Oh Baby, Baby

Well the other day I went in for a sonogram. That's right, THE sonogram. I was SO excited to be able to learn if it was a boy or a girl. Spence and I have been pulling our hair out waiting. Ok, maybe just me. But I've pulled out enough hair for both of us! This baby has such a little personality already! We had so much fun seeing the baby move around, though it was sleeping when we first saw it.

It was on its side with its back to us. I can't believe how much it's grown since I last saw it! We got a really good view of the body, head and the one arm. It was so cool that since the bones are starting to solidify, we could actually see them!

While we were watching, Baby decided it would be a good time to suck its thumb. I felt so badly waking it up just so I could get some satisfaction.

Yes, apparently I AM going to be one of those mothers who takes pictures of the back of their kids heads. I just thought Baby looked so peaceful.

So we got tired of watching baby sleep at decided we needed to move on to some information gathering. The ultrasound tech guided the probe up underneath Baby's bum, hoping we could get a view of its little parts. Well, of course Baby had its legs all curled up under it, and wasn't gonna have any of us looking. Here's an awesome view of a foot-with all 5 toes!

Finally Baby realized that the only was to get us to leave it alone would be to give us what we wanted. So finally it bent over and kinda did the splits for us...and wouldn't you know it, there was nothing there cause...


IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

That's right! My first born is going to be a daughter! I actually started crying I was so thrilled. I was so excited just to find out what it was, but I was really hoping for a girl. The nurse said she looks healthy as can be. My weight gain is right on track and my blood pressure has actually gone down! I just can't believe how much God has watched over this pregnancy. He's just really blessed me with this baby. I put her in His hands and He's taking great care of her! Next up: registering!

Birthdays and Baby

Both Spencer's and my 24th birthdays were really fun! I got some awesome stuff for my kitchen (immersion blender, nice digital food scale, a cast-iron skillet), and Spencer's birthday-Santa (me) was especially generous this year. Let's just say he won't be bored for a while, with all the games I got him! I also decided to try to get back up on my feet and I offered to make whatever he wanted for his birthday dinner. Well, he asked for Lobster bisque, so that's what I made! It took me a couple hours, and afterward I was hurting so much I was flat on my back for three days, but it was delicious and he was happy, so it was all worth it.

So in the last few days I've been doing some scrapbooking. The physical therapist said that the more I push myself back towards normalcy, the better I'll feel. So I've been trying to push my limits a little more and do some things I used to do before I got hurt. My scrapbook pages were all so bland when I first started making them, and I'm actually getting better at making them cuter. I'm really proud of the ones I just made!

At 11 weeks I had an ultrasound. Baby's getting big! I mean, I know it will get much bigger, but I'm amazed at how quickly it's growing. Sometimes it still doesn't feel completely real to me, but so far it's been an incredible experience. I have another appointment on September 6th, and assuming Baby cooperates and faces the ultrasound, we should be able to learn the sex on September 22nd! I'm so excited! Keep your fingers crossed it's a girl!

Ultrasound and Updates

On Tuesday, August 2nd, I had my first official ultrasound. The baby is still small enough to only be seen as a vague lump on the screen, but it's growing! I got to see it's little blinking heartbeat, going strong at 180 bpm. My due date has been moved up to March 2nd. Spencer's starting to get really excited about having a baby, and we're having a lot of fun coming up with names.



On the other side of things, it's been difficult reestablishing a sense of normalcy since my injury. I have trouble doing basic things involving taking care of myself. I still don't trust myself to drive, and I can't stay on my feet for more than a few minutes. Grocery shopping is really difficult, even with help. My mom has been completely invaluable the last 6 weeks. I don't think I would have been able to manage it if she weren't here. We've been having to live on just Spencer's income, which has been tricky, but we're managing. Today I actually had some energy and ambition, so I decided to do just a little bit of baking. I decided to make some dog treats, since they only had like 5 ingredients and very little prep work. Of course, Spencer wandered through the kitchen and got very interested.

Spencer: oooh, whatcha making?

Me: peanut butter biscuits

Spencer: mmmmmm. sounds tasty.

Me: They're for the dogs, sweetie.

He seemed a little disappointed, but maybe soon I'll be able to make some cookies for him too.

6 Weeks

So today I'm 6 weeks along and the morning sickness has kicked in full force. I love being pregnant, but I'm SO not a fan of my new relationship with the toilet!

So about 3 weeks ago I was at work and I got hurt. I ended up in the emergency room and before they could do a CT scan they did a blood test to see if I was pregnant, and that's how I found out! Makes for an interesting story to tell my child someday.

This week is my first prenatal visit. I'm hoping we'll be able to hear the heartbeat but I don't know if it's too early or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm going to talk to the doctor about my nausea. I've lost weight because I just can't bring myself to eat anything. It's really frustrating. Plus, since I'm hypoglycemic, I tend to get even sicker when I don't eat. I'm still trying to find the right balance. Wish me luck!

That was fast...

Well it's a loooong story (which I'm sure I'll share at some point) but the short of it is:



I'M PREGNANT!!!!


We'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat on July 14th and I'm due March 5th!

I'm Impatient

So I've seen all my doctors and I'm waiting for my IUD to come out. I've been on prenatals for 3 months now and I've lost some weight. I'm getting my body ready to be pregnant! I've weaned off of most of my medications, but there were some that were still in question. My doctor called the Pregnancy Risk Hotline to double check on my meds, but she wanted me to call on my own and confirm. So I called them and went over my situation and they said that I'd be high risk and the doctor would have to monitor my blood pressure and weight gain, but that I was good to go! I'm SO excited! And I called the doctor's office and they had a cancellation so instead of having to wait til the 2nd to have my IUD taken out, it's coming out TOMORROW! I can't even believe it!

The Next Step

Well, Spence and I have been talking. And my doctors and I have been talking. I’m really feeling like I’m ready for the next step in our lives together, and Spence is starting to feel like he is too! Which really amazes me, cause he’s been fighting me on this for over a year now. J After a couple months weaning off my medication, and after about half a dozen visits to various doctors, and after a few months already on prenatal vitamins, I am READY to get pregnant! I’m having my IUD taken out June 2nd and we’re going to start trying to get pregnant. I am SO excited! Having our first child is going to be such a HUGE step forward for our relationship and for our family. But we’ve prayed and prepared and I’ve been taking better care of my body in anticipation of having to care for someone else. I’m really hoping to get pregnant right away but I know that it will happen according to God’s plan for me and for our family. I know Spencer will make a wonderful father and I hope I will do well as a mother. I guess we’ll find out!

Daddy's Girl

When I was little, I used to go on ride-alongs with my dad (who is a cop, for those of you who don't already know). I would watch him pull people over, and some people he'd arrest, and then we would both go back to his office and he would write reports about it. He said it was like grown-up homework; kinda like a book report except for real life. He explained to me that just like at home, when you're a grown-up and you do something wrong you need to be disciplined, and people couldn't be disciplined and learn their lesson if he didn't to the report right. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to catch bad people and write reports about them. I didn't necessarily want to be a cop, per se, but I wanted to be just like him.
 
One of the things I'm trained to do at my current job is to be able to spot documents that have either been altered or forged. Today I had someone try to pass me a federal document that was a complete forgery. I have to be able to know what to look for in a real document and quickly spot the problems in a fake one. I had to confiscate the document, and in order for any follow-through to happen, I had to write an incident report detailing the events and the document itself. An hour and a half and 9 pages later, I had a report written up detailing my interaction with the person, as well as copies of the document and a diagram of what I had noticed that indicate it was not genuine. My boss told me it was a "good catch." It was difficult to finish the report as well as  perform my other expected duties, but I managed it. And for just a minute, I felt like I was what I wanted to be: just like my dad.

Our Home (well, most of it)

Ok, So I'm finally getting to the point where the house is both clean and decorated enough that I'm comfortable taking pictures. I have to admit, I want my home to look like it's come out of a magazine; which is why we've been there a year and I'm just now getting around to putting up pictures. :) I don't have any of the bedroom right now cause it's not the same without the duvet cover, which is currently in the wash. :) So I'll post those in a few days.

Ok so as you come up on our porch you'll see this mosaic above the door.

and then you'll know you're at the right house cause our front door just can't be missed; it's probably my favorite part of the house. I LOVE the image of the Tree of Life, and I have a couple trees around the house.




This is the entry way. Or area. Not really large enough to be considered a "way." Anyway, I wanted to have an accent wall, so the smallest wall on the right (or left, as you walk in) is a really rich, warm chocolate brown, and the rest of the walls in the living room and hallway are a carmel. Lots of neutrals, but by no means boring.


Here's our couch (which Bowser LOVES messing up) and our curtains, which we had custom-made for the room. I love them, they're beautiful.


Here's the other part of the living room with the fireplace, bookshelf and chair. We have bamboo floors in the bedrooms and living room, and as the room came together we kind of ended up with a contemporary ethnic design. I had one elephant statue I had from before we were married and it kind of just went from there.

This is the elephant that started it all. I call him the Stealth Elephant cause it looks like he's trying to be all aerodyamic. I got him when I was working at Pier 1 in high school when Spence and I were dating.

They say the Devil is in the details, and it must be true cause that's where I focus. :) I love the elephant carving; it's from Indonesia and carved in teak.


Here's the lamp we have on top of the bookcase.

Last one, I promise. Not the last elephant in the room, but the last one I'll subject you to. Gotta have SOMETHING on the mantle!


This painting kind of pulls the theme into the hallway. It's monkeys instead of elephants, but it still has the same feel and coordinates with the curtains, which have coconut trees on them. Same look.
So here's the kitchen, seen from the dining area. I wanted the color to play off the skylight and just be really bright and happy. So I ended up with a really yummy butter yellow. I have to stop myself from eating the walls. The cabinets are maple, the tile is real stone (travertine) and the counters are black granite.

Behind the sink and the stove we have these really cool mosaics that are set in concrete. They're beautiful.

So yellow and red turned into a French Countryside look, which I must say I'm quite happy with. I LOVE how much natural light the kitchen and dining area get, between the skylight and the french doors.


No french countryside kitchen is complete without a rooster (we have a few, actually). This fellow is metal and about 2 1/2 feet tall. He nicely takes up the wall next to the back door.


"Where we love is home. Home that our feet may leave but not our hearts." We got this as a shower present and it goes beautifully over our dining table.
Just a friendly reminder


I believe that no home is complete without a dog to top it off, and this one certainly tops them all! LOL.

Ok, so in a couple of days I'll complete the set; I'll get some bedroom photos (which is like an east-asian getaway) and the bathroom (my personal spa). And maybe some day, if the office is ever finished, you'll see some pictures of that too. :)

2011 Legislative Session Results

I used to be one of those people who didn't even know when Legislative Session was, let alone cared about it. But one of the joys of being employed by a branch of the State government is that the decisions they make up on the hill directly affect my daily life. It affects the way I do my job and my ability to do it. Every year there are some things proposed that scare me, and this year was particularly frightening. But now that the session is over I can breathe again. Here's what I was keeping an eye on this year:

1. A bill proposed to change the State work week back to five days. The wording in the bill specified that each division would have to have at least one branch open for at least 9 hours on each weekday. This bill passed, but I'm not entirely sure how it will affect my division. Driver License is technically already in compliance with what the bill specified; we have two offices that are open 10 hours, mon-fri. While I'm sure the Governor will want to reopen the other licensing offices on fridays, I'm hoping that my office (and my schedule) will not be affected by this.

2. Legislature approved an increase in our insurance premiums. Specifically, the premiums we pay for medical and dental coverage will double. I'm not looking forward to this, but it could be worse. At least the benefits themselves aren't being cut, like last year.

and last but not least...

3. Legislature had actually proposed a bill to take away State employee's sick leave. This would have cut our earned leave time in half. While I won't say what I actually think about this on here (cause I could lose my job for doing so) I will state the obvious that I did not support it. But guess what: IT DIDN'T PASS! That's right! I get to keep the leave that I earn and am entitled to. yay!

There are some other bills proposed that would affect that nature of my job, but we haven't received an announcement as to whether they have pass, let alone how they would be implemented. I'm sure it will make my job much more interesting, as always. But all in all I'd say this session was a victory for me. I came out of it with a few bumps and bruises and scratches, but with no major injury. :)

S.J.R. 7

I first started devopling noticable symptoms of Fibromyalgia in 2001. It wasn't til 2006 that I was actually diagnosed, and I'm still working with my doctors to try and find a working system to manage the symptoms. For years I had doctors, friends, coworkers and strangers tell me that it was in my head. That I was just lazy or unambitious or not trying hard enough. They told me I had just pulled a muscle or something the day before; to take some IB Profin and I'd be fine. They told me to just push through it. They told me it was in my head and that I was a hypochondriac and that I just wanted attention. They told me there was nothing really wrong.

Every time a single person acknowledges that the condition is real, it fills me with joy knowing that they at least believe me. When someone tells me that they suffer from it, or know someone who does, I feel so gratified knowing that someone understands what I have to live with. There are 10 million sufferers in the country, and 57,000 of us in the state of Utah.

State Joint Resolution 7 was introduced during the 2011 Legislative Session, proposing that May 12th would be declared Fibromyalgia Awareness Day in Utah. I had my fingers crossed so tight hoping they would approve it. I figured there was no reason not to considering it wouldn't really cost anything; the State really has nothing to lose by doing this.

Well this morning I looked up it's progress and found that my new friend S.J.R. 7 has passed all the votes, and is sitting on the Governor's desk waiting to be signed! I actually started crying when I read it.

There is something so powerful about having people understand and admit that the pain you feel every moment is real. I can't even describe how I feel right now. You'd better bet that come May 12th, I'll be decked out in PURPLE!

I owe Spencer BIG...

Eeek, I am so excited! I must have done something good because Spencer gave me an AWESOME gift yesterday!We replaced ALL the kitchen appliances! Well, all the big ones anyway. :) We went to RC Willey and bought a new dishwasher, fridge and stove! Yay! All from the GE Profile line, and all stainless steel. Because of the holiday our work schedule is kinda funky this week, and I ended up with Friday off, so everything is being delivered Friday morning and the guys will come to install the dishwasher Friday afternoon. Which means that while Spencer is at work, I'll be able to get all the food moved into the new fridge and have everything cleaned, and even make him dinner on our NEW stove! Ack, I'm so excited!




The dishwasher has SmartRelease Technology, which means I can just fill the thing up with soap and it will release the right amount each load, and will just tell me when it's empty. And all the controls are on the top of the door instead of the front, so it's super sleek. This is gonna be really nice because our current dishwasher is starting to go on the fritz and not work as well.

The fridge has a bottom freezer and french doors. It has 26 cubic feet of space, which is HUGE! I LOVE it! The freezer opens as a draw and actually has another drawer inside to maximize space.




The stove is absolutely awesome. It has a full size oven with a second warming oven underneath, that's actually fully functional, so I can bake and broil in it! The range and main oven are gas and the warming oven is electric, so it just plugs into the regular 110 outlet, which is great cause we don't have a 220 installed and I really don't want to rewire the kitchen. Electricians are expensive!

Sheesh

Well, too much has happened to catch up on all of it, so I guess I'll just pick up from here and hopefully get back into the habit of posting. Not that anyone reads this, but at least I can say I've accomplished something.

One of my coworkers is having a baby in May, and I decided this would be a good opportunity to learn how to sew/quilt. I never really learned how to do either. So I went to the fabric store, went nuts, and lemme tell you this quilt is gonna be bea-utiful! I'm really excited. It's purple and gold and I'm trying to give it a very regal feeling. Instead of making this girl into a princess I'm gonna make her into a queen! Plus it helps relieve the anxiety of not having one of my own yet. I'm so really do be pregnant.

I applied for a new job recently. I've decided I've grown and learned as much as I can in my current position, so when an Assistant Supervisor position opened up in our central office, I completely jumped on it. It would NOT be a pay cut (like moving over there normally would be); I wouldn't have to wear a uniform; I would have my own people. I'm really excited and I just feel really sure that this is my next step and this is where I'm supposed to go. I hope I don't have too much competition for the job because I WANT it! And I'll do whatever I have to do to get it! So keep your fingers crossed and pray for me; I should know within the next week or two (hopefully) if I get an interview!