Big Belly Time!

Paul has taken a picture of me almost every week of the pregnancy to document the growth of this now HUGE belly... below is my most recent picture- 35 weeks! As of Sunday I'll be 36 weeks. Its crazy how fast its been going. I remember trying on some of my sister-in-law's maternity tops when I was first pregnant, thinking 'this will never fit' and now having to buy larges because some of her stuff is too small!! Its such a big change that happened sooo quickly. We were out shopping tonight and I actually shocked myself and did a doubletake when I walked by a mirror, haha.

The trouble with scrapbooking...

...when you're eight months pregnant is all the hunching over and trying to lean over a table. My back is aching!!! Oh well... that's pretty much the trouble with everything when you're eight months pregnant. I've gotta figure out some kind of system to bring it all to the couch.

Here's a few more pics of the two latest pages I made...

Dinner at the Dufilhos

I seriously married the greatest man ever... I mean REALLY. Not only are we so in love, BUT he cooks dinner every night. No really, EVERY night! I know, I know, can you believe how lucky I got?? Especially seeing as how I was never interested in learning how to cook and the only time I ever cooked for myself (one semester in college) my main utensil (don't even know if its considered a utensil??) of choice was a George Foreman grill. I would buy a package of fresh chicken breasts, put the whole thing in the freezer, then thaw all of them out, use one, and freeze the rest again. Yeah I made myself sick once and then learned you aren't supposed to do that...oops. Who knew??!! Anyway, my knight in "shining armour" came without the sword and armour but with an apron and a rubber spatula. Ha! Here are a few pics of our fantastic dinner tonight...turkey meatloaf, sweet potato fries, and brocolli... and this is pretty much like every night around here.

(I would like for it to be known that I offer to help him almost every night and he always says no... wonder why? Also, I pretty much always do the dishes afterward, which is sometimes a pretty big job considering the culinary adventures that take place in there!!!)

Choose Your Candidate Quiz

Things always get difficult to me when it comes to voting... I consider myself fairly smart and well-educated, but when it comes to voting I'm always stumped!!! I never feel like I truly know what each candidate stands for and how I truly feel about the issues involved. It just seems like a popularity contest and I'm sooo sick of all the commercials aimed at trying to get us to love one candidate and hate another. I mean, really, who would fall for that??!!
In the past, to be honest, I just would not vote, rather than face making some kind of huge decision that I felt completely unprepared to make. I'm trying to really change that this year and get informed...

Paul found an interesting website today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/candidatequiz/

It has a bunch of questions that the presidential candidates were asked and you select which answer you most agree with. You can rate your answers on how important they are to you. So if you're like me and having trouble making up your mind, it could be really helpful!

Warning, the quiz is pretty long, and to get the full benefit of it, you really need to read the full answer each candidate gives. I think I'm going to go back and even re-read some of those answers. I'm on the road to informed voting!

Sane is Good

Thanks to the two of you that viewed my first blog entry and commented! :)

The other night, Paul and I were having a conversation... well really I was just talking a lot and he was listening (for the most part). I was trying to convey to him the emotions of this stage of pregnancy for me right now- the excitement, the exhaustion, the uncomfortableness, the anxiety, the desire to hold and see our baby, etc- and I kind of ended up describing it like feeling like I was a cat trapped in a box and then I did a weird hissing/claw motion to demonstrate. Come on, can't anyone relate? Well Paul could not. He laughed hysterically at me while I half laughed/half cried and then got up to pee for the 30th time that night.

Sooo after that conversation, I decided I needed to do something to keep my sanity. So I started a scrapbook! Now I am really not the scrapbooking type, but I have tons of materials and even a kit my mom got me when we first found out we were pregnant. So I literally spent 3-4 hours tonight scrapbooking! And loved it! So I told Paul that this will be my project this week so that I can stay sane. He responded with "Sane is good." I agree. :) I'm trying out the pictures in the blog thing, so hopefully you can see the beginnings of my sanity.

Okay I'm in!

After weeks (okay months) of reading (okay being hooked on reading) my sister-in-law and her sister and all their friends' blogs, I'm in! I'm officially starting my own blog! Just trying to get all the basics down, and who knows who will ever read this, but... here goes:



My name is Bethany. I've been married for almost FOUR years to my wonderful husband, Paul who I am madly in love with!!! We are expecting our first baby, a boy, Charlie Alexander, in only FIVE weeks. So crazy. Actually one of the reasons I'm starting this blog is for me to release some of the nervous energy I have right now. And then I promise it won't turn it to an "all about baby" page, but will have to include some of that stuff of course!!!



Okay well that's about it for my first post... I'm going to figure out how to put some pictures up and get a cooler background and then I'll be all set! Please make me feel welcome to the blogger world, I'm a little shy! :)