In's and Out's

Life has been changing a lot lately. There are lots of new things happening and it's been really fun. I wanted to show you some of these changes in terms of things that go "out" and things that come "in".

Things that go OUT:

1. My belly, of course!! :) Yesterday I was officially 23 weeks along! And boy is that belly popping OUT fast now! Along with my belly, my belly button is making it's way OUT. It hasn't popped yet, but over the last couple weeks I've watched (to my dismay) as my once very deep "innie" belly button has sneaked closer and closer to the surface. It's only a matter of time at this point until it becomes an "outie"...

2. My brother-in-law, Troy, who was OUT like a light during our family vacation to Las Vegas this month. Sadly, this is the only picture I snapped while we were there, but it definitely deserved a spotlight on my blog, don't you think? He was so out that we were able to decorate him with a pretty little bow :) .... Blackmail much!?
But anyway, Trevor and I made a quick trip to Las Vegas on June 18 & 19 for my nephew, Caden's, baptism. He is the second oldest of Mical's kids and it has been fun, so far, to make a tradition of attending their baptisms when they turn 8 years old. For more pictures of the baptism day, you can see some pictures that Mical put on Facebook here. We had a lot of fun just eating, talking, sleeping (as you can see), and just being with family. Trevor got to go to a local baseball game with all the guys and I had a chance to lay out by the pool for a little while. It really was a fun weekend! But way too short!!

3. My poor old car, Ethel, has made her way OUT of our family. I was hit by another driver while driving to work on June 9th, and I'm pretty sure that the insurance adjuster is going to call me any day to let me know that the damage exceeds the value of the car (Blue Book estimates probably around $1,500 with the current condition and mileage of my car). So, here's my old friend sitting in a little junk yard, waiting to be taken to... umm... car heaven? The dump? Where do old cars go? I have no idea.
Anyway, you can see where the other car ran right into my front driver's side wheel area. Tilted the wheel (probably bent the axle) and caused pretty good damage to the area all around the wheel well. My driver side door wasn't able to open after I was hit because of all that "crunchage" either. Here's a closer look:
While I am a little sad to see Ethel go (I mean, she did tote me around for 4.5 years... even if she was the least reliable car I've ever driven), her absence means there is room for a new car to come in... and that brings us to our IN list. :)

Things that come IN:

1. We have recently welcomed (as of Monday) a new car INto our family, to replace Ethel. This car is a pretty little 2007 Honda CR-V with about 57,500 miles on it. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it drives beautifully and we got it for a great deal! Here's a picture I found online of one that looks exactly like the one we purchased. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of our actual car yet, but they probably wouldn't be much different than this one:
Anyway, we haven't named this little beauty yet, but I am so glad to have finally gotten through the car buying stage and now I have a nice, smooth, safe, reliable car to drive - extra important for when baby boy gets here!

2. Baby boy is IN my belly. And he will be coming INto our family in just about 4 months! I can't believe how quickly time is flying! I can't wait for him to arrive, but I'm glad I have time to get some things together.

3. We will be flying IN to North Carolina two weeks from today for our big summer vacation! Oh, and did I mention that my brother, who has been on a mission for two years, will be flying IN to the RDU airport the day after we get there!? I'm so excited to see him and welcome him back!

4. About a month ago, the company I work for went through a split, and we recently moved IN to a new office just down the road. I once again have my own office (instead of just a cubicle yay!) and I love the change of scenery. I can even see the bank of the Provo river outside my window. Nice :)

5. There are lots of other things that we are expecting to see come IN throughout the coming months (i.e. baby furniture, Trevor's diploma, income from Trevor's businesses as he has a chance to really work on them, etc.). I'll be sure to keep you all updated!

Decisions, Decisions...

Many of you may not know this unless you know me pretty darn well, but I seem to have this problem with being indecisive. Especially when I'm trying to make a decision within a certain time frame. And it really does cause me some self-inflicted stress sometimes.

Let me give you a couple of examples that I will take from my current life situation.

Example #1: Baby Stuff. Like, you know, all of it. Do I buy new or used? Which kind do I get? There are SOME things I know, like I really love cute little owls and I really think I want a dark brown crib that converts into a toddler bed and a twin bed (probably a lot like the one pictured below). Here's a picture of a cute bedding set that I love with branches and darling little birds and owls:
I love it because it's neutral enough it could easily go either way for a boy or a girl, so if I have a girl second I don't have to buy all new things. But then I start thinking to myself, "Well, wait! Should I get something a little more 'manly' for my little man? You know... like cars or footballs or something. This is really cute too:
I guess I just have to decide what I like (and factor in the price) and then go for it. And I haven't even started thinking about strollers and car seats and high chairs and... you know... everything else! I just need to take a breath and remember I don't have to do it all today. **Breathe in... breathe out**

Example #2: A Car! Well, as you may know, someone recently hit and totaled my car. I've been driving my rental for about a week and a half now. And since it was a little out of the blue, Trevor and I haven't had much time prior to the accident to decide what kind of car we want. And how much to spend. And how much mileage is too much. Etc... So anyway, there are SOME things we do know: We think we want a crossover, with lower mileage, not much wear and tear, pretty decent gas mileage, and within the price range of $9-15K. Oh, did I mention that those are really difficult to find? So car shopping stinks. Especially because there are so many options. And especially because I'm (erm... WE'RE) so indecisive!

Example #3: A name for our sweet baby boy. I seriously have minor mental panic attacks when I realize that I have to pick a name that I am going to love FOREVER. And that suits my child. And goes with my last name. And has a nice "ring" to it. And that Trevor agrees with. And doesn't mean something weird. And.... and... **breathe in, breathe out**. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Right?! Right!?!!!

Anyway, thanks for indulging in my indecisiveness. And I WOULD appreciate your opinions on the matter - especially if you have experience in the realms of buying baby stuff, buying cars, or naming children :)

Love,

Indecisive Me <3

21 Weeks

It's that time again: time for an embarrassing picture of my ever-growing belly. I really should start cropping out my head... for example: what's up with my lazy looking eye? Anyway, I was on my way to yoga without any makeup on, so please don't judge. Thanks :) He sure is starting to make an external appearance. And there's no shortage of kicks and punches and rolls and swim strokes that I feel from him daily. He's an active little one, and I love him :)

Last week, when I went to the hospital to get checked out after my minor car accident (just in case, right?) they kept me there for 4 hours and came to check his little heartbeat every 30 minutes. They'd press on him with the monitor to try to find him and I'm tellin' ya, he didn't like it at all! They'd finally catch him in a good spot and start recording the heartbeat, and then he'd decide he wasn't happy at all about being poked at, and he's start wiggling and "swim" his way to another part of me... just trying to get away from those pesky nurses. I don't blame him! They pushed too hard :) Whenever I got a chance to hold the device and find his heartbeat, he'd generally hold a lot more still. Good thing - he's already learning to be cooperative for his mommy :D

Name update: Still working on it. Boy names are soo hard!

I seriously love how he has a little personality already. I can't wait to learn more about him and to meet him later this year.

The BIG Appointment!

So, Trevor and I went to the "big" ultrasound appointment at 2pm on Friday, June 3rd. I've looked forward to this appointment ever since I set it a month ago. I just couldn't wait to find out if baby Shipp was a boy or a girl! Both Trevor and I had feelings that "it" might be a boy, and there's been many times that I've slipped a "he" while talking about the baby. So, I was excited to put an end to the mystery ;)

Well, the good news is that Trevor and I were RIGHT! We will be welcoming a baby boy into our family in late October! And so far, everything looks healthy! Here's a picture of me a day after the ultrasound (looking less big in this picture... it fluctuates based on the day and hour... what I ate and how full my bladder is!):
So, yeah! It's a boy. I guess the blue colors don't really go along with my hot pink camera. Haha. Anyway, I'm sure you'd also like to see the ultrasound pictures, eh?

Here's the first one, proof that he's a boy. I actually feel a teeny bit bad showing off his little man parts on the world wide web. But, it's still fun to see! The u/s tech froze the screen at this shot and I was almost 100% sure I knew what I was looking at before she told us. She was showing us his leg bone, and I said, "it's a boy, huh?". I don't know, but I feel like if I were trying to not find out, I would have been disappointed. For me, it was pretty hard to miss ;)
This next one is a frontal face shot of our baby. It's what Trevor and I call the "creepy picture". It's very fun to see the shape of the head and face, but really, it looks like something out of a horror movie. Don't stare too hard for too long ;)
The last few are harder to make out. This one shows both arms. I can't really tell how to make out the picture on the left (this arm was laying down by his side and it was hard to find). But, the arm on the right is really neat! He had this arm up near his head and we got to see an awesome shot of the lower arm bone as well as those little fingers and a thumb. I guess it does kind of look like a "thumbs up", huh?
Here are his legs. The leg on the left is bent and he's upside down. The foot is at the top of the picture with the toes facing toward the left, then his little knee bends down near the lower left-hand corner. See it? Good :) Again, the other leg was hard to find and capture, especially because he was kicking so much at this point! :) Totally a future soccer player. No question. I started feeling him around 17 weeks and it hasn't stopped since ;)
Last one. So cute. He put his little feet together. This shot is looking from the bottom of his feet and you can see his little toes (pointing toward the right). So sweet. I can't wait to squeeze those baby feet in real life :)
Anyway, it really was wonderful. We are so happy and I can't wait to meet him, although I'm sure the next 20 weeks are going to take a loooong time. :)

Oh, and just for fun, here's an "artistic" collage of Trevor and I goofing off in front of the mirror. But I thought it was fun because you can kind of see my belly from more of a front angle. It seriously just looks like I've been eating too many burgers and cookies. (Which I probably have, but shhh don't tell anyone!)
Hope you enjoyed! :)