Spontaneous Things- Missionaries, Baby Girl, Birthdays, Christmas

One blogger I follow does this Spontaneous Five and lists five main things that went on that week. Well, I'm going to give it a shot but change it up a bit and see how it works. I'm going to use "things" instead, so I can have as many numbers as I wish :) I want to blog more, and I have all these ideas when I'm not sitting at the computer!! Then I forget by the time I get around to writing a blog post haha. Anyways, here I go:

1) Missionaries. There are the two cutest sisters serving in our ward and I just adore them. They really remind me of home (they are both from Utah) and I can't believe how comforting it is to talk with other Americans and makes me feel at home. Not that living in Sweden and talking with Swedes is bad, it's just culture differences that I miss. A lot. It helps that one of these sisters comes from a city about 30 min away from my house. One time I was talking to her about this certain wal-mart in town she knew EXACTLY what I was talking about and it felt oh so nice. Isn't it weird how talking about Wal-mart was somehow comforting to me?... haha :) Here are some pictures to show you all how cute these two are:

My mother-in-"love" told me it is an old Swedish tradition to decorate pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies), put them on the Christmas tree, then eat them on Christmas! That is what we are going to do! I figured we'll have these two over on Christmas day, so it will work out perfectly :)

I definitely did not take this.. good thing these two won't be home for another 6 months to see this ;)

After dinner one night Joel and I had to show these two how awesome the playground is outside our apartment. We might have been out there for a good hour ;)

2) Baby girl. I feel like she is starting to run out of room. She is also starting to kick my ribs... which didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would (and maybe it will get worse haha) it is just super uncomfortable right now. Usually I notice she kicks my ribs in the morning when I'm attempting to sleep in a little bit! Ya know, taking advantage of my sleep while I can. I usually sleep pretty good!! I have also started to notice when she is awake and asleep more. Which is kind of fun, except for the fact that she is usually awake between 11 and 2 am! I heard babies sometimes keep the same sleeping patterns after their born. Is that true??
I also love that I can tell how and where she is sitting. I love that her little bum is always sticking out to the top right of my stomach, which results her feet in my ribs though. I guess I just love knowing where her cute little bum is!! I'm obsessed with bums if you didn't know..
We are preeetty sure we're going to name her Emma Elaine Herrey. Who knows though? When she comes we could change her name... but we're pretty positive as of right now :) I still like to call her baby girl just because saying Emma makes it so much more official! Maybe I should start preparing myself.. haha!!
I feel really good! Other than it is getting slightly harder to do some simple things. Like putting on shoes and picking things up. Which is getting slightly annoying because I didn't realize how often I picked stuff up!

31 weeks. Don't mind my monkey pajama's, ok? :) I also love my little bump, and that it didn't grow faster or slower than my boobs. I feel like it was all pretty even ;)

3) Birthdays!! Joel turned 26 on November 28th, and I just turned 23 on December 15th. Yes our birthdays are a couple weeks apart and then followed by Christmas. And yes it is quite an expensive month for us. I think the weirdest part for me is I met Joel when he was 23, and now I am 23!! It's really weird to think that I've only known him for 2 1/2 years, and now we've been married for 1 1/2 and having a baby in a few months. Anyways, we celebrated our birthdays by exchanging a few presents and then Joel's family came over for family dinner on my birthday!! My only request was to have my in-laws make lasagna. It is DELICIOUS. My in-laws asked if we could have the dinner at our place and I didn't mind! Sure I thought it was a little funny and inconvenient that they asked... and then I found out why! They had bought Joel and I a Christmas tree for our birthdays!!!!! I might have cried a little, that's how much it meant to me. I didn't think we would be able to have one this year!

I have LOVED being pregnant at the same time with this sweet sister-in-law of mine! Crazy we have been pregnant for so long. I feel like it was just yesterday when we were talking to each other both finding out around the same time we were both pregnant and sending each other pictures of our pregnancy tests!! What a crazy and wonderful time that was to share it together!

Our little tree!! 

4) CHRISTMAS. I have been super excited for Christmas this year because I now know what to expect with the Swedish traditions and such :) It amazes me how Joel's family has such specific traditions, especially with food! I feel like my family has one tradition on the 24th, and then just relax on Christmas. It has been fun seeing how different our families are when it comes to traditions!
One thing that is hard for me is having it so dark during the winter. I didn't realize how hard last year was until the light finally started coming back in March. I told someone the other day how I felt kinda bad that we were having a baby in February and it is still dark and cold during that month. They then said, "Well I think that's a good thing! You need something to look forward to, to get you through those months." From then on I have tried to keep that positive perspective :)  The nice part about Christmas time is all the lights in the windows, they help a lot! That's what makes January and February so hard I guess!

No Longer Private

Yep. All that work of getting people's emails all the time was a hassle, and I'm not really up for that soooo yep. Also, the reason I made this blog is so everyone could be updated about our lives with me living in a different country than my family and such. Thus resulting in me not wanting it private anymore. :)

Clueless

All this time I thought heart burn had to do with my chest actually burning. Like, on fire. Little did I know that I have had heart burn for MONTHS and didn't know. And, I also didn't know that heart burn doesn't deal with my heart actually burning. Nope. I wouldn't say I feel dumb... but kinda close. 

My love language (or one of the five main ways I feel most loved) is physical touch. Cuddling with Joel makes me so incredibly happy. Or when he kisses me on the cheek. You get the point :) When it came to watching movies and I wanted to cuddle, I couldn't because my chest was feeling weird and I felt like I had to sit up. Which really annoyed me because I wanted to cuddle dang it!! I told my mom how I was feeling, and she said, "Oh your baby is just growing and taking up more space. Good luck!" So that's what I thought it was, not actual heart burn!

Other than that, pregnancy is still good. I can't believe how more tired I am becoming. I guess I am making a little human! It's got to take some energy right??

Bumpdate: Week 28 THIRD TRIMESTER!

I am officially two-thirds of the way done with this pregnancy folks!! How crazy is that??! I LOVED the second trimester. I feel like whenever I read blogs everyone says that, and now I understand why! I felt great 98% of the time. this week I started to get a little nervous though! Last trimester I kept on thinking, "oh labor is so far away. she's not coming for a while! I have plenty of time." Then poof! All of the sudden I was in the third trimester and I feel like she is "just around the river bend!" (I have that song from Pocahontas in my head all the time now since the due date is getting closer!) you can say it really hit me this week that it is getting closer! I'm not to the point of freaking out... yet ;)

How far along? 28 weeks. Two thirds of the way done!!

Size of the baby? 38cm or 15 inches. How does all that baby fit in there?? The female body amazes me how it can grow and stretch!

Weight gain/loss? I think i've gained around 13 lbs, according to my last appointment. Which isn't too bad I guess! My midwife was really happy about it, and she kept on asking me if I was eating haha (she was joking, btw..). I thought it was going to be a lot worse actually!

Sleep? Really good! The other night wasn't too fun though, because she was awake. At 2am. I felt like there were 9 ninjas and a circus in ma belly, that's how crazy she was going. Finally I gave up on trying to sleep and texted my mom for a little bit. There are perks of being 8 hours ahead and living in Sweden right?? ;) previously the first couple of times she woke me up were kinda cute! I didn't mind too much and was able to go back to sleep. THIS time was the most I have ever felt her probably! It was ridiculous how much she was moving!!

Symptoms? My back started aching this past week! I have been dreading this part. It only hurt on and off before, but now it is pretty much every time I walk! It isn't too bad, more of an annoying pain than a super strong pain. Something kind of funny happened... at my last appointment I was talking to my midwife and she asked me how I was feeling. I told her I had started getting back pain and she jokingly said, "well, you've got to start feeling pregnant sometime!!" I thought that was funny...

Food cravings/aversions? Last Friday we had a Thanksgiving party with a bunch of Americans here living in Sweden! Of course it isn't the same, but we do what we can! Joel and I were present at the one last year too, so I knew what food to expect. Lets just say my friend Mary made rolls last year, and when I knew she would make them again I couldn't stop thinking about them for weeks! Fiiiinally I got to indulge in the deliciousness on Friday and it felt wonderful! I think that is the closest thing to craving I have had.

Labor signs? None yet that I know of! Thank goodness :)

What I miss? I miss feeling skinny. I mean, I know I am carrying a baby but that's what I miss! Thankfully being pregnant has brought its own form of "cuteness". Like people wanting to touch my belly, I think that's funny haha! (depends on the person though! There have been some people I know of (that I don't really know) that run up to me and just grab my belly and I start thinking, "I don't really know you and you are grabbing my belly. hmmm") I am really glad that the weight I have gained is going just on my belly though making it nice and round! And not making anything else round haha ;)

What I am looking forward to? I am dying to see what she looks like and how she will change and grow out of the newborn stage. I guess I have always looked forward to that! Something more recent that I am looking forward to is getting her bed and nursery more set up! I have some ideas with how I want to decorate her corner of the room. The hard part is going out and finding my supplies! I should probably get started before I have less energy right?? ;)

Emotions? Still kind of the same. I do reeeeally good for a while, and then break down (pretty rare). And usually it is over dumb stuff that I know is just my hormones messing with me! Usually I have to go sit in some kind of corner and try to calm myself down. Ridiculous I know!!! I feel like I have to put myself in time-out to calm down! Usually if I feel my emotions heightening I give Joel a good warning, just to prepare him. I am comforted and glad that he saw me "normal" for a year before I got pregnant with all these wonderful emotions. Now he knows it is just me being pregnant ;) (Joel also said that this doesn't happen too often, so it's not as bad as I make it sound ;))

I don't feel huge (yet), just round. Everywhere haha!

Also, I think these are hilarious. Enjoy :)

Bumpdate: Week 26

how far along?  25 weeks and 2 days.

size of the baby? 35 cm/ 900 gr/or a papaya. take your pick :)

weight gain/loss? i still don't weigh myself! and neither does my midwife. i'm still just focused on eating good and not over eating. (please wish me luck during the holidays!!)

best moment of the week? monday the 4th i had an appointment with my midwife! that was nice. she is the sweetest lady! very motherly, with a hint of grandmotherly love to her. so far her English has been the best out of the midwives i have talked with. let's just say I definitely need joel there to help translate ;) i really like her though, since she tries to help me learn more of these special swedish words (like labor, breastfeeding etc...). we have a great system figured out :) she talks to me in swedish, and i ask her about any words i don't understand. joel just helps translate for all of us :)

anyways, the best moment was when joel and i got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. i think i might have shed a tear or two (i can blame it on the hormones right??). joel was so shocked to hear it! i wish i could have recorded his face! i almost had more fun watching him than listening to the heart beat. the cool part was her heart rate was beating around 130, but then she woke up and could hear her heart beat and it started to go up! within a minute her heart beat had gone from 130 to 150! we got to listen to it for quite some time, it was very special.

symptoms? my back started hurting this week.... oh dear. it is very off and on, but for the most part it hurts. i wouldn't say it is too bad, more annoying than anything. i have noticed it is the worst when i'm standing for a while, like at the grocery store. last saturday joel and i decided to go buy breakfast at the grocery store, so neither of us had eaten. well, we ended up going to a couple other stores first, and by the time we got home it was 1pm. we were not happy campers, and that was the worst day on my back thus far. it was probably one of the grumpiest days we've had! not at each other..  no food= not happy.

food cravings/aversions? no strong or random cravings yet! still disappointed in that one! i can't get near the garbage at all, that is joel's job! but. on instagram i put up a picture of our room with the new baby crib set up. my sister commented and said the middle part where the mattress would sit looked like an ice cream sandwich. once she said that i HAD to go buy one. i couldn't stop thinking about it for a few days. finally i had had enough and got all dressed and ready to go buy one, when i realized joel had borrowed my wallet. i was SO SAD. :( but don't worry, i fulfilled the craving the next day ;)

our baby bed that looks like an ice cream sandwich. YUM.

labor signs? none yet! thank goodness. at least none that i know of... and i am guessing i will know what they feel like once i get them.

what I miss? right now my comfy t-shirts that i could still wear in public aren't really fitting. today at the store i had to hold my shirt down the whole time because it kept on riding up! every time joel looked at me he laughed haha.

what I am looking forward to?  i'm looking forward to having baby showers!!! and getting more stuff for her. i feel a lot better knowing i have something for her now (and that we have enough to survive and she'll be ok), i'm just excited for everything! what is really funny is my mom and i have talked and decided to have some kind of baby shower for me in the states and put me on skype! since my parents are coming in march, they could bring all the stuff with them hehe :) i don't know how it'll work but i'm excited either way.
joel and i are waaaay excited to see who has dominant genes and what she'll look like. i know she'll change and such, but we like to pretend and think what she could look like ;) one funny thing that i am looking forward to his having her here. of course for obvious reasons, but  because i am looking forward to joel saying something other than "baby. i am your father." to my belly. random, eh? that's joel for ya ;)
ok, one last thing. i have been on pinterest lately trying to look for something i could do for her "nursery" (which will be in our room). i am also trying to only pin stuff that i think i could find in sweden, too. not easy when all i see is stuff i could easily get from michael's or another craft store in the states! so far i have found one thing i could do, so stay tuned to see what it is ;) also, if anyone has any crafty ideas let me know!

i like to pretend i'm a photographer ;)

Going Private

It is true! Once again, I am making my blog private. With a lil one on the way, it just feels safer somehow. If you would like to continue reading my blog, comment and leave your email please :)

Also, here are some updates on what is going on in our lives!!
- We moved into our new apartment! We love it SO MUCH. Once I get everything up on the walls that I want, I'll post pictures ;) Our last apartment was bigger, so I was worried I would miss it a lot. Actually, we don't really miss it. At all! That apartment was built in the late 1950's, and really needed to be reconstructed/remodeled. We got lucky, since the guy who lived there before us repainted everything and put up super cute wallpaper. When we put up that apartment to have people come look at it, the first guy walked in and said, "Wow.. if people only knew how nice this apartment was they would all be flocking here!" Or something along those lines. When we walked into our new apartment (built two years ago) we were shocked with how small it was. We had NO IDEA how anything was going to fit. In our old apartment, we had so much room we didn't need to be extra cautious. Once we started moving things in it all fit... somehow haha. Now we are extremely happy with how it all turned out. Plus we now have a washer, dryer, dishwasher, and elevator... quite the difference!
- Joel got a job!!!! We are so happy to just have something :) He starts Monday!
- We are going to the temple with our ward on Saturday! Going to hop on a bus at 7.30 am and head to Denmark. It's just crazy thinking how this will probably be the last time we go to the temple before the baby comes.... Now that is something weird and crazy to think about. This is the first "last thing" that makes us think could be the "last" thing we do before she comes! That made more sense in my head... I hope it makes sense haha.
- I have started a new painting!! I am soooo excited about it. (I plan on selling it if there is someone interested! Stay tuned to find out what it is ;)) I had it all drawn out how I wanted it and got everything out and ready to paint... when I couldn't find my turpentine. How on earth does one loose a huge bottle of turpentine??! I am stunned. I know it can't be my pregnancy brain not knowing where it is because Joel can't find it either. I know it isn't in our storage downstairs where I have some things packed away... so it HAS to be in our apartment somewhere. Joel and I looked so hard the other day and still no sign of it. Hopefully it randomly turns up soon! It would be rather hard to paint if I don't use it ;)
- Joel and I went to a BMW dealership and test drove a car. We about died of happiness and can't wait to get it! Joel works with an affiliate marketing company called Vemma, and once he reaches a certain rank in the company they subsidize your car payment. It is so nice to have an extra source of income, we are so grateful for it. :)
- My parents are flying over in March!!!!!!! My mom is finalizing tickets :) I get so excited and it takes me a while to settle down when I think about them flying over to see the baby! That is how excited I am to have them coming :) The last time they were here was for the wedding and that was for three weeks. I think it will be so much fun to have them here and already be familiar with so many people and places! I honestly can't wait.

Bumpdate: Week 23-24 ish.

I don't really know what week I am in. Because my midwife changed my due date. Again. All these midwives need to get together and decide on ONE date for us poor ladies. So we'll see when she comes ;) until then, the weeks will be iffy I guess! Joel keeps on telling me that I should go with the later date, just in case she comes later. Which is smart to prepare myself... But i feel like being rebellious and going for the earlier date :)

Week 24. Ish. I still feel so small! 

Joel being creative on the backside of the camera. So i had to take his picture ;) 

How far along? 23-24ish weeks. See above information for any questions ;)

Size of the baby? Ummm 30 cm I think. Not sure what that is in inches.. actually I just googled it. She is about 12 inches :) 

(I just had this funny joke pop into my head: person 1 "What's better, google or yahoo?" person 2 "I dunno, jut google it." I think it's funny at least haha)

Weight gain/loss? Still not sure about this one. Not sure I want to know... I just try to be healthy and not worry about the numbers. I am getting better at portion sizes and not being starving all the time!

Sleep? Too good. I catch myself wondering if I am even pregnant sometimes because I feel that good. I literally soak up every night because I know they are just going to get worse and worse! The other night I tried sleeping with a pillow between my legs, just to see if it would help in anyway. I woke up a gazillion times and was SO HOT during the night. No pillows until I need it I guess ;)

Best moment of the week? Getting a TON of free baby clothes from a relief society activity we had! Everyone bought clothes to exchange they didn't need anymore that were still in good condition. When I arrived, everyone said, "Mollie!!!! That's your table!!!"  pointing to the baby table since I am the only one pregnant in the ward right now! Nice to have the table to myself I guess! 

this was all I came home with. I was going to fold it up so you can see how cute they were, but I got overwhelmed with how much I had...

Movement? I love watching my stomach move around. I think it moves like jello. Or a water bed. Anything that jiggles really well ;) I could watch her moving around all day and not get a single thing done, it is kind of addicting.. I love it so much! Just knowing there is a little person in there with her own personality and she is JUST ours. No one else!!! We will be the ones that people hand her to when she starts crying! I can't wait.

Symptoms? Still have a slightly sensitive nose, but it isn't too bad anymore. Very off and on! I also have huge (like ginormous) boobs. Does that count as a symptom? I feel awesome 99% of the time really.

Belly button in or out? In. It doesn't look like it will pop out any time soon. If ever...

Swollen? Nope! Good thing about it being cold out!

What I miss? Feeling in shape I guess. Not that I feel fat or super skinny, I just miss that feeling of having a good hard workout and knowing I can push myself without overexerting myself. I would say I miss my clothes, but I can still wear majority of them (except for the pants) and I don't like them. Any of them. It's a problem really. I make Joel and Cheeto pick out my clothes for me because I don't like it!

What I am looking forward to? moving this weekend!! I'm really excited to move and set up the new apartment and see how it will be with her in it. People keep on asking if we have anything for the nursery yet and I have to keep on saying no.. mainly because we're moving! Plus we will only have a two room apartment, so she'll be with us. Nothing too much I could do with a nursery there ;) We're moving to a smaller place and I'm kiiiinda nervous about that since we have so much space now! It will work out, it's just not knowing how it will :)

Emotions? I asked Joel and he said, "interesting. up and down. crazy. out of control. scary. that is all." I hope all of those aren't true hah! He just said SOMETIMES I'm scary. Thanks for clarifying dear :) This is what happens... I am really good emotionally for a while, and it all comes down at once. The last break down I had was on Saturday going to the temple on a bus three hours away with my ward. Thankfully we were sitting in front and no one could really see me... but I was bawling. I had just gotten some pictures from my mom when she attended one of my good friend's wedding and I just lost it on the bus and got SUPER homesick. Poor Joel had to comfort me for a while.

Here are the pictures she sent me, if you wanna see what made me homesick:

I miss my friends terribly!!!!

We're MOVING

they announced this in church a little bit ago, and we had quite the reaction when people thought we were moving back to the states... unfortunately we aren't.. yet ;) just to a city 30 minutes south of where we live now to be closer to joel's family. i  thought, why not live close to the only family i have here?? plus my sister-in-law is having a baby a month before us and we will live 5 minutes away from them! THAT i am excited about :)

anyways i wanted to take pictures of our apartment before we moved... and i managed to hurry and clean RIGHT before joel brought all of the packing boxes! i took pictures of our apartment a few months after we moved here last december and made THIS post (so you can see how we had the apartment when we moved in, and now right before we move!), and we have made quite a few adjustments in the apartment since then! i tried really hard take pictures of everything, so sorry if there are a lot of pictures ;) kinda fun to see how it has evolved as we got more furnishings for our apartment throughout the year!

let us start off with a picture of Cheeto, shall we?? :)

we created a walk-in closet that was supposed to be a storage space (since we didn't have one in the basement)

notice joel gets two closets and my clothes are shoved into one ;)

i didn't want to post this... because after i took all these pictures i realized i took pictures of the unfinished paintings. oops! hopefully the lady these paintings are for doesn't see this! ;)

cheeto being the creeper she is!

i think Cheeto sleeps here every night... i'm not really sure haha!

and that's our apartment! the clean version i want to remember haha! ;)