WEIRD!

Yesterday I had my Glucose testing down at my OB office.
I had the Fruit Punch drink...which tasted just like Hawaiian Punch.
It WAS AWESOME!
I woulda asked for more...but I'm sure all that sugar can't be good for me.
=]
So Dr Beck measured my belly and said everything is still on track
And that I will be going in every 2 weeks now
As opposed to the 5 weeks in between.
So that was crazy!
2 WEEKS?!?!
That is gonna make time fly!
And then he said after 2 of those it will be
Every week!
WHAT?!
And that we will talk about Labor and Delivery.
AGH!
Serious?!
This is actually coming to an end.
I will see our little girl in NO TIME!
It was so weird walking out of there with an appointment scheduled for the beginning of May.
WHOA!
I am so excited.
WE are so excited!
9 weeks and 1 day left...
IF she doesn't come earlier...
Now THAT is weird to think about.
haha.
I mean, 9 weeks isn't that long...
But what if she decides to come in 7 or 8.
Whoa Nelly!

p.s. As I am typing up this post I am eating my lunch.

It is a simple PB&J...those have been so delicious to me lately.

I'm usually not a big fan.

But did you know....I cannot eat the last bite, the corner of the sandwich?

Can't do it.

It is disgusting to me.

Don't know why

But there will always be one small bite left of my sandwich

From the bottom corner,

Usually the bottom right corner.

Just one interesting fact about The Preggo

Although it has been that way my whole life

No matter what type of sandwich it is.

Just sayin.

Water. Water. Water.

Wow.

The last 2 weeks have been crazy

From losing our dog

To my sister surprising us from Utah

To being in and out of the hospital

To my parents getting another dog

To me getting the 24hr Flu bug

To having Strep Throat
And now just a horrible feeling like I got hit by a truck.

AGGGGHHH!!!!

How about I start where my last post left off.

Carrot came in from Utah Thursday night and snuck into the house.

Everyone woke up Friday morning and got ready as usual.

I hadn't ventured past the bathroom while getting ready so I hadn't made any sort of discovery yet.

As I walked from my bedroom to the bathroom I heard the piano playing.

It was a beautiful song.

A song I recognized.

A song that my 8 or 12 year old sisters could not be playing.

I stood at the door of the bathroom for a few seconds as I tried to process this information.

I was beginning to think my mom was taking piano lessons again...

but that didn't seem right,

So I walked into the living room and VOILA!

There was Carrot.

I screamed "WHAT THE FLIP!?!"

and then she stopped and gave me a big hug!

What a surprise.

That goofus made us all think she wouldn't be down until after the baby got here.

Silly silly.

So we spent the day together and had a great weekend as well.

We all miss her very much but know she is where she needs to be at this time.

Utah has been good to her.

She gave me and Nik some really cute Onesies she made.

I love to look at them but still can't believe I will soon put my daughter in them.

=]

So that happened Friday through Sunday.

But on Saturday I was having contractions.

I had had some Braxton Hicks contractions here and there...

But never 7 in 30 minutes.

So I called my doctor and she told me to go to Banner Gateway L&D.

Went there and was admitted.

They did some tests and everything was fine.

The baby was still stuck inside and growing beautifully.

What they discovered was that I was very dehydrated.

Dehydrated?!?

Have you SEEN how much water I have been drinking??

I have given up soda and have been drinking my 64+ounces of water each day.

Well apparently I have to double that...and then some!

The nurses gave me a shot to relax my belly and then made me drink water there

Until my body started relaxing.

After being there for a few hours Nik and I were able to go.

But I must say it was pretty cool listening to our Little Girl's heartbeat.

She would even kick the monitor every once in a while because it was cramping her style.

haha

I love her personality and being able to get to know her better every day.

My parents got a new dog.

She is a Sheltie-Pomeranian mix.

She will be a cute and happy addition to the family.

Carrot left for Utah Sunday night 

And then the next day I was down with the Flu.

Tuesday I was feeling LOADS better so I went about my normal day.

Then I woke up this morning with what felt like Strep.

So I went down to the doctor and he said he sees the same thing

And gave me some meds.

YAY!

My throat can start feeling better.

Let's just cut straight to the fun stuff....

THE BABY!

I love it.

I have loved this pregnancy.

Other than the minor side-effects of sleepless nights and 

The inability to tie my own shoes,

This has been fun.

She is getting more and more active. 

When I fold my arms and rest them on my "new shelf"

She likes to kick me all along my forearms,

Asking me KINDLY to move.

It makes me laugh because I will move

and then put my arms back after a few minutes and she will do it again.

One time, just the other day, she was pushing so hard 

I could make the out the outline of her precious little foot.

It melted my little heart!

These next 10 weeks will be fun!

No stretch marks yet (and hopefully never ever)

And I've only gained 16 pounds.

YESSS!!!

I've been going on daily walks with my sisters to their school.

This has just been a wonderful time in my life.

Next week I will be making some things for our Little Jewel.

I will definitely be posting them up here.

I am so excited/nervous/anxious about it all.

And pictures will come

When I can stop being sick.

YUCKERS!

Berry Happy!

I didn't have access to the internet yesterday, so today will have to do.

Yesterday, May 13th, marked one year from the day Nik asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. We have it on video because he was super sneaky (knowing me, you have to be) and still I have yet to see the video. Someday when we get back to Mesa I will, but it has been in storage all this time.

I am so lucky to have him as my husband. He is the best thing that has happened to me. He makes me laugh all the time, helps me learn and grow, and makes me so happy everytime I look at him. At times I feel I do not deserve him because I just could never imagine being any more happy.

Nikolas James Berry, 

You are the man I have waited for 

and 

dreamt about my whole life. 

Thank you for finding me and loving me.

Love,

Dawna Genette Berry

Four weeks from now we will have graduated from the Newlywed Stage in life. How exciting! We are hoping to go to Disneyland since it is right around the corner. [Keepin' my fingers crossed]

Sane Again

Tuesday May 10th...I became sane once more.

I was able to go grocery shopping with a full budget and my buddy.

I had my coupons cut, my recipes laid out for the next two weeks, and some money!

First stop - Smart & Final. Here I got Nik his favorite cereal, HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS. $1.88 is something I couldn't pass up. Not exactly the cheapest I have paid but it definitely was a good deal here in SD.

Next stop - CVS. I was able to stock up on canned veggies and some RAISIN BRAN, Nik's next favorite. The boxes of cereal were smaller but only $1.38 and heck, still under 2bucks, I will take it!

Last stop - Von's. This is where I stocked up on the majority of my food list to last us 2 weeks.  
[heck, this is WEIRD having to wait 2 weeks for a paycheck. for the last 3 years I have received a check every week. HORRIBLE!]
I got Nik his last favorite cereal that happened to be on sale, HONEYNUT CHEERIOS. $1.48 wasn't bad at all!

But let me tell you the best deal of the day!!! 

Betty Crocker cake mixes, frosting tubs, and original brownie mixes were all BUY 2 GET 3 MORE FREE! 
Wait, what? Pay for 2 and get 5??? Kidding me? I had to ask the gal next to me in the aisle if I was reading that right. And THEN I had 75cent coupons. 6 of them!  
It pays to buy newspapers in bulk. 
So...I bought 2 or 3 rounds of 5 items each the first time but they were out of German Chocolate Cake frosting so I had to come back that night to get the new product. After work at 10 I went back with Nik and got 3 pairs of German Chocolate Cake frosting and cake mix and 2 pairs of the FunFetti kind. 
I was sooo happy. We are going to make cupcakes up the wazoo!
(I even got Nik his favorite cake mix - Carrot cake, but shhhh. I am excited to surprise him with that!) 

Well, thank you for checking this out!
All in all...I purchased $296.09 WORTH of food but only paid $138.55.
I saved $157.54 being a 53.21% savings! I WAS STOKED!
Nik was very happy too! We finally have food in our pantry and fridge after 3 weeks of it being empty.
Such a nice feeling. I have had better savings percentages but after 2 months of not being able to shop like this, it feels GREAT!

One Year Later

One year has come and gone...

...and nobody can believe it.

April 29, 2009

You might be asking what happened on this day.

No, we did not get engaged on this day.

No, we did not get married this day.

No, we did not start dating this day...(well sort of).

And no, I am not crazy for celebrating all the little things.

This day was the day Nik returned home from serving an honorable

and

full time mission in Tokyo Japan.

This day was the day all of us, family and friends, had one huge smile

plastered on our faces.

This day was the day that a son, brother, boyfriend, and friend

returned home after 749 LONG days away.

This day was the day I felt I was living in a dream.

(as I'm sure many others felt too)
This day was the day I had been waiting 3.5 years for.

Let me show you this day...

...the few pictures I have on this laptop.

Okay, well I had a few more pictures to put up
but my computer wouldn't load them.
I will update this post if I can get them up here.

Thank you, Nik, for doing such a great job

over in the lands of Japan.

Thank you for being such a great example.

This day was a special one for so many.

We all love you.

p.s. I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend.

Daylight Savings...

...is KICKING our TRASH!!!

It has been over a week now since we jumped forward an hour...and it IS getting better

BUT STILL!

Arizona is smart.

WHO wants to screw up their internal clock for a bit JUST to be able to get out of bed earlier???

Make any sense?

Didn't think so.

Why don't we just wake up when we want to?

I like that idea.

Who seconds it?

We wake up when it is still dark.

NOT A FAN!

And go to bed when it is still light.

What the HECK?

My perfect day would start at 8am when I wake up

WITHOUT

an alarm clock...

Open my office at 10am...

Close the office between 1pm-3pm for naps

(Hey! Other countries have a rest time each day! Let's do that!

And then I will be okay with the idea of saving daylight.)

And leave at 5pm...

Then go to bed...around....I don't know when....

Sounds like the perfect day for me!

=]

I remember last summer, just after arriving here in Utah,

we ran to Sam's Club for some shopping after work.

We entered just after 8pm.

The sun was still out...

At 9:15pm we left...and when we walked outside, the SUN was STILL UP!

I looked at Nik and then my watch.

We were so confused!

Anywho...Nik and I only have to deal with this for another 3.5 weeks.

Then we go to California which is the same time as Arizona right now...and what we were used to just 2 weeks ago.

Then we will go to the wonderful Desert Land....and stay the same time allllll year long!

We like that idea!

Loves!