A Pee Story

Warning:  The following post discusses bodily functions.  

Well, another sign of pregnancy has become established.  My trips to the bathroom have become more frequent.  The frustrating part is that it doesn't often seem "worth it" because the amount is so small.  I was expressing my frustration to Terral, when he replied, "I'm sorry, I know exactly how you feel."  (For those of you who don't know him well, Terral seems to have a very small bladder.)  I said that I was glad he could sympathize, and he said, "Now that you're pregnant, I feel like you're becoming more like me!"

Dreams

Two months sounds longer than eight weeks to me.  In apparent celebration of the 1/5th mark, my brain decided to dream about a baby last night. :)  I've dreamt about pregnancy before, but not about actually being a mom.  It was pretty insane.  Anyway, in my dream we had a little baby boy.  Who knows what that means, but I admit I have thought of our baby as a he more often than as a she today.  But there were some weird elements of my dream beyond skipping the whole rest of the pregnancy and delivery.  I was feeding my baby mushed broccoli when suddenly I realized that he was a newborn and not old enough to eat solid foods.  Boy did I feel stupid.  Luckily I woke up and I realized I still had lots of time to prepare to feed our child properly. :)

I've heard that pregnant dreams can be pretty wild.  I normally have weird dreams (does that qualify as an oxymoron?), so I'm not sure I'll be able to tell.  But there definitely has been a change in subject matter as of late.

Speaking of dreams, it's time for bed again.  Sweet dreams!

(*edit:  I've since had a dream that we had a little girl, so your guess is as good as mine!)

Good News Tuesday

Yesterday was a really good day.  Completely different from Monday (the day before) when I was feeling tired, overwhelmed, discouraged, pressured, and a little scared.  Part of the reason I was feeling that way was that the grant I had been awarded was taken away because they decided I wasn't eligible after all.

Tuesday morning started with a meeting with my mentor teacher.  The meeting went really well, contrary to my nervous expectations, and I felt like it was very productive.  Plus, I got two pieces of good news.  1)  I don't have to wear only collared shirts like the email said.  This is excellent news for one who will necessarily be wearing maternity clothes.  2) She's willing to work around my being gone on a family vacation in Oregon even though it's the week before the school gets out on break and we will have a concert sometime close to that.

After my meeting, I came home and we had lunch before we headed to St. George to talk to a midwife.  We had called every single number we could get our hands on, and she was the only one to call us back to make and appointment. (Well, besides the one who called to tell us she isn't practicing anymore.)   We had a really good meeting with Janae.  We were both really comfortable with her, she answered all of our questions and then some, and she was just real.  She seemed very knowledgeable and she gave us reasons for why she does the things she does.  She also let us know different options we have, and she encouraged us to talk to several different midwives before we decide who we'll go with.  She thinks new parents should make educated decisions, so she gave us a list of books and websites we can refer to.  I could go on and on about all the reasons we liked her (Terral and I talked for quite a long time about it), but one of the biggest things is just how we felt when we were there.

After the meeting, we got some more lunch (to stave off my queasiness) and sat down to eat it.  Terral got a call from another midwife, and we were able to meet with her shortly after.  It was a completely different experience.  She was nice enough, but the minute we walked in the door, it felt like walking into a wall.  We immediately knew that she wasn't the right midwife for us.  We stayed for a while and asked questions so as not to be rude, but we left as soon as we felt it was acceptable.

We have one more meeting with a midwife, but we're pretty positive that we've already found the one for us.  We have felt so guided in this decision, and it's been a huge blessing.

We rounded off our good day with a visit to the temple, and then a visit to Heather and Chris.  Who could ask for more?

A Girlie Getaway and Other Events

In celebration of school getting out, we got together with my family to do a big FHE and have some girl time. Terral and I carpooled up with the Downwards. Playing with kids and good conversation made the ride seem a lot shorter. Ryan saw Terral with a marker and immediately wanted faces drawn on the bottom of his toes (something his grandma D does sometimes). Both the kids were entertained by this for a good half hour at least.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. They are the natural result of a cell phone camera and a moving vehicle.

After the drive, we had a wonderful FHE at the Lisonbee's house (more on that later) and then it was off to the Thompsons' for all the female folk. The menfolk kindly stayed behind to watch the kids and put in some new windows the next day.

We had a fabulous time exploring Nae's new home and hot tub. We exchanged clothes, talked, laughed, ate chocolate covered fruit, and pampered ourselves.

I was especially pampered at one point with Diane rubbing my feet, Sarah massaging my head, Rach doing bodytalk, Lisa matrixing, and Lynae feeding me strawberries. Okay, so it was a little staged, but we really did have fun making each other feel special.

Lisa brought some facemasks for us all to try, and we couldn't help but take a picture. Don't tell me you aren't glad we did. ; )

Since it was Mother's Day weekend, I had prepared a few gifts. For my sisters, I made seed tape flowers. I got the idea here. For mom, I made a sugar scrub (adapted from this) and a crochet scrubber (pattern found here).

Terral and I spent Saturday evening with Sarah and Kyle. We went to a dollar theater to watch Percy something-or-other and the Lightning Thief, which actually wasn't bad. It was better than expected, and Terral and I felt we got our money's worth. :)

After church on Sunday, we had a tasty Mother's Day meal with Sarah, Diane, and families. Terral did a fabulous job barbecuing the lobster and corn. I actually did try a bite of the Lobster. It wasn't very fishy, but it was kind of rubbery, and I decided I was very well satisfied with my chicken.

Thanks for making our holiday weekend so fun family!

Week Seven

It's amazing to read about how fast babies grow, especially at this early stage. It still kind of boggles my mind that I'm pregnant! The signs are there, and there really is no doubt, but I look and feel so much like my normal self, I have to keep reminding myself that it's true.

I thought it was noteworthy that my little blueberry sized baby is developing his or her vocal cords this week. This is a very momentous occasion!

It Starts

I had my first urge to throw up Saturday morning. Apparently it wasn't a very good idea to have egg for breakfast. Sunday was mostly fine. Today I had just had a banana for breakfast and was reading my student teaching handbook in our warm car. I think the heat brought on another wave, and I had a hard time keeping that banana down. Thankfully, nothing has come up so far. :) As unpleasant as it is to want to throw up, it is comforting considering the spotting I've had for the past week.

Unshoes

Well, school is out, and it feels great! At least, as much as it's sunk in so far. ; ) I'm trying to get our apartment in order so I can concentrate on other things. We have a lot of stuff. Isn't it crazy how it all adds up?

I'm still planning on doing my handmade stuff, but Terral has beaten me to it. He's just opened up a new Etsy shop called Unshoes. We're excited about it, and I hope you'll check it out.

He's been wanting to make sandals for a while now. Chacos were his sandal of choice, but he got frustrated with them because you're not really supposed to wear them in sandy places or they wear out fast. Well, avoiding sand is not really an option with us, and it's just impractical to re-thread them every time we take a trip. Besides that, Chacos are expensive, and they're kind of heavy. So Terral came up with Unshoes.

Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/unshoes

Have a fantabulous day!

Awesome

During spring semester, I was asked to sing my recital duets at several functions.  The last one was some sort of event for important people.  I never did really find out exactly what it was.  But they fed us free food, so I didn't mind not knowing. :)   After we sang, we got a surprise.  The man in charge said they'd get our certificates to us in a couple weeks.  Certificates?  "Oh, you didn't know?  We're giving you gift certificates to Milt's."  Sweet!  The certificates proved to be good for either Rusty's or Milt's, which are owned by the same people.  For those of you not familiar with Cedar, they are a couple of Steak and Seafood restaurants that I never thought I would eat at simply because they are rather expensive.  And I don't care for steak or seafood, but that's another discussion. . .  So the sum of this little story is that I sang for my supper.  And I basically got three meals out of two songs, since I got enough food at Rusty's for lunch the next day.  Really, it's five meals if you count Terral's two.  Not bad, eh?  But as cool as that is, the meal at Rusty's represents something even better.

We saved the certificate until April 29th.  We decided to use it to celebrate.  And what were we celebrating, you ask?  Some very special news.  Earlier that day we found out that I'm pregnant!  So the following pictures (unfortunately taken with a cell phone in bad lighting) are of some super happy, slightly dazed, expectant parents!