Baby, family and more Idaho

So the past couple weekends have been sort of crazy for us and this coming weekend will be no different. Two weeks ago we were in Idaho for Carters baptism and other things. This weekend my parents and my sister Amanda came into town. My dad had a mission reunion and my sister had an interview with the MTC to teach Dutch. So we spent last weekend with my family again. It was lots of fun. I made them really delicious dinners and we watched conference together. This weekend we are headed back up to Idaho for my "idaho" baby shower. I am definitely really excited to get baby stuff!!! I got to take a sneak peak at the crib bedding that my mother is making for me and it looks so great. I am so excited. Once we buy the crib and get the bedding all set up I will post some pictures.

So I am closing on 25 weeks of pregnancy. This past week I have felt more pregnant than ever. Breathing has become somewhat harder... my appetite has increased immensely(followed by the feeling that I have absolutely no room in me for food so I feel like my belly will explode)...and the feelings of the baby kicking or pushing are becoming increasingly more noticeable and even somewhat annoying. Don't get me wrong it is good to know she is in there alive and all. But everytime I lay down she kicks kicks kicks. I go to sleep and she is kicking and I wake up and she is kicking. Every once in a while she'll hit nerves and I get shots of pain zooming through my body. So I am definitely starting to feel very pregnant. I am scared to think that it will only get worse from here on...but I know it will all be worth it in the end. I am very excited to have my little girl. Elder Ballards talk in the Sunday afternoon session was very helpful to me and definitely made me more encouraged to enter into this parenting thing. I am aware of the challenges of being a parent but he gave me some very good perspective into the matter and I know that I don't want anything more in this world than to be a mother. I am sure some people probably think that is incredibly cheesy and lame...but I've wanted to be a mother as long as I can remember and I feel so very blessed that I have the opportunity to be one.

So we haven't decided on any name yet. We have three names that we like. For fun we put those names in a bag a whole bunch of times and each day we randomly select a name and see what name gets more votes. Oddly enough it has been incredibly slanted. You'd think it would be more even in selection. But our first name on the list has been pulled 13 times and the other two names have been pulled 5 times each. So it is interesting. We will probably pull names for another couple of months...maybe even until I give birth. But ultimately we probably wont decide until we see her for the first time. So I am counting down the weeks. 15 weeks to go. I have been 10 weeks farther than weeks I have left to go...if that makes sense. But it is getting closer. I like to think that in 5 more weeks I will have 10 weeks left. I hear that the last 10 weeks go pretty quickly. So I am looking forward to that point.