Snowcones

So the countdown is 8 days! O but I hope this little girl comes sooner... 

So lately our apartment thermostat looks like this:

from about noon until bedtime.

 I sleep with an ice pack.

Yesterday it got up to 86! 

Ya, we don't have any air conditioning system unless you count our rotating fan in our bedroom. Rotating because Clint and I love each other enough to allow the fan to occasionally hit the other person as we lie in front of it... 

So I came up with a solution for the heat and the baby's early arrival. 

I get walk the 1.2 miles to the snow cone shack and back and get myself a snow cone everyday.

It has worked out great. The doctor says her little head is lodged down in my pelvic bone just ready to slide on out (I think its all this walking), I get a little relief from the heat and I get to empty our change jar which we don't want to move across the country. 

Also, there is this super nice girl at the snow cone shack. I think today we officially became friends. She always smiles and takes my coins, but today we had ourselves our first friendly conversation. 

It went something like this....

Me: Can I please have a small pina colada?

Her: Are you trying to taste every flavor we have?

(I have been switching it up lately... I guess she has noticed)

Me: Umm... no, just trying new ones I guess... 

Her: oh, ok. Do you come everyday?

(she doesn't work everyday...)

Me: Yep, but one of these days my baby will come and you will not see me anymore. 

Her: When are you due?

Me: In 8 days.

Her: Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that. Well make sure you bring your baby sometime after you have it. 

She handed me my snow cone and I left.

 I didn't promise to bring my baby to the snow cone shack... 

Maybe I have a new teenager friend.

 Maybe she thinks I'm a crazy pregnant lady. 

Who knows. 

See ya tomorrow snow shack girl! 

Or maybe not.

 I am keeping my fingers crossed.

:)

What a week

What a week it has been!

Last week at my doctor appointment, they were worried about our little girl and her growth. They talked about viruses that could have stopped her little brain from growing and sent me to a specialist. From that appointment on Thursday to our appointment on Monday with the specialist, it was one of the longest weekends I have ever had. I knew my daughter would come and we would love her to pieces. I did not know a lot more than that. We prayed and cried a lot in those few days, and so did our families. On Monday we went to the specialist and got to hear the great news that Olivia is indeed small, but she would be healthy.  

(The doctor was joking with us. She looked at me when she walked in and said... we are worried about your baby being small? Let's look at this. I've learned that biology does actually play a part in these things and it would not surprise me for you to have a small baby...) 

We were all so relieved. My doctor appointment on Tuesday gave us similar news with all of their tests that our baby girl is going to be just fine 

(and hopefully come just a little early!) 

I'm walking every day to hopefully help her along :) Come on baby!! We want to meet you!

Tuesday we had some car trouble... the drivers side door got bent the wrong way... good thing Clint is Superman and bent it back enough so we could drive it to Orem to get it fixed. We got a great deal that we were happy to accept. Yesterday, they called to tell us our door was replaced and ready - except the door they replaced it with is BLUE. Just so you know, my car is not blue. I have never really known what to call the color of my car, but I would go with tan/champange/silvery....? not blue. But it's done so I guess we'll pick it up and do what we can with some spray paint :) 

Also on Tuesday (talk about an eventful day) some of my good friends threw me a little baby shower. It was so fun and we got many things that we needed for Olivia's arrival. I am so lucky to have such great friends around. 

The realtor from Tennessee sent us some houses yesterday. Did I mention we are planning on buying a house when we get to Optometry school? We are pretty excited about it and its moving forward. We talked with the realtor and asked when a good weekend would be for Clint to fly out to look at a few of these houses. She said 4-5 weeks before we want the house is the best timing... that puts us at the weekend of July 12th... 

.....

Wait a minute. That date seems familiar. O ya, the baby is due July 11th... 

soooooooooo again we say, Come on baby!!! We NEED to meet you!

 So if anyone wants to come walk with me like every day from now until then, that would be great. We need her to come early. Good thing the doctor thinks that is a good possibility! 

Way to make it this far. It has been a crazy week. A good week. An emotional week. A week with very good news and some blue car door news. 

Ps. I found this little gem today and love it.

 I cried just a little, but I cry every time I hear a hallmark card these days.

 Two girls in my one body = emotions galore. 

O, I can't wait for her to get here! 

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

It has been two whole years since this wonderful day...

And what a great two years it has been!

For our anniversary, we decided to keep it pretty low key since I'm about ready to pop. We had a delicious meal at PF Changs and we were pleasantly surprised. We hadn't ever eaten there before, but everything we got tasted so good. And how likely is it that at a new restaurant, you order 6 things and love all of them? I'm telling you, we were impressed :)

Then we drove to the outdoor Scera theater for the play Tarzan. We got to the ticket gate and asked someone where will call was to get our tickets... they informed us it was at the main office (two blocks away) and since going back to the car to drive was also about 2 blocks, we decided to walk over. 

At this point Clint did offer to go get the tickets so I didn't have to walk... but I was the one who ordered teh tickets and we had to present photo ID... so this prego lady WALKED. yeah!

Once we got there, we were told our tickets were not actually there, but at the will call at the outdoor theater we had just left... so after we cursed the lady who told us to come there, we trekked it back the 2 blocks. Man, I was SERIOUSLY out of breath! Maybe I should be exercising more than I am... 

Well, we finally got our tickets and sat down and enjoyed some quality Tarzan. It was good. 

So here is to two years and many more to come! I just love this man of mine. He is everything I dreamed of in my husband plus a little more :) He works so hard for our growing family. He tried really hard to understand my emotional girly-ness (which, let's be honest, I don't even fully understand sometimes) and he is almost always the first of the two of us to appologize or let down his stubborn side when we have disagreements. He balances me in ways I totally need it and I think I do the same for him. Our marriage is such a good blend of logic/emotion, adventure/routine, and our different love styles. I could not be happier to look back at these part 2 years and see just how far we have come and still know that there is so much more to still come for us. 

I am truly blessed. I love my happily ever after story

<3

Busy busy summer! ...with lots of pictures :)

I feel like time is going so so very fast right now. I swear I was still in the beginning of May counting down school days yesterday... I had my whole summer separated into segments. 

1st. Finish teaching and clean out the classroom  

 check!

2nd. Make it to Idaho to help with Esther's wedding (and not go into labor that week) 

check and check!

3rd. Have a baby.

 Are we at this point already?

4th. Move to Tennessee. 

Will someone please tell me how those first two got checked off already? O man. Well, I've taken a few pictures to document that, in fact, those first two things actually happened... so here they are. Enjoy.

First, teaching is over. WAY mixed emotions about this one. I am going to miss these little kiddos I got to call mine for the last year, but I am so excited to really have my own little kiddo that is mine for the rest of forever. It's hard, especially since my real child won't be nearly as funny as these kids for a few years and I will definitely miss those stories...

I am seriously going to miss these crazy kids! I love each one of them and hope they remember 2nd grade (not just the ambulance episode...)

I shed a tear or two as I walked away from this empty classroom and all its memories.

 If walls could talk, oh the stories these would tell.

Moving on before I cry again. (Blame the pregnancy hormones)

Next, I went to Idaho!!! Home of the potatoes and my wonderful in-laws! :) 

My brother in law left for his mission on Wednesday of that week so we got him all ready. Then, my sister in law Esther married this awesome guy named Dustin and we had to get all ready for it two days later! I actually stayed for the whole week and Clint had to come back to Utah for work, so I was a little nervous about being so busy and on my feet and having contractions and possibly having a too early baby without my husband or my doctor within a few hundred miles... but it all worked out and we are very happy it did. 

Isn't she beautiful?

All the siblings :) minus the missionary of course...

It was a really fun weekend and I got to know my in-laws even better and we laughed and cried a lot

 (Those poor parents sent off a missionary and gave away the oldest girl in the same week!) 

and it was great!

Now we are on to #3!! Having a BABY!! 

Welcome to week 36 where Alissa can barely glimpse those toes way down there. Let's not even talk about reaching them... painted toes and shaved legs have come to a halt until further notice. 

I went to the doctor today and he said I was 1 cm dilated and 80% thinned... I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he seemed impressed so I went with it. Later, I called my mother (it is seriously so nice to have a nurse for a mother) and she said that's apparently really thin and it might mean I'll have a fast labor! 

woot woot! love hearing that!

In other baby related news, I tried going to the local water park and get some tanning done the other day, until I got there and realized laying on the ground with a 9 month pregnant belly is not the most comfortable thing in the world... in fact it lasted a whole 10 minutes before I decided to walk in the lazy river instead, which I realized was only 3 feet deep and did not even start to cover the belly so I was squat walking through the lazy river (looking like a crazy lady I'm sure) until I got over that real quick. I tried the wave pool and although that was the best option of the day, I left the water park about an hour and 1/2 after I got there.

 Maybe after I'm not so pregnant that pass will come to better use...

Until then, you can find me laying on the couch reading up my summer book list from the library and enjoying the 28 days left until Miss Olivia decides to come. 

Friends

"In Friendship…we think we have chosen our peer. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting—any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. 

A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends “You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.” The Friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of others." 

--C.S. Lewis

So I found this quote on one of my favorite blogs and I REALLY like it. I think of all those friends in my life that have made all the difference. Those who have been with me while I was growing up, during college, those I have worked with, and those I meet still. They have all shaped who I am and who I continue to become.

 So, to all of my friends out there, thanks. 

I truly believe that there are no chances when it comes to these things. 

Sometimes the EMTs visit my classroom...

So today was an exciting day in second grade. I am positive my kids will always remember 2nd grade and the time the EMTs visited...

So this morning everything was going great. It is the last week of school so we have a lot of fun things planned and I was all ready to go. I felt a little tired, but that really isn't anything new... so onward we go...

The kids came in and got started with their morning workbooks and after a few minutes I stood in front of the class to correct the page with them. Everything was going great... until I started seeing little black stars... I realized I was talking a little more slowly than usual and the kids were looking at me funny... then my vision starting going black VERY quickly. As I lowered myself to the ground I told my kids that someone should probably go get someone from the office and I saw about 5 of them run out the door as my vision went completely.

The principal and office secretary ran into my room yelling for someone to call 911 (by this time I was laying on the ground feeling a little shaky, but really just fine, I never felt like I was gone all the way, just couldn't see anything for about 5 seconds). Someone was reading a book to my kids at the rug, who obviously were not listening to the book, but instead talking about me.
"I think her baby is about to come out..."
"ya, maybe we'll see her tummy just open up..."

...then the ambulance came. 

So this is starting to sound like it was a way big deal, I really was ok,

I barely even fainted for heavens sake! 

And the EMTs came in with all their gear. And I called Clint and let him know that apparently this was happening to me... I was laughing the whole conversation because it just seemed ridiculous... looking back, the EMTs may have thought I was crazy...

and the kids are still supposed to be reading this book about bears... 

ya, not a chance.

Then the EMTs rolled in a stretcher

 (which the kids kind of loved)

 and I said no way. They checked my vitals and stuck these things on me and checked my heart and my sugar level. I mean, this was all out intense. And they said I should probably ride in the ambulance to the hospital.

Which costs like as much as the child I am growing 

so I said no thank you

and they laughed at me, kindly of course, but they definitely chuckled.

I asked if someone else could drive me instead and they said they would have to see.

In the end, they said nothing seemed to be wrong, but I should call my OB and visit him today and my principal would drive me. So I put sticky note instructions on all the things we were supposed to do in school that day for the substitute that was now in my classroom, and we drove to Provo.

The doctor asked me what in the world I had been teaching to cause me to faint (I told him nothing exciting, just a morning workbook) and had me do a non-stress test. Clint came from work and joined me and we laughed about how crazy this got so fast. Everything came out fine again and the doctor asked how long I had been standing. I said probably about 45 minutes and apparently that's too long these days. He went out into the waiting room (where my principal was sitting bless her heart) and suggested I take the rest of the day off and for the last 4 days of school I should sit and teach, and only stand for 15 minutes at a time.

So that's my story. I'm home now... not knowing what to do with myself since I didn't plan on taking today off work... And I keep thinking what in the world are my kids going to tell their parents when they get home from school today

They are probably going to expect to see my newborn baby tomorrow when I go back to work.

What a disappointment. 

And in 10 years when they remember 2nd grade, let's be honest, they will automatically say, "ya, that was the year my teacher was pregnant and passed out the last week of school. It was cool because the ambulance came!"

And ya know, it was pretty cool. Maybe we'll write about it in writers workshop tomorrow.

Quick 10 glimpses

So here is life right now in 10 quick glimpses into the Prestwich family's life...

1. Clint GRADUATED from BYU!!! So proud of all the hard work he's put into these last few years so we could have the oppurtunity to get into a grad school we wanted and get a scholarship to boot! Well done babe! 

2. Clint finished his last track meet! Man, this guy is awesome. He gave up his real last track meet to start a job so this baby of ours could be paid for. He takes such good care of our little family. So glad he's mine forever. 

ps. this is the bump picture of this post... it is getting really large...

3. School is getting close to the end for Mrs. Prestwich over here. 9 days ago I put up my May calendar in my classroom for my kiddos and realized it would be the last calendar... I got a little emotional, not going to lie.
I may be counting down til summer (11 school days), but I am seriously going to miss my little second graders. I heard the song "Dirty Dishes" by Scotty McCreery the other day as I was driving to my doctor's appointment in Orem and I just thought of my noisy, happy kids and all those crayons crushed into my rug... I was crying again.
Maybe this is also a pregnant thing... I cry about this topic a lot actually...

4. Bought some maternity shirts finally...the old shirts just weren't covering the belly. And as classy as that sounds... my pregnant belly poking out the bottom of my shirts... its REALLY not. And I have made a goal to be classy pregnant and not Britney Spears pregnant. Sometimes I ask Clint if a shirt has reached its Britney Spears pregnant stage. He nicely lets me know if it has.
 I've officially reached the 30s in weeks! Can you believe it!? 31 weeks today, which means this little girl inside of me is definitely getting stronger... right up in my ribs... and we are getting so close! We toured the hospital we'll be delivering in and we are just so so excited!

5. Sunshine makes me happy. Utah is supposed to reach the 80s this weekend. That makes me extremely happy.

6. Got a new iPod, well a new hand me down iPod, so I don't have to borrow Clint's anymore. Which is a good thing since we don't have all the same tastes in music. So my iPod has about 50 songs on it right now, but they are all songs that I love all the time, which is the best on shuffle.
 o man. i love it. a lot.

7. We read a lot around here. With Clint's new job and my pregnancy exhaustion coming back, it's basically our nightly routine.
Make dinner, cuddle up and read on the couch, eat ice cream, sometimes watch Doc Martin, read, and go to bed.
Talk about a party! I know you are so jealous.
I think I'll miss quiet reading for 3-4 hours sitting by my love once this baby comes though. It's a favorite.

8. We  I am obsessing over some of the cute things we have for Olivia these days. Clint is such a good sport and will sit and oo and ahhh as I show him the cutest outfit ever
which he may or may not have already seen...
I just really want her to get here. Only after school is done. And after Clint's brother leaves on his mission. And after Clint's sister gets married. But then, she should come as quickly as she can and still be healthy. That would be great.

9. I'm running out of glimpses....

10. You're probably sick of reading anyways. So we'll end with the fun countdowns!
11 school days til summer!
4 weeks minus one day until Hyrum goes on his mission! He's my awesome brother in law
4 weeks plus one day until Esther gets married! She is my awesome sister in law
9 weeks until baby Olivia graces us with her presence! 
And a few months until Tennessee!