Ouch!

Two nights ago I called my doctor because I was feeling some abdomen pain. He said if it got worse to go to the E.R. but otherwise he wanted us to come in and check things out. Our visit revealed that everything is going great (we got to hear the heartbeat again) and that I'm feeling ligament pains because of all the stretching. No one told me about this part! I was told drinking a lot of water helps but that's even more trips to the bathroom! Ha ha.

Another note: a patient saw me today in my scrubs, came over and said, "Look at you, you're showing a little!" That made me smile. Then someone else in the office asked me, "Amanda, where's your belly? I can't even see it!" I suppose to some I look pregnant and others not. The doc said plan on showing at 20 weeks because of my long torso.

Anyway, just a couple a couple pregnancy thoughts . . .

Fantastic Fall Weekend!

I hope everyone had a fun weekend just like we did. It was so BEAUTIFUL! The epitomy of what fall weather should be. Enjoy it now because Utah seems be warm one minute and snowing the next.

Even though this wasn't technically the weekend, we went to our 2nd doctor appointment on Thursday. It was short and sweet, but I once again left feeling much more happy and relieved. We didn't do an ultrasound, but we did hear our sweet baby's heartbeat. The most beautiful sound in the world. I can't help but get emotional when I hear it. We also set up our "big" appointment for finding out the baby's sex! I can't wait to be able to call our baby a "he" or a "she" instead of an "it". I've had a couple dreams lately where I see a baby boy, but I don't know if that's my crazy dreams or my motherly instinct. We would be extremely happy with either one! Oh, by the way . . . has anyone been daring enough to make their own baby quilt? I have some extreme ambition to do a quilt, bumper, crib skirt and curtains. If you do, please show me your patterns or finished project!

On with the weekend. On Friday I drove up to Logan to hang out with Ann and Sheena. We missed Jenelle because she got Lasik the day before. We had a blast catching up. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures (I need to be better) but it was so fun. I hate how time flies and we don't see each other in months. I'm like that with everyone! I get caught up in "life" and before I know it, it's been way too long.

Saturday Benj and I went to the Utah game against Colorado. It was one of the most entertaining games I've ever been to. Not just because of the actual game (we killed them 49-16) but because of where we were sitting. I was wearing a black shirt and carrying my red jacket when someone yelled, "put your jacket on!" I yelled back, "it's too hot." Their reply was then, "take off your shirt then!" followed by hoots and hollers. I held onto Benj and walked faster up the stairs. Benj just laughed. While watching the game I heard Benj laugh (again) and there was suddenly a guy in a red speedo who stopped directly in front of us and gave us a little dance. I diverted my eyes until he ran away!

If you can see the screen, you may recognize the "crazy lady" who does a little dance before the 4th quarter of every home game!

After that we saw John McCain and Sarah Palin walking down the stairs. Ok, it wasn't exactly them but these two had pretty good costumes. I didn't get the best picture, but it was hilarious. Palin was holding a baby doll and McCain continued to shake everyone's hand. They met Obama down the stairs. Some people have a lot of time on their hands. Even when we were in the car leaving some guy came up to my window, yelled something about the Utes winning and gave me a high five. I felt like I had a sign on that said EMBARASS ME!

Later that night we hung out with our friends. Chris and Ashley (on the left) got engaged the night before! We're so excited for them! Natalie and Tony are always willing to let us come over to their cute house and hang out. You guys are so much fun!

On Sunday we went up to Mantua (near Brigham City) and listened to my cousin give his homecoming talk. Spencer went to a Chinese speaking mission to London! He was glowing! It was also so fun to see family. Even though most only leave an hour away, I haven't seen them in a year. Sad! I have a big family so me and 3 other cousins are pregnant! I also met about 3 new babies who have joined the family. I have to get my practice in right? Ha ha.

Can You See It?

We're now at 13 weeks! Last week in my first trimester!

I know that my bump is there but it's still very small. I know that first pregnancies take longer to show, but I kind of wish I was showing more! Perhaps it's from all the times I've had to tell people I'm pregnant. I just wait to point to my tummy and say, "See, can't you tell???" My husband will be the first to tell you that I'm not the most patient person. However, I'm realizing now that I'm a 1/3 of the way through my pregnancy and I still have a lot to do before baby Bradshaw comes! Here are a few nurseries I like:

Zion Weekend

What a weekend! Not at all like I planned, but fun none the less. There is never a dull moment in a Croft/Bradshaw family vacation. I learned a couple lessons:

1 - Always book your hotel in advance. Needless to say we did not know the St. George marathon was going on that weekend and EVERY hotel was booked. We ended up finding a hotel in Cedar City (40 mins away) which wasn't very impressive. What I mean by that is that they booked my parents a SMOKING room when I clearly ordered a non-smoking one. I couldn't even stand by the door it was so bad. The little foreign front desk guy would not take the blame. Oh, and the maids look my pajamas and Benj's shorts when they changed the sheets. Lovely.

2 - Be prepared for the weather. We knew it might rain on us but we didn't think all day long! Saturday we went into Zion National Park and I wasn't too excited to be wet the whole time. It let up later that night when we went to see Les Mis. To those who haven't been to Tuacahn, it's an outdoor theater. The performance was amazing except the last hour downpoured! I felt bad for the actors, but they didn't miss a note. It really made the play more dramatic!

3 - Remember to have fun. At first I was kind of sulking because of the hotel and the leaves hadn't changed yet and it was rainy, but I seemed to be the only one with that attitude. My family taught me to forget about the unfortunates and have fun! Generally vacations don't go as expected but it still is a vacation and something to enjoy!

Benj and I were nice and wet by the end of the day. You'll see from the picture above that I look like a turtle. We had to keep our backpack dry so I put in on under my poncho. My hair was nice and frizzy and I was a "grumpy gus" as my husband nicely put it. This was one of the sweet moments.

The family in their rain gear. I even saw some people using garbage bags!

Despite the rain, it was very beautiful.

This pic of Sam was taken Friday when it was nice and dry.

Andy's hair frizzed up like mine. Still a cutie.

One other GREAT thing about this weekend was conference. We listened to what we could in the car and it was so positive and uplifting. Definately a nice way to travel.

Mini Vaycay

We are off to St. George to enjoy a little R & R.

We hope to see some beautiful fall foliage . . .

as well as watch a bit of this . . .

The Bradshaws need a break! Have a great weekend everyone!

WE'RE PREGNANT!

We've been trying to keep it a secret for a month now and we can finally tell everyone! WE'RE HAVING A BABY! We went to the doctor this morning and we saw our baby for the first time! Baby Bradshaw was kicking and moving like crazy as soon as the technician found it on the ultrasound. Benj said, "It's no wonder you've been feeling nauseous." It was the cutest, sweetest little thing ever! I think Benj and I were just struck with awe as soon as we saw it. The baby has a nice, strong heartbeat and as soon as I heard it beat, I started tearing up. What an amazing experience! The doc says that it's about 3 cm or 1 1/2 inches. The estimated due date is April 16th, 2 days before Benj's birthday. So we're about 10 weeks along. We look forward to the months ahead and will keep you posted with any new info!
Oh, and for those of you curious, I've been feeling pretty good this trimester. I have my nauseous moments and definately a lot of tired moments, but I can't complain. P.S. For any moms out there, I greatly appreciate any advice you have. This is all very new to me!

Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend and wanted to share with everyone!

Oh how I love my nephews. Colton (the youngest) has pretty long hair and Benj's mom wanted to take a picture of him with a ponytail to convince her daugher that it was time he needed a haircut. It didn't seem to bother him as you can see. He knew it was pretty funny!

I love his expression. :)

I convinced Benj that we needed to go to the Utah State Fair on Friday. It was so much fun!

We took the two boys and Grandma B. along. We first stopped at the rodeo.

Cameron's face says it all. We had already watched the rodeo for an hour and although it was fun, we were done!

I think Colty would have been fine watching the horses even longer. He would stare at Benj when he would start hollering and clapping, and then he would join in the fun.

As you can see he was clapping a lot.

After the rodeo, Benj and Cam went down the big yellow slide. I was proud of Cam for going down by himself. Benj saved his life at the bottom when Cameron almost got ran over by another person. After the slide we walked around for a bit, checked out the rides and displays and went home.

Saturday we watched the Utes football game! We went with friends Joe and Katie. The stadium was packed! The Utes picked up a lot of speed in the second half and ended up crushing UNLV. There were a couple of downsides: I wouldn't recommend ordering a chicken taco from the stadium, bleh. Also, a mid-thirties guy trying to be cool was sneaking shots with his buddies right in front of us. I told security but they didn't do much. They asked the guy what he had and he showed him his Coke bottle. I was thinking, "Can't you smell the guy's breath?" Obviously not since they didn't kick him out. I found out I can text security if I see any disturbing behavior. I don't think it would do much good. After the game we stopped by Baskin Robbins and had waffle cones. It made the day all worth while!

Sunday we spent a quiet afternoon at home where we got some much needed rest. Overall a fun weekend!