Fast Forward

Fast forward a few weeks and here we are at 32 out of 40 weeks! Wow! That's eight months! Months eight and nine are left to go and my belly's got a lot of stretching to do during that time...

I would have kept the belly photos coming but both our laptops quit working. Mine died about a month ago. When you turned the computer on, everything would start up/wake up like normal except the screen didn't work. We took it to a local computer place and still haven't heard back - I'm guessing it's bad news or else they would have contacted us sooner. So when the same thing happened to Zach's laptop a few weeks later, we said, "Forget the local place. We're taking it to the Apple Store." And we're SO GLAD we did! They had great service and we had our laptop back all fixed, cleaned, and shined up in THREE days! Now to get mine back and take it to Apple too. Hmmm.

28 weeks

29 weeks

Somehow I missed a 30 week belly photo, but you get the idea - it gets bigger each week.

31 weeks

She wiggles and squirms in there just about all day. She's had the hiccups several times! :) Her favorite spot is under my ribs on the right side. Which I think pushes some other organ out of place because I've been getting an annoying pain in my back/shoulder muscle on that side.

It's starting to get to an uncomfortable point - it's hard to tie my shoes because I can't bend over so well. Sleeping is getting harder for several reasons 1. side sleeping is my only option and I haven't found a good pillow to prop the belly up yet so it sags and feels weird and 2. I have to go to the bathroom more often oh, and 3. I wake up SUPER hungry. In all honesty though, I really can't complain much. I'm not nauseous and vomiting, my ankles (or other body parts) aren't swollen, I'm not on bedrest, and she's healthy.

I do find it interesting that I'm touching or pushing on my stomach all the time now. I used to wonder why pregnant ladies were always touching their bellies and now I know. For one, the belly is just in the way of all the old places you used to put your hands: in your lap, on your hips, arms crossed. And now when you do those same motions, you touch the belly almost by accident because it's just there. The other reason I keep touching my belly is to try to move her pokey little body out from under my ribs! She's constantly in there and it hurts! The only problem is that when I try to push her, she pushes back - which hurts even more! I'm hoping this is not a sign of what personality type she is going to have...

Enough baby talk for now.

My best friend, Candace came up to Michigan from South Carolina last weekend to visit for the weekend and come to my baby shower! (I'll post some pictures from that later.) Her connecting flight from Cincinnati to Grand Rapids got canceled on Thursday so she had to spend the night in Cincinnati then fly out Friday morning. It all worked out okay and we were still able to meet up with some of our college friends for lunch! We all went to Michigan State and were in Spartan Christian Fellowship together. Some of us lived together our junior year. We live all spread out too but it worked out that day to all meet in Grand Rapids.

Candace holding Liam & Addy

Candace & Liam

Now we're all at different stages: dating, married, expecting, and almost one-year olds! I love these ladies so much!

Carlyn, Sarah, Sarah, Candace, Lo

One last thing, while Candace was here, I made a version of grilled cheese that Zach and I tried awhile ago. It's called Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese and if you like pesto then you will definitely like this twist on a regular old grilled cheese!

Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese

What you need:

• bread
• butter
• sliced provolone (or mozzarella) cheese
• sliced deli turkey
• pesto (about 1 tablespoon per sandwich)

What you do:

1. Butter one side of the bread just like you were going to make a regular old grilled cheese.

2. Spread pesto on one side of the bread (opposite of the buttered side).

3. Place a slice of provolone on top of the pesto.

4. Warm up the turkey a bit by putting it in the pan you are going to cook the grilled cheese on for a few seconds. Trust me - if you don't, you'll wait forever for the turkey to warm up while it is cooking and risk burning the sandwich. OR you eat it with cold turkey in the middle.

Place the warm turkey on top of the provolone cheese.

5. If you love cheese, put another slice of provolone on top of the turkey.

6. Put the second piece of bread on top and put the sandwich on a griddle or in a pan on the stove until both sides are crispy and golden brown.


That's all for now!

Love,

Sarah

Road trips/ I hate Illinois.

Last Monday I packed up the Vibe for her first maiden roadtrip voyage to Minneapolis, MN to go visit my dear friend, Candace. It was a little spontaneous but well worth it to spend time with her. Monday night we walked around the lakes near her apartment, creeped on a couple having a picnic by the lake.... okay I'll explain that a little more. They were all dressed up and had a bottle of wine plus it was almost sunset so we thought he was going to propose and we wanted to see it so we hid behind some bushes to watch them for awhile. Nothing happened and other people walking on the path were starting to stare at us so we kept moving. After that we had dinner at "The Cafeteria" and ate delicious Tuna melt sandwiches as we sat upstairs at their rooftop seating.

Tuesday Candace had to work all day so I explored around Uptown (the little town where she lives that is just South of Minni). I went in some stores -The North Face to look at sleeping bags, and -APPLE, to play with the iPad and iPhones of course! :) I ate lunch on the edge of Lake Calhoun and watched sailboats and people kayaking. For dinner that night we went to "Chino Latino" a super cool restaurant that is considered latin/asian fusion. We had tasty nachos for an appetizer that instead of regular tortilla chips was served with fried plantains! Delish! We also ordered mojitos, I had never had one and it was pretty good.

donkey on mojito / I am no good at taking pictures in low light

Very fresh and light. It also came with a little character on the glass. A good summer drink. Except the fresh mint leaves made it taste slightly earthy, like I had taken a bite off of a bush and started munching... The main course was california crab roll sushi! Also very delicious and oh so filling. After dinner we drove out to Minnehaha Falls.

It's one of the only waterfalls in the Midwest and it flows into the Mississippi so we followed the trails out the the Mighty Mississip and sat on it's banks and chatted for awhile. Actually until it was almost dark so we decided to go back to the car and go home.

Wednesday I hung around the apartment in the morning then took the bus downtown to meet Candace for lunch. We ate in little park outside the Symphony Center near a fountain. Since she had only 1 hour for lunch (which usually I would consider 1 hour a long time for lunch seeing as how teachers usually get 20-30 minutes, but since we had so much to cram into that hour it felt too short) we did a whirlwind tour of the downtown skyways. I had no idea that downtown Minneapolis' buildings were connected by more than 7 miles worth of skyway passages! It's like a giant anthill only above ground. You don't even have to go outside if you don't want to! And it was actually pretty good planning on the city's part because I've heard Minni gets pretty cold in the winter... Anywhoooooo, Candace then gave me a quick tour of the Target Headquarters building. It's HUGE! Her cubicle is on the 25th floor! Her cubicle by the way is covered in Halloween decorations because she is in the "Seasonal" department. It was fun to see where she works and what it's like in Corporate America.

downtown

cool fountain

When we parted ways after lunch, I quick went to this other park downtown to see this cool fountain when an old guy saw me taking pictures of it and asked if I wanted one of myself in front of it. I said, "Sure," and he made me hold his dog's leash so he could take the picture. It was pretty funny.

at the fountain holding the photo-taker's dog's leash

Then I hopped the bus back to the apartment, toweled off all my sweat (it was stinkin hot that day) and drove over to the Mall of America. That place is GINORMOUS and I want to go back! It's three stories high with a roller coaster in the center and I only made it around half of one floor. Yep. I'm going back. Except next time with more money and more time. Going back to the apartment I got stuck in rush hour traffic --- I will never again complain about rush hour traffic in Big Rapids ever again. We made burgers for dinner and had some of Candace's homemade bean salad as a side dish. For dessert we walked to an ice cream parlor and I got "Nicollet Pothole." I don't remember exactly what was in it but it was chocolatey, crunchy, and salty goodness all at once. Unfortunately, the serving size was quite small, so when we got back to the apartment to watch the movie "Tangled" we delved into some amazing brownies that Candace had made. Dark chocolate brownie with crushed Oreos in the batter. Covered with vanilla frosting. Topped with three kinds of berries: strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. SO GOOD. I think we might have eaten half the pan. Wednesday night was probably my favorite night because it was so relaxed, comfortable, and happy. It felt like we were roommates just hanging out for the night and it felt so nice to be in the company of a friend. Especially one that you get along with so well, can talk to, and love so much!

Thursday morning I left to roadtrip home when she left for work. It was sad. :( Next time I'll stay longer and over a weekend so she's not a work all the time. :) That was about my last smile of the day because I got stuck in horrible construction traffic on I-80 East outside of Joliet, IL. Now, let me just tell you why I was so irate.... on my drive out to Minni, my GPS (Jill) took me straight through the downtown Chicago skyway. That would be fine except traffic is awful and they have OUTRAGEOUS tolls! I spent $9.80 on tolls in Illinois --- the kicker is when leaving the state I saw a sign that said, "Thank you for driving Illinois tollways!" --- like I had a choice! After spending an hour in Chicago, I decided to take a different route home so as to avoid Chicago and as many toll roads as possible, even if it meant driving a few extra miles. Well, my plan would have worked so well if it weren't for that construction in Joliet. I sat in the Vibe (which ran great) for TWO HOURS in construction. Guess how many construction workers I saw.... ONE! And he was cleaning a port-a-potty or something insignificant that had nothing to do with fixing the road. I'm thinking of sending them this letter:

Dear Illinois,
Your tolls are expensive, your roads aren't good, your traffic is slow. And if you're going to hold up traffic for two hours on a Thursday afternoon for "construction work," I suggest you should hire some people to actually do the constructing.
Sincerely,
Annoyed Traveler

13 hours later I arrived at home with a sore behind and a raging attitude. Thankfully Zach is so calm all the time and so happy to see me I forgot about most of my traveling blues.

Friday morning we were up and out the door to a Leadership Convention in Columbus, OH. Road trip #2 for me. Another 6 hours in the car. But at least I got to stop and stretch my legs while Zach looked at tractors at a used tractor dealership. Here's some pictures from that:

little Vibe surrounded by big tractors

This is me, amazed at the size of the tires on this particular tractor

If Mater (from the movie Cars) had a cousin, this would be him

checking out one on the lot

tractor from inside the shed that we test drove

kid in a candy store...

I could write so much more, about the convention, my squished finger that is awfully black and blue, how the corn is "tasseling out" and how many bales of straw we put up last night... but you're probably tired of reading and my bruised finger is tired of typing.

There's always many more stories to come.

Love,
Sarah