THE Eunice Burns

Long Time No Post

2011-10-20T09:05:00.003-06:00

I haven't been posting of late because I almost never have time to sit at the computer uninterrupted. Also, I haven't been taking pictures with my real camera (sorry, Dad!) so I've just been posting pictures and videos to my Facebook page because I can do it from my iPhone. If Blogger and the iPhone would get together, I would blog from my phone, but until that day, my blog will just suffer. Oh well. But, I'll try to bring you up to speed. (This is going to be all text for now. I'll try to do a picture post later when Matt is home to watch the chillens.)

Robert's 2 Month stats:

23.5 in long (55%)

12 lbs 14oz (60%)

40cm head circ (73%)

Scott's stats at 22 months:

(we didn't do an 18-month appt for some reason)

32.5 in tall (10%)

22lbs 2oz (8%)

51cm head circ (98%)

Matt's 30th Birthday was on Sept 16. I tried for the first time to surprise him with things he would really like. Matt hates to be surprised because he doesn't want the pressure of reacting correctly to a present he may not want. So the expectation of getting a present always makes him uneasy and anxious. So, I have usually just said he could get something he has been asking me to buy for a year or so, like an xbox or a playstation or something. So, I haven't really done anything for him for the past 4 years, so he didn't anticipate anything. Well, I had a friend knit a Sackboy from a game Matt loves called Little Big Planet. He's a knitted character in the game, and Matt had no idea I had someone make it, so he was blown away. I gave it to him the night before his birthday because he had had a really crummy day at work, so I decided he needed to know his birthday was going to be special. In the morning, Scotty and Bobby and I went to a grocery store and got Oreos, milk, and 2 balloons and brought them to him at work. I sent Scott down the little aisle of cubicles to hand him the balloons and he was really unsure what he was supposed to do until he saw Matt. Then he dropped the balloons and took off running. It was super cute. I took a few pictures, but they're not great, what with the awful industrial lighting and whatnot. Anyway, he walked us out to the car and then we went home. Then I had a friend come over to help with the kids while I went to buy Matt's other presents. I had to wait until the day of his birthday because otherwise Matt would have seen the purchases on our bank account. So, I bought tickets to see Captain America at 10:30pm that night and a day pass to Stone Summit, a rock climbing gym very near our house which happens to be the biggest in the nation. And I went to get all the stuff we needed for sushi. Then I made cookie dough and spread it over the whole cookie sheet to make a cake. I tried to decorate it using mini M&Ms, but they sunk into the dough as it baked so it didn't turn out, but it tasted good! When Matt came home from work, we made sushi and put Scotty to bed. Then, I surprised Matt with the movie tickets. He had been wanting to see Captain America since it came out, but he's been working a ton, and Bobby is so young and doesn't take a bottle well, that we just hadn't done it. So he was very excited, giddy even, until our neighbor arrived to babysit while we were gone. Then after the movie, I gave him the day pass to Stone Summit. I think he had a good day, and I felt like I did really well getting him stuff he wanted, but weren't super expensive. The only downside to the night was that Bobby cried most of the time we were gone because he wouldn't take a bottle. So, I'm not going out without Bobby until he's eating solids, I guess. :( Ah well.

Scott's 2nd birthday was on Sept 30. We went to the grocery store in the morning and got his birthday balloons. (He kind of had a cow while we were getting Matt's balloons because he saw one with Thomas on it.) So, we got a Thomas balloon and a Cars balloon and he loves them. We also bought his cake mix, frosting, and Cars cupcake wrappers. He helped me make the cupcakes a little later in the day. When Matt got home from work we had French toast and sausage, one of Scott's favorite dinners. Then, we made a huge mistake and took Scott to Toys R Us. We hadn't had any time to shop for Scott because Matt has been working from basically 8 to 8 everyday and I didn't want to go with Scott. Anyway, he just started saying No to everything we suggested and then had a complete freak-out when we left the store. We ended up getting him a Thomas trackmaster set, a Mr. Potato Head, a little slide, and a couple of books. He enjoys them now that he's away from all of the other toys at the store. And I honestly can't remember when we had cupcakes, I think it was right before bed. We put a couple of candles in his cupcake, but he wouldn't blow them out. He just wanted to stare at the fire. Matt kept relighting the candles and blowing them out over and over. Scotty loved it. He also got cards and money from both grandparents (which, combined, bought him a tricycle--which is probably what he really wanted from Toys R Us, but we were against that and then finally gave in a few days ago). He also got a puzzle from Aunt Amanda, which he does almost everyday. So, I think he had a pretty good day.

Bobby's 4 month stats:

25.5in tall (59%)

16lbs 7oz (67%)

43.5cm head circ (91%)

Scott's 2 year stats:

32.5in (7%)

23lbs 6oz (4%)

52.5cm head circ (>97%)

The percentage is based on the CDC growth chart, which is only American kids. Before he was 2 years, they were using the WHO chart, which is kids all over the world. So, that's why his percentages dropped.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe I'll put some pictures up later.

Bobby's Birth Story

2011-07-15T07:52:00.002-06:00

I got enough takers, so I will share the story for those who are interested.

At my last OB appt, the nurse/midwife told me I was dilated to 3-4cm and about 60% effaced. She said I was very "ripe" and I was a good candidate for an induction, if I was interested. At the time, I wasn't sure. I went home and stewed about it for two days. I didn't know how I felt about choosing my baby's birthday, or about using drugs to have the baby faster, etc. etc. I talked with my mom, my husband, my mother-in-law, and got a Priesthood blessing and prayed. In the end, I decided to get the induction. I was feeling pretty miserable, and I felt like it would be really nice to have a scheduled time to go to the hospital instead of timing contractions and wondering if we should go now or wait till they got closer together... lots of uncertainty in that method.

Once I finally decided, I was told that Monday, June 13, the hospital would call between 5 and 6am to tell me what time I should arrive. So, I set my alarm for 4:50am so I could take a shower and get dressed before we left for the hospital. I tried to go to bed at 8pm, but I was too anxious and worried. I even shed a few tears wondering how in the world I would be able to be a mother of 2. I went in to check on Scott and I just started bawling. I knew nothing would ever be the same, and I was really more concerned about my relationship with Scott than anything else. I knew the birth would be fine. My other anxiety was that I would have another horrible experience nursing and have mastitis and thrush again, like I did with Scott and I really felt like I couldn't survive a re-run of that. I did finally get 45 min of sleep here and there over the next few hours, between changing positions and getting up to go to the bathroom. I got up, took a shower, as planned. Then we got the call from the hospital. They wanted us to come between 7 and 7:30am. Oi! But I didn't want to go back to bed and just keep getting frustrated that I wasn't sleeping, so I had some juice (no breakfast allowed) and went downstairs to watch That Thing You Do!

We left for the hospital around 7:15am. We parked, checked in, and then waited. And waited. And waited. I asked if I could get some juice because by 9am, I was already starving. They brought me some in the waiting room. Finally, around 10am, they got me into a delivery room and the paperwork began. Sign this, sign that, etc. Then the head of the OB practice came in on her way back to the office after performing a c-section. She checked me and said I was about 4-5cm and offered to break my water. Luckily, the nurse said, "Can we get her an IV first before you do that?" and I reminded them that I had tested positive for Group B Strep, so I need antibiotics for 4 hours before the baby arrived. "Oh, yeah!" So, my OB went back to the office, and paperwork resumed. Finally I got my IV around 11am. The nurse tried in both my hands and failed both times. They brought in a nurse who used to work in the ER and she brought in a hot pack and did my IV on my forearm near my wrist. It hurt like a mother, but at least the progress had begun.

I just kind of hung out for the next several hours. I chatted on-line, shopped for nursing clothes, watched Netflix, drank juice, etc. The contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart and were not particularly painful. On the pain scale, I would say they were 3 out of 10. Well, the nurse/midwife from my OB practice came in around 1pm and said, "You look way too happy!" So, she had them up my pitocin over the next hour and then came in and broke my water. After about 30 minutes, the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and about 8 on the pain scale. AH!!! So, after 3 super painful contractions, I requested an epidural. Around 3:30pm, I got one. The anesthesiologist came in Matt held me while I tried my best to hold still while crying through the worst pain in my life. The doctor thought he missed, so he tried again, and as he was trying again, my feet went dumb, so apparently the first epidural worked. So, he only gave me a little dose so it wouldn't last forever. I could still move and feel contractions, but they felt like very mild cramps. He offered to give me more meds, but my midwife said I probably didn't need it. She was right. The meds started working even better for the next hour or so, and I was very happy with the level of feeling I had. I did vomit several times, however. But, I didn't make a mess, I had the barf bag ready and I got it all in! Yay! So, they gave me some anti-nausea medicine, and didn't puke again. Yess! (With Scott I puked several times because of the epidural.)

So I just hung out again over the next hour or so, and then the midwife came in and asked me where I felt the contractions, and they were still kind of in front, and she said they should be in the bum region by now, so she had me roll onto my left side, and put my right leg up in a stirrup. (This was around 4:45pm, I would guess.) She said she'd be back in 10 minutes. Well, in about 3 minutes, it felt like it was time to push. But, I let myself have 3 or 4 of those kinds of contractions because she said she'd be back in 10 minutes, but I finally just hit the call button and said I needed my doc. So, she came in and said that we'd put my legs in position and do a test push and see if it was time. Well, the put my legs up and the nurse said, "There's his head!" in a southern accent. And I laughed. And my midwife said, "Wait, don't laugh, I have to put my gown on and set up." Well, that just made me laugh harder. The nurse said his head was bobbing in and out when I laughed. And then she said, "If you don't stop laughing, you're going to laugh this baby out of you!" So, I tried to calm down while she got ready. Then over the next few minutes, I pushed 2 or 3 times, and out came Bobby at 5:14pm. Ta-da!

That was long. I guess you'll have to remember how thorough I am next time I ask if you want the birth story... if there is a next time.

Any questions???

Robert Andrew

2011-07-11T19:42:00.005-06:00

Announcing the birth of our new baby, Robert Andrew. He was born June 13 at 5:14pm. He was 7lbs. 9oz. and 21.5in.

Here are a few photos:

Robert Andrew

Again, I did put captions on some, so check that as you look through them.

If you want the birth story, let me know. If I get enough takers, I'll do a post. Otherwise, I'll just e-mail the interested parties. Enjoy the photos!

March-June 2011

2011-07-11T19:24:00.001-06:00

I'm playing catch up again. Here's a slideshow of pre-Bobbyness. There are comments on many of the pictures, so don't go through it too quickly.

March-June 2011

Playing Catch-up Part 2

2011-03-14T12:28:00.003-06:00

Scotty and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with our neighbor while Matt was away. The program going on was "Orchid Daze." So, there were tons of different kinds of orchids. I didn't bring my good camera, but I got a few good shots, I think. My camera's battery died by the time we got to the children's garden, so I don't have very many of Scott. Sorry!Matt and I have been meaning to go to the Georgia Aquarium since we moved here and we finally did a couple of weekends ago. We didn't bring the good camera on this excursion either, so here's a mix of shots from my little camera and Matt's iPhone. Going clockwise from the top left, there's a grouper, a yellow seahorse and coral, a hammerhead, Scott, some kind of big fish with a saw for a nose (I don't remember what it's called), some jellyfish, a whale shark, and Matt and Scotty looking through a dome window. The whale shark is the big attraction in the big tank. It's the biggest fish they have and it's in the biggest tank in the world. They have four whale sharks, measuring from 19 to 23 feet in length. They are expected to get up to 30 feet long. Pretty cool! We got an annual pass for me and an annual guest pass so Scotty and I will be going back, and we can get one adult in for free if you want to come! :)
p.s. You can click on the collages if you want to see them bigger.

Playing Catch-up Part 1

2011-03-09T12:17:00.004-07:00

I'm playing camera clean-up today. It's been too long. I just made a few collages and I'll just narrate our lives with pictures...

January 3rd: Scott finds out he can fit in his smallest toy drawer.
January 9th: Snow falls in Atlanta. The snow started around 9pm at our house and snowed all night yielding only 3-6 inches, but because the temperature stayed so low, it was enough to shut down Atlanta for a whole week. You can still see the tire tracks on our driveway from where we struggled for 45 minutes to get our car to the street over all the ice. (I haven't taken pictures of that yet... Sorry.)
back porch
front lawn

February 14th: I make heart-shaped peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
and decorate them with frosting.February 25th: Scott gets a much needed hair cut. I found myself playing with his hair all the time wishing I could just chop off the bottom inch. I have done that before, but he really needed to get the back kind of faded more so it didn't look like I was trying to grow his hair out or something. Luckily, my next door neighbor cuts hair, so she did it for free!
As you can see, he was happier before the haircut... he didn't like it very much, but he survived.

March 6th: I bravely take another pregnancy photo at almost 26 weeks. Not happy with it, but it's for posterity, I guess. To quote Juno, "I'm a planet."
I need to take the pictures off my other camera, but I'm not sure how far I'll get today. Hopefully I'll get to it soon.

Trip to Los Angeles

2011-02-11T19:19:00.006-07:00

Matt was asked to help out with some training in California for three weeks. He knew I would go crazy in Atlanta by myself, so he said that if he was close to LA, where my sister lives, I could go, too. If not, I could go visit someone else for a couple of weeks. Well, he was staying in a hotel in Sherman Oaks, about 10 miles from my sister, so Scotty and I flew out to meet him about a week after he got there. I didn't take pictures of everything, but here are some I did get.

My sister and her kids and Scott and I met up with our first cousin (once-removed) and her daughter at the LA zoo. First stop: Elephants.
Gianna.
Max.
Gianna is Scott's first-cousin once-removed (he's supposed to be one generation older) and she is 2 weeks older.
Orangutan
Silverback gorilla
Zebras.
Max climbed up on the fence by the picnic area, but continued to eat around the fence... I couldn't help but catch a picture. I think he was looking at giraffes.
Flamingos.
Meerkats. Timon was cuter than this...
Jen and Gianna :) It was fun for Jen and I to be pregnant at the same time. And this was the first time our kids had met, over a year after they were born!
All tuckered out.

One day we went to a park by the Santa Monica Airport. I'm not sure that Scott could handle living in LA. He was NOT a fan of the sand at the park. He sat on the pavement the whole time.
Ate some cheese while playing. I had to carry him out there, though. He would not walk on the sand.

We had one Saturday when Matt could hang out with us, and we went with my sister and family to the Griffith Observatory. We got a good shot of the Hollywood sign.
And Scott loved Einstein...
We had a good time in LA. We also got to see my mom's sister and my dad sister on different days, and we went to Disneyland for a day. And then we got sick, and the low point was me throwing up 5 times in my sister's van. :( Still not sure what that was all about.

Anyway--these were also on my camera, and I know my mom will appreciate this. This is Scott eating one of my mom's lollipops.
When he starts to lose focus, and flips the pop around, I know he's done for now...

Christmas!!!

2010-12-31T19:43:00.006-07:00

Our little family flew to Detroit for Christmas this year. Matt has a sister and brother who live an hour apart from each other, so almost all of Matt's family flew to Detroit, except one brother. So, it was fun to have almost everyone together for the first time since we've been married. We spent Christmas Day at Amanda's house, and here are some pictures:

We got Scotty some Matchbox cars in his stocking.

And we bought him a bunch of books because we were getting sick of his other ones.
We found a board book of Star Wars heroes--how could we pass it up?
Another book. He was starting to understand the unwrapping process by this time.
He got some Tonka trucks from Matt's Uncle Tom and Aunt Jan. So cute.
His cousin, GK, got him three magnetic train cars...
that were immediately interesting to his other cousin, Addy, which was fine, because Scott kept going to play with her not-new toys in the corner of the room.
Here, I've captured some wrapping paper mid-air. This was a Tonka truck carrier from Scott's Aunt Heidi. Thanks!
We had fun at the hotel, too. Here's Scott spinning in the office chair.
And wearing Matt's slippers.
This is me at 16 weeks pregnant. MUCH bigger, than I was with Scott at that point. Ah, second child syndrome... or that's what I'm telling myself to make me feel better.
The reason I'm dressed up is because we went to Scott's oldest cousin's (on Matt's side) baptism. That was part of the reason we all decided to converge in Detroit. It was nice for us all to be together for such a special occasion. Congratulations Mason!

When we got home, there was a package waiting for us from my mom. She made him a new quilt. He loved it immediately, and laid down for a nap (not pictured). He was really tired.

We kind of stopped taking pictures prematurely on the trip because we ALL got sick with a cold and stopped sleeping at night. It was rough. We went to the pharmacy and talked to the pharmacist about what Scott could take, and what I, the pregnant one, could take, and we started feeling a little better, but we are just now, three days after arriving home, starting to get back into a good bedtime routine with Scotty. We did have a wonderful time visiting with family, but I have to admit that I pined a little for my childhood when vacationing wasn't work. Any other parents with me on that?

Merry Christmas to all of you, and Happy New Year!

[We aren't really celebrating, so there won't be a post for that--we need all the sleep we can get and now that we're on the East Coast, we can't watch the ball drop in New York at 10pm. Lame! Oh well.]

The pre-Christmas part of December

2010-12-17T11:39:00.005-07:00

The first Saturday in December, it was time to rake the leaves. We had been waiting for all of the leaves to fall so we could do it all at once. This is Scotty and me sitting in the leaf pile. I was going to stand up, but I was really tired and sat down while Matt ran in to get the camera.The rest are mostly just cute pictures I took of Scott while he was playing with random things in the basement or outside.
Matt thinks it is so awesome that Scott already holds the controller correctly. He puts his thumb on the joystick and everything.
On my birthday, Scott and I went to the mall so I could get some shoes for my outfit for Matt's work Christmas party on Saturday. We also got a hat and some mittens, so when we got home, I had to try them out.
Scott soon realized the trouble with mittens--he couldn't pick anything up and got pretty annoyed.
Matt made some gluten-free pizza for me on my birthday night. He made 4 small pizzas: chicken alfredo, bbq chicken, ham and pineapple, and pepperoni.
A few days later, I was outside with Scott, and he got his first real boo-boo. Do you see the tear under his eye? He was trying to pick up that big stick and lost his balance. He fell right on his face on the pavement. He has a bruise already starting to form on the right side of his forehead. Poor guy. I have to admit, though, when I saw him totally biff it, I did chuckle a bit before he started crying.
Scotty enjoying some M&Ms. The blue one made such a mess--his fingers and lips were stained for a couple of days.
And here's one of Scotty and me, with Monkey. And if you look close, you can see Scotty's molars.
We got to go to Cirque du Soleil on the company dime on Dec 11th. It was awesome. We couldn't take pictures, obviously, but I just have to say that if you ever get the chance to see them, I would go. We were blown away. My favorite act was the foot jugglers. They were incredible. They laid on the backs and spun things with their feet and passed things to each other and even tossed people from one person's feet to another. I can't even count how many times I caught myself with my jaw completely dropped in amazement. I don't think Matt will be leaving this company any time soon--they treat their employees very well!

What happened to November?

2010-12-17T11:18:00.002-07:00

It's been a long time since I blogged... sorry about that. I don't even really have any pictures from November. So, here's what happened: in the first week of November, we found out that I'm pregnant with our second baby! I had been feeling queasy for almost all of October, so I had my suspicions, for sure. We got to see the baby on an ultrasound and see the heart beating, which is always reassuring. Then Scott and I went to Florida for three days before Thanksgiving to visit my brother and his family. My mom and dad also flew in. It was fun to see Scott with his cousins. I think the highlight of the trip for me was walking barefoot on the beach in November. The sand was very soft, and the water wasn't too cold. Scott wasn't too fond of the sand or the water, but he didn't hate it. He also traveled SO well. He slept for both one-hour flights. I had been really nervous about it because it's the first time we traveled since Scott started walking, and I was worried he was going to want to run around on the plane, but the white noise of takeoff put him right to sleep both times. We flew home on Thanksgiving morning and then went to Matt's boss's house for dinner. Scott did great with all of the unfamiliar people until we all sat down to dinner. He was the only kid and he would not sit. Matt and I took turns eating at the table and walking around the house with Scott. Matt was a little embarrassed, and we left before dessert. You can only ask so much of a one-year-old. He needed more time at home before seeing more people, I think. Poor kid. To be honest, it was nice to come home--I felt how Scott was acting.

And that was our November... sorry no pictures. There are going to be plenty in the next post, coming very soon.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T07:16:00.009-06:00

My original plan was to be Mario, Matt to be Luigi, and Scott to be Toad or a turtle or something, but I couldn't figure it out and overalls for Matt would have been $35, and he'd never wear them again, so when I saw this Yoda costume at the store, I had to have it. Then we figured out a way to make me Leia and Matt to be Darth Sidious/the Emperor.

The red light saber is actually for Matt's costume, but Scott liked it. And then right before we went to the ward party, we found this blue glow sword that was more Scott's size. It's supposed to be green, but what can ya do?

Scary Darth Sidious...
Leia and Yoda.
A half-hearted battle...
And our awesome pumpkins. I did Yoda and Matt did Darth Maul.
Happy Halloween!

1 year stats

2010-10-19T13:34:00.002-06:00

height: 27 inches -- less than 5th percentile

weight: 18 lbs -- less than 5th percentile

head circumference: 49cm -- 98th percentile

I waited to post these because Scott's new doctor wanted us to go see a neurologist to make sure Scott was okay even though his head is massive and his body is not so much. I went to the neurologist today and they said that Scott is great. They watched him toddle around and checked his eyes and did a basic exam and said they didn't even want to do a scan or anything, but they want to see him again in 6 months just to make sure. They asked if there were any big heads in the family and I said that my brother had a big head and at least one nephew had a big head on my side. They measured my head and said it was normal--53cm. They sent me home with a tape measure to get Matt's head circumference--60cm. I called to report my findings on an answering machine, and that is that. So, there you go. All is well in Zion, Scott just has what the nurse practitioner calls, "Familial Big Head Syndrome," you know, FBHS. Awesome :)

Proof!

2010-10-01T20:15:00.003-06:00

Scott is bigger than he was a year ago!

I saw this picture when I was making his birthday post yesterday...
So I decided to take a new one...
What a ham :)

What a YEAR!

2010-09-30T20:50:00.003-06:00

One year ago today, a six-pound cherub joined our family.A lot has changed in our lives since then. I can't really imagine life without Scott. He is our favorite person.

So, to celebrate him today, I made some cupcakes:
And gave one to Scott tonight:
And watched him smoosh the frosting with his fingers:
and shove some in his face:
and pretend like he's all done...
when 90% was dropped on the floor, intentionally.
I think tomorrow night, I'll try feeding it to him on a fork and see if he enjoys it a little more. He didn't really understand how to eat it.

We also went to Ikea to buy Scott a few toys. The cobbler's bench was one of my favorite toys they had at church when I was little, so we got him one.
He's still a little young for it, so he wanted to eat the hammer instead.
Then he went to bed. Pretty uneventful day, but since he doesn't really know it was his birthday, I think that's okay.

LOVE THIS FACE!!!!
Happy Birthday Scott! Thanks for joining our family! I can't wait to get to know you better. I hope we'll always be friends.

Love, Mom

Our New Home

2010-09-29T13:39:00.002-06:00

I would have loved to take pictures of the house when it was empty, so you wouldn't see how horrible I've been at unpacking and stuff, but I needed to do it some time, and if I waited for it to be clean, it wasn't going to happen. So, take it or leave it:

There is also a room behind the basement area where the bowflex is right now, and then the rest is unfinished. Hope you've enjoyed your tour.

Emptying the Camera

2010-09-28T22:14:00.003-06:00

I'm having trouble sleeping tonight, so I thought I would take the pictures off our camera for the first time in over a month so I can be prepared for a blogpost of our new home and Scott's first birthday... Scott likes to empty the dishwasher...
The future face of my bib business blog... if I ever get that serious.
These next ones are all of Scott in his Sunday best. He's so cute when he's all dressed up!
This is, "I want to sit down..."
We took this kind of tilted, so when I put it aright, a corner was missing. Sorry!
This is the sidewalk in front of our apartment in Santa Fe. I love how big Scott's shadow head is. I love him!

Hope you enjoyed. My plan is to blog more soon, but don't hold me to it.

First Steps!

2010-09-06T10:49:00.002-06:00

This is the first time that Scott has taken 4 consecutive steps by himself. He isn't walking for real yet, but I thought you'd want to see his first steps! The video was 7 minutes long, so I just showed you his best success :) Enjoy!

Playtime

2010-08-15T21:51:00.003-06:00

I was having fun watching Scotty play the other day and took out the camera to capture the moment. This, of course, distracted him from playing... but I got some good shots, and thought I would share them with all of his adoring fans.Square peg. Round hole. No problem.

Welcome to Stained Glass Class

2010-08-11T10:35:00.005-06:00

Where to begin? Here's the story first, I guess. I play bunco once a month. Last November I won a handmade stained glass snowflake. The woman who made it is one of my bunco friends and is also the bishop's wife in my ward. She's great. She was also Scott's first babysitter. Well, I thought it would be cool to make a stained glass something of my own. I thought a welcome sign for my door would be cool. So, I asked my stained-glassing friend, Angie, if she would help me learn how to do it and watch Scott while I worked. She thought that would be fun. So, I made a pattern of my own. I printed out the letters on the computer and traced them on to a big piece of paper, and then Angie came over and told me where I should make the cuts so that the glass wouldn't break where I didn't want it to. Then I went to Kinko's to make a copy so I could cut out each individual piece that I would be making out of glass. Then a few weeks later, I bought the glass and went over to Angie's house and got to work. This was in April. And I got almost to the end when we realized I was missing a piece. So, lucky for all of you, I got to take pictures of every step all in one day for that one piece... it was number 17 out of 89, in case you were curious ;) So... the steps are:

Glue each piece to the piece of glass of your desired color.
Score the glass where you want it to break.
Break the glass.
Ta-da. The curve is intentional, so I wouldn't waste glass. You have to be careful about how curvy you get, because glass wants to break in a straight-ish line.
Here's a close up of the glass breakers(?). You line up that little line in the middle of the tool with your score line. The breakers have one flat side and one curved side, so the glass will break. It's pretty cool.
Grind the edges so you won't cut yourself, or the copper foil you'll be putting around it in another step.
Peel off your paper and clean the glue off. And if you have 89 pieces like I did, then you also dry off the piece and write the number that was on the paper on the glass with a Sharpie.
Then you copper foil each piece. The copper is sticky on one side and about double the width of your glass, so you have to center it, and then walk the piece along the copper foil.
Then use a marker to smooth the edges.
Then you fold the side of the copper onto the front and back of the glass piece, and smooth those down.
Then, you put all the pieces back on your pattern--this is where the numbers come in really handy.
Ta-da. Then you square off your corners so when you're done you can put a border on it.
Then you solder it together. This is why you had to copper foil every piece. The solder will stick to the copper, but not to the glass.
You solder the points first, and then flip it over and solder the points on that side, and then back over to fill in the gaps.
Then you put a border on--it's made of aluminum and it kind of looks like a U--so you slide it onto your edges and then solder it on. Then you put hooks on it and voila:
I still haven't decided exactly how I'm going to hang it. We have to slam our front door to close it, so I don't think I should put it directly on the door, so I'm thinking of hanging it from the ceiling of our entryway--but I need Matt to help me decide. I didn't want to postpone doing a blog about it because then I might never have done it.

Yesterday, when I was finishing up, the bishop walked through the garage where I was working and asked me what I thought of stained glass. I told him I probably wouldn't do this again any time soon. It was fun, and I'm happy with the finished product, but it was WORK. It's not easy. There's real muscle involved in some of these steps. I got cuts on my hands when I was cutting glass and my back and hands hurt a lot after working on it. To be fair, this was a complicated first project. 89 pieces is a lot. But, maybe someday when Scott is grown up, I'll pick it up again--if I can find a friend where I'm living who has a glass cutter, a glass breaker, a glass grinder, and edging. :)

Thanks for coming to my class--hope you had a great time!

Homemade Bibs

2010-08-03T22:55:00.004-06:00

So, when Scott started eating solid food, I realized that the bibs we had didn't cover enough of his clothing to make it worth it. So, I made this:It served it's purpose pretty well, but it's not very cute--and the ties weren't close enough to his neck size. So, I made this:
I even added a little saying (a play on the phrase "ladies first," which doesn't seem very true now that I have a baby), just to make it fun. Well, I used it so much I decided to make another:
And another:And one for a friend (who calls her daughter "Princesa"):And another for the same friend (who is obsessed with Hello Kitty):And one for a baby whose father is a concert pianist. I will never make one like this again--at least not going from one side all the way to the other. I might just do keys in the middle.

So, my question to you is: would you buy one of these for your kid or as a baby shower gift or as a belated baby present (since usually babies don't start eating solids until 4-6 months after they're born...) and how much would you pay? I like to make them, but it's pricey for me to just give them away. I'd love some input! Thanks!

Standing

2010-08-02T00:03:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I'd just post a couple of pictures of Scott standing. He pulls himself up on everything now!

Teeth

2010-07-09T09:47:00.002-06:00

I had a request from a friend for a pictures of Scott's 6 teeth--so here they are!And I thought I'd tack on a few more shots. Scott woke up puking the other night and we were too afraid to put clean clothes on him in case he puked again. So, he wore this for an hour or so until I felt it was safe to put real clothes on and get him back to bed.
And while Matt was taking these pictures, we noticed Scott anticipating the flash, and I thought it was so funny, I should share them too. Enjoy!

Independence Day Weekend

2010-07-08T15:20:00.003-06:00

Matt's not a big sports fan or a big fan of holidays, but I really wanted to celebrate the 4th by going to a baseball game. I found one with fireworks and everything, and we went. I had a good time, and Matt and Scott both survived :)

Here are some pictures taken with Matt's phone because I didn't even think to bring the camera because we were already carrying so much other stuff (sorry, Dad!).

We sat on the grass in the outfield because we figured Scott could move around a lot more and not get so restless--and they were the cheapest "seats." This is our awesome view.
This is what Scott wanted to do the whole game--eat my hat.
The AMAZING sky! We actually got to see an awesome thunderstorm on the way home--we could watch the lightning for a full hour before we caught up with the storm.
And a firework :)

Does anyone else...

2010-07-01T09:18:00.002-06:00

make sure the volume on the TV is an even number?

look in their closet and sees nothing they like and then realize most of their clothes are in a laundry basket?

try on something that fits and then buy the next size up so it will still look good after it's washed?

decide what they're going to wear while they're in the shower?

eat dessert before 8:30am?

wish they had a shower that would remember their preferred temperature and pressure?

just wondering :)

The Saga of My Root Canal

2010-06-28T20:59:00.004-06:00

On the night of June 12th, I could not sleep because my whole head seemed to be throbbing because of pain in my tooth. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so no dentist was open. Luckily, I go to church with a dentist, and he fit me into his schedule on Monday. I went in and found out that one of the roots on my tooth was infected and I would need a root canal. He didn't want to do it because he hates doing root canals on big molars. Another dentist in the office said he would take a whack at it and see if he could save me the hassle and added expense of seeing an endodontist. So, I left with a prescription for penicillin and vicoden and an appointment for the following Monday. Then I went to the pharmacy and found out that the FDA has not approved vicoden for nursing mothers, so I set up a schedule to take ibuprofen and tylenol alternating every three hours. I was in exquisite pain.

Monday, the 21st, I went back to the dentist's office. He tried valiantly to do the root canal. He found two of the three canals, but could not numb my tooth and I wanted to cry out in pain everytime he stuck that tiny file into my canal. So, he gave up and sent me to an endodontist. This was at 5pm. I had a friend in town watching Scott (Thanks, Tammy!) and she picked me up from the dentist and brought me to the endodontist, who was awesome. He talked to me for about 20 minutes about what was going on inside my tooth, and even drew me a little picture. The most important thing I learned was that now that I have all of my teeth, the pulp is worthless. So, since my tooth was infected, the next day, he was going to take out all of my pulp and fill it in with something else. I got another babysitter for Tuesday, the 22nd, who is the wife of my second dentist, who also goes to church with me.

I arrived at the endodontist filled with great fear, which was realized later in my appointment. He numbed my jawbone. He started drilling. I was still in pain. He gave me more anesthetic all around my tooth. He continued drilling. He got to my third canal. He poked it with a file. I was still in pain in two of my canals. He gave me anesthetic IN THE PULP OF MY TOOTH!!!! I yelped and cried. It was the worst pain I have ever felt, and I feel confident it is the worst pain I will ever feel. But, after that I didn't feel anything while he was filing away at my canals. Then, he took an x-ray and decided we better give my tooth a week to get clean. He poured in a tiny amount of alkaline solution to "kill the bugs" and sent me on my "merry" way. I was in less pain, but I couldn't open my mouth very wide for several days. :(

Today, the 28th, I went back to the endodontist. He finished it all up. Not too much pain, but my mouth is still sore. This time, I made jell-o before I left for the appointment so it would be ready for me when I got home. I took pictures for posterity.

This is me looking darling in my rubber dam. I had never had one before, but I have decided it is brilliant! I didn't have to feel flecks of my tooth around my mouth and I didn't have to have an assistant smashing my tongue down to keep it away from my tooth. I loved it.I don't know how well you can see this, but there are three things in my tooth--red, yellow, and green--sitting in my three canals.
Here is the tree I stared at while I was writhing in pain.
Here is the awesome endodontist. He may have inflicted a lot of pain, but he was understanding and told lots of funny stories, and even wiped my tears away when I cried. He has been doing nothing but root canals for the past 56 years and let me tell you, he's a pro.

And there's the filling. You might not be able to tell in this picture, but it's BLUE! He said I could have white or silver, but he thought that the blue would match my shoes :) so I went for it.

Army Crawling

2010-06-13T17:36:00.002-06:00

So, yesterday I tried to get a video of Scott trying his best to crawl. It turned out to be a 4-minute video of him going 3 feet. I decided not to post that one. Today, Matt "did some laps" with Scott during my nap, and he did the same 3 feet in 30 seconds! That's some kind of record for improvement, right? Check it out:

Turning Pages

2010-06-13T17:31:00.001-06:00

We shot this video before we left for Florida, but I finally took the videos off the camera, so I'm sharing it now. He's actually better and faster at turning pages, now, but this is only the second or third time he'd ever done it. Pretty cute :)

AGM 2010 Marco Island, Florida

2010-05-16T15:55:00.006-06:00

[note: I added the pictures after I wrote the blogpost, so I'm sorry about the lack of continuity]

AGM is the Annual General Meeting for all of the employees of the company Matt works for. It is the weekend to which the entire company looks forward. They pay for each employee and all of his or her family members to travel to a resort for a conference from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. It's pretty much a free weekend vacation with a couple of meetings for the employees.

SATURDAY

We flew to Florida. We had two flights and a -10 minute layover. They held the second plane for us because there were 21 of us wanting to get on the plane. Unfortunately, that left no time to eat anything so I was STARVING on the second flight. Scott was great. He slept for the first hour of each flight. It was a long day of traveling for all of us, but we did finally arrive at the resort.

Here's a view from our room (looking to the left):

After adjusting to the humidity, here's a view from our room (looking to the right):

And here's Scott on the landing. I took this because he had a bunch of sunscreen in his hair and it stuck up.

We arrived at the resort around dinner time. We got into our room, looked through the welcome packet and then went down for a great meal of shrimp, beef kebabs, various sauces and desserts. I had a special meal for all of the people with dietary restrictions. It was a vegan meal that was dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free. It was rice risotto with a great sauce and two skewers of roasted vegetables. It was surprisingly good, though I was disappointed to find out that I might be eating vegan for the next three days.

The best part of Saturday was that Scott slept from 9pm to 5am and then from 5:30am to 9am Sunday morning. Wow! I, of course, woke up momentarily at 1 and 4 wondering why Scott wasn't awake and to make sure he was still breathing, but I still got one of the best night's sleep in a long time. Happy Mother's Day!

SUNDAY

We had an amazing breakfast, where I got to eat meat! Sausage, eggs, ham, cheesy potatoes, pineapple, strawberries, melon, French toast, blintzes and our pick of 7 juices. Also, they had a huge table of necklaces where each mother in attendance could choose one to keep. So, that was a fun surprise.

Matt had to go to a meeting, so Scott and I went to the pool and then we all went to the beach before meeting up with a nanny to watch Scott during the adult cocktail party. The nanny was great. She was a kindergarten teacher, child development professor, and part-time nanny. She texted us several times during the party so we knew when Scott was sleeping and that he was being a perfect angel.

The party was impressive. We had a four-course meal (including filet mignon, yum!) and a bunch of live entertainment. I didn't like most of the entertainment, but the last act was awesome. There were a couple of acrobats that did some amazing balancing poses in slow motion. It basically blew our minds.

So, definitely not my typical Sunday, but it was good food and good company.

MONDAY

Another amazing breakfast. Another mandatory meeting for Matt.

The cameraman for the whole event took a bunch of pictures of Scott both days at breakfast, so I decided to take some at breakfast, too. This is the best picture of the event, in my opinion:

Scott and I took a nap during the meeting and then spent the rest of the day on the beach.

At first, I thought I could make a little hat for Scott:

But we decided to buy him one instead:

We were very careful to be sure Scott didn't get burned, so Matt and I got sunburned for him :(

Here's Scott in the sand. He was so interested in the water and sand, we never got him to look at the camera.

Here's a couple more from the beach:

The last event was a huge family party. Matt and I got to go out on a waverunner to see some dolphins. We found out that there are about 900 dolphins that live around Marco Island year-round, so there was a 99% chance that we would see a few, and we did! We saw probably 10 or 12 dolphins popping in and out of the water. It was cool. We couldn't take any pictures, so I stole this from someone else's blog, but I promise this is exactly what it looked like.

It was also fun to go on a waverunner--I had never done that before. There was a storm coming in while we were out on the water, so it was an absolutely beautiful sky. We also saw forests of red mangrove trees, which were really interesting and only grow in two other places in the world--Japan and Thailand--because they have no competition for such salty environments.

(Again, a stolen photo, but it's what we saw, I promise.) Their leaves soak up the salt and then they drop the salt-filled leaves back into the water. Pretty interesting.

Scott was left with one of Matt's coworkers and her husband and they had a great time with him. He was a perfect angel for them as well--he even fell asleep without warning for a few minutes. So, of course, when we got back, he let us know it was time to go to bed. Matt hurried to take part in the massive clam bake and I had chicken because I didn't see the clam bake. It was dark and raining pretty hard by then and it was all outdoors. Then we got Scott to sleep, and I went down the karaoke party in search of more food. There was a nacho bar, so I didn't go to bed hungry.

TUESDAY

Continental breakfast--kind of a let down after the previous breakfasts, but it was okay. Then we traveled home. Scott was fussy on the shuttle to the airport, but then he slept on both plane rides. When we got our luggage, some drama ensued: Matt's coworker, Lee, was forced to check his carry-on, which had his keys in it. Well, they sent it to airport code ABR instead of ABQ, so his keys ended up in Aberdeen, North Dakota or somewhere. So, we took Lee with us to Target to get babyfood and to our friend's house to pick up and drop off some things, and then to his girlfriend's parents' house, all while I sang "I Am a Child of God" to a screaming baby in the backseat who did finally fall asleep. You can only expect so much good behavior from a child of 7 months.

All in all, we had an awesome time, and can't wait for AGM 2011 at a resort in San Antonio, Texas.

And for your viewing pleasure, Scott's teeth:

It's nice to get up in the morning...

2010-05-04T05:32:00.002-06:00

On rare occasions, the best half-hour of the day is from 4:30-5am. I hear Scott making noise in his room. He is not sad, per se, just uncomfortably awake. I walk in and pick him up. He pats me on the shoulder as I pat him on the back. I feed him. He doesn't fall asleep right away. I cuddle with him and he stares at me in the dark. His eyes are wide open, but he is silent. He touches my face. I touch his face. For ten minutes or so we sit together in the quiet dark. He stares at the red numbers on his clock. Minutes pass. He yawns. He blinks more and more often, and then drifts back to sleep. These are wonderful minutes and I would not trade for anything. There are no pictures, no videos, just images in my memory--images I hope to never, ever forget. Am I crazy to love this half-hour so much?

Oh, I forgot this one!

2010-04-18T22:18:00.001-06:00

You have to see his chunky legs!

Getting Older?

2010-04-18T22:07:00.002-06:00

Here's Scotty on the stairs telling me it's time for bed. The grow up so fast ;)

But seriously, a bunch of people at church today said that Scotty looked older, just since last week, so we took some pictures tonight, and I wondered if any of you guys agreed. Please, opine.
Scott sticks his tongue out all the time now because he's feeling his two new bottom teeth.
Lest I have misled you in thinking that Scott is always smiling, here's a gem:

He's actually just really tired and zoning out, but he does cry, too... we just don't capture that on "film" very often.

Eating, Sitting, Swimming

2010-04-11T22:41:00.004-06:00

We have begun feeding Scott baby food. Here's what he thinks of it so far:

I hope his opinion of food improves. It's pretty frustrating to even bother feeding him at this point, but maybe someday he'll actually swallow some of it.

Scott can sit on his own really well now, so I did a little photoshoot with him the other day. Thanks Papa for the outfit!
His hands are in motion. He flaps his arms when he's excited.

Had to get a few with the hood on :)
He loves looking out the window.
Scott and I go swimming about three times a week, but usually when Matt is at work. On Saturday night, we went swimming and Matt got some pictures.

He likes to splash, but he has to close his eyes a lot to do so. Don't you love his little toes sticking out of the water?
We got something for him to float around the pool in. He can't see over the front very well yet, so he usually leans to one side, but it's nice to have a little break from holding him every once in a while. He might like it better when he's a little older, we'll see.

Dam Boogers

2010-04-07T09:02:00.002-06:00

Every night, I wake up with Scotty 2, maybe 9, times. Since "allergy season" began, I have noticed a very disturbing phenomenon. My nose is completely clogged with very dry, hard boogers. So, once I remove those the best I can, something else happens--my nose starts to run. It's as if those hard boogers were my snot dam and once removed, my nose becomes an undammed snot river. Not a good thing for someone trying to get a baby to sleep. Has this happened to anyone else, or am I the only lucky one?

I used to think the worst thing about the desert was the starking lack of vegetation, but it seems there is a new contender: dam boogers.

Spring is Here!

2010-04-04T19:30:00.003-06:00

It actually snowed a couple of days ago, so it doesn't feel like spring much yet, but I wanted to convince myself, so I got my hair cut last week. I like it :) We also got Scotty a little vest to wear to church last Sunday for "Easter" a week early. My dad says he'll never choose to wear lime green, so I better put it on him now...

And here's one of Scotty in his new Jumper. He's still getting the hang of it, but he sure looks cute in it.

Carlsbad Caverns

2010-04-04T19:11:00.004-06:00

I took a trip with Scott down to Carlsbad Caverns. (Matt couldn't afford the vacation days.) My parents were meeting some of our friends from Albuquerque in Roswell, and I tagged along, and my sister came, too. We drove around in a rented Yaris--very cute, and roomier than you might think. Roswell was a total joke. $5 to get into the "museum" was too much. It was like a 7th grade science fair from 1978. If you ever have to decide between Roswell and almost anywhere else, you can skip the Alien Museum and Research Center. For $6, you can go to the Carlsbad Caverns for 3 days... so, ya know. Here are some photos my dad took, because I was too lazy to bring my camera.

I think these are called draperies.
This is called "popcorn."
Scotty, awake! He actually took a little nap on each of the two hikes.
Mom, Maurine, and me.

Scotty, after a long day of hiking... he looks SO tired, huh?

I don't actually think I was there for those last two photos. I only went on the two self-guided tours, and I'm pretty sure these are from a guided tour that I skipped because (a) I was dog-tired and (b) I couldn't bring Scotty. It was a good time, though, and I'd definitely go back.

6 Month Stats

2010-04-02T16:05:00.002-06:00

Height: 24.5 inches (5th percentile)

Weight: 15 lbs. 1 oz. (10th percentile)

Head circumference: 45.5 cm (90th percentile)

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot. I was hoping to keep my posts in order and I'm waiting on some photos from my dad of Carlsbad Caverns (because I was lazy and didn't bring my camera)... so get excited :)

Pi Day

2010-03-28T15:22:00.002-06:00

Matt remembered on March 14th that it was "Pi Day." So, we did our best to make a gluten free pie. We found a recipe online for a pie crust using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. It turned out pretty well. We only had canned peaches and Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce, so that's what we used for filling, with some sugar and a bunch of cornstarch--we found a recipe online and modified it to fit our fruit options. I haven't had pie in at least 8 years, so I loved it. I think we'll do it again! Here are the before and after shots. Like the slits I made? :)

Red rover, red rover, let Scotty roll over

2010-02-28T20:55:00.002-07:00

Our Little Stinker

2010-02-28T20:40:00.002-07:00

Scott thinks it's funny when I'm perturbed.

Acromioclavicular Separation

2010-02-07T18:06:00.002-07:00

Matt went snowboarding for the first time in 3.5 years-ish, and of course, he ended up in the emergency room, thinking he dislocated his shoulder. After waiting for 4-5 hours and changing 4 of Scott's diapers, we found out that his shoulder isn't technically dislocated, and that a ligament had actually torn, separating his clavicle (collarbone) from his scapula (shoulder blade), also known as acromioclavicular (or AC) separation. So, Matt is literally in for a world of hurt over the next 6-8 weeks while it heals. We're planning on going to an orthopaedic surgeon this week to find out if he needs surgery. Oh the joys. Here's a video to show you his shoulder (he didn't want me to show his face):

Peek-a-boo

2010-02-07T17:54:00.002-07:00

I have done peek-a-boo a lot with Scott, but last night was the first time he thought it was funny. Enjoy :)

Waking up is hard to do

2010-02-07T17:10:00.002-07:00

The second video is a little long. I always have a hard time watching long videos of babies that aren't mine, so I won't be hurt if you don't watch the whole thing :)

4 month stats

2010-01-29T15:37:00.001-07:00

height: 23.5 inches = 5th percentile

weight: 13lbs 5oz = 25th percentile

head: 44cm = 90th percentile

that's why he's so cute! his head is huge!

videos and photos to follow

Little Photoshoot

2010-01-17T21:44:00.003-07:00

I realized that I wasn't in my Facebook Profile Picture anymore, so I asked Matt to take a few of me AND Scott, and here's what we got...

Ah Sleep

2010-01-08T09:13:00.004-07:00

This post is in honor of a good night's sleep. I went to bed at 11:45pm and did not awake until 7:29am. Scott has been sleeping well for a few weeks, but almost 8 hours is his record. YESSS!

And here are some pictures:

Scott, lounging in front of the TV. I know, I'm a horrible parent.

And I finished the sweater! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I MADE THAT! The sleeves are a little long right now, but I think it will fit him through the winter. YAY!

Three Months Old!

2010-01-01T19:07:00.003-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's surprising how little I seem to get done in such a large amount of time. Ah well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We didn't bring our camera with us to Utah for Christmas, so the following still shots are from my dad. This is one from Scott's baby blessing. Thanks to Cort and Tammi for the outfit--it was very cute. I think my face says it all in this photo. This was a stressful event for me. My niece was baptized at 6pm, and then Scott, and my other niece, Elizabeth, were blessed afterward. I was the chorister at the baptism and I was doing a musical number with my sisters for which we did not practice even once. Well, I missed the opening song because I was feeding Scott. He did pretty well for most of the baptism--happy in Aunt Hannah's arms. I tried so hard to make sure Scott would be happy during his blessing so he wouldn't cry. He is usually such a good baby--all smiles--except when he's either really hungry or tired. Well, by the time the baptism was over, he was fussy because he was tired, and he got freaked out when he saw all of those men in the circle looking down at him. Oh well. The ordinance was still performed and that's what matters. And I was glad that most of Matt's family and almost everyone from my family was there. You just can't have everything, I suppose.

This is how I spent most of Christmas break--talking to Scott. His shirt says, "Mommy's little deer" and it has a reindeer on it. Cute, eh?

These were Scott's Christmas Eve pajamas from Aunt Maurine. They were very slimming :)

Here's a video! Matt and I used our American Express points to purchase a Flip Video Camera. That is part of the reason we didn't take the regular camera with us. We are not used to being specific about cameras when we're packing... Oh well. Luckily, there were other cameras at Christmas, and we aren't completely without visual documentation of Scott's first Christmas.

This is exciting because Scott can hold his head up really well now and it's fun to watch him bobble :) He does smile and "talk" to us a lot, too, but he usually gets very distracted by the camera, so it's harder to catch that.

Hope you had a great Christmas and that your New Year will be full of love and laughter.

2 Month Check-up

2009-12-04T14:21:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was Scott's 2-month check-up and first round of vaccinations. He weighed in at 10lbs 12oz and was 22.5in long. My doctor didn't tell me percentiles, but I looked them up--between 10 and 25 for each. His head, however is between 25 and 50 at 40cm.

And along with these stats, I bring you more pictures:

With Grandma on Thanksgiving

A series of Scott smiling at Daddy:

Can you tell I was wearing a necklace? I didn't remember until I laid him down... I'm surprised he wasn't more uncomfortable.

This is my favorite of his many hand positions. He's so cute!

This was actually a sad time, though. He took his vaccinations like a champ--cried for less than a minute--but he was very fussy for the rest of the night. He went in and out of restless sleep for about 8 hours. It was very hard to watch. You could tell he was in pain. The doctor did warn us that he might be fussy and have a fever because of the vaccinations, but I didn't expect this reaction. It was all over by midnight, though, and he slept his usual 4 hours.

Almost 2 months

2009-11-23T09:04:00.004-07:00

Whoa. My baby is almost 2 months old, and he is growing so fast! I think it's almost time to adjust the straps in his carseat already, and he's grown out of some of his clothes. Amazing.

I took some pictures recently, so I just thought I'd share a few.

Matt is teaching Scott how to program.I finally caught a smile on camera :) And yesterday Matt got him to laugh! So cute!"Check out my tube sock!" I love the tube socks! They make him look so old!This does get tiring after a while, but it feels so good!

In other news, I peeled an apple in one strip! And, not that you can tell, but I dried my hair for the first time since Scott was born. It felt good.

1 Month Old

2009-10-29T15:11:00.007-06:00

Sorry I have taken so long to update. You'd never guess that a baby who sleeps 12-18 hours a day could take up so much time. I haven't been really good even at taking pictures, but I'll try to be better in the future.

This is Scott at 9 days, sporting a beautifully crocheted blanket made by his Aunt Jessica. Thank you!

Here he is at 12 days--he loves to sleep with his hands on his face. We like to pretend that he's smelling something stinky, but probably not.
17 days--you can see the blanket hasn't left the bouncy chair... He loves to move his arms around! If he's awake, his arms are constantly in motion. And sometimes his legs, too.
Not sure what he's doing here, but it's cute!
18 days--his first real bath! And he hasn't had one since... He just doesn't get very dirty. Is it bad that he's only had one real bath since he was born?
29 days--Today.

Happy Halloween! The shirt is too big, but that's the way it goes. The shirt is a gift from his Nana and Papa. The hat and socks are from a family friend, Tammy. The pants are preemie size--they're too short, and the waist is too big... ah well.
And there you have it! A whole month has passed. He is probably just a little taller, and he weighs a little over 8 lbs by now, I think. He was 7lbs 6oz when I took him to the doctor over a week ago, so there ya go! Things are going well. I'm learning to deal with little sleep, and even when he's crying, I still think he's very cute, so that's a good sign :) Thanks to everyone for your love and support and oohs and aahs.

1 Week

2009-10-07T22:42:00.004-06:00

I thought I'd continue with the belly pictures... Here we are 1 week post partum.

Here's us at the hospital--day 3, I think
Do you think the carseat is big enough for him?
I realized we were all still wearing our bracelets after being home almost two full days. Had to take a picture so we could cut them off :)
This is just for a size comparison. iPhone on the left, universal remote on the right. He's such a little dude.

Scott Simon

2009-10-03T18:31:00.003-06:00

So, I had my baby! He was 6lbs. 6oz., 19.5 inches long. I just looked at the clock and it's 6:33pm! So, little Scotty (Scottie? I haven't decided) is now officially 3 days old. We should totally have cupcakes or something...

Sorry it has taken me so long to post, but we got a computer virus on our laptop (now our only computer--see Oregon Trail post) at the hospital because our antivirus software ran out and we forgot to renew it. Plus, the hospital wireless was an unsecure network. Anyway, Matt's been spending the last few days making our computer healthy again, so again, I'm sorry for the delay.

So, I haven't downloaded pictures from my camera yet because we're still working with the virus, and some amazing people cleaned my house (thanks Mom and Tammy!) and I'm not sure where the cable I need is, but I do have a few pictures that my dad sent and one from Matt's cell phone, so I'll post those for now to satisfy the masses.

Thanks for all the congrats and well wishes. We couldn't be more thrilled with our little boy. He gets cuter by the second.

A different kind of labor...

2009-09-27T16:44:00.006-06:00

Well, since I have no baby pictures to post, I thought I could at least brag about all the cool stuff that I have made, and that my mom has made for the baby.

The first thing I made, with some help sewing from a gal in my ward, was a book for our baby to look at during Sacrament Meeting, so he'll learn at a young age that the whole reason we take the sacrament is because of Jesus.

Soon after that, my friend asked if I wanted to learn how to knit. I said sure. So we made a little cocoon and matching hat for the little guy.

When I finished that, we thought we should start a crocheting project. This one is still unfinished. My friend who was teaching me is pretty busy, and she recently had shoulder surgery, so I haven't had the help that I need. so, I'm still working on the hood, and then I have to do the button band and then sew it all together. It's for a 6-month old, so I have some time.

Then, Walgreens was having a sale on their Everyday Photo Books, which are just 5x7 paperbacks. So, I put a little one together. I'll have to do another one because all the cousins will get older, but I thought it would be a fun project while the sale was going on. I just have the cover and first pages shown here.

My mom arrived a little over a week ago and brought some flannel with her, so she made me some cute receiving blankets. Note the fun edges. She was not happy until she added a little flair. I like the edging on the sheep the best, but it's the hardest to see, since it's white.

This is the crowning achievement. Mom and I went shopping on Monday so we could make a quilt for the baby. I wanted to make a red, tan, brown, cream quilt because we live in New Mexico, and that's the color palette most often used. And I knew it could be done tastefully, more tastefully, perhaps, than the city of Santa Fe... (Mom did all the machine sewing, but I helped by cutting out each piece while we watched an 8-hour miniseries.) So here's the front:

And close up:

And the back. Matt noticed that since we did 8x8 blocks, we could actually use his blanket as a massive checker or chess board someday. Always thinking...

The quilt did turn out rather massive, but I'm glad because now he'll be able to use it until he's almost 5 feet tall. And, there will be room for me or Matt to cuddle with him under it.

So at least now you know we haven't been just sitting around waiting for the baby to come. We're keeping busy!

40 weeks

2009-09-25T21:40:00.003-06:00

Here I am at 40 weeks. I was due to have a baby today, but it's already 9:42pm and as far as I can tell I'm not in labor. So much for due dates. I put up a picture of me sitting, because everyone keeps telling me I look small, but maybe I look bigger sitting down? I dunno. Hopefully the baby will come soon. I'll keep you posted.

Pictures from Maurine's Visit (cont'd)

2009-09-23T13:07:00.004-06:00

Okay, I spent all day yesterday quilting with my mom, but I felt like I had to finish these pictures. Maybe it's the task I have to finish before my baby makes his appearance... Probably not, but I wanted to finish anyway.

Here's one of each kid on the train to Albuquerque. We only made in on the train with seconds, literally, to spare, but we made it and had a good time on the train for about an hour.

Our first stop was the Zoo... Here are some of the many pictures we took. It's hard to get good shots of animals when there's a fence between you, but Matt did his best.

Next we took a little train from the Zoo to the Aquarium. Max and Reed both slept through the trip, and Dean was pretty spacey. Maybe it was too much for one day...

And our last stop was a walk through the Botanical Gardens. We definitely didn't see everything. We chose to walk to the Japanese Garden and then head back to the train station and go home.

(And please, take the time to go to click on the slideshows because I put a little caption with each picture.)

Pictures from Maurine's Visit to Santa Fe

2009-09-21T09:42:00.002-06:00

My amazing husband was able to get our pictures off of our corrupted hard drive from our desktop to the laptop, so now I can share some pictures with you. I hope it works... This will be one of four slideshows, if I can figure it out. This is just day one at the Children's Museum

It worked! If you click on it, you should be able to view my comments about each picture through the picasa web album. Enjoy!

Oregon Trail--Metaphor for Life

2009-09-17T08:35:00.006-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I blogged. My sister came to visit not long after my last post, and then I had another friend visit shortly after that. So, as always, when you have stuff to blog about, you don't have time to blog! Ah well.

So, this morning I actually woke up to the sound of Matt getting ready for work--which normally does not rouse me. Apparently the power was out, so our fan was off, and I had a clearer earshot to the sound of the shower turning on and off or something. Anyway, since Matt couldn't play his game before work for a few minutes, he had to use his iPhone to entertain himself--we're so put upon in this world, aren't we?

Anyway, he has an app for Oregon Trail. So, since I was awake, I had breakfast and watched him play. I noticed he was down to 3/5 of his original party (which is actually still good--as long as you have over half your party, it's still hilighted in green instead of red). I asked him where they were. He said two of his children, at separate times, had been carried away by eagles! What the heck? How does that happen? Did that really happen on the Oregon Trail? And TWO of your children!? Oi. It's a funny game. They always let you know, once you get to a trading post or campsite how you're doing--if you're on time, how many people you still have, and how your group's health is. Sometimes along the trail random things happen and you have to decide what to do. For example--"You're wife has been mauled by a bear. What would you like to do? (1) Continue on your journey or (2) Rest." Well, if you don't want to lose another member of your party, you should probably rest. Or for another example, "Your son has dysentary" "You have come to a stream, would you like to ford it, or ferry across?" All of these things usually require you to rest, and start to put you behind schedule. What happens if you can't catch up? You might get stuck in a snowstorm and die later in the game! Scary stuff, right? Matt's always trying to get back up to speed by pressing the rabbit button and making his family run to Oregon, but then that lowers their health, and he has to rest for a couple of days to get their health back up again. But, it's either that or go at a turtle's pace and you still might lose health from random eagles, bears, snakes, and sicknesses. So many decisions. I'm not even gonna get started on the mini-games for getting food and fixing your wagon, but you get the idea...

So, when I was a kid, I thought this game was ridiculous. I thought, that's not real life--that much bad stuff never happens that close together. Well, this morning I started thinking about how my life would have looked on Oregon Trail over the last few weeks...

"Your computer's motherboard stops working--you can't use your USB ports." Matt bought a new motherboard and got it all hooked up, but it took about a week.

"Your birthday (assuming Matt is the main character) is coming up and there has been a reduction in price on a gaming system you've been wanting to purchase for 2 years." We bought it. We're crazy, but Matt is happy.

"Your birthday present breaks after one week. The company who made it can't fix it because the new model is too new." You wait, and you cry. (2 weeks later, you call Amazon.com, they accept fault and send you a new one. We love them.)

"Your sister and her three boys are coming to visit." You go at a rabbit's pace for 6 days, but you're already very pregnant, so your health is low. (We had a grand time, but Matt and I both got sick at the end of the trip. Keep reading and you'll understand why I'm not posting more on this trip at this time.)

"Your motherboard stops working--your video card and hard drives are corrupted--you can't see the pictures you loaded from your sister's trip." I'm not kidding! This is like your kid being carried off by an eagle... TWICE! Well, this time, we don't have enough funds to replace both the motherboard and the video card, so we have to wait for a while. And I won't be able to see the pictures of my sister's trip until we fix the computer. Oi.

"It's your birthday. Your wife thinks she might have broken her water just slightly, so she steals 3 hours of sleep and lowers your health. She still plans to make brownies for sundaes, and also wants to make your dinner. Too bad! She burns her hand making the brownies and you have to make your own birthday dinner! Because she has to (a) REST her hand in a bowl of cold water for 5 hours!" I felt so bad. Maybe a better birthday for Matt next year :(

Then there are the smaller things in life...

"Your fridge is empty. (or almost everything in it has gone bad because you've been neglecting it for 2 months). What would you like to do? (1) Scrounge for 3 more days, or (2) go grocery shopping." Usually we choose (1), and then (2).

I guess the only way to end this post is with the reason I started it. We ended up playing Oregon Trail until 8:15am. Matt usually likes to get to work around 8am. So our final message from our Oregon Trail life is:

"You decided to play Oregon Trail for way longer than you should have." Your health has gone up, but you are even further behind schedule. I hope you don't get caught in a snowstorm and die later...

So, sorry about the lack of pictures, but hopefully we'll come up with a good solution soon. As far as adding a member to our party, I have another doctor's appointment today and we'll see if I'm making any progress.

Happy Anniversary, 34 weeks, and Matt's facial hair

2009-08-17T09:57:00.005-06:00

It is August 17, and Matt and I have been married now for 3 years. Wow! Where does the time go? We have a lot of fun, and I feel truly blessed to have such an awesome guy taking care of me. Here are some nostalgic shots:

Also, I was 34 weeks on Friday, so I had Matt take another picture of my growing belly yesterday. Thanks again to Maurine for my maternity wardrobe. I also was reading a lot of stuff on labor and delivery, and I almost started crying, but I'm sure everything will be okay. I thought it was a little funny how they talk about the arduous journey the baby takes through the birth canal, and I'm like--he'll mostly feel and look better in 24 hours. I, however, might take up to 6 weeks to recover! Who's journey is more arduous, I ask you?!
And last, but not least, Matt grew out a goatee for a few weeks, just because he can, so we had to take a picture. His facial hair pattern is actually quite similar to that of Christian Bale--I've attached a photo so you can see what I mean. They both have trouble connecting the mustache to the beard. I don't think it looked bad, but I prefer to kiss a clean-shaven face, so it's gone now. Yay!

Addendum

2009-08-12T12:07:00.003-06:00

We also went to Palace of the Governors, which was built in 1610 and is the longest continuously used building in the U.S., but looks like every other building in Santa Fe, so you'd never guess it. Now it's not used as the government seat or anything like it was for 200 years or something--it's just a museum. It's worth visiting--they have a good photography exhibit. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I forgot we even went until I was thinking about how much walking I did that day and realized we had another stop! I'm pretty sure it was between lunch and the Loretto Chapel.

Tour of Santa Fe

2009-08-12T10:02:00.024-06:00

My cousin lives about 3.5 hours away, and she's been meeting to see the State Capitol, so she came to visit me a week or so ago. Here are some pictures of what we did and saw:

My cousin and her sons infront of the State Capitol Building. I'm not going to lie--the outside is a total disappointment.

The coolest part of the outside, in my opinion--the trash cans. Sweet, huh?

You don't expect a golden elevator when the outside is adobe. Pretty cool.

This is the ceiling. Not the coolest rotunda I've ever seen, but it's...New Mexican.

State House of Reps, State Senate, and some sweet calligraphy I saw on one of the Senate Rosters. We just don't appreciate hand-done stuff like this as much as we should. So cool.
There is a lot of art in the State Capitol building. These are three of my favorite. There were a lot of tapestries and some interesting modern art, too, but these are the ones I liked best.

Next Stop: Lunch and one of the oldest restaurants in Santa Fe!

They tiled it on the inside with broken dishes. I thought that was really cool.

The next place we went was the Loretto Chapel. I really liked the windmill-type sculptures out front. There's some cool stained glass, and then there is, of course, the miraculous stairway.
The choir loft did not originally have a stairway leading up to it, because all the people who sang were men, so they just used a ladder. Then, nuns starting singing in the choir, so they needed to build a staircase. So, this was built. It didn't originally have handrails, and was unsupported by anything--that's what made it miraculous. They added the handrail for safety, and there's a small support tying it to the column nearby because the surrounding traffic made it shake too much. Anyway, still pretty cool.

Last stop: Children's Museum.
These are the fish. I like watching fish swim around. If I ever get a pet, it will be fish.
Kalos on the pulleys.
Atticus on the pulleys. The scientific part of this is that there were three different sets of pulleys, and you noticed that it's easier to pull yourself up, the more pulleys there are. Pretty cool. And Kalos and Atticus had just learned about simple machines, so that was great.

I thought this part was really cool--you could make a huge bubble around yourself. Unfortunately, that tire gets in the way. Atticus could do it way better than I could.

So that was our trip to Santa Fe. It was fun. There are some other cool things to see, but that will have to wait for another day. Maybe when YOU come visit :)

Santa Fe, The City Different

2009-08-05T12:36:00.006-06:00

Apparently, "The City Different" translates to "AdobeLand." The first thing we noticed when we moved here is that normal businesses had a very different look going on. Here are just a few examples of what I mean. Carl's Jr. is probably my favorite, or maybe IHOP. Let me know what you think!

32 weeks

2009-08-04T09:45:00.003-06:00

Here I am at 32 weeks and 2 days--taken August 1. Only 7 weeks and change to go, if all goes well. I'm feeling pretty big, and my lower back really hurts a lot of the time, but I'm surviving. Some days are better than others, of course.
We have nicknamed the baby Pancho, so I can refer to him and talk to him, without actually naming him yet (so Matt doesn't think I'm talking to him when I say, "Whoa, Hello!" when he's moving around). I didn't want to use a name I was considering and then change my mind when he was born, so for now, he's Pancho. He is very active for about 30 minutes at a time during various parts of the day, usually right after I eat, or when I'm trying to sleep. I'm excited to see what he looks like soon.

Three-Quarters Day

2009-07-22T12:11:00.002-06:00

Here I am on July 17th at 30 weeks. In honor of only 25% of the pregnancy remaining (and the fact that it's become difficult to clip my toenails), I got a pedicure. I didn't post a picture because I have already chipped the paint twice... Ah well, it was still relaxing.

28 weeks

2009-07-06T16:23:00.002-06:00

I think I finally look bigger! Maybe it's because the shirt is so tight. It was the only red one I had to wear on the 4th of July, hope you'll forgive me.

Question follow-up

2009-06-28T14:29:00.003-06:00

I registered at Babies R Us this past week. I figured the worst that can happen is that I don't get anything except 10% off whatever I put on my registry, so I did it. So, donations are by no means required, but welcome ;)

That is all.

Flea Market

2009-06-19T15:11:00.005-06:00

So, I got this magazine about Santa Fe at the library when we didn't have internet at home. I found lots of cool stuff to do. One was a Flea Market we passed on our way into town. Here's what I got:
A little bag that's hand-woven and just big enough for my cell phone, wallet and keys, which is exactly what I was looking for! Yesss!
And an authentic hand-embroidered dress. When I found out we were moving to Santa Fe, I told Matt I wanted to get a dress just like the one Salma Hayek wears when she's pregnant in Mexico in the movie Fools Rush In. And we found it! YESSS!

Also, Matt got a chance to practice his Spanish, which ultimately got us a discount on the dress. The guy totally was scolding Matt--telling him that he had to think in Spanish and speak it all the time and not translate when people were speaking Spanish. And I'll have you know that I actually understood much of what the guy was saying, so I felt pretty good. Matt got excited about speaking Spanish after that and he talked to another guy who said that his accent was really good, so he felt awesome--and so did I--after the flea market experience. Yay!

Our New Place

2009-06-19T11:42:00.018-06:00

Okay, so this is the kind of post that I would just skip over on someone's blog because it doesn't interest me all that much, but I know at least my mother-in-law wanted to see the apartment, so here are the pictures:Front door.
Entry way, it's a little turn to the right--and it's now where our computer is.
Living room. We have our TV and couches set up in here.
You go down a hall with the stairs on the left, the bathroom on the right, then you see the kitchen on your right and the dining room on your left, and you see our little teeny backyard. The only difference between then and now is that the bike is out there.
The kitchen
The dining room. Still has many boxes, but our new IKEA table is set up, and we like it :)
The half bath on the first floor.
Turn to the left when you go up the stairs and there's one bedroom--it now has a bowflex and a treadmill in it, and it's probably where our guests will sleep--sorry about the exercise equipment!
The baby's room. This mostly just has boxes in it so far. Since the baby isn't coming until September, we have some time.
Full bathroom upstairs. It has a door from the Master and from the hallway.
Full bath--view 2. Now we have towels and a shower curtain, and floormats, so we're moving up :)
Master bedroom. There is a huge closet with two doors--it's open in the middle, so we have somewhere to put a dresser if we want and laundry hampers.
Master bedroom--view 2, and that door leads to...
Our balcony. Which is nice and cute, and we already got a little outdoor lawn chair so I can sit out there and read. I like it.

That concludes our tour. I hope you liked it. I don't know if I'll ever have a clean enough house to take more pictures, so you'll just have to imagine how great it will look when we put all of our stuff away. :)

24 Weeks

2009-06-19T11:39:00.003-06:00

Sorry, I actually should have posted this before our drive to Santa Fe. I was 24 weeks on June 5th, which was also my last day of work at Nature's Way. Bittersweet. Our drive to Santa Fe happened on June 9th and 10th.

The Drive to Santa Fe

2009-06-18T17:15:00.009-06:00

This is what we saw on our drive to Santa Fe. I was surprised how much more variety there was between Provo and Santa Fe than there is between Provo and Boise or Pocatello. I was pleasantly surprised. I was driving the first day, however, and Matt was not as pleased that I liked the scenery so much because I kept telling him to take pictures. Here are a few: Windmills before we even passed Manti, Utah.

I loved the contrast of the green foliage and the red rock.

Stuff like this makes me feel like Utah must have been underwater at some point...

Seeing the lines where they put dynamite in the rock has always been fascinating to me. This wall was probably at least 50 feet high--pretty cool.

And this was the last thing we took pictures of because it started to get dark, but I think it's called Wilson Rock. When we went around the bend, we could see tiny people crawling up it. It was bigger than I thought it was. There was no turn off to get the people, so sorry there's no perspective shot.

Question...

2009-06-03T16:08:00.002-06:00

Hey there friends. I have gone back and forth about registering for baby gifts. The stuff I really need are the expensive things--car seat, crib, stroller, etc. I have a lot of clothes from my sister-in-law (thanks Amanda!), so I'm doing pretty well on that front. My work is having a little combined shower for me and another girl in the lab at my going-away lunch. I'll be moving into a new ward and I'm not expecting a shower. So, it seems crazy to register. Then again, I have had people ask me where I'm registered and asked me for my address so they could send me presents. I never had much money to spare for people in the ward having babies, so I feel bad asking, but I thought I might as well let you opine. Should I register and post it on my blog, or just forget about it?

It's a boy!

2009-05-30T13:04:00.002-06:00

On May 13th, we went to the hospital, to the radiology dept., so we could find out the gender of our baby. The technician also measure the head and the abdomen and checked my kidneys, etc. But for us, it was mostly to find out if the little person in there is a boy or a girl. I'm not going to post the "boy" pictures because they're not great pictures, but YAY, we're having a boy. And here are some photos to keep you going. The one where he looks like he's running really fast on all fours is my favorite :)

Halfway Day

2009-05-30T12:41:00.003-06:00

My Halfway Day (20 weeks into my pregnancy) was on May 8th, so I had Matt take my picture before I left for work. I guess people wanted to see me with a belly. I don't feel like I'm getting a lot bigger, but at least I'm wearing different clothes :)

It's weird. It still doesn't feel very real that we're going to have a baby. Any thoughts on when it starts to feel like this is really happening?

Graduation Day

2009-05-03T14:05:00.045-06:00

I know this is really late, but I finally took the pictures off the camera, so here it is. I actually started this post the day or two after graduation, I just haven't had time to write about it.

Matt graduated! Yay! As I was cropping this picture, I started to wonder if that guy is in a lot of people's blogs from BYU. Anyway, Matt got his diploma case and we had a great day celebrating, as follows:

We went to IKEA!

This is the table we have wanted since the first time we went to IKEA. We'll have it in this configuration most of the time, but we can also put both sides down if we want more space in the kitchen, or both sides up if we have guests.

This is the chair we thought would go best, so we got two, and his and hers cushions.

This is the desk we liked. We just got the 2x4 bookcase, though. We saved $70 that way, so we feel pretty good. We haven't put anything together yet because we told our moving people that we will just leave them in the boxes to make it easier for them. So, I'm glad they had all of this set up at IKEA so I really know what we're getting. Should be a fun construction project when we move in too! Yay!

Then we went to a Toyota Dealership and bought a car!

Starting to Show

2009-04-19T14:32:00.003-06:00

So, I feel like I'm leaving the "fat" stage and entering the "pregnant" stage. These clothes are on loan from my sister in LA, and I thought she might like seeing them on me, so there ya go ;) I'm about 17 weeks now and I'm still hungry all the time and I have to go to the bathroom 20 times a day, but I feel better emotionally and physically than I did the first 13-14 weeks. Yay!

Snow on April 16th

2009-04-19T14:30:00.002-06:00

I thought I should post a few photos of this horrendous spring day. Then, next year when I'm living in New Mexico, I can take pictures on April 16th and we'll compare and see if I made a good choice.

Big News

2009-04-14T22:34:00.002-06:00

I just brushed the back of my tongue without feeling like I might vomit for the next 5 minutes. I still don't think I'll try it in the morning, but at least at night, I can feel completely clean in my mouth again. Yesss. I'm liking the second trimester better than the first already.

Ultrasound Pictures

2009-04-04T19:46:00.003-06:00

The little thumb-sucker

The little head and one hand... can't really see anything else.

The third one was a picture of his/her "face" but it looks a little non-human so far, so I'll spare you.

Best (and Worst) Doctor's Appointment Ever

2009-03-24T08:11:00.004-06:00

There are no pictures yet. Sorry to disappoint.

The moral of this story is that my regular doctor is kind of a moron. That said...

Matt picked me up from work around 4:35 so we could get to my 4:45 appointment. I have been excited and nervous about this appointment since we found out we were pregnant--the day we would hear the heartbeat. We arrived a couple of minutes late, but since we were the last appointment of the day, they were eager to get me to pee in a cup quickly and see the doctor.

So I did that, got weighed, etc, and then my doctor comes in and says, "There's really not a lot to do today."

I stared at him in disbelief. "What? We're supposed to hear the heartbeat today. We put off my second OB appt by two weeks to make sure that I could hear the heartbeat today. We're supposed to be able to start telling people today that we're pregnant because we know the baby is alive and doing well, etc."

I was so upset. He looks at me with no emotion and says, "Well we can give it a try, but don't be depressed if we can't hear it." The guy needs to study up on pregnancy one more time--he thought my uterus was still being guarded by my pelvic bone and he was listening real low on my abdomen, which I didn't think was quite right, but I'm not a doctor, so I let it slide.

Anyway, so we leave to make our next appointment and I'm ready to cry. I just thought it was totally lame and ridiculous that we couldn't hear the heartbeat at 13 weeks. (Matt couldn't believe that the doctor had absolutely nothing to say to me. The doctor just looked at me and said, "Sorry.") The receptionist could tell I was upset and she said, "You know, you could come back later this week or next week and we could just have a nurse try to find the heartbeat for you, then you wouldn't have to pay for another appointment." I thought that was a good idea, even though it did mean I had to wait.

So my doctor said I could just wait to come back until my 20 week appointment when I would have my real ultrasound and find out the baby's sex and do my blood glucose test, etc. Well, like I said, we were the last appointment of the day and so my doctor was gone by the time I was talking to the receptionist. Well... there was another doctor there who was overhearing my situation. He told the receptionist that I really should come back in 4 weeks so we would have good numbers to see how I was gaining weight and how my urine looked, etc. even if the doctor couldn't do anything cool.

So, all right, I'm coming back in 4 weeks, maybe I should just wait and not hear the heartbeat till then--although that would be torture. Well, that doctor looked at me and he said, "Why don't we just do a quick ultrasound right now. We might not be able to hear the heartbeat, but maybe I could show it to you."

Matt and I practically ran back to the exam room and I laid down and I was ready for the belly jelly. And this is when that day became one of the best I've ever had. I got to see the little fluttering heart and I was finally reassured that I was feeling nauseated for good reason, that in about 27 weeks, I'll be giving birth to a real live human baby. I got to see the baby's hands and head and belly and we even saw it sucking its thumb. It was unbelievable and I couldn't help but cry. The doctor turned the sound on for a second to see if we could hear the heartbeat and we could, but then my cry hiccuped a little and I cut off the little dude or dudette. But it was amazing and I feel so absolutely blessed that the doctor was there and he was looking out for me. He told us that his wife had a miscarriage with her second pregnancy and that he totally understood my need for reassurance. UNLIKE my regular doctor.

I guess this actually fulfills Keri-Anne's tag to write about an angel here on earth who helped us out. That doctor really was an angel at that particular moment. Any ideas on a gift I can send him? Movie tickets? Steak dinner? We haven't decided yet, but we definitely want to do something for him. He literally made our day, our week, probably our month!

i love my husband--part 2

2008-12-05T11:51:00.002-07:00

we have been trying to get our laundry done the past couple of days, but it was hard to find the time to do it. matt has been really busy with school and i've been at work all day and then busy at night. so, this morning, while i was showering, matt brought the laundry down to the laundromat. so nice. i thought that was the end of the awesomeness for this morning, but no. when i was leaving for work, it was time to switch the laundry to the dryers, so we went down the stairs together, and what was sitting on the pavement right by our apartment building? my car! the windows were scraped clean of icy frost and it was running and warm when i got inside. that is the best present ever. happy early birthday to me!!!

48% Fat Free

2008-11-04T22:21:00.002-07:00

Okay, so I often have random trains of thought and I had one the other day that I thought was kind of funny, so I'll share it.

1. I smell onions. Not surprising because we had roast on Sunday and the smell of the cut onion lingers for some time.

2. We still have one onion left because I want to add onion to a salad I'll be making to bring to dinner at some friends' house.

3. I should write that dinner on the calendar so we don't forget.

4. I wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight? Maybe we'll have that new soup we got from Costco.

5. It's Healthy Choice soup, so it's probably 96% fat free. But it's probably still good.

6. I wonder what percentage of the pepperoni I ate last night was fat free. It was probably more fat than not.

7. Wouldn't that be funny if that put that on the package? 48% Fat Free Pepperoni! They would be sure to sell a lot more with that.

8. What about stuff in the middle? Cheetos, 76% fat free. Snickers, 60% fat free. etc...

9. How did I start thinking about this?

i love my husband

2008-10-23T22:03:00.002-06:00

Matt was out of town from Thursday morning to Sunday morning last week. It was a hard time. I didn't sleep well and it was depressing to go home and know Matt wouldn't be there. I packed my nights up with activities with friends, but at the end of the day, they went home and I slept alone, and it was sad. Now he's home and it's really nice. Granted, he's in class and doing homework all day and all night, but at least he's in the house. Now, the reason I felt like I had to write this post is because I'm in the front room on the laptop, and he's in the back on the "real" computer working on his physics homework, and I have to kind of leave him alone so he can finish it and we can go to bed soon. Well... he was singing along to Jason Mraz and it was really cute!!! Anyway, for some reason I really wanted to take a picture of what I was hearing. It's a feeling that's hard to explain, but that was me trying. At least now, I can look back at this post and remember how I felt. I just love him. He's awesome.

Fun with Googly Eyes

2008-10-12T19:19:00.005-06:00

We got a Halloween card from Matt's sister and the googly eyes of the ghost had fallen off. It was a cute card anyway, though. (Thanks Amanda!) Well as we were cleaning up the table to have dinner tonight, Matt found the googly eyes and had some fun, and asked me to take a picture. Matt never asks for pictures to be taken of himself, so I jumped at the chance. Hope you enjoy them.

In other news, I got a treadmill the other day on Craigslist and I went walking on Thursday and Friday morning :) Yesss. I'm excited. Today I went to distribute some flyers to some people in my ward and my lungs were burning by the time I got back. I'm SO glad I get to walk inside this winter, that means I might actually walk! Yay!

Also, I have had an empty sink before bed 5 nights in a row! I've picked a spot and beautified it! (See Pres. Uchtdorf's General Relief Society Meeting address: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-37,00.html)

General Conference Report, Day 2

2008-10-07T22:39:00.003-06:00

Sorry about the delay. I was at my sister's house for the second session and we had dinner and chatted, so we got home a little late. Then last night I decided it was time to catch up on the dishes and it took forever, so I wasn't really up to blogging. Anyway, without further ado...

Sunday Morning Session

>>Pres. Eyring's talk about unity was great. I liked how he talked about speaking well of others. He counseled us to remember that we will be judged in the manner that we judge others. In every situation we should look for what's best in any person's performance. That is what Jesus will do for us when we meet God at the judgement bar. I like that idea.
>>Elder Hales said that we need not defend the Church with overbearance or anger. We should always respond with love. He said to stay on the higher ground of mutual respect.
>>I was really impressed by Sister Dalton. I know I shouldn't say this, but sometimes it is hard to listen to the women speak in General Conference. Sister Dalton's talk was either really good, or I'm maturing, or both, but I loved it. She called for a return to virtue. I think she quoted Pres. Monson as saying, "No friendship is more important than your own clear conscience." So true.
>>Pres. Monson closed the session advising us to "take joy in the journey now."

Sunday Afternoon Session

>>Elder Nelson's analogy about marriage and shopping was awesome. He compared conjugal living to marital shoplifting. Interesting perspective. His advice about marriage was to minimize personal demands and maximize acts of selflessness. That is something I know I need to work on.
>>I liked Elder Cook's quote, "Every cloud we see doesn't result in rain." We should be prepared for unexpected challenges simply by keeping the commandments.

(Like I said, I was at my sister's house. She has three kids, so I eventually came to understand why she wasn't taking notes. It was much harder to pay attention, but it was fun to see them. They're such fun kids.)

P.S.

2008-10-04T23:34:00.003-06:00

Adding pictures to a finished post on Blogger is nearly impossible. I couldn't drag this photo to where I wanted it, so I just decided to do a little P.S. instead. I really like this photo I took on the way up to Provo Canyon. It's a little artsy, and I think it's my favorite one, so I wanted to add it. Hope you don't mind. I wasn't driving, by the way. No worries!

General Conference Report, Day 1

2008-10-04T23:08:00.005-06:00

I love General Conference. When I was little, my mom used to make little conference packets for us, with pictures of the General Authorities, crayons, stickers, and a little candy. We had to go to the Stake Center to watch because it wasn't on TV in Connecticut, where I grew up. So, we had to dress up and sit in the chapel quietly. I loved it, though. I think that's where my love began. Now I actually love to listen and take notes.''

Here were some of the highlights for me.

Saturday Morning Session

>>I loved how Elder Perry got the base of his talk from Henry David Thoreau's experience on Walden Pond. It's great to hear insights from books outside the LDS faith. I didn't know a lot about Thoreau, and I found it really interesting. I liked how when asked, "Have you made your peace with God?", Thoreau answered, "I was not aware we ever quarreled."
>>I liked the story Elder Andersen told about the little girl who was born deaf, how she told a handicapped boy in the grocery store that Jesus will make everything all right.
>>Elder Oaks is great. He's no nonsense. There are something that are very cut and dry. Do thing the right way, no excuses.
>>Matt said that Elder Uchtdorf is now his favorite speaker. He is completely wonderful, I agree. I loved his topic as well. Hope. I liked the lines, "In the deepest winter, we find within us an invincible summer" and "Never give in, never surrender!" (to despair). I also like how he pointed out the opposites of faith, hope and charity--fear, despair, and failure to care for our fellowmen.

Between sessions, Matt and I took a drive up Provo Canyon. My brother-in-law went with my sister last week and told me I had to go soon. It was raining hard today which gave us dark tree trunks, and pretty good lighting. Photos never do the colors justic, so I admit that I did a little tweaking on my pictures, but Matt says they're still not as bright as they were in real life. So, I hope you can believe that my pictures aren't too doctored. I'm sorry I'm posting so many, I had a hard time deciding.

This is from our balcony before we left.

We went down a little street off University Avenue and took a few shots.

I really liked this grass in front for some reason.

We ended our drive at Bridal Veil Falls and turned around so we could eat before the next session began.

Saturday Afternoon Session

>>Elder Wirthlin's story about his daughter's blind date was hilarious.

>>Elder Holland is so awesome. I love to hear him speak. I want to be more angelic now.

>>Elder Corbridge really impressed me. He's a new Seventy and I have never heard him speak before. He was so great! I think he was called to speak to the logical thinkers in the Church. He made so much sense and the combination of scriptures he used were linked together so beautifully. I never thought of things quite as he put it, but it's true--through Jesus Christ we can never thirst, never hunger, never walk in darkness, never die. Believing in Him, remembering Him, keeping the commandments--it's the only intelligent thing to do!

>>I liked Elder Bednar's challenge to say prayers solely of gratitude sometimes. I'm definitely going to try that.

Well, it was a good day. I hope it was enjoyed by all who were able to listen. For my friends out there who are not LDS, if any of this seems interesting, please read or listen to some of the talks at lds.org

current calligraphy craze

2008-10-03T23:04:00.005-06:00

I took a calligraphy class my second semester of my first year of college. I got really into it. I learned four fonts that semester. Matt got me a book of other fonts and I picked it up a few days ago and I have had a lot of fun. Just thought I'd share.

Work

2008-10-02T15:32:00.000-06:00

I get so busy at work. Sometimes when I finally go to the bathroom, I find myself wondering how long I've been putting it off. Two hours? Three? That's not healthy. I just had lunch at 3:15pm. How does work become priority over my physical needs?

I feel advanced.

2008-10-01T23:04:00.000-06:00

So, I know this is a weird reason to begin a blog, but I had something I wanted to say and I wanted people to read about it. I just brushed my teeth. (Here's the preface now.) I am starting to fall asleep and my husband said we were going to go to bed earlier tonight than we have the past couple nights. Well, he's been working hard on homework, so he wanted some time to wind down and play his game on his PSP. I was sucked in to various sites, so I don't mind. Well, I finally tore myself away from the neverending web-browsing that can take place to brush my teeth. We started a new tube today. It's Aquafresh Advanced. It gives you 25% stronger enamel*. Have you ever noticed the * at the end of statements like that? I work for Nature's Way and they have those all over their products. So, I thought this * would lead to a statements I have seen many times on many of Nature's Way products, "This statement not approved by the Food and Drug Administration." But it didn't! It said, "as shown in laboratory tests compared to regular Aquafresh." Wow. I definitely feel like my enamel is stronger after using this. I don't know if I would go as far as 25%, but I feel like I have stronger enamel, and therefore. I feel Advanced, with an intentional capital A.