28 weeks and 5 days

Okay Julie, here is the picture you've been asking for! Isn't my tummy just huge? Love ya!

28 weeks and one day!

Wow! We are finally into our third trimester! Thinking about how we only have 12 weeks to go makes me realize how much more I still need to do before I'll be ready for this little girl to come! According to my What to Expect When You're Expecting book, our little Rachel is about 16 inches long and she weighs 2 1/2 pounds, and her skill of the week is . . . blinking! I love talking to Jacob and speculating what our little girl will be like and what she will look like! We are just so excited for her! Also this month our little girl is now longer than my uterus so from now on she will officially be in the fetal position which I thought was pretty interesting to know.

There isn't really too much else going on with us. Jacob and I are both getting pretty excited for Labor Day weekend when part of his family is going to come and visit us for a few days. I'm afraid they will all be a little crowded in our little house, but I think it will be a lot of fun! We are excited to see everyone that can make it!

The weather this week has been so nice! Normally we don't see the sun in the morning, and we are lucky if it comes out to play in the afternoon, but everyday this week so far we have had a nice bit of sun and yesterday it actually got up to about 84 degrees here which is the hottest I have ever felt it be here in Monterey! We actually had to turn on the AC for the first time since moving into this house over a year ago! I'm loving the sunshine, except the first day the sun was out I was excited and took a walk on the beach and didn't even think about putting sunscreen on and I got sunburned, so I haven't been able to enjoy the sun the rest of the week quite as much as I would have liked to!

Jacob is doing pretty good in school, but Korean all day everyday is a bit much for him. He is getting kind of sick of Korean. On the bright side he only has 8 weeks until he takes his test and graduates! We've really liked it here in Monterey, but it will be nice to move on to our next adventures!

Rachel's First Sugar Rush

Earlier this week, I had to go in and be tested to see if I have gestational diabetes. For those who don't know how this test is done, you have to be fasting before hand and they give you a drink that is choc full of sugar and make you wait an hour before they draw your blood and check and see what your sugar level is. Well it was really funny because about 15-20 minutes after I drank my drink my little Rachel girl got really really wiggly! I have never felt her be as wiggly as she was that morning. She was literally bouncing off of the walls in there, and she kept wiggling for probably about a half an hour. She must have really liked all of the sugar in that drink. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud there in the waiting room as I felt her moving so much! It almost made me want to go back and do it again. Almost, but not quite because my stomach definitely rebelled the rest of the day from the abuse I put it through from the fasting for so long and then giving it nothing more than a gross sugary drink until almost 10 in the morning! I just thought it was exciting that our baby got her first sugar rush!

27 Weeks!

Wow! Just 13 more weeks to go before I get to hold my little Rachel girl! At times, that seems like forever away, but at other times it seems way too close and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for it! Meanwhile my tummy is getting bigger and bigger (Sorry no picture this week.) According to my What to Expect book, our little Rachel girl weighs just over 2 pounds and is about 15 inches long. This week she is finally being measured from her head to her toes instead of her head to her rump like she has been. Also according to my book, she has more taste buds now than she will have when she is born (or anytime thereafter) so she should react to the changes in flavor of the amniotic fluid. I thought that was pretty funny. It says If I eat something spicey it could even give her hiccups! I haven't felt her have the hiccups yet, but I think that will be fun. I just love this little girl and think she is so fun already! She kicks whenever she is a little squished, whether it is because my bladder is full, I've eaten too much, or I'm just in a position that limits her space! I just love to feel her wiggle inside me! I think it will be so much fun to actually get to see her wiggling when she comes out instead of just feeling her! We love you our little Rachel girl!

What's new ***Warning this is a long one!***

There isn't a whole lot of new things going on with us right now. Mostly we've just been hanging out here in good old Monterey waiting for the time to pass. We are very excited and nervous about becoming parents and we are very excited for Jacob to graduate! I know we still have a couple of months before either of those things happen, but they have been in our thoughts a lot lately. Jacob finally got to feel our little Rachel move! It was so exciting! Usually what has been happening is I will feel her wiggling so I'll have Jacob put his hand on my tummy and as soon as he does she stops wiggling. Then when he takes his hand off my stomach, she starts wiggling again. I think we have a little tease on our hands already!

Last week I got to go visit family in Southern Utah and I had so much fun! It was nice to get to see all of my nieces and nephews that were in town and to get to spend some time with my parents, sisters, brother, and in-laws!

It was so funny, my visit happened to land on my niece Eden's birthday so I got to play with her for her fourth birthday. She had been so excited because she got to pick what they were having for dinner that night, but she played so hard during the day that she fell asleep at the dinner table before she even took one bite of her hot dog! What a cute little Eden Girl!

It is sad living so far away from my nieces and nephews! They change and grow up so fast and you miss so much if you aren't close by! During this visit I finally got to meet my niece Joy. She was born in April and I hadn't seen her except in pictures until last week! She is so cute and everything on her is round! She has the sweetest little spirit about her! It was fun to get to hold her and cuddle her! My sweet little Sydney niece is so funny and cute! She loves to set up the kitchen chairs in a straight line and she makes everyone sit in them and pretend they are watching a "big movie." She just cracks me up. Also when she saw my big tummy with a baby in it she started to pretend that she had a baby elephant in her tummy and she would stick it out as far as she could. My nephew Tolman is starting 2nd grade this week! I can't believe he is so big! And Kimball starts Kindergarten this week! In my mind they totally shouldn't be old enough to do that! It was really cute, Tolman made me a couple of little presents while I was there. One thing he made was a "doll" out of a water bottle. He taped red yarn to the top for the hair and taped a paper skirt to it! It was pretty funny! Kimball is as always very sweet. He is always whispering in my ear telling me how cute and sweet I am. He also told me that when he is grown up and has a baby he is going to name it Mary and he is going to let me hold it when I come over. Tait is so cute! He was talking up a storm while I was there. He is carrying on conversations and he is so sweet with his baby sister and he says the funniest things. I can harldy believe how big my nephew Brock is getting! It seems like not too long ago he was just a little baby, but now he is definitely a little boy who is learning new words and letters and he gives the sweetest little kisses. I wish I could see Julies kids too! It's been a long time since I've seen them! I'm sure they are getting big and changing as well. It wasn't a long enough trip to get to see everyone as much as I wanted to, but it I was ready to get to be with Jacob again.

Jacob finally got phase grad today! This means he only has to go to one early morning formation a week instead of two and that he only has to go do the group exercise with his flight once a week instead of the three times a week he has been doing! It will be nice to have a little extra time with him at home!

Speaking of Jacob, he went in this week to talk to the people in charge about us staying here a little longer after he graduates and fortunately the person he talked to this time was pregnant so she was quite sympathetic to our plight. She emailed some people to see if there is anyway that we can stay here and not have to report to Texas until after Christmas. That would be so nice if we can get that to work out! She told Jacob if he hasn't heard back from her in two weeks to go back in and talk to her and see if we can figure out what is going on. It would be fun to get to stay here a little bit longer and to be able to go visit our family a little bit during that time! Hopefully it will all work out that way!