Recent house pictures

Front profile of the house

Back profile of the house

Laundry room and half bathroom

Master bedroom

Archway from front room to hall and bedrooms

Den...just imagine bookshelves along that wall

Kids bathroom

Stairs to our basement

This will be the baby's room

Living room

The house is coming along. They are finishing up insulation this week and should start dry-walling next week I believe. It's fun to see the progress...not the little mess ups but we try to over-look those the best that we can. It's definitely looking more and more like a house and I can finally start picturing what it might look like inside.

The kidney pain has gone away for the most part. The Thursday after being in the hospital, I was working a night shift and the same pain started coming back. It was getting stronger and stronger and I was getting scared as to what might happen if I was working and couldn't get rid of the pain. I talked to my charge nurse and she gave me the okay to take some of the narcotics I had with me. Don't worry folks, it was just the Darvocet (not very strong!) and she said if I started to feel "funny," to let her know. I had Gary fill my prescription for Percocet though in case I needed it. After two pain pills, I felt okay and haven't had pain since. Maybe I passed the stone. Hopefully....

My doctor's appointment went well. The baby is just as active as ever and never seems to give me much rest. The doctor said he weighs about 3 pounds and is just a tad bigger than my due date on the 29th of June. My appointments are now ever three weeks. We're getting there! I feel huge and get so tired. My ankles look atrociously swollen with sock indents all over after a day of work and 13 hours on my feet. But I keep hearing it's all worth it and I know it will be! Now to convince my husband how badly I need back and feet massages these days....

A trip to the hospital we go...

Easter Sunday...it started out wonderfully. Gary and I went to my parents to listen to the morning Conference session and eat the traditional ginger muffins my mom makes every Conference Sunday. We headed home in between sessions so I could sleep for my grave yard shift. We made deviled eggs and strawberries with a cream cheese/marshmallow cream for dipping. As we sat down to dinner with our family and some extended family, I got this massive cramp in my lower left abdomen. It took my breath away. Within minutes, this intense pain moved to my lower back and I couldn't breath. I tried laying down, turning different positions, rubbing my back...nothing helped. The tears come and I double over with pain. I hurried and called Gary and him and my dad give me a blessing. I know something is wrong and being 7 months pregnant, I was scared.

My sister got involved calling my doctor who said to get to McKay-Dee hospital immediately. She also called work to tell them I wouldn't be coming in. They were very understanding and worried Shani said. Gary drives me to the hospital and we went to Labor and Delivery as told. They were expecting me and I was soon in a "holding" room where a urine sample, history and vitals were taken. A heart monitor was hooked up to the baby. From the signs and symptoms I had given the nurse, they were thinking either a UTI, pylonephritis or kidney stones. I work at Primary's and I know how long it takes to get a radiologist into the hospital not only on a Sunday...but also on a holiday. My pain was at a 7 out of 10 and I can still hardly breath. I can't get comfortable. The first shot of Morphine was given in my hip and didn't touch the pain. It just made me very loopy and dizzy. I have to guzzle water so my bladder will be full for the renal ultra-sound. Finally we get the news that the radiologist is here and they are ready for me. The wheelchair ride downstairs was brutal.

Meanwhile, my blood pressure is higher than they like it to be. Also, the nurse tells me from the monitors, it is showing that I am having minor contractions and at some point they will need to check my cervix to see if I'm dilated at all. Great.

The ultrasound hurt so badly. Turn on one side, hold your breath, push really hard with the ultrasound stick. Turn to the other side, more hard pushing. Lay on your back push even harder on your bladder. When I got back to the holding area, my pain was up to an 8. More Morphine given and then I went so loopy and could barely move. Cute Shani and my dad come up to the hospital with an over-night bag in case I ended up getting admitted over-night. My dad took Gary to get some food since we missed out on Easter dinner. Lots of people calling and some very concerned family and friends. The results of the ultrasound take a while to come back and the on-call OB doctor isn't happy. He calls in himself for the results and finds out I have a kidney stone. Really? I hardly drink any pop and I feel like I drink a lot of water. But I guess this is common in pregnancy.

I have two choices via the doctor. Go home with pain medicine and try to pass the stone by straining my own urine. Or, stay overnight in the hospital, get an IV and be started on a PCA pump (pain pump that I push manually on my own). I choose to go home with some Darvocet despite the warnings from many people that I should stay because this pain med isn't very strong and I would likely be back in the hospital with major pain. Being the stingy nurse that I am, I insist on going home and "promise to come back in" if the pain gets bad enough.

I'm still very dizzy but Gary gets me home and I eat some Easter dinner my dad had brought over for me. After a few bites, I throw up and decided it was just better to go to bed. My pain was about a 2 so I felt fine. I slept wonderfully and only had to take 2 pain pills through the night. I slept most of the day and when I finally got up today, I have still yet to feel any more pain. I have been straining my urine and haven't seen any stones (maybe I passed them at the hospital?). Hopefully the worse is over and that pain never comes back. I heard some feel that kidney stone pain is worse than labor. Really? Maybe I have a small idea what I will be going through with labor then.

Oh ya, as for the baby, he stopped kicking and moving very much. The nurse said the morphine affects him too. I'm supposed to make sure he moves 6 times in an hour though and if not, I'm supposed to immediately come back to the hospital. The nurse checked my cervix and it was fully closed (very good sign). She said the contractions can come from pain. My blood pressure went back to normal also after the second shot of Morphine. Thanks to all the family and friends who checked in and offered to help in any way possible. I have the best family and in-laws in the WORLD! I'm such a lucky girl. I love having a husband who is worthy to administer a priesthood blessing because I have no doubt in my mind, it helped and gave me so much comfort. I have my 7 month check up tomorrow with my OB and I'm glad he will check the baby out again. He needs to stay in and cook for at least 10-12 more weeks!!

Hawaii

So I'm going to brag for a moment. I have the dang cutest niece (and nephew!!!). My trip to Hawaii included strict beach time, hanging with the best sister-in-law in the world, and loving on my niece, Jeneveve. Forget pictures of the beach. I was too focused on this little one. She had me wrapped around her finger and I couldn't get enough of her. I had the most relaxing time and Annie catered to my every need and whim. We are both pregnant, easy going and just wanted to relax so we had a perfect time together. Well, in my eyes we did. It was hard to leave although I did miss Gary. Just wish my whole family could live in the same vicinity again. It's a dream and hopefully will happen one day. These pictures are a little obsessive and maybe only pictures my family can love. But I have to post them so I can look at them often and remember my awesome time. Thanks Annie and Jeneveve for being the perfect hostesses!!! I love you guys!

Jeneveve hated when Annie took a turn brushing her teeth but loved being a big girl and doing it herself.

She loved wearing my sun glasses.

Jeneveve at the beach looking cute

Jeneveve loved looking at all my pictures I had taken of her on my camera. She is so good at saying "cheese."

We took pictures at the Hawaiian temple

Asleep in the car

Just enjoying some Jamba juice. I think she got tired of me snapping pictures of everything she did! But her looks were priceless

Just posing in the water...which she was never afraid of

Loving my cell phone and mommy's hat. This little love is so good and smart. I think she only cried once. On my last day I was outside playing with her on a slide. When I had to take her off of the slide to come in for dinner, she cried and cried. Not an annoying cry. Just these big alligator tears that broke my heart. No kidding, she made me tear up. It was heart-wrenching!!

Busy, busy life

So I can't even begin to tell you how busy life has been lately. First of all, the progress on our house is coming along. After finding out the excavator dug our basement 2 feet too deep and we wouldn't quite have the daylight basement we were so looking forward to, I had my first break down over the house. It was a $30,000 dollar mistake, one that my dad and husband told me just could not be fixed. I do know our builder feels very bad about this ahem....MAJOR mistake (why couldn't it have been an extra wall or something???) and claims he will do something amazing with our landscape that should help. But, after thinking I wasn't going to have window wells on one half of my house, we now will. I'm sad about it...very sad. I'm just hoping it looks okay as my husband insists it will. I'm just a little more on edge these days about the things going on with building the house. I should chill because I have heard from many home builders that this isn't the first or last of the mistakes that will happen. Great....

Here are some pictures of the house being framed. I promise my next post will have pictures of the floor plan and what the front was, well, supposed to look like. It has been raining every time we go out to the house and walking through the mud hasn't been even close to ideal. So bear with the far away pictures. I knew there would be a lot of decisions with building a house but I really did have no idea. Tile, carpet, doors, handles, etc, etc, etc. Perfect for an already indecisive person!!!



Second bit of news, we were finally able to sell our townhouse. Wishing we could have gotten more for it but we both agreed it just wasn't going to happen. Our prayers were answered so we decided to take the deal and run. Except...the buyers want us out April 1st. Um, we closed on March 12th. We are trying to find a place to move now for 2 1/2- 3 months since our house won't be finished till late June.

On top of that, my awesome husband had agreed to let me go to Hawaii for a week from March 17th- March 24th. I am going to visit my sister-in-law Annie and niece Jeneveve whom I haven't seen since Disney world a year ago. My brother is off doing Army training for 6 weeks in California and begged any family member to go to Hawaii to spend time with Annie if possible. I asked Gary about it and he said he couldn't go but I sure could. I had frequent flyer miles and a free place to stay. So it was deal I couldn't say no to. I'm so excited but will be leaving Gary to do much packing and taking care of house business. Oh well, I really need the break. Work has been insane with respiratory season at the hospital and I have been working extra shifts trying to help out and save some extra money.

Last but not least, I had my big sixth month pregnancy check-up. The baby looks great...although he absolutely HATES any kind of pressure on my stomach. That included the ultrasound tech pushing on my tummy trying to get the little guy out of hiding. Every time she pushed, he kicked like crazy. And then as you can see, he wanted nothing to do with the camera. He is hiding his face and just wanted to be left alone. Our little guy kicks like crazy...all day long and late into the night. He hates nylons, spandex garments, tight shirts, pants, everything!! They take up his precious space. I like that he moves though because it makes me know he is alive and hopefully thriving. I feel like I am growing at an exponential rate although I hear that I am still small. I don't feel small. Maybe one day I will get a belly picture on here. My lower back has been KILLING me. The doctor gave me the great news that I am carrying the baby low and he is sitting far back under my organs and right on my tailbone. He asked me if my back ever hurt. Really? Three and a half more months of this? I hear it's only going to get worse. Now I can say I understand what mother's really go through to give life to a child. I wouldn't change it for the world though!

Sorry, the pictures aren't the best and it's true that these can only look cute to a mom and dad. But look at that fat lower lip....he may just take after me!


He definitely didn't want his picture taken and has a pretty big frown on his face

We have finally begun

This may be a boring post to many but to me and Gary, we couldn't be happier! It has taken us so long to find a lot, house plan, builder, and most of all...a loan! But that's all in the past now. We have finally started our new house and couldn't be more excited about the progress already made. We started the process on February 11th and hope to be done by the middle or end of June, just in time to bring a new baby home to our new house. Many more pictures will be posted along the way.

Our lot in Kaysville before the first shovel

Another angle

The process has begun!

A year ago today, I married my best friend in the Bountiful temple. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by, how much we have done, and how much we have to look forward to in the next year. We have been so blessed, that's for sure!!! I love this man SO MUCH!





Since we had been on so many trips this year and because our anniversary fell on a Sunday, we decided to celebrate Saturday. We spent the day looking at appliances and talking to the cabinet guy for our new house. No, we haven't even broken ground yet (that should happen this next week or the next at the latest!!) but decided to get a head start seeing how many decisions we have to make. And, with a baby that will be due about the time we will be moving into our new house, we thought it best to get some ideas and find out what's in our budget early.

The best part of our day came later that night. We went to Provo to go to of course...the Olive Garden. We had a delicious meal then met my dad at the BYU vs. Utah basketball game. What an exciting game and of course, the Cougs won! Plus, I really thought I felt our baby move inside of me for the first time tonight. We were at the game and the feeling was different from what I have usually felt. I am convinced our little guy knew we were on BYU's campus and he was excited knowing he would be playing football or basketball here one day! Hey, a mother can dream, can't she?

It was a great day and I can't explain how much I love my husband. He has taken care of and put up with me for a year (not an easy task for anyone, I assure you!) now and I hope we have many, many more years of blissful marriage to come!!! I love you babe!

I have a pet-peeve...a BIG one! It has bugged me for many years and I am just going to vent!

My husband and I show up at church yesterday to enjoy sacrament and the speakers. The first counselor gets up to announce the meeting and proceeds to say, "There have been a few changes to the program. The couple that was supposed to speak has been hit with some illness in their home. So we have 2 youth speakers we will hear from and then the bishopric will share some thoughts. Then we would like to hear testimonies and thoughts on Family Home Evening from the following people, Jadee Hallman..." blah blah blah! Are you KIDDING me? I hate when the bishopric throws inpromtu testimonies in a meeting to fill up the time and pull people from the congregation. Those surprises are the worst and when I find out they are going to do that (the single's ward bishopric's are pros at this), I squirm in my seat and will myself to be invisible. I wasn't so lucky yesterday.

For those of you who know me, know I hate public speaking. I hate microphones and I hate people staring at me. Gary and I spoke earlier last year and as much as I hated it, I got to think about what I wanted to say and when my mind went blank in front of all those people (who yes, I'm sure don't listen and don't remember a word you say), I had my talk written out in front of me and I could read it. Of course I have a testimony and especially one of FHE but don't expect me to be able to say what's really in my heart when you have ripped me out of my comfortness. And by the way, some people don't stand up and bear their testimonies on purpose. They are personal and to me, I want to stand up when the Spirit is urging me to, not cuz my name is called. Plus, what if someone doesn't have a testimony and their name gets called? Awkward...!

Sorry but thanks for letting me vent. Some will read this and say, "Get over it. It's not that big of a deal" but to me it is. My dad is in his ward's bishopric and I hope this lets him know how some of us feel. Or maybe not....he really likes the microphone and can't see why others don't too. Ha ha.