regular day basis, Nate and I also love going for walks down main street and looking in the windows of all the cute shops and restaurants. All these things make La Mesa is known for its charming downtown. If you're from Virginia, it reminds me of Vienna - only smaller.

Oktoberfest is by far the biggest weekend in La Mesa. Their claim to fame is that it is the "largest Oktoberfest west of the Mississippi". And for us that means a weekend of searching for parking for 40 minutes every time we come home only to park a mile away from our apartment, loud German folk music from a live band all day and night, and drunk people parking illegally on our street and making a ton of noise in the middle of the night. Not to mention having the police show up at our door because the people we rent from accidentally called 911 instead of 411 to report someone who parked in front of their garage. Our neighbor hung up when she realized she called 911 but I guess the police still come anyway if the call goes through. Then our neighbors weren't home when the police showed up, so the police knocked on our door and accused us of calling 911 to which we objected. After that they ran around around the house with flashlights and drawn guns until my neighbors got back...Given how safe our neighborhood is I think they were being a little dramatic...

Anyway, we decided to take advantage of Oktoberfest since we were dealing with all its craziness. On Saturday night Nate and I walked down and got the most delicious Bratwurst and looked at all the craft booths and festival treats. I also got a delicious chocolate covered strawberry kabob (great idea, right?) and Nate got some homemade root beer. It was so fun! We had a great time looking at everything and people watching.




Later that weekend we also had a "fall feast" to celebrate the flavors of fall. We made delicious butternut squash soup with a sides of steamed beets, seasoned green beans, and Parmesan garlic toast. It was so good!


Nate and I love playing games and topped the evening off with a few rounds of checkers.



Welcome fall! We are glad you're here! Even if the weather doesn't change...

20 Weeks

Here is my bump at 20 weeks! Its kind of like my stomach just "popped" the past 2 weeks and all of a sudden I actually look pregnant. I can't believe I'm half way through pregnancy already! I decided it's really nice having a baby due in February for a few reasons. It won't be really hot (like its been the past week here in San Diego) when I am really huge. A lot of pregnant ladies I know have been telling me how miserable it is to be hot in the 3rd trimester. Obviously the weather doesn't change much in San Diego, but it is still a lot cooler in February. I also get to be distracted by Thanksgiving and Christmas and a bunch of other things like weddings and showers during the coming months. Then before I know it, it will be time for our cute little guy to arrive. I love that I can call him HIM now!


Here are some Pros and Cons of being 20 weeks pregnant...

Pros

• I finally look like I have a real baby (and not just a food baby) in my stomach! I had 2 people who didn't know I was pregnant ask me if I was expecting this past week. That can be a risky question unless you're quite certain someone is pregnant. So I assume it is pretty obvious now.
• I know that we are having a BOY! And I can't stop getting excited about everything that entails. I can now start all the fun stuff like planning, crafting, and nesting.
• For the most part I am feeling great! I haven't been sick at all since 12 weeks and I am not too huge that it's uncomfortable yet. I am loving the 2nd trimester while it's here!

Cons

• I feel great during the day, but have a horrible time getting to sleep! I wake up at least 3 times each night to go to the bathroom and then another million times because I've rolled onto my back and my legs have fallen asleep. I can't seem to get used to sleeping on my side all night. During the ultrasound this past week they saw the baby's head was resting down near my bladder. I'm sure the baby moves around a lot but that seems to be his favorite spot. Hence the bathroom trips. It feels like I am constantly tossing and turning all night. I've tried all the pillow tricks and the usual things like tiring myself out with exercise during the day. But no matter how exhausted I am it doesn't work! I think it also might have something to do with the fact its been boiling hot outside and we don't have AC during the night. Hopefully this is just an adjustment phase. Why do people keep telling me to get all the sleep I can now? Have they ever been pregnant?
• Hmm... I can't think of any other cons. I have mostly loved being pregnant so far. I am so lucky my baby is healthy and I haven't been very sick!

I am SOO excited to meet my little boy in a few months!