Happy Birthday Baby!

My Baby is 20 today! She is the prettiest Baby that you ever did see, so here is a picture blog post dedicated to her beauty.

Post Thanksgiving Update

Well, this is my post Thanksgiving belated post. Apparently, I am the worst at posting in a reasonable amount of time from an event.

Matt and I had Thanksgiving with his sister Anne and her husband Carlos. It was at Carlos's sister's house in Orem. We opted for this Thanksgiving dinner because my parents were indecisive as to their Thanksgiving plans until two days before Thanksgiving. I like a definite plan, so I went to the dinner with a time and location already set. I've spent a few Thanksgivings without my family though, so it wasn't too unusual. When I was living in Hawaii, I would have dinner with the ward, which was cooked by the wonderful folks in the cafeteria. This years dinner was so much better than those Hawaii dinners.

Matt and I went over early in the morning to help Anne get the turkey ready because we were in charge of stuffing and we wanted to stuff the bird. Matt and I have taken to adding cranberries to our stuffing. I think that they add a delicious tartness to the stuffing. If Matt had his way, I think that the stuffing would be made of the giblets completely. He was very insistent that they be put in the stuffing. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't bad either.

I helped as much as I could in the kitchen with all the preparations, but I was spent early on in the day and had a lovely nap at the same time as Carlitos. That left Matt in charge of making the mashed potatoes. They turned out a little garlicy for me, but everyone else loved them and that is what matters. I woke up in time to hear an argument going on in the kitchen about whether or not the turkey was done cooking. Apparently, Anne didn't know what the little plastic red button in the turkey was for, so she pulled it out when she was prepping the turkey, so we didn't have a visual indicator of whether the turkey was done inside. It was pretty funny. We all made fun of Anne for her mistake, but the turkey turned out great so it didn't matter. I got to carve the white meat off of the turkey, which was fun. But, I left the dark meat slicing to Matt; it is much more involved.

It was a little strange being with new people for Thanksgiving because in my family, everyone wants the white meat. There is usually only dark meat left once the meal is over. But, in the Kimball household, it is the dark meat which is coveted. There was tons of white meat left over, but no dark meat. It was like being in upside down world. I even went to my parents house a couple days after Thanksgiving and they had made the dark turkey meat into a salad for sandwiches so that it would get eaten without people knowing that it was the dark meat. I took one bite and knew that I had been tricked. I cannot be fooled with dark turkey meat! It is just gross to me.

A dish that was absent from my usual Thanksgiving feast was Dar Dar Dar (named by my strange brother Mike). It is pretty much a jello salad with whip cream, cottage cheese, and pineapple. It is a family tradition to have it at Thanksgiving and meals where Mike is present. But, Matt's sister Anne did make a pistachio pudding fruit salad which had Dar Dar Dar qualities only with more fruit, no cottage cheese and lots of marshmellows. This fruit salad inspired me to create a variation of Dar Dar Dar because Matt doesn't really like my family's recipe. So, two days ago, Matt and I made a salad with pineapple, mandarin oranges, apples, cottage cheese, pistachio pudding, and whip cream. It was delicious! I have to say that it was better than Dar Dar Dar (even though saying this will bring curses down on me from my family who charishes the original). Maybe, someday, I will try to bring it to a family dinner and try to convert them. Or, maybe I will be stoned for changing the recipe.

After dinner, nothing much else happened on Thanksgiving. We played Ticket to Ride and Matt and I went home. It was a good day.

The day after Thanksgiving, the dreaded Black Friday, I went out just a little to go and get Matt's Christmas gift. My wonderful brother Johnny came with me for muscle support. He was my lifter and toter. Then, Matt and I put up our Christmas tree. Our tree is currently our only Christmas decorations, but I figure that the longer that we are married, the more decorations we will collect. I'm excited for the coming holiday!

22 Weeks

Well, I'm at 22 weeks now... or the baby is 22 weeks old rather. And, by popular demand, here are a couple pics of me and my baby belly.

Matt has been sick for over a week now. He has the cold that never wants to leave. Two nights ago, Matt sneezed (he has really loud sneezes) and I felt my whole stomach jump. Apparently, the baby heard the sneeze and was startled. Now, every time Matt sneezes or I hear a really loud noise, the baby jumps. She is, apparently, aware of sounds and is frightened by them. While I am ecstatic that the baby can now hear sounds, I am also wary by this new frightened jumping because what if my baby all skitish of sounds when she is born? I want a baby who can sleep through anything so that we won't have to be quiet when the baby is sleeping. Hopefully, this is just a stage and the baby will get more used to hearing noise.

I'm feeling pretty good right now. I still get really tired very quickly, but I am able to leave the house in the evening for a few hours before I am completely drained. I am getting more and more uncomfortable. My back hurts every day and standing only makes it worse. Additionally, my belly is very sore. My belly muscles are becoming completely useless. I often can't sit up without assistance and it hurts to try on my own. My muscles rebel against being used. Additionally, the skin on my belly really hurts as it is stretching out to compensate for the ever expanding baby. It kinda feels like a backwards pinch. It is the same stinging sensation that a pinch offers, only it is a stretching of the skin rather than a pinching. It really smarts!

I didn't realize how trying pregnancy would be. It is a complete body change, so that I don't even feel like my body is mine any more. I don't feel or look like me. Plus, I'm drained of energy all the time and dependent on my eating schedule (if I go off my eating schedule, I get sick to my stomach). I'm like a child myself. I just didn't think that it would be this hard. My sister in laws made pregnancy seem a lot easier. Oh the tangled web of lies!

Despite all the unpleasantries that this pregnancy has come to offer, I love my baby very much. I am so excited for the time when I can finally hold her and see the product of all this work that I'm putting in. This baby better be very cute and very worth it.

Last Weekend

Well, I am suppose to have a belly pic to post, but my digital camera is fighting with me. The batteries die as soon as I put them into the camera and I think that the camera is an evil battery eater. We bought a camcorder that we can take pictures with, but it doesn't have a flash, so the lighting has to be really good to get a good picture. I can't seem to take a picture I like anyway. I make funny faces in all the pics. So, the belly pic will have to wait until next time.

Last weekend, Matt was not feeling well, so we mostly sat around the house, but we did manage to get out for a little while. My maternity jeans no longer fit me (curse that my belly is not the only thing to grow), so we headed to the motherhood store in search of some jeans that I can wear. DJ came along because he was told that we would only be getting a pair of pants and then leaving. I think Matt was foolish to think that he can take me to a clothing store and not expect me to try on more than one thing.

The sales lady was very helpful and grabbed a selection of items for me to try on. I ended up with four shirts and two pairs of pants (I wanted a sweater too, but I was holding back). Hopefully, these clothing items will last me until the end of the pregnancy. I tried to buy a little bigger so that there was room to grow. I feel like a child when I say that because my Mom used to buy clothes that were a little big for us so that we could grow in them. Curse children and their need to constantly be changing sizes. They are the bane of Matt's wallet's existence.

Matt and DJ were forced to wait while I tried on clothes and snacked on a Subway sandwich (cuz I was very hungry). Then, the register computer went down and the sales lady had to ring us up manually and it took forever. Matt and DJ survived, but just barely. I don't think that DJ ever wants kids now.

Matt and I attempted pork ribs this weekend, but we were not entirely successful. We didn't have a recipe, we were just wingin' it and it turned out much too salty. I blame me because I was in charge of the salt. Here's hopin' that we get a recipe and do better next time.

Usually, we are fairly good cooks, most people enjoy our meals (me and the baby). But, I have been branching out since my pregnant tastes are not inclined to eat chicken. So, I search for redder meat recipes. I've picked up a few that I enjoy, but the search is still on. Now all I have to do is teach Marie how to cook from scratch. It may be a lost cause, we will have to just wait and see.

Week 20

My Baby is Skeletor!

Well, I am at 20 weeks now and that means that we went in for our official ultrasound to make sure that all the baby's parts are there and to verify the gender. I am glad to say that Norm was right, it is still a girl. Norm checked all of her major organs and they were all there, which is excellent. Unfortunately, she was being a naughty baby and did not want to stay still for the ultrasound. This made it difficult to check her organs and get good pictures of her.

She has a lot less room in there than she did last time we saw her. So, it was difficult to get a picture of all of her from head to foot. Plus, her legs and arms were all bent and stuff.

It was weird because a lot of what we saw of her was her skeleton. We could see all the bones in her arms and legs and her whole spine. It was kinda cool, but weird at the same time.

She snacked on the placenta a little while we were watching her. Which I thought was really gross, but apparently that is just what babies do. Babies are disgusting.

This pic is a shot of the back of her. She was often showing us her back. She moved around a lot the whole time and it made me a little sick because when she wiggles a lot, it makes me nausiated.

I'm feeling pretty good at this stage in the pregnancy. I find myself to be very hungry a not small amount of the time. And, if I don't eat at the scheduled time that I usually eat, I get very nausiated and then not goodness ensues. Weekends are the worst because it is different from my daily schedule and I often forget to eat and then I get all complainy and then it is hard on Matt.

I can feel the baby wiggling a lot! She really likes to wiggle and move around and it kinda drives me crazy because it makes me sick to my stomach. Jill says that this will pass though and I will start to feel some solid kicks and less wiggles. I hope so because I don't like it when she moves. It is reassuring to know that she is healthy and moving, but it is very uncomfortable.

I have some of my energy back now, which is nice. I have actually stayed up until 10pm the last few nights this week. This is a record for me. I am usually all complainy and upset if I'm not in bed and almost asleep by 9pm. Matt is loving that I am able to stay up a little later and not get upset.

Now that we know for sure that the baby is a girl, we can finally go and start buying gender appropriate baby stuff. I know that I will probably get some stuff from baby showers, but babies apparently need all sorts of stuff. Jill sent me a list of baby things that I will most likely need and the list is quite lengthy. Who knew that something so small could need so much.

Well, that is all for now. I will post another belly pic when I finally charge the batteries in my camera. I blame the french for my slacking on that one.

Our New Floor

Last week Matt began work on our new kitchen floor. We decided to go from ghetto linoleum to awesome tiles! Matt ripped out the linoleum earlier in the week and I neglected to get pics of the floor before hand because I'm the worst! Then, on Friday, Matt started laying down all the tiles. Here is a shot of the beginning of the process.


Matt's hands took a beating during the process. His right hand was all cracked and not good looking, so he is showing his displeasure at his ruined hands in this pic.


Matt got all the tile down on Friday night. Then, on Saturday morning, Sarah came over and helped Matt grout and clean the tile. I was not helpful for the whole process because I'm all pregnant and deficient. It is hard for me to get down on the ground and move around on my hands and knees (as is required for tile work). I blame the baby entirely. Luckily, my prettier and less fetus like Baby came and was a good helper.

Here is a pic of the floor after all the grout is in. It has been cleaned once, but it is still all grouty.

Then, on Sunday, Matt cleaned the floor again and moved all the large appliances back into the kitchen. Which I loved because I disliked my refrigerator in my dining room. Matt is showing off his mad dust panning skills in this pic.


And then we were done and I have a brand new tile floor. I love it! It matches the cabinets better than the green linoleum and it is less white trash. It also makes the kitchen feel bigger. Kudos to Matt for all his awesome and efficient work on the floor. I really did nothing during the process. I fetched food for my husband worker and took pictures. I take no credit for all the floor's brilliance.

Post Halloween Pics

Well, I finally uploaded some of the Halloween pics from my camera, so here are my belated Halloween pics.
We carved more pumpkins on Halloween. So, I did Trogdor and Matt did a scary skeleton thing.



Here is Lucy, she was a strawberry. And, little Carlitos, who was a dragon. But, he didn't like to wear his costume, so it was difficult getting a picture of him.

A Simpsony Halloween

Every year on Halloween, my company gives each department money to decorate their cubicles for Halloween. Then, there is a contest to see who has the best decorations. We did The Simpsons in my department. Here is a sample of what our area looked like.


This is the great Jebidiah Springfield, after which the town is named, he turned out really well.


This is what our cubicle isle looked like. It was very crowded with Simpson characters.


For those of you who cannot read the chalkboard, it says, "The capital of Montana is not Hannah."


I drew this squishee machine myself. I ended up keeping the squishee cup because it is awesome.

The Nuclear Power Plant.

Blinky the Three eyed fish.



I also drew this Duff sign from scratch. The Duff signs that I saw on the internet weren't cool enough, so I made up this design.

Anyway, we drew and painted and decorated for a month before Halloween in the hopes that we might win that blue ribbon, but alas, we did not. Marketing won... again. I kinda hate them more than a little. It is their jobs to be all creative, and half of them are artists! They did Monsters Inc. and they won. I think it is a total jip though because they have a much larger cubicle space, and they took over two conference rooms to put their decorations in. Whatever.

We still had fun decorating, it was a good time.

Pumpkin Carving!

Matt and I went to Matt's cousin Scottie's Halloween party this weekend. DJ, Anne and the kids came too. It was a lot of fun and it is probably the only party that I am attending this year, so I am glad that I was feeling well enough to go.

It was a barbeque/pumpkin carving kind of party. With food and pumpkin carving, there is no bad. There was a lot of people there, mostly people that we don't know because we don't see Scottie and Renee that much, but it was fun to meet new people. I was not the only pregnant lady at the party, there were four other pregnant women there. There was a lot of pregnancy in the room, it was weird, but nice to not be the only person with a baby belly.


I found a seat on the couch during the party and I mostly parked there with Anne's daughter Lucy. She is getting a lot more fun as she is getting older. She is three months old now and she is smiling and laughing. Prior to now, she was a fairly fussy baby unless Mom was holding her. But, I may have just seen her on her bad days. She was fun to hold at the party though. She was a big hit. Anne left her on the couch for a while and people kept coming over and picking her up and playing with her. Eventually, she fell asleep on the couch.


Carlitos was being very much a little boy at the party. There was candy on all of the tables and he kept snatching candy and eating it. Or, trying to eat it anyway. He got a tootsie roll and he did not quite get how to eat it and he ended up drooling chocolate tootsie roll everywhere. It was really gross. But, he didn't learn his lesson and he kept going back for more toosie roll.


I don't have a picture of Anne, but she was there, trying to juggle Lucy, Carlitos and pumpkin carving. Matt and I went to the Pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago and we picked out some pumpkins to carve for the party. My pumpkin was a decent size pumpkin, but I didn't realize how very huge it was until we brought it to the party and it made all the other pumpkins look like miniatures. Matt's pumpkin was big too. I guess we just like big pumpkins.


Anne and DJ shared a pumpkin and they carved an unrecognizable cat thing. No one really got it until there was a light in the pumpkin. I don't have a pic of them though cuz it was taken on Anne's camera.

Before the party, Matt and I looked up pumpkin patterns online and free handed a pattern on each of our pumpkins. Then, we went to Walmart and got some of those cheap pumpkin carving kits. We didn't realize that the little blades that come with the kits would be no match for our ginormous pumpkins. We both broke a tool while we were carving. It took forever to carve my pumpkin! It didn't take very long to gut it because it was a fairly hollow pumpkin, but because I drew the pattern so large, it took forever to carve! Especially with those crappy little plastic tools. But, I thought that the pumpkins turned out well. I carved a mummy and Matt carved a scary wolfman lookin' face. The pumpkins are now hanging out on our porch and are the only decorations that I am doing this year.


The party was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we were able to go and that the fetus was very cooperative on Saturday.

17 weeks

I'm at 17.5 weeks now. I don't think that my belly looks very different from 15 weeks, but it sure does feel different. I feel like I am getting bigger and bigger, but I know that it is actually a very slow process. I often just feel a lot heavier in front than I am used. It is that darn baby and all it's weight that it is adding on to me. It is like 7 oz now.

I'm feeling pretty good. I'm actually able to occasionally go out and about in the evenings for like an hour or two and I don't start to cry. Which is a huge accomplishment for me. I find myself being a lot happier and a lot more energetic. I still get tired really easily and go to bed WAY early, but I think that that is a small sacrifice. This stage in my pregnancy is definitely more favorite than that lamo first trimester. I don't know who invented the first trimester, but they just like to watch women suffer.

It's a Kitten!

So, my wonderful brother Norm did my 16 week ultrasound yesterday. Mom, Marie, and Sarah were present for this ultrasound. Everyone wanted to be there when the sex of the baby was determined. Mom and Marie were early, like all good people should be and Sarah was a little late, so she wasn't initially present when we discovered the gender of the baby. But, I think she was still happy that she got to see the baby.


The first thing that I noticed when we saw the baby on the screen was that it was a lot bigger than the last time we saw it. The baby didn't have nearly as much room in there as it did before. A month ago, the baby was moving and flipping around inside of me, but this time, it hardly moved at all because it was all squished in there. It was weird how much it had grown. Norm measured it and the baby is still bigger than it should be. It is a week and a half bigger than it should be. Stupid Derington/Kimball genes.


So, the baby was being all shy at first and had it's back to us, but eventually it turned around and Norm was able to get a good shot of the bum and it's a girl! Matt and I are very happy. I'm excited because now I get to buy a bunch of girl stuff. Plus, girl babies are usually a lot cuter than boy babies and I really want my baby to be cute.


This ultrasound was a lot of fun because the baby was bigger and easy to see her features. Mom immediately started talking baby talk to the ultrasound machine and we were forced to make fun of her. Marie was freakin' out the whole time with a high squeaky voice, which only got squeakerier when the baby moved. I think that Matt and I were the most calm during the whole thing. We were just happy that she is healthy and growing strong.

After we were done, Marie had a surprise for us. She gave us a baby book for a girl. It is really cute and it has places where I can write about the pregnancy and put pictures of the baby and stuff. It is really cool.

So, congrats to all the winners who guessed right. Make sure to laugh at all the losers and make them feel bad about themselves.

Boy or Girl?

Well, next week we go to get the ultrasound that will hopefully determine whether we are having a boy or a girl. I say hopefully because, if the baby is shy, we might not be able to tell. But, now is the time to get your guesses in as to whether it will be a boy or a girl.

Matt thinks it is a boy.

I think it is a girl (don't tell Matt; he wants me to think positively).

Those who are correct will get to lord it over the very wrong people.

15 Weeks

Happy Birthday Matt!

Tomorrow is Matt's Birthday and he is turning 30. A fact which he likes to keep hidden and I like to tell to everyone. So, Matt will be 30 years old when his first child is born and I will be 25, we still seem very young to me. But, compared to Norm, who has four kids at the age of thirty, we are very behind.

Matt's parent's were here this weekend, so we had a little celebration for him while they were here. Matt doesn't really like Birthdays or parties or anything like that, so we called the celebration a "Birthday Gathering." It was just all the Kimball's and Baby who were there to celebrate Matt and his growing age.


Matt told me that he wanted a lemonade Oreo ice cream cake for his gathering. When I heard about this "cake" I thought that he had made it up because it sounded really weird. But, Matt insisted that it was a real thing. So, I researched with some local ice cream places that make ice cream cakes, but it seemed that this cake still did not exist. So, I called Momma Kimball, and sure enough, she was the one who had made this cake for Matt. So, Momma Kimball helped me make him his lemonade Oreo ice cream cake. The cake wasn't really something that I would pick to eat because it was both sour and sweet, but Matt loved it.


So, we sang and ate cake and Matt opened his presents and that was about it. I got Matt a painting of Mt. Timpanogos for his Birthday. Every time we go to Towne Centre, Matt likes to look in this painting shop, so I went to that painting shop and bought him a picture for his Birthday. He keeps saying that we need more art in the house and less pictures of us, so this will start us on our way.

If Your Sleepy and You Know It

Matt and I went over to Anthon and Marie's last night for food and XBox fun. We haven't really gotten out of the house much in the first three months of my pregnancy, so now we are attempting to make plans and get out a little more. So, we decided to go to Ree's because they recently modded their XBox and it is awesome.

The trouble with going out in the evenings is that I'm tired because I work and grow a baby all day, so I'm exhausted by the time I get home and all I want to do is sleep. Additionally, we went over at like 6:30pm, which is right when I like to eat dinner and my body was mad at me when I didn't eat when it was used to. So, Marie made me some awesome Three Cheese Mac and Cheese right when we got there to tide me over until the burgers and dogs were done cooking. One point Marie.

We ate, and it was awesome because it made me feel better, then we set ourselves down in front of the XBox. We played some lame games like a snowboarding trick game, which none of us were really good at, and an ATV game, which Marie won every time. But, then we played Shrek, which turns out to be a pretty awesome game. I've gotten so caught up in the more "adult" video games like Final Fantasy and Car Racing, that I forgot how fun the themed and "kid-like" games could be.

We played Shrek for a long time and I was starting to get tired, so I asked Marie the time and she tried to lie to me and tell me that it was earlier than it was, but it was really like past 10pm. I should not stay up that late on a work night. I am just exhausted at work today. I'm almost non-functioning. But, we had a good time and I was glad that we got out of the house for a night.

Our Park City Adventure

Matt's parents came into town this weekend and are staying in Park City. So, Matt and I decided that we would go up to my parent's cabin in Park City so that we could be closer to Mom and Dad Kimball while they were here. But, when I called Bill to find out if we could use the cabin, I found out that Norm and Jake were planning on going up to the cabin this weekend too. Then, Norm decided that it should be a big party and he called all the siblings and invited them all up to the cabin.

Marie Antionette and Me and Matt went up on Friday night. We were the only ones up there on Friday. I was a little concerned about going up to the cabin because I get car sickness, altitude sickness, and I'm pregnant. But, we really wanted to go, so we just went. We snagged Anthon on our way up and drove up to Kimball Junction and Marie met us there. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and it was really yummy. I've been craving all sorts of beef lately, so I like to eat it whenever I can. Then, we headed up the mountain to the cabin. The roads are really windie and unpaved, so it was a very bumpy ride. I got altitude sickness about half way up and lost all that dinner that I had just eaten. Sometimes it is unfun to be me. We kept going and made it up to the cabin.

I wasn't feeling very well still, so I claimed the master bedroom and took a bath in the ginormous tub. I kinda wish that I had a huge tub at home because it just took all the pressure off my back that pregnancy is putting there. It made me want to steal Marie and Anthon's house because they have a big tub in their huge bathroom. But, the cabin runs off well water, so the water was really gross looking. It was all yellow/brownish. And, we had all forgotten to bring bottled water, so we were very thirsty up there. None of us wanted to actually drink the well water.

I felt a little better after my bath, so I went downstairs to the theater room where Ree, Anthon, and Matt were playing video games on Anthon's new XBox. He got the box all modded so that it has old school games stored inside. We played Shrek, which was a fun game until we got stuck and didn't know what to do. Then, we played Halo, which Matt and I liked, but Marie and Anthon did not because they are not very good at the game. So, we ended up playing this ATV game which Marie rocked at and then she liked playing. I really sucked at that game. I went to bed around midnight, which is the latest that I have stayed up in a very long time because I am usually asleep by 9:30pm every night because I am all exhausted from growing a human being from scratch.

Saturday, Marie and Anthon left early to go to a baptism, but they left their XBox. Then, Norm, Rand and the kids showed up around 10:30am. I love those kids! They are so cute and so smart and fun. Ben is a wild one and kinda hard for me to handle because I lack patience while I am pregnant, but he is still cute and I love him. It was good to just spend time with Norm and Rand. We mostly just ate and played the Wii and hung around. I sent Matt into town to get some drinkable water and some Lil' Smokies, which I was craving. He is such a wonderful husband!

Jake and Jill, Johnny and Krista, and Mom and Bill showed up around 5pm. Despite the fact that the house is 13,000 square feet, it was feeling a little crowded. I love my siblings and my nieces and nephews, but I have a hard time right now with big crowds and loud children. I secluded myself in the Master Bedroom and took a nap or talked with Jill while she fed the baby. Side note: Kiera is so cute! All of Jake and Jill's babies have been cute, but Kiera really is the cutest one. If I could just keep her and skip this whole pregnancy thing, that would be great. Alas, that Jake and Jill are all attached to her.

It was good to have almost everyone together though. I haven't seen Johnny and Krista in a while because they are all newly married and in school and stuff. I wasn't feeling very well, so I just played the Wii with the adults for a little while and then I headed off to bed. Matt stayed up and played games until well into the morning.

Norm and Rand left early on Sunday, then we took off to go and see Matt's parents and we left Johnny and Krista at the cabin to lock things up. Mom and Dad Kimball were a lot later than we expected, so we didn't even get to see them that much in our little weekend away, but it was still fun to get out of the house finally and be almost a normal person.

The Smell of Fall

I was outside yesterday morning and I smelled Fall. I love the smell of Fall. It is so crisp and so clean and it just smells wonderful. Fall is my favorite season. I love it the most because of the smell and because Halloween is in the Fall.

Halloween is my favorite Holiday. I love to decorate the house with fun Halloween decorations and I love to dress up for Halloween. I think it is so much fun to dress up and have an excuse to party. There is just no bad there.

I hope that the cooler weather continues and that the hot days are behind us.

Side note: My Matt Face has decided to begin blogging. You can view his blog at www.wookiefingers.blogspot.com

13 Weeks

I'm at 13 weeks now. I'm officially out of the first trimester. Yay! I can tell already that things are different because I'm a lot more happy now and a lot less miserable. I still get nauseated at night, but it is manageable. I'm still very tired. If I could lay in bed and sleep most of the day away, that would be awesome. Alas that I have to work and stuff. I'm also very uncomfortable a not small amount of the time. All my weight seems to be moving to my belly and it makes the positions that I usually like to be in very uncomfortable. I can no longer lay on my back in bed because it puts pressure on all my insides. It is just another thing that I need to adjust to I guess.

Sometime last week, I tried to put on my pants (my big pants) and they would no longer button. It was very frustrating because they fit fine the day before. So, I gave in and decided that it was time to go shopping for maternity clothes so that I would have clothes that fit and clothes that are comfortable. So, Erin, Jenni and I took a lunch break and went shopping to search for some maternity clothes. I have to say, the places that I have been have slim pickings on cute maternity clothes. I was able to find a pair of work pants and a couple of shirts, so I guess our outing was successful. I've found that even though maternity clothes are very odd looking with the elastic tops on the pants, they are so very much more comfortable than having a button at the top of my pants. Normal pants put so much pressure on my belly when I sat down. Such is not the case with maternity pants. So, I'm glad that I have switched over. I know that I will have many more clothes to buy as I continue to expand, but this will do me fine for now.

It's a Baby, Not a Blobby

Matt, Marie, and I went to the AF Hospital yesterday to have Norm do the 12 week ultrasound. It was pretty cool. The baby actually looked like a baby, not just a fuzzy blobby like it did last time we did the ultrasound.

The baby was all wiggly and movin' around and that totally tripped me out because it is like a thing living inside me. It was very surreal, but cool at the same time. Ree and Matt were very excited about it too. I think it is a little more weird for me because it was all happening inside of me and it was difficult to connect the picture on the screen with the cause for all this sickness I have been feeling.

In the pick that says Mouth, we were able to see the baby opening and closing its mouth, it even sucked its thumb for a bit. In the Profile pic, you can see the little hand up by the baby's face and you can see the foot on the left of the pic. This last pic is really the best profile I think because you can see a nose shape.

The baby seemed to be doing well, we saw the heartbeat and it was moving around, so those are good signs. The baby is measuring a little big. It is about 4 days ahead of the size that it should be. Norm attributed this to how tall Matt and I are. Matt decided that "he" is going to be a basketball player.

It was a fun experience. I'm glad I got connections like a brother who is an ultrasound tech.

12 weeks

I'm at 12 weeks now. That puts me just one week shy of being done with my first trimester. I think that is how it works anyway. I'm starting to feel a little bit better. The nausea is ebbing, but comes back if I wait more than 2 hours to eat. So, I am still eating a lot of little meals during the day. I'm still very exhausted though. I fall asleep at like 9:30pm every night, but I always wake up tired.

Last weekend I slept and stayed in bed most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't leave the house; I hardly even left my bed. I was just so exhausted. I think my body just needs a rest after working 8 hours a day all week. Or, the baby is slowly trying to suck all the life and energy out of me in some sort of evil, master, baby plot to take over the world. Time will tell.

Yesterday was my first real baby doctor's appointment. Matt and I took a long lunch and drove over to Provo for the doctor's appointment. I got the name of this doctor from my friend Rachel and I was really excited because it is a female OBGYN, which is what I wanted. We got to the office and I had to fill out a bunch of new patient paper work and I knew that I wouldn't be able to remember all of my pregnancy symptoms, so Matt and I wrote down a list before hand. (This goes back to the baby eating my brain.)

The nurse was suppose to take my blood before the doctor came in to see me, but I think that in an effort to take over my body, the baby has made my veins unfindable/impenetrable. First, the nurse couldn't find any of my veins and had to call in a second nurse to help. Then, when they finally decided to try a vein in my wrist (which hurts way more than inside the elbow), they were able to get the needle into the vein, but no blood came out. So, of course, they dug the needle around trying to get blood to come out, but it didn't and they finally gave up on that vein. They then decided that I was dehydrated and needed to drink water before they could take my blood. So, blood taking was post-poned until after I saw the doctor.

The doctor came in and I liked her a lot. She answered all of my questions and she has a focus on the health of the family, not just the baby, because she is a family practitioner as well. That she could answer all my questions about my pregnancy symptoms was really comforting. She used that Doppler device thing and Matt and I were able to hear the heartbeat of the baby. At first, the baby was dodging the device and we couldn't hear the heartbeat because the baby kept moving, but we got to hear it for a little while. It was very surreal. It was cool to hear the heartbeat, but it was weird because there is like another human being living in me and that is a little weird. Human beings are suppose to live in houses or boxes, not other people.

So, after I saw the doctor, they moved me into a new room, with a new nurse and she also could not find my veins, but finally decided to go with the wrist vein on my other arm. It also would not produce blood, so she dug the needle around until it did. I filled one and a half vials until the blood started pooling under my skin. So, she took the needle out and had to stick me again in the inside of my elbow. This also didn't want to give blood, more needle digging, finally blood came and I filled all my vials. I don't understand why this whole process was so difficult. I have had blood taken so very many times as I have been sick so very many times and they always like to take blood and there hasn't been a problem. Hence, I think it is an evil plot of the baby.

Sick and Tired

Well, I got sick this weekend. Shocker, I know!

Sunday night, I was feeling nauseated and I was having body aches, but that was not too uncommon in my pregnancy thus far, so I thought it was regular. But, then I was up all night without sleep and visiting the bathroom a lottle. It was the opposite of fun and I knew that I had to be sick because I'm in week 11, I'm suppose to start feeling better around this point. I felt bad because I kept Matt up all night because I was up all night, so neither of us got any sleep. We both stayed home from work on Monday. I went to the doctor and, sure enough, I got the stomach flu. I have the worst luck.

It is absolutely miserable to be sick and pregnant. My mom had pneumonia during one of her pregnancies, I'm not really sure how she got through that. But, I was extra complainy and extra needy as I was very sick for about two days. Matt, being the wonderful husband that he is, just did everything that he could to make me comfortable.

I'm feeling better now, eating and everything. I'm hoping that my immune system realizes that it needs to work a little better for the next 6.5 months. I don't want to get sick again whilst I am pregnant. But, knowing me, that just is too much to hope for. Alas.

11 Weeks

I'm 11 weeks along now and it is not that much different from 10 weeks. I'm feeling a little less nausea, but week 11 comes with all new fun unpleasantries including headaches, dizziness, lots of discomfort, back pain, and forgetfulness.

Matt and I went shopping this weekend and I pulled out my debit card to pay, but I could not remember my pin number when it came time to punch it in. It was very embarrasing! I use that number every time I pay for something, but I just could not remember it. I had a bad memory pre-pregnancy, but I fear how much worse it will get now that the baby is eating my brain.

Babies are a lot like parasites because they suck everything away from their mother, only in a non-symbiotic way. I just don't see how we are both benefiting from this relationship yet. I'm doing all the giving of my energy and my nutrients and my body and I'm getting bubkis back. Maybe this is just in preperation for motherhood. Because mothers give all their time and their attention to the caring and raising of the children and they really don't get much back. It makes me appreciate my mother more than I did before.

Apparently, parenthood is very gratifying, but that might just be a rumour that women are spreading around to make pregnancy seem all worth it. We will just have to wait and see.

I'm still waiting for the "cool" part of pregnancy to happen. I'm starting to think that that there is no cool part, that it is just another one of those myths that are floating around.

My Ego is Prego

So, many of you have noticed my baby tracker. I am indeed pregnant. And, it is pretty much the worst feeling ever. I've been really sick for the last six weeks and pregnancy is not fun. I don't know who spread around that pregnancy is a cool thing, but thus far it is not. The books say that it should only last through the first trimester, so hopefully, I will start feeling better in three weeks.

Mostly, all food is gross to me, especially meat. So, I have just been trying to eat whatever sounds good to me, but food often is only good once, and then I don't want it any more. But, Matt is wonderful about taking care of me. One day, I thought I wanted grilled cheese, and Matt made it for me. Then, when I smelled the sandwich, I no longer wanted it. So, he made me french fries instead. He is a wonderful husband!

Life is kinda chaos right now and it seems to be all about me and being sick and pregnant, but I'm hoping that things will get better soon. Sarah has been a great help in cleaning up my house and running errands for me. I love having a little sister living with me. Except that she just moved and went back to school. Stupid college; I miss her.

Matt and I are very excited for the baby. Norm did our first ultra sound three weeks ago and we are going to have another one soon. I'm still trying to find a doctor because the one I planned on using doesn't deliver at the hospital my insurance covers, but we still have time.

This is all a new adventure for Matt and I and we are excited. The baby is due on March 30th, so we've got some time to prepare.

Dr. Horrible is Amazing

After much persuasion from my friends and coworkers, I finally watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and it was awesome. What is Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog you ask? Well, it is a video web cast blog of the super villian Dr. Horrible. He talks/sings to his blog viewers about the ups and downs of his super villian ways.

This wonderful medley of song and comedy comes from the mind of Joss Whedon. He wrote the script for this three act web based show during the writer's strike and then got all his friends he has in the business to help him put it to action. I think that it was just another way of showing the networks that money can be made off of webisodes (which is what the writers wanted money for during the strike).

Anyway, you can view it for free at drhorrible.com, or hulu.com, or, you can purchase it on iTunes. It is hilarious and epic and sad. I laughed, I cried, it was better than cats. Soon, it will be out on DVD with tons of dvd extras, including a musical commentary.

Oh Joss, what would I do without you?

Sickness Continued

Yeah... I'm still sick. I don't really do much these days. I wake up and feel sick, but force myself to go to work anyway. Then, I'm sick at work and usually go home early. Then, Matt and Baby take care of me and I try to rest up for the next day of sickness.

Not much else to report at this time. When I am not having nauseous feelings, I'll attempt to post more. Stay tuned.

Sick

I'm sick, have been for two point five weeks. Nothing further to report. I will post more when I'm feeling better.

Johnny to be a Bachelor No Longer

Well, I had a busy weekend. Lisa came to visit this week and she graced me with her presence for a few days this weekend. Additionally, Johnny had his bachelor party at my house this weekend, it was this whole thing.

On Friday, Lisa, Rachel and I were suppose to go to Laser Tag. But, we got there and Lisa got bored, so we left and went to Training Table for dinner. It was difficult for me because I like to have a plan and execute the plan and Lisa like acting on whim. Whim is chaotic to me.

Then, we went back to me house and the Allreds came over and we played games a plenty until late in the evening. That is what I love about my college friends. They love board and card games as much as I do and they could just play them all day long.

On Saturday morning, I went over to Rachel's and she and Lisa and I all made breakfast. Then, we played games for like 5 hours. It was awesome even though I lost almost all the games.

Then, I came home and cleaned the house for the bachelor party. Don't know why I bothered because they just came over and made a brand new mess. I stayed out of the festivities and holed up in my bedroom watching Juno. A fantastic movie everytime I see it. It is hilarious!
Krista and Mom came over during the party and hung out upstairs with me. I thought that it was wrong that the bride was there during the groom's bachelor party, but whatever.

Sunday, we had all sorts of people over. Anne and Carlos came over to show off their cute new baby girl. DJ came over to do his laundry. Johnny and Sarah were home. Krista came over for dinner. And, Lisa and Rachel came over for dinner.
It was chaos, so Matt and I cooked chinese food and it turned out pretty good. We attempted potstickers for the first time and they were fairly successful.

Then, of course, I played games for a couple of hours before the girls had to leave. It was a very busy, but good weekend.

Still Potentially Exciting News

Well, I had my meeting with the clothing line this week. I showed them all my designs for sleepwear, and they liked a number of my designs. But, I'm still not sure what will become of it all because they wanted a couple weeks to think about it before they buy any designs from me. So, I am still playing the waiting game.

I hope that they decide to buy the designs that they like, but I guess I won't know for another week or so.

Potentially Exciting News

Well, I have some potentially exciting news. As many of you know, I am an avid doodler. I enjoy drawing and designing clothes. I have done this for many years as a fun way to pass the time when I am extremely bored at work, school, or family events. Well, now it all might pay off.

I have a meeting with one of the 'modest' clothing lines in the area to show them my designs. I pitched them my idea of having modest sleepwear and they liked the idea and want to meet with me. And, if they like them, they will buy my designs from me. And, if I make money off of drawing clothes, that would just be awesome and really easy to do.

So, I'd like to take this time to thank the following people in advance: Jennie Allred who first taught me that I should draw the body and then clothe it, Marie who found me lots of websites to study fashion design, Gilmore Girls for having their characters wear cute things while they sleep which gave me my idea in the first place, and all my professors who didn't say anything while I drew pictures in their class instead of taking notes.

But really, even if nothing comes of this, it is fun to try new things and see how I do. Even if they don't buy my designs, I'm going to find a seamstress who will help me make my clothes because I really want the sleepwear for myself.

Missing My TV Shows

Unfortunately, summer programming has returned to show it's ugly face! I hate the summer because it lacks awesome tv shows! Now, I could see this as a reason to leave the comfort of my living room for the great outdoors. Thereby forcing me into enjoying the supposed summer weather and expanding my social adventures. But, I see it as a route to three months of boredom!

I just don't have enough friends or energy to leave my house every night to supplement my lack of good tv shows to watch. So, this leaves me with watching all of my tv on dvd again, or venturing into the land of movies. Movies are much too short to occupy my time, so it is tv on dvd for me. Unfortunately, Matt does not care for many of my tv shows that I own on dvd. I think he is crazy; Gilmore Girls, Buffy, and Dawson's Creek are totally awesome shows that can be watched again and again.

I would use my extra time to read more, but Matt doesn't read and then he just sits there bored and possible annoyed with my excessive reading habits. So, in lieu of playing out of doors, I think that I will have to get more extravagant in my cooking. I like cooking because it is something that Matt and I can do together that we really enjoy. I have about 10 set recipes that we make again and again, but I really need some more good, inexpensive meals. So, if you have recipe suggestions, they will be taken gladly.

New Look

I am trying something new with the blog. I've had the same blog template for four years and Marie's new desire to have a blog inspired me to make some changes. I haven't decided if this is what I am doing yet, but it is a try-out. Let me know what you think. It might not be enough like me, I haven't decided.

Oh, yeah, and I forgot to post that Johnny is getting married in July. His fiance Krista is very nice and very much a hugger. We love her!

How to Sleep at Your Desk

I wrote this for funsies whilst working hard yesterday. This is a simple tutorial on how to sleep at your desk. This is an art that was thought lost but has recently been revived. Once skilled in the art of sleeping at your desk, you will be able to move on to greater locations like: sleeping at the lunch table, sleeping in meetings, and sleeping while walking.
Use the following guide to successfully sleep at your desk:

The Chair

First, you must have a comfortable chair. Folding chairs are unacceptable. Only the truly sloth can sleep in a metal, folding chair. Once you have obtained a chair, make sure it has the following qualities:

• Recline: The chair must have maximum recline, to the point of almost lying down.
• Cushion: The chair must have cushion. If necessary, mass cushions stolen from the office couch in order to ensure comfort in your chair.
• Back Support: Make sure your chair has proper back support with a high back. This will keep you from falling back and out of your chair once asleep.

Foot Rest

It is important to place your body in a situation that is most similar to lying down, hence the need for a foot rest. The following are examples of acceptable footrests, but get creative in your options

• Computer: You can place your tower under your desk and rest your feet on top. This both warms your feet and provides an ample resting spot.
• Box: Any stray box that you have around the office can serve as a foot rest, but be sure the box is full so that your feet don't break straight through.
• Footstool: You can also use a foot stool if you care to bring one in from home. But, if you are a tall person, you most likely don't own a footstool.
• Midget: You can always hire a midget, dwarf, or elf to be your minion and hold your feet up for you underneath your desk.

Remove Shoes

To obtain true comfort, you must remove your shoes. If you have a foot issue, here are some solutions:

• Wear socks: Warmth and protection.
• Blanket: Drape a blanket over your legs and feet.
• Forcefield: Learn the dark arts and conjure a forcefield around your bare feet to keep them warm and comfy.

Prop Head

There are multiple ways you can go about propping up your head in order to sleep at your desk. If you are truly skilled, you will find that your head won't need anything to prop it up, but will stay up on it's very own. Be careful with this though, many a keyboard face has happened from improper head propage. To prop your head:

• Rest Head on Hand: Must have strong wrists and rings must be removed from fingers first.
• Rest Head on Back of Chair: This only works with high back chairs.
• Shoulder Stick: Fashion a shoulder stick that you can rest your head upon and claim that you have a spinal condition that requires you to wear the shoulder stick.

Look Busy

This is perhaps the most important aspect of sleeping at your desk. You MUST look busy. Here are some ways to do this:

• Keep Hand on Mouse: Keep one hand on the mouse and occasionally flinch in your sleep to keep your screensaver from coming up.
• Hold Pen in Hand: Hold a pen in your hand and have it poised to paper.
• Hold Sheet of Paper in Front of Face: Remember that the paper must have actual work on it for this to be viable.
• Make a Deal with Neighbor: Bribe your neighbor with snacks or money to occasionally talk to you about work stuff when the boss comes by. This makes it seem like you are actively participating.

New Post

Sarah said that I should post a new post, so here I am posting. Not much is going on right now. So, this post will most likely be lame. Blame Sarah, it is her fault.

Last Saturday Matt and DJ mowed and cleaned up the lawn. It is nice to have DJ around to do work for us... I mean... to be around. Then, we washed all of our cars because it was warm outside and all sunny and stuff. But, then I got tired and had to go lay down.

I seem to be tired all the time right now. Which is weird because I sit down at work all day and then I am all exhausted when I get home. I guess sitting around and staring at a computer is hard work.

Matt and I are going to see Indiana Jones tomorrow. I'm hoping that it will be interesting to watch. If it really sucks, I'll be sure to post about it so that the lot of you don't waste your money. Jenni Elyse seems to believe in the movie, but she does get obsessed with these things.

Last week I went to the Stephenie Myer signing at Thanksgiving Point. We waited in line a really long time and then waited even longer in our seats. But, it was fun to be in a room full of Twilight fans and to hear Stephenie answer questions about Twilight and The Host. If you haven't yet ready either of these books, do it, they are totally worth it and totally awesome. Unless you are a guy, not many guys like Twilight, though I think that guys would like the Host because it is a sci fi based book. For a synapsis and review of the book, see jennielyse.com. She writes good reviews and she is a lot more passionate about this topic than I am.

Okay, thus ends my lame post... enjoy.

A Trip to Washington

I finally went to Washington! About a month ago, I bought tickets for Matt and I to go to Washington to see Mom and Dad Kimball. But, then, when it was time to go, I was very sick and was unable to fly (shocker!). So, we had to reschedule the trip to two weeks later. Then, I got sick again and we weren't sure if I would be able to go, but I was well enough to travel. Yay!

We flew into Seattle on Friday and Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport. Not much went on on Friday because I was really tired and went straight to bed. Saturday, it was all rainy and gloomy, so we hung around the house with Anne and Carlitos (who were also there). Carlitos is getting so big and he is very much a little boy. He enjoys wrestling and tackling people and dogs. He had so much energy, I was not able to keep up. The only eventful thing that happened on Saturday was that we went to Walmart and I got gaterade. I like gaterade.

Sunday we went to church with the fam and it was very enjoyable. Carlitos was saying "hola" to everyone there, which is cute and annoying at the same time. Then, I was able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. I haven't been to those classes in a while since I'm all in the primary and stuff. On Sunday, I learned to play Golf, the card game. I thought that I knew how to play this game, but Mom and Anne showed me a whole new way to play. Their way to play is a lot more fun than the way that I knew how to play.

On Monday, Anne and Carlitos went back to Chili. We were sad to see them go, but Anne missed her husband very much. She had been in the states for a month while he was in Chili. Anne had problems with Alaska airlines when she went to fly out and I felt bad for her because she is seven months pregnant, with a one year old, flying alone and the airlines were less than accommodating. I blame the french because Alaska airlines is named after Alaska, which is close to Canada, and some people in Canada speak french, so they must be distant relatives of THE french. I've decided to make connections back to the french. It gives more credence to my blamings.

Monday was kinda sunny. We saw the sun for a little while anyway, so we took advantage and went to the park to walk Sheena. We hardly ever saw the sun in Washington. I was starting to think that Puyallup was a cursed town that the sun didn't visit, but I was sort of wrong. The sun just rarely visits. Then, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to see Iron Man. It turned out to be a really good movie. I had heard that it had gotten good reviews, and I concur. I put my good review in with all those others. I wouldn't call it a super hero movie, but rather a movie with a man who changes into a hero type person. I'm thinking that Iron Man, the comic book character wasn't ever really a hero, fighting for truth and right. He doesn't have the same moral values as Superman, Batman or Spiderman, but I think that is what makes him a good hero. He is more human than the other heroes. Or, that is how the movie portrayed him. I really enjoyed the movie. I'm going to see it again on Friday with my team at work. So, maybe I will give a better review at that time of the movie.

On Monday, we also went and helped Mom and Dad throw a Cinco de Mayo party for the 30+ single adults in their stake. It is one of their many callings. While we were there, Matt and I became very grateful for our marriage. I am so glad that I am not included in those 30+ single adult bracket because the pickings are slim! Matt thanked me many times for saving him from that fate. The event was not really fun for me as I didn't participate, but the people and their children seemed to enjoy it. The children were somewhat feral and severely hyper active. I really haven't grown to like children yet. I like my nieces and nephews and that is really where it stops. Kids bug me.

Tuesday, we flew home without incident. It was an easy flight, I slept most of the way. It was a good trip! I am glad to be home. I missed my comfy bed and my giant tv in my bedroom. The first thing I did was catch up on my shows that I missed. I hope that Jason Castro gets kicked off of American Idol.