Nickname

I was just talking to someone I know who is Russian and whom I'd told previously about Baby. He asked me, "How is your insider?" HA! I loved that - especially how it sounded with a heavy Russian accent. I think I might nickname him my "Insider" until his birthday.

Anybody else out there have fun nicknames they had for babies before/after they were born? My household is extremely pro-nickname. The winner is actually Buttercup, our cat - referred to as Cup, Cuppaluppagus, Cuppopottomus, B-Cups (thank PrisonBreak for that one), and Cups-is-the-Pottomus, to name a few.

Week 18

Oops, forgot to post this one earlier, I guess!

If you've seen Facebook, you know already, but...

We're having a boy! He's absolutely adorable, and seems perfect in every way. I've never been incredibly impressed by other people's ultrasound pictures, but this experience absolutely blew me away. I love being able to think about him as "him," as our son instead of simply our baby. The day-to-day, moment-to-moment experience seems much more real now.

He yawned while we were watching, but the technician didn't include a picture of it (grrrrr). She noted how unusually visible his heart (with all four chambers) was (sheesh, she didn't include a picture of that, either, even though she took six or seven! Grrrrr times two).

Anyway, we're halfway there (amazingly!). So far, so good!

Week 20

The front view is at the request of Alena, but I have to say I don't love it. :-)

Week 16

Back to the old pants - which fit in the front, but are all baggy-ugly in the back. Not that I mind not filling them out completely! :-)

Everything's going swimmingly lately - feeling much better (still pretty sleepy most of the time). With that and not really looking pregnant, sometimes I wonder. Baby is supposedly now the size of an avocado. Just four more weeks until the ultrasound!

Tummy Pictures (Warning: Not Very Exciting)

Week 12 - not sure how much is my tummy and how much is my jeans.


Week 14 - just look like I'm sticking my stomach out. And like I'm tubby.

A Post That Has Nothing to Do with Baby...(well, at least the first paragraph doesn't)

I had a funny observation the other day. If I hadn't been named Gretel, my understanding was that Grace was the #2 name choice. Think about it. If that had been my name, we'd be Will and Grace. Can you imagine how awful that would be for Will?? Just my random thought for the day.

Well, maybe I'll put a little tiny bit in here about Baby, after all (guess I can't resist!). We took a "tummy pic" a week ago for Week 12, but I haven't gotten around to posting it. I really don't look pregnant in it anyway. Boy, am I filling out the old pants, though. And I do mean the old ones - the ones before I lost some of my weight. But hey, I worked out yesterday and today, so I'm on a roll!

Also, I'm comprising an email of questions to ask my dear family and friends who are young moms. There are a lot of questions. And I'll be emailing it to a lot of people. What can I say - I've worked somewhere with "evidence-based practice" in the mission statement for five years, and it's rubbed off! I want to be an evidence-based parent, so I'm gathering said evidence. :-)

I've Got a Strawberry!

Well, a strawberry-sized human inside me, anyway! :-D I will be 12 weeks pregnant this Sunday, and I'm due January 3rd. I truly would post more but direly need to go home for the evening. I'm just happy to FINALLY be going public with this news. I couldn't be more ecstatic! I hope to post updates soon. We'll be finding out the gender in mid-August.

This is how I feel today...

'Nuff said.

As an addendum to my post yesterday, I want to point out what a wonderful husband I have. He supports me 100% in anything I want to pursue, however zany it may be (even the dog-grooming idea!). I was blessed to have parents that raised me to dream big (all four of them!), and am now even more blessed to have a husband who allows me to continue to dream and try new things. Life is good.

Where Do I Get All These Hare-brained Ideas, Anyway?

If you're among the few that I talk to frequently (hmmm...guess that's mostly husband and mom), you know that especially in the last few years, I've had several ideas of different things to do - many of them are dumb, many are unrealistic, but usually I get somewhat obsessed for a week or two on a particular idea. I really truly enjoy being a registrar, but I guess there's a zanier side of me that's just not satisfied with doing that and nothing else. I should really maybe quit having these ideas, and then maybe my house would be clean and organized. Here are just a few of the ideas I've had in the past few years:

1. Auditioning for a role in a musical at the Center Street Theater in Provo. (Never did, might have been interested in this at some point, still, but just found out that they've closed. Pesky economy!)
2. Learning to be a dog groomer. (Nope, luckily)
3. Owning a small pet care franchise. (Got REALLY excited about this one for a few weeks, but decided it was not realistic, especially in Provo)
4. Going back to school and getting a master's degree. (Check! Woo-hoo!)
5. Wanting to model wedding dresses. (Through Craig's List searches, this got me a couple awesome photo shoots to begin my portfolio, not to mention that music video from a few weeks ago, but I don't really see this one panning out ever)
Oh, yeah - 6. Getting voice lessons and auditioning for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (But Holy Commute, Batman, and have you SEEN the audition process?? I am in awe of my dad, aunt and uncles for having successfully navigated that incredibly intense process!)

And now, I give you the current screwball idea: taking comedy improv classes through ComedySportz. We went to a show with our dear friends Miriam & Kelly and Audrey & Adam last Saturday, and my wonderful husband happened to mention over ice cream afterwards that he thought I'd be pretty good at improv comedy. He may regret that statement later on (wink wink). But in all seriousness, I wonder if I've suppressed my inner wisecrack that shone during my toddler days. Maybe it's time to tap back into that dormant aspect of my personality and see what happens. The classes involve five 2-hour sessions for $85 total. At the very least, doing something to get out of my typical routine and comfort zone has to be a good thing, right? The next session starts at the end of April, and (bummer) I can't do that one since I'll be out of town for one of the classes. But I've already emailed to ask about the dates for the next set of sessions. If the idea loses steam by then, that takes care of that. :)

I'm interested in your thoughts, though - good idea? Bad idea? Would you wanna sign up WITH me? :-)

Queasiness Update

No test results yet, but I forgot to mention that the doc said I should look at trying probiotics. I'd never heard of those before, but they're the opposite of antibiotics, and they help promote healthy bacteria in your digestive system. They're in yogurt - and I've never been much of a yogurt person. But I got myself a stock of Activia yogurt this weekend and am having one a day (and am surprised to find that I quite enjoy them!). After three days, I think I'm starting to feel a bit better already. I wonder if the couple of times I've been on antibiotics in the past for strep throat depleted the good bacteria inside me and caused this problem. Hmmm....

Calling Dr. House

I went to the doctor this morning for on-and-off nausea that I've had since January. No, I'm not pregnant. And, unsurprisingly, there are a million things that could cause said nausea - so they took bloodwork to test for the following (possibly more?):

- An ulcer
- Anemia
- Diabetes
- A thyroid problem

If that all comes up negative, the doctor said we'll have to re-strategize from there. (Could I just sign-up to be on House, instead? That sounds more fun. Well, not really, since they do all sorts of painful things to patients. Never mind.) Anyway, it also could be due to simple stress/anxiety. Great. If that's the answer, pretty much all I can do is hope that my upcoming vacations (did I mention I'm going to FLORIDA??) ease my problems there.

Anyway, if there are any votes or bets, place them now. Test results come back Friday or Monday. If it's diabetes or my thyroid, I'd be very surprised, BTW. But weirder things have happened on House...

Email Answers

Has anyone else noticed that many (if not most) people seem to be able to respond to only one question in an email? Husband and I have noticed this in our correspondence to people for work, school, and pretty much everything else. We've even tried to number our questions in emails, but more often than not, we just get an answer to one (or two at best).

Husband and I have devised a solution to this anti-answering epidemic (or is it a phobia?). Please note that we haven't tested this solution in clinical trials as of yet, so practice it at your own risk. What follows is a sample email, with three questions being represented as A, B, and C:

Dear Mr. So-and-so,

In this email, I will ask you three questions: one about [A], one about [B], and one about [C].

1. [A]?

2. [B]?

3. [C]?

To summarize, this email asked you about [A], [B], and [C].

In conclusion, thank you in advance for your time in addressing my questions about [A], [B], and [C].

I look forward to hearing your response regarding [A], [B], and [C].

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. - In case any of the above was unclear, I asked you three questions. They were about [A], [B], and [C].

Whaddaya think? :)

Vacationally and Party-ly Challenged

Husband and I have planned some fun trips for the summer, and while we were sitting in church this past Sunday, I leaned over and whispered to him, "I'm so excited for our trips!" He chuckled and replied, "much more excited than you'll actually be when we get there, right?"

He was mostly teasing, but it's really true. I am vacationally challenged. I get SO excited for a trip (or a party) - I love planning the details, purchasing plane tickets (if that's involved, and if they're not ridiculously expensive), and just daydreaming about how much fun it will be. It honestly gets me through difficult moments/days/weeks, because I have something fun and different to look forward to.

Once the event/trip arrives, though, I immediately start being sad knowing that it will be over relatively soon. At the beginning, I can pretend (with mild success) that the end of the trip is oh, so far away and bask in the joy of being away from work and (some) responsibilities. Once we hit the halfway mark, though, I usually have some depression begin to kick in, thinking "Oh, no! There's only X days left! It's almost over!" Even if the trip is two weeks long and we're only one week into it.

This is something I really want to work on fixing, since it drastically influences my enjoyment of these memory-making activities. One of my yoga workouts is led by a guy (with a voice that sounds like Kermit the frog) who says some seemingly-silly things that I've realized are actually quite profound and that might be helpful advice for me. During some positions, he says things like "Be here... Think of what you're doing while you're doing it... Enjoy the way this feels," etc.

I think too often, I'm thinking ahead to the next thing (in life, on my list, after my current activity, whatever), and not living any given moment fully. Then I look back and it's gone, and I realize I didn't make the most of it. I need to learn to BE where I am, to THINK/ENJOY what I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.* If I can conquer this before I have kids, I know it will be especially worthwhile, since everyone says how fast they grow up. (*Um, I think trying to apply this counsel to work might be overkill - I want to learn to enjoy fun stuff before I try to make myself enjoy not-fun-at-all stuff, thank you very much.)

That all might be easier said than done, however. Do any of you feel the same way? Do you have any advice or tips on how to battle those feelings? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Preferrably before May, when I get to go to Florida! I get to go to FLORIDA in May!! It's less than two months away!! WAHOOO!!!!!!!!!! *Jumping up and down and clapping hands for joy*

....yeeeeaaaah, see what I mean?!

It Really Doesn't Get More Random Than This...

So...where do I begin? To make a long story short, I helped make a music video for a photographer (Tracey Lee) who wants to attract local artists to have him make music videos for them. How I got into that was very random, but it was a VERY fun and interesting project with which to be involved, and I think Tracey did a wonderful job. Some important disclaimers:

1) This is SO fictional. That should go without saying, since you all know my husband and me, but the video made my mom sad even though she knew it was pretend, so I figured it's best to just say that upfront.

2) It's so fictional, in fact, that I'm not singing and husband doesn't play the guitar (except for one song that he learned to play for me on our first Valentine's day and when he proposed - aw!). The former fact seems outrageously plain to me, but I've had a few people ask me about it, so NO - that's not my voice. Not even close. The latter fact is quite obvious in the video, but I've also had people ask me about that, too. Husband was such a good sport to participate in the first place (he didn't want to) - but he did a great job!

The video is on Tracey's blog - it's the top video on the blog today, but if you go to the link later, just go to the March 17th post. His website shows more of his material, too.

For All Intents and Purposes

I would like to take this moment to announce to the world that, for all intents and purposes*, I am hereby DONE with my Master's degree!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

*This equals three paragraph-long discussion board posts. I have to wait for the other person in the class to post to them (not due until later this month and a couple times in March, respectively).

It still isn't quite sinking in (feels like I'll be starting another class in April or something). But co-workers have given me chocolate to celebrate, and husband sent me early-Valentine's roses at work, so I am sufficiently giddy. Here's to more sleep, a cleaner, more organized home, and more frequent blog-posting to come!!!

Apologizing for this Interruption in Service

I am currently on a roll with my schoolwork and tasting the I-could-be-done-next-week-as-opposed-to-next-month sweetness. Blog's going on hold until I can celebrate with you all. But I'm still here, and can promise exciting blog posts in the near future about such things as...

1. Husband's '69 Mustang project (I'm having him write the post - what the blazes do I know about cars, anyway??)
2. My crazy cat that treats me like a jungle gym whenever I do yoga.
3. My hatred of snow (well, I might not bore you with this one, but I could write a week's worth of blogs about it in my head)

I know, you can hardly stand the wait. Do your best to go on with your life until I post again. Eat. Sleep. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't sue me.

You, Too, Can Break the Shackles of Indecisiveness

You may have seen in my 25 Random Things post how husband and I alternate date nights. I wanted to elaborate on this practice, since it really is the bee's knees. I don't know how many of you are indecisive out there (well, there might not be many of you that read this to begin with), but speaking from five years of time-wasting, I can tell you there's a whole world that you're missing.

How Friday and Saturday Nights USED to Go:
"What do you want to do?"
"I dunno, what do you want to do?"
"I don't really have a preference; I'm fine with whatever you want to do."
"Do you want to watch a movie?"
"Well, do YOU want to watch a movie?"
"I don't know."
"Me neither."
. . .
"But you probably do want to watch a movie, since you brought it up, right?"
"I didn't say that, I only thought you might want to watch a movie."

And on, and on, and on. We would waste at least an hour most nights, and sometimes wouldn't end up doing ANYTHING.

Then my co-worker told me about how he and his wife alternate Friday date nights. The thing is, he told me this a few years ago. I loved the idea instantaneously, and husband agreed it was wise. Hehehe. We only got around to trying it out a few months ago. Anyway, now it has changed everything for the better. I can't recommend it enough.

Here are a couple examples of what husband has gotten me to do on his Friday nights:
1. Work on our budget. Yeah, not your normal idea for a date night, but I had no choice, and he knew I'd whine otherwise. I still whined a bit.
2. Go to Sears to pick up a battery charger (are you seeing a pattern in all this practicality?). I promise that's not all husband chooses to do on Friday nights - we watch action flicks, go out to eat where he wants, etc.

Now for what I've gotten him to do on my Friday nights:
1. Watch Pride and Prejudice with me. The A&E 6-hour Pride and Prejudice. (Okay, not all six hours in the one Friday night, but we eventually watched the whole thing. And he didn't hate [all] of it!)
2. Clip our cats' claws (okay, sometimes I can be practical with my Friday night selections, as well. It had to be done, people. Buttercup is expert at honing perfect daggers out of her claws, and she loves demonstrating their sharpness, believe you me).

I don't want to bore you with all the other stuff we do - the key is that we DO stuff. It's lovely. I've heard that one of my aunt-and-uncle pairs trades off entire weeks of decision-making. That sounds a little intimidating, but I'm thinking of expanding our Fridays to include Saturdays and/or the entire weekend.

If you haven't tried this, I hereby challenge you to do so this weekend (don't put it off forever like we did!). Call or text your spouse right now and pick whose Friday this will be (toss a coin if this could otherwise start some sort of tiff). Then mark your calendar for the next few months of which Friday is whose. Then come back and tell me what you thought of it (no sooner than two weeks - doesn't really count if you don't experience both sides of it).

Off you go!

Hooray for Groundhog Day!

Thanks to my brother, for saving me oodles of time in today's Groundhog Day post; please, read his blog today (and every day - he has a highly entertaining blog). I echo most of his words, except I still like Valentine's day. Sorry.

But back to Groundhog Day. I just want to put an additional plug in for the movie, which is truly a classic. With each viewing, it gets funnier and I learn something new. It does a great job at teaching you to appreciate life, look outside yourself and serve others, without ever preaching. Seminary videos can't hold a candle to it, really. So even if you're not going to be throwing an extravaganza, do yourself a favor and start a tradition of watching this movie on the holiday every year. You can work up to the full-blown shin-dig (which brings to mind another Bill Murray gem...baby steps to watching the movie...baby steps to inviting friends and family over for an annual party...baby steps to taking the day off work every year...).

Happy Groundhog Day!!

25 Things About Me

Just following my brother's lead (I told you I was a Me Too Iguana, didn't I??) and using my Facebook note for a blog post. :)

25 Random Things About Me:

1. I am compulsively honest with my mom and husband. If there's something I plan to not tell them, it's almost guaranteed that I'll tell them anyway. That's why it's such a miracle that I was able to successfully throw a big surprise party for husband's 30th birthday.

2. I played the trombone through grade school and my first year of college, making it into district band and winning a jazz band soloist award. Haven't played since 2000, although I own two trombones.

3. I'm apparently completely predictable - anytime I play Loaded Questions or Imaginiff or any other game that requires people to guess what you'd say or how you think, everyone always automatically pegs me right on. I hope that doesn't mean I'm boring.

4. Playing the piano is one of my best stress-relievers, but I absolutely cannot perform for people (even my family). Unfortunately, we don't have a piano, and I haven't played in years. Maybe that's why I'm so stressed...

5. When I was 8 or 9, my mom and I got into a car accident just minutes after I'd asked her if she'd ever been in an accident before, and she had said no. Someone crossed a double yellow line in front of us. Scary.

6. When I was 6 or 7, I was in my grandma's car with my brothers and a cousin or two, and we were listening to the story of Bambi on tape and hit a deer. (Hm, I must have bad car karma.) We automatically switched the tape to Alice in Wonderland, but one of my cousins mentioned that we'd probably hit a white rabbit (luckily, we didn't).

7. I never had a real honeymoon. We drove from Indiana to SLC in three days. Sigh. [Update: Yeah, we did get to stay at a wonderful B&B, and we did have a lovely time on the three-day drive. We could have taken our time on that drive and/or stayed at nicer places or tried to sightsee a bit, but we didn't. My pity party is over. :) Someday, though, I'd like to travel somewhere with just my husband - a cruise, or Europe, or somewhere. Guess that's what I'm really getting at here.] :)

8. I got married in the Nauvoo temple in Illinois - husband's ancestor had designed the original Nauvoo temple, and my ancestors had helped build it. Husband and I stayed in a bed and breakfast there for a couple nights and had some of the best food I've ever eaten, but I haven't been able to track down the manager (who is no longer at that B&B) to get the recipes.

9. I am learning to cook, slowly branching out and experimenting with recipes and seasonings. This is thanks to husband's family, who seasons things so well, and especially husband's mom, who is an amazing cook. I want to be an amazing cook!

10. I love planning parties and vacations almost more than I enjoy the parties/vacations themselves. I'm working on not being that way.

11. When I was really little, my mom and stepdad were worried I'd grow up to be a stand-up comedian. I was a real ham.

12. I got 1st runner up in the Little Miss Clarkstown pageant when I was 6. Probably because I improvised a ballet dance to Mozart that went on and on (they hadn't realized when they were supposed to stop the tape and I just kept going and going and going).

13. I did NOT only eat Pop-Tarts and hotdogs growing up, as most of my family will tell you. But it's true that I didn't eat much beyond those. (I didn't even like pizza! How is that possible?!?) I'm much less picky these days, but still don't like seafood, cooked mushrooms, or pork (most of the time). But I can stomach any of the three if I have to! :)

14. If I hadn't married my husband, I would very likely be 50-70 lbs heavier than I am. Thank you, husband. Also, I thank The Firm.

15. I am a homebody. I enjoy going out with friends, but have to force myself to do so.

16. I spent almost my entire engagement to husband at a big cat sanctuary in Texas, caring for 66 exotic cats (lions, tigers, cougars, jaguars, etc.). A lot of it was picking up poop (you've never seen/smelled poop like that before), but a lot of it was really amazing. It would have been better if I hadn't been engaged during that, though, because I would have been able to enjoy/absorb it more! I was living my dream.

17. I've also done internships with reptiles and birds. Both have much more personality than you'd think. I would LOVE to own a snake (not sure what kind...maybe a rainbow boa) and a toucan.

18. I can't stand scrapbooking. I've only ever done two pages in my life, and will not do any more. Bless my wonderful husband for hating scrapbooking, as well.

19. I would love to brush up on my Appalachain basket weaving skills (took a course with my sister-in-law my last semester at BYU and made some pretty dang awesome baskets!).

20. I usually complained when my family traveled for vacations growing up - now, I am SO grateful for all the places I got to visit (England, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland), and I'm worried I'll never get to travel again.

21. I would love to have my own little business - that might happen someday when I'm home with our kidlets. The type of business is yet to be determined.

22. One of husband's and my favorite things to do together is read. We've read The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter series and Twilight series, The Life of Pi, Ender's Game, and The Goose Girl together (maybe more - that's all I could think of currently). Right now we're reading The Last Lecture.

23. Husband and I are possibly the most indecisive couple on the face of the earth. A solution we've found is to trade off Friday date nights - one of us at a time picks everything. Neither of us can decide which turn is better - getting to choose everything or not having to choose anything.

24. I'm slowly ticking off things on my must-do-while-I-still-live-in-Utah list - went skiing, hiked to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos, hiked to the Y, hiked to the Timpanogos caves. We still need to do some trips - Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion's and the Grand Canyon, Shakespeare Festival, Capitol Reef...the list could go on.

25. I credit my success in school with my two older brothers - they were and still are amazing and I'm consistently motivated to keep up with them.

Take Two

Okay, so it's been quite a long time. I told you there were no guarantees. (There still aren't.) But I'm going to try to get back on the blogwagon.

For today, I just have a quick recommendation to check out icanhascheezburger.com. If you're a cat-lover, mostly, but even if not. I confess I am a nerd and check it every day, only because it usually gets me to laugh out loud every time I look at it. A few favorites are inserted below:








I was even geeky enough to make and submit my own - this was the aftermath of Buttercup's first discovery of the joys of toilet-paper-roll-demolition.



What do I like about this strange site? It captures so much of cats' quirky personalities and antics. I wouldn't be surprised if their thoughts aren't too far off of what we think they might be sometimes. :)