Can I Sleep Yet?

This has been one of the busiest weeks in a LONG time for me and Neil. I'm doing a 2-week dance workshop in Salt Lake with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and it has killed me! It is super hard core and would've been extremely challenging for me even if I wasn't pregnant! I am completely beat after dancing for 8 hours each day!

So, since I've been in SLC everyday for that, Neil and I have been able to do some fun things downtown.

Monday was especially busy because we had my father-in-law's company party at the bee's game. We could only stay for dinner actually, because we had to move on to our next event of the night.

For Neil's birthday, I surprised him with tickets to the Katy Perry concert because he's in love with her and I LOVE her music, so it worked out perfectly. (except for the fact that we were both so exhausted by the time we got to the concert that neither of us wanted to stay out late. We did though and it was worth it.)
I didn't get any clear pictures of her from the front.

Another night we went to The Metropolitan for dinner, but the food was kind of disappointing actually.

We went to Bruges for delicious Belgian waffles and frites! YUM!!

We also had a going away party for Petey who is moving to Chicago this weekend.
Neil and I at the Petey Party.
We also had my cousin's wedding, but I didn't get any good pictures at that. I'll have to steal some once they're up on facebook.

Even though I'll still have my dance workshops next week, I'm hoping the nights won't be so busy so I can actually let my body REST!

Bear Lake

Last week, my family went up to the cabin my grandpa built at Bear Lake for a little family vacation. It was so HOT and the water was freezing, as usual! Also, the water was super high, so we hardly had any beach to play on.

Shelley and Lu

Lindsay, Reags, Alex, and Pops

Mom, Whitney, and Reagan

Livvie

I actually stayed under the tents the whole time because I'm so sick of getting sunburned. Did you know that being pregnant makes your skin sunburn more easily? I didn't, but I've learned! After reading several awesome gossip magazines, I had this book for my beach reading. My friend's dad wrote it and although it's written in Australian, it's been really fun and helpful :)
Livvie asked me if I was reading, "the manual on how to be a good mother" which I thought was hilarious! Then I showed her the title and because she's a Christensen at heart, she started singing Homer Simpson's Baby on Board song and I was so proud!

Neil only got to come for the weekend, but we ALL loved having him there with us. Neil and Max read comic books together, Max is a really good reader!

S'mores of course!


My mom bought several water guns which resulted in several water fights. Naturally, I avoided this activity and stayed nice and dry (mostly because I threatened the children several times).


Alex, Reagan, Lu, Tink, Liv, E, and Nick hanging out in Don's truck.


Pops

Pirates

Max and Nick have been spending HOURS on these Pirates of the Caribbean Lego sets!

You have to admit, they're pretty cool.

The really amazing part of this is that my mom is actually letting the kids open and build her Lego sets! Don't worry though, ALL the Harry Potter Legos are still locked up tight :)

Family Pictures

A couple weeks ago, we had our family pictures taken.

It was pure chaos and we didn't even have our whole family. It's a good thing we only attempt to do these every few years!
It's IMPOSSIBLE!

Survey

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: My app says he's as big as a spaghetti squash (he's just working his way through the produce department!) and weighs a whole pound!

Maternity Clothes: I'm pretty lazy and I almost never get dressed in "real" clothes; I wear scrubs to work for my dad twice a week and the rest of the time, I'm usually in gym clothes, not because I go to the gym that often, just because they're a little more comfy. I still need to go get bigger sizes though.

If I do happen to get dressed for the day, I have a few baggy tops that I can still wear from before I was pregnant, but I've been needing maternity pants for probably like a month and a half now (I'm so glad I finally made the switch).

Gender: Still a boy!

Name: My boy is still nameless. It's much easier to come up with names we definitely WON'T be using, the latest include Bronson, Harrison (or Harry for that matter), and Major.

Let me explain a little better here, I actually do like the name Harrison, but imagine a kid called Harry Johnson, we'd all feel pretty bad for him. AND I also don't really like the HarriSON JohnSON part- too many SON sounds. Major Johnson will surely get him teased. And with Bronson, who wants a first and last name that rhyme!?

Movement: At about 19 1/2 weeks, I knew I was feeling the baby move. I pretty much only feel him kicking my left side. At 20 weeks, Neil could even feel him moving around! I love to just lay in bed at night and feel him kicking me (the baby, of course, not Neil- I hate when he kicks me!)

Sleep: I honestly never thought it would happen to me, but I'm finding it a little bit harder to sleep. Even though I'm exhausted during the day, when I get in bed I usually just toss and turn for at least an hour trying to force myself to stay on my left side. I'm just not as comfortable as I used to be!

What I miss: Not HAVING to eat constantly. If I go anywhere, I have to pack like 3 bags of food and a gallon of water. You'd think I was going camping with all the food I take, but really I'm just headed to the mall or to Lagoon.

I also miss not feeling like myself. I never got super sick, even in the beginning, but this whole time I've felt just kind of different and weird. I don't have my same energy that I used to, I can't workout the way I used to, I don't sleep as well, I cry about everything, I just don't feel like myself. I don't know how to explain it, but I miss it.

Cravings: Pizza- I could eat it for every meal. Unfortunately, Neil is sick of having it all the time.

Symptoms: My lower back bones/joints feel like they need to crack ALL the time, which bugs me because they almost never pop. I think it's my SI joint and it's getting continually worse. My back muscles get more sore more easily now too- I guess it's because of the extra weight from my stomach. Awesome.

Another thing I read about a lot but thought I could avoid was bleeding gums when I floss. I have really good oral hygiene- I floss at least once EVERY DAY and I brush at least twice a day, so I thought my gums would stay in top shape, but sometimes they bleed.

Best Moment of the Week: My DARLING Petunia Picklebottom diaper bags came in the mail! They were $80 off at the Nordstrom sale!! Now I've got to decide which one to keep. I want to start carrying them around with me now because they are so so adorable, but I guess that would probably confuse people.

I have to say that seeing Harry Potter was a highlight of my week too!

Appointments This Week? We went in last Thursday for our targeted ultrasound and the jerky lady made me feel bad, so I can't say I enjoyed that appointment. On the plus side, Neil has been able to come to every appointment and that's been really great.

Something I've Learned: Sometime around week 20, I noticed that if I stood up straight, I could no longer see my feet :(

Pictures from this week:

My new diaper bags. Neil's suggestion is to keep them both since I'm making such a big deal out of it, but I'm determined to make a choice, mostly just because I know I don't need 2 diaper bags.

Harry Potter 7 part 2!! You can't really tell, but we're in front of this awesome poster that has Harry and Voldemort fighting.

I could be wrong, but I don't think I'm always this puffy.


So, any suggestions on names or diaper bags are very welcome!

They Are Spartans!

Last Saturday, Neil and a few of his friends did the Spartan Race up at Soldier Hollow. It was a freaking crazy race that is about 8 miles PLUS tons of obstacles. AND it was a really hot day. I can't believe they did it (and even liked it!).

Some of the obstacles included target shooting, monkey bars, stump jumping, a rubik's cube, crawling under barbed wire in the mud, going through a giant mud/manure pool, jumping over a wall of fire, and fighting off gladiators!

Here's Dan, Petey, Neil, and Jonny before the race

Neil and I

Me and my mom. Half the time that Neil was running, my parents went off running on the trails too.

At the beginning, still feeling really good!

At this point, they'd run 5 miles and done 1 obstacle I think. The obstacle was shooting guns, which Neil was awesome at, of course!

By this point, they had to carry or drag a big cement block up and down a hill, climb up and over a big net thing and now they're climbing the rope (That's Neil.)

There were a ton of obstacles in between the rope and this one, but I saw my friend Allison at the race (she's the one that I did the figure show with). Allison was doing the race with a team of 4 girls, including Kathie (also in the picture) from the gym.

Here's Neil throwing the javelin. Almost everyone missed this obstacle and had to do 30 burpies (I think that's what they're called, that's what everyone in the above picture are doing)

Just running again. Jonny, Neil, and Petey. I'm so glad they stayed together during the whole race, it made it more fun for them and I didn't worry about Neil as much.

Petey and Neil crawling through the mud that I'm pretty sure is actually poop- I'm not even kidding. That is exactly what it smelled like!

All of them finished (and I was really relieved!) Neil said it was way fun and he would definitely do it again, so maybe we'll be up again to watch next year...
My parents came up with me to watch Neil too and I'm so glad they did! They've done thousands of crazy races and had tons of helpful advice for Neil. Plus, they were just good company for me!

LaLa's Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated my mom's birthday 3 times this year.

My aunt Jan and uncle Dan were throwing a family party at their house the day before my mom's birthday, so even though the event was not especially for my mom, she got to blow out candles anyway. Here's Dad, my cousin's son Henry, Mom, aunt Jan, and Neil (Reagan and Shelley are partially pictured as well)

Neil and Reagan playing at the party.

John and McCord

July 8th is my mom's actual birthday, so we got the kids together to make a sign for LaLa. Here's Alex and Ethan in their painting smocks (some of Dad's old dental coats) painting the first sign. I say the first sign because if you look at it, the word "birthday" is spelled wrong so we had to do another. I was in charge of buying the butcher paper, one of my sisters was in charge of painting it, so don't blame me for the mistake :)

This is on the back of the 2nd sign we made.

Shelley wrote on the 2nd sign too, but this time she spelled everything right and the kids could decorate it.

Singing to LaLa on her birthday

She always gets lots of presents, one of her surprise presents was some new gold earrings from my dad.

Her last party was the usual Sunday dinner family party.
Of course, my mom deserves parties to celebrate her awesomeness every day of the year, but 3 will have to do for this year.

Christensens

John Scott and Stefanie were in town last week for their annual 4th of July visit to Utah and we were glad they came!

Dad and sleepy Daners

The sweetest baby ever, Miss Hadley.

Me, Max, and Liv joined them at Boondocks for some arcades and bowling.

Max and Dane's turns
Come again soon, family!