Surprising Courtney!

Sorry these pictures are not the best. But they were taken in a dimly lit room with a cell phone. My cousin Courtney was in a pageant. It was not a beauty pageant but like a Little Miss Scholarship competition. I  had not told Courtney that I was coming up. I had spoken with her mother and my grandmother to make sure that they were okay with taking me in for the night. They were all excited for me to be coming up. Even if it was just a quick trip.

I left Saint George on Thursday at 4 and headed up to Tiffanie's house. She was kind enough to let me crash on her couch. I got to her house late and got up and left pretty early to make the rest of the drive. I woke up to about 6 inches of snow on my car. Leave it to me, a person who has not done much driving in the snow to make an 11 hour drive in the middle of what was said to be a snow storm. Lucky for me the roads were amazing and I didnt have to worry about anything the rest of the way to Boise.

When I got into town, I went straight to Grandma and Grandpas house. I was so happy to be off the road. I had driven for 11 hours in two days. I was so ready to just get out and walk around and not have to sit in the car. My grandparents took me out to dinner before the pageant. It was very nice of them. When we got to the High School where the pageant was held we walked into the hallway and all of Courtneys family was standing in line waiting to enter the room. Of course they were first in line!

Courtney did amazing and I was sad that she didn't win anything. She is such an amazing girl! I was so proud of all the hard work that she did to prepare and preform in this pageant. It was also a lot of fun to surprise her after. She had no idea that I was there. It was a fun surprise.

After sitting around and talking with everyone we said our goodnights and planned to meet for breakfast in the morning before I got back on the road to head home. Pamela, Courtney, Grandma and I all went to this little mom and pop shop for breakfast. It was so cute and the food was amazing. I am glad that we got to sit around a little more and talk. I was sad that it was time to go but I needed to get on the road as the weather was prediciting a pretty bad snow storm. I wanted to make sure that I would for sure miss it. We said our goodbyes and I was on the road again.

The weather was great for the first 5 hours. I was making good time. I called Tiffanie just as I was passing her exit and said that I was going to just head the rest of the way home. We had talked about me staying if the weather was bad but since things were looking good and I had to work in the morning I figured that I would just keep going. Boy was that the biggest mistake I have made in a long time. Not 3 miles past her exit I hit the snow storm. People were sliding off the side of the road and there was like zero visiability. It ws pretty scary. I was going about 5 miles an hour before we came to a standstill. I figured there was an accident ahead of me somewhere. I was looking in my rear view mirror when I saw a red car that was going way to fast in the carpool lane. It must have noticed that traffic was stopped and slammed on the breaks. Not the best thing to do when there is snow on the ground. The car spun around 90 degrees and ended up facing the wrong way up against the cement barrier. I was freaking out a bit. The car was not even close to me but I was still so worried that I was going to get in an accident on the way home.

I thought about turning around but by the time I got to an exit where I could turn around and head back to Tiffanie's the snow had lightened up a bit and traffic was moving at a steady pace. I was worried that if I turned back around I would end up headed back into the storm. By the time I got past Provo there was no more storm and I made it the rest of the way home in no time at all. I was glad that the weather was not bad the whole way home. My shoulders were killing me the next day just from the 2 hours of tense driving before I got through the snow. All in all I am glad that I made the trip and got to spend a small amout of time with my family that I don't get to see that often.

6 Weeks!

I cant believe that six weeks is already here. I know that it is still early on but I am so excited about this little sweet pea that I am carrying. I have started feeling icky. I just feel off. I know things could be a lot worse and I am grateful that they are not. I don't know if I could handle this if I was not feeling good. It has been very hard for me not to run and tell everyone that I know. I really want to tell people so that I will stop getting the looks like wow you have put on some weight. I just want to throw this out there that I have not gained any weight since I got pregnant at least not at this point. I am quite happy about that. I have noticed that certain clothes do not fit so well anymore though. I know that in the near future I will be putting on the pounds and I am not looking forward to that. I have always been so self conscious about my weight.

Some things to remember about this week:

I can no longer sleep comfortably on my belly, or even lay on it for more than 10 minutes. Sad day.

I am craving mustard and pretzels. Not together but that is something that always sounds good.

Hot dogs give me heartburn. Need to stay away from them.

Sleep... This is all that I want to do. I feel like I am just worn out and can barley make my self get up each day. I went to the gym one day this week and it kicked my butt. I find that I am having a hard time just getting motivated to do anything. I hope that this will go away soon. I feel like I am getting nothing done around my house. I hate that I look so pregnant already in this photo. I was already so tubby around the middle that I look way farther along then I really am. 

5 Weeks officially!

Today I am officially 5 weeks! I can hardly believe it. It has been so hard to not tell anyone this week. Mostly because I have had a few people that knew we were trying ask me how things were going. I just wanted to break down and tell them all. However, my fear of having a miscarriage has kept my lips sealed. I am sorry for those that I lied to.

At times it is hard for me to imagine that I am really going to have a baby. I do not really feel any different. I have noticed that I am a bit bloated and that my pants fit a little more snug but I am hoping it will go down again. My biggest symptom at this point is the smell of things. When we got home from DisneyLand the house smelt so bad. I was saying how bad it smelled like dog and dirt and Geoff said that it smelt the same as when we left. Taking the dog out to the bathroom just about kills me. Hooch goes right outside the back door and I can not even handle to sit out there with him. If I have to take him out I have to go out and sit in the grass. Another smell that kills me in onions. I was with a friend the other day and she had onions on her sandwich and I just about lost my lunch in the car. It was so bad. The smell is just so overwhelming.

I have been doing a lot of research on what to expect in the first trimester and I was really surprised at some of the things that I have learned.

I signed up to get a weekly email that tells me the size of the baby each week. It is cool to think about all the changes that are happening in there right now.  I like how the author of this website refers to it as a she. I am going to copy and paste the growth for this week. So when you see she know that at this time we are not aware of the gender!

Your embryo is now measurable -- though at week five, that means a teeny .13 inches -- and she's gearing up for much more growth. In fact, in the next week, she'll almost double in size. She doesn't look like much more than a tadpole right now, but she's already starting to form major organs (heart, stomach, liver, kidneys) and systems (digestive, circulatory, nervous). Grow baby, grow!

I look forward to the day that people will actually be able to tell that I am pregnant and not just fat. I feel like I am getting so much heavier and yet the weight says the same thing on the scale. I have never understood how pregnant women who are so small say that they feel so big until now. I feel like I am getting so huge and I am just barley pregnant.
I want to run out and buy all kinds of things right away. I have however managed to not run out and get anything yet. But I have been looking. I really wanted to get started on decorating the nursery since we are going to do it in gender neutral colors it doesn't matter that we don't know the gender yet. I do however need to clean out all the junk that is in that room. I have been using it as a junk room for all of the stuff that I am not quite sure what to do with you. I do have a feeling though that I am going to need to get some maternity pants soon as mine seem to press right on my belly all the time. As I said before I have bloated up a lot.

5 Weeks!

Happy Birthday to me! I know that was the title of one of  my last posts but I couldn't write down everything that I got for my birthday just yet because as of this moment in time we have not told everyone our little secret. On January 31st 2013, I Niccole Demke found out I was going to become a mother. The joy and overcoming love that I have for this baby is unimaginable. I can not put into words the feelings I had when the test came back positive. I wanted to scream for joy and wake Geoff up and tell him right away. But then I was having doubts. Is is too soon to tell? Maybe it is a false positive. Can this really be right? So much self doubt.

I decided that since Geoff and I were going to Disneyland that I wanted to tell him in a way that he would never forget. Of course I don't think that this is something that he will ever forget. So I didn't tell him anything this day. It was so hard not to want to spill the beans to him. But I managed to make it through the day.

Geoff knew that I was taking the test and he asked me about it that night. He assumed that because I didn't tell him anything that it was negative. I told him that it was inconclusive. When I think back on it now I have no idea how I was able to wait and not tell him. I also question if he really knew that I was lying to him.

Fast Forward two whole days. That's right I kept this secret from him for two whole days. I needed a good way to tell him and while we were wandering around California Adventure I found it. Then I had to find a way to get away from him so that I could purchase the gift for him. On Saturday afternoon while he was standing in line to buy us some pretzels for lunch. I ran off and got his gift.

After we had finished eating I asked him if he wanted his gift now or if he wanted to wait until later. He said now would be fine. I was so giddy. I could not wait to have him to share in this excitement with. When he opened it he looked at the Piston Trophy that I have got him that said Best Parents and was like this will be cool for later. I looked at him like really?? Umm, I am trying to tell you something. Then he was like really? I was like yes. Then he said that it all makes sense. I guess that I have had a few symptoms that he picked up on that I just thought were other things.

We plan to meet with the doctor in a few more weeks to have everything confirmed but we are so excited to be starting this journey. It will be hard to keep it from our families but we are planning on not telling them for awhile still. We want to make sure that we are far enough along that it is confirmed by the doctor and that there is a lower risk of having a miscarriage. My biggest fear is telling everyone that we are expecting and then losing the baby. I would hate to put myself in that position. So here I am with this secret that is burning a hole in my pocket. One day it will be one for everyone but for now it is my little secret! We love you baby and cant wait to meet you. It will be a long 9 months!

I know that some of this is a repeat from my Disneyland posts but I wrote them at different times and wanted to make sure that I had documented the whole thing.

Disney Day 3!

Well we are back for a third day. We took a break on Sunday and just spent the day sleeping and relaxing. Well and eating! We started the day by heading back to California Adventure to get fast passes for the Cars ride. I wish I could remember the name of it. Then we went over to the roller coaster. Geoff wanted to go on it when we were there the other day but did not want to go on it alone. So he talked J, Cyndi, and Jordan into going with him. I waited and took pictures of all of them. I wish that I could have gone with them. This is one of my favorite rides. I guess there is always next time. Our fast passes for the other ride were not until later in the afternoon we we headed over to Disneyland to check out some of the rides we had not made it to and also some of the ones that we wanted to do again.

Yes that is J giving Geoff bunny ears! So funny! These two are like best friends!

Random Indian statue in the road. Had to get our picture with it since we had been with everything else!

I wanted to get my picture with Mary Poppins but everytime we saw her she was doing some performance. I was a bit sad that we never did. But now I have a reason to go back and find them again.

As we were coming back into Disneyland from Califonia Adventure. I was signing a bit to Geoff to tell him that we should get in line and get a picture. The person in the costume started signing back to me telling me that we needed to come to the front of the line. It was fun to have a small conversation in sign language. I was a bit rusty and wished that I had learned more then I had. I may need to take some more classes!

Geoff and Mr Toad. I had like 15 different pictures of this. Geoff was being so funny!

We crammed into this little cart outside one of the rides. I was laughing so hard because we barley fit in there! Geoff kept trying to take up as much room as he could!

We were riding around on the pirate ship and Geoff was like "Look its Titanic" We finally talked J into walking up behind him and pretending to be the Leo DeCaprio. There were so many people that were laughing at us. It was so funny. The reason we had so much time to play around on the Pirate Ship is that it broke down on us about 3 minutes around the island. We were stuck for about 40 minutes with no way off the ship. It was pretty boring so we had to make up things to keep us entertainined.

Geoff and Baby J because fast friends because Geoff kept feeding him ice cream. Baby J was his best friend that rest of the night. He kept getting mad at his parents because they said no more. So Geoff kept sneaking it to him. Geoff is such a softie some times. Just dont tell him.

Tower of Terror was one of Geoffs favorite rides. He had to ride it a few times on our last night before we left. I got to hang out down at the bottom of the ride with this little man below. We sure had fun. Cant you tell. He was asleep and I was freezing.

We had a wonderful trip. I am so glad that we were able to go. I was sad that I had to miss out on a bunch of the rides but I still had a blast. I cant wait until our next trip!

California Adventure Disney day 2!

We went to California Adventure on our second day in California. We ended up going alone because our friends that have season passes cant go on Saturdays. We were sad that they could not come with us but we still had a fun day. With the tickets that we bought gave us one morning that we could have an early entrance into the park. We were going to go on Saturday morning but we ended up being so tired that we just slept in and didn't worry about it. 

 The first thing we did when we got to the park was go and get tickets for the new ride in Carsland. I cant remember the name of the ride but it was by far my favorite. I was nervous about going on this ride but couldn't really tell anyone why yet. My big news didn't have to wait to long because while we were shopping around I found this totally awesome trophy in one of the stores in Radiator Springs. So while Geoff was standing in line to get us some pretzels I ran over there and bought it for him. While we were eating I let Geoff open up the bag and see what I had gotten him. It was a trophy that says Worlds Best Parents. Geoff looked at it and was like yeah one day we will be. I was sitting there going I am trying to tell you something. He was like oh you are? Such a funny conversation. Needless to say he now understood why I didn't really want to go on a lot of the rides with him.

 I made Geoff take pictures with me and all of the characters that we could find. I dont remember much about my first trip to Disneyland as a child but I dont think that we got our pictures taken with many. Geoff was such a good sport. He even bought me a couple of autograph books that we could get signed. 

 For those of you who know me know that I am a huge Jessie fan. We looked all over for her and never could find her. As we were walking off a ride she came walking out of the restroom. She was all alone and it was as if we were meant to find her. As soon as we got up to take a picture with her there was a huge line forming up behind us. I was so happy that we were able to get our pictures taken with her and not have to wait in the huge line to do it. 

 The infamous photo that looks like a long street, yet it is just a backdrop.

 Geoff was so proud of this photo because he had bigger guns then the Incredible's!

 So funny thing. We were walking down the street and this pirate was just dancing in front of some of the shops. Geoff was like lets go get our pictures taken. I was like we don't even know who he is. Why would we get a photo with him. Well come to find out he is Jake the Pirate from a pretty cute cartoon. I went and watched it when I got home so that I could figure out who he was.

We went into Legoland in Downtown Disney. It was so fun to be able to look at all the fun stuff in there. I wish that I would have had tons of money because I would have bought so many different things. I loved legos when I was a kid and I hope to pass on the tradition to my children. When we walked in this girl was the first thing that we say. Geoff walked up and pretended to kiss her. There were people all over the place that were laughing at us. I made Geoff do it again so that I could get a picture of him. 

We went to dinner out in Downtown Disney. The food was okay but not great. It was a lot of fun to get to spend the day with my amazing husband who made this whole trip possible for us.

 We ended the night watching the World of Color. It was so fun. We have decided when we go back we will try and get seats closer to the middle so that we can get a better view of the whole show. However, we were glad we were not in the middle when we were there. The people that were sitting there got soaking wet. And it was so cold. But if we ever go back in the summer we are for sure going to sit in the middle. If you ever go to California Adventure I recommend going to see the World of Color.

I couldnt leave this out. The amazing family that let us stay with them have a cobblestone in the entrance between Disneyland and California Adventure. They showed it to us on day 1 but Geoff and I went back to find it. I could not believe how hard it was to find. Even though we knew the general area that it was in. Thank you Heritage Family for always being so welcoming to us when we come to visit!

Disneyland Day 1

We finally made it. I have wanted to go to Disneyland for so long and have been trying to work out a day for us to go with Geoff's family in California. We finally worked it out and on February 1st we made it there. J, Cyndi, Breanne, and baby Ellie joined us in the morning for some fun. We rode on so many rides. We started with Indiana Jones. When I went to Disneyland as a kid it was one of my favorite rides. It would appear that my motion sickness is a lot worse now than it was then. I was not feeling so well when we got off the ride. The fresh air was good to get back into. How in the world did we ride it so many times before when we were little? Tiffanie, Megan, do you remember?

I got to feel like a real tourist because they let me get an autograph book and even stood in line with me so that I could get all of the characters autographs. I was so excited to get my picture taken with so many of the characters. It made it so much fun. Geoff was a good sport and tagged along the whole time with me. He even smiled in most of the pictures. I sure do love him.

We made our way over to the Star Tours ride. I had heard so much hype about the new ride and I was excited to ride on it. Lucky me almost didnt make it out of there with out throwing up. I was so sick. Geoff felt so bad because it was on of the rides that he really wanted to go on and it made me feel terrible. I was ready to go home after that but ofcourse the night was still young and there was still so much that we needed to do and see.

Breanne and Ellie left and we were joined by Little J, Brenda, and Baby J. We went on some more rides and got Garadelli Icecream and then went and watched the fire works. Baby J was so funny. He was all hyped up on sugar and was running around like crazy. He reminded me of the birds from the movie Nemo. The ones that go mine mine mine. Anyways he kept signing more and saying more more more. He wanted more ice cream and was upset when he could not have anymore. It was all gone.

The fire works were so cool. We did not have the best seats but they were good enough. We got to see the castle and all the fireworks light up behind it. Plus we were close to the exit so it was easy to get out of there when it was all over. We didnt get stuck in a whole lot of traffic on the way out. Which was very nice. I was so tired after the first day there that I fell asleep in the car and when we got home managed to crawl into my pajamas and into bed before I was out for the count. It was nice that I was able to fall asleep so fast because day 2 was going to be a busy one and we were looking forward to it.