Old Friends are the Best Friends

A few weeks ago I got to meet up with my friends Sharla, Mary Lou and Carole for dinner when we passed through Riverside. I love having friends who you can go forever without seeing, and when you are finally together again, you start up right where you left off.

Love you, girls!

Pregnancy Myths

One thing that I have found to be true about pregnancy is that it is truly different for every woman. Some women love being pregnant and have an amazing experience. And then there are the rest of us.

One other thing I’ve found is that pregnancy is full of myths. Here are a just a few:

Myth: You will have clear, beautiful skin during pregnancy.
Reality: Your chin will break out worse than anything you ever imagined possible, requiring you to purchase a variety of new cleansing products as well as full coverage foundation. These things aren’t particularly effective, but at least they make you feel like you’re doing something to address the problem.

Myth: Once you hit your 2nd trimester, you will regain your energy and feel fabulous.
Reality: While you may no longer feel like you’re going to toss your cookies from the time you get up until the time you go to bed, you are far from feeling fabulous. 8:00 is still your preferred bedtime and you continue to make as few commitments in the evenings as possible so you can make that bedtime a reality at least on occasion.

Myth: Shopping for baby stuff is fun.
Reality: If you consider spending hours researching products in books, on websites and on message boards fun, then I suppose this isn’t a myth. However when considering large purchases like a crib, car seat/travel system, etc., you become keenly aware that the wrong decision will not only lead to wasted money, but quite possibly the death of your child through some freak, 1 in a billion accident. Someone has to be that 1, right??

Don’t get me wrong—I am absolutely elated for the baby to get here. I just wish I could skip the whole pregnancy part with the same end result…

Oh yeah, and pictures will be coming soon.

The Tuesday Ten

This week...10 things you may not know about me.

1. I was born on the same day that Elvis died.
2. I used to be a substitute teacher. It sucked, but it paid the bills.
3. I am in the process of starting my own freelance writing business.
4. My favorite color is red.
5. The furthest I have ever traveled is Adelaide, Australia.
6. I hate to iron. This is excellent news for the local dry cleaner.
7. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies.
8. I am paranoid that I am going to burn my house down by leaving my flat iron plugged in all day.
9. I never loose stuff, but somehow I've managed to lose my iPod twice in the last couple of months. It is currently MIA.
10. I have never run out of gas. Though with my new car I have tried a few times because the steering wheel covers up the gas gauge and I don't notice that there's an issue until the light comes on.

Updates

Bryan with a sample of the flooring we got for the nursery. And yes, we were VERY excited about this gift!


Baby's first toy...from Grandma and Grandpa Colby.
(Baby also got the cutest little outfit ever from my parents, but I can't get the picture to post right. Boo.)




So when it rains it pours. But rather than bore you with all the details, I'll just give you a quick update:

Christmas: We were able to get away to California for a few days before Christmas to see my parents and Lance. It was nice to visit and made me grateful for winter weather in Arizona! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Bryan's family, which was a great time as usual. We were especially excited to get hardwood flooring for the nursery as one of our gifts.

New Years: As is the usual for us, New Years was not a big deal. Mostly I just enjoyed my final day off before I had to head back to work.

The Baby: I haven't gained an ounce of weight in the past four weeks, but I am definitely showing! My next appointment is tomorrow, then the appointment after that (in four more weeks) should tell us if we're having a boy or a girl. Mother's intuition (and everyone around me) says its a girl. We'll see!

Anyway, the morning sickness and constant fatigue are starting to fade so I'm really excited about that. It's been really hard not having the energy I need just to do many of the day-to-day things that you take for granted. But I'm starting to get back to my old self. And I'm finally able to eat more than cold cereal, McDonald's cheeseburgers and mac & cheese!

We're in the process of doing some pretty involved home improvements to get ready for the baby. We're turning our office into the nursery, and the nook in our current family room into the office. That mostly consists of the installation of major amounts of cabnetry that is scheduled in four weeks. We're then moving the TV into the living room and turning the guest room into the sort of "miscellaneous room" for all of my scrapbooking stuff, At Home America, etc. It's lots of work, but I'm excited to see the final result. Once we start doing more than the initial cleaning up and cleaning out, I'll post pictures...

Where I've Been

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. It has been crazy, to say the least.

The majority of the insanity has been great...on our Anniversary, Bryan and I found out that we are expecting! We wanted to wait for our first appointment to make sure everything was OK before we made a big announcement. So on Dec. 11 we had the first ultrasound and got to see and hear the little one's heart beat. It was amazing.

While we couldn't be happier, it has been a bit of a challenge as well. Being sick every day (why do they call it morning sickness when it lasts all day??), wanting to do nothing but sleep and only being able to eat a total of about 10 items has definitely all been new. I am currently 10 1/2 weeks along, so hopefully in a couple of weeks the whole sick/tired thing will begin to fade. Bryan has been his usual wonderful self, very supportive and not even taking issue with the fact that he's been on his own for dinner every night for about a month now (I cannot handle the smell of just about anything cooking...).

Anyway, that coupled with the holidays (luckily I had all of my shopping done early) and an unexpected trip to California after Thanksgiving for my grandma's funeral has left me without energy to get much done other than those things which are absolutely necessary.

Everyone tells me that once I get through the first trimester I will return to my happy, energetic self which will of course leave lots more time for posting on the blog :)

The Tuesday Ten

In honor of Thanksgiving this week, here are 10 things I'm grateful for:

1. A wonderful, kind, patient, hard-working husband
2. Citizenship in a free country
3. Membership in the Church
4. Not having to worry about food on the table, clothes on my back or a roof over my head
5. Wonderful friends
6. Good health (even with my current bought of hives, I have it good)
7. My puppy dog
8. A job where I enjoy my co-workers and feel like I'm contributing to something meaningful
9. Getting to work with the young women in my ward and hopefully becoming a little less selfish in the process
10.My education

The Tuesday Ten

Ten Things That Currently Make Me Happy:

1. Sleep!
2. The consistency with which I have been having good hair days lately
3. Bryan
4. Having more than half of my Christmas shopping done
5. Scrapbooking
6. Mac lipstick in Desire
7. My favorite Coach bag
8. PB&J sandwiches
9. That my iPod is no longer MIA
10. That it's mid-November and I still haven't had to wear a coat

(Because I've been a bit of a slacker on posting lately, I stole the idea of "The Tuesday Ten" and figure at least once a week I can come up with a top ten list about something!)

A Hobby Rekindled

Around 10 years ago I was introduced to scrapboooking when my friend Mary Lou had a Creative Memories party at her house. I had never been particularly crafty, but I loved photos, so I quickly got hooked. Over time however, work and school and many other demands on my time prevented me from pursuing this little hobby.

A few months ago, Bryan was looking at the scrapbook I put together back in the day. “Why don’t you do this with our pictures?” he asked. Good question. I’m still busy but not to the extent I used to be, and to be honest I’ve been feeling a need to have a hobby. So I pulled out my old scrapbooking supplies, bought some new ones and got to work. The good thing is that every since we’ve been together, I’ve put all of Bryan’s and my pictures in an album, in order and with notes about the dates, places, etc so it’s been pretty easy to get going.

This past weekend I went to a fun crop with my friend Wendy. We were there from 6:00 to midnight and I got a ton of pages done. It’s fun to have a hobby again!

Doing My Civic Duty

I love election day. Weird, I know, but true. Here in Arizona there is an interesting policy where in addition to being able to complete an absentee ballot, you can also go down to the elections office a few weeks prior to election day to cast your ballot. I see how this is convenient (it is definitely Bryan's preferred method of casting his vote) but for me there is something patriotic about going down to the polls on election day.

This morning I headed over to my polling place and after about a 45 minute wait, I did my thing and voted on the longest ballot in Arizona's history. I dig the ballots here in Arizona--you use a marker to complete an arrow that points to how you want to vote. Pretty much idiot proof. No hanging chads here.

Anyway, if you haven't yet voted, make sure to get out there today!

Time Flies!

Yesterday was Bryan's and my 2 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been two years already!

I always say that marrying Bryan was the best decision I ever made. He evens me out, keeps me from taking life too seriously, and can always make me laugh. He humors me when I need to be humored and isn't afraid to lay down the law when necessary. Pretty much he is my perfect match. I'm a very lucky girl, and I try to always remember that.

Last night he had to go to a meeting, so we had a quick dinner at Outback, but tonight we're actually 'celebrating.' I have no idea where we're going (well if I were to guess I'd guess Melting Pot, so we'll see...) but we have reservations at 8:30, so I'm looking forward to that...

Yay for being happily married :)

(and yes, those are the flowers he sent me yesterday. he has fabulous taste...)