Easter Festivities

The festivities at our house this weekend were more focused on the little one. :) We did manage however to get in some time of our own. We were feeling a little lame because we had no plans, no candy (well okay, that is not true I am pregnant, and Scott is well....Scott), and no ham. Lame....
So Wednesday as I was rushing around trying to put food in the fridge and do the laundry I managed to sneak a few things into the shopping cart that would de-lame us as a couple, and redeem us in the eyes of the nieces and nephews.
Here is Mr. Bywater dying Easter eggs...

We had a great time together dying Easter eggs, and cleaning the house. Yes, the real truth is that we are so lame we needed a little Bywater around to force us to do the little things that we often forget.
These beauties were promptly turned into deviled eggs Sunday morning. I had a craving, and Mr. Bywater was an all too willing accomplice.
I will say that we love and miss our families the most on holidays, but we received a lovely phone message (well, several) on Saturday night to remind us that we were being thought of. Mr. Bywater always chooses the best gifts for the nieces and nephews, and this year was no exception. He found a toy cow and chick that would "moo" and "peep" and then poop Easter candy... Joyous...I just go along with these things and pray that my sister in law's and sister will have the fortitude to forgive us.
Farewell to our last Easter as a lame couple.

Belly Photo's

Here is the belly at 21 weeks. This is a shot in the morning, the nighttime belly is just....well, let's just say that gravity and I have a hate relationship after 6 p.m.

The Babe

We have a new babe coming to our house...Here is what this babe is coming as...
That is right folks, we are going to have a little girl in our home. We went to the doctors earlier this morning to check our sweet little one out, and she is a jumper. :) The ultrasound tech was really laughing because I had just said to Scott that it was kicking me in the FULL bladder, and the first photo the tech took was of her kicking me in the FULL bladder. :) Needless to say, we all had a good laugh. She is healthy and a happy girl, she is 13 oz. and moves around constantly.
The tech had trouble determining what the sex of the baby was at first because the umbilical cord was between her little legs....modest is hottest folks....so the tech had me turn onto my side and we watched the little stinker flip with me and then when the tech had me lay back on my back she flipped again. :) It was such an amazing feeling to have her kicking me and be able to see it on a screen.
We are so thrilled and excited. I have been bouncing out of my seat all day long. :)

Arizona

The last few weeks have been full of traveling fun. Maybe that is why I am so exhausted this week, oh wait that is because I am growing another person in me... :)
We had a show in Mesa, Arizona, and I somehow talked my mother and sister into coming for the show and to have a little visit with Stefen and Bree who live near Mesa. They drove for 12 fabulous hours, and I know that Jena loved every minute of it.... :)
We had such a good time hanging out by the pool, and having four of us cram into my hotel room, playing at the scrapbooking show, having great sisterly bonding time (if you haven't experienced Jena and I in the same room yet, you are missing out on life), and getting told who's turn it was to be the boss (that was Aniston's job...anyone shocked?? :) )
At Olive Garden Friday Night...Who knows what Jena was doing, the rest of us however, including Junior were anxiously awaiting food.
It was fantastic to be in 80 and 90 degree temperatures. The first thing I did when I got to Arizona was go to the pool, well okay, the first thing was eat, second was pool. We had a great time all weekend swimming and enjoying ourselves in the sun.
Junior and I enjoyed getting a tan. It is really hard to beleive that I am halfway done with this pregnancy business, it has gone by pretty quickly. I think we'll have another cake once it is over, okay, well Junior and I will anyway :)

Jena had a class with me on Saturday morning, and in normal Bolander fashion she was a minute late for the class. Well, a lot can be accomplished in a minute, so I used the time to set up a conspiracy and asked that all of the class attendee's clap when she came in. I should know by now that it is impossible to embarrass anyone in my family publicly. It was great to have her there however.
We ended up having a delicious dinner with Stefen and Bree on Sunday and hanging out at their apartment.
We stopped for some lunch at Sweet Cakes on Monday afternoon before Jena, Aniston, and my Mom dropped me off at the airport.
Fun times were had by all! It was very hard to leave on Monday because 1) it was 37 degrees in Chicago, and 2) I love my family, and it is hard for me not to have them around when I am in the middle of this life changing event. It is a good thing I have such a good husband that is so sweet, he makes up for all of those times I freak out and wish I had my mom's advise closer.

Signing off,
Shamu

A Visit to Chicago

We had some visitors a few weeks ago. Scott's Mom and Dad brought his niece Nadia to Chicago.
I was in St. Louis at the time (300 miles up the road)
But I heard it was all fun and games here at the Bywater house. We sure love to have our family come!
The sleeping arrangements here are the best in the world, I think so anyway....

Quick Update

Just wanted to get a quick update in... sorry, two shows in a row will take all the gusto out of you, and more so when a baby takes the gusto initially.
Just got back from St. Louis and had an interesting trip. The crowd was a little harsh, I am not kidding when I say that this was probably the most stressful show yet. It ended well however, when my co-worker and I took the time on Sunday to go to the Gateway Arch. It was amazing. Words cannot describe how excited I was.

Scott and I visited the doctor today and Junior was happily sleeping, and Scott was thrilled to hear it's little heart beating away. I was just thrilled to be laying down on a table and almost stayed there. :) We find out if Junior is a he or a she on the 23rd of this month. Needless to say we are slightly thrilled.

I am headed to Mesa this week, and I am so excited to meet up with my family. We decided to make a weekend of it and visit my brother.
We also had my in laws and darling niece Nadia here this weekend, I am sure that made for a full house. Photo's are coming....I promise. :)

Portland

I had the chance to go to Portland this last week for a scrapbook show. The show went really well, and I had this darling lady come up to me after one of my classes. "do you remember me?" me: "I recognize your face, were you in Seattle?" Surprising that I did, but I had several people in my classes that I knew had been in Seattle in November of last year. Anyway, this sweet women proceeded to tell me that she was a beginner in Seattle and that I had totally calmed her fears that weekend and she just loved my class, so she had to make sure she took another class that I was teaching. I was so surprised and grateful that she came and told me. It really made my day. I wished I would have had my camera...famous last words of a scrapbooker.

So I took some extra time in Portland and visited Matt, Scott's brother, and was able to have dinner Friday at the restaurant that he works at. I drank vinegar water, and ate and ate and ate. It was all very delicious! I stayed until Monday touring around because I have always wanted to drive the coast. Scott and I, once a long time ago, talked about going and then never did. So, while Mr. Bywater was home cleaning the church building (he really was, good thinking on my part to be away that weekend) I was driving up Highway 101.
I started on Highway 6 which is the road through Tillamock State Forest. Map quest suggested it, my GPS was adamant that I turn around, but I was proud of myself for staying on the unknown course, especially because I was alone. It was beautiful. I find the longer I live in the midwest the more I miss mountains.
I seem to be thinking in the realm of "lasts" lately. Probably because I know that this baby means no more just me. :) No more just Scott and I. Don't get me wrong we are so thrilled to be blessed with being able to have a family, we just know it is a life changer. So along the lines of "lasts" I knew this would be a "last" alone trip for a while for me.
SIDE NOTE: Public restroom standards...go by the wayside when pregnant. I of course started up this canyon with my trusty mug reminding myself to drink water. Well, sure enough I had to use the facilities about halfway through my trip. I do have to say that I passed a few other throwns up prior to coming to this beauty
and then of course it looked the same on the inside as all the rest. Yes folks, it was an outhouse. And yes, I was the queen for about two seconds. Might I also say that up the road about a half a mile was the Forest Information Center and flushing toilets and a sink...sigh...I will admit I laughed quite hard.
END SIDE NOTE
As I came down the mountain I noted the altitude signs "1,000 feet above sea level", "500 feet above sea level." We're not in Kansas anymore Toto. And you don't see those types of signs in Utah. Usually the altitude is a bit more prominent.
I ended up getting spit out in Tillamock, which was fantastic because they have cheese, and Junior and I were starving. We were living on granola bars.
Here is a shot of the cheese factory
The place was much to crowded for me, so I moved on and ran into some beautiful sights heading to Cannon Beach

I could have lived in one of the little towns that I drove through that day, well I could live in all of them really. It was fantastic. Cannon Beach is a great little tourist attraction, so I stopped there for some retail attraction and a few photo's

After I was done at Cannon Beach I got back in the car, much to the protest of my back- aka Junior's Pillow, and decided that I really did want to continue on up to Astoria, Oregon before going back to Portland. I was glad I did because I was able to snag this photograph
The rainbow makes the photo, and was a great end to a wonderful trip!