the babe

is 34 weeks old!
not that great of a pic but you get the idea.



So, I guess this little guy weighs as much as your regular cantaloupe...so it's a bit frustrating when the scale says I have gained much more than just what a regular cantaloupe weighs. grrrr.

Other things that i'm experiencing and they say it's 'normal'.....

• Back aches? yep. this started about 2 weeks ago. i was teaching summer school and bent over and about fell to my knees. it.hurt.bad. come to find out, this is normal?? to have your back hurt this bad??
  

• puffy feet, ankles, and legs?...you bet! this is the worst part of pregnancy thus far.....they don't even look human anymore. i thought i would be able to pull off the cute skirts and dresses this summer. nope. not this girl. its long pants and maxi dress all summer long, 98 degrees and all.
  

• hemorrhoids? got 'em. ok sorry readers but it's the truth. i won't go into details for your sake :) lets just say its not that comfortable and kinda painful. ok i'm done i promise.

• leg cramps? yes please. this only happens at night though like 2am night. remember getting charley horse cramps, this is what its like but only every night. just a bit annoying is all and maybe some pain.

• stretch marks? unfortunately. what a bummer. i was fortunate enough to not have them until about a month or so ago. i have like 5 on each side of my stomach. i am so hoping they magically go away after baby mason gets here......am i dreaming??? probably.

• its totally weird how much your body changes for a sweet little babe. although not all the changes are that beautiful....at least in my view. puffy non-human feet/ankles? come on people! that is not beautiful!!!!

off subject tid-bit......
so our house is super deeeeduper hot. let me re-phrase that, our upstairs is super deeeeduper hot. and our little mason is going to be sleeping up there. poor wittle guy. i want to be a swaddler kind of mom. meaning i want to swaddle him with the recieving blanket (i hear it is supposed to make babies less fussie, i'm ALL for that!!!). this is the part that i have been struggling with....our upstairs is like 90 degrees and if he is swaddled in a hot flannel blanket, won't he croak?? not literally, but really, won't he be smokin hot? so i think i found a 'cooler' way to swaddle our little babe.....there are other designs and colors too, which are way better. if you want to check them out for yourself they are at lunalullaby.com

Features of the soothing blanket:

• 100% softest quality cotton muslin
• Fabric weave specially designed to breathe easily
• Lightweight fabric allows baby's temp to regulate
• Stretchable fabric provides a snug swaddle
• So i'm thinking it's kinda like cheese cloth material just a little heavier???
  

so all in all, i think these would be better for little mason while it's smokin' hot upstairs...then once it gets cold, i'll switch to a flannel blanket....

i think i'm gonna head to lincoln next week to buy me some soothing swaddle blankets!!! happier baby, happier mommy :) :)

peace out yo. xoxox.

touring....

the hospital for mason...
wish i could say a sweet country or something, but no, just the hospital. where the whole havin a babe is gonna take place.

we will be taking some classes this summer to really find out how scary having a babe REALLY is. we needed to fill out a bunch of paperwork so we can have you wittle mason. they gave us some info on classes to take, such as a breathing class. i hear that is the most crucial part of havin the babe. in this class they will also talk about how scary havin a babe is (at least in my point of view), the pain meds and how they work. breastfeeding classes are an option too, mason you are gonna be one healthy babe...hopefully this breast feeding thing works, we need to save some $$$....pretty sure you can't buy formula at TJ Maxx!! :) haha i wish cuz it would probably be cheaper :) once we were finished with the paperwork part and classes part, we headed out for the tour. the grand tour. evidently your daddy thought this havnin a babe is pretty scary.

the first room we went to was Labor Room #1. There were many 'things' in that room that i didn't know about and kinda felt dumb about....but in my defense, haven't done this before, DUH! I thought dad was tired of standing this whole time BUT really he was about to pass out flat on the floor. i glanced at him and he had lost all of his color in his face. ghostly white :/ yikes. the nurse lady asked him 'are you alright?' and his response was 'i just feel like im gonna faint.' the nurse kinda chuckles and says, 'are you kidding with me?', 'are you serious?' she really thought he was joking around. he shook his head and his face said NO! mason, im not sure if your dad is gonna make it when you enter this world. he hopes he can and i hope he can too because you are too precious not to see right away :) your me-ma gowen said she would be the back up!! you will love your harley drivin me-ma :) :)

side note: he can skin a buck, butcher a hog, all those manly things....BUT....can't see a stitch of human blood or be around needles.

we finally got finished touring Labor Room #1, and the nurse has the nerve to ask your father if he wanted to tour the C-Section room....what do you think his answer was??? Nope i'll stay here and wait. poor guy. he just can't handle even thinking about what happens when i have you, mason.

just wanted to let you know mason, your dad is so in love with you already. he CAN NOT wait to watch football games with you....you will know all player positions before your 1!!! :) he also likes to feel you squirm, kick, and move at night (yes you move TONS at night time) don't make that a habit that you are up late at night....pretty ppplllleeeaaassssssssseeeee!!! your mom needs her sleep in order to not be a bear :)

love you mason

pretty sure ted will like having.....

a little boy around...

he is so good with young kids. our nephews love him. and he seems so stress free around them.

so last weekend sandy and clayto had to pack for a weekend out of town, the boys and all. packing for herself, clayton, keither, AND ethan seems overwhelming...to me. that's why i called her up to see if i needed to take keither off her hands for the night while she tries to pack everything. thankfully she must have felt the same overwhelming-ness. i picked him up at 4ish thursday afternoon and headed for the villa...
ahhh, i love living in the ville :) so quiet. so stress-free away from work. so simple.

keither wanted a ride on "teds motorcycle" which in adult words means teds four-wheeler. but me-ma has a motorcycle so ted probably does too??? im so mad at myself for not getting a snappy on my camera.....but i got a mower shot. he loves to mow.




he.loves.keith
keither may even be a professional mower someday? i mean he practically mowed the whole lawn at the ripe 'ole age 2!! :)

living in the ville, you can do these things......things that kids in the city don't get to experience......

start off with the no shirt just shorts....then u get too wet




....end up in just a diaper




drink from the garden hose....letting it run for a bit first of course to get the dirt out.....city folk wouldnt like this....



maybe even drink out of the dogs water bucket...keither's thinking "bentley can drink from here, why can't i?


fill the bird bath...




no shoes. no shirt. no problem. mon. hehe
and PLAY play play :)

life in the ville, it's great. fun memories with sisters. fun memories with cousins. fun memories with the ribbens family.

our baby before the babe.

and so began my love affair.......

with water

it's totally true....my momma has always said i was a fish when i was in water....i guess i just have a secret love affair with it (don't tell ted about the affair please?!?) haha

so my sweet cousin kelsey, her volleyball friend, and i headed our way up to calamus lake. ted was gone for the weekend golfing with friends. i hate being home by myself when he isn't there, i get lonely. so i called kels and asked what she was up to, and we decided to road trip to burwell :) ahhhhhh i love the lake and i love the sun :) mason may get kinda toatsy but im getting a tan :) haha im not selfish am i?!?!?!



while we were tanning, we dug and dug and dug.....kels you almost fit in the sand pit!


look at those hot bods...then there is me and my preg self :) can't wait to have my 'normal' body back!!! but mase you are WORTH it. i.love.you.


i so wish we could afford a boat so we could live at the lake every weekend in the summer....then i could continue my love affair....with water.

reminiscing about

summa so far :)

so i have some issues with posting current events...so far weeks have gone by with not postings :( so for this posting we are just gonna do some reminiscing :) and i may or may not do this again....probably the "may" part. It will give me the opportunity to post things that have come and gone....wether it be from just a few weeks ago or months ago :) "reminiscing" sounds much more classier than "i'm a procrastinator who takes forever to post." right?!?!?!

So! Let's reminise!

I would love to tell you about our weekend trip to lincoln for our friend Reid and McKenzie's wedding...which has been 2 1/2 weeks ago. Very fun weekend, it reminded me of our wedding. it.was.fun.sweet.lovely. ted was a groomsman for reid man....a very hot groomsman that is. i was the guestbook lady, plump and all :)



because ted was a groomsman, he got to ride the party bus. and guess what? reid and kenz were so kind to let me tag along :) sippin' on some o'doules :) :) yummy :) ted got a snappy of me sippin' on gin and juice hahahaha



one of our favorite couples:) love you stine and eric :)



he makes my heart happy :)



happy 1st birthday cooper!!!!! just don't mind the slight boob action



life is good!!

at longfellow

we have families

yep! we sure do. each teacher has a family group. it kinda reminds me of manna camp :) (spelling not so sure about).

each month we meet with our families and travel around the world. we talk about customs, ways of life, food, and traditions during our fun family group times. but today we went to the park for some fun :) the kiddos had a blastzzooo, yo. here are some snappy's of the trip!!

sidewalk chalk....always a hit with the female population :)



remember mr. beave??? yep his daughter is in the middle :)



my buddy, he will be moving on to 4th grade so i won't have him next year :(



peace, yo.





fan of the peace sign, yep yep!



this girl has the cutest hair everrrrr!! :)





his engineering hat....so he says....



moral of the story:
families are fun, even at school.
the kiddos LOVE fam time.
especially when there are treats.
kids need fams :)

we've been married

one whole year!!!!!!

yesterday was our one year anniversary!! This year has gone so fast and so many great 'first things' have happened in this one year! Got married, got new jobs, bought our first home, and being so every excited about our first baby!!!!! whew!

as i look back at this year, we have grown so much as a husband and wife.

before we were married, we took a class at church called Love and Respect. what this means is that we don't get in the CRAZY cycle! we stay in the love and respect cycle. see when i, as a wife respect my husband, he in turn loves me, when he loves me, i in return will respect him. and the cycle continues :)

the crazy cycle is bad. when i as his wife don't respect him, he in turn will not love me, and because he doesn't love me, i will more likely not respect him. that is bad.

do we try really hard to work the Love and Respect cycle? yep.
does it work ALL the time? nope
do we have to forgive and be the 'bigger' person at times? yep yep. sometimes i hate that i have to be the bigger person but it is the right thing to do.
is it WAY more fun being in the l&r cycle? you betcha! :)

anyways enough of that.

on our anniversary day we spent the WHOLE day together :) we went to church. then we went to his parents house for a quick lunch....yummy. and then the big whooper came. we went kayaking.

this is an under statement.....we got fried. like we dipped our bodies in the deep fat fryer. this is ouchie-wawa.

i don't even think the pictures do its justice.



ok. yes you are seeing this right....i don't have a shirt on but this was the only way you were going to get the full effect. my tum is just as red....i hope i didn't cook little mase.

i took off the rated 'R' picture....wasn't sure if other people could see or not. don't think ted was real comfortable with it :)

and my mom-inlaw took some snappys of us three (ted, me, and bentley) right away when we got in the river....but they are on her camera so im not sure if i will ever see those pics :( i will try to get them from her cammy.

moral of the story:
wear sunscreen.