He's here!

Wesley decided to come right on his due date!

Thursday May 21, 2009 at 5:44 p.m.

8 lbs. 5 oz.
20.5 inches

...and just the cutest little guy in the whole world! Here's the proof:

It's still May?

Yesterday I finished the work project I've been working on everyday for 7 straight months. When I started this project, I didn't think it would ever actually be complete. I finished it yesterday. Woo hoo! With that, I'm done. I don't have enough time left to start a new project but yet I'm still here.

My mom is coming in town tomorrow. My work is done. The baby clothes have been washed. The bed is ready and waiting for him. So where's the baby? Still in my belly... The countdown says 6 days left. 6 days has never sounded so long.

Are we there yet?

May= Longest. Month. Ever.

I thought April would go slow... it didn't. May has already had 48 days and somehow it's only the 14th. Will baby ever come?

April Showers Bring May Babies

I can't believe how fast time is going. I really expected this to be the longest month of my life as I grow enormous and wait for the baby. What really happened is I blinked and March was over and May is nearly here. So, as Wesley's big birthday fast approaches, here are the things I have found myself grateful for this month:

1. April showers-- the rainy kind. I love April rain. It's so fresh and clean and rejuvenating. I love the freshly-bathed-earth smell right after a good rain. I don't love the giant pile of wriggly earthworms on my front mat after the rain, though. One even managed to squeak through a crack between the door and the wall and found a home in my flip flop. Gross. Regardless-- I love rainy April days. However, what I love less is April blizzards. Sometimes the snow will mix with rain and that's bearable, but earlier this month we had a full on blizzard. Here's photographic proof:

The day this storm came, a lot of people had ridden bikes to campus because the morning weather was fine. Once it started snowing, a lot of bikes got left on campus overnight. The snow just kept coming and bike owners found about 5 inches of powder riding their bikes the next day. Some places got up to a foot of snow! Nuts...

2. April baby showers! I teach a Monday and Wednesday night yoga class at a dance studio in my neighborhood. It is really fun and I've gotten to be close friends with the group of women that regularly attend. On Wednesday April 8th, I showed up to teach as usual. As I entered the dark studio and flipped on the lights, the class yelled SURPRISE!! My first thought was, "Is today my birthday?" Wow I must be pregnant to be that confused... Here are some pics from the surprise shower. Keep in mind, I wasn't wearing any makeup because I was planning to be teaching yoga and getting sweaty.

Thanks so much to all my wonderful friends for loving me enough to throw me a party! It was so nice to sit around with experienced mommies and be able to ask all my questions and get great answers and advice. Love you ladies!

Also, on Saturday April 18th some different dear friends threw me another baby shower. HUGE thanks to Jena, Michelle and Brittany for all their hard work and organizing to pull it together, to Gwen for opening her beautiful house for it, and for all my friends and family that could make it for making such a special and memorable day for me.

3. Getting ready for baby-- now that Eric finished his semester, we had a little bit of time to get some things in order without having to worry about homework. Here are the things Eric assembled this weekend: 2 bookshelves, 4 dining room chairs, a glider, and an ottoman. He also disassembled an old bookshelf to make 2 smaller ones. Where would I be without him? We sold our older dining set within 3 hours of posting it on Craigslist (awesome) for $10 more than we initially paid for it (from Craigslist) almost 2 years ago. I should get into the furniture-flipping business. :) Anyway, so we're basically all set up for baby now! It's such a nice feeling. Our apartment feels brand new and exciting. I finally feel settled and at home. Bring on the baby!

4. Jobs! I've been a little stressed knowing that I'm leaving stable, full-time, benefitted employment to be a mommy when my husband has another year of school left. We've been stocking up on diapers and food storage, saving everything we can and preparing for the worst while praying for the best. With the economy in shambles and unemployment rates rising, I was really wondering if Eric would be able to find a good part-time job to support us for this next year. And then, true to form, the Lord blessed us at exactly the right time. Eric starts working for UPS tomorrow morning and will resume teaching at the MTC at the end of May. The timing is perfect, the jobs are great, and the Lord always answers prayers.

5. Along those same lines, I was feeling stressed about leaving my job also because BYU is in the middle of an indefinite hiring-freeze, one of my co-workers left to have a baby in March, another left for another department at the beginning of this month, and I have been planning to leave once Wesley comes in May. I was beginning to feel like I had too much responsibility at work to be able to leave and was trying to see if I could work out options for coming back to work. Yet again, the Lord answered my prayers. We got rare permission to hire my replacement and soon found a great employee that could start right away. Now I can confidently stay at home with my baby knowing that I'm not leaving my employer in the lurch. Thank goodness!

So, the showers have been thrown, the baby's room is set up, Eric has an income and my job is taken care of. Will someone tell Wesley it's time to come on out? I'm ready for him! I'm ready to be able to bend forward again, squeeze through tight places, reach across my kitchen table to the other side, sleep on my stomach/back again, fit into normal clothes, run/bike/swim, walk up stairs without getting lightheaded and panting for 5 minutes afterward... the list goes on. I'm ready for the next life adventure to begin! Bring it on!

Today at church I heard the following comments:

"Any day now, huh?"

"I'm surprised to see you here! You still haven't had your baby?"

"You are due next week, right?"

Bless their souls. I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but the "due date" is still 4 weeks away. I believe in a merciful God, so I think we can cut that down to 2 weeks.

My favorite comment was from the 2 ladies I was sitting by in Relief Society that both recently had babies. They decided that I win the "Cutest Pregnant Belly" award. I felt honored. :)

Another favorite recent comment was when a lady I had just met said, "You still have a ways to go, right?" guesturing at my belly. "Yeah, I'm due in 4 weeks," I replied, to which she said, "That soon!? You are so little!" Well thanks for thinking so!

So here you go. Here is my belly today, just past 36 weeks along (though I'm measuring at 38, for those of you who even know what that means). You decide for yourself whether I'm huge, small, or right on track. Just don't bother telling me. :)

Floating babies are creepy

I really love countdowns. I had the floating baby on my blog simply for the countdown. Thank goodness I found this baby ticker so I could get rid of the creepy floating fetus!

And for those who are concerned, dinner didn't burn when the cop pulled me over. However, Eric did not have time to eat it until it was cold because he had to go to mutual.

And now, my grateful list for March:

1. SPRING!!! We've had our fair share of beautiful sunny breezy days. I love the April showers that are just around the corner and March promises to be lovely as well!

2. Wal-Mart. Seriously, you just can't beat those prices. I'm not ashamed to be a Wal-Mart customer.

3. My new cute flowery mousepad. It's the little things in life that make it fun!

4. The squirmy little boy growing in me! He's gonna be a cutie, I can just feel it.

5. Saturdays. Can't beat a full day of sleeping in, cleaning, organizing, playing, hugging, running errands, going on dates, finally checking my email... I wish I had more Saturdays. They really are so lovely.

6. Easy recipes. Gotta love it when dinner is a snap and tasty to boot. (Thanks to Brittany for the stroganoff recipe that is always a hit).

It's not fair to talk about a recipe and not share it, so here you go:

1/2 lb ground beef (I use turkey)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pkg. italian dressing mix
1 c. sour cream
Rice or pasta

Brown the meat. Add soups and dressing packet, let simmer while cooking your rice or pasta. Add sour cream in the last few minutes before serving til heated through. Serve stroganoff over rice or pasta--whichever you prefer.

Seriously, so easy and always tasty.

7. St. Patrick's Day!! My favorite holiday is just around the corner! Be sure to wear green and dye something green. Get festive!

8. Food in the cupboards. I saw a commercial today about a kid going to bed hungry-- the commercial was urging us to donate to local food banks. I'm so grateful there is food on my shelves.

9. Prayer. Isn't it wonderful to know that we have a loving Father in Heaven that listens to our needs and responds to us with open arms?

10. Family and a loving husband. How wonderful to have supportive parents and siblings and the cutest husband in the world. Who could ask for anything more?

Have a beautiful March! This month I've been thinking about cherishing every moment. Lately we hear all about how terrible life is and the awful state of the economy and on and on. I can't help but ponder how it's the hard times that shape our lives and refine our character. So for me, I'm cherishing this time when I can work full-time at a great job, grow a baby, and support Eric in gaining his education. Cherish the little things and love the moment. That's my March Mantra.

Provo Cops are LAME

I wanted this to be a grateful blog and not a venty blog. I can't help myself. Homeboy just ruined my day.

So on Wednesdays, I come home from work take care of a list-full of things that are awaiting me, make dinner, go pick up Eric from school around 6:30 and get him back home in time for him to eat and then head out to Young Men's. Tonight I had put dinner in the oven right when Eric called me and said he was ready to be picked up. Perfect! I head out to get him knowing dinner should be just about ready when we get home and the timing should all work out.

I'm driving along and all of a sudden there are cop lights behind me. Seriously? I wasn't speeding and I had just safely proceeded through a green light. Maybe he's headed somewhere important and needs me to get out of the way. I fully expected him to drive by as I pulled over. No such luck. He prances up and asks for my license and registration. I say, "Sure, is there a problem?" Usually I say that when I get pulled over for going 15 over or something and pretend like I can't possibly imagine what they are going to say. This time it was legit. I really had NO clue why I was being stopped. He explains that he doesn't think I completely stopped at the stop sign about 5 blocks away. I was genuinely baffled. "Really?" I say. "I remember stopping." He says it looked like I slowed down, but didn't exactly stop. Wow. He must be REALLY bored tonight.

I ended up digging around a while for the registration which I KNEW was in the glove box, but I couldn't find. As I was searching I made some small talk which involved dropping in, "Yeah, I'm pregnant and seem to lose everything nowadays!" C'mon... who gives tickets to a pregnant lady!! And he says, "Oh yeah? My wife just had a baby 2 months ago!" I'm like, oh yeah I'm so safe. Eventually I find the necessary paperwork and he goes back to his car. Meanwhile I call Eric to explain the delay, all the while hoping dinner isn't burning.

He comes back and says words I've never heard: "I'm going to give you a citation for a stop sign violation." WHAT?? Ughhhhh. He asks if I've ever had a traffic ticket before and I say no... although I think I should have said yes after thinking about it because one time I did get a ticket for speeding... it was a few years ago and it didn't go on my record so I'm not sure if I have to consider that a ticket or not. Whatever. Anyway, he explains that I'll probably qualify for traffic school and go to the court and blah blah blah waste of my time. Totally ruined my night. It was made worse when Eric informed me that traffic school isn't usually free. FOR REAL?!?! I don't want to PAY to have to sit in some dumb lecture about putting your blinker on! Geeeez.

I guess this is the danger of living in an area with extremely low crime rates. Cops with nothing to focus on but the stop signs. I guess I should have put the grateful spin on this that way, that the cop didn't have to be somewhere more important and could focus on little things. But I've met too many useless cops to believe that. (Sorry to the actual hard-working, non-jerky ones). And mostly I think it was just a big waste of time.

So there. Hopefully I've gotten the rant out of my system and can once again return to being positive.

A new month already?

Ok, because my mom has been begging me for them, here are some belly pictures. Here's me at 23 weeks: And then here's me a mere 2 weeks later at 25 weeks. Baby had a growth spurt! Don't you think I look significantly larger here than in the previous picture?

Well, maybe it just looks like that to me. Whatever. I feel sort of giant. 15 weeks to go... oh boy.

The Grateful List:

1. Finally having an opportunity to speak

They say the two most universal fears are death and public speaking. I actually really like public speaking. I think it's fun and invigorating. Weird I know, but I guess it's like people who really like skydiving or cliff jumping or something. Same idea. I had the opportunity to speak in church today for the first time in about 3 or 4 years. I loved it! I really like preparing talks and then I have even more fun giving them.

2. Couple friends

It took us a while to figure it out and find any, but I have to say some of the most satisfying friendships are when you find a girl you really connect with and seeing your husbands connect too. Or connecting with the wife of one of your husband's good friends. So a shout out for friendships

3. AWESOMEly mild winter weather

I've probably cursed myself now, but I have to say that RAIN in January and February really makes my heart sing. I love rain. Snow is scary. I'm so glad we've only had a few gnarly snowstorms and a lot of beautiful cold days.

4. The Ensign

I set a goal to read that magazine cover to cover before I can read my BHG for the month, and I'm totally lovin it. Good stuff.

5. BHG

Better Homes and Gardens. Best. Magazine. Ever.

6. A seriously cute husband that makes me laugh and smile and loves me and thinks my giant belly is cute.

It's an older picture... but seriously. He's the cutest.

Need I say more?

7. A belly filled with a really sweet little boy that I can't wait to meet and snuggle.

8. Sunflower Farmer's Market

This new grocery store opened up in Orem recently. They have amazing sales on produce and on Wednesdays, they have twice as many sales! Best store ever. Thanks for helping us prevent scurvy.

9. Coupons

So I'm totally turning into my mom, but I can't help myself here. How else can you stock your food storage on a budget? Honestly? I now understand why my mom never bought anything unless it was on sale and she had a coupon. I sometimes feel like I'm robbing the grocery store with all the savings!

10. My personal space heater

I'm usually always cold. I plan to always have a jacket with me because I'm usually cold when everyone else is comfortable. Thanks to the joys of pregnancy, I'm now toasty when everyone else is chilly! I never thought I would see that day. I knew it had come when I woke up in the middle of the night roasting and sweaty and looked over to see Eric with ALL the covers (including the heavy comforter) pulled right up to his chin. Usually that's absolutely the opposite.