20 weeks

Here's me at 20 weeks. I think I look humongous for only being 5 months. Oh well, not going to stress over it ....









First pumpkin pie of the season .... mmmmmm .... delicious!

Yellowstone or GC??? (footnote 1)

Michelle called me a few weeks ago to make plans to take our Mother to Yellowstone & the Tetons to celebrate surviving chemotherapy (footnote 2). It just so happened to fall on General Conference weekend, which I've watched religiously since becoming an adult. I don't know if you've ever been faced with choosing between two good things... but for me it has always been the case that when faced with choosing between two things... knowing I could only do one... I would feel a sense of doom... either way, I end up feeling guilty or at least making a choice is like pulling teeth. But just a few weeks prior to my sister's call... while sitting in church.... I heard a great talk about listening to the spirit and to letting the spirit be our guide, especially when faced with multiple choices, all of which seem good. Interestingly enough I got the chance to put it into practice. The trip was fabulous!!! Sara, Sorry for leaving you in Vegas.


Footnote 1.
GC = General Conference, basically this is when LDS church members get together to listen to the prophet of the Church.
Footnote 2.
Okay, Mom is doing great, although she has temporarily lost her sense of taste and she can't really feel her toes but we are all praying for her speedy recovery. She HAD colon cancer... you would never guess her age by the way my Mom acts and the amount of energy she has despite it all.

A itty bitty...

I've been a little distracted lately, Sara has been really kind and supportive. Wednesday, we really thought we might lose my little brother after getting in severe biking accident. He was rushed to the University of Utah where they cut his skull open to relieve the pressure and to stop the bleeding. Anything with the brain really freaks me out... almost more than eye injuries and needles... while he was in surgery I assembled the baby's new rocker... to make the time go by faster...meanwhile, Sara called her family and we all said a prayer for his behalf. My uncle and cousin came down to give him a blessing beforehand. Two hours passed and finally my sister called to say the surgery had gone well. Jonathan is real lucky to be alive.

A itty bitty... re-realizations.

First off, how lucky I am to be married to Sara and for her family... whenever I've lost a job or anything, I know they are all praying for me. Sometimes, my faith is weak... and it nice to have support like that. It seems with all the prayers I have had answered... I would never doubt the power of a prayer but sometimes... especially when something is important... a lot of doubts enter my mind. So it's nice to have my family and hers for backup support. Thanks.

Secondly, I've been so worried about my Mom lately, that this news... really threw me for a tailspin. Well, life is precious. People are precious. These politically debates seem like they have been going on forever... and I find myself growing more cynically especially with the downpour of pessimistic economic news. I resolved to be less sarcastic and to put forth a better effort to remember to be kind and supportive to the people that surround me... just because.

Thirdly, be careful. Jonathan has always been a cautious person. He wears helmets and seat belts and is pretty good at not seeking out danger... my best friend. But for some reason, he has been riding around without a helmet lately. He is lucky to be alive. I realized I should probably be more cautious and grateful when Sara reminds me to buckle-up or put a helmet on.

We're having a ......

Baby GIRL!

Here are pictures from my ultrasound today. Baby is healthy and has a strong heartbeat. Stanford wasn't able to make it to the ultrasound due to a work meeting that had come up at last minute. He didn't want to know what we were having until tonight so I made dinner - pasta with alfredo sause that I dyed pink, corn and french bread. I also had pink punch to drink. For dessert we had strawberry ice-cream and pink sugar cookies. I took lots of pictures but I can't get them to download at the moment so you'll have to wait for those. Oh, and I had a poem waiting for him before he ate. It read:

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes
Boy or Girl, you do not know
Trains and Trucks or Ribbons and Bows
A clue I'm sure you'd like to know

Not lots of blue or green or red
Will be found piled upon the baby's bed
But purple, white & lots of pink
We soon will find all over the sink.

The poem is a bit cheesy but my sister found it online and it was better than anything I would have come up with. She also gave me the food ideas. Now Stanford is making up songs while he's doing all the dishes (which I had to pull teeth to even get him to do). I wish I had a video camera to record his little songs...all about how life's not easy doing the dishes .... it makes me laugh!

Attack of the ...

SCORPION!!!!



Well, ok, it didn't really attack me, but on Friday night while I was home all alone I almost stepped on a baby scorpion that looked pretty similar to this one. It was in my livingroom AND I was barefoot. I just happened to catch a glimpse of it with my eye and almost had a heart attack when I looked closer and realized what it was. I quickly got a shoe and smashed the little beast and flushed it down the toliet. Stanford was pretty dissappointed I didn't get a picture of it but I was just happy I killed it before it got away! I was super paranoid to sleep that night thinking there were more of these little creatures around my house just waiting to come out and attack me (I'm being a bit dramatic, but I think you would be too if you had seen one of these). The next day Pest Control calmed me down and said not to worry unless I see another one. You can bet I've been checking behind pillows everytime I sit on the sofa or grab something from a bookshelf or looked at every spot on the floor.

Luckily ... there have been no more sightings and Stanford is now home to take a picture if the next one pops up.

Splurge

Today has been a MUCH better day. I woke up headache free and even though I had nausea on and off, I felt 10x's better than yesterday. Stanford has successfully made it to Utah and now I am home alone. This is how I have spent my evening thus far:

A trip to the mall to buy some maternity clothes. It wasn't the most successful trip ever but I came away with two tops - something is better than nothing.

Then I treated myself to this:



Then this . . .



And now I'm home watching this . . .



When Stanford called me a little while ago he was quite appalled at my choice of dinner for the evening. Me, I was perfectly happy with my pretzel, lemonade, and 1/2 lb. of handpicked See's. The house is still a mess, the trash waiting to be taken out, and yet I'm quite content sitting with my feet up, watching Ever After and enjoying the fact that I feel good. . . and not least bit guilty for the things I splurged on tonight.

I wonder what the next few days will bring?