36 Weeks

Hopefully this will be my last monthly update! It sort of boggles my mind! Looking back time has just flown by and these final four weeks are going to go by in a blink!
How far along? 36 Weeks.

Total weight loss/ gained? +32 lbs (152 lbs) It feels rather strange standing on a scale with an extra 32 lbs on me. I must admit I've gained a lot, all good weight but 30 lbs makes a HUGE difference!
Name? Ethnie Lauren Tobler
Maternity clothes? There are a few non maternity treasures I can still rock. I'm a big fan of tights and loose fitting shirts/ dresses. (Thanks to Mare for hooking me up with a few looser/ longer maternity tops!!) I've started wearing Jakob's shirts to bed simply because my loosest baggiest shirt is still skin tight.
Stretch marks? They've arrived! I knew it was only a matter of time! I'm so shocked it took so long though. Don't get me wrong I'm grateful... just surprised. I have a few on my *ahem* milk jugs and a couple small ones on my left hip. Other than that I am free and clear... for now.
Sleep? I am desperately trying to soak up these last few nights of uninterrupted sleep. It would seem that our little girl is a night owl however. Most of the time when I wake up it's because I'm having a contraction or she's just dancing the night away.
Best moment this week? This week has been wonderful. I don't really have a best moment. I really enjoy sitting in my glider and reading children's books. Ethnie really moves when we rock, it's a wonderful bonding experience.
Missing anything? I am honestly loving being pregnant. I have been so blessed over the last 36 weeks! Don't get me wrong I do get jealous when I see someone rocking an adorable outfit with their size 3 waist line and waddling isn't exactly sexy but gosh, I feel wonderful!
Movement? She has been one busy busy bee lately. There's lots of movement all day long. It is wonderful! Her kicks and rolls are a lot stronger than they once were. It's still so surreal to watch my stomach jump around. I am continually amazed by the human body and the things it is capable of!
Food cravings? Let's talk about this a bit. I hate bologna and hotdogs. They are so gross!! While in the grocery store the other day I just had to have bologna and hotdogs! I grabbed the smallest bag I could find and placed it in my cart the whole time thinking "Ugh this is nasty!" I got home made a sandwich and once again was thinking "This is so gross!!" And do you know what... it was gross but for some reason I just had to have it. I suppose I would compare it to women who crave dirt. So strange!!! I'm also really into Salsa, any kind of fruit, Popcorn covered in butter and CHOCOLATE!!!
Anything making you queasy/ sick? Only if I eat too fast! I get some pretty awesome heart burn too, especially after I eat Sour Patch Kids. So sad I love SPK!
Labor signs? Contractions all day every day. Obviously nothing major, most of them I can hardly feel but they are pretty regular.
Belly button in or out? Out.
Wedding rings on or off? Still nice and loose. Every other part of me is swollen but my hands have somehow dodged that bullet :)
Mood? I'm actually relatively calm. I'm still terrified of labor, seriously.... terrified. But for the most part I'm trying to keep a "My body knows what it's doing and I need to just go with the flow" mentality. I'm trying to let go of all of my OCD tendency's and just see what happens.
Any fun symptoms? I still have some pinched nerves, but they are much better than last week. They flared up pretty bad after I did some deep herbal cleaning. I think I'm officially "nesting." I want everything to be in order and It's slightly difficult. My ankles are rather swollen and I'm super tired by the end of the day. I want to spend every possible second I have with Jakob. I suppose you could say I've gotten clingy lol. I have some lower back ache, I say ache because It's not painful at all just uncomfortable, like a sore muscle. And sometimes I feel like I have an elephant sitting on my chest!
Looking forward too? Continuing working on the quiet book, getting the diaper and hospital bags packed and FINALLY putting the finishing touches on the nursery. Hopefully I will have some pictures up soon!!

Not the prettiest picture but hey, this is reality! :)

A Perfect Night for A Murder

Saturday night Mom and Dad Tobler hosted a Murder Mystery and boy it was fun. Everyone dressed up and good gravy did we look spiffy! This was Jakob's and my first Murder Mystery therefore we had no idea what to expect!

Everyone helped with the last minute preparations. Mom Tobler rearranged her house to accommodate 14 people comfortably. It looked quite classy when it was all said and done!

The table! I was in charge of centerpieces and name tags. Fortunately between Mom and I we had everything on hand so it didn't cost us a penny! I love things like that.

Mom and Dad were the "hosts" and therefore didn't have a part in the murder. I still felt that they needed names so Mom was "Megan A. Mess" and Dad was "Phil R. Up."

The guests arrived dressed to the nine's! Don't you love Dad's tux? It fit him perfectly! Quite the find if I do say so myself and Mom looked fabulous in her little black number and pearls.

Yes, Jakob does look like a car sales man from the 70's, that's about as far back as his wardrobe would let him go.

Father made some Italian sodas for everyone! They were delicious as always.

Some brotherly love :). Clair had a little cap gun in his holster and was very quick to start killing people before the dinner had even started! It's a wonder he wasn't the actual killer.

Lorin's socks. He was Eddie R. Gyle and gosh he looked adorable!

Cheers!! Let the Murder Mystery begin!!

We then had to go and read our parts. I'm not going to lie being 36 weeks pregnant and trying to remember what you read is quite the challenging task!! Dang baby brain, fortunately everyone was very patient with me! I am very thankful :).

As you can tell Lorin took this very seriously! I love this picture! :)

Time for dinner! The menu:

Soup: Zuppa Tucana

Salad: A delicious treasure from Nancy. Gosh it was good!

Entree: Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Dessert: That layered pudding dessert that has a dozen different names
It was all soooooo good!!

The result? Silky (that would be me) was both the murderer and the thief! And I got away with only Jakob accusing me. That dang husband and his intuition. It was a wonderful evening! Thank you to Mom and Dad for hosting and the Boulder City Toblers for inviting us.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

1) Listening to Pandora Radio while I get things done! Nothing beats cleaning to Michael Jackson, however I think I end up doing more dancing than cleaning but boy, it's fun! (img source)

2) My glitter key! Yup, I glittered that key, it's it pretty? As a disclaimer I really dislike glitter in all forms. Let's just say getting glitter in your contacts isn't the most pleasurable feeling! Plus it gets EVERYWHERE! I also happened to dislike the color pink. I suppose having a baby girl has cured me of that because almost everything she owns is pink and I kind of love it! This glitter key just makes me smile, the glitter doesn't come off and it's pink. Just goes to show that a person can change after all. :)

3) The nursery. No fear you will soon see some pictures as soon as we put the final touches on everything. I love simply rocking in my glider. Wonderful!

4) My craft closet!! This is organization at it's finest! Oh let me tell you... it feels great!

I love being able to first of all see what I have and second know exactly where it is! It makes making cards so much faster plus it's all located right next to our craft table. In the old apartment I would have to lug it from the bedroom closet to the tiny kitchen table. It wasn't exactly ideal. I {love} this closet!

5) My newest way to organize my jewelry. I can now see everything which makes accessorizing so much easier than it once was!

I needed some way to hang all of my necklaces. I did just have them on thumbtacks but they were too close to the wall. I couldn't get my thicker chains/ pearls to fit. Naturally, I went to Michaels for some inspiration and I came home with these little guys. They are separate pieces that I glue gunned together and then hammered to the wall. It cost me less than $8 and I so far I love them! Not to mention I happen to love my closet as well (how did I survive without a walk in closet before?!?)

6) I love D.I., Savers and of course Yard Sales! Be still my beating heart!

7) I love it when Jakob comes home and first gives me a kiss and then kisses my belly and asks how his girls are doing. It melts my heart!

8) Pinterest. Need I say more?

9) Creating. What a wonderful thing to be able to create!!

10) Last but not least feeling our little girl wiggle. I think I'm going to miss that feeling once she makes her arrival.

A Culinary Adventure

The other day Jakob returned home from work just jazzed about Sunday dinner. One would wonder why seeing as how he's never come home before on a Wednesday asking what Mom had planned for dinner 4 days from then. He had researched how to make Donairs and he was rather excited to give it a try. Sunday after church he came home and set straight to work.

Step one: Season and compact meat. At first he was throwing the ground beef on the cupboard and it wasn't working so well. He then got down on the floor and boy he was throwing with force!

Look at that face! That's dedication right there. Step Two: form your compact and seasoned meat into a "loaf" shape and bake it for a few hours.

Gotta love all of that grease!! Delicious. Flip it over and replace it back into the oven. Once it was done Jakob poked it with a meat thermometer to check the temperature. Grease just poured out of the little hole! It looked so gross but gosh it tasted good. We took it over to Mom's place to slice and fry it before serving.

Then came the sauce off. Mom Tobler took this very seriously! She even watched a YouTube video! I love it. Duke (Jakob's best man) has had Doniars in Canada (they were missionary companions) therefore he was invited for the festivities. We also needed an unbiased opinion of which sauce was better. (Mom's kicked Jakob's butt!!)

Oh how I adore Dukas. He is such a good sport and gosh he makes us laugh! :)

All of the boys wore "smoking jackets" to dinner. They looked so fancy. The Doniars were a success! We will be making them at the next Tobler gathering! I'm sure by then Jakob will have it down to a science!

As per usual it was a wonderful Sunday evening! Thank you for joining the festivities Dukas!

Strike!

I love date night!! Our nights out on the town are seriously numbered (only 5 left!) so we want to take full advantage while it is still just the two of us. As a disclaimer yes, we did arrange this group evening activity however both Jakob and I seriously suck at bowling. We have zero talent what so ever!! The nice part is... some of our friends aren't so good either :).

Here I am rocking my 34 week baby bump. It was almost the exact same size as my bowling ball. I swear my bump threw off my equilibrium either that or my ball had magnets that were attracted to the gutter because I wasn't only bad... I was terrible!!

Jakob has always been bad at bowling but gosh it is fun to watch him. I love his Michael Jackson stance. It was an unintentional trademark. Since he is not exactly the "cream of the crop" when it comes to bowling he likes to goof around. David was using Jakob as a lucky charm to try and get his third strike in a row. They were going to throw at the same time so Jakob starts off "One.... Two..." and then he beelines it for Davids lane and tosses his ball down. Let's just say he didn't get a strike for David. What a brat! It's a good things David is a good sport! I don't think he'll ever use Jakob as a lucky charm again. :)

This is Chuck's power stance. He literally did this almost every throw!

Britni was on her game! She beat everyone!! For some reason however she was ALWAYS left with one pin still standing. Just one! She had a lot of spares and a couple strikes but that one pin was persistent!

This is the dragon dance. Yes.... it's odd looking I know. I don't remember what exactly brought the dragon dance to pass but it was one of those silly things that happened in the privacy of our own home so I wouldn't be embarrassed. Jakob brought it up while bowling and I said I would only do it if I got a strike (thinking I was totally off the hook because there was no chance that was going to happen.) As soon as I got my strike everyone yells out "DRAGON DANCE!" And I'm sure half of the bowling ally was watching me. For some reason it just isn't the same dance when you're not pregnant, It has something to do with a big belly. Gosh it was embarrassing having what felt like half of the ally watching this preggo chick do this STUPID dance and rarely do I get embarrassed.

It was a fun filled evening that was followed up with shakes at our place and lairs dice! Thanks to everyone who made it!! :)

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

As per my New Years Resolution I made my first card of the year! Woohoo! *fist pump* I'm not going to lie... I think this is my favorite card to date!!

I made it 6 1/2 x 5 1/4. The flowers were super simple. Follow the link for the tutorial. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I love making cards for Mom and Dad simply because I do not have to worry about thinks being flat and getting squished in the mail! This card as you can tell is anything but flat.

Happy Birthday Mom Tobler! If you would like to see more of my cards click on "Cards" under my header. Be warned they aren't all very pretty. It's been a learning process!

3D Ultrasound

I got to see our little lady via ultrasound again today. This time I asked for a DVD for Jakob. He was a little disappointed when I returned home empty handed last time so I was sure not to make the same mistake again. I sometimes forget that this is obviously as exciting for him as it is for me.

Ethnie is 100% perfect. She's grown a lot and is still on the smaller scale of things but they think she'll be about an average 7lbs when it comes time to deliver. The only thing that is not little is her head. Lucky me! They switched between 2D and 3D a lot which was really cool. That large blob beside her face is her arm. She was all curled up and wouldn't move that arm to get a good shot of her entire face. She's a snuggler and that's fine with me :)

I feel so blessed to have a healthy baby. It is such a miracle and I am so thankful for our little girl and the joy she already brings to our lives.

P.s. I tried uploading the video but even after letting it sit all night it still wasn't done. I suppose it's just too big!

Date Night

Upon returning home from Canada we had to have a date night with Mom and Dad Tobler to exchange stories from our Christmas's and to give them a few presents.

No they didn't exactly ask for memory foam kitchen mats but I think they like them. This was more a gift for me to put in their house. Their tile floor makes my feet hurt after standing on it for any length of time and I only end up cooking when I'm at their house. No fear, they got other presents as well. :) We then dashed off to Costco for the romantic atmosphere and high end pizza ;). Seriously though... I love Costco pizza!

We then headed out to Tivoli Square (a new shopping center less than a mile away from our house) to take some pictures of the lights. They were just beautiful!

They weren't just the average bulb but little flowers. I loved how vivid the colours were.

Mom and I have come to the realization that most of our pictures just end up getting deleted. After scrolling through some of these from that night I discovered that the photo's where I thought I was being oh so clever with angles and such, really weren't all that impressive. It takes more than a nice camera... it takes a good eye!

Which is when we resort to simple pictures such as these! :)

These little nooks were a lot of fun though. Jakob and I had a pose off.

He clearly won. We had such a wonderful evening with Mom and Dad. Thank you for the Christmas gifts and the joy of your company! We're sure glad that you're home now!