Keebler Elves

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been incredibly busy. I went to NJ the last week of July to attend the Billy Joel/Elton John concert with my mom and visit with my brother, Danny, and Uncle Ed. The show was so awesome! What an amazing experience! They played all the songs I wanted them to and more! It was also really nice getting to spend time with family.

23 rows from stage!



I got home Saturday night and left Monday morning for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a field course. I had a lot of reservations about taking the class, considering how bad I've been feeling, and all of the hiking I'd have to do. I also didn't know ANYONE going into the trip, so I was pretty nervous about that. Seeing as I'm not the most athletic or outgoing person, it was definitely a challenge for me, but I saw that as a good thing. For the most part, the experience was awesome! I learned a lot about the environment there and different aspects of the park. The hiking was really great, except for one trip we took to monitor salamanders. It was hot that day and such a steep hike, that I got winded almost immediately and had to use my inhaler. Then I got some pains in my stomach. To make matters worse, on the way down I definitely fell. Thankfully I slid down my leg and landed on my hip/butt. I was so afraid I had hurt the baby, because they stressed to me so much the importance of not falling. I'm not bleeding though and have felt no major pains, so I'm hoping everything is ok. Otherwise it was gorgeous there and a great experience.




While I was gone Aaron finally got his scooter. He's been riding it around town like a mad man! And it motivated him to fix our garage door opener! yay!


Tomorrow I'll be 13 weeks pregnant. I told Aaron I had gotten an email saying our baby was 3 inches long, which they compared to the size of a Nutter Butter. We joked about how it's basically the size of a Keebler Elf. haha. My nausea has been pretty intense this week. I thought it was supposed to get better! I've recently started burping a lot, and I am definitely not the kind of person who really does that, so that's been weird. I feel constantly thirsty, even though I drink more water in a day than seems physically possible. My chest and stomach are definitely bigger. I wore jeans the other day, and even though I could zip and button them, I was very uncomfortable the whole night. I feel so chubby and gross. My stomach actually looked pretty lopsided earlier today, and was more rounded on the left side (as I'm looking down on it). I wonder if that is where Baby Luther is sitting! I can't believe I am almost 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy! As I'm getting bigger, I am constantly worried that what I do is hurting it. It's kind of frustrating to feel that way, and makes me anxious for our next appointment to make sure everything is ok. Do other pregnant woman worry this much? This week I've also been pretty emotional. I'm a pretty emotional person by nature, but haven't really felt since I've been pregnant that I've had any unusual mood swings until this week (not, of course, counting crying at movies, which I do a lot anyway...haha). Hopefully that won't last for the whole pregnancy! I'm still getting full really quickly when I eat, but feel hungry a lot. I got a craving today for icecream with cookie dough, brownies, and m&ms. It made me think of a time I was staying with Nicole and Alana and we made something like this. I miss those girls! So, I treated myself to some. As soon as I finished it I wanted orange soda and skittles. What the heck?! I guess Baby Luther has its daddy's sweet tooth! haha.

I start school again on Tuesday. I managed to fit five classes between Tuesday and Thursday of the week. It feels so weird going back to school full time! I'm really looking forward to it though. I'll also be a Teaching Assistant for Marine Sciences again this year, so I'll be pretty busy. Thankfully, I might have a chance to pick up health insurance through the university because I'm TAing, which would include my pregnancy! If it works out, we won't have to pay COBRA, and it'll save us so much money! Cross your fingers for us! We'll find out this week, I hope.

If I think of anything else, I'll put it in the next post. It's getting pretty late, and I'm still exhausted most of the time, so I should head to bed. I promise it won't be such a long gap before my next post!