The secret code

I made eye contact with another pregnant girl on campus today.  There's a certain camaraderie that exists between pregnant women, especially third-trimester pregnant women on college campuses.  Like a secret code.  We communicated to each other with our brief eye contact and friendly little smile and half-nod.  It was like we both said, "You're having a baby a few weeks before finals too? That stinks. Good luck." Or maybe like, "Do you also have to pause to catch your breath every 30 steps?" or "So how do you enjoy being a classic BYU stereotype?"

I remember one of my first days of school my freshman year.  I had class in the SWKT, in one of those big auditorium classrooms.  The first thing I noticed was how many married people were in my class.  It was so weird! I thought, I can't possibly be old enough to go to school with married people. This is too weird.  I remember sitting in a seat and realizing the guy sitting next to me had a wedding ring on.  The whole class all I could think about was, am I not supposed to sit here? Is there some unwritten rule that you don't sit next to married people? Does he think it's weird that I sat next to him? It wasn't on purpose! It's the first seat I saw!  The other thing I noticed was how many pregnant women were waddling about on campus.  I distinctly remember thinking: that will not be me.  

Not that I wasn't excited about marriage and kids, but just watching some of those women shuffle to their classes with their heavy backpacks and largely protruding bellies didn't look ideal.  I almost feel bad telling this story because I think about how happy I am to have my own protruding belly, heavy backpack, and yes, very distinct waddle.  I definitely didn't think I would be here while I was still in college, but I feel so lucky that I am!

At 34 weeks I am:

-Sleeping about 1 1/2 hours at a time

-Going through Tums like they're sour cream and onion Pringles

-Always craving sour cream and onion Pringles

-Unable to eat anything citrus (it burns my throat too bad and makes my ever-present heartburn increase to an unbearable level)

-Reading about a page every couple days out the book "What To Expect When You're Expecting," and then getting too scared, having a little breakdown, and making Blake read the rest.....only to repeat this cycle every 3-4 days.

-Stressing out over not having a name yet.

-Using three very strategically placed pillows to sit comfortably at a chair and avoid the constant stabbing pain in the middle of my back.  (Middle of my back? That is the weirdest spot to have back pain.  How does that even happen?)

-Nesting like a crazy person (read: the inside of my fridge is seriously SO CLEAN!) 

-Getting a lot of funny stares from freshmen on campus
-Hoping that the non-maternity shirts and pants I've been wearing will shrink back to normal after this pregnancy.

And another picture, because every time someone pulls a camera out, I instinctively turn to the side to give them the classic pregnancy shot.  Sign #432 that pregnancies last too long. Six more weeks, come on baby!

Little Brother

I miss my brother.  My darling little younger brother Sean is serving in the Spain, Malaga mission.  I miss him so much! It's pretty cool he's in Malaga because Blake served in Barcelona, and the church has since changed the mission boundaries so Sean gets to serve in a few of Blake's old areas. 

Sean's emails are always so uplifting.  It is such a neat experience to hear his stories illustrating how the Spirit of God works through his servants to answer prayers and provide help to people who need it.  The gospel is just so amazing.  There are simply too many amazing "coincidences" that happen in our lives to not be attributed to Heavenly Father. 

In his last letter, he sent home some pictures of his most recent baptism.  A little 8 year old boy in his ward asked Sean to baptize him.  When I saw this picture, I could not stop laughing.  Sean is 6'6".  While his awesome height served him very well in his basketball career, and is not out of the ordinary for our very tall family, or even for America, it seems the people in Spain aren't used to it.  

This is a picture the father of the baptized boy took of the baptism:

Sean looks great, doesn't he? Really happy and healthy.  Love that haircut.

Oh poor Sean, but this is the world's best picture.  

He let us know that somebody else took this next picture:

Oh I miss my cute little brother.  Sean is a great missionary and he's working really hard.  I miss him to death but I'm so grateful for his decision to serve a mission.  His example of selfless service influences me every day.

Football, Basketball, Baseball...

I was organizing some of our baby clothes a few nights ago, (Oh my goodness! There are SO MANY adorable little boy clothes! I am so excited!) and it reminded me of something that happened after my baby shower a few weeks ago.

I was opening my present from my sweet friend Jennica, and she got me the cutest little sports outfits.  Most of the onesies had footballs on it, and Jennica said, 

"I bought all these outfits with Blake in mind.  I made sure they had footballs on them so they could be Blake-approved."

I told Blake about it when I brought all my cute presents home and was telling him what was from who.  When I told him what my friend said, Blake said,

"Well he doesn't have to have ALL football stuff..." just as I was wondering what happened to Blake, and when did he suffer a personality-altering head injury, he said "He can have baseball and basketball stuff too."

That's more like it.  I was worried there for a minute!

We are getting so excited! Our little guy squirms around all day long and every time I see my alien belly morph, I get even more excited to see him in about 8 1/2 weeks.  (8 1/2 weeks! How did this happen so fast?)

blondes vs. brunettes

A little story:

There are six girls in my family, including my mom, and five of us are blonde. Stephanie was born with beautiful dark brown hair, which, although stunning, also caused her to be mistaken for a neighbor child most of her life.

"Now who are you?"

"I'm Stephanie, I'm one of the Petersons."

"Oh no you're not, the Peterson girls are blonde!"

Or

"Now when did you dye your hair?"

Stephanie's hair is gorgeous, and she loves that it's one of the attributes that makes her look the most like our beautiful grandma; but I'm sure this conversation she has on repeat with every distant relative and former ward members gets old.

 

When Blake and I were engaged, Steph realized I would be the only blonde in a family of brunettes.  She thought it was so funny that someone else was finally going to experience a fraction of the case of mistaken identity she went through her whole life.

The Steeles took family pictures a few weeks ago... can you spot the blonde? I showed this to Steph at my baby shower. She felt vindicated.

In other news, I'm now 31 weeks pregnant. I can't believe I only have 9 weeks left.  We're getting so excited! It's really crazy to watch this active little boy distort my stomach all day long.  He doesn't stop moving for a minute, (and if he does, then he gets the hiccups) which makes my stomach look like something out of Alien.  We're having a blast getting his room ready.  Now if anyone has any name suggestions, go ahead and send them our way.  We are really struggling here!

Showers!

First of all, my new blog design is courtesy of the great Darrian Watts, one of my co-workers and web designer extraordinaire.  She designs blogs and websites as part of her business, so if you're in the market, look her up and see some of her work.  You can find her here.  She is amazing and extremely talented.  Also, since she's still a student, her rates are incredibly low. 

The last few weeks have been so much fun.  Blake and I have been focusing on getting ready for mini-Blake to arrive.  We've been painting, cleaning, organizing, and preparing and we're getting so excited! I, of course, am so nervous about the labor, (have you met me? I can't believe I've remained conscious the last few times I've had to get my blood drawn.) So thank heavens for epidurals, in fact, I think I'll go ahead and get one now if you don't mind--you know, just to be safe and make sure it kicks in in time... ten weeks early.

Part of our preparation included baby showers! One of my best friends Jennica threw me a really fun shower, and then my mom and sisters threw me another one a few days later. I have such great friends and family, I had the best time at my showers!












All the Peterson girls with Mom and Honey

I had a blast, thank you so much everyone!


And a blurry 30 week picture for your viewing pleasure.