Lucky Me

I am fortunate enough to have a very talented bff who is great at pretty much EVERYTHING and she offered to take a couple maternity photos for me. I had tried to avoid the camera through my pregnancy and the only photos that were capture were the ones my father in law managed to rope me into. I am grateful for Leisha and her talents and her willingness to capture my hugeness so I could remember what I looked like, even with her busy schedule while she was visiting Oregon. Thanks Leish! (You should check out her blog. It's amazing! Homemade Toast)

It's a little late...

but here is a post I started and never finished from... last year...
 
"Um, excuse me did you know that sharks swallow fish whole? They don't even peel the skin off!"

"There is one guy you want to listen to. It's Heavenly Father. He's important."

I love my sunbeams. And that is why I'm so sad that I was released this week! You would think after 3 1/2 years of primary I'd be sick of it. Well... maybe at times... but now it means I have to reintroduce myself into relief society. Not going to lie. That's a little bit scarier than primary. I have to be a big girl and do big girl things like socialize. Now, it's not that I don't want to... it's just an anxiety thing. I like everyone and I know nobody is out to get me. it just takes me a bit to warm up to others :)
In other news, Christmas break was awesome. The whole family was here and it was so nice to spend time with them! We celebrated Luis' birthday by driving some go karts. The men and little (not so little) girls had fun while mom, Jess, Heidi and I watched and cheered them on :)

 

We enjoyed a sprinkle of snow. This is at my job with the old ladies. They didn't stop talking about the huge flakes until it melted away.

 

 We wrapped presents. I'm an expert wrapper. Obviously.

Christmas was awesome! I had to work the morning of Christmas eve but had the night off. We had our time honored Christmas eve dinner at the Leishman house. They are so amazing and the food is always delicious! We headed home to get  Christmas pj's, open one gift and read the Christmas story with the Stott clan then Luis and I ran off to his sister's house to eat some more good food and celebrate at midnight (Guatemala time so we didn't really have to stay up super late!) We headed back home, went to bed to get ready for the morning. We gave dad a 7am deadline to be out of the shower and ready because he likes to take his sweet time in the past. Well, we were up before 7. Santa was noisy. Unwrapping presents was a lot of fun. I got a sewing machine that I need to learn to use, a kindle fire from the hubby and lots of other fun things from the family. We had a family Christmas list that we can all see and make changes to and as a joke the couples put a Xbox 360 to play natzi zombies together on. It was a huge surprise when it actually happened!  We then headed over to gma Judys for Christmas brunch! She goes all out and we always have delicious food and drinks and we always stuff ourselves! We unwrapped presents from grandmas and then headed back home to nap and play with toys. I love the holiday season because we just get to hang out with family and friends the whole time :)

 Look at this super cute cupacake! It was at my surprise baby shower! While my sis-in-laws and a couple friends were in town they threw together a quick and cute little shindig. I seriously had no idea. Kirsten invited me out for food and games which I was totally ok with since I would get some hang time with the bff. Kirsten, her mom and Sara said they had a shower to go to so they dropped me off but wanted to say hi to my mom real quick. I saw a friends car outside, but I was thinking that maybe she and her hubby were there to see my brothers so I didn't really suspect anything. I walk in and there are people sitting in the front room and surprise! I've got one lucky baby in my belly! We ate some delicious food made by my sister in laws, played some games, decorated onesies and opened some presents. Little man got some really cute, great and useful things. He's going to be one spoiled baby. Thank you to everyone that contributed. It made me feel so good :)

Deliciously made by Jewell Ray

 

Luis and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. That's 7 years of togetherness and I still like the guy! Luis brought me home some beautiful flowers. At that time I was on the phone with my OB nurse. She was in the process of telling me that I failed my glucose test and had low iron and needed to go in for the 3 hour test (yay...). No biggie. I wasn't worried. It happens. She continues to tell me "now that doesn't mean you have diabetes..." Well I wasn't thinking of that... but thanks. After I hung up Luis handed me a box of hand picked chocolates so you know they're gonna be good. That's when pregnant Britany starts tearing up and says "I can eat these!" A little dramatic, I know... Well. I still ate them. I was just didn't eat them in one sitting. We ended up going to Benihanas for dinner and it was great. The food was delicious and I got my onion soup and ginger salad that I had been craving for forever. Over all it was a great anniversary and can't wait for the next 5 years!

 I am 30 weeks along and I'm starting to feel it. I am tired all the time. I NEED a nap just about every day. The past 2 days my hips and the muscles right under my protruding belly have been killer. It started tuesday night, didn't sleep, had to get up early for the 3 hour glucose test wednesday and be vampired in both arms. I disliked not being able to eat and having to drink the worst. koolaid. ever. The muscle spams/cramps continued through out the day. There was NO getting comfortable. Heating pads, tylenol, comfort food, massages, pillows everywhere... nothing. It was a long day. I had to be up the next morning for work and was hoping it would all be over... Not so much. It certainly wasn't as bad. I worked, went home and slept some more and it felt great. Today I feel like a normal preggo lady :)

At times I feel like this kid is going to crawl himself out. He is a ninja... or a break dancer. It went from, did you feel that? to, did you frikin see that?!  Sometimes he hits a nerve or something around my left hip. Holy. Cow. It makes me yelp a little bit or want to double over at times. It's quite the love tap. 

My current cravings consist of yogurt, cinnamon chip bread from my bffs parents bakery, Bungalow Bread Co. (check them out on facebook), chocolate/strawberry milk (which is weird since I am slightly lactose intolerant. I take a lactose pill and that usually helps), those easy mac cups, my grandmas banana bread (who am I kidding, I crave that even when I wasn't preggo), and Tillamook mint chocolate chip ice cream. There seems to never be enough ice cream in the house... I'm not the only on  that eats it though so it can be disappointing when I go to indulge in a craving and it's all gone...

Velociraptors and babies

I eat a bowl of cereal every morning. One can not achieve the optimal milk to cereal ratio when eating from a mug. Some how all the bowls in the house are dirty. All at the same time. It certainly isn't the end of the world but it doesn't make it easy for this pregnant lady or Kitty Rajah who likes to finish off the last bits of milk and cereal sticking to the bowl.

Not that it stopped him...

Today we got to find out the gender of baby Diaz! Baby was very active and made the technician work at it but we eventually found out that it's a Boy!

 

 

 

 It was amazing to see our little man and not have to call you a dinosaur not that you look human! I was also happy to know all those little flutters I've felt the past week or so were actually my baby and not just my stomach being bubbly :) As real as the nausea and aches have been, today has made it a little more real and I'm starting to get pretty excited about it all, not that I wasn't before but now I feel we can really start planning and getting things ready!

 

 

 

 

Angry, Bitter, Pregnant Lady

That would be me.

But only sometimes. I think I'm getting a little better as the sickness is dying down, getting my heartburn under control and I'm able to sleep a little bit more. When I say sleep I mean, after I have woken up at LEAST two times before the 'normal' waking up time to use the bathroom because I have the smallest bladder in the world. At least that's what it feels like. I also end up sleeping in the boys room because my husband snores like a bear with a chainsaw and if I stay and try and sleep through it... I get frustrated and just want to hurt him. (Love you sweetheart!) SO, I end up having a king sized bed to myself... and my cat, who also like to wake me up in the morning to tell me that he has no food. But really he does. Rajah just wants to walk down the stairs with him to show him that in fact he does have food. Good thing he's cute.

Moving on...
I am possibly looking for a new job. I say possibly because I have no idea what is going on with the job that I have now. There was a mix up with my background check at the Adult Foster home that I work at and had to do a new one. No problem. It could take up to two weeks to process. Took a week and a half. Called my boss, he cleared me to work again. Let my scheduler know (my boss supposedly called her too), she hasn't called/text me in a week even with my repeated calls and texts to her.  Basically I'm not getting any answers. SO. Trying to figure out what to do next. I was planning on working up to mid April, health and baby progress permitted. Pretty much all the CNA positions I've looked into are not looking for an 18 week pregnant lady. Not working for the past two weeks has made me lazy and slightly depressed I think. I'll up for pretty much anything, except for going back to KinderCare, who has postings for jobs at just about every center right now... It doesn't have to be CNA related at this point. As long as I am able to help my hard working husband with saving some money I would more than happy.

On a happier note, I'm a couple days away from being 18 weeks. According to the app I have on my phone, baby is as big is an onion.

Cute, right?

Yeah. Not a cute comparison, but it kind of puts it into perspective for me. I'm getting a little anxious to start feeling movement. Sometimes I think I do, but I can't really tell if it's baby or my rumbling tummy. Either way, Luis and I are excited to find out what it is on the 25th! I'm going to start the adventure of crocheting a couple baby hats! I'm not very talented when it comes to creative things... so we'll see how it goes. When I find out what the onion will be, I'll move on to baby blankets :)

It's been... how long?

Hey Ya'll! SO it's been a while. Like... 2 1/2 years a while I believe! Honestly... I started back up so I could keep track of all the happenings in the Diaz family... but if you asked me what happened a year ago, I wouldn't be able to tell you because I have a TERRIBLE memory. True story. Ask my loving husband. SO. Let's dive right in starting with the most recent news! We had a little running joke that Derek started when he got off his mission. He would say, hey guys, guess what... I'm engaged!... When he really wasn't. Funny haha. SO Luis and started saying, Hey guys, guess what... We're pregnant! when we really weren't. Here we are in Georgia taking a picture with Heidi's family. (Luis is taking the pictures)

Hey. Family Picture!

Say, Lisa and Noel are going to be grandparents!

Wait, what did you say? That's hilarious!

True Story! Britany is preggo!

Hug it out ya'll!

So it's true! I'm pregnant! 14 weeks as of yesterday. It's the size of a lemon. I compare it to a fruit because my sisters like to know how big it is and that's what the app on my phone tells me ;)  Things have been good so far. I have had my morning sickness in the evening, didn't throw up once until a week ago, and I think it was because I had a small bug. I'm tired allllll the time and my hips are killer at times. Besides the constant grumpiness that my poor, loving husband has to put up with, I feel pretty good.

In other news, the twins got married to their BEAUTIFUL wives this summer!

Hey, Hey good lookins

Fooorreevveeerrr

Um, my favorite picture

That was a pretty big deal... They are all grown up and married and cute and now it's there turn to have babies! Just kidding. We're giving them a year. Maybe two.
Devyn and Heidi got married in the Atlanta, Georgia Temple. It was beautiful and crazy hot pretty much the whole time we were there. We were greeted by nice little rainstorm of monster proportions. Scary trying to drive through that. Our hotel was great. Delicious breakfast buffet every morning. and not to far from The Waffle House that we got to try and the waffles... AWESOME. We visited Heidi's family, did a little shopping, enjoyed the wedding and reception. The boys and little girls went to six flags while the fiances, mom and I went shopping and to the bridal shower. After the wedding festivities we had a chance to go to the Atlanta Aquarium! It was pretty impressive :) Pretty much the whole time in Atlanta I was feeling sick, thanks baby raspberry, but I think we had a great time overall!
Derek and Jess got married in the Bountiful, Utah Temple. It was also beautiful and almost as crazy hot. We got to have dinner with family at the Olive Garden, see lots of family at the reception and see a couple of friends! Luis and I stayed with a BFF Kirsten and her husband and also got to see Leisha and crazy cute girls! Pretty sure they should all move to Oregon... It's better here ;)

That's all that is left in my brain for now... I will (hopefully) update some more in the next day or two.

In case you haven't heard...

Luis is coming home! Long story short, we found out last Wednesday that the waivers were approved and the next day we were told the visa was approved and he could pick it up on Tuesday. We bought the plane ticket on Wednesday and he is coming home Saturday!
Anyone is welcome to join us at the airport to say hello. His flight comes in at 8:05 and I think we will be there at 7:30 to greet anyone who comes. Also, if you don't come that night to meet him, no worries, in the next couple weeks we will put together a shindig to celebrate his coming home.

In preparation for his coming home I've had to do something drastic...

Clean my room.

I Know.

Crazy, right?

For those who know me... I don't do this very often... My rooms has always been an organized mess... to me at least... BUT I figured I should gut the place and with the help of my WONDERFUL BFF's and parents and even little sisters, my rooms looks brand new. Who would have thought?

Anywho. I'm only a little excited. Whatever ;)

Some serious thinking...okay... not so serious...

But seriously.

There have been some things moving around in my head. I've never really took new year resolutions/goals seriously. I feel that this year would be a good time to start that habit. Things the past couple years have been a roller coaster of all sorts and it would be nice to put things in order. A short summary of what's going on now I think will help with why certain goals are being made and maybe an update for some.

This month makes it 2 years married to Luis. Luis has been in Guatemala for 3 years due to immigration problems. Last we heard from our lawyers, we are waiting for a waiver that takes 6 months to a year to be processed. 6 months was november. Lawyer says that nothing is going to be processed during the holidays but they expect to hear something after the new year. The anticipation is building up.

Goal: Be Healthier: Physically, Mentally, Emotionally

I chose this one because I think if I can get myself on healthy path things will start to fall into place. I know it won't happen instantly or magically but I do know if I can just stick to it, I can make it happen. I'm a believer of mind over matter. I also know I don't always practice what I preach but I do find giving myself a reality check when I forger about this.
Physically:
Get my tooshie into a gym. Oh hey. I work at one... Crazy, I know... I tell myself it's soooo hard workout after I get done working... but really... I tell myself that because I am tired... all the time. Pretty sure working out can help with this. I need more energy. I think part of my anxiety comes from low self confidence and this is something that goes with the healthy path. I think this is something I can conquer.

Second. I gotta work on not being so hard to approach. It's not that I dislike people or don't want to talk to anyone, I just have learned to keep to myself. I feel like I am butting into peoples business or invading some personal space. I really don't mind talking to people, I just feel more comfortable when they approach me first.

Last... but not least, I'm going to continue building my testimony. I've been struggling the past year but I have never felt that it was a waste of time. My bbf Katie and I went to institute for the first time this week and it was pretty awesome. The teacher didn't exactly get to the lesson he had planned but I think there was a reason, and that reason was something I needed to hear. Having my brothers out on missions and seeing the growth that they have gone through in less than a year is kind of incentive for me to keep going.

On a grander note, here are some updates.
The boys are doing great. They past their 6 month marks. They are such a joy to hear from and see the progress and development they are going through.



Check out Devyn's awesome mandatory part. I can't remember the last time he had a part, but I think he's rockin it pretty well. This gentleman clicked with Devyn and his companion and when Devyn transferred I think it was a little hard for him. Dev does a good job keeping in touch.



Derek finally sent pictures!

aight he cute?


A little bit of New York.


Derek loves Scrubs... so naturally he had to take a picture.


This is just one of the funny pictures Derek took.

Not gonna lie, I might be a little jealous that my brothers get to see all these exciting things.

I'm still working at the Bistro. Nothing to exciting goes on there but it's still a good job for school. I am still nannying and baby A will be a year old in feb. holy cow. It's so awesome to watch her learn and grow and discover new things. She's so much fun and so flippin cute and she will soon have a little brother to teach how it's all suppose to be done.

Luis is still working as a guide for the cruise lines. He likes it for the most part but it's not an everyday job and it's only seasonal. We are hoping we get the call before he has to go job searching again. He's getting antsy, as am I.