In February, I took two trips.
The first was to Chicago for my baby shower up there (and also to celebrate my sister's birthday). The shower was great. My mom and sister hosted it for me. It was mostly family with a couple of friends thrown in the mix. I got tons of great stuff and somehow managed to get most of it back to Dallas on the plane! There are still a few things at my parent's house but I was able to pack a lot more than I thought I would. Of course, getting out to the shuttle with a rolling suitcase, a huge rolling duffle, my backpack (stuffed to the max) and tote bag was a little interesting, but I made it. Luckily, I didn't have to go very far.
The second trip was to Albuquerque, New Mexico for our yearly national bowling tournament. It started out as a group of about 7 of us that bowled in college with a few others mixed in. This year, we had 20 people from all over the county bowling in our group. It is a great way to see each other at least once a year. About a week before we left, I started having horrible, stabing pains in my back. They are normal according to my Dr (I was expecting soreness, not pain like this!). My back hurt on and off the entire weekend and I didn't bowl very well. I think I only got/beat my average 1 game out of 9 (of course, it was a 245!).
This month brought 2 snow storms, another bowling tournament, more (or continued) back pain, and a new niece!
Okay, a Texas snow storm is a little different than what I'm used to, but it was still impressive for down here. We usually don't get too much snow here, more freezing rain and ice. On the 4th we had about 2 inches of accumulation but by the next afternoon, it was all melted. Then, on the 6th we ended up getting about 6 inches! This caused MAJOR havoc. Driving home from work, it took me about 40 minutes to get within 10 minutes of the house (normally the entire trip takes about 30 minutes so it wasn't bad at all). Then, it took me another hour and a half or so to get the rest of the way home. All the roads I tried to take to get home were closed due to cars stuck in the middle of the road or accidents! Chris spent about 2 and a half hours trying to get home and that was once he got to Denton! The roads were better by the next afternoon (patches of ice did stick around until Sunday though). That weekend, I bowled in the Denton County Women's Tournament and did fairly well. I ended up averaging about 195 for the 9 games and it looks like I'll get a little prize money for singles.
On March 14th, my sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She weighed 9lbs, 5oz! I'd feel sorry for my sister-in-law but since she was only in labor for about an hour and a half, it couldn't have been too bad! Not sure that the proud parents want her information out in cyberspace so I'm keeping the name and pictures to myself. We were really hoping to make it down to New Orleans to see them but it doens't look like it will happen. This is the last weekend that I can fly and with Easter/Spring Break, the flights are all really full. If we flew standby, we could probably get out there, but we may not make it back before Tuesday. Buying tickets this late isn't an option either (prices are way too high!).
As far as this back pain goes, it has to be the most annoying part of this pregnancy. I've had it fairly easy until this started. I did have a lot of nausea in the begining, but I could handle that. This pain (without good pain meds) is really getting to me. If I sit for more than 20-30 minutes, I have a stabbing pain mid-back on my left side. Walking around or laying on my side for a little bit makes it go away, but while I'm at work or in the car, it is hard to move around that often. Well, hopefully only about 6 more weeks of it!
We "finished" the nursery a couple weekends ago. We finally got all the wainscotting, trim, and baseboards up, caulked, and painted. We put the crib & changing table together. We still have the other furniture (full size bed, dresser, & chest of drawers) in there but we're hoping to clear out the 3rd upstairs bedroom (currently our junk room) and move the non-baby furniture into that room. That way we'll have 2 dedicated guest rooms and the nursery. The glider still hasn't made it into the nursery yet (still stitting in the game room) and I haven't washed the crib sheets to make up the bed. All the gifts we've received so far are still sitting in either the other guest room or the game room so those all need to find a home. I have 2 more showers in the next 2 weeks so there will be even more stuff to put away. (Not that I'm complaining!). I am also going to attempt to make a roman shade for the nursery. We'll see how that goes.
Enjoy the pictures!
