Ugh. I need to finish writing our talks for sacrament meeting tomorrow, but I'm having a hard time concentrating. I went to southern Utah with Josh Tuesday to see my folks while he worked at Dixie on Wednesday. On our drive home Wednesday night we got a call from the Bishopric requesting we speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday (tomorrow). We almost said no - it was after 9pm Wednesday night, we were barely out of Cedar City, and Josh wasn't going to have much time to prepare one - but we guilted ourselves into saying yes.
Well, Josh worked at IMC until 9pm last night and has already been there since 8am this morning. Poor guy. I hate it when he works late, but I extra hate it when he sacrifices his weekends and doesn't get a decent break from work. Anyway, his talk isn't getting written, so we decided that instead of writing two 12-minute talks on the two subjects they gave us, I would write one 24-minute talk on one subject, and Josh could give half of it. I have my doubts about our probable success, but we've concluded that if we bomb these talks, they won't be asking us again anytime soon, so either way we win!
In other news...
I got a kicking maternity skirt for only $15 at Motherhood Maternity that will easily last me through these last three months. I officially start teaching the 6 & 7-year-olds in Primary tomorrow, so I wanted to get something now that will be comfy enough that I'm not constantly shuffling around in front of the kiddies, but that will grow with me so I don't have to buy another later on. This skirt is perfect. It's a little big right now, but it still stays up (and I can use my black belly band to help!), and it's dressy without being flashy. It's a long, black, skirt, and perfect for wintertime. I love it so much I might not get any others and just wear this one every week until the baby comes.
I'm making great progress on my crafty Christmas gifts for all the siblings this year. I'm more or less done with gifts for my side of the family, but Josh's side is another story. We've talked about it a bit, but haven't had any great revelations yet. What are some gifts all y'all are giving your parents this year??
Josh and I cannot agree on a single name for this baby, so he will probably not have a name before he is born. Suggestions are welcome and appreciated, but chances are we won't know his name until after we look at him.
I made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a ward function this week, and Josh confessed to me that "they are the best cookies you've ever made." I was surprised at first, but then I realized I don't make cookies very often. In fact, the only other cookies I've made since we married are "secret surprise cookies" and those are strictly a Lake Powell tradition. I'm a big fan of brownies, rice krispies treats, and even cakes (especially cheesecake - yum!), but rarely will I put in the time to make cookies. But now that I know he liked them so much, I might make them as an occasional special treat for him. Nicey!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Stake Conference
Our stake was one that got invited to attend the multi-stake stake conference gathering at the Conference Center yesterday. Although tired from arising early in order to get downtown, find parking, and secure a decent seat (pregnant women need an aisle for the least-disturbing bathroom access possible), we were thrilled with the conference and very happy we made the effort to attend.
While I enjoyed all the talks (although the two boys behind me prevented me from hearing the majority of President Packer's talk), I especially loved President Hinckley's talk. He spoke of marriage, and the duties each spouse has toward the other in making a marriage successful. Neither spouse is exempt from loving and respecting the other, forgiving him or her, or working on the union. It was nice to hear a friendly reminder that marriage requires work. I remember attending my singles' wards and there was so much emphasis on marriage it seemed that was all we needed to finally be complete. However, in my own marriage, I have learned it's merely the beginning to an entirely new chapter in life.
Josh and I have had our ups and downs together, although I dare say we've had many more ups (knock on wood). During the talk, I kept thinking of how lucky I am to have Josh. I know he loves me and treats me the way I deserve, even better! He speaks a quiet truth, and he has never held himself above me as "the man of the house." I know he listens to me and that we have an equal say in family decisions. He freely compliments me, and in turn, I want to please him even more. I am so grateful for him, his patience, his work ethic, and his standard of living. He is an incredible man.
I'm especially grateful for our love for each other now that we'll be welcoming our first child into our home. I'm pleased that our son will grow up knowing that he is wanted, loved, and that his parents have a real commitment to one another. I pray every day that God will see fit to continue blessing us as He has these last two years. I don't know what I did to deserve such happiness, but I hope I keep it up.
While I enjoyed all the talks (although the two boys behind me prevented me from hearing the majority of President Packer's talk), I especially loved President Hinckley's talk. He spoke of marriage, and the duties each spouse has toward the other in making a marriage successful. Neither spouse is exempt from loving and respecting the other, forgiving him or her, or working on the union. It was nice to hear a friendly reminder that marriage requires work. I remember attending my singles' wards and there was so much emphasis on marriage it seemed that was all we needed to finally be complete. However, in my own marriage, I have learned it's merely the beginning to an entirely new chapter in life.
Josh and I have had our ups and downs together, although I dare say we've had many more ups (knock on wood). During the talk, I kept thinking of how lucky I am to have Josh. I know he loves me and treats me the way I deserve, even better! He speaks a quiet truth, and he has never held himself above me as "the man of the house." I know he listens to me and that we have an equal say in family decisions. He freely compliments me, and in turn, I want to please him even more. I am so grateful for him, his patience, his work ethic, and his standard of living. He is an incredible man.
I'm especially grateful for our love for each other now that we'll be welcoming our first child into our home. I'm pleased that our son will grow up knowing that he is wanted, loved, and that his parents have a real commitment to one another. I pray every day that God will see fit to continue blessing us as He has these last two years. I don't know what I did to deserve such happiness, but I hope I keep it up.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Belly bands
Ladies, if you're expecting, you should buy these belly bands (or make them yourselves, I'm sure it's not too difficult). I bought some last week and have worn the white one pretty much every single day since. My only regret is not buying them earlier when my pants started getting tighter.
You see, I'm one of the lucky women whose tummy reaches out far and wide during pregnancy without much change to my bum, hips, or thighs. This means that when I put on jeans to fit my belly, they drown every other part of me and look terrible. So I'm stuck. I'm too small for maternity pants, but too big to do up my zippers all the way, and using a rubber band to keep my pants buttoned up isn't the most attractive thing I've ever done. What I really need is a way to give myself an extra inch or two around the waist of the pants I already own that fit the rest of my body.
Bring in the belly bands.
I first did a google search for belly bands because Katie told me to check them out. The BellaBand is what I initially found. The reviews on Amazon were all positive, but I didn't want to drop $26 plus shipping for just one band, and I didn't find them much cheaper on other sites, so I kept looking. I found another brand of Belly Bands for $20 each, but still couldn't justify the expense.
I was about to call up Lacie and ask her to help me make my own when I had the thought to look on eBay. There were several used bands for sale, but I found this Massachusetts homemaker that makes her own, cheaper, version of the BellaBand. She had good feedback so I thought I'd give her product a try. I bought two bands (one white and one black) for a mere $21, including shipping.
What a miracle they've turned out to be! I've been wearing my favorite jeans and casual pants for the last week, and rekindled an old love affair with a favorite pale blue daisy skirt on Sunday (blogger's photo service is broken right now). These bands are perfect because they're just tight enough to keep my pants up for now, but have plenty of stretch to grow with me during the rest of my pregnancy. It just looks like I'm wearing a t-shirt underneath my top. While it does take me longer to put myself together after using the restroom, it's been so nice to go back to wearing clothes that fit my body and my skinny bird legs.
So I'm officially endorsing these bands as a pregnancy must-have. Get some now, and get your comfortable confidence back!
You see, I'm one of the lucky women whose tummy reaches out far and wide during pregnancy without much change to my bum, hips, or thighs. This means that when I put on jeans to fit my belly, they drown every other part of me and look terrible. So I'm stuck. I'm too small for maternity pants, but too big to do up my zippers all the way, and using a rubber band to keep my pants buttoned up isn't the most attractive thing I've ever done. What I really need is a way to give myself an extra inch or two around the waist of the pants I already own that fit the rest of my body.
Bring in the belly bands.
I first did a google search for belly bands because Katie told me to check them out. The BellaBand is what I initially found. The reviews on Amazon were all positive, but I didn't want to drop $26 plus shipping for just one band, and I didn't find them much cheaper on other sites, so I kept looking. I found another brand of Belly Bands for $20 each, but still couldn't justify the expense.
I was about to call up Lacie and ask her to help me make my own when I had the thought to look on eBay. There were several used bands for sale, but I found this Massachusetts homemaker that makes her own, cheaper, version of the BellaBand. She had good feedback so I thought I'd give her product a try. I bought two bands (one white and one black) for a mere $21, including shipping.
What a miracle they've turned out to be! I've been wearing my favorite jeans and casual pants for the last week, and rekindled an old love affair with a favorite pale blue daisy skirt on Sunday (blogger's photo service is broken right now). These bands are perfect because they're just tight enough to keep my pants up for now, but have plenty of stretch to grow with me during the rest of my pregnancy. It just looks like I'm wearing a t-shirt underneath my top. While it does take me longer to put myself together after using the restroom, it's been so nice to go back to wearing clothes that fit my body and my skinny bird legs.
So I'm officially endorsing these bands as a pregnancy must-have. Get some now, and get your comfortable confidence back!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Ultrasound video
October 4 2007, 22 weeks pregnant
All right, I put the ultrasound video on YouTube and embedded it above. I also posted a breakdown of what you see and approximately at what times. The video and text should stay at the top of my blog long after this post has been buried.
Here is what you see in the ultrasound and at roughly what times:
- 10:00-9:25 - legs & ankles crossed (side view)
- 9:15-8:20 - lots of moving, boy parts! (bottom view)
- 8:15-8:00 – boy parts again
- 7:45-7:15 – arms & hands (top view)
- 6:35-6:25 – boy parts again (he's obviously not camera shy)
- 6:15-5:40 – super-wiggly & kicking (side view)
- 5:40-4:00 – various profile shots
- 4:54 – profile with cute little nose!
- 4:35-4:30 – heartbeat
- 4:35-4:15 – jaw movement & sucking
- 4:05-4:00 – heartbeat
- 3:45-3:30 – face (front view)
- 3:15-2:40 – FOOT TAPPING!
- 1:45-1:20 – more profile & heartbeat
- 1:20-0:00 - measurements & EDD of February 5, 2008 (but they kept my official EDD of January 26, 2008)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Girls' Night
We finally had another girls' night October 5. It's been much too long since we all got together, and we had a fantastic time. We celebrated Rach and Danielle's birthdays by going to Mimi's Cafe for dinner, then heading up to Holly's for cake, ice cream and lots of chit-chat. I stayed up way too late of course, but couldn't have had more fun. At times like these, I am so happy to be back in Utah, even though it's been really rainy and cold. I just hope more of us can make it to December's outing!
Maryann, Patsi, Holly
Rachael, Paige, Christy
In other great news, all my plants and paintings made it safely up here from my folks' house this weekend. My peace lily, prayer plants, and baby rubber plant obviously suffered from a lack of regular watering, and my philodendron and dumb canes were never rotated while in my mother's care, but a little trimming, replanting, water, and open blinds has already helped so much. I'm just grateful my mom was willing to take on the task of plant-sitting for the last month. Home just wasn't home without 'em.
Maryann, Patsi, HollyRachael, Paige, Christy
In other great news, all my plants and paintings made it safely up here from my folks' house this weekend. My peace lily, prayer plants, and baby rubber plant obviously suffered from a lack of regular watering, and my philodendron and dumb canes were never rotated while in my mother's care, but a little trimming, replanting, water, and open blinds has already helped so much. I'm just grateful my mom was willing to take on the task of plant-sitting for the last month. Home just wasn't home without 'em.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Ultrasound!
I finally had my first Utah ob appointment today and it turned out to be the perfect day. When I originally made the appointment, I asked the girl if I could schedule the ultrasound as well, considering I'd be 22 weeks by the time they could fit me in. Unfortunately, I could not, as the doctor must 'prescribe' the ultrasound and I hadn't yet met with him. So I made the appointment with the understanding that I probably wouldn't get the ultrasound until the following week.
In the meantime, Josh got a call for service at Dixie, so he couldn't go to the appointment with me, which was a real let-down. I wanted so badly for him to be able to hear the heartbeat because it makes the whole baby concept so much more real, you know? So he re-scheduled an IMC install for Monday so he could spend Friday at Dixie instead of Thursday. All that shuffling meant he was able to go to my appointment during work hours then drive down on his own time afterward. What a sweetheart! And the best part is I got to go down with him so we didn't have to spend the night apart. I just love that man.
So we get to the office and my doc's medical assistant comes in to take my blood pressure (117/78) and weight (+13 pounds already, oh my!). As she's looking over my Vegas records and making notations in my chart, she asks why I haven't gotten an ultrasound yet. I tell her I couldn't book it until the doctor told me to, and it was too early to get one when I last saw my Vegas doc. She didn't seem too concerned that it took nearly two months for the office to get me in, but she was greatly troubled there was no ultrasound. So she talked to the doctor about seeing if she could sneak us in to the ultrasound room downstairs after he did his examination, and he said to go for it.
Boy, it sure helps to have the right people working your case! We waltzed into the ultrasound room like we owned the place and spent the next 45 minutes looking at every baby detail that popped on the screen. We are delighted and relieved to report that our baby is healthy and whole. All the toes, fingers, arms, legs, brain parts, and heart chambers are present and accounted for. We saw kidneys, umbilical cord blood, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now.
Oh, and we saw a penis.
Our son is so active. Josh didn't believe how much I feel him moving and kicking around inside me until he saw the little bugger on-screen. The office gave us the last 10 minutes of the ultrasound on video and we've showed it to most of our family and friends. No one knew we were going to get the ultrasound, so we got to surprise everyone with our results! My dad was absolutely stunned at how much babies move, and how incredible it is that he got to see it. And the ultrasound tech noticed our baby tapping his foot in perfect rhythm near the end of the ultrasound - we're guessing he taps to my heartbeat. Only 1lb, 3oz big, but already so talented!
Anyway, here are a couple of highlight pics from the ultrasound, and if I can figure out how to do it, I'll put the foot-tapping on youtube. It was undeniably the best day I've had in a very long time. I'm *very* happy.
In the meantime, Josh got a call for service at Dixie, so he couldn't go to the appointment with me, which was a real let-down. I wanted so badly for him to be able to hear the heartbeat because it makes the whole baby concept so much more real, you know? So he re-scheduled an IMC install for Monday so he could spend Friday at Dixie instead of Thursday. All that shuffling meant he was able to go to my appointment during work hours then drive down on his own time afterward. What a sweetheart! And the best part is I got to go down with him so we didn't have to spend the night apart. I just love that man.
So we get to the office and my doc's medical assistant comes in to take my blood pressure (117/78) and weight (+13 pounds already, oh my!). As she's looking over my Vegas records and making notations in my chart, she asks why I haven't gotten an ultrasound yet. I tell her I couldn't book it until the doctor told me to, and it was too early to get one when I last saw my Vegas doc. She didn't seem too concerned that it took nearly two months for the office to get me in, but she was greatly troubled there was no ultrasound. So she talked to the doctor about seeing if she could sneak us in to the ultrasound room downstairs after he did his examination, and he said to go for it.
Boy, it sure helps to have the right people working your case! We waltzed into the ultrasound room like we owned the place and spent the next 45 minutes looking at every baby detail that popped on the screen. We are delighted and relieved to report that our baby is healthy and whole. All the toes, fingers, arms, legs, brain parts, and heart chambers are present and accounted for. We saw kidneys, umbilical cord blood, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now.
Oh, and we saw a penis.
Our son is so active. Josh didn't believe how much I feel him moving and kicking around inside me until he saw the little bugger on-screen. The office gave us the last 10 minutes of the ultrasound on video and we've showed it to most of our family and friends. No one knew we were going to get the ultrasound, so we got to surprise everyone with our results! My dad was absolutely stunned at how much babies move, and how incredible it is that he got to see it. And the ultrasound tech noticed our baby tapping his foot in perfect rhythm near the end of the ultrasound - we're guessing he taps to my heartbeat. Only 1lb, 3oz big, but already so talented!
Anyway, here are a couple of highlight pics from the ultrasound, and if I can figure out how to do it, I'll put the foot-tapping on youtube. It was undeniably the best day I've had in a very long time. I'm *very* happy.
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