You know you're in your 3rd trimester when...

You wear your slippers to town because they are easier to get on than your winter boots

You can barely wipe yourself after using the bathroom!!

You get frustrated that you have to pee SOOOO badly, but then only a trickle comes out! And then you have to attempt to wipe after each little trickle?!

You quit shaving your legs & you could care less

You ask your husband for a pedicure gift certificate for Christmas

You take your shoes off for the rest of the day (at work) just becuase getting in trouble by the boss would be better than trying to tie your shoe for a second time that day.

You have moments of pure panic thinking that little one will actually be here in a few weeks

You start planning out rediculous ways to coax little one to come early - this is usually followed by the moment of panic I mentioned above

You ask your 7 year old to tie your shoes

You've mastered the art of cleaning a room by picking things up with your feet to avoid bending over

You have dropped something on the floor and yell for help!

It takes you almost 5 minutes to move to your side to get comfortable and then seconds later your uncomfortable and want to move again!

You don't know you have the same pairs of shoes on!

You can't put socks on!

Everytime you say "Oh" and breath a little different your husband looks at you and asks if you are ok or if you need to go to the hospital

Rolling over in bed has become a carefully orchestrated 4-step process

The new way you use to get yourself up off the floor leaves everyone in the room laughing

You laugh, cough, or sneeze you seem to pee a little

Everyone starts asking you if you've had "that baby" yet

You drop food on your belly and can't see it!

You have to move the seat back to avoid your belly hitting the steering wheel while you drive and then if you drive a stick you have to move your seat forward again so you can reach to shift over your big belly. It's an endless/vicious cycle!

Your new fav shoes are slip ons

You find yourself, more often than not, leaving stuff that fell on the floor there because it's just too trying to attempt to pick it up.

You curse yourself for putting your purse on the floor in the car because it's sooooooo far to bend down and get it

You have to lean back while sitting on the toilet because if you dont you cant breathe

You're belly is bigger than your husband's belly

Your socks are literally strangling your fat feet

You get heartburn from water

You have a hard time getting off of the couch...like a turtle trying to flip back over when it's on it's shell

You can no longer see the little cup you have to pee into at the doctor's office and end up going all over your hand

Everytime you go near the kitchen sink, the bottom of your belly gets wet because it touches the counter.

Everytime you brush you teeth you have to change you shirt because of the wet spot on your chest from leaning over to rinse

People take a couple steps back just to look at you

The simple act of putting on socks or rubbing lotion on your belly leaves you completely out of breath and sweating

You want to strangle the next person who asks how you're feeling

You sit down at the table to eat supper and when you go to get up your belly hits the edge of the table and you get stuck! Or you go out to eat and sit in a booth and you have to wedge yourself in.

You and your husband go to hug or kiss and you can't reach because your bellies are hitting one another and keeping you apart

You get a back ache from bending over just that little bit to wash the dishes in the sink.

You need your husband's help getting your pants on in the morning, not the mention underwear, socks, and shoes.

You no longer cuddle with your husband because he gets in the way of the pillow placements.

You burn your belly on the stove while cooking

Novemeber Blessings

Recently, I have reached my one year mark with the company that I work for. I didn't expect anything great to happen other then getting back my vacation/sick time since I have long since used mine up. And I have been very grateful to still have my job even though I had my hours cut to part-time. But when I had my review my boss told me that he didn't think that I was making what I was worth and he wanted to give me a raise. Not only a cost of living raise but an additional raise. He said that he wished he could let me work full-time and would love it if I could but considering the economy he couldn't. But he wanted to pay me more of what I was worth and also give me a little extra to off-set the loss of hours. So over all, I got a 7% raise! We were so excited. That is by far the biggest raise I have ever had. And now that we have a little one to take care of it will definatly help. What an amazing blessing! I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that truely watches over us and knows just when to send blessings.

Over Thanksgiving Rick had to work Wed-Sat so we didn't get to go home for the holiday and at the last minute our plans with our friends fell through. So Rick worked from 9am-9pm those days and I stayed home and relaxed and tried to catch up on some stuff for Christmas. We are going to celebrate our Turkey Day tomorrow night with a date night. But the good thing about Rick having to work Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving is, he gets Holiday pay for both days. Which is another blessing with Christmas coming up and Madi's arrival soon.

We also went to the doctor today for a check-up and and ultrasound and found out that Madi is right where she needs to be as far as size and weight goes. The doctor said that everything looks beautiful! And even with four weeks left to go, I am already starting to dialate just over 1 cm and I am already 70% effaced. The doctor also said that considering I am already dialating, I will most likely have her sooner rather then later. Which is a blessing because if we have her before the end of the year we won't have to pay as much out of pocket because of all the other medical expenses we have already had this year so we will have already met our max out-of-pocket. Which is another huge blessing!

Thank the Lord for those everyday "Tender Mercies" he sends you. There are more then you think, you just have to take the time to notice them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoying Fall

This week Rick and I both had Tuesday off so we decided to go for a drive. We drove down to Fredricksburg which is about an hour away. We went to a spot that Rick likes to go fishing at to get away from the city and enjoy the fall colors and weather. We stopped at the Rappahannock River to take a few pictures.


Rick was scouting around in the water for some minnos to catch but found something even cooler. This is a baby hatchling turtle the size of his thumb nail. It is so tiny! And of course it was added to our collection of pets after a ride home in a water bottle.

And for those of you who are dying to see pictures of my baby belly, here you go. I have decided that I hate having my picture taken when I'm pregnant. I look like a balloon! I know that it is mostly baby but just looking at the massive bumb in my middle is a little sickening. You know how women are, always trying to be little in that area. But none the less, here you go. This is at about 33 weeks of pregnancy.

Enough is Enough!!!

Even though we have been greatly blessed the past year it has also been the most challenging year of both of our lives. After we got over the swine flu a few weeks ago, Rick and I both started to develop pneumonia because the congestion from the flu had settled into the lower part of our lungs. We both were having a hard time breathing and couldn't seem to get over it. So we were both put on antibiotics and a type of steroid. (They gave us different stuff since I am pregnant) So long story short...the medication they gave Rick was bad news. He developed one of the rare but serious side effects and started passing blood clots. After one night of him feeling so awful that he couldn't sit upright I took him into the doctor's office to see what was wrong. The doctor told us that we needed to go to the ER right away and get it checked out because there was a serious problem. So we spent the next 24 hours in the hospital while they ran tests to determine what the problem was. It ended up being the medicine he was on for the lung congestion. It was ripping apart the inside of his intestines and causing them to bleed. So after that was determined and fixed they let him rest for a while and then sent him home with new medicine to help heal his insides. So we better not see any negative results from this stuff too!

As you can imagine, I was stressed out. Because at first all the tests were coming back normal showing there wasn't a problem and the doctors weren't keeping us very up to date and taking forever. And they wouldn't give him any pain meds in the mean time so he was bearly able to move. (I had to wheel him into the hospital in a wheelchair because of the pain). And then they told me I had to go home! He was going into a lock down observation unit all night until they could schedule another test and I wasn't allowed to stay. I was so upset. So after all this and after Rick got home I started having contractions like crazy! And they were pretty intense ones too. We were so worried that my body was over stressed the baby was going to come. So Rick sat me down and gave me a drink of water to try and get them to stop. Luckly after about an hour or so they stopped and we were able to relax.

To add the icing on the cake...we were walking out of the hospital to the car and when we got there we had noticed that someone had sideswiped our new Escape! We haven't even had that car for 6 months. I wanted to cry! But lucky for us, there was a camera facing the parking spot we were in. We called Hospital security and the city police and filed a report of a hit and run, which is cinsidered a felony in Virginia. Now we are just waiting to hear back from them after they go through all the footage. Hopefully we can catch the bad guy and get our Escape looking like new again.

I feel like the past few months all I have is bad news. But really, even with all this crazy stuff going on, life is good and we have been greatly blessed. At the end of the day we just have to remember these blessings:

• Rick was able to go back to his day shift so we get to see each other more often.
• I have started up a mini-business sewing purses for people to earn extra money and that has taken off like crazy.
• All the bills are paid and the fridge is full
• We are in good health as of today
• We will have a baby girl in 7 weeks
• We know that Heavenly Father loves us and won't put us through anything we can't handle and our family is always there as our constant support!

The Time is Fast Approaching!!!!

I can't believe it! Only 9 more weeks and our little bundle of joy will be here! Which also means that only 9 more weeks and Christmas will be here! AHHH!!! Can't Christmas wait until Jan this year? That would make life so much easier. But I have a favor to ask all moms (and possibly dads) out there and anyone else that has info to share. Rick and I are trying to get together a list of "must haves" for the first 2-4 weeks after we bring Madi home from the hospital so we don't have to run to the store every few days. For example, diapers and wipes is pretty high on the list. But, since we haven't done this before we aren't getting very many things written down. Pretty much diapers and wipes are all we have and birp rags. So, if you care to share anything that would be helpful please email me at pinkprincess47@gmail.com. We are getting down to the wire and our baby shopping has yet to be done. And if you have any ideas on how to do things on a budget and that would help save us money that would be wonderful! Thanks in advance!

Never a Dull Moment

I am sure that all of you are a little nervous if not terrified of getting the swine flu. Which is completely understandable considering all the hype about it. And with me being pregnant and Rick working in Emergency Services we are equally as stress about contracting the virus as well. As with all things in our ever "exciting" life, even with all the hand washing and avoiding sick people as much as possible etc, etc, etc....this past week we contracted the dreaded H1N1 virus. All I can say is I am so glad that Rick's parents were here over the weekend to visit. Of course not realizing what they were getting into and us not know what was about to happen during their visit. But they were a huge blessing to us. I was the first to get it (thanks to a very generous and discussting co-worker who doesn't know the meaning of cleanliness) after which I promptly passed it to Rick and his mom before I even knew what was wrong. It wasn't until Monday at the doctor's appointment that I had already scheduled two weeks ago for the baby bumb check-up did we realize what I had was definately the swine flu. Thank goodness for modern medicine and Priesthood blessings is all I can say! We seriously felt like we were dying. I have never felt so crummy in my entire life from being sick. I hope that now we both have immunities to it and don't get it again. But, alas, that would go completely contrary to our luck so far. But at least this time we will know how to kick it in the bud if it does come knocking again.

Hopefully all of you can steer clear of it and stay healthy this winter. It's nasty stuff! Good luck!

Cars, Bellies, Fish and Guns

This weekend for Labor Day we went up to visit Rick's parents. We haven't gone up there since June so it was nice to get away from the city for a while. While we were up there we were able to do so much. We went fishing at a sportman's club that we are both members of and we did pretty good. Nothing worth a good fish story but the catching was still fun and we both managed to get sunburned even though we were in the shade the entire time.

On Sunday we were able to stay home and relax for a while. Rick and I took several mini walks through the woods and Rick's dad snapped a few pictures of my baby belly. And yes, I know I don't look it but I am now 5 1/2 months along. I think the reason I am so small is because I wasn't able to gain any wieght the first 4 months because of being so sick and in the hospital. And then I had to compensate for the weight I lost from being sick. So I had a lot of time to make up and a lot of weight to gain back after loosing so much in the beginning. But things are going well now and Madi is very healthy and that is the important part.

While we were relaxing on Sunday Rick's dad also took a picture of our new Escape. We had to buy this back in June becuase my poor white car is on it's last leg. We wanted to sell it eventually but didn't know that we would have to this soon. At least we are selling it before it dies that way we can get something out of it. But after buying the Escape, I don't know how I did without having a bigger vehicle. It is so nice and so much fun. And it's a stick so I had "fun" learning how to drive it. But after a month of refusing to drive it I finally learned and now it is sort of fun to drive a stick. And I am so glad that it isn't a mini-van! (No offense to those mini-van moms but I couldn't do it) On Monday we headed out to the shooting range to do a little target practice. We haven't been able to shoot pretty much sice we moved away from Utah. There are no places to go and just shoot around here other then a shooting range, which costs $30/person/time. So not worth it! So we go up to the sportsmans club every chance we get to take out some stress. It is so much fun! Maybe someday we will have a lot of land in the mountains and we can make our own shooting range and go whenever we want. (Wishful thinking, I know)

Big Ultrasound.....

Things have been a little crazy around here the past few months. Rick and I have moved into a bigger apartment and have had to shuffle around a lot of things. Rick was put on a night shift at work so that has been a big challenge. Hopefully it doesn't last too long but from the sound of things at work it could be permenant. (Blah!) But we are just grateful we both have a job right now and that I am staying out of the hospital!

As far as the ultrasound in August went....it was great! Rick and I are having a little girl. I guess it's the Gudmundson tradition to have girls but we are very excited and wouldn't have it any other way. We are going to name her Madeline Coline Kaiser after Rick's grandmother and after my grandma who have both pasted away. According to the ultrasound she is already bigger then average, by about two weeks! So hopefully that means we will be having her before Christmas so we don't have to spend Christmas in the hospital. And maybe my dad will get his wish and have her born on his birthday (Dec 20th). Rick and I were both over 9 pounds and Rick's dad was 11 pounds, so our doctor is going to watch and make sure she doesn't get that big. Thank goodness! I don't know about having a baby that big my first time around, but I guess we'll see what happens. I will try and post some pictures of my baby belly once we can get the essentials unpacked and find the camera. Everyone says I am tiny for being 5 months pregnant but I feel so big! I can't imagine what it is going to be like when my stomach "pops" around 7 months like everyone says it will.

Washington DC and Baltimore

My family flew in from Utah a few weeks ago and we were able to spend some time with them seeing the sights. Rick and I have lived here for almost a year now and we have never been to DC to see the monuments so I think it was good motivation for us to finally go when they came to visit. We spent 2 very long and hot days in DC but we were able to see pretty much everything. And then my parent's and Jodie went to see Mt Vernon while Rick and I took the other sisters to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was so much fun to be able to get that much in all in the same week. By the end of it I was so tired and needed a vacation from the vacation just to catch up on some sleep and to rest my sore muscles from all the walking. But it was a lot of fun!


Rick showing off my baby bump at the Washington Monument

Us in front of the White House. And the President was home at the time too. You can tell by the flag; if there is a flag up that means he is home. (At least that is what they said)

The traditional picture that I am sure everyone takes at the Smithsonian's Natural History Measeum

The bubble tubes at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I could not pry myself away from them. They were so much fun to take silly pictures by and when you are with your sisters...you get very creative.


One of the many fish tanks at the Baltimore Aquarium

The news you have all been waiting for......

Rick and I were able to celebrate our first Mother's and Father's Day this year because we now have a little one on the way! We are so excited! It is definately a new experience being pregnant and it has been a really rocky road but we are making it. We found out at the end of April that we were expecting...and to be honest we were a little surprised. But it was a good surprise. The baby is due around Christmas time. I will have to say that this is going to be the best Christmas present we will ever get. We find out the beginning or August whether it is a girl or a boy so we will keep you posted...

Can you tell the Rick is already a very proud father?!

Jon Schmidt...

He is amazing! His music gives me goose bumps everytime I listen to it. I just can't get enough of it. And I just listened to my new favorite songs from him. It is called Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay). Here is a link so you can watch it on YouTube. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

Rick's Very Successful Fishing Trip

Rick went fishing this Monday while I was at work since it was his day off. He went to a place near Fredericksburg, VA which is about an hour away from where we live. Ever since we have moved here from Utah, he hasn't had very much luck fishing. He has caught a few fish here and there but he has never had a "great fishing day". Monday, however, there was finally a break in the fishing storm. I called him on my lunch break around 2:00 to see how the day was going and to see if he was having any luck. He told me that he had already caught 23 fish that morning! He was so excited! He had also caught 2 turtles on his line as well. Which was a first for him. He said that he had only kept one so far since the other ones were a little small but he was going to keep fishing to see if he could catch some bigger ones to bring home for dinner. By the end of the night he had caught 28 fish and brought 6 of them home to eat and also a surprise. He had also caught 4 baby turtles and put them in his tackle box. He wants to keep two and give the other two to our niece and nephew. The turtles are about 2-6 inches across their shell and they are so cute. Right now they are taking up residency in our bathroom in a plastic tub until we can get an aquarium to put them in and give the other two away. It is always fun to see how happy and excited Rick gets when he has a good day fishing. I am glad that he was finally able to convince those sneeky fish to bite!

Spring Pictures

Over Conference Weekend Rick and I went up to visit his family. We enjoyed spend time with them as well as being able to watch conference with them. This is the first time we have been able to go up there since Christmas because of Rick's work schedule. While we were up there we were able to get up early and get a few hours of fishing in before conference. His sister Becky also took some spring pictures of us too. It was so nice to get away from the city for awhile and get into the mountains and spend some time with the family. Here are some of our favorite pictures we took.

Small apartments are the best when it comes to furniture!

Ok, so as far as the space goes, no, small apartments are not the best. But as far as small apartments for your neighbors go, yes that is good. The reason why is this: you get the furniture that doesn't fit in their apartment, and usually for free or for a big discount. And it is usually pretty nice furniture. And if you are like us you don't have a whole lot of furniture to begin with or most of it consists of handme downs from old roommates, family or friends. So when your neighbor buys nice new furniture that comes in a set but doesn't have room for the rest, it is so nice to receive some of the benefits. Last night our neighbor got a set of tables for his living room that had two end tables and a coffee table. He didn't have room for the coffee table so he asked Rick if he wanted it, otherwise he was just going to throw it away. We were so excited because we had been looking for a table or something to put our TV on since we moved to Virginia, so we gladly took it off his hands. It is our second peice of new furniture we have got since we have been married other then the ones we got from family or from our wedding. So that is why small apartments are the best when it comes to furniture.

An Update at Last!!!!

Wow! It has been forever since I updated this, hasn’t it?!?!? Sorry! Life has been so crazy that I haven’t even had time to think about it let alone anything else. I actually forgot that I even had it until my cousin asked me when I was going to update it. Then I was like, oh yeah! So, even though it has been a while I am going to try and get everyone up to speed with what Rick and I have been up to and where we are in life. But I am going to warn you in advance, this is going to be a long post, so if you need to take a break and get a snack and come back and finish reading this later it’s ok. I’ll understand. J So I think the best way to do this and the easiest is to make a list. (I am good at that) Plus Rick says that I am a list maker and I live by my lists. So why not live up to that. So here we go:

-So, Rick and I packed up and moved to Virginia the middle of August. I know a great way to spend our first anniversary. But life doesn’t slow down for things like that. But that’s ok. We had plenty of time in the car together. After 2,300 miles of road we have decided that we never, ever want to make a trip like that again. That was a long way to drive in just three days. But we made it and that was the important thing.

-So we actually had never been to Virginia before we rolled into town with the moving van. So we had to unload everything into a storage unit and then drive two hours back up to Rick’s parent’s house for the night. Then we spend a week going back and forth between their house and Manassas Park, VA until we found a place to live. But we weren’t able to move in for a few weeks so it was nice to take a break from life and stay with his family for a little while.

-Rick started his new City Planning job on Sep 2nd. We were really excited until we found out that same day he started that the city was having financial problems and there was a chance of lay-offs. Which we had just gone through in Utah in Saratoga Springs and that is why we ended up having to move in the first place. So we were pretty worried about everything. Then things started getting pretty bad with the situation at work and we didn’t know how much longer he would have a job. And in the mean time I was having a really hard time finding a job. I was applying for jobs like crazy but I wasn’t getting any response at all from any of them. So we were both pretty frustrated and worried.

-Around Thanksgiving I finally had my first interview and I got the job so that was a huge relief. But we were still worried about Rick’s job. Things had dramatically worsened and we were started to considering other alternatives and looking into moving again even though that would put us into debt and then we would have to start over at square one again with my job and with his job. But we knew that things weren’t going to work out where he was and that if he stayed he would loose his job.

-Right before Christmas, the City Manager came to Rick and told him that he really liked him and he wanted to keep him but he wouldn’t be able to stay in the position that he was in now because of complications within the city and with the budget crisis. But they didn’t want to loose him. So they were going to move him to the police department in their communications department. He would get them same pay and benefits and he would be guaranteed a job through all the layoffs. And then the City Manager said that after the economy settles down he wants to bring him back as the City’s Planner. So that was a huge relief! And we actually ended up making more with the new position that Rick is in now so it ended up being a blessing. And if the economy doesn’t turn around soon then he has certifications in this job for the future that he can use as well as his degree in planning. The Lord does work in mysterious ways, we just have to be patient and wait for him to show us his plan.

-So after everything with work settled down we were able to focus on life outside of work. Rick is the 1st counselor in the Young Mens and I am the Beehive Advisor. We really enjoy our callings! We don’t have time during the week to do all the activities because Rick is on shift work but we enjoy teaching on Sunday. We have a lot to keep us busy but we enjoy living here. There are a few things we would change, like the traffic. If you think Utah is bad you should move here. Utah during rush hour is a walk in the park compared to here. You think I’m kidding. It takes me 30 minutes during normal time to go the same distance that it used to take 5-10 minutes in Utah during rush hour in Utah. Yeah it’s pretty bad. But overall, it is a good experience, but we don’t want to live in the city, especially 45 minutes from DC, the rest of our life. But it is always nice to have a change.

I will try and get some pictures up on here for you and try and keep you all a little more informed about what is going on in our life. Sorry it has taken so long. I hope everyone is doing well! Let us know.