32 Weeks and Goblin Valley

Last weekend, we took advantage of my "Spring Break" (it's only one day off) to go camping near Goblin Valley with Ryan's family and my sister. It gave me a real appreciation for the pioneers and the women in the Book of Mormon who traveled in the wilderness while pregnant, that's for sure.

It was a lot of fun, with a few uncomfortable parts like inhaling too much smoke, freezing to death, and having to use the wilderness as my bathroom (I prefer bathrooms and plumbing.) The fun parts were playing hide and go seek in Goblin Valley, eating lots of snacks, s'mores, not having to worry about anything for 3 days, and our bubble blowing contest.

Here are the millions of pictures, as usual. :)

In other news, I'm 32 weeks along. Our baby is very active, I think she's perfectly healthy. I'm doing good as well, I've been eating more, and a little bit healthier. (Minus the cake that I made last night. I had a vivid dream where I was making cake for my sister with homemade chocolate frosting, and then when I woke up and realized it was just a dream... I was devastated to realize there was no cake! :( So, I decided to make a cake with homemade frosting. I've been eating it for breakfast all morning.)

I feel very pregnant. My stomach is so round. I feel like I look kind of awkward, like a marshmallow with toothpick legs.

I don't really have any other pregnancy updates, other than I continue to hope that Baby Vorkink will wait until her due date to come. I still have a lot to do before she arrives. (People keep asking if we have everything we need, and if by that you mean 3 onesies and one baby bottle? Yep! If you mean things like a bed and stroller and car seat and diapers and everything else? Nope! You're talking to two professional procrastinators!)

On a totally unrelated note, I learn a lot of really fascinating things in my classes at school. In one of my classes I'm writing a paper about how prayer and forgiveness impact marriage, and this one guy, Frank Fincham has done a TON of studies about how important forgiveness is in marriage. I'm not just talking about forgiveness for big things like infidelity and abuse, but just for the little every day things. Anyways, BYU has this series of short videos about forgiveness in marriage, and I think they're great for anyone who is married or about to get married to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaaNWD2IQQ0 (This one is actually part 3/4, but I don't think you need to watch them in order. This one was my favorite.)

Here's my 32 week bump. Also, I cut my hair. 

Hiking, Happiness, and Shamu

As of March 14, I will be 31 weeks along, which is kind of scary. I'm happy that school is nearing its end and I will be done forever and ever! But I am nervous about what hitting 40 weeks will entail. Birth, becoming a mom, medical bills, etc. That's a lot of big stuff all at once. Luckily, school is keeping me so busy that I don't really have a lot of time to worry about it, and hopefully in the 3 weeks between graduating and my due date I'll be able to find lots to do to continue to keep myself busy.

I'm not sure how other people take these pictures without
making their feet look so ridiculously puny... 

Out of nowhere, I got huge. I mean, I guess I'm still not gigantic or anything, but everyone now is making the comments like "Whoa! Your pregnant!" Yes, yes I am. I have been since August... but now I look pregnant... and FEEL pregnant. My rib has been popping in and out of place consistently for the last few weeks, it feels kind of bruised... but there isn't really anything I can do but keep popping it back in place. I'm having more trouble bending over to put on my shoes or pick things up, and I'm running out of shirts that are long and loose enough to cover my stomach. My lungs are useless these days. (The altitude doesn't help!) and my nose has been stuffy for a month now. Sometimes when I blow my nose my eyes get kind of spotty, and I see stars, my doctor said that it's nothing to worry about, but I now understand those cartoons!

This past week has been mostly just getting through school, but we did have some highlights. One is that it warmed up! I don't know how long it will last, and I don't trust Utah enough to start claiming that it is Spring, but it has been warm for THREE days now! AND the sun came out! I am in heaven! It was warm enough that on Sunday, Ryan and I were able to go on a hike! Most of the cool hiking spots are closed for the Winter still, so we just went to Rock Canyon, which is pretty close. Also, I am in no condition to go on any crazy hikes. I haven't exercised for 7 months, except walking from my car to campus and back, which definitely counts. Also, as I mentioned earlier, my lungs are pretty much useless these days, so we had to go slow, and we couldn't go far, but it has been ages since it has been warm enough or since I've felt good enough to go explore outside. So, we made it happen, and it was great. :)

We are very mature around here. ;)

Another fun story, which I actually should have written a few weeks ago, but forgot, is about flirting. :) One of my previous professors was having a Flirting 101 seminar type thing on campus a few weeks ago. I wasn't going to go at first, but she was one of my very favorite professors and she is so fun and has no filter and I just knew that Ryan would love her. On the flier it said that non-married AND married students should come, so I decided that we should do that for our date night! It was so fun! My very favorite part was when she was telling all the students that winking works, and then she told everyone to wink at her. I didn't, because if you know me, you probably know that I can NOT wink. Not even a little bit. I don't know how I ever captured Ryan's heart! Ryan, on the other hand, is an expert at winking. He's an expert flirt, but he only ever flirts with me (lucky me!), or old ladies. So, anyways, my professor asks everyone to practice their best wink, and we are sitting in the 2nd row, right in the middle, and she notices Ryan's expert wink. So she tells him that he has a great wink! (It's true!) and makes him stand up and wink at everyone so they can see what a good wink looks like. It was so funny, and luckily Ryan doesn't get embarrassed, so he did a great job. Another lucky thing is that I didn't have to stand up because I have this embarrassing talent of blushing not only for myself, but for other people, and my face was SO red. I'm a sympathy blusher, and if I had been in Ryan's place, I would have been so embarrassed! But he's perfect, so he gave a perfect wink, didn't blush one bit, and my face lit on fire. The end.

Just look at him! You can tell that he is an expert at flirting! I really don't know how I ever got him!

I think that's all I have to share from my week. Here are a couple of things that I read or watched this week that I think will help you to be happier. :)

This is a TED talk by Shawn Achor. He wrote the book "The Happiness Advantage," I've never finished it but it's super fascinating. His TED talk is super interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXy__kBVq1M

Here is a funny article on how to train your husband. I decided to wait and use it on my children, I figure relationships work better when you are both honest and communicate with each other, rather than manipulating and training, but if you feel differently, here is something you could try out. :)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html

And here is a sweet poem by Emily Dickinson that I heard in church on Sunday:

They might not need me—yet they might—

I’ll let my Heart be just in sight—

A smile so small as mine might be

Precisely their necessity—

Eating For Two

I'll just have you know that "Eating for Two" is not as fun as it sounds. Turns out the baby actually just takes up all the room that your stomach used to have for expanding. Now, I have to eat super duper small portions or I'll be uncomfortable for the rest of the day!

I've been meaning to write another blog post for a couple weeks now, but it's that time of the semester when the homework seems to be never ending and my to do list is the same way. I should be working on it right now, but I'm not going to. I took another bump picture 9 days ago, and I thought maybe I should try to take another updated one, but I'm wearing sweatpants and I don't feel like changing, so we'll just have to hope that the picture from last Wednesday is close to how big I am now.

28 weeks

Let's see, I know I have pregnancy updates. I haven't talked about  my pregnancy in a little over a month.

I finally gave in and bought maternity pants. They have holes in the knees which kind of drives me crazy, but they were on sale and they actually fit and they weren't hideous sooooo they work. I'm upset with Walmart and Target for having such minuscule maternity sections. Target's is about 3 racks. Walmart's is pretty much nonexistent. I am grateful to have a pair of jeans that I can wear though.

I'm planning on being a cute pregnant person next time around, but this time around, I'm just wearing the few shirts I have that are long enough and stretchy enough to fit me, and the shirts that I've stolen from Ryan. (These pictures are misleading because I only try to look cute once or twice a week the other days I sleep until I absolutely have to get up, debate showering and then ultimately choose not to, run out of time for makeup, and put my hair into a ponytail.)

Baby Vorkink kicks a lot. She really enjoys kicking my bladder and other organs. Sometimes I have to tell her to knock it off because I JUST went to the bathroom, and I don't feel like going again! Here's a video of my little parasite baby. :) She isn't super cooperative. She was kicking like crazy until I pulled my camera out. This is all I could get.

She is healthy though, she's growing the right amount, her heartbeat is still going, and I'm gaining the right amount of weight. Earlier this week I had to have my glucose tested to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. I was worried about getting my blood drawn. (Last time I had my blood drawn I almost passed out and then threw up for about 10 minutes in the doctors office. That time Ryan was there and held a barf bag for me. So romantic!) But there weren't any problems, and I didn't pass out or throw up. Phew! Also, the tests came back negative! So, double phew! (That means I can stick to my diet of chocolate milk, peanut butter cap'n crunch, and cookies! Just kidding, I also eat pasta sometimes... and bagels.)

I haven't thrown up in over a month, which has been SO NICE. I don't think I could have survived this semester with morning sickness.

I have also become an expert at calling Insurance companies, the Intermountain billing office, and Labcorp. (I'm not an expert at pregnancy BUT if I had ANY advice to give, I would say that if you are still on your parents health insurance when you get married MAKE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR NAME with your insurance BEFORE GETTING PREGNANT!) 46193656319873269 calls later and I think we have figured all of our problems out.

I don't think my feet are swollen yet, but they do hurt. My stomach does get in the way a lot, making it difficult for me to put shoes on or bend over to pick things up or anything. Also, my belly button is working its way into becoming an outie, which I am not pleased with, but I'm dealing with it.

I take a nap every other day.

My hair did not get strong and thick, I was really hoping it would, but that's okay. I do think I have that pregnancy glow that people talk about. Or at least I've been told I do.

Ryan thinks I'm the most beautiful, adorable pregnant woman on the planet, but I think he's biased.

We are both really tired and slightly overwhelmed with everything we are juggling right now, but we are happy and grateful to have each other. Life is rough but we can do anything together!

I think that's all I have to update ya'll on for now. If you were wondering, I DO have a baby registry. I'm kind of an inexperienced future mom, so I don't really know what I need, but I think what I put on there is a good start.

If you were interested in contributing to the success of our growing family you can find our registry on Amazon.com under Kinsey Vorkink. :)

We do appreciate your support and love and prayers.

Also, thanks for being excited for us and for letting me have this outlet to share my thoughts and feelings, and for those of you who read the whole thing! I know I have a tendency to write a lot.

Anyways, I'll try to have a more updated picture for week 30 next week. :)