For the Curious...

Here's me as a pregnant woman at 22 weeks. The lighting isn't fabulous so the gray shirt doesn't stand out but you can still see. I don't feel that big yet, but I hear I'll only get bigger. :-D

He is becoming more and more active, which I love because I get nervous if I can't feel him move for awhile. Last night was cool because either he was kicking extra hard or he had hiccups...I couldn't tell...but my tummy was jumping.

As excited as I am to meet him, I am grateful I still have a few more months to prepare!

Trying Times

This past week or so has been especially difficult for me. If it's not one thing, it's another. Maybe it's because it feels like everything is piling on, but things are upsetting me/annoying me more than they might have at other times. I'd go into more details but several of the things that are causing me a lot of stress and anxiety involve other people and I feel by expressing my thoughts and opinions it would only cause more problems. I try every day to just do my best, be a good person, try and do at least one productive thing...some days are better than others. One problem in particular is beyond frustrating because it is a situation I cannot do anything about. While it may sound like I'm wasting my time worrying about something that I have no control over (trust me, I've told this to myself many times), it is something that means a great deal to me as well as effects me in many aspects of my life. It makes me truly stop and question myself and my life, how I present myself, how I carry myself, how I can come across to people. The problem is that even as I look at myself and find things I can change, nothing I do will or can change the situation. Even doing nothing will not help in any way.

I find myself more easily angered and more depressed. I am more easily annoyed than ever before--in fact many days it just feels like I'm swimming in a pool of ignorance all around me. I suspect this comes from my pent up frustrations and depressed moods, and my job doesn't help. I'd say 60-70% of the people I talk to are rude, or just retarded, or they get angry at me when I'm doing everything in my power to stay calm and friendly. Even nice people who just ask dumb questions bother me. Most everyone will interrupt me, or hang up on me, and some days I can brush it off, but other days it feels like every one is a personal insult. The worst part is knowing I'm crazy. I know that I have all power to not allow things to bother me.

Bah.

Bang!

Becky and I played a western cowboy card game with friends last October. We had so much fun with it that we ddecided to buy it right away. We got online and checked the price only to find that it was a $40+ game. Well, we still wanted it so we decided to go ahead and get it. We put in the order and were told that it would be 6 weeks for delivery. Knowing this we marked our calander for late November and waited. In late November we got an e-mail that said the they released it but there were some problems with the game and it was recalled. The next release was set for sometime in January or February. We told them that we were still interested as they gave us an option for a refund, marked our calanders again, and waited. Well, the next cycle came and went and no game was recieved. In March we recieved another e-mail telling us sorry about the delay and that the game was not even released this time and was pushed off again but no one knew for how long or if it would ever even be released. Well, we did not mark our calanders as there was no date, but declined the refund again knowing how hard the game was to come by with hopes that we would one day get it. We waited and after a couple months forgot about the game completly. March ran by, then April, and May, and even June. Then one day out of the blue I get an e-mail that says they release is comming out in just one week and asking if we would still like the game. We got very excited, though by this time (9 months later) we had already forgotten how to play it. We told them yes, gave them our new address, and two weeks later it showed up in the mail. We set up a chance to play it with friends at a 4th of july party and all our friends loved it as much as we did. It is so fun and we are glad to keep adding to our game collection.

On other notes, we wanted to hang out with some of our family and have a BBQ so we set one up a couple weeks ago and after a bit of drama we ended up being the ones hosting it at our new house. First BBQ I have ever hosted and I am a bit nervous as I know very little about how to BBQ. Well, we went for it, invited and confirmed those interested in attending and withing a week and a half the number for the BBQ went from 4 to 10 adults. It will be a lot of fun, we already have all the food and plan on playing our new Bang! game with more of our friends as well tonight. We have designated 4th of July as a friends party time each year and it has been successful for two years now. Last year we went to Wendover, got like $500 of big fireworks that are illeagle to shoot off in Utah, and spent hours out in the Navada desert shooting them off. Much more fun, but the heat drove us to try something closer to home this year where there were at least some trees, shade, and air conditioning.

The Baby is doing fine and Becky can now feel it kick many times a day. This confirms to us that it is still healthy. I am glad to have the Nursery finished so that when the baby comes it has a nice room to grow and learn in. Nathan has not even been born yet and is already one of our greatest sources of joy. I would say more but Becky blogs about Nathan all the time so I will fill in other areas.

Our $900 dryer kicked the dust a couple weeks ago. The vent was backed up so it overheated, and instead of turning off like it is supposed to do if it overheats, it expanded the wires so that they were touching the dryer and because that created a ground it never shut off. Well, as a secondary backup the fuse is designed to blow so that our house does not burn down. Because of that we had to get the geeksquad out to fix it and good thing we got a 3 year warranty because it would have costs us $100 an hour. the trouble was they did not have the part on hand so they had to order a new fuse and we have been out of the ability to do laundry for two weeks. Good thing for visiting teachers. They are supposed to have the new part and have it installed by Wednsday. You never realaize how easy you have things until you have to go without them for a couple weeks.

Our brother Job and his new wife Jessie officially moved out two days ago so we have the house to ourselves for a couple weeks. Katie may come out in a few weeks and stay with us a bit which we are very excited for if she does but she is not sure and will not know till next Friday. Both ways it is nice to have Job and Jessie out on their own and building their own lives. He had to spend $40 to rent a U-Haul to move their bed as we could not find anyone who had a truck that we could barrow, but we feel that if the lord blesses us with extra we should use that to help those who need it, and Job and Jessie were deffinantly in that catagory. I would say the house is more quiet now, but two things, first, Job and Jessie were gennerally not laoud and spent their time in their room most of the time they were here, and two, we are out an about at friends and holliday parties enough that we do not really notice. The garage does not wake us up in the middle of the night when Job gets home from work anymore though which is nice.

We have plans to plant roses and trees in our back yard but have not got the time and are still using the next couple months to catch up on behind bills and also save for the baby so we may have to wait till later in the summer. Both ways it is nice to have a yard to play in and plant in. We should be getting a lawnmower in a couple weeks. A need we have put off for several months while we fought the economy. Glad to be getting ahead again though.

In another month Becky and I will have finished reading each of the standard works together. We started with the Book of Mormon, then the Pearl of Great Price, then the Old Testament, then the New Testament, and finally we are about 30 sections from finishing the Doctern and Covenantes. Quite the feat, but one chapter a day and a long established habbit of daily scripture study together has blessed our lives in many more ways then just the reaching of the goal. Though the next time around we plan on skipping the Old Testament. As far as habbits go, we had not missed a Month of going to the temple for 51 months. Our goal is 5 years, but we do not plan on stopping if we reach it but instead in shooting for 10. Another blessing that has added so much to our relationships with each other and our hevenly father.

Well, there is so much more in our lives, but I will save those for a later blog. This is long enough.

Nursery

David is awesome--he finished painting the nursery! When we moved in the room was lime green with surfboard wallpaper. Last week we tore the old wallpaper off, which ended up being easier then I thought it would once we actually got it started, and this week David painted. It is a pastel yellow called "Rain Lily" that I chose for a few reasons. One, I decided I didn't want blue because our room is blue and I didn't want all the rooms the same (boring!). Two, if we happen to have a girl while still in this house, I don't want to feel the need to repaint. This way I can move Nathan into what is now the guest room and keep my nursery the way I like it. Three, it is a bright, cheery color that matches my Winnie the Pooh theme pretty well. There are Winnie the Pooh wall sticker-things on the Wal-mart registry that will eventually end up on the wall so I can have a design without the hassle of wallpaper.

Anyway, here are some pictures, first the real "before" from before we moved in, then the semi-after, when we were prepped for painting and the wallpaper was off, and then the final product, which I don't think the camera truly does justice.

Baby Registeries

To Anyone Who Cares:

We finished our registries! Whew! If you care to view them, you can do so at Target.com and Walmart.com. You will need to use either mine or David's name and either the date or the location. Date is my due date (Nov. 8) and Location is Syracuse.

A word of caution:
Not everything is on both registries, so if you are looking for something specific, check them both because each has only a few overlapping items. Also, if something isn't on the registry (besides clothing) it means I already have one or don't want one. For example, I already have those bassinets like I mentioned in an earlier post, as well as a high chair. The only clothing I registered for were some onesies, booties, caps, and sleepers. Please feel free to buy whatever clothing you think is cute. Winnie the Pooh is always safe, as are all Ohio sports teams, and most anything blue. Of course, don't feel obligated to buy anything at all....It's weird asking people to buy stuff for me. As a matter of fact, this blog is making me feel weird.

Later!

Mmmm...Friday

After discussing with David, we decided to not schedule hours for Friday mornings since we have to work weekends and I do NOT want to work 7 days a week if we can afford it.

This means I can sleep tonight. AT NIGHT. Amazing.




We got two free bassinets from people in the ward. I can put one in our bedroom and one in the basement by the computer for when we're working. Score.

I Love Being Right!

It seems like everyone who reads this blog already knows, but I shall share again, just because it is so exciting.

It's a boy!!

I have felt that he is a boy for awhile now. Call it motherly instinct, but I just felt strongly that our first little one would be a boy. It also wouldn't surprise me if he looked more like David than me, although I think he will have a few of my physical charicteristics. David and I have also had some wonderful experiences in the temple that I won't share, so this wasn't too much of a surprise, although it's nice to have the proof now. I'm just happy that he's healthy and for all intensive purposes, perfect. That, and I'm glad he wasn't shy to let us know he was a boy. I would have hated to be one of those people who get told "I can't tell, sorry!"

One thing I think he has from me is stubbornness. He was lying on one of his arms during the ultrasound, and try as she might, the tech couldn't get him to move it so she could measure it. He definitely has a mind of his own.

Just so everyone knows, we are naming him Nathan Michael, after my brother, Jon, and David's best friend, Michael Carey. Coincidentally, Jon (Jonathan)'s middle name is also Michael. I plan to call him Nate most of the time. David likes Nathan better than Nate, but when Nate's old enough to talk, I'm sure he will probably tell us which name he prefers. Actually, if it bothers me for some reason, I'm sure David would call him Nate anyway, but I can't see right now how that would matter.

We are blessing him in Rootstown on December 27th. I have my reasons, the most important of which is that I want my grandfather to be in the circle as this is the first great-grandchild he will ever be able to meet and participate in a blessing for. He hasn't stood in a circle for a family member baby blessing since mine I would imagine. Overall, I'm a little nervous about flying to Ohio with a newborn, but mostly just excited to introduce him to my family.



Next job on my list: Complete registries.

I posted this earlier with pictures but I am too lazy to crop them now and I'm too tired to keep hearing that having my full name and birthday on my blog isn't a good idea. So they are gone. If you are my friend on Facebook you can enjoy them there, at least there they are more protected.