Small Things with Great Love

Sunshine

2012-03-06T08:57:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, we had the most wonderful weather! Which was perfect, because the carpet cleaners displaced us. It was in the mid-sixties with lots of bright sunshine! So we took Tim outside to run around. (He stayed out for around 2.5 hours!) Josh and Shelby came out for a while as well, and Josh brought bubbles. Which pretty much made all the kids think he was a rockstar!

Laundry day. See you there.

2012-03-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

I figured out how to upload multiple photos from my phone! Progress!

Tim and I did some laundry last Friday. There was a lot of waiting around for machines to open up, so he got to ride around in the cart. He LOVED it!

Fun with Cousins

2012-03-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Mike and Karen invited us over for dinner on Saturday to continue our celebration of Jake's birthday. He got to pick the meal and they had presents for him and Tim.

After bathtime, the kiddos had fun with one of the boxes a present was wrapped in.

Tim is finally big enough to play WITH his cousin to a certain extent. It is so fun to watch them. I LOVE having Mike and Karen and their family so close!

Jake's Birthday

2012-03-04T21:53:00.001-07:00

Thursday was Jake's 26th birthday! We didn't get a chance to do a TON of stuff that day because Jake was on campus from 0800-1830 and then I had a bell choir rehearsal from 1900-2100.

But I did have this little surprise up my sleeves:

Shelby helped me bake, frost, and pipe 120 cupcakes. (They were mini cupcakes)

We arranged them as the Periodic Table of Cupcakes and brought them in to the Stockroom.

Jake turned 26, so element #26 (Iron) got a special little bit of something.

Tim had fun running around the hallways.

As an awesome birthday surprise, Jake had a telephone interview for one of the jobs he has applied for!

Stockroom Fun

2012-02-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Tim and I went down to the Benson Building to have an indoor picnic lunch with Jake. Afterwards, we stopped by to visit Jake's coworkers in the stockroom. They were kind enough to share some ice cream with Tim.

New Phones and catch up

2012-02-01T23:05:00.001-07:00

We got fancy new phones. That run apps. So I'm testing out the blogger app. And hopefully a picture of Tim will show up with this post. Its from lunch today, when we shared some macaroni and cheese and he smeared it ALL over his face!

Anyway... some highlights of life.

I took a predictor test at school. It said that my predicted probability of passing the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt was 98%. Woo hoo confidence booster!

Jake is busy applying for jobs and doing school/work. Still no ideas where we're headed after graduation.

Tim got his two top teeth. And he says "duck". And he can clap!

We got Tim's one year old pictures taken Monday. More on that later.

Those are the big things. Lets see if this posts!

A Chemistry Celeb!

2012-01-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Back in October, Jake volunteered to help out with the National Chemistry Week Festivities here at BYU. Mainly he helped out with the liquid nitrogen ice cream.

YUM. I made 3-4 special trips to campus that week just for the ice cream. I even got them to custom make a batch of Reeses ice cream for me. (The perks of having a brilliant scientist for a husband).

Anyway, they just found out that Y-Chem (the chemistry club on campus) just received an award from the American Chemical Society for their activities during Chemistry Week.

Whose picture was in the article announcing this?

JAKE! That's who!

Articles about Chemistry Week (that feature Jake's face) can be found here and here.

Dry ice is "cool"!

2012-01-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Every couple of months, my mom likes to send us a gift package from Omaha Steaks. They are delicious and free (for us) and I love them.

They always come in these big styrofoam coolers.

One arrived for us yesterday.

After Tim went to bed and we unpacked the steak, Jake and I played with the dry ice that was keeping the steak cold.

Jake says, "It looks like you're kissing a smokey demon!"

....

Thanks, hon.

We decided to have some science experiment time, and poured in some water with blue food coloring.

And fun was had by all.

Yum.... Eggs!

2012-01-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Tim's favorite foods these days are the ones he can feed himself.

One day while I was getting dinner ready, we sat him in his high chair and gave him some hard boiled egg (originally intended for salad) that was cut into cubes to distract him.

HE LOVED IT!

Good way to get this kid to eat some more protein, since the baby food meats are NASTY!

Sunday Fun

2012-01-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

Even though we stayed home from church (Tim's sick), we still had an okay weekend.

Tim got this turtle shape sorter for Christmas. There is a base that looks like a turtle, and the shell lifts up so you can retrieve the shapes after they are sorted. He usually takes the shell off and ignore the base entirely. Which is fine.

This weekend he finally figured out how to sort the toys! Or... at least one of them.

He can get the red circle in there. He tries to put all of the other shapes through the red circle spot, too...

Jake tried to show him how it's done.

Sunday evening, Jake's cousin Josh and his new wife Leah came over for dinner due to a rather convoluted set of circumstances.

The morning of their wedding, Josh realized that he didn't have a black belt with him. So I made Jake give his to Josh.

(That was a fun conversation. It went about like this: ME - Give him your belt. JAKE: But I like it, and then I won't have a belt. ME: Doesn't matter. He's the groom. Give him your belt. JAKE: But it's my good one. ME: All the more reason. Give him your belt. JAKE: But- ME: Give him your belt. JAKE: Fine....)

Anyways... We forgot to get it back from them. So they still had it. Then Jake's grandparents sent Josh and Leah's wedding present to Mike and Karen's house. We were there last week, so we brought that back to Provo. The dinner was for the purposes of returning these goods to their rightful owners.

(Jake IMMEDIATELY put the belt on as soon as Josh walked in the door and handed it to him. haha. He had purposefully not worn a belt that day so he could put that on on.)

Dinner was good, it was fun to catch up with them. Afterwards we played some Mario Party and Wii Fit.

Jake LOVES this crazy Flying Chicken game on the Wii Fit. I suck so bad at it....

After they left, Jake and I split the tiny watermelon that came in our Bountiful Basket this week.

Even though we didn't make it to church, it was quite an enjoyable Sunday. :-)

No Judging!!

2012-01-13T22:06:00.001-07:00

Tim is sick. Has been since last Saturday. He has a runny nose and a HORRIFIC cough. Your heart just aches for the little guy as you listen to all the phlegm rattle around while he tries to breathe.

Anyways, this makes for a rather grumpy guy. He doesn't really want to eat, he doesn't really want to play, usually he wants to cuddle (but sometimes not)... So there is a lot of fussing and yelling.

Until we discovered this on Netflix:

Tim's only about 11 months old. So, in general, I'm not the biggest advocate of TV for him... But he will sit quietly through a whole episode (7 minutes). No screaming, no agony, no sad faces or moaning. So I am allowing it.

Also, it isn't half bad. I mean, it's narrated by Stephen Fry so it has at least some degree of awesomeness. It's pretty cute and much less annoying than some kids shows. Like Caillou. Bleah.

At least until Tim gets feeling better, we may be spending a lot more time with Pocoyo.

Mysterious Rustling Noise

2012-01-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, as I sat at the computer I found myself wondering...

"Hmm... What is that mysterious rustling noise?

Not over here, not over there... hmmm...."

"TIM... TIM... TIMMY TIM TIM!"

He'd managed to get his paws on a roll of paper towel that was no longer very roll-like...

And then I wrestled the camera away from him...

A Diaper Surprise!

2012-01-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

****WARNING: This post contains somewhat graphic images that may not be suitable for those with a sensitive stomach!****

Part of Tim's bedtime routine is taking a bath. So most evenings (when I'm gone to rehearsals on Thursdays or occasionally if we're all out and about or he is just too tired, we skip sometimes), around 7:15 PM we get him into the tub.

Which he loves. Obviously.

Last night, while we were undressing him... We got a special surprise!

A PENNY! We have no idea when he ate it... But we're glad it's out.

How did that feel, Tim?

That's about what I expected.

On a related note, Tim is SUPER obvious about when he is pooping. He will suddenly hold very still, kind of tense up, and grunt.

So, we ordered him this:

We are going to try to just start putting him on it when he starts acting all poop-like, and see if we can just sort of condition him into. He's only about 11 months old, and I realize that this is MUCH younger than when people usually start potty training. But, I figure if we know when he is pooping, why not just stick him there and get him used to it before he is really old enough to protest it?

Also, I don't mind changing wet diapers... It's the poopy ones that get ya.

VERY unrelated, we made these delicious pomegranate oatmeal chocolate cookies that I found on pinterest.

pinned here

Even Tim likes them. Look at him smiling with his little mouth full of cookie!

I love this dude.

Bountiful Baskets and our Winter Wonderland

2012-01-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

We decided to try ordering from the Bountiful Baskets food co-op. Today was the first pick up, and I am IN LOVE!!!

One "basket" is $15. And AMAZING! We got a head of romaine lettuce, a bunch of spinach, 2 avocados, 3-4 tomatoes, a bunch of apples, 2-3 Asian pears (!!!), 3 clementines, broccoli, blackberries, 2 bunches of radishes, 7 bananas... and I can't remember what else. But WOW! That would cost so much more than $15 to buy in a grocery store!

I'm so excited to get to use them, I LOVE fresh fruits and veggies.

We also ordered a 30 pound box of Minneola tangerines. I made a tactical error in underestimating just how many tangerines it would take to make up 30 pounds. I told Jake (only halfway joking), that he should be prepared to eat a tangerine with every meal until they're gone. HAHA. Good thing we're sharing some of the box with our good buddies Josh and Shelby!

Over Christmas break, Grammy McDonald taught Tim about how yummy oranges and clementines are. So he was very excited to see the tangerines! At first he was content with taking them in and out of the box, licking them, hugging them, and rolling them around.

But not for long...

He needed to be a little closer to the action!

We bought Tim a cute little snowsuit knowing that we would be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas in the Midwest. Over break it was 40-50 degrees in Nebraska AND Minnesota with NO snow! So we didn't get a chance to use it.

This morning, we woke up to a lovely white surprise!

Someone had a little sled out in the quad. We tried to pull Tim around on it... But he kept crawling off.

We didn't build this snowman, we just used it as a prop for our photo shoot!

Dinosaurs at the Mall

2012-01-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

Some friends from Omaha were out here visiting family this week. They have a little boy (Creighton) who is only 1-2 days younger than Tim. So we met them at a play area in the University Mall to catch up and let the boys meet and run around.

Creighton is a FANTASTIC walker! He has Tim beat. DEFINITELY.

Tim wasn't a super big fan of the slide. He either bonked his head or his shoes kept sticking and slowing him down.

You can see Jake's Christmas Break goatee.

Aren't we such a cute little family getting eaten by the dinosaur? :-)

Christmas Break

2012-01-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

So.... This will have to suffice for coverage of Christmas break. :-)

PHOTO MONTAGE!!

**Christmas (especially when it has thirty people packed into one room) can be a little overwhelming for little guys. Especially little guys who are recovering from roseola. When this is combined with the fact that kiddos don't sleep as well in new places, Tim had his share of grumpy moments. But he was still pretty darn cute!**

Live from Christmas Break

2011-12-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

I was getting better at posting, and now I've been slacking.

But it is because we are busy enjoying the holiday break with family in the Midwest! Some highlights though:

Tim is walking. On his own. Not for long stretches, but now fairly consistently.

Jake and I both got these for Christmas:

They're fantastic. I love it! And I finally jumped on the bandwagon to read:

OH MY GOSH!! I can't believe that no one insisted I read them sooner! For real, I read straight through all three books in two days. They were fantastic. And now I'm super excited for the movie to come out in March!

And Tim has had a grand time chasing after the cats here in Nebraska. Since I can never get my videos to upload into Blogger, I'm trying a new way - uploading to youtube and embedding it here. Hopefully this works out!

Preceptor Assignment

2011-12-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

I have a few more tests to take today and a few assignments to finish... Then I will be on to my last semester of nursing school.

Which means I have to complete my Preceptorship (like a capstone, if you are more familiar with that term).

I've been assigned to do night shifts on the Pediatrics unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

I'm excited about this.

I always thought that I would never want to work with sick babies or children. Then, when Tim was very sick during his first month with us, we spent the better part of 2 weeks in the hospital. Both at Utah Valley and at Children's Hospital in Omaha. We had some nurses who were less than caring. I remember one in particular. I stayed awake all night long because we didn't feel like we could trust the care she would provide. But we also had some AMAZING nurses who were so kind and comforting and made the whole ordeal bearable.

In any unit on a hospital you interact with the patients' families. But on pediatrics they are really like a second patient. You have to pay attention to their needs as well. I really like that you can help and touch so many more people this way.

It also scares the bajinkies out of me.Those parents can be intimidating, second guessing everything you do because it is THEIR baby who is in danger. But I was that scared, pushy, grumpy mom. I remember sassing nurses who weren't providing the care I thought Tim needed and asking questions that I'm sure exasperated them.

Despite how scary it is, I know this is where I need to be. When we did our pediatrics rotation last summer, it felt so right to be there that my heart almost burst each day I got to go.

Also, Jake has applied for some jobs here:

And if we move to Memphis, there is another children's hospital within a mile from Saint Jude's. As well as 2-3 other major hospitals nearby. So spending the semester on the pediatrics unit will be some good experience for me.

Christmas Pies and a Goofy Bear

2011-12-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

We went to two Christmas parties on Friday. One for Jake's coworkers from the Inorganic Chemistry Stockroom at BYU and one for our ward.

So I made pies to bring. Christmas pies.

An apple/Christmas tree pie:

And a raspberry/candy cane pie:

***********************************************************************

Tim the goofy bear somehow managed to slip his arm out of his shirt without having it unsnapped.

He thought it was HILARIOUS!

Also... He is into EVERYTHING these days. And LOVES the keyboard on my computer. In fact, he loves it so much that he pulled it down on top of himself and scratched his face up.

Poor kid!

Not Above a Little Bribery

2011-12-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

I still have a LOT to get done before the end of the semester:

5 Care Plans

2 Finals

2-4 Mock NCLEX Tests

1 NCLEX-PN examination

(And that is only the school stuff... In the next week I have 5 bells performances, one church choir performance, AND a Sunday School lesson!!)

So at the grocery store last night, I bought three bags of these:

The Dove chocolate "Promises".

The creamiest, richest, most wonderfully delicious chocolate EVER.

The ones with the cute inspirational sayings in them.

Anyways. I bought three bags. And I'm going to use them to ~~bribe~~ motivate myself to be productive.

For every section of a care plan that I write, I get a piece of chocolate.

For every 20 minutes studying, I get a piece of chocolate.

For every online quiz I take, I get a piece of chocolate.

You see how it goes.

I'm very excited about this system. I know its not healthy and DEFINITELY won't help me lose any of the baby weight. But.... It's finals week. Which means you do what you've gotta do to make it through!

Handbells

2011-12-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

This fall, I auditioned for the Utah Valley Handbell Choir. We started rehearsing in August and are in the currently in the middle of our Christmas performances.

It has been so much fun to be performing and involved in music again! Other than ward choir, the last time I've performed was with the BYU Folk Dancers in 2008.

**Video to be inserted here once the video uploader is working**

They asked me to accompany the bells on the flute for a number. Which I was quite excited about! I didn't get to rehearse the flute part as much as I'm used to, but by this point in the season it is going pretty well. Jake recorded this at our concert last night, but the camera ran out of memory before the song was over.

A New Look at the Holidays

2011-12-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Thanksgiving/Christmas Holiday season is all about being grateful for you blessings. You get to spend time with people you love, share gifts, etc, etc, etc. I've always known this and tried to remember this and incorporate it into the festivities.

But this year was different.

November was one of the most trying months I remember. I totaled our car (in an accident that was in no way my fault), we had to buy a new one (definitely NOT in the budget for two college students with a baby), I lost my job (and was notified about it via text message), two kids I went to high school with were killed in an accident, Tim and I have both been sick, and there are some on-going personal struggles we've been dealing with for a while that just tend to wear on you.

I was getting pretty bogged down by all of it.

A few of the girls at school knew I'd been having a rough time and gave me this book with a little "Hang in there" note from them.

I haven't read all the way through it, but in the second chapter there's a story that made me pause and think about some things. The author was preparing a talk and wanted to look up "Hope" in the Bible Dictionary.

"What do you think I discovered? It wasn't there! Hope is not in the Bible Dictionary. I was amazed! Just to make sure it wasn't only my Bible Dictionary, I asked a friend 'would you please check your Bible and see if hope is in the Bible Dictionary?' It wasn't in hers either. I had to work a little to find stories and verses about hope around which I could construct my talk. Perhaps this little experience is indicative of our lives. We have to look for hope! We have to create it!"

I had been having difficulty recognizing the blessings in my life. This was the first holiday season where I actually felt like it was a stretch to find things to be thankful for.

I'm not yet grateful for the trials we've been dealing with, but it has been good for me to look harder at my life to see the good. It has made the holidays a little more meaningful, even if sometimes it still seems like the rest of my life is falling apart. :-)

So thank you Devyn, Emily, and Sidne. For the long chat in the abandoned jail house, and all your support and encouragement. Thank you Jake's grandparents for loaning us money for the new car. Thank you Tim for giving me things to smile about every day. Thank you family for loving us. And thanks to Heavenly Father for being patient with me as I get the perspective I need in life.

Here's to the end of the semester and *hopefully* starting over in January!

Now it's December

2011-12-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't aware, it is December. My last post was on May 2nd. My goodness! So it's about time this blog got moving again. (Thanks, Devyn for reminding me.)

There is a lot of updating to do. It may or may not happen. But here's a few new facts about this little guy:

Tim is now about nine and a half months old. How did that happen?

He has two teeth (pictured above). We're not in any big rush for him to sprout more.

He crawls all over the place, pulls himself to a stand on anything he can reach, and walks around on the furniture.

Still a long, skinny kid. Although his legs are starting to beef up thanks to his constant exploring.

He eats all sorts of food now, and won't be shy about mooching off of your plate.

He has a brown blanket and a turtle that he always sleeps with, and loves to snuggle.

He loves to play peek-a-boo and say "LA LA LA LA LA" while sticking his tongue out as far as he can.

Upside down? Awesome.

We spent Thanksgiving with his Gramma and Grampa Herrington, and in another week and a half or so will be trekking out to see the McGrandparents in Nebraska. They're excited to see him.

Wouldn't you be?

Is Spring Finally Here?

2011-05-02T22:49:00.001-06:00

It was a beautiful warm day today. It made me hope that spring might have finally arrived!

Unfortunately, with spring comes finals week. I took my first one today and I feel really good about it! Too bad it was my easiest one! I still have pharmacology and Med Surg to take on Wednesday.

We decided to take a family walk up to the temple tonight to enjoy the weather. We packed Tim up in the baby carrier with a little sunhat (Okay... not so little. It is far too big for his head...) and took off. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time sitting there, watching the fountains, and looking out over the valley.

And Tim is excited that he is big enough to face forward in the baby carrier now. Take a look!

Picnic!

2011-04-30T21:53:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, we had BEAUTIFUL weather. Tim and I went down to BYU to meet Jake when he got off of work. We brought leftovers and had a tasty picnic!

Tim's Faces

2011-04-30T21:39:00.000-06:00

That Tim makes some cute faces.

I sure do love him!

Easter 2011 (Also known as Tim's First Easter!)

2011-04-30T21:27:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was Tim's first Easter!!

I wanted to take him to see the Easter Bunny. But the only Easter Bunny we could find in Provo was a lame not exactly "Easter" bunny at the Build-A-Bear. So this was the best we could do:

Tim was asleep, so I don't think he cared too much.

The Easter Bunny brought Tim this turtle. It is a stuffed animal/pillow that is stuffed with a blanket you can unfold! And it is super soft. And I think Tim likes it!

Grammy sent Tim a little suit for Easter.

He doesn't much appreciate dressing up though. We will have to train him to tolerate it before the wedding next month.

We changed him into this outfit. We figured the chick was "Easter-y".

Easter dinner!! Roast asparagus, citrus glazed salmon, sweet rolls, raspberry Jell-O with fresh raspberries and whipped cream, Martinelli's, and cheesecake for dessert!

TWO MONTHS OLD!

2011-04-30T21:09:00.000-06:00

Tim had his two month appointment on Thursday!

He is 24.3 inches long (86th percentile) and weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces (21st percentile)! Basically, he's a long skinny dude. Although they are starting to worry about that. Because on the chart of his weight adjusted for his height... he's below the first percentile! So... we're supposed to work on that.

He can smile now, and I LOVE his smiles. He can't quite laugh, but you can tell he's working on it.

He LOVES kicking! He will sit in his little bouncy chair and kick kick kick! He's also working on sitting up.

When he turns 3 months, we'll be in Minnesota. Fun times ahead!

Tim's First Sunday at Church!

2011-04-15T15:00:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday (April 10th), Tim got to go to church for the first time!!

And get all dressed up!

He wasn't very excited about the tie... We wound up taking it off before we went to church.

He was SUPER good. He was quiet and slept all through church! We took advantage of his drowsiness, put the tie back on and snapped some more photos when we got home.

What a cutie pants!!

Also, Tim was recently featured on his babysitter's blog which can be viewed HERE!!

Beautiful Weather

2011-04-07T07:11:00.004-06:00

We have had beautiful weather here! It was 70 degrees on Tuesday (when I don't have any classes). So, Tim and I decided to walk down to BYU campus and play outside while we waited for Jake to finish for the day. Tim had a blast!!

First Family Outing

2011-04-02T20:26:00.002-06:00

Last night, we went on our first family outing!

We've had BEAUTIFUL weather the last few days. When Jake got back home from taking a test, we decided to walk down to the BYU Creamery for dinner.

Tim rode along in the Baby Bjorn.

Their guacamole bacon burgers are SUPER yummy!

Tim stayed snugged in quite contentedly the whole time!

I would classify this as a success!

Also, this is the first picture of the three of us all together... We need a better family shot sometime...

Tim's First Smile

2011-04-02T19:48:00.002-06:00

Tim has recently started smiling. A few nights ago, we caught it on camera!

Here are some other gems from the same night:

One Month!

2011-04-02T19:20:00.003-06:00

On March 20th, Tim was officially one month old!!

At his last pediatrician appointment, he was 23 inches long and weighed 8 lb 13 oz.

Forgot this one...

2011-04-02T19:08:00.003-06:00

I forgot this one in the big montage of the next post, but it would've been IMPOSSIBLE to get it in order. This is from Tim's first appointment at the pediatrician when he was 3 days old.

Photo Highlights of Tim's First Month

2011-04-02T18:11:00.013-06:00

Tim's Hospital Photo Shoot

2011-04-02T15:31:00.008-06:00

These are the pictures from Tim's photo shoot at the hospital. He was one day old.

The girl did a wonderful job! He was angry and screaming, but you can't tell at all in the photos!

The last month and a half...

2011-04-02T15:24:00.003-06:00

It's been a crazy month and a half since Tim was born!

He has been in and out of the hospital. First, with a urinary tract infection and complications from his circumcision. Then, with an ileus in his colon (a portion of the intestine where the muscles weren't functioning like they should). Lastly with dehydration and excessive vomiting they thought was the result of a milk protein intolerance.

He is now home and doing better. But between dealing with his health issues, traveling to Nebraska, and trying to stay caught up in school, there hasn't been much time for blogging!

So, I'm going to throw up some pictures of highlights of the last month or so. And I'll try to be more on top of blogging in the future. :-)

He's here!!

2011-02-21T04:01:00.003-07:00

Little Timmy arrived early Sunday morning! More pictures and details to follow. Until then, here's a picture his Auntie Laura made to help announce him.

Old People Say the Darndest Things

2011-01-24T07:35:00.002-07:00

That's about what my belly looks like these days.

To go along with that....

Old People Say the Darndest Things

It's true. Here's a sampling of what I have heard from my patients at work this last week.

Patient: "Hi, Baby!" *pats my belly

"Hi Baby!" *pats my bum*

"A baby in a baby!"

As I'm leaving her room... Patient: HAPPY PREGNANCY!!

Is this some sort of new holiday greeting?

Another patient predicted my baby would weigh between 9 and 10 lbs.

No thank you.

And... the gem of the week.....

Patient: Was your baby a big surprise?

Me: Yes.

Patient: Why?

Me: Ummm.... why what?

Patient: Why were you surprised? Don't you have a husband? Don't know KNOW what happens?

Me:....... *silence*

Jake's New Lab Assistant!!

2010-12-09T17:22:00.003-07:00

Jake's Analytical Chemistry class is working on Independent Projects as their last big deal of the semester. Many of the students are working in small groups, but Jake decided to take it solo.

UNTIL TUESDAY THAT IS!!

Jake was running out of time to get everything done that he wanted to. So, he got permission from his professor for me to come in and be his assistant for the day!!

It was fun to get to see him at work doing his thing!

I messed up a few times. And spilled the solid I was supposed to be isolating through vacuum filtration... But despite all that, Jake said I was helpful. Hopefully he meant it and wasn't just saying that because I make the dinners! haha.

Ward Christmas Party

2010-12-04T21:33:00.006-07:00

Our ward Christmas party was tonight. And they had a special guest at the end of the evening...

SANTA CLAUS!!!

Played by none other than my favorite husband! ;-)

Surprisingly, MOST of the kids wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. Although their parents all wanted pictures. This lent itself to some pretty funny photos! Here are some of the more memorable:

I think we will definitely work on teaching our kids about how Santa is OK. See if that makes a difference... haha.

The Countdown...

2010-12-03T09:40:00.002-07:00

There are...

22 Days until Christmas.

14 Days until we're on our way to Nebraska.

13 days until I'm done with finals and my first semester of Nursing School.

In that time, I still have...

1 day of Clinicals.

1 more care plan to write.

1 Nursing Skills Lab.

1 Day of Class.

1 Nursing Test.

1 Nursing Final.

Christmas Shopping to do.

... and work. I'm not sure exactly how many days, because they're low on patients and cutting hours.

Time for the endurance sprint to finish line!

Belly Update

2010-11-29T15:20:00.002-07:00

Tucano's and Snow

2010-11-29T13:57:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, we went to Tucano's to claim my Free Birthday Meal! Now that November is almost over and everything...

I LOVE the grilled pineapple!!

When we were done eating... This is Jake's "Meat Coma" face. I went home and took a nap after that!!

And Saturday night we had a big snowstorm come in!! When I woke up at 6 AM on Sunday, we already a few inches on the ground. It snowed steadily until almost 11 AM!

**These pictures were taken using our new camera that we got during our Black Friday shopping!

Month of Thanks - Day 17

2010-11-18T15:21:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for Hamburger Helper! Quick, yummy, and at least somewhat nutritious!

Month of Thanks - Day 16

2010-11-18T15:18:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for people to talk to when you need it.

Month of Thanks - Day 15

2010-11-18T15:16:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for our nasty old yellow chair! It cost us $20 and it's ugly, but OH BOY is it comfy!!

Month of Thanks - Day 14

2010-11-15T12:38:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for chocolate chip cookies! And getting to spend time with Jake making them!

Month of Thanks - Day 13

2010-11-15T12:36:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for pizza!! YUM YUM YUM! Especially when it's free!

Month of Thanks - Day 12

2010-11-15T12:31:00.004-07:00

I'm thankful for Jake's brother Mike and his family - Karen, Ethan, and Emma!

We love being so close to them and getting to spend time with them.

Month of Thanks - Day 11

2010-11-15T12:25:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for the amazing blanket one of my past patients made for Baby Herrington!!

It has super cute LDS fabric! Depicted all the important events in a good little Mormon boy's life!

The quilting is all patterned in squiggles and stars!

Month of Thanks - Day 11

2010-11-15T12:22:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for my computer. Despite its quirks and illnesses. It's quite vital to my life.

Month of Thanks - Day 10

2010-11-15T12:18:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for painkillers. Mainly tylenol, as that is my drug of choice these days because it is considered the most baby friendly.

Month of Thanks - Day 9

2010-11-15T11:18:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for my bed! I try to spend a lot of time there.

Month of Thanks - Day 8

2010-11-15T11:12:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for my new Snuggie!!

It's warm and snuggly and zebra printed and fantastic!

Month of Thanks - Day 7

2010-11-15T11:01:00.002-07:00

The 7th was my birthday!!! So I'm grateful for that!!

Jake got sidewalk chalk and decorated our porch!! So this is what I saw/see (it's still on there) when I look out the window.

I got pumpkin pie!!

This is the new dress Jake got me!

And my family sent this tasty bouquet of fruit!! YUMMY!!

Month of Thanks - Day 6

2010-11-07T09:51:00.002-07:00

Today I'm thankful for....

LAURA!

Not that she ranks BEHIND batteries or refrigerators... but I saved her for Day 6 because November 6th is her birthday! And now she is 17 whoppin' years old!

Anyways. She's fun to have around. And I'm grateful for her and that she had a happy birthday.

Month of Thanks - Day 5

2010-11-05T20:59:00.003-06:00

Today I'm thankful for...

THE REFRIGERATOR!!

Might be a silly thing... But it keeps all my food nice and edible!

And it makes it possible for me to make large batches of things (lasagna, soup, etc) and then save them for a week or however long. So that I don't have to cook every single day! Or go to the store every day!

Wonderful!

Month of Thanks - Day 4

2010-11-05T16:18:00.003-06:00

Today I'm thankful for....

Rechargeable batteries!!!

Particularly the ones in my cell phone and laptop!!!

Too bad that since my digital camera took a trip down the Provo River in 2009, it has gone through batteries like you wouldn't believe! haha.

Month of Thanks - Day 3

2010-11-04T09:42:00.002-06:00

I am thankful for...

Baby Herrington!!

He's set to arrive in mid-late February. And we're getting excited! It is fun to get to feel him moving around now and seeing him in the ultrasounds.

Month of Thanks - Day 2

2010-11-02T22:00:00.003-06:00

Today I'm grateful for...

MY PARENTS!!

Obviously they've had a huge impact on who I am today. And continue to do so.

I don't get to see too much of them these days. (although we will for Christmas and I'm super excited about it!!) But they're awesome and I'm glad to have had them around.

Month of Thanks - Day 1

2010-11-02T09:31:00.002-06:00

So... yes... this is a little late. But yesterday was a busy day! I was up EARLY to be to work by 6:00 AM and then was out until after 11 PM for clinicals.

But, the first thing I'm thankful for is....

JAKE!!

He is awesome. He fixed the car door yesterday for me. While I tried to take a nap between work and clinicals. And he bought he my favorite Reeses candies! And he always comes to snuggle me when I'm going to bed - even if he will still be up doing homework for a while.

Basically, he is awesome and amazing and after knowing him for over two years (including almost one and a half years of marriage) I LOVE him and can't imagine my world without him. I'm soooo grateful he came into my life.

Month of Thanks

2010-10-31T20:59:00.002-06:00

I realize that it is still Halloween and still October....

BUT!

I just got so excited that I wanted to give a heads up!

Last year, during November, I did "Month of Thanks" posts. Every day in November leading up to Thanksgiving, I wrote a post about something I was thankful for. And I'd like to repeat that this year! Obviously, I will still be thankful for some of the same things. But it sure doesn't hurt to be reminded of them.

So starting tomorrow, watch out for the Month of Thanks posts!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2010-10-31T17:58:00.002-06:00

Today is Halloween!!

Friday we went to our ward's Halloween party. I won second place in the pumpkin carving contest!!

Here are Jake and I in costume!! We were Juno MacGuff and Paulie Bleeker from the movie Juno. We even had props!! I carried around a gallon of Sunny D* and Jake had three packs of orange Tic Tacs tucked into various pockets.

*It was not ACTUALLY Sunny D... we bought the thing of Sunny D. But since I had NO desire to actually drink ANY of it, we refilled the bottle with regular orange juice.

Halloween Photo Fun

2010-10-28T13:02:00.002-06:00

I am a fan of the website/software Picnik. That's where I've been editing all of the baby pictures. Right now, they have a bunch of Halloween special effects. I took the opportunity to take this picture:

from when Jake and I were dating and make it all Halloween-y!

We became ghosts:

And vampires (although we don't sparkle):

And my personal favorite, ZOMBIES!!

Pumpkin Carving 2010

2010-10-27T21:51:00.002-06:00

Monday evening for FHE, we carved pumpkins with my dad (who is currently out in Utah for a visit). We had to drive to several grocery stores in Provo because EVERY FHE GROUP EVER decided to also carve pumpkins and the stores were sold out! But eventually we found these beauties. Well... Jake and I found beauties. My dad picked a "warty" pumpkin (in the middle).

Carving away!!

Jake and I were trying something a little fancier, so my dad finished first. Here's his pumpkin face:

While he waited for us to finish, he baked pumpkin seeds!!

Jake carved a Bowser (from the Super Mario Bros games). I helped a bit though, because I drew out the pattern for him to follow.

I carved Princess Peach (continuing the theme of the Mario characters). And man was she difficult!!! Both of our pumpkins look kind of silly when they aren't lit up...

But check out how awesome they are when we put in the candles!!

FANTASTIC!!

IT MOVES!!

2010-10-14T19:58:00.002-06:00

Here is the latest Belly Picture

And... Some of the most exciting baby news recently (well... other than the part about it's gender)...

JAKE GOT TO FEEL THE BABY MOVE!!

Just about 20 minutes ago. Hooray for baby growing big and strong!

True Blue Football

2010-10-12T20:17:00.003-06:00

BYU has a tradition that during Homecoming Week called "True Blue Football".

This involves setting up several giant slip and slides into a mass of blue foam. Indeed there is nothing football-y about it.

Even though this is my fourth fall here, I have never gone. But Jake REALLY REALLY wanted to take me. So, despite my skepticism about the weather (it had been DUMPING rain about 15 minutes before we had to leave), we went.

After waiting in line for over an hour, this is a general idea of what was going on:

We were smart enough NOT to bring a camera, so I borrowed this picture from the newspaper.

All of our pictures were taken once we arrived home.

Jake was twisting and turning on the way down the slide. I tried to stay on my bum to protect baby. Jake also was slathering MORE foam onto himself once he hit the pool at the bottom. I was less excited once I saw how the foam there was more of a gray with grass and dirt and who knows what the heck else was in it... So I am significantly less blue than he is.

Good times though!

IT'S A BOY!!

2010-10-07T22:14:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was the big day!! The 20 week ultrasound!!

And the news is....

BABY'S A BOY!

For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures from the ultrasound. I may or may not post the video file on here. But its on facebook. So you could always find it there.

Baby wanted to stay laying on its face the WHOLE TIME! She tried to shake it awake and everything! So they have to do another ultrasound when I go back next month to try to finish some measurements. They said I should make sure to drink some caffeine so that baby will wake up and be moving around that time.

Spooky Story

2010-10-02T11:12:00.004-06:00

Since it is October, I thought we could start out the Halloween month with a real life spooky ghost story!! Well... maybe it's not a "ghost" story. But it sure was spooky!

Earlier this week, I was working the graveyard shift at work. This means that my shift lasted from 7 PM - 7 AM. At 6 AM, two more CNAs come in to start the work of the day shift.

In order to understand the following events, I have made for your pleasure a CRUDE map of the Berkshire, where I work. Numbered rooms are patient rooms. The orange ones were the occupied rooms at the time of this story. The two red Xs will be explained in just a moment.

SO.... Around 6:15, I was walking back from Room 9 to the CNA station with one of the 6 o clock girls. When we got to where the X is between rooms 10 and 11, we heard a man's voice say "Hey."

Which may not be too weird until you consider that 1) ALL of the staff in the building at this time were female, 2) all the patients are still asleep, 3) The patients in rooms 8, 9, 11, AND 13 are all female, and 4) the man in room 12 has a much higher pitched voice. Once you realize these four things, it gets a little creepier.

The other CNA and I stop dead in our tracks, look at each other and have the "Did you hear that?" conversation. We can't figure out where the voice came from and although we're a little weirded out, we continue on with our duties.

Around 6:30 or so, the same CNA and I were in the back section of the building. When we were at the second X (near room 16 - feel free to scroll up and consult my map), we heard the same voice again.

There were male patients nearby this time - in roms 14, 15, and 16. However, we checked on all of them. And they were all dead asleep. None of them have ever talked in their sleep before. And because the voice sounded the same as the first time, we didn't figure sleep talking was a likely answer anyways.

Now we were SIGNIFICANTLY creeped out....

Then, around 6:50 the physical therapy staff started arriving for the day. One of them stopped at the CNA station and asked us if we had heard about "Bob" (name changed). Bob was a patient who had been in our facility. He was admitted into room 16. As he got sicker, we moved him into room 10 so that he would be closer to us and we could keep a better eye on him. A little bit later, he was still getting sicker and had to be ambulanced to the hospital.

Turns out, Bob had died the night before. And where did we hear this man's voice? Right outside rooms 10 and 16. The two rooms Bob had stayed in.

Spooky.

Baby Update

2010-09-30T12:57:00.002-06:00

Baby is finally big enough that you can SEE some evidence of my labors from the last 4 and a half months. Which is exciting!!

ALSO, less than one week until we find out if baby is a pink or a blue! Hooray!

Old Navy's Maternity/Baby Sale

2010-09-23T09:23:00.003-06:00

Old Navy has been having this HUGE Maternity/Baby Sale. And I needed another pair of maternity jeans. So we got some stuff. Then we realized that we were only about $12 away from being able to get free shipping. So, we decided to take a look at what baby things we could add on.

We haven't bought ANY baby things yet. We don't find out the gender for 2 more weeks (Oct 6). But we decided it wouldn't hurt to look for some neutral things that we liked.

And this was just too cute to resist:

The Beginning of Nursing School

2010-09-22T00:55:00.002-06:00

I started Nursing School this semester. So far, nothing too exciting has gone on.

But on Monday, I had my first round of clinicals at the hospital!

I was on a Medical/Oncology floor and assigned to a nurse named Trent. Because we haven't learned much, there wasn't much for me to do. I listened to some heart beats/lung sounds on some patients. And checked their pulses and such. And cleaned up some poo. Otherwise, I just followed the nurse around.

So, it was uneventful. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Here I am all dressed up and ready to head to the hospital!! I felt so official in my uniform with my badge and everything!

I would like to make excuses for this picture by saying that at this point in the day I'd already been at work for almost nine hours (after working twelve hour shifts the two days preceding)... So I was TIRED! But the battery on the camera died so we only got one shot. And this is it.

Baby - 17 Weeks

2010-09-15T15:36:00.003-06:00

Okay... So... I realize that it has been FOREVER since I posted. But.. School started and life got busy! Until I have time to do another post (which will either be tomorrow or sometime late next week), here's a belly picture and a quick story!

I went into the OB yesterday. And we were listening to the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. All of a sudden we hear this loud WHOOMP. The nurse starts laughing and said that that was the baby kicking at the microphone!

ALSO.... we scheduled the big anatomy scan/gender ultrasound!! So mark your calendars! October 6th at 3:30PM

Can't wait!

Back to School Barbecue!

2010-08-29T10:36:00.002-06:00

My parents like to send us Omaha Steaks packages (which we LOVE!!). However, we usually go through everything else before we use up the burgers. So we have had hamburger patties accumulating in our freezer for a while. We decided to put them to use by hosting a back to school barbecue!

Jake took charge of cooking the meat.

We invited a bunch of old roommates and good friends - some of whom I hadn't seen for a year and a half or so.

It was fun! There was lots of yummy food and I think everyone had a good time.

And what better way to end the night than with an impromptu watermelon seed spitting contest?

14 Weeks

2010-08-26T10:12:00.002-06:00

Well... 14 weeks (3 and a half months) down... and not much to show for it yet!

Someday...

But anyways. Baby is now about as big as a lemon, and making its own urine! And, baby's thyroid is now starting to produce some of its own hormones! Which I think is pretty cool! :-)

On another note... Our OB won't check gender until 20 weeks (roughly mid-October). But there are some clinics where you can pay $40-$50 and go in around 16 weeks to find out gender. If I can talk Jake into it (big maybe), then we might know by the next time we post a belly picture!

12 Weeks Belly Picture!

2010-08-23T20:36:00.001-06:00

With all of the kidney and hospital shenanigans, I never got around to posting the belly picture for 12 weeks pregnant. Since tomorrow we're at 14 weeks and probably taking another picture... I figured I should get on that.

So here ya go! :-)

Mary Versus the Kidneys: Round Two

2010-08-19T20:21:00.002-06:00

If any of you have been reading the blog from the VERY beginning (as in... March of 2009), then you may remember the first round of the ongoing battle I have with my kidneys. They like to throw rocks at me from time to time. LITERALLY!!! Kidney stones. Last time I spent about 7 hours in the ER and then 3 days drugged on my couch before finally passing the stone. This round of the battle was FAR worse than the first time... Here's how it played out.

Friday, August 13th, 2010

NOTE: Friday the Thirteenth!! This should have been my first clue!! Nothing too bad was going on at this point. I just had a crampy achey feeling in my left kidney. It just lingered, and didn't get worse, so I just chalked it up to weird pregnancy pains or something and somewhat ignored it, going to work like usual. I was scheduled for the 4 PM - midnight shift, but went home around 10:30 because I wasn't feeling well and the night had settled down by then.

*NOTE* It wasn't as silly as it may seem that I ignored it. With the other kidney stone, I went from being perfectly fine to being completely debilitated by pain within about an hour and a half. Since this nondescript achey feeling went on for HOURS, I figured it was something else.

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Saturday, I was scheduled to work from 9 AM - 9 PM. Just before 7 AM, I was awakened by my phone ringing... the second person scheduled to work at 6 AM didn't show. Leaving only one person working the floor. Despite the fact that I was looking forward to about another hour and a half or so of sleep, I hustled my bum (attached to my still achey kidney) into work to help out. I got there just before 7:30 AM. I mentioned offhandedly to my coworker that I thought I might be starting to pass a kidney stone. By 8:30 the pain had gotten MUCH worse, and I was vomiting from the pain. The other CNA for the day had shown up by then, and they volunteered to cover the floor so Jake could take me to the Urgent Care.

We ran to the BYU Urgent Care. They ran blood work and checked out some other tests that I had *conveniently* just had run on Friday for some routine prenatal labs. They agreed that it was likely a kidney stone, and sent me on to the ER.

So, we headed to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center's ER (still vomiting and in tears from the pain). They ran more blood work. And hooked me up to an IV. Got some morphine and some good hydrating fluids.

You can still see the bruise on my arm from were they drew my blood the day before!

We spent... a good 4-5 hours in the ER on Friday. Because of Baby, they didn't want to run a CT scan to locate the kidney stone. So, they opted for an ultrasound. They did a full abdominal ultrasound - which was kinda cool. I got to see my kidneys and ribs and lungs and whatnot. But... they couldn't FIND a stone. However, my urine tests indicated that the kidney was probably infected. So, they went with that diagnosis and sent me home with drugs for pain and nausea as well as some antibiotics for the infection. They also told me to come right back to the ER if I started running a fever, or had uncontrolled pain or vomiting, etc.

It was a long, unhappy day.

Jake was a trooper though. He read his book and helped me out when I needed it. :-)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The day started out promising! Less vomiting, and the pain meds seemed to be doing their job. Until about 9 PM that night. The pain meds (the prescription said 1-2 pills as needed every 4 hours) were... no longer doing their job. Those two pills were only lasting about an hour. I roughed it out through the night, sleeping on a bag of frozen veggies to help with the pain.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Monday morning showed no signs of improvement. We called the OB to check with them about what they wanted me to do. They said to head back to ER. So... we did. After another 5+ hours full of blood work and ultrasounds (and THANKFULLY some serious duty pain meds!), they decided to admit me. The new theory was that although the infection was under control, there was ALSO a stone that was blocking my kidney and not allowing urine and other fluids to drain the way they should.

So, we were wheeled up to the seventh floor to my luxurious room!

I did have a pretty sweet view. This isn't actually the window in my room. It's a window across the hall, but I could see out it from my bed. So it kind of counts. I could see Life Flight, BYU, Rock Canyon, even the Provo Temple!

Here's most of the room. And the chair where Jake spent his time. (Although I did let him go home to sleep in a read bed. I'd been keeping him up the last 3-4 nights with my tossing and turning).

The urologist decided to give me throughout the night to see if I would pass the stone on my own. To facilitate this, they were gave me my own little morphine pump! It was all hooked up to my IV and I had a little button that I got to push! Whenever I pushed my magic button - instant relief!! SOOOooo much better than having to bother the nurse every hour.

But... I DIDN't pass the kidney stone that night... which led us to Tuesday.

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Tuesday morning, they decided to do a cystoscopy and go seek out the stone. Basically, that just means that they sent a little camera scope up through the bladder and on its way to kidney. When they found it, they went ahead and took it out!! BEST WAY TO GET RID OF A KIDNEY STONE EVER!! SOOOO much better than passing it mysef! I was a little scared and worried... but it really wasn't bad for me. I was out under a general anesthetic for the whole deal.

A few funnies:

If you are around Jake and I, you may have noticed that instead of regular pet names, I call him "Boy" and he calls me "Girl". I vaguely remember as they were wheeling me into (or out of?) post-op, asking everyone "My Boy, My Boy. Where's my Boy?" I guess they all assumed I was talking about the Baby, because they kept telling me "We don't know that it's a boy, but it's fine." Of course, this didn't satisfy me. I kept asking about "My Boy" until someone finally asked what my boy's name was and connected that "Jake" meant "husband".

As I returned to my room, the nurse and CNAs were asking me if they could get me anything. As in anything - a blanket, meds, etc. Evidently I immediately said "Orange juice??". So, they brought me orange juice. But that wasn't the end of it. I guess I was sooo excited to have my orange juice that I told Jake MULTIPLE times "Look, Boy! I have some orange juice! They brought me orange juice!"

While I enjoyed a nice post-op nap and slept off the rest of the anesthesia, I SWEAR I saw Jake come back from the cafeteria with pizza and a plate full of DINOSAUR EGGS! There were all different kinds of dinosaur eggs, and each one had a picture of the kind of dinosaur that would hatch from it!

But, immediately after the operation, I felt so much better! Didn't need any pain meds from the minute I got back! The only lingering unpleasantness was the matter of my potassium... Evidently my potassium levels were CRAZY low. So they decided to give me a boost through my IV. But... potassium through an IV is NOT fun!! It burns up your arm the whole way through the vein. I had to have an ice pack on my arm to be able to bear it. :-(

I got back from the operation around noon. And by 6:30 that evening, we were cleared to go home!!

Mike and Karen where wonderful to bring over dinner for us that night. It was such a blessing!

NOW

I'm still kind of tired and feeling a bit weaker than normal. And my bladder/kidney area is still tender and a bit sore. But nothing so bad that I've needed so much as a tylenol!

MUCH BETTER!

Fun Outings

2010-08-06T21:30:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday, I had to drive up to Taylorsville (near Salt Lake) to get fingerprinted as part of my background check for the Nursing Program. Jake was kind enough to accompany me!

It was NOT an enjoyable drive... Sasha, our Ford Taurus does NOT have air conditioning. So... it was a hot yucky miserable drive.

Afterwards however... we had some coupons for....

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!

Conveniently located on our return route! Our coupons were to get a slice of cheesecake (any flavor) for $1.50. They usually cost about $7 - $8 a slice. So the fact that we got TWO slices for $3?!?! A steal!

The restaurant itself was PACKED. So we walked next door to the mall to eat our cheesecake and enjoy some people watching.

I chose just plain original cheesecake with strawberries on top! YUM!

Jake always likes to try new and exciting things when we eat places. He chose a White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake. He let me try a bite. It was good, but I preferred mine. :-)

The city of Provo hosts outdoor movies on Monday nights in August at Rock Canyon Park. They set up a big inflatable screen at the bottom of the hill and project the movie onto it. Then everybody brings blankets and such and sits on the hillside in a stadium seating sort of arrangement.

This week they were showing New in Town, which neither Jake or I had seen. It was pretty good! I kind of want to go EVERY week. But, I need to remember to bring pillows!

Week 11

2010-08-06T21:10:00.003-06:00

No belly picture this week... It looks the same as ever. So... until there are noticeable changes, we'll likely shoot for every other week.

This week, baby is about the size of a lime! And there is about a 1:1 ratio between the size of baby's head and the rest of baby's body!

Supposedly, this is about what baby looks like right now (it is so hard to write these things using non-gender-specific pronouns!... No "her" or "his" or "she" or anything... only "baby". haha)

Baby's fingers and toes are no longer webbed, and they're growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and starting some fingernails!

Baby's ears have moved to their permanent position... I'm going to have to do some more research to figure out exactly where they were before...

Baby is busy kicking and stretching (I can't feel it yet) and soon will be able to open and close little hands into fists!

Baby's diaphragm is forming, and baby is likely hiccuping to strengthen it! Baby's kidneys can function now and are cycling amniotic fluid.

10 Weeks

2010-07-27T21:46:00.002-06:00

First of the weekly baby updates!!

Officially 10 weeks along! Roughly a quarter of the way through!

No belly yet of note.

Baby is approximately the size of a prune.

Baby is forming bones and cartilage. The arm joints are now movable and baby has started making their own red blood cells! Microscopic fingernails are starting to grow and baby is sprouting hair!

We're Pregnant!!

2010-07-26T11:52:00.007-06:00

Remember, you blog readers are getting this a day early. Facebook and others find out tomorrow. So please don't post anything on facebook until then. :-)

Our big news!! Jake and I are going to have a baby!!

We found out on June 17th. It'd been a while since I'd had a period, so my coworker and friend Cathi sent me off to the Dollar Store to buy a pregnancy test. At around 11:34 that morning, it turned out positive!! Here's that first test:

I decided to rush to K-Mart on my next break to buy some more tests. I simply couldn't believe that this one was correct!

Cathi made us a little document to track all the tests of the day.

We did 6 total!

My favorite (aside from the first, of course) was this fancy digital guy. Nice and clear, not so easy to argue with this one!

Before I left work that day, Cathi and I decided to take a commemorative photo. :-)

The belly rub.

Even though it was only a few days until Father's Day, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from Jake for that long!! We were planning on having burritos for dinner that evening. So I got a little creative.

I used food coloring to make baby faces on the burritos and moved their wrappers like baby blankets. I laid out the pregnancy tests from the day and called Jake over to the table for dinner! At first he just looked at the burritos and said "Oh, that's cute.".... then as he started to notice the tests he said "Wait.... are you....?" haha. We had some hugging and laughing time, and then decided to eat our burrito babies while they were still warm and tasty. :-)

YUM!!

Poor baby!

Last Wednesday (July 21st), we had our first appointment with the OB and our first ultrasound!

There's the baby. And this is what we learned:

Baby is 2.49 cm long from crown to rump. That's almost an inch!

Baby's heartbeat was 173 beats per minute! We got to listen to it!

At that point I was officially 9 weeks pregnant, making baby due on February 22nd.

And NOW... baby is officially a fetus! (Instead of an embryo!)

And this week it is about the size of a green olive.

I'll try to post weekly updates on how big baby supposedly is/how baby is developing/etc. But there won't be any more ultrasound pictures until we're at 20 weeks when they will check out baby's "plumbing" and see if it is a pink or a blue.

Exclusive News Release

2010-07-26T11:33:00.002-06:00

You special folks who follow our blog are in for a treat today!

Later today (not sure when) you will be privileged to some special information before the rest of the world is!

All we ask is that you pay attention today and then not spread this announcement (facebook and the rest of the world will find out tomorrow).

:-)

World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight!!

2010-07-25T15:38:00.002-06:00

BYU didn't have classes on Friday ("Pioneer Day" was Saturday, and in Utah it's a state holiday). But they DID have the World's Biggest Water Balloon Fight! So Jake and I went!!

There were almost 4,000 people there (they beat the previous world record by only 25 people!) and over 120,00 water balooons!! And some kid was trying to record a music video in the middle of it!

We got a free lunch and free T-shirts (see above). They used the colors of our shirts to divide people into teams. Jake got a green one, and I got a pink one.

It was crazy! But tons of fun. Jake and I were in the middle of the group instead of on the front battle lines. And we still got soaked! Some of the balloons hurt pretty bad if they didn't pop when they hit you! We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to cool off and spend time with friends we ran into.

(I borrowed the pictures from the Daily Herald. You can read their story about the event here.)

DQ and Ducks

2010-07-21T09:08:00.002-06:00

Jake and I are members of Dairy Queen's Blizzard Fanclub. So about every other month they email us a coupon to "Buy one Blizzard, get the second free". Since there are two of us, this works out PERFECTLY!

Jake likes to make fun of me though. Because I ALWAYS get the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard, while he likes to try a new one every time. Last night he got something called "Choco Cherry Love".

Although it had been pretty hot during the day, it looked like it was shaping up to be a nice evening. So I suggested that we go to the stream/duck pond by Heritage Halls and watch the ducks while we ate our ice cream.

It wound up being a BEAUTIFUL night. And I LOVE ducks.

We headed home with happy hearts and tummies.

Fireworks Videos

2010-07-17T12:22:00.003-06:00

All right... I tried uploading videos... Supposedly it worked? We will see...

This first video is of a firework called the "Magic Crystal"... We fired off two of them - both shot up about twice as tall as Mike and Karen's house... One of them even wound up in the yard of the people behind them! We were not expecting that at all!

These little guys were called "Baby Sunflowers". Jake thought they would be lame, so he only let me buy one box of them. But they were SO FUN!! They would spin and kind of hover about 5-6 feet above the ground and then dart off in different directions. Only problem was that sometimes, they would attack!

Here is a clip of when one of the Baby Sunflowers headed straight for us! There was one (not this one), when I actually had to hit the ground and even then it just barely missed me!!

Nothing like a little excitement to make your fireworks more enjoyable!

Fireworks!

2010-07-17T12:12:00.004-06:00

On the ACTUAL Fourth of July, Jake and I were busy driving back from Colorado. So the evening of the Fifth, we went over to Mike and Karen's house to set off some fireworks.

Mike was the primary firework-lighter.

Here's Ethan with a sparkler! And somewhat uncertain of what to do with it!

Also... there were all these random neighborhood kids that showed up and kind of annoyed me... But we still had a pretty good time.

This is my favorite picture of the evening! Managed to get in all the main participants!

We had a great time, and we're planning on heading back on the 24th to use up the leftovers.

I have a few video clips. I haven't yet managed to upload videos onto the blog.. But I'll give it another shot and we'll see what happens!

Colorado Trip

2010-07-17T11:32:00.007-06:00

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Jake and I went on a little trip! My maternal grandparents live in Loveland, Colorado. My grandfather doesn't travel any more for health reasons. This meant he was unable to attend our wedding and hadn't met Jake. My mom LOVES the fourth of July in Colorado. So we made plans that they (Mom, Dad, and Laura) would drive west from Nebraska and Jake and I would head east from Provo and we would all meet in Colorado!

Whenever my family is driving I-80 through Wyoming, we always stop in Little America outside of Cheyenne. It's usually at a time when we need to refill the gas tank and they have 50 cent ice cream cones!

I decided to introduce Jake to this little tradition!

YUM!! Twistie Cones!!

Most of the time we were there, we just hung around at my grandma's house. I don't have too many pictures from that.

There was one day when Dad drove Laura, Jake, and I into Denver and around some places... including to Casa Bonita! The funnest Mexican restaurant EVER!!

The whole restaurant is designed to look like you are in a Mexican village near the jungle! There's a haunted cave, Mariachi bands that wander among the tables, a mine, a giant waterfall with cliff divers.... it's fantastic!

So excited! The food is good, but you DEFINITELY go for the environment!

Well... the environment and their sopapillas!

They're little bits of fry bread that puff up hollow in the center!

And they're served warm with honey.

My favorite way to eat them is....

1. Rip off a corner or a side of them.

2. Drizzle honey into their hollow insides.

3. Move it around a bit so the honey spreads out through the whole thing.

4. Dig in!!

YUM!! We had about 3-4 orders of these! They're the best!

They also have a bunch of little merchants and goofy little gift shops. We found these ENORMOUS "diamond" rings in one. So Jake "gave" one to me.

It was tough with the lightning, but here's Jake and I in front of the waterfall/diving pool.

We stopped for a photo op at the fountain outside!

After we were all full, we drove over to Boulder. Dad wanted to find the apartments we used to live in there and some other landscapes from my EARLY childhood.

We also drove up the mountain to NCAR - The National Center for Atmospheric Research - where my dad worked while we lived there.

The hills behind the building are GORGEOUS and Dad used to take me hiking there when I was VERY small!

This is what I used to call the "Bench Rock" when I was little.

So, of course, we needed pictures sitting on it like a bench!

It was a fun weekend to be able to get away from things and see family. We really enjoyed the trip.

And, of course... we stopped for more ice cream on the way home!

Although the ice cream wasn't our only stop...

We also stopped to buy some fireworks in Wyoming... which we came to find out later may have been of questionable legality in Utah.... Whoops!

Sneaking back across the border with our "loot"...

Nursing School, Here I Come!!

2010-07-07T17:31:00.004-06:00

Exciting news came today!!! After almost two months of waiting, I found out that I was accepted into my Nursing Program!

I have to attend a day long Orientation next Friday. Then I start classes August 30th. Five semesters later, in the spring of 2012 I will graduate with my Associate's Degree and be eligible to take the NCLEX exam to get my RN license. HOORAY!!

Memorial Day Camping Trip

2010-06-21T11:25:00.008-06:00

On Memorial Day (yes... I realize its been a while and I'm behind on the bloggin'), Jake and I went camping in Rock Canyon.

We found the perfect spot for our campsite - close enough that we don't have to haul stuff very far, but far enough away from the high traffic areas so we wouldn't be bothered.

While Jake set things up (he looks adorable sitting there by the tent)... I got acquainted with some of the critters we'd share the campsite with.

We saw several hummingbirds, but this is the best picture I got of one. He's the dark smudge in the very center of the picture among the purple flowers. You can probably see him better if you click on the picture to bring up the full version.

And there was some sort of blue bird.

And some little lizards that ran around the rocks!! They were my favorite! This guy's head is sticking out between the two rocks.

Jake gathered firewood so we could cook up some vittles.

We were originally planning on making tin foil dinners. But during our trip to WalMart, We/I changed our/my mind(s).

So instead, we roasted hot dogs and Italian sausages!

AND we ate cherries!!! YUMMY!!!

Of course, what camping trip is complete without s'mores for dessert? I look so happy and excited about my chocolate marshmallowy goodness!

We were awakened at 6:30 AM or so... by the sun and the silly birds and loud mating calls. Boo.

But what a beautiful view out of our tent!

We had a grand time and are looking forward to camping a few more times throughout the summer.

Wii Love It

2010-05-26T13:09:00.005-06:00

The Christmas before Jake and I got married (2009), I got a Wii from my family. I'm not a real big "gamer", but we have enjoyed having it around. Especially right now when neither of us are taking classes and have a lot of time to hang out and do stuff like that together. So here are some of our (or my) favorite games! They aren't in any particular order.

Game #1

The game that first got me into the whole video game deal. It does have a two player mode, and it is uniquely suited to fit our situation perfectly! Player 1 (Jake) controls Mario. So he has to do all of the running/jumping/attacking/etc. Player 2 (me) doesn't have a character. Just a little star on the screen. I wave that little star around to gather up "Star Bits". I can then fire these star bits at enemies, freeze enemies to help Jake attack them, and do small "non critical" things like that. Its hard for me to really screw anything up this way. So it helped me build some confidence and some basic gaming skills.

Aside from that, it's a pretty cool game. Mario gets to turn into a bee, a boo, a giant spring, all sorts of things. And each galaxy he travels to is different so they have a HUGE variety of things. I'd highly recommend it!

We finished this game a while ago, but we have an exciting new thing that is currently on its way being shipped to us.....

The sequel! Super Mario Galaxy 2!!! I'm really excited about it! We are expecting it to arrive at the beginning of next week.

Game #2

First of all, you must understand that I LOOOOOOOVE Indiana Jones. As in, I love it so much that not only do I have the original trilogy memorized, but I dressed up as Indiana Jones and went to the midnight premiere when the 4th movie opened.

So, imagine my excitement when my family sent us this for Easter:

YAY!! I was worried originally about how I would like the game due to my lack of gaming skills. But I have loved it!!

You actually play through the events of the first three movies! My video gaming skills have improved tremendously. And Jake says that I make up for any shortcomings with my knowledge of the plot and "what should happen next".

We have finished playing the "story" section of the game. So now we are working on what they call "free play". This means that we can go back through each section using whatever characters from the trilogy that we want, to use their special abilities and open up secret treasure chests, etc.

My favorite character to be during the free play is Marion - from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Aside from being my favorite "Indy Girl" of the movies, she can jump higher and farther than Indy's character and after we unlocked an ability called "Super Slap", she can kill enemies with a single punch!

Game #3

As some of you may have noticed, the Hollywood Video stores have been going out of business. We took advantage of this to pick up some cheap movies (some were really good, some AWFUL). Jake also picked up several video games. One of them was...

Basically in this game you play a surgeon. And you get to do operations! And its actually sort of realistic. Also, fairly accurate.

You get to actually "pinch" and remove things using your "forceps" (the A and B buttons, if anyone is familiar with Wii controls).

You get to stitch up and dress wounds and incisions. It's fun stuff!

I'll probably wind up playing a lot less when school starts again in the fall. But for now, I am sure enjoying it!

A Snow Day... IN MAY?!?!?

2010-05-24T10:37:00.003-06:00

Before you read this, I would encourage you to re-read the date above this post. That's right... it says "May 24"... As in the END of May... When we should have sunshine and heat and swimming pools.

I awoke this morning to a loud cracking sound. When I came out to the living room I saw this:

Jake had moved our balcony garden INSIDE. For a second, I wondered why. Then I glanced out the window and the reason was immediately apparent.

It has been snowing ALL MORNING!

I found the source of the loud crack that woke me up... An enormous branch falling from the tree outside our window... onto a car.

Evidently this is enough of a problem that the University has sent out emails warning residents!

But... there are some enjoyable things about this morning...

A hummingbird sought refuge on our porch!! I didn't get my own picture of him, I borrowed this one from the interwebs. But we happily got to watch him for several minutes.

AND we made yummy cinnamon rolls!

I forsee that this day will be filled with cross-stitching, video games, tv, and lounging. Perhaps not so bad after all.