Random Whatnots...

Well I had another doctor's appointment today. Ethan and I are doing just fine. :) Ethan is growing at just the right rate (as the doctor said my belly is measuring "perfectly). The big news? Since my first doctor's appointment (way back in December)... I have gained 19 pounds! WHAT THE HECK? I don't feel like I've gained that much. But I'm glad that I don't feel like it and it doesn't look like I have gained that much (at least to myself). I'm going to keep gaining weight too. At least we're over halfway now. :) Only around 16 weeks to go- and they will go quickly! Ethan is quite the little mover. It has been fun to feel him squirm around- especially right after I eat. :)

As for the other odds and ends... well, it has been snowing like mad here. Blah. We get a few days of beautiful weather and then SNOW! It's so unfair. There's all this talk about "snow pack" and "drinking water" blah. Let it snow in the mountains and be nice, warm, and sunny in the valley (yeah right).

I've been working on my baby registry... if you any of you are interested, we're registered at Babies R Us and Target... you can search for our last name to pull up our registry. And if all else fails- DIAPERS (and the other essentials)! :) Looking at baby stuff has been a lot of fun though- I have enjoyed that part. The whole imagining thing and looking forward to playing with Ethan. :)

I've also been working our our Wedding Album. I try to do it when I feel "creative" but that happens less often as I have been engrossed in cleaning everything. :) Soon enough I am going to have to put it to the side so that I can work on Ethan's baby album and some keepsakes for the family members.

And that's pretty much everything from out here. I am thinking about planting a garden again (but keeping it simple)- once it stops snowing. Any suggestions on what I should plant? Keeping in mind I am going to be using planters on my deck. So far I am thinking some tomatoes, zuccini, spinach, and a variety of herbs. I'd love to throw something else in there... except peppers- I would love to grow peppers but I have always had bad luck with them. Actually, come to think of it, for as much as I love gardening I pretty much suck at it.

Belly

Well my little belly is starting to grow larger. People are actually noticing it now. :) I wanted to share what I looked like about a little over halfway through (I'm now 23 weeks along- 20 weeks is the halfway mark). Anyway, out of respect to Dave's wishes I'm only posting pictures of belly covered by shirt. The front views don't really show much belly so you guys only get the side view. :) Everyone says that I am still tiny. I am okay with that- it feels big to me. :)

Anyway, things are going great out here. We are finally getting a taste of spring. At least for today. This weekend we are getting a storm- thunder (I'm excited) and lightning tomorrow and some rain followed by some snow on Sunday. Boo. But at least it has been beautiful all week. Makes me want to skip the afternoon of work and play in the park. Ahhh... that sounds like such a wonderful idea- lay out in the sunlight with a good book and some food- that's my idea of a good afternoon. :)

We are leaning closer and closer to a name. We've decided on Ethan- for now. Once we meet him we'll know for sure. :)

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up life out here. Oh wait... we bought a new stove and a new bed (yeah spending money we don't have/shouldn't be spending). Unfortunately the oven was dead- or rather, on its deathbed. And Dave was spending as much time sleeping on the floor as he was on the bed, so it was time for a change. I'm happy with both of the new additions. Between that stuff and the baby's room, our little home is coming together.

Strange things I've seen this week

I carry a camera with me all the time. Most of the time I forget to use it. Two times this week I wish I had used it...

Earlier this week I saw a lone goose honking at everyone up at the U's campus. It was standing up on top of one of the buildings in President's Circle and strutting around like it owned the place. It was just odd to see a lone goose at the U campus- on top of one of the buildings.

Last night when we were leaving Costco, Dave and I saw two people dressed up as the Easter Bunny hopping around on the side of the road. They weren't going anywhere- just hopping around on the corner. I really wish I had gotten a picture of that.

Otherwise... I am just really tired this morning and grumpy. And I have heartburn. Frankly I'm just annoyed with everything this morning and don't really feel like adjusting my attitude. So there.

Nothing too much planned for this weekend. Should be warmer (60's) so it might be nice to get outside. Maybe take Pookie to the park to play catch for a little bit. Other than that... just a quiet, short weekend. And spring will officially be here next weekend.

Baby's Room

Well, the baby's room is finally put together. I think it looks great (I'm probably a little biased though). It will probably get rearranged as time goes on and the baby grows older. But here (for now) are the baby's room pictures. :)

PS: we found the baby his first soccer ball. We're pretty stoked about this. :)

The changing table

By the window- so there's plenty of light.

The crib and bookshelf (yes, my baby already has his own collection of books)

Close of up the surfing ducky hanging in the crib.

Fish mobile for above the crib (happy fish- the rest just look crazy)

All of the crazy hanging fish. I haven't hung this up yet though.

Bits and Pieces

Okay, first of all: Happy Birthday Grandma! :) We're all thinking of you. :)

Second: I bought my first official maternity clothes. In the past week I have been stretching to get my pants on or completely foregoing them (at home). What's more, when I would wear my non maternity pants I would get a series of kicks right at the top where the pants started to pinch my belly- basically baby was telling me that those pants just weren't going to cut it anymore.

So April took me out last night to pick up some work maternity pants (I don't need maternity pants for at home- I have a whole drawer full of yoga/stretchy pants that are working just fine). I also picked up some other handy maternity stuff that I am excited to use as well. But the point of this story...

The dressing room at the maternity place we went has this little pillow you can attach around your waist that "adds five months." Being that I am now halfway, that little pillow was approximately what I would look like at the very end. HOLY COW! I wish I had taken a picture of it. I was huge. It was kind of shocking to look in the mirror and imagine that in a few short months I would be that big. I mean BIG! So that was an adventure.

And thirdly, because I found this article about the stock market amusing, I thought I would include it: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-queenan6-2009mar06,0,836089.story. WARNING: if you are nearing retirement you probably (definitely) wont find this article amusing. It's not so much the subject (the tanking of the stock market) that I find amusing, but the repeated calls by investors saying that the market can only go up from here... who knows, maybe it will? If you have problems accessing the article let me know and I'll just copy and paste it into the body of the blog.

I can't wait for someone to ask me how my weekend was...

Because it was so good! I really, really enjoyed this past weekend. It was good weather- 40's and 50's so it feels like Spring really is coming (tomorrow we're supposed to get upper 60's!).

And the best part? My dad and step-mom were in town! The drove down from Portland and are spending a week driving around Utah and Nevada before heading home. They've never been to the parks in Southern Utah so they are going to go through a few of them before heading for home. But the spent the first part of the weekend with Dave and I and it was great.

Friday we just sat around chatting- they'd never seen our condo before so they came and joined us for dinner. Saturday was an amazing day and one of those days where you just keep going (poor Dave was worn out halfway through it). Dad and Pam told Dave and I that they wanted to help us get some stuff for the baby- which was totally unexpected, but there was no way we could turn them down! What a blessing- it really was an answer to our prayers. :)

We drove down to Ikea and started looking. Let me tell you- that was an overwhelming experience. I am so glad that Dad and Pam were there to share some wisdom gained from their experiences. But the good- GREAT- news is that we have all the stuff for our baby's room! We picked up the crib (with all the attachments- like sheets, mattress protector, mattress, bumper pad, mobile, etc), a changing table/dresser, a glider for me (I love that thing), and a billion other small things that just make life easy. And we picked up some more baby clothes! I picked out some of the cutest little outfits- I am so excited. :) I don't have any pictures up yet, but you can be sure that I will by next weekend... I just need time to put it all together and get the room all set up. I am so excited!

We finished Saturday with a good (long) meal at Rodizio- I love that place. :) The pineapple and the vegetables are so good!

Sunday was a relaxing day- I cooked breakfast for everyone that morning and then we took Pookie out to the park to play some fetch and let her run around. By the way- Pookie just adored Pam. That afternoon we went and saw "Taken" which was a fun action movie. We enjoyed it. :)

Over all the weekend was just phenomenal. I loved hanging out with Dad and Pam and it was such a weight off of our chest to get some of the baby stuff. I feel so humble and blessed that our family was able to help us out in such a huge way. After looking at everything we needed (and still need to get) I am just so thankful for these gifts. :) Thank you Dad and Pam!