Jillian's baby shower

Jillian and I with our babies Brayden and Abigail in our bellies :)

Today I attended Jillian's baby shower. I remember when she told me she was pregnant... she was doing my nails -for free!- (she's a nail technician at a fancy salon in Phoenix ) for Jim and I's wedding celebration back in September and she said she had something to tell us... she told us her news and at that time nobody knew Jim and I were pregnant except for our immediate families (we made our big announcement at our reception) but after she told us her news we just had to spill the beans to her too! I was so excited to be able to experience this journey with another first time mommy, and not only her, but since then have found out several other friends of mine are pregnant as well. I am looking forward to play dates and sharing tips and tricks with my other mommy friends! I feel so blessed that God has surrounded me with friends at a similar stage in their lives and I feel comforted and I feel it's a little less scary knowing I have friends going through the exact same thing. :) Anyway, Jillian's shower today was so much fun. I loved seeing all my girlfriends! It's such an exciting time in our lives with weddings coming up and babies being born. I love it!

Valentine's Day

We had a simple, yet wonderful, Valentine's day this year. But the showering of love started even before 2/14. Jim knows I love fresh flowers in our home, so a couple weeks ago he bought me a Valentine's bouquet with my favorite flower (hydrangea) and color (pink) in it. :) Then at work on Friday, he surprised me by having 18 red roses delivered!!! Wow. The morning of Valentine's Day, we had our 29 week OB appointment. Abigail is sounding great (heartrate of 144 which is perfect) and measuring right on schedule! We love her so much. For dinner Jim had reservations to a fancy restaurant in downtown Phoenix, but the menu and prices just didn't seem appealing to me haha. So we cancelled our reservations and went to a new restuarant near our home. Afterwards, we stopped by Fry's for pizookie ingredients, and then went home to bake a homemade pizookie and watch the Valentine's episode of Glee! Relaxing and cuddling with him on the couch was my favorite part of the day. :) You don't need to shower me with gifts and expensive things, Jim knows the way to my heart is just to spend quality time with me.

the first beautiful Valentine's bouqet Jim gifted me displayed in our entryway :)

the beautiful red roses Jim surprised me with at work now in our kitchen :)

us at dinner... the restaurant gave all the ladies a red carnation :)

Crafting craze

Lately I have been so interested in anything crafty and diy. I've made a few things for Abigail and her room so far, and have lots more in mind. :) Next on my list is making her fitted crib sheets and crib skirt. I've been looking around online for bedding I like, but the sets are so expensive and all I want from it are the fitted sheet and skirt, so I've decided I'll just make my own! It will be so much cheaper and will be customized to match her room! I am so excited. My parents gifted me a sewing machine years ago for Christmas when I was in high school, and sad to say the only use I got out of it was making dance costumes one year and have since forgotten how to sew (only knew the basics to begin with but even that I can't remember). I'm hoping lots of online tutorials will do the trick. I will be picking up my sewing machine from my parents tomorrow and will be bringing it to a repair shop to hopefully get it fixed. I remember something not working with it years ago but don't remember what happened and all I know is that it doesn't work now. Hopefully they can fix it and I will be in business. I will definitely post pictures of the finished product (if they turn out decent and once Abigail has a mattress haha).

Another item I've really been wanting to create is a small kitchen island! Our kitchen is open, but not much counterspace to work on, so I think a small kitchen island with casters on the bottom should do the trick. It will be my vision with lots of handy work help from Jim. :)  I'm excited for this weekend project! Hopefully we can get it done before Abigail gets here. It will be nice to have a little extra storage space in the kitchen too.

Other items on my craft to-do list:
- spruce up my little office space and create a memo board, erasable calendar, hang a shelf or two and pictures
- make more bows and headbands for Abigail

It has always helped me to put my goals into writing so it becomes tangible to me. I'm hoping all these thoughts will turn into some awesome diy projects. Will post as I complete them. :)

2011 Podzius holiday pics!

My dad (www.artmendozaphotography.com) took these pictures for us for our Christmas cards this year! He is usually a very tradition photographer in the way and takes and edits photos, but he had a little fun with our pics. ;) They were taken at a pretty rose field near our home. We drive passed this field every week going to church and I thought it'd be a great place for a photo session! Enjoy the pics. Our little growing Podzius family... next year Abigail will be in our family pictures! Yes, we are having a little GIRL! More on that later. :) Click on the photos to enlarge.

Black Friday Shopping!

On Thanksgiving morning we lined up at Big Lots to purchase a sofa with chaise lounge for $399! We are going to put it in our loft area which will be our baby's play area in the future. :)  I unfortunately had to work on Thanksgiving day, but my awesome husband brought home leftovers for me from Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad Podzius' home. That night, Jim picked me up from work and from there we went straight to Toys R Us to line up for Black Friday shopping! I love the excitement of shopping that day. :) And I love that Laura, my sis in law, shares my excitement for shopping that day! It's starting to become a tradition for us to go Black Friday shopping together! The doors opened at 9pm and we got what we came for! Up to a 96-pack of diapers for $10! We are starting to stock up on all things for baby now, while they are cheap! The plan was to go home, sleep a few hours and get back in line for the Babies R Us doorbuster sale starting at 5am, but we overslept :( We didn't end up getting to Babies R Us until 5am and the item I really wanted (432-ct wipes for $5) were already sold out! But the amazing deal on our dream crib and changing table was still available! I've wanted to purchase the Graco Lauren Classic Crib  ever since we found out we were pregnant. So happy that it was 50% off! Usually it sells for $179 plus the changing table which is $99 (still a great deal normally), but Babies R Us was selling them together for $148 total! Ahhh. Feeling so blessed for snagging such a great deal! The high chair that was advertised was also sold out by 5am too (which is when the deals were technically supposed to start, but you know Black Friday shoppers and the crazy early times they line up to get the deals hehe), so I bummed that it was sold out. BUT when we got home, they were stil available for purchase online with the advertised price! Unfortunately there was a shipping and handling fee, but still cheaper all together than what it would've been full price and we love the high chair - Fish Price Space Saver in the tan swirl print - very neutral. :) We also were able to purchase a great flat screen tv from Wal-Mart AND beat the crowds! They had the same awesome deal online! We also went to Old Navy and got great winter clothes for our niece and nephew. :) This is the first Christmas that I'll actually have money to shop for gifts since this is my first year with a real full-time job! Feeling blessed that I'm able to shower the people I love with gifts this Christmas season.

LOVE OUR BLACK FRIDAY BABY FINDS!!! :)

Graco Lauren Classic Crib

Graco Lauren Dressing Table

Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair

Thankful for Jim

This past weekend Jim went on a company trip with his co-workers. When he returned, I couldn't have been happier to see him. Just being away from him for 3 days was like torture to me. I've never missed him so much before! But him gone for those few days also made me realize how amazing of a husband I have and how grateful and thankful I am for him. The cheesy saying really is true... "distance makes the heart grow fonder" hehe. I just hope I don't have to be away from him for a long time again.

I am so in love with my husband. We have been married for almost 1 year now and time has just flown by. I can't believe I married my dream man! I can honestly say I did not settle one bit. He is the best of the best, and everyone who knows Jim knows how blessed I am to have him. He really is the greatest. :) I know every wife probably thinks their husband is the best husband in the world (or should think that anyway) but I truly believe mine is. Just one recent example: I was sleeping when Jim came home from work on Monday (I had worked the night shift that day) and Jim woke me up and surprised me with fresh flowers at my bedside. :) We pretty much always have fresh flowers in our house since he knows I really enjoy and appreciate them. It's the little things like that that make me feel so loved by him. He is so thoughtful and wonderful.

First night on med/surg!

Last night was my first shift on the med-surg/oncology floor! Jim took a quick pic before I left for my first night. :) I was so excited to finally be working in a hospital but also so nervous because I felt like I have already forgotten so much since nursing school. My first night went well. I was working in the med/surg side of the unit and only had 3 patients with my preceptor. I was surprised and proud of myself that I actually remembered how to hang an IV piggyback. :) I also tried to start an IV but was unsuccessful. :( But my preceptor who has 35 years of nursing experience took 3 attempts before she finally got a good stick, so I didn't feel too disappointed in myself. My experience at the prison has helped me in unexpected ways to prepare myself for this new job, for that I am thankful. There have been sooo many days I wonder why God has me working there, but if anything, to build my character and hopefully add a little positivity to that place. I was also proud of myself that I survived the whole night! I wasn't able to sleep before my shift, so by the end of my shift, I was awake for over 24 hours! Wouldn't recommend it, but glad I survived. This switching back from night and day shift every week is going to be tough, but hopefully worth it.

We are now in our 2nd trimester!!! We are 14 weeks and 6 days as of today. Woo hoo! We will be finding out the sex of our baby on November 30th and couldn't be more excited. :) I have been browsing baby furniture literally since the day we found out we're pregnant. (I love anything having to do with decorating our house and turning it into our home) While we are on our honeymoon, we will be getting the interior of our house painted a neutral tan color on all the walls and so after we return we can finally start to decorate baby's room! Hopefully I will start showing soon... still just feel like I look bloated or ate too much. :/