tiny little things

My sister in law Laura made baby Mellema a couple of tiny sweater and hat sets! How cute are they?!

Merry Christmas 2009!

We have had quite an eventful year this year. I thought I would update you all on some of the changes in our lives.

Angela: After working for a research lab at Purdue University since 2004, the funding for my position ran out and I became a full-time housewife beginning in June. After spending a month or so on projects around the house I decided to use some of my free time at our church and began volunteering 2 mornings a week at our church's community center. I also kept up my weekly commitments at the local pregnancy resource center.

In July we found out that we were expecting a baby, due March 21. I spent the next couple of months on the couch, so I was thankful for my slower-paced schedule! In early November our ultrasound revealed that we should prepare for a little boy.

Face shot of the littlest Mellema:

Steve: After working since 2004 at a software company, Steve accepted a new job in the Minneapolis, MN area. Steve grew up there, and the chance to be close to at least one side of our family was pretty attractive. Earlier this month we loaded up our things and moved from Lafayette, Indiana to chilly Minnesota. We are currently staying with Steve's mom and dad while we transition to our new city.

The move has obviously changed several things in our life. Steve has played in a band, TitusJustus, for the past several years, so it was hard to say goodbye to them. He really enjoyed having a creative musical outlet there, as well as being a part of our previous church's worship team. It was hard to leave behind many of the areas of service that we've been a part of, both through our church and local community. But at the same time we're looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in our new community.

These next few months hold some exciting changes for us, a new baby, hopefully a new house, and exploring our new city, so be sure to stop by for updates every so often. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Double-digits!

Today, if you notice on my ticker to the right, I have 100 days left in my pregnancy. I am now in the double-digit countdown! And as soon as I find the camera and the cord to the camera, I'll take some more belly pics :) I have definitely noticed significant growth the last couple of weeks, and so far everything is still going well.

We're getting settled into Minnesota, despite the cold weather! Steve starts his new job on Monday so he's looking forward to getting going on that. I had my first doctor's appointment here already, to get set up in the new clinic and get my next few appointments mapped out. So far I am so impressed with the efficiency of my new clinic, and I really liked the nurse practitioner that I met with. I meet with my new doctor in less than 2 weeks.

Thanksgiving

We were blessed to have my parents and brother come visit from South Carolina and my little brother (who lives in town) here for Thanksgiving, so we got to host our first Thanksgiving in our house :) Right after we got cleaned up, we started boxing away, so it was quite a reminder that we're not here for long at all. Here are a few fun pics.

24

Things are going well here, and in the midst of Thanksgiving, packing boxes and canceling utilities I turned 24 weeks :) I am feeling good, just some random aches and pains that are probably common and nothing to complain about quite yet. Baby Mellema is certainly a spaz, there is no end to his flipping around, kicking and squirming. We've been talking about names and have a few on a relatively short list, but aren't really attached to any one quite yet. Here I am at 24 weeks.

more big changes for us

Steve has accepted a job in Minneapolis, Minnesota and we are moving in just a few weeks! We decided that one major life change (baby) wasn't quite enough, so we're now adding a job change, a cross-country move, selling our house, and potentially buying a new one :) Steve's last day at his current job will be tomorrow. Things are moving quickly, we're planning on being in Lafayette until the week of Christmas. We'll be in Minnesota for Christmas anyway, so we figured that that week would be a good time just to pack up our cars with as much as we can fit, and go. I'll stay up there and Steve might be down a time or two to deal with house stuff until ours sells.

It's hard to imagine starting over, we've grown to love Lafayette and our community here. Although it's also very comforting that Steve's family will be so close, his parents and 2 siblings and their spouses all live up there. So it will be very bittersweet for us, but at the same time we're very excited to begin this new phase of life. Your prayers for our transition will be greatly appreciated!

the last few weeks

I can't believe how quickly Thanksgiving is approaching! It seems that the last few weeks have blown by with a lot of things happening around here. One exciting thing is that we are leaving tomorrow morning for a week in West Palm Beach, Florida! Yay :) It's been over a year and a half since we've had a vacation so we're pretty pumped to relax, sit in the sun and decompress before the holiday busyness coming up.

As far as baby update - I can't believe how much bigger I have gotten. And how much harder he can kick now. I can see his kicks from the outside sometimes, which is really cool to watch.

Here I am at 19 weeks
(the only pic I got was with the flash, then the battery
died and I forgot about it for that week)

Me at 20 weeks, the day we found out he's a boy!

And here I am today, at 21 weeks

our beautiful baby boy

Yep, it's a boy. Go figure after having a closet full of free girl stuff, he'd go and be a boy :) We're super excited. I can't believe how clear the ultrasound was, we could see the shape of his little ear, his fingers and toes moving around. It was crazy. And yes, he was very fidgety and wiggly but I knew that before seeing him. At one point he stuck his finger in his ear :)

Everything looked great, it was a relief to see everything in the correct places and working properly. Now on to buying boy stuff!! Haha. Here are some of the good shots we got.

I like to curl up with my hands under my chin like my mommy. 4 fingers, playing with my ear.

Who do you think he looks like?
We'll see in 4.5 months.

my favorite conversation of the day

Kid 1: "Yeah, and we got to eat string cheese"
Me: "Yummy!"
Kid 2: "I don't like strange cheese"
Me: "Well, you can just give it all to me and I'll eat it" :)

Tomorrow morning! Can't wait to see my little jumping bean in there!!!

last chance for guesses

Wednesday is our big ultrasound! It's the last chance for guesses as to if it's a boy or girl! So far it's about even on people thinking boy or girl. The online tests and predictors indicate slightly higher chance of having a girl. We'll see in a few days!!!

it really does pay to complain

I wasn't the complainer in this story; I was behind her in line at the grocery store. As I was loading my stuff onto the line at the check out, I noticed that the lady in front of me was really complaining about there not being a bagger to bag her groceries as she was checking out. I guess he was a couple of isles down and would be there in a moment, but she was pretty mad that he wasn't there right then. The lady ringing her up was flustered, and forgot to scan her last few items before she totaled her bill and gave her the receipt. As she started to ring me up, I mentioned that the next items were not mine, and were probably hers. The cashier just bagged them up and handed them to bagger, who had now showed up and was helping her load up the groceries.

It kinda got me chuckling that the lady left in a huge huff, obviously irritated, and she didn't even realize that she had just scored free groceries. The cashier explained to me that she just didn't want to hear any more complaints. It didn't bother me, but I decided to try to use my kindness and charm to my advantage a bit... see, I had an old coupon for $2 off my next purchase. It had expired earlier that month, but it was still in my purse, so I just made small talk and tried to be nice to her since she was still obviously flustered by the previous rude lady. Then I slipped her the coupon before she totaled me up. She didn't even look at it and gave me my $2 off. Was I being just as bad as the lady before me? Aren't you were supposed to catch more flies with honey? :)

pops and kicks

Last night Steve felt the baby move for the first time! The baby was so active all throughout the evening but Steve seems to calm the baby down each time he tries to feel it move :) but baby got one last strong kick in and Steve definitely felt it right away!

18 weeks

Had a doctor's appointment today. Baby M's heartbeat was in the upper 150's. Baby also kept moving away just as she was getting a read on the heartbeat, so seemed very active. Nothing else new.

Here's a somewhat fuzzy picture of me (have I mentioned that I need a new camera??):

17 down 23 to go

New this week: Dress clothes! I purchased some gray pants that I'm wearing here so now I have both dressy and casual clothes :)

Still feeling those pokes and nudges just about every time I'm still. Hoping that in 3 weeks we have a very active little one for our ultrasound. I can't wait!

it's done!

Notice anything about our yard?



We have one now! We finally have a yard. The sod is pretty much taken, it's not as even as we'd like it due to the bad job that they did laying it, but we'll take it.

We took advantage of one of the last nice weekends before it starts freezing at night to go purchase some shrubs and polish off the back yard a bit.



Despite the sun in the pics, and Steve shorts and tshirt, it was actually quite cold that day!! I got out my fall jacket and was surprised that I couldn't comfortably button it all the way down :) Don't know why it surprised me, I should be used to the feeling by now, but I find myself walking by mirrors and not really recognizing the belly looking back at me!

"It's a sign!" "But you don't believe in signs."

10 points to anyone who can tell me the name of the movie that's from :)

This week is 16 weeks! I'll post pics of me at 15 and 16 weeks since I never got around to posting last week.

15 weeks

16 weeks

New developments these past couple of weeks: back pain is gone?? Dare I say it? I haven't had that horrible pinched nerve feeling for the past week and a half or so. It got pretty bad, and then it went away. Doctor said it was pretty normal and maybe stretches or exercises might help. (gee, thanks) But who knows, maybe all the traveling just aggravated it, and now that I've been home for a few weeks, it's relieving some of the tension or something.

Another new development, nosebleeds. Fun stuff. About every other day I've been getting them. This happened to me several other winters, so I wasn't surprised that it's happening again during pregnancy, especially with the dryer weather too.

And the most exciting (possibly) new development: baby kicks?? I had a strange sensation a couple of weeks ago, but figured that it probably was just my imagination. Then about a week later, I felt it again. Then the past few days, I have felt it a lot, especially if I am laying down and still right after I eat in the evenings. I still am not 100% sure it's baby, but it's definitely feeling a little jumping bean intermittently, and right around the area where the heartbeat is when the doctor checks. I have been placing my hand over the spot after I feel it, and waiting to see if I feel it again, but of course it's so sporadic that I don't feel anything again for another half hour or more. Last night was the most, I think I was sitting down for ~2 hrs and I felt maybe 3 or 4 flutters. I think 15-16 weeks might be kinda early, but not unheard of to feel baby movement, right?

And now, on to the title of my entry. I was at a kid's 2nd hand store today, buying some maternity wear (yay for cheap clothing!) and was up at the cash register when the customer in front of me was getting back some bags of clothing that she was trying to sell to the store. Apparently the store had so much baby clothes that they didn't need her 2 huge trashbags full of clothes, so she turned to me and asked me if I was pregnant. I told her I was. She asked if I knew what I was having yet, and I told her that I didn't know yet. She asked if I wanted her outgrown girl clothes. I guess she was going to just drop by Goodwill if she couldn't get the store to take them, so I told her that even if we didn't end up needing girl clothes, I definitely could find someone who would! Here's a picture of the stuff that was in there. So much!



I went through and pulled a few onesies and sleepers that were gender neutral, plus there was a tub sling thing, and a baby carrier in there too. We'll see in about a month whether or not I'll be able to put those frilly pink dresses to good use or not... I drove away thinking that maybe it's a sign! Oh wait, I don't believe in signs :)

14 week appointment

Just got back from the doctor where I got to hear baby Mellema's heart beating away :) It was in the 150-160 range. What a fun sound. I also got to schedule my 20 week ultrasound! We get to find out boy or girl on Nov 4. How surreal is that?!

I need a new camera

That's what I kept thinking throughout our weekend. Regardless, here are some pics of our trip... mainly of our nephews because they're so darn fun to take pics of :)


Xander loves to bounce:
Jax enjoys dressing as a pirate (at least he mildly tolerated it):
Steve really did enjoy it:

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys:

The entire gang after an awesome meal at Famous Dave's:
Steve and I enjoying a trip to Turtle Bread with the family:

14 weeks

Yay, second trimester has begun! Still no significant weight gain (maybe a pound but my scale isn't terribly accurate), but while I was in Minnesota over the weekend my mother in law bought me a fabulous pair of maternity jeans. What a difference! I think I'd been intimidated about shopping for maternity-wear, just having no idea of what I needed or would like. I will certainly be more comfortable with my expanding waistline in those pants over regular jeans. Thanks Mom!!


Also new this week, as you may notice from my sporty attire :) I started "working out". It's time, now that being on my feet for any length of time doesn't make me nauseated. I am going to start walking, hopefully 3 times a week.

13 weeks and a trip

Here's me at 13 weeks, the last week of my first trimester I guess. Pretty exciting.

I was in Chicago over the weekend visiting friends from college. One of my friend's twin boys are so much fun to play with.

Caught in the act of eating dirt and showing off his mud face:


Showing off his new vocabulary:

12 weeks!

I told Steve today that I felt completely normal. He told me that's pretty weird :) But honestly, today is one of the first days in a while where I actually forgot that I was pregnant, didn't worry about what I was going to eat the next hour, and felt no nausea. I even got hungry (rather than just nauseated) and fixed myself a meal (rather than just forcing food down to hope the nausea goes away). Praise the Lord! Let's all pray that it keeps up, or at least moving that direction.

Steve and I were in South Carolina visiting my family over the Labor day weekend, and I really noticed a decrease in the nausea while we were out there, so today was probably not a fluke. We had a great trip, several evenings out on the lake, and beautiful weather. Nothing else to update for the past week, just some positive news on the nausea.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Chicago for a good friend's birthday party weekend. Exciting stuff.

found!

I found my camera! I was sitting at the computer the other day, and noticed it sitting on top of the filing cabinet in our computer room. I swear I have looked all over the place, how in the world is it just sitting there?! I started yelling that I found the camera, and I can't imagine that it's been sitting there this whole time. Steve didn't look shocked, it turns out that he put it there after looking in the filing cabinet and coming across it. He thinks that he might have been the one who put it in the filing cabinet... I think he might be right ;)

Anyway, I'm glad that it "turned up". I've got several trips coming up here and I was going to be bummed if all I had is my camera phone. Our old digital might be going bad, but the camera phone is definitely worse. We leave this afternoon to visit my parents in South Carolina. I'm looking forward to it!

completed

Our backyard is completely filled with sod. The last of the patchy spots were filled in today and we should be good to go now! Can't believe it's (hopefully) over and after a few weeks of watering, we'll have a normal yard :)

is this normal?

Ok, I have been in denial about the expanding wasteline, because everything I've heard has said that being my first baby and everything, it might not be until month 5 or 6 or so that I start to show, and especially not in my first trimester. These pictures were taken after I ate, which does make a difference, but still... Here I am at 11 weeks. No weight gain as of less than a week ago.


I broke down and bought a pair of jeans and khakis that are a size larger than I'd normally wear. I'm hoping that they'll last me a month or two, and especially be nice after baby arrives. I needed new pants pretty desperately anyway.

it's like Christmas!

I got my new laptop today! I think the UPS guy laughed a little at how excited I was to get it.

sod!

We're getting sod laid down as I am typing this! Yippie. I'm so ready to have a yard again, to walk around on grass! to go outside barefoot! to look out and not see knee-high weeds! Ahh, that will be nice.

And also, I had my first prenatal appointment today and we got to hear baby Mellema's heartbeat :) How fun. I haven't gained any weight, but my stomach is so bloated that it was shocking to find out that I haven't. I am probably going to buy a pair of jeans in a bigger size soon, because it makes me sick to have the pressure on my belly when my current pants are buttoned. I was also told to try a chewable kids multivitamin twice a day to see if that helps keep the vitamins down. We'll see if that helps. Yesterday was a rough day with nausea but I'm still tweaking my diet to see if that helps. The past several times I've gotten sick it was right after eating cereal, so maybe I'll cut out the cereal and see. So far today I'm doing good.

getting closer to a yard

I came back home this afternoon to find the builders doing work on our yard finally! They hooked up the sump pump line again (no more animal watering hole in our yard) and are spreading huge amounts of top soil on the weeds. We had hoped that they would till up the clay that was there, but I guess they aren't. Still disappointed (though not surprised at all) that we keep asking them to keep us in the loop as to what they are going to do and when they will be doing it, but at least it is getting worked on. Let's just hope that it looks ok when they are finished. I'm guessing that sod will come later, but hopefully very soon!!

my hubby

I have the best one, I'm sure of it :) The past few weeks have been different around here and my husband just steps up to the plate. I started noticing that things have been mysteriously getting done around the house. I'll find a load of laundry already in the dryer, dishwasher running, kitchen clean, and trash taken out to the curb just to name a few things. Especially since I lost my job, I had been even bugging him to not do stuff around the house and let me take care of it because I have all day to do it. But things changed when I got pregnant... I started taking naps like all the time, and on days when I don't feel well it's amazing how time just flies by without me getting anything done. I didn't even have to mention it to Steve, he just stepped up to the plate without a word and has been making me feel awesome knowing that stuff is getting done without me. I love him so much!

question to all you moms

So I think that I figured out what is causing my morning sickness. Well, ultimately I know what is, the pregnancy, but on days when I "forget" to take my prenatal vitamins I feel incredibly better the entire next day. On days where I do take them (which is most days, I've been pretty good) for about the last week or so I am sick the whole next day. I've been taking them right before bed but then realized that I was sick all night and incredibly sick in the morning so I switched to dinner time, and that worked in keeping my dinner down, but still felt really nauseated all the next day. Yesterday it was so bad I wasn't really able to eat much at all, so I didn't try taking it with dinner since dinner was only a tad bit of popcorn which ended up coming back up when I brushed my teeth a half hour later. Sorry, gross. Anyway, I feel awesome today since I didn't take it last night. I'm still experimenting, but anyone else have this problem? Anything work? Switching brands of prenatals, anything? Good news is that I'm over 9 weeks, so that 2nd trimester is coming up quick... we'll see if that brings any relief.

rant

So I was in the kitchen this morning, busily finding food that sounds like it might be palatable to me and shoving it in my mouth before my stomach decides otherwise when the doorbell rings. Shoot, I'm in exactly what I wore to bed that night, an oversized tshirt, not exactly something I can answer the door in. And there is no way to get from the kitchen to our bedroom without passing the front door (and windows) so I'm stuck. I ran to the laundry room to see if there happens to be a pair of pants lying around and there isn't. So the doorbell rings (no joke) about 4 times in a row then long pause. Then about 3 more times in a row and another long pause. I hear them leave, and peek out to see a large utility van.

The annoying thing is that it was probably our builder. They're supposed to be finishing our yard off (it's still torn up from over a year ago) but the thing is, we keep stressing the fact that we REALLY want to be let in on the process. We are fed up with people coming over without letting us know, to work on our house without us having any clue about what they're doing, what the plan is to fix the basement, and where they are in the process. I'm thoroughly annoyed that they would just show up without letting Steve know they were coming. Even if I was able to answer the door, Steve's been the one working with them and I'd want them to talk to HIM before begining or continuing any work. I'm just so annoyed. And since Steve's the one calling them several times a week for the last 3 years, without getting much of any response, I'm sure he's even more so.

Oh, and here's a funny story too... so Steve been working with the cement contractor and finally got fed up with unreturned phone calls so he called our builder to tell him to deal with the problem. Our builder tells Steve that he'll talk to the cement people and get back to him. So several days go by and Steve starts calling the builder again repeatedly, getting people telling him that he's in a meeting and will call him back later that day, etc (really just blowing him off) and finally when he does get in touch with the builder the guy has the nerve to tell Steve "I haven't heard back from the cement people, so that's why I haven't returned your call". No joke! Really?? They didn't return your call? I can't imagine what that feels like... We've only been dealing with both of you for the past 3 years. Ok, done with my rant.

Has anyone ever used angieslist.com? I've seen commercials and wanted to check it out. We'd definitely warn someone before ever using this cement contractor.

moving slowly these days

So things are really just not getting done around here. First of all, I was out in New York last week for the wedding of one of my cousins, Jaelle.

Jaelle, bridesmaids, and mother of the bride

The yummy cake!

Me and the bride

(more pictures on facebook)

But most of all, I'm just wiped out most of the time. I am not feeling like eating a whole lot, so poor Steve has been stuck with pasta for about 4 nights in a row :) And I've still been taking naps just about every afternoon. There are several things that have been on the back burner for quite a while and it just doesn't seem like they're gonna get done soon... oh well, I guess that means that they're not really as much of a priority as my afternoon naps are.

big changes

Steve and I found out that we will be expecting a baby next March! We're really excited about it, and for this next phase of our lives. I'm sure it will be a big change, but after over 6 years of marriage it's about time :) We'd appreciate your prayers throughout the next several months.

Some frequently asked questions: How am I feeling? Pretty good! I've been taking naps almost every day which is highly unusual for me, but I'm thankful that I've been able to take it easy so far as well as still do and keep up with everything that is on my plate right now.

Are we hoping for a boy or a girl? I'm still letting it sink in that there's a baby in there! :) And we really would be fine with either. Although I have an easier time with girl names that I like, so that probably means that we'll have a boy... :) But if it's possible we will be finding out the sex before the birth.

more couponing

I don't know why it makes me so excited, but I love to see the % savings that they print on the receipt and today I saved 51% on a pretty large grocery trip! :) I ended up saving $62 between sales and coupons, getting many items completely free. I am happy to tote around my little coupon book for the occasional $62 savings!

29

Steve turns 29 today. Last year of being a 20-something for him. We celebrated by going to pick up some delicious doughnuts and as we were on our way home he realized that his license expires today. So we ran over to renew it. Little did he know that he'd have to complete a vision test to get it renewed. When the lady called him over to the vision Steve looked back at me with a look of shock, surprise and a little terror mixed in. For the past several years I've been asking him to go to the eye doctor but he doesn't think he'd wear glasses even if he got them so he's been getting by. So after a couple of attempts he passed the vision test and now he feels validated that his eyes are pretty good :) I was laughing like crazy at him taking the test, cause I knew he was sweating a little bit and trying his darndest to see the letters on his left-hand side. But now he's got another 6 years before he has to worry about another vision test. Look out if you see my husband coming at you! (just kidding, a little. it's only his left eye that he has a little trouble with...) Now we're off to grab a bbq dinner in a little bit!

St Louis

We were in St. Louis over the weekend for a friend's wedding and had a great trip. We drove over on Friday, and the wedding was Saturday afternoon, so we had Saturday evening and Sunday to see the city.

On Saturday evening we walked from our hotel down to the arch. It turned out that it was also the weekend of the All Star game in town, so there were a lot of activities going on and tons of people. As we walked to the arch someone stopped me and asked me a question. It sounded like she asked "Are you going to the grow concert?" I just smiled even though I really didn't understand what she said and said, "no, sorry". As we got closer to the arch it became clear that something was going on, everything was closed off and they were checking people's bags. I asked a security guard what was going on and he told us that we were right on time to see Sheryl Crow give a free concert. Kinda cool, and definitely unexpected. So we stayed for a bit as we checked out the arch. (again, I'm irked that I'm using our old camera that is breaking down!!)


On Sunday we headed to the St. Louis zoo. It was fun, and we ended up leaving just as it started to pour rain. Perfect timing.