Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day became a very special day for me- not quite
for the reason it should be....but exactly two years ago, I came to Honolulu
to do an internship at Shriners Hospital for Children, in the Recreation Therapy department. I met Samuel at Bucca Di Beppo (an italian restaurant) only 6 days after I got on the island.
I was with another guy, whom I soon forgot about. I saw Samuel three times that week, at different activities, and he was so charming and handsome, but I just couldn't figure out why he wouldn't just ask me out when he
acted so much like he wanted to. (Now he says it was because he was sure
he had no chance and that I would break his heart, which I guess is an acceptable answer.)

So, remembering what I'd learned at my "Marriage Prep" class at BYU, I took matters into my own hands. (This professor, Dr. Barlow, actually gave us assignments to ask people out. He didn't like girls sitting around "waiting" for stuff to happen.) So I asked Samuel if he wanted to go out with some people from Shriners, to a sandbar. You have to boat out to it, and it's basically a mini-island of sand a few miles off the shore. Depending on the tide, it's usually covered by a few inches or a few feet of water. It's a fun party place. Well, he agreed. I actually have a picture of this momentous first date,


and you can see how different he looked when I first met him, all scruffy with his curly hair all long(and for some reason I just loved it!) Anyway, it took a few hours for me to break down Samuel's defenses, but persistence is the key!! He decided to extend our date by taking me to Star Wars III which had just come out. That was the end of his resolve, we were together almost every day after that and engaged three months later.

Well, this memorial day we got a special treat. A friend of ours is learning to fly helicopters, he's actually almost done and just needs more flight hours. He was able to take us out on a helicopter ride so we could see our island, and it was amazing. (I've been on one other helicopter ride in Kauai, but it was really special to see our own island-home from the air.) So, I hope you enjoy the pictures of Oahu.

28 Weeks and a New Niece

Aloha friends, I've hit 28 weeks, so we took another picture. One counter says I'm 27 weeks and another says 28, so I'm going with 28, since this baby seems to be further along than we thought. She's having regular dance parties at 11 p.m. every night- I'm glad she's having such a good time in there. I, for one, am not used to my growing belly, and I keep scraping it on things! By the way, can someone tell me if I'm carrying high or low? Some stranger said I was "low" yesterday, but I can't tell. I think I'm carrying straight out in front, with this short torso of mine, where else can she go?? :)

Also, I wanted to say congrats to my sister Krystal on a great delivery of my newest niece, Kyla Collette Trapnell, out in Florida. She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces. Pictures are on Tara's blog.We're glad our baby will have a cousin so close in age. Well, Happy Memorial Day, yay for long weekends, hope everyone has a great time.

Oh good, it really is a girl!

And we got pictures to prove it this time!! We got to do a third ultrasound so the tech could get a good look at the baby's heart. Someone told me to drink a coke or something to have an "awake" baby, so I thought it would be "better" for the baby if I drank this vitamin-packed "energy drink" with anti-oxidants and vitamins (instead of caffeine) that is supposed to be sooo good for you and all natural, you know, to make sure the baby didn't sleep through the ultrasound like last time. But....it was on an empty stomach. And about 30 minutes into the ultrasound I got major cold sweats and came SO close to throwing up. I had to roll over and Samuel was like, blowing on my face cause I was ready to toss!! Embarrassing. But funny too. My bad. (Baby was pretty wiggly, but still, stupid of me!)

Anyway, I've been looking forward to this day for awhile, I love peeking in on my baby. We saw her yawn and suck on her hand, and put her hand under her chin like she was propping it up, it was just so fun. We got a picture of her little girl parts, but I won't put that one up. It was just nice to get the confirmation. Our tech was super nice and took all these extra pictures for us. I know all babies pretty much look the same at this point, but oh well!!! We're too excited to keep them to ourselves. Here's a nice profile shot: (does she have my nose? j/k)

The tech said they were keeping my due date the same, but that August 17th might be a more accurate date (instead of the 26th.) She ALSO said the baby's leg bones are extra long, and our baby might be really tall. Weird!! I never thought my baby might grow up to be taller than me! She does have a tall daddy...anyway, here's a cute little foot shot

and a "hair" shot- the tech thought she had unusally long hair too, which is kind of funny to me too. Those white lines are her (long?) hair on the back of her head.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for all the great advice, seriously, you guys are like a WEALTH of information!!!!

While I'm on the Subject...

Wow, I'm surrounded by great advice and I love it!! I guess there are some benefits to waiting until age 26 to have a baby! So, I was talking with some friends today that are throwing me a baby shower. They wanted to know what I wanted...and I thought I better run to the blog for help. What kinds of things (besides clothes) should I ask for from my friends at the shower?

In your experience, what things are you sooo glad you had, or the things you will make sure to have the next time? Is there a certain brand/kind of nipples that were great? Certain kind of carseat? (I was thinking Graco Snugride). Also, we don't have a rocking chair/glider/recliner. Should we get one?

I (like Jaesi) love craigslist, and I've already started gathering some stuff. Also, some friends have generously just given us some great things. So, on that note, here's what we already have:

Jeep Jogger Stroller
Bjorn Baby carrier
Electric breast pump (one-sided...should I borrow my sister's double sided?)
Baby Tub
Bouncy Chair
Diaper Genie
Nursing/Boppy pillow

So hook me up with your ideas, I'll be so grateful. :)

Crib or Pack-n-play?

Hi girls, I need some advice. A friend of ours is moving, and they offered to give us some baby stuff (nice!). They have a full sized crib and also a pack-n-play. Their 2 year old has been sleeping in the crib and their 8 month old in the pack-n-play, since he was born. So, my question is, if I had to choose one, which should I choose?

Keep in mind: Our apartment is a small one-bedroom, so the baby will either be sleeping in our room or the living room. The pack-n-play would obviously fit better, but the baby will outgrow it by 30 lbs. But I don't have a bassinette or anything, so do any of you have experience putting a newborn in a crib?

Also: We aren't sure how long we'll be living here, we could be leaving in a few months, or maybe staying for a few years. So I can't base my choice on that.

All your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! She doesn't really get to read this much, but Happy Birthday anyway.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you!

Just wanted to say that I hope you all had a wonderful mother's day, I know you girls are wonderful mothers, and I just wanted to say thanks for the advice in helping me get ready to be one. You guys are great. Also, thanks to Samuel for making the day so special, and for making me the best barbeque ribs EVER!! Love ya!

Spider Bites!

So, before I put up a picture of my spider bites, I have to say two things: 1. I live in Hawaii, but I might as well live in Minnesota with Emma because I'm just as white as she is. (No offense Emma darling, it was the first cold place I thought of.) My first year in Hawaii I laid out religiously, loving my year-round tan. Then, quite suddenly, about a year ago, I started noticing the brown sun-spots and freckles popping up on my face and hands. Some of them were pretty big, and finally I saw the light and stopped toasting my skin all the time. I am now a huge fan of sunscreen and I am trying hard to find products to fade all the damage, but it's taking forever. So, I don't really lay out anymore, and you will notice when you see how white my legs are.
2. This is mostly for my sister, Krystal, in Florida. Don't let Allie (my niece) see this picture or she'll start having spider nightmares again!! (Poor girl actually found a huge spider in a bedroom at her house.)

So, the story, Sunday we had Stake conference, which meant we were done by noon. Nice! What did we do with our lovely sabbath? Took a huge nap of course! I took a shower before bed, and finally noticed the lovely red bites all over my legs. There's about 20 on one leg and 25 on the other (mean spider!). I never felt a thing. I'm not sure if it happened during the nap (spider stuck in the covers?) or later, but now it's Tuesday evening, and the bites are changing a bit...I don't want to go into too much detail, but there's pus involved. They don't itch though, they just hurt a bit. Wow...my legs look oddly disproportioned. Must be the camera angle. Still though, makes me wonder, why am I putting this on my blog again?


Well, that's my fun story of the day, to go along with the cockroach stories from last week!

A few random pics...

On our way to the MTC with Eric, we stopped and did a session at the Manti Temple. It was my first time inside, and wow, it is really beautiful. Here's Eric in the MTC. I didn't even want to put this picture on, I look so awful(but hey, I was sad I wouldn't see him for two years!). So Eric, here's to you, hope you're doing good! So, I'd never heard about this "Wienermobile" but we passed it, driving back to St. George. I guess I need to google that and see what it's all about. All I know is my dad was pretty excited to see it. Love these boys!! Tara and I took them out on a hot Saturday to cool off!! Maddux was a little surprised to find his diaper coming off...Uh-oh!

Then he got a little frustrated when he couldn't get his head through the chair.Nobody can get these guys to smile like Tara can! Well, I think I need to have my baby so I can blog about my own child, huh! Thanks, Tara, for providing all the entertainment in St. George!!

:)

It's only 4:06!!!!

I am at work, and for some reason this day is just DRAGGING ON!!! I go home at five, so just under an hour left, but ARRGH! It feels so far away. My job is really relaxed, but it has some negatives. I just keep telling myself..only 3 more months and I'm done with this place forever!

So, to help pass the time, I'm responding to being tagged again, so Abby, hope you don't mind, I'm borrowing your questions. Thanks.

1. COMICS OR NOVELS? Novels
2. NEAT OR SLOB? I LOVE a spotless home/car, but it just isn't happening..
5. CHOCOLATE OR PEANUT BUTTER? Both, together, forever!
7. COLD OR HOT? Cold...milk....and cold room to sleep in. Hot...days playing in water.
8. TALK OR SLEEP? Sleep of course!...but did you ever stay up all night on the phone with a guy you were totally into?
15. BEING TOLD YOU'RE LOVED, HAVING TIME SPENT WITH YOU, GETTING A PRESENT, HAVING SOMETHING DONE FOR YOU, BEING TOUCHED.WHICH DESCRIBES YOUR GREATEST NEED?
Is this like the 5 Love Languages? Great book. Touch and Being Told...both.
16. WHICH IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE SEASON? Well, there aren't seasons in Hawaii...I've forgotten.
18. DO YOU LIKE YOUR PHOTO BEING TAKEN? Not particularly.
20. HAVE YOU EVER BLABBED A SECRET WHEN YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T? I can't remember, probably.
22. WHO DO YOU THINK HAS THE MOST INTERESTING LIFE IN YOUR SOCIAL(blog) GROUP? All equally interesting to me!
25. DO YOU EVER FANTASIZE ABOUT HAVING A DIFFERENT LIFE? No, just a house and my own car...ahhh.
26. HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO START YOUR LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN? Kind of, when I moved to Hawaii. I had no money, no friends, and only a few outfits. (I was only supposed to be here three months. Two years later...) I guess that works.
27. WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A RELATIONSHIP? Equality, commitment, feeling "complete."
26. WORDS, TONE AND DELIVERY, OR BODY LANGUAGE: WHICH DO YOU ABSORB FIRST? WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT? Tone/delivery- so revealing!
30. ARE YOU A GOOD COMMUNICATOR? I thought I was a great communicator til I got married, then I realized I have lots to learn. But I think I'm getting better.
31. DO YOU THINK YOU TALK TOO MUCH? No
32. CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH? Sometimes the truth hurts, but what can ya do.
33. HOW OFTEN DO YOU CRY? At least weekly, because I watch lots of baby deliveries, and I cry most every time. Thanks to A Baby Story on TLC.
36. WHAT SOUND ANNOYS YOU THE MOST? Farts and Belches. And the garbage truck that wakes us up every Monday at 5 a.m. SOO LOUD! I can't even describe it.
44. WOULD YOU RATHER BE SINGLE, DATING, ENGAGED, OR MARRIED? Married for sure
47. SIGNIFICANCE, SELF-WORTH, OR SECURITY. WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT? Self Worth
48. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERHERO POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Fly Fly Fly like in my dreams
50. DO YOU THINK YOU'RE A GOOD DRIVER? I am not the best driver, but I have a clean record...
52. WHY DO YOU GO TO WORK:
1. So I can read everyone's blogs all day
2. I would be so bored at home!
3. Money of course
53. WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE TEACHER? WHATS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT? Teacher, Mr. Christensen "Coach C" was so patient with me in my years of high school math...lots of great professors. Subject, I loved Anatomy. And English.
54. WHO'S SURVEY ANSWERS WOULD YOU MOST WANT TO SEE? Everyone who hasn't filled this out yet.

Ahhh...now it's 4:33, I just killed 27 minutes, sweet! I am tagging everyone who has not filled this out yet. You know you want to.

St. George

Okay, so I might have a few more photos than I thought. Here's a funny one of Malakai. My uncle is a professional masseuse, and he brings his massage chair over to our house to give us free massages. (He works wonders on my back.) We thought this was a cute picture of Malakai acting like he wanted a massage.


We had a birthday party for Tara on the 23rd, and a farewell party dinner for Eric (same night) and tons of people came over. I got to see Tara Haynie, some of you know her, she's my longest friend, when I say longest, we've been friends since we were four years old, and we're still great friends now. We used to refer to her as "Big Tara" and my sister as "Little Tara" when we needed to distinguish. Can I just say it was kinda rainy and FREEZING that day? You can see a little of the park that we loved having in our backyard (as Little Tara mentioned in her blog.)
This is the view of the temple from our backyard, my parents bought this lot for the view, and I love it.
And this was after our Pizza Factory lunch, these are my three best friends from high school, Genis, Suzanne, and Katie. We played volleyball and basketball together, now Genis, Katie and I are all having babies within a month of each other, and Suzanne recently had a baby boy. It was fun to get together, and brought back tons of memories. Genis and I worked at Pizza Factory for two years, and we saw all these people we knew. Fun. Love those breadsticks.
Okay, one last thing, we did the free trial of Blockbuster online and Netflix, where you get the movies in the mail, and we LOVED it, now we are subscribing. It saves us a lot of money, renting movies is so expensive these days! We liked Netflix better. They offer a free 2-week trial, but I just got an email offering a free month to my family and friends. (You can get up to three movies/TV series at a time, and get an unlimited amount per month.) And it's totally free. So if anybody wants me to forward the e-mail so you can have a free month of netflix, just let me know.

Back to Business!

Hi everyone! I'm glad to be back! The week was amazing and flew by. I am happy to say that I did get to go to Cafe Rio, Charlie's, the Olive Garden, Pizza Factory, and the Quilted Bear. (Um, now I understand how you can spend $200 on bows, Kristen, they are expensive! Bracelets too! But sooo cute, a must have, and I might as well buy them now while I'm still working, right? That was my excuse for spending $60.)

I'm sorry I didn't get to see a lot of people in St. George and Provo/SLC. We weren't even in Provo for a full 24 hours.

I don't have a lot of pictures, but I will put some on later. Most of them are of Maddux and Malakai, (could they be any cuter? They were the best entertainment all week.) I was especially excited to be there when Malakai started taking his first steps, which by the end of the week, turned into fearless walking wherever he wanted, falling along the way of course. Wow, that's the cutest thing to watch.

The good news is, my flight coming back to Hawaii was overbooked, and they gave me a $400 voucher for a future (Christmas!) flight, and put me up in a hotel in Vegas for the night, for agreeing to come the next day instead. Score! I love free flights! That will especially help us out when we're poor. My boss was kind of mad that I took an extra day, but could I care less? No. I'm quitting soon enought anyway.

So, now I have lots of blog-catching up to do, I'm glad everyone is doing good.

Happy Birthday Tara!!

Today is Tara's GOLDEN birthday!! She is 23 on the 23rd.

Eeven though you beat me up a lot when we were little, we get along great now! (You know I had couldn't hit you back, since I was older and supposed to "know better"!!) Anyway,
I'm excited to be with you on your birthday. You're an awesome sister and a wonderful mom. Have a Happy Birthday!!

Utah, We love Thee

I know, I'm cheesy! But I'm pretty sure I learned Utah's "state song" in fourth grade, and that is the only line I remember, because I think that's what the song is called.



ANYWAY, I am going to Utah tomorrow, yay! My little bro Eric is leaving on his mission (farewell on Sunday, MTC on Wednesday) and I can't miss it. Eric and I have a special connection- he first introduced me to the best musical of all time (Wicked) and after listening to the CD nonstop, we decided we HAD to see it. That was a FUN spur of the moment trip, we got to New York and found out we DIDN'T have tickets to Wicked like we thought, but at the last second somebody put some on ebay, we bought them, and went to Wicked. It was in December too, so we got to see NYC at Christmastime. Fabulous. Well, we've been close ever since. I'm going to miss him! He'll be in San Diego, so close, yet so far away! He did just find out that the missionaries get to go to that gorgeous temple once a transfer (every six weeks)--which is rare for missionaries. Could he BE any luckier? (In Chandler Bing style...)



So, this might be my last trip to Utah for awhile, so I'm compiling a list of places I must go and eat and shop, so I hope you guys have some ideas! Besides visiting friends, my only plans are Charlies (for a shake) and Cafe Rio (for...the whole menu.)And...I've heard there's some great new places to eat in St. George...help me out guys!!! And when I'm in Provo, I want to go to that store where Kristen gets cute bows...where is it at Kristen? Oh wait, Kristen's in Cali!! I'll google it!!

Baby Pictures

Did you guys all know that Camie is a second cousin of mine? She had an idea for a group post of baby/kid pictures. I only have two with me out here, but here they are. I don't know why I started out with dark hair and then went blond. Now that process is reversing.

Chunky

So, thanks everyone for putting up with me and my expressions of feeling BIG. I'm going to the doctor today to see how much I gained in the last 5 weeks, but I already have a good idea, and it's going to shock the nurse, that's all I can say. I was feeling extra big because I was still trying to wear my low-riding capris and pants, but I'd have to unzip them a little, then once I sat down (at work all day) I'd have to unzip them almost completely!! I was just getting uncomfortable, so I did what any self-respecting growing pregnant woman would do, I went to Ross and bought some cheap maternity "dress pants" and another pair with a stretchy waist band. I also bought two bigger bras (1.99 and 3.99, cheap!) with no underwire or anything...and AHHHH, can I just say I am so comfortable? So I figured I'd be just fine with my expanding body, and I get home from Ross and show Samuel my new dress pants, and without thinking he goes, "Wow, those look huge!" He must have seen the crestfallen look on my face, that was SUCH the wrong answer, adding to my paranoia of my hugeness at 20 weeks, and he tries to dig himself out with "I meant it as a compliment, you seem so much smaller than that to me."

Well, what can ya do but laugh...but the real kicker came when I WORE the pants the next day, I thought they looked great, they're black and loose and kind of slimming. I wore it with a stretchy/fitted top, thinking I looked better, I definitely felt better! Until...well...

Every Thursday I teach piano lessons to three kids (I just started doing this about 9 months ago, I don't really know what I'm doing, but kids are desperate for teachers here, and the money isn't bad.) Two brothers came, their mom sits and waits for them to finish. Afterwards they were getting up to leave and the older brother, age 8, says, "You're looking chunkier!!" I smiled at his bluntness, and his mom quickly says, "Only in the belly!" but haha, how FUNNY is that? (Keep in mind I just saw this kid a WEEK ago.) Anyway, it really is quite humorous, at this point I can either stress about it or laugh about it, and I'm going to have to laugh. It's only going to get worse, like you guys pointed out, the really HUGEness is yet to come! Anyway, I'm glad my baby seems to be growing so well.

As for bad news, I have strep throat and have to go on an antibiotic. I haven't had this for years, and I just got over some intense bronchitis two weeks ago, what's up with my immune system? I guess it's another weekend of rest for me, with no internet! I will miss your blogs :( See ya'll on Monday!

Pea Soup Disaster!!!

I think I was getting overconfident in my cooking abilities, and I needed to be humbled. I got a new cookbook as a present from my cousin, and I've been trying all kinds of new things and having fun, and everything has turned out really good on the first try. Then I got the ham bone, and a great recipe from Mel...and here's what happened.


The recipe called for two bags of split peas, which I picked up at the store. I don't have experience making beans, I used lentils once, but Samuel said he thought you were supposed to soak beans overnight before using them. That sounded about right, but I didn't have my internet access at home to google it (I use google at least 12 times a day) but I thought it couldn't hurt, they'd just be extra soft, right?


The next day, after soaking them for 12 hours, I opened the pot of peas and found this:

Those little peas had multiplied and replenished (or at least enlarged themselves!) and filled the pot!!! What a shocker. I didn't know what to do with all those peas, so I scooped half of them out (half=8 cups of peas) and put them in a big ziplock for...later use? I wasn't sure. I added the water, onion, hambone, ham, pototatoes, etc, and let it boil for an hour, like the recipe said. At some point, I started to smell that BURNT to a crisp smell, but it couldn't be my soup could it? Oh, but it was! I decided to get a new pot out, and dumped the soup into it so that I could see the problem and I found that the peas had completely turned to mush, sank to the bottom of the pot, and burned along the bottom of the pot. WHAT? So I threw out the hambone and the blob of pea mush, and I was left with soup w/a nice burnt flavor, but it was still edible, so I ate a big bowl, and it wasn't that bad...if you ignored the burnt taste, the dissolved peas, and nearly-dissolved potatoes. At least the carrots were good!

A half hour goes by, I'm really full (all that fiber!) and I start smelling the burning smell again, this time I'm confused. I go to the stove and realize I left the stove on medium-high heat, and completely burned it all over again. The bottom of the pan was totally black, and the soup was now the consistency of baby food, but a gross green color. I had to laugh. And be mad. (Actually, at the moment, I was more mad than anything, but now I think it's pretty funny.) So I sent a text to Samuel warning him that he was going to have to find his own dinner that night. And just for you to see how gross it was....WOW, my first attempt at split pea soup TOTALLY FAILED! (And as a side-note, can I just thank Samuel for coming home, not getting dinner, and still doing the dishes and scraping out both pots? I totally didn't deserve that.) Well, hope you enjoyed this week's cooking disaster.

Easter Fun

Our internet went down over conference weekend, which was a little inconvenient, as we wanted to watch conference at home and not at the church. Anyway, it's not actually the internet, it's something we did to our computer that won't let the internet work. Dang. So today I had to slip into my bosses office while he was out and upload my pictures, (his computer is the only one that will accept pictures from my camera, weird, I know!) But ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Blog interruptions are a pain. I guess I felt like I needed to confess, heehee.
Well, our Easter weekend was fun, just a day at the beach with some friends with my big belly. I'm kind of embarassed to put this picture on, because unfortunately I am not feeling like a "cute pregnant woman", I feel like I've doubled in size overnight, a pair of pants that used to be baggy won't fit anymore, and I'm feeling a little bad about it. But oh well, I know you guys have been there and felt unattractive, so I'm branching out here. Saturday night was an adventure though, I needed to buy 12 plastic eggs for my Easter lesson in YW's, and it was only around 9 p.m., so first we went to Wal-mart...all sold out! Then we went to Longs Drugstore...all sold out, then we went to two grocery stores, and they were all sold out!! I couldn't believe it, my whole lesson pretty much revolved around those eggs (you guys are probably familiar with the Easter lesson where little objects go in the eggs to tell the story of the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection). Anyway, finally I got a thought to call Mel, who has two little kids, I figured she just MIGHT have eggs that she used in the morning and I could use in the afternoon (church is at 1 p.m.). Sure enough, she saved the day and the lesson by lending me some plastic eggs (and then reading her blog I found out she got the LAST BAG at Wal-Mart at 7 a.m. Saturday morning! Wow!) THANK YOU MELODY!!!

One thing I love about our family ward here is that there are tons of young couples, some with little kids, and some without. Since we can't be with family except on major holidays, we tend to get together. Mark and Marty had Easter dinner at their house, and a small group of us got together for dinner. I made my first-ever Funeral potatoes (the cheddar sour cream yummy kind) and they worked out pretty good...I just realized that none of us has kids yet, so it was an adult dinner and there were no eggs to hunt. Holidays are still all about food I guess! I'm excited to have a kid to add to the mix though, especially seeing all your cute pictures.As we were driving to dinner we saw this lovely sight out the window. So I thought I'd share the Easter rainbow. Happy Easter.

Ham Bone

My camera is at home, I'm at work, so I'll do the whole Easter weekend thing later, but last night we had a fun dinner with friends with an Easter Ham, and I got sent home with the Ham Bone, and I want to attempt to use it in a soup...I was just wondering if anyone has a good soup recipe that needs a Ham Bone...I can google it, but thought I'd try you guys first. Thanks!

A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST 20 WEEKS

Okay, I'm officially half-way there, and ya know, this is going to be more than a few thoughts!!! But really, I got to thinking about how great this pregnancy thing is (minus a few downsides) and I want to write it all down. Don’t feel like you have to read it all, it’s long! It’s probably just going in my journal, but most my girlfriends already have kids, so you’ve felt these feelings… First of all,

Yes, we are having a girl, which means cute girly outfits (yay!) and also, Samuel and I were right (that gut feeling). Oh yeah, so was the Chinese calendar, haha. If you’re pregnant and want to get a “prediction” of what you’re having, click here. It’s 50% accurate.

Anyway, I am 20 weeks along this week, (due date is August 25). We actually got our ultrasound two weeks ago. My baby was/is measuring “big” for her age (GREAT!) just kidding, big is good, and although it took an hour to get her to uncross her legs, we finally confirmed that it is a girl.

So, thanks to everyone who said I didn’t look very pregnant in our sealing pictures, but it was like after that event, subconsciously I gave myself permission to show and POP, I’m huge now! I can’t believe I changed so much in 3 ½ weeks! And in the spirit of pink, here's a picture.

And we're talking huge all over...as you can see from the picture (and you know I didn't choose the one where I look the fattest), I’m more round…everywhere! My bum is at least an inch bigger, that's gonna take some good exercise to get off! I’m not complaining about the “big jugs” though, as someone anonymously calls them (guess who) but too bad about the junk in the trunk, what purpose is that serving?

Speaking of big jugs, isn't it a nice treat for us smaller women? Not to mention the "bonus" for our husbands! Maybe that's their reward for putting up with us while we are hormonal WRECKS! For about five weeks (month 4?) Samuel was kind of scared to say or do anything that might set me off. Sorry hon! So, his consolation prize is the big jugs, but then again, they hurt so much the first trimester, they were off limits. Eye candy only! (Pardon my bluntness). I found this picture on the web, I had to throw it in, not that I would ever let my husband wear a T-shirt like this.Hahaha, okay, so back to my reflections, I will never forget the day I decided just to “check” and see if I happened to be pregnant- I wouldn’t be “late” for a few more days. I had some little pregnancy test/strips, so no big deal to waste them! It was the day before my birthday, and I was meeting Samuel at a big Christmas choir rehearsal. Right before I left, I took the test, and when I saw the second faint line start to appear, I could hardly contain the excitement. I must have smiled the whole morning, with my little secret, my best birthday present ever. I kept it from Samuel for 3 whole hours, then I just showed him the test and he was like, so…what does this mean? And I was like, WHAT DO YOU THINK? WOOHOO!!

The nausea started at six weeks, at first bearable, but not for long. Everyone said I was lucky I wasn’t throwing up, but I was unlucky in that I was walking around sick to my stomach and gagging from the time I got out of bed in the morning until I fell asleep at night. Eating was miserable, but it was the only thing that barely eased it for me. One Saturday morning I slept in late and hadn’t eaten, but I wasn’t feeling well. Sam, trying to be helpful, started offering ideas, do you want toast? Do you want eggs? Do you want soup? Just the thought of food set me off, and that’s when I really got hit- cold sweats, trembling, and I ran to the toilet…Samuel, with lightning speed, heated up a can of soup and came racing into the bathroom where he spoon-fed as I sat on the bathroom floor. I’ll never forget that morning! He saved the day. But I still had to work full-time, which didn’t help, and I will never forget the day I prayed (in desperation) for help dealing with the nausea, or I was never having another child. That help came within a few hours, and a few days later, I had Sea-Bands to wear on my wrists, which took the edge off for the next 4 weeks. But wow, I was sooo tired all the time! I fell asleep in a movie theater, that was a first.

At 9 weeks we got to have our first ultrasound, and hear the heartbeat, and see a little baby shape. It was thrilling and amazing, and I couldn’t believe it was really happening. I cried.

Of course, ironically, at 12 weeks, feeling much better, I randomly threw up, which happened once a week for four weeks. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought, and I would take that any day over all-day nausea.

At 16 weeks I felt something like a big bubble bursting in my belly, and wasn’t sure…but at 17 weeks after a big helping of dark chocolate M & M’s, our baby started really kicking. This has to be one of the most amazing phenomenon’s I’ve ever experienced, in fact, it is the highlight of every day now, when I feel her moving and trying to get comfortable.

I think this is what she was doing last night, I honestly wondered if she was doing somersaults in there. Oh yeah, but I probably feed her too much sugar, since my cravings have been...sweet. Well, there was the week of chips and salsa, then the week of Turkey/avocado/tomato on wheat (thanks Crystal, that was your contribution to my pregnancy!) but now it's licorice and fruit snacks and chewy candy. I'm trying to throw some fruit and veggies in there though, I don't want my baby to reject my breastmilk because it's not sugary enough! Haha.

Well, my final topic: the Daddy-factor. I didn’t expect to fall more in love with Samuel during all this, but it can’t be helped. It almost makes me burst with happiness when he starts rubbing and kissing my belly and saying, “Hi Baby! This is your daddy! We’re excited you’re coming!” I thought I couldn’t love him any more, then he does something like that!!

Anyway, I know a lot of women don't enjoy pregnancy much, and I've heard it gets pretty uncomfortable at the end, but all I can say for now is this pregnancy bit is amazing, and I almost feel bad for all the men who don't get to experience it. Good luck to all my friends and relatives that are pregnant. My sister Krystal is due in May and my sister-in-law Erin is due in July, both having girls, Katie, due in July, me in August, Genis in September, Amy J. in October, and Melody in November. Isn't that fun. Anyway, that's been my experience so far, I can't believe it's going so fast. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts, til it's replaced with something even better.

Daytona Beach

So, the roast turned out pretty good, I guess for a first time roast, but the meat didn't have the same taste as my mom's used to, so I'll have to get her recipe. We also had fresh Esplin cattle meat to use all the time, and maybe THAT'S why it was so tasty!

I'm hungry.

Well, to finish up a Florida trip, here's a few pictures of Daytona Beach (also part of the timeshare thing). We were TOTALLY not impressed with Daytona, it's like a 70's town with cheap hotels for all the spring break kids. Weird vibe. We got there just as Spring Break started somewhere, and had the lovely experience of hearing drunk college kids running around, screaming, and trying to come in our room (thinking it was theirs). We forfeited our second night there and went back to Jacksonville. We did see a few interesting things worth noting...here they let you drive on the beach (I've never heard of that anywhere else) so people actually park by the water, get out, party, pick-up on each other, etc.

And then it was funny to see the Ice Cream truck roll by...maybe he was selling more than just ice cream, if you get my drift.

It was sooo cold, like, in the 60's (cold for Hawaii or Florida, you know this!) and so we just took a few pictures. There was a cool lighthouse in the area too.

And even though I spent 18 months in the south, this was the first time I ever saw a "Drive-In" church, you can worship while sitting in your car in a parking lot! Haha! So, yay for Florida.