So Tired

Getting up at 6am most everyday, working all day, and being a Mommy and Wife, and being pregnant all the time is exhausting.  I am tired.  I wish there was a nap time at work, alas that they don't want to pay me to sleep.

Luckily, I have a fantastic husband and a wonderful little girl.  Matt takes care of so many things around the house and takes great care of our little girl.  But, for today, I am very tired. Zzzz....

Photoshoot

A few weeks ago, I used Marie's awesome camera to take pictures of Norm's family. I am not a photographer, but I figured that if I just took enough pictures, then they were bound to have a good one in the bunch. I think that I was successful.

While shooting photos of the Derington's, I took a few pics of Nicole. She did not want to look at the camera... of course. She is beautiful.


Sorry, I don't actually have the pics of Norm and his family, perhaps my sister Marie, who owns the digital pictures will post them on her blog... but perhaps not.

Boy or Girl?

In about a week, we are going to go to see Norm and find out what the sex of the baby is. Hopefully, baby won't be shy and hide it from us. So, you all may now guess the gender of our baby. Here is what we know about this baby to help you guess.

Heartrate: 160
Mommy: Not as sick as I was with Nicole

And that is all we know. Props to whoever gets it right.

You know your pregnant when...

• You cry at commercials and movies that you have seen a dozen times.
• You cry when you get hungry.
• You cry when you get tired.
• You are ravenously hungry one second and vomiting the next.
• You fall asleep sitting up.
• You are eating a food that is delicious and the next bite you take tastes like garbage (or soap).
• Your wedding ring fits in the morning and not at night.
• You are awake and talking to your husband one second and asleep the next.
• You cry when you see your kid after being away for an hour.

These are just a few of the joys of pregnancy. Remind me why I wanted to do this again? *scrolls down and sees Nicoley* Oh yeah, it is all worth it.

Pumpkin Land!

We went to Pumpkin Land this week... twice. We went earlier in the week to scope out the price of pumpkins and the price of actually going into Pumpkin Land. Nicole loved the pumpkins! She was so excited that she went around and talked to all of them. But, we didn't buy anything.

We went back on Saturday with Anne and the kids and went into Pumpkin Land. Which consists of a corn maze, a vegetable patch, farm animals to look at, an obstacle course, blow up bouncy houses, and a play ground. Nicole loved it! She didn't exactly want to pose for pictures, but she loved checking out all the cool stuff with her cousins.
Lets face it, I loved it too! I love the fall and I especially love Halloween. I love corny halloween decorations and costumes and pumpkin carving, I love it all.
Nicole got into it too. She wanted to pick all of the pumpkins from the patch. Which was forbidden. Matt mentioned that he wanted a green pumpkin and she kept trying to pick the green ones for Daddy.
(funniest pic ever! Anne held up Olivia in the witches head and she made the best face!)

Marie and Anthon met up with us at Pumpkin Land, but we had already been there an hour when they caught up with us and Nicole was on her last leg. It was her nap time, so we, regrettably, did not get to spend much time with Marie and Anthon and the kids.
After Pumpkin Land, Nicole fell asleep in the car and we headed over to the Farmer's Market at Center Street in Provo. We picked up some much cheaper pumpkins and a few other fresh foods.
It was just so nice to spend the morning together as a family out of the house. I love Saturdays!

Big Girl!

Sorry about the last post all. I just wanted to have better chances in a contest. But, on to other things. Nicole is my big girl! For the very first time, Nicole slept in her big girl bed the whole night!

After the whole crib (minus rail) debacle, Matt and I broke down and went out and bought Nicole a twin bed (pictures to come). We left the crib up (with rail back on) in the room as a back up in case Nicole did not feel inclined to sleep in the bed. I had already missed too much sleep and if the crib was my route to sleep, then I would put her in it.

So, we have been putting Nicole in her big girl bed and then after 10 minutes of her crying under the door, we put her in her crib where she promptly fell asleep. Last night, I put her in her big girl bed and she cried, as usual. But, the crying got fainter, as if she had moved away from the door. I peeked in the check on her and she was leaning against her big girl bed (blanket over her head like a ghost baby). I put her back in bed and fetched her glowy sea horse from her crib (something we had not tried yet) and left her again. She cried for a couple of minutes and was quiet. I checked on her again and she was asleep IN her bed! (Not in front of the door like she has done in the past) Granted, she was asleep at the wrong end of the bed, but I didn't care.

I covered her up, left her again and left her door open a crack so that she could come and get me if she needed me. She slept the whole night in her bed and didn't get up and come crying to me until 6am! I feel it was quite the accomplishment. We shall see how it goes tonight.

I love YA Adult Books

I love reading Young Adult literature. Why you ask? Because it is entertaining, I have a better chance of "clean" literature, and because I can relate to the angsty characters. Additionally, the story lines and plots are usually easier to follow than some of the Adult fiction that I have read.

I am very much a fantasy reader. I love to read fantasy, but often fantasy books tend to be too graphic for my taste, but if I read YA, I usually have a cleaner story and language. Additionally, fantasy often involves world building, meaning that the writer creates their own world in the book and describes it to the reader. In Adult fiction fantasy, this sometimes is so monotonous to read because the worlds are so complicated. In YA, is is usually a little simpler. Plus, YA books are shorter than Adult fiction, but longer than children's books. Perfect size!

One of my favorite book review blogs is having a YA book giveaway and I had to jump on board for that as I love YA books and I love free stuff. I love reading her reviews, they give me ideas for new books to read, they give me an idea of the content, the genre, and the cleanliness of a book. To check out her blog, go to http://booksinthespotlight.blogspot.com/.

My favorite YA books have to be the Harry Potter books. I know what you are thinking, "What? What about Twilight?" As much as I love Twilight, there are so many flaws in the writing and so many flaws in the characters that it just doesn't compare to JK Rowling's wizard world, whose characters I love. Let's just face it, I hate Bella, she is annoying. But, I love the world that Stephenie Meyer created.

Well that is all the book ranting that I have for now.

Old McDonald

Nicole stayed with Miranda yesterday while Matt and I went off to work. When I went to pick her up, Miranda told me that Nicole had been attempting to sing Old McDonald. So, Matt and I decided to try and get her to sing it while we were running errands yesterday. Matt started singing it and Nicole told him, "No, no, no, no!"

A couple minutes later, we hear Nicole in the back of the car... "Eieio, chicken! Bock, bock, bock. And, bock, bock, bock. Chicken! Eieio." It was hilarious! She didn't want us to sing the song, she just wanted to sing it herself and she had many of the key components though not always in the same order. She also did "Ssssss, sssss, ssss," for the snake and, "Moo, moo, moo," for the cow. It was so stinkin cute!

She is so smart and knows more words than I can count. She is constantly surprising us. I also sang the ABC song to her last night and then she attempted to sing it on her own. It went something like this, "C, N, N, N, N, P, Me!" She only went for the parts she remembered, but it was so cute. When I attempted to cheer for her when I thought that she was done singing, she got very mad at me, "No, no, no!" And then she went on to babble about how she was not done singing. (A lot of times her words get mixed together, but we get the gist of what she is attempting to say.)

Nicole loves to talk, mostly to herself. She just babbles nonsense and tells me things which she obviously finds important even though I don't know what she is talking about. I love this little girl so much! Even though I miss the baby phase of her life, this toddler phase is a whole lot of fun! Even though she is often very sassy to me now that she can tell me no.

Twilit

For Matt's birthday, I took him to the murder mystery dinner theater Twilit! It is a murder mystery that pokes fun at Twilight, Harry Potter, and Frankenstein. It was so much fun! While we ate dinner, characters came out and mingled between the tables, so that you could get to know the characters. Our very own Lisa Svetz played the beautiful Bella and she was fantastic, funny, and entertaining. But, one of my favorite characters was Edward. He was so stinkin' funny! Completely in character the whole time and playing Edward way over the top. Hilarious!

After dinner, the show started. The premise was that Edward and Bella were having a party at their castle so that Bella could meet other supernatural people. During this part, Matt got pulled up on stage for a little audience participation because it was his birthday. He didn't particularly want to do it, but he was a good sport. I got pictures of this on my phone as I had forgotten to bring my camera, but I have not idea how to get them from my phone to my computer, so you will just have to imagine Matt dressed up as a pirate up on stage.

The show turned out to be a musical, which made it even more entertaining. The show lasted 40 minutes or so until one of the characters died. Then, all the audience had a chance to talk to the characters to try to discover who had actually committed the murder. Matt, after having participation forced on him earlier did not feel inclined to participate at this point. So, we just enjoyed the atmosphere and eavesdropped on other people asking the characters questions.

Then, came the big reveal and the song of summation. It was a lot of fun! I'm glad that Lisa was in it so that we could even know that the show existed. My mom was kind enough to watch Nicole so that we could go on this date for Matt's birthday. I recommend mystery dinner theater to all! Matt seemed to have a good time despite that he was pulled up on stage.

Happy Birthday Matt

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband Matt! You have made the last four years of my life the best years so far. Thanks so much for being born and making me your wife!

Nicole

Nicole and I went to the park while Matt was at school and I got some pics of her. She didn't want to stop playing to look at the camera, so the pic quality varies.

Cold

Well, it is definitely the fall because it is cold and rainy! Surprisingly, it is not that cold outside. I can go outside without a jacket and still be fine. But, it is freezing in my office! I thought my days of being cold in the office were behind me when I left Dentrix, but I guess I am doomed to always feeling colder than the people around me.

You would think with me being pregnant and my skin being hot to the touch that I would feel hot all the time right? Wrong, I'm cold all the time during the day. I have a sweater that I keep at work to keep me warm (thank you pink Dentrix sweatshirt). And I'm considering bringing in a blanket. I had one at Dentrix and I think it is time to bring it back. They gave me a little space heater, but it makes a high pitch squealing noise every time I turn it on. I don't know why it does this, but it is quite annoying.

I told my boss that I was cold and he was surprised. His office is right next to mine and he feels hot. He said he considered wearing shorts today (he usually wears shorts and flip flops everyday. It is a casual office).

I am so weird. But, I suppose that it is better to feel cold than to feel hot. When I am hot and I can't cool down, I'm just miserable. When I'm cold, I just keep piling on the layers until I am comfortable.

12 Weeks

12 weeks! Yay! This is the last week of my first trimester! I am very excited. I am still nauseated, but it seems to mostly hit me at night time (morning sickness is such a bad name for this symptom). I still have heartburn that feels like I'm having a heart attack, but Marie introduced me to Pepcid which works better than anything else I have tried. I still get super tired and I struggle to stay awake the whole day, but I think that will be something that plagues me the entire pregnancy. Other than that, I don't have any major discomforts. I am definitely liking this pregnancy a lot better than my last one.

I went to my first doctor's appointment on Friday. It was also Nicole's 18 month checkup. Me and baby are doing fine, the first appointment is really just a lot of paperwork and formality. I wasn't able to hear the heartbeat, but I am really not concerned. I got to see the heartbeat when I went in for my last ultrasound with Norm. I'm sure little fetus is doing fine.

Nicole had good stats this time:
Weight: 23 lbs (30%)
Height: 50%
Head: 80%

Sorry that I don't remember the exact numbers on height and head. They wrote it down for me, but it ended up being a paper where I stored Nicole's used sucker and it went in the trash. So is the life of having a kid.

Nicole was so brave for the doctor's visit this time! Usually she screams when I set her on the table and screams louder when the doctor checks her eyes, nose and mouth. But, this time she didn't scream. She was nervous and whined a little, but she was a big girl. I was so proud of her. It is like she is growing up!

Nicole had to get three shots this time. But, it has been 6 months since her last shots and I don't think she remembered them because when they layed her on the table she didn't fight them or cry like she has in the past and was completely surprised when she got the shot. My poor little one! The nurses gave her some laffy taffy for getting a shot and then she was fine. Strangely, she is having a reaction to the shots this time that she has never had before, her leg is swollen and warm to the touch and she has a rash all around the site. I don't know if this is normal or if I should be worried.

Last night we tried something new with Nicole. We took off the rail to her crib and tried bedtime in a semi big girl bed. We have been looking into getting Nicole a twin bed because she will need to be out of the crib when the new baby comes and she has started to try to go "night night" in different parts of her room lately, so we felt like it was time to try it. At first, Nicole thought the railless bed was a great game. She practiced getting in and out many times and pretended to go "night night." But, when it was actually time for bed, she did not care for the new arrangement. She immediately got out of bed and came into our room. We put her back multiple times before we finally decided to close the door to her room. Then, she lied down and cried through the crack at the bottom of the door for about an hour. She started quieting down and we feared that she was falling asleep in front of the door (she was). So, we put up the baby gate in her doorway and left her door open and closed our own door. This either made her less mad or she was just more tired. In the end she fell asleep in front of her door with her face pressed against the baby gate. We moved her to her own bed and she was fine the rest of the night until 6am when she fell out of bed.

Maybe there is a better way to do this. Or, perhaps we should skip the whole crib transition thing and jump straight to the twin bed. I just don't know, but it was a long night last night.