My crazy year in Georgia

Welcome Fall: Part 2

2012-11-08T09:07:00.001-08:00

Fall has been beautiful here, but quickly turned cold and then warm again. This may have left me with a cold or allergies, not sure which one. I hope it stays warm a little longer so we can enjoy our last month here.

Out enjoying the weather...disk golfing!

Sweet Zemri fell asleep

Our Ward Fall Festival, chilli & dessert cook-offs!

Jake made a delicious and spicy chilli. I made my chocolate b& butter pudding.

We didn't take pics of our entries, not sure why, forgot I guess. There was sooo much food. Here are a couple of other pics.

Here's some other yummy food we made

And there was this too, can you guess where? It was my first time.

We have a new car!!! Feels good not to worry about that. It's a bit fancy, but we got a good deal on. What I am told over and over again is a good car.

Changed diaper in back of car

If you look close you can see Zemri's feet lol

This happened to Jake eek... playing baseball.

Baby Zemri turned 3 months old. She is getting so big. She just gives everyone googly eyes over here, they can't help but love her and we can't either ;). She has recently learned that she likes to suck her thumb, her finger, her fingers, her hand.

We believe this may have occurred the night she was fighting us and sleep and we just let her cry herself to sleep. It's more recently that she fight off sleep at night, but she is usually pretty good about it. And she sleeps almost through the night, waking only once to eat. There are some times she falls asleep during the day and nothing will wake her lol.
She is also getting a little mobile. We will put her down for tummy time and she rotates herself slowly in a circle to the left. It's so fun to watch. I also find her about to roll to her back but fighting not too, it too cute. She is also holding onto things and grabbing at them too.

I must also mention her cooing. She get's more and more vocal each day, but recently have come the squeals, and they are just precious. She has cut down on poo-pie diapers which I really appreciate =). She is just so much fun, I am so happy she has joined our family.

Fist Pump

Jake and I turned 1 year old...hehe. We celebrated early by going out to eat and going to the Temple for sealings. I love looking at my sweetheart over the alter. I remember the way I felt just one year ago when we knelt and were sealed together. Words can't express the feelings. Feeling I treasure everyday. And how fun it is too see our love grow as we learn to live and grow together. I have a loving Father in Heaven that is for sure.
On the actual day we used our $2 Fondue Set we got at a garage sale. It was unused, a pretty sweet find.

When we found the Fondue set

Garage sale attire

Jake's excited

Halloween. That was fun, last-minute, this is where we spent it...

We went as Mario, Princess Peach, and Yoshi. I couldn't get my paper crown to stay on, oh well.

Zemri with her hand in her mouth haha

Zemri with Deacon

Welcome to all the goodies inside

Still with her hand in her mouth

Jake has been busy as things wind down over here and finals approach. He's his final case presentation, submitting resumes, having phone interviews, and we fly out this Saturday to check out a job in Lovelock, Nevada. My feelings toward this town remain unclear, but grateful that the Lord is watching out for us and putting opportunities in our path.

Also with the winding down of our chapter here in Georgia I dread the packing and traveling long distances. My heart feels sorrow as we say goodbye to good friends here that we might not see for a long time. And a feeling of excitement almost overwhelms me as I thing of the Christmas season that will be shared with some family. I want you all so badly to see, hold, love my sweet little Zemri as I have gotten to the pass 3 months. Love you all so much!!! We never would have made it through this past year with out you guys. I hope you know how much you mean to us!!

Welcome Fall - Part 1

2012-10-19T07:38:00.003-07:00

Welcome fall and so sooo much more than we anticipated.

We have to take the good with the bad.

So I haven't really felt up to doing much of anything these days, but I can't let this get further behind lest I forget.

The heat is gone! Yay not that I didn't like it. I did like it with the humidity as much. Jake is most excited about the cooling down of the weather.

Now let go back to around the beginning of the month when I suffered from not one plugged duct but several, In both sides. I was dying. I've read so much about how to prevent and help heal. It seems if I don't live perfectly I am bound to get another one. I see some sad days ahead.

Soon after we had this fun we had a weekend get away planned with some really good friends from the ward. Unfortunately we would hit a bump along the way, or I could just say a car.
We were all packed up, Jake had finished his homework, and we set out on the congested freeway. The plan was to go up to Helen a little "geman-esk" kind of town and then over to our friends "cabin." We had gone about 3.6 mile when we all encountered our first car accident. After being in slow movie traffic for a few minutes we made our way to the fast lanes on the left. With only one more lane left that we could move into traffic began to pick up considerably. We found ourselves at speeds of 45 and 50. We pulled out from behind a semi into the last lane (with the exception of the pass only lane) to find that for some reason the cars were breaking and almost at a stand still. Despite having a few car lengths between us and slamming on the brakes we rammed into the car in front of us. Squealing tires, crunching metal, broken glass, exploding airbags, smoke filled the air, and the sound of our sweet baby Zemri screaming being woken up by all of this. I was in a state of shock to say the least. I didn't know what to think. After the whole ordeal, the one thing that is most important is that my Heavenly Father kept my little family safe. For that I am grateful every day.

Poor Shuff RIP

Despite this set back, we more than ever wanted to get away and just enjoy conference weekend. Just focus on what the servants of the Lord had prepared for us. Our friends who owned the "cabin" told us we could invite anyone else up if that would allow us to get a lift up there. We tried almost everyone we knew till some friends in the ward just loaned us their car. "Really? We just wrecked ours?" LOL. The only condition was that we didn't do the same to theirs. haha.
We made it up there just in time for the first session of Conference. And the reason I keep referring to it as a "cabin" in quotes is because this below is what we drove up to...

Cabin? Well they actually call it a Lodge, We call it a Castle.
Here are some more picture for your viewing pleasure.

A View From the Top

The Bottom Floor.

One big open room.

The Kitchen

Where we watched Conference

Come Up Stairs with Us

You will find a screened in porch. With a bunch of rocking chairs and a vision for a swinging bed =)

The Bedrooms are up here too.

A tiny toilet

Our Bathroom

Our Bedroom

Come Outside With Us

The Fire Pit

Doesn't that rock look like a bear?

Baby Zemri had a pretty big accident. Didn't help that daddy was in the processes of changing her. So it was a bit of a mess. Emergency Bath, she handled quite well.

Zemri sleepin on our bed.

All sprawled out.

Dad changed Zemri's diaper and this is how she was put back together. lol

Here's a couple of shots of her amazing bubble blowing skillz. (said with a Napoleon Dynamite accent)

Mom and Zemri on the drive up.

The Castle was a nice getaway that helped us approach the coming week with clearer minds.

A couple of Zemri faces to close out this post

A pretty good upset one

New Things

2012-10-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Baby Zemri
She is growing so fast. I look back at pictures and can't believe my eyes.
We went to the Doctor yesterday for her 2 Month checkup, she weighed 11lbs 2oz. And her length was 23.4in. She got shots too =( Mom and Zemri cried through the whole thing)

She has grown from Preemie diapers, to Newborn, to 1's, and we have just recently started 2's. Although we still have the more than occasional rooster tail (poop come out the top of the diaper).

We are now into Newborn clothes...lol. She is still in the process of filling them out, but she has grown out of the few small preemie size clothes we had her in.

Same Outfit

When she was a couple of weeks

Now at 9 Weeks

She loves her changing table, and she usually assumes this position to be changed =)


Showing us her belly from some good eating. Our new changing station we got for 10 bucks, its so cute.

Some more visuals to see her growth

1 week

1 Week

9 Weeks

Some more facts about her:
1. She loves to sit/lay with her legs crossed in assorted ways.

2. She has started to make bubbles with her mouth and to drool a little.
3. She has started to hate falling to sleep. She uses her new found voice to scream and she rubs her hand over her face and eyes to keep herself awake.
4. She wants to sit and stand. Sometimes I hear her grunting in her swing and I look over to find her trying to sit forward. And her legs have become so strong.

Her bib always seems to turn into a cape

5. She holds her head up so well now, and she is always looking around. Head back and forth, back and forth.
6. She giggles in her sleep.
7. She doesn't like showers. Found that out by accident. The shower head was on, she got a little sprinkled poor thing. But besides that I think she enjoys her new bath better.

with cute little monkeys on it

8. She has started to smile a ton =D and to talk as well.....WE LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!

New Pain
Plugged milk duct is a new kind of pain and is no fun, so avoid it at all costs. Just barely feel like I'm functioning normally again and it's been about two weeks =/.

New Foods
We are always making new fun things. Here are some of them,


made this again, added walnuts and bananas. with homemade whip cream

Fish Takis...Yum

Love me some of Jake's brownies, always fun surprises

Jake made the yummy enchiladas from pretty much scraps

Pigs in a Blanket, I love making these

Jake made this yummy apple pie, he made a yummy berry one too but didn't get a pic =(

and this bread too =)

New Neighbor
We have a new neighbor. He is white...haha... we're not the only white folks in the neighborhood anymore. That's cool, but what isn't cool is that he likes to play his music and he likes to play it loud. Other than being a little annoying, it wasn't a huge deal until a week ago. Last Sunday night he came home around 3am with some friends to have a little party. We awoke to his pounding music. Jake called the police, when they arrived he shut off his music and wouldn't answer the door. After the cop left he turned his music back on, a little softer and kept it on for at least another hour. If you recall from an earlier blog we had issues with our previous neighbors. I remember wishing we had different neighbors. Well, be careful what you wish for ;).

New Project
I've started a new project. We got a bunch of cloth diapers we now use for burp rags. Dilemma is we can't always tell which side we have been burping Zemri on...so... I'm adding a little something to each of the rags. To know which side we are using as well as which rag we have been using too.

New at Work
Zemri got to visit daddy at work for the 1st time.

New Place
We have to pick a new place to live. Scary and overwhelming thought. And I thought picking a baby name was hard. We are cracking down on that decision and will keep you posted accordingly.

1 Transfer

2012-09-14T10:22:00.002-07:00

That's how long we've had our sweet little Zemri. The length of one transfer on a mission, 6 whole weeks and some change. It's so hard to believe. Time seems to have gone by a lot faster than being pregnant.

The verdict: We've decided we will keep her =) lol.

So many fun things to record, of course it hasn't all been rainbows and unicorns (hehe)....so let me try and catch you up.

Here are 10 Fun Facts about Zemri I recorded in my Journal:

1 She purses her lips, crosses her eyes, makes grunting sounds as she works on her poos and gas =)

2 Her sneeze and expected sigh that follows. She will sneeze once or twice then think another is coming and makes the cutest "oh." Love it, one of my favorite sounds.

3 She has her daddy's butt chin...yay!

4 She has gained half her birth weight, still nice and little.

5 Zemri has started talking, it is so much fun. And when you talk back you're sure to get a smile out of her too.

6 She has crazy faces lol, it's so much fun. Here's a few pics. She can lift one eyebrow like her dad.

7 Zemri rolled from her belly to her back Sept. 10th just over 6 weeks old. Go Zemri!

8 She has the cutest peach fuzz on her shoulders and ears.

9 She collects all kinds of goodies in-between her toes and finders. But you can find the most treasure under her thumb, she keeps tightly inside her fist.

10 She is aware of things around her. She follows me from across the room.

Having a baby was hard, having a baby is hard, but having a baby is also so much fun. I sometimes get so overwhelmed when I see Zemri and Jake together. I am so blessed and loved.

Also what happened recently:
We house sat and baby sat for 10.5 days.
Boy this was tough.

Here was the good:
A/C constantly =), sometimes a little chilly for me, but Jake loved it for sure.
Super big, nice, comfy bed.
Jacuzzi tub, yep that's right.
TV...haha...it's been a while
Company
Kids liked to play outside
Payment, which is very helpful for us at this time.

The Bad:
5 kids, ages 9.10.11.12.13....+Zemri
Some crazy fights...lol...oh siblings
kid management of homework, chores, and sleep time
5 kids....haha

It was a learning experience for sure...lol

Past Due

2012-07-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

We are Past Due as most of you know by now.
Sorry you keep asking and the answer is still the same.
Baby Black is just not ready to come yet.

I'm 2cm and 75% effaced. And more than ready to not be pregnant anymore =).

July 21st came and passed. It was actually a fun day. It was our ward pioneer celebration.
We also did a little yard sale-ing that morning to keep me on my feet for a while. I got a huge yummy breakfast. And every time someone asked when we were due we got to say "today."

Unfortunately "today" turned into "yesterday" and "last Saturday." Now people just give me a look that says "I'm sorry to see you still pregnant."

We have been adding things to my activities to try and help out the labor process, but no luck yet. The first was hot food. I was all for this, I have missed spicy hot food. I try to eat hot salsa and hot sauce on almost everything. Jake seasons everything with a little more spice. And we went to eat hot Ethiopian food on Monday. And the food was just so good.

I sit on the Yoga ball more often, climb our stairs more often, and tonight we are going to make eggplant parmesan. Apparently that's supposed to help, fingers crossed.

Other things we have done to show we are ready are packed our hospital bag, strapped the car seat in the car, and set up the crib/pack and play.

So Baby Black just so you know, we are ready for you now.

And some bonus pics here of Jake playing in the pouring rain our breakfast that looks like a butterfly, and a super yummy pudding dessert I made =D.

Last Week

2012-07-16T11:28:00.002-07:00

I barely do anything these days. I lay around a lot, I hardly feel up to cooking things, the dirty dishes hard around a bit longer than they used to, and I'm taking long naps. Not like typing is that hard, but I don't even find the energy to do a post which leaves me a bunch of catching up to do. On top of it all, my hands and feet just love, love, love to swell up, one of the reasons I try to stay off my feet. It can be quite painful.
But on the other hand, I suppose I still do quite a bit.
Apparently I am pretty active according to some, who are surprised to see me up and about so close to my due date.

Last week, we are in the final week that contains our due date. I can barely believe it.
The mixture of emotions seems to come off as unreadable. Well, I am at least having a hard time reading them. Most common is it still doesn't feel quite real, or quite this close. Almost like the day won't really come. Kind of like the wait to see if my belly would actually get larger. It won't hit me till the moment is here.

So, seeing as I am slowing down these days let me fill you in on some of the activities over the past couple of weeks. Chances are the next blog will have a ton a baby pictures.

Fourth of July
We celebrated the 3rd and the 4th.
The 3rd we were right here in Norcross at a members home. A bunch of members from the ward came. We had food, chatted, and watched the fireworks. The couple who owned the house let us check out their bedroom that they renovated. It was amazing the change in their entire home. It used to be somewhat of a dump, but it is beautiful now. And we want our master bedroom, one day, to be very similar.

The 4th we watched "The Amazing Spiderman" and went into Atlanta with the Taylor's. We really enjoyed the movie. We went to the same theater as last time where you can order food, we just brought our own snacks, plus we were a little full from lunch still. The Taylor's used to live down in Atlanta and were invited to their old ward's BBQ. We were excited to be invited. I was even more excited to see they had ribs, lol. For some reason I have been craving them lately and they did not disappoint. We had fruit, chicken, rice salad, ect. And some awesome pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I ended up taking 5 to go they were so yummy. We ended the night with fireworks as well.

Our view the 4th, not as good lol. But we had lights from the train and a cop too =)

It was really fun having Jake home all day in the middle of the week and not because he wasn't feeling well. We had a great little holiday, we are so blessed as a nation and so is our little family.

We Cook.
Maybe just not as often now. Here are a couple of our yummy meals.

PS: I have this really great home teacher who cooks some great stuff, and I get some every month. She is so sweet. I got a shot of the cinnamon rolls, but everything else got eaten before it could be pictured. Cookies, cheesecake, and just yesterday home-made pigs in a blanket. She figured I didn't feel up to cooking much these days and she was right. Oh how I love getting her treats.

Cow Appreciation Day
This was our most recent activity.
We first got together for FHE Monday with a few other couples and worked on our costumes. And we ended up working on them throughout the rest of the week. We went all out. We met up again on Friday at Chick-fil-a and got a free meal each.

Jake had to struggle a little to walk in those things

Some of the group

The little pink and purple cow, she was so cute.

It was so much fun, and the food was great. They even said we had the best costumes they had seen all day. Now we are entering the contest to win a gift card to get more free foods there, so you should help us out. I will attach a link, and you can share that link with your friends too. All you have to do is vote for our photo.

Our Cow Costumes, Vote Here =D

Cow Appreciation Day, and I'm 39 week here =)

Our Cow Costumes, Vote Here =D

Long Time, No Blog

2012-06-26T16:36:00.002-07:00

I will try to catch you up like I had to catch my journal up.
And try to remember all that has happened over the past couple of weeks.

We went to a beach =D!! A beach found next to Lake Lanier.
It was our first time in the water this summer. We went with our friends the Braithwaites.
We had a little dinner on the beach then spent some time in the lake. It was actually cool that day compared to the days we have been have recently.

Poor Jake had his back go out on him right before we were headed to the beach, but he fought through the pain I think just so I could go swimming. He did make it to the water, but the rest of the time was an uphill battle for him. And if he didn't have a rough day already, one of the little fish bit one of his moles on his chest and made him bleed.

Can you see the fishes? One of these little burgers bit Jake.

These fish were scary, can you see all of them gaining up on me?

Due to Back issues, Jake spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the next week at home trying to heal. I was certainly happy to have him home, but I really don't like to see him in so much pain.
We caught up on a couple of shows. Thank you Hulu and Netflix.

We had a couple of church activities. A BBQ with the Elders Quorum and I had a swim party with the Relief Society and Young Women. It was nice to get into the water again. And that night I saw fireflies for the very first time ever. I don't have pics yet, but I will be trying to get some soon.

Some yummy hamburgers we made!

Father's day!! They had a bag of goodies for all the men 18 and up at church. I managed to snag an extra bag for Jake and me. I may have used the whole I'm pregnant and need goodies line. LOL, I better use it while I can. I also got Jake an oil vial gift set because his is getting a little old and might be leaky. I was so sneaky about getting it for him, he never saw it coming.

It’s blazing hot and humid here. We used the AC for the first time Sunday, and guess what!? It didn’t work. We had them come fix it yesterday, it made going to sleep last night a little more bearable. We will still be as conservative as possible; I’m scared to see next month’s electric bill.

36 Weeks. Most recent preggo pic.

We made it to the Temple!!! I still can't believe I made it through a session. I had to borrow a dress though, my unfortunately does not fit. Neither does my swim suit, so thank you April for sending me your maternity one it has come in handy.

Doctor's Visits.
Just went this morning, everything is still right on track. We are starting weekly visits now. I measured 35cm, I weighed in at 139, and received a paper telling me what real Labor will feel like =/. Yikes, the doctor reminded me that I was technically considered full term in 4 days and baby can come whenever it wants. Soooo, ya. Not sure if I'm ready for that, haha, or ever will be. Most days I feel like the baby is fighting to get out. The baby kneed me or heeled me pretty good this past Sunday, my eyeballs started leaking. .
I do, however, feel a little more prepared after the Baby Shower. We also picked up a rocky/swivel chair from the thrift store for $5 and a Diaper bag in pretty decent shape for $3. Woot Woot!! .....now we just need a name for the little one.

Oh and I cut Jake's hair again. Oh man it was short. No pics though, and it's grown out a bit since then too. He really needed it, his hair was possible over 2.5 inches long.

And now you are caught up....yay!!

Baby Black's Baby Shower

2012-06-14T15:43:00.002-07:00

I feel so blessed with good friends and a good ward!
My visiting teaching companion Dani and my friend Meghan got together, planned, and executed the entire shin-dig. And it turned out amazing!

It's a strange Thought realizing where I am sometimes. Who knew I would be so far from family when I had my first baby. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad to be here; to support Jake, to lean on him, to grow with him. But I do get a little sad sometimes knowing that they won't really see me all pregnant, put their hand on my belly and feel the baby, or even see the baby in person till it's about 3 weeks old. Those are crazy thoughts.

However, I am lucky here. There are so many great people around who serve us, who truly care about us, and are willing to help out. We are certainly lucky to have them.

So let’s talk about the Shower.

Here's some of the group. We got the pic a little late, sorry we missed getting a pic with all of you who came.

15+ people came. The decorations were cute, the food was delicious (I walked away with a couple of plates Jake enjoyed =), the company amazing, the games fun and the gifts so generous.

One game was a word scramble, pretty tough. By the time was up I had gotten 7 correct out of 15, not bad but not the best.

The other game was so funny. It was called "Guess the Girth." Everyone took yarn and cut it to the length they thought would be my belly around. I almost couldn't believe they were doing it at first. Then I found myself laughing and enjoying it as each person came up to wrap their yarn around my belly. Everyone guessed a little on the larger size. My friend Ashley came the closest, she literally only had a half an inch too much, it was crazy.

Then we opened gifts. Check them out!!

Diaper Cake

#2 and more Diapers =)

Handmade towel with hoodie

Handmade, such talented ladies!

That baby quilt on the bottom is handmade

Feeding cover, handmade too

Burp Rags with added borders

That little duck is a water temperature Gage. Cool huh!?

Cute Monkey Car-seat mirror =)

Towels

Bottles if we need them.

The Monkeys. A stuffed, a rattle, and nighttime one that plays different things. Even our own recording.

The pack and play set up. Didn't know it was for us.

And a basic Stroller.

We have a few things more that will be coming in from those who couldn't make it. I'll get you pics when we get them. Thanks so much everyone for the gifts. We literally started with very little. Thanks for helping us prepare a little more for our little one.

Stone Mountain

2012-06-14T13:12:00.004-07:00

We finally made it to Stone Mountain.
We went with the youth of the ward, for the activity last week. We went to have pizza and enjoy the light show. We had to wait till dark for it to start, this is the 2nd or third time I've thought we really need lawn chairs. The ground can get quite uncomfortable after a couple of hours. Well, actually much sooner than that. It was fun to experience another piece of Georgia, despite the late night. Poor Jake, we got home about 11:15pm and to bed about 15-20 minutes later. And the next morning he had to be up and to work by 6:30am.

Here are some pics from that night =)

From the light show

We Do Stuff

2012-06-06T10:59:00.002-07:00

We like to eat at new places. We have a list of places we want to go before we leave GA,
We finally went to a Waffle House!! Hahaha...
Within a 2 mile radius of our apartment there are 6, yes folks 6 Waffle House's. How could we not at least go inside one of them. We ate waffles (of course), a sausage egg and cheese biscuit, and biscuits with gravy. It was pretty big portions for the price. We left maybe a little more than full.

Jake's food baby

We like to Thrift Store shop. Ok, well maybe that's just me and Jake just humors me. We have gotten some pretty cool things in our time at the thrift stores. We got one of our couches, two coffee tables, six chairs, a small book shelf, a desk, and a foot rest all free from the thrift store close to our place.

Our cool candles and their holders we got at a thrift store.

We just picked up "The Host," a book I wanted Jake to read, it only cost a buck.

We didn't buy this. But thought it was cool.

We don't know what this was. Didn't buy but we were curious of what it was.

We changed cameras. After searching for our receipt for the first camera for about a month, I finally found it. Apparently we only had 45 days to return, not the 90 we were told. But they worked with us and we ended up with a Canon this time. So far we are pretty happy with it. Unfortunately, it's not waterproof and it doesn't have Panoramic like the last one, but we can get better pictures indoors. So that's exciting. One other cool feature I just found, you can zoom in and out while you are video-ing, and I liked that.

We just added to our game supply this past week. We picked up dice from the Dollartree. We ended up with 60 Dice for 6 bucks. Now we can play liars dice along with many other dice games.

We went to our first movie together….ever….in a theater. We saw The Avengers. It was great. We went with a couple of friends from the ward, and they were able to pick up some tickets for us that were $5 each. That was fun.

You can order food and have it brought to you to eat during the movie.

Being sick & Preggo

2012-05-30T07:49:00.004-07:00

This is basically the past week for me. Sick & Preggo.

Being pregnant is hard enough, then you go and add something on top of that and I tend to want to crumble.

It seems I am doomed to be plagued with UTI's, this is kind of how the week started. I felt the back pain from what usually is attributed to the infection. So I decided to fight it. I drank so many fluids I thought I was going to burst. I was sick of orange juice. I bought cranberry pills and grapefruit seed pills to fight off the infection and when we went to my scheduled doctor's appointment the UTI didn't show. I was so excited. We fought it and won, or so I thought.

During the very same appointment my stomach felt a little upset, I thought because I had eaten breakfast too fast. A few hours later it passed.

Then that evening my body started to ache all over all night. Then the next day I started to get a fever every 6 to 8 hours and the body aches continued. This persisted 2.5 days before we ended up in the hospital. This was a Friday afternoon. We went to labor and delivery thinking they would take a few hours to check on me. They would figure out what was wrong, prescribe some pills and we would be on our way.

They tested for an infection, drew blood twice for cultures, and did a flu test. After all this they hooked me to some fluids while we waited for the results. I felt a little foolish at first. When we got to the hospital I actually felt better than I had in the past few days. Do you ever feel like this? Where if you fell awful once you go to take care of it you find out you're already getting or feeling better? I always feel that this will be the case. But a couple of hours in the hospital would prove me wrong.

They gave me a mug, this has come in handy.

Like clockwork the fever hit about 6-8 hours after my last one. But this time it felt 10X worse. I couldn't stop shaking from the chills and I found myself trying to fight them. I tightened my whole body because of it, and that was quite painful itself. They told me to relax and let the chills cool the fever down; that folks is easier said than done. It is a strange thing to feel that my body is cold and that it is on fire at the same time. After peaking at around 104.2 my fever finally started to fall. The shakes subsided and I started to find a little relief.

After waiting to hear back for some time, we found out that I did have a pretty bad infection, no flu and that they were still waiting to hear back on the blood. So they told us we would be staying the night. We were not expecting this when we came in. They moved our room, I was glad to be in a different bed after I sweated all over the last one, but felt bad that Jake would be crashing on a chair that pulled into somewhat of a bed.

I got some pills to help me sleep, which I was excited about since I hadn't got much sleep since all this started happening. Well, to be honest almost since I've been pregnant lol.

The next day after being on constant fluids and antibiotics and feeling bound to a hospital bed I was ready for it all to be over. The plan was they find out about the blood then we could go, at least we thought that was the plan. 8pm rolled around and we heard nothing. 9pm and we started to wonder what was going on. Apparently no one knew about this plan. After getting a hold of the Doctor she said that if we could find a pharmacy open that we could pick up the prescription then we could leave, otherwise we were stuck there another night. Unfortunately, it was too late and we spent another night in the hospital. This time the pills didn't help me sleep much, I woke up with a kind of panic attack, feeling like I couldn't breathe. This symptom would persist after the hospital, even to today. Another symptom that can come with pregnancy I'm told.

Bruises from the poking and prodding =(

So by the morning I just wanted to leave. I didn't feel very well still, but I also felt I wasn't going to get better till I was home. So we made it home by Sunday evening, never really knowing what was wrong other than the infection. And by about Tuesday or Wednesday of last week I finally started feeling better.

The whole experience made me appreciate the "normal" pains of pregnancy. That probably sounds weird. I am just grateful that I can bear it, but add an infection and more on top of that and it is just too much. It made me long for the time where I was just having hip pains or sleepless nights.

I'm glad to report that this all seems to be behind me, for now. Now it's just one day at a time as we get nearer and nearer to the baby coming.

1st "Mother's Day"

2012-05-25T09:00:00.002-07:00

Bahaha

I know this is coming quite late but this past week has been interesting to say the least.

I say first because I actually felt more like a Mother this year. I know I've had the opportunity to be a "Mother" to my nieces and nephews, but realizing that I would have a baby of my own made a bit of a difference.

My Mother's day actually began a couple of days before.
It was Father's and Son's that weekend and Jake had been invited along and asked to provide some activities. He took his slack line.

A kid that got a little brave on the slack-line =) bless him

After thinking he had left for that, he returned home to give me a movie he had rented for me. It was a chick-flick, "Breaking Dawn." I wasn't sure I wanted to see it, but I knew for sure he didn't want to see it. So he brought it so I had something to do while he was gone.

Expecting Jake to stay the night, I was surprised when he returned home. I was excited not to be alone, and he also busted out another chick-flick "The Vow." I was in shock to say the least. Bless him.

Then Saturday night I got another gift from Jake. He had searched all over the internet to find me the game Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. Hahaha... I love this game. We have it back home somewhere for some game system and now I have it right here with me. I was beyond excited. Thanks Jake for being so clever and thoughtful.

Sunday. The Big Day.

Jake made me breakfast in bed, well he tried to. I hadn't had a good sleep and Jake thought church started at 9:30 again....hahaha. So I got up because I needed the time to get ready, but when he brought up the food I went ahead and sat in bed to eat it.

I got the staple huge candy bar. I picked a Mr. Goodbar. I'm only half way through it ;).

Our ward here does something really special for the ladies. They worked it out so that all the men took over classes, Jake was in the Nursery, and all the ladies came together for Sunday School and Relief Society hours. We had a little lesson on Visiting Teaching and then we had a brunch and a whole lot of conversation time. It was fantastic. I, of course, made sure to pack a little plate of goodies for Jake.
We had muffins, strawberries (with chocolate), yogurt fruit parfait, yummy granola, assorted drinks, and a little egg/potato/sausage dish.

Then after church Jake made Dinner and Dessert and did the dishes. It was awesome!! Lol, a nicet break. Of course what does he tell after this wonderful weekend..."Don't expect it to be this good next year." Haha... love him!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Pregnancy Blues

2012-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

There have been a lot of changes with being pregnant.
Some I have mentioned in the pass, but a few more have come to my attention more recently.

*Forgetfulness
This I mentioned before and I think I am handling this one pretty well. I haven't forgot anything too important, so I count myself lucky and knock on wood. The most recent bout of forgetfulness was yesterday morning. I woke up and couldn't remember what day it was, no matter how hard I tried. This can happen to most of us even if we are not preggos. But then again last night I was having a hard time figuring out what today was. I ran through what we had done that day just so I could figure out that today was Thursday. Yikes.

*I Can't Spell
This is pretty much a sub-category of forgetfulness. I find myself unable to spell the most random of words. No matter how hard I try I just can't get it. I noticed a lot this last weekend when we were playing games with some friends. I felt so helpless.

*Body Changes
Of course I expect there to be changes. And I'm doing alright with my little belly. I say little because some people still don't notice that I am pregnant. I like my little belly, but it sure does feel a lot bigger to me. But the Pain is probably the hardest to bear. I've actually already had one contraction. They are just supposed to be the tightening, but this one brought the pain too. The Doctor didn't seem worried, so I won't either. And I will be happy when someday I can do something about the pain in my hip.

*Sleeplessness
I sometimes dread the nighttime. It's hard to get good sleep most nights. And all anybody tells me is "that's normal." This phrase is coming to be one of my least favorite. Just grin and bear it right? I miss my good night sleep. However, some mornings and afternoons I find myself so exhausted that I fall asleep, and this sleep is more restful than at night. So I take what I can get.

*Clumsiness
This I mentioned before when I broke one of our glasses. Well, I finally did it. I took the fall. What I've labeled the "Pregnancy Fall." Just yesterday I fell right off the side of the curb. I stepped down but didn't get my footing right. To prevent a major sprain, I just let myself dropped to the ground. I was more embarrassed than hurt. I wanted to just hide from everyone.

*I Have to Pee!!
I remember reading about this one in the book my sister-in-law Em gave me. But when they were talking about it a few months ago, it wasn't happening to me. However, this is not the case now. I almost feel like I have to pee all the time. It's kind of frustrating. It's almost become my first and last stop everywhere we go.

PS This list will probably be updated too =)

Potter Party, Baby Update, Amicalola Fall, Cinco de Mayo, & Chords of Faith

2012-05-08T17:14:00.002-07:00

There’s a little news to catch up on and more fun photos to view.
These are the events of last week.

We went to a Harry Potter Mafia birthday party for a friend in our ward. Her name is Meghan and we think she is awesome. Apparently she is a huge Harry Potter fan, which is okay by me. The night was themed around HP.
We played Pictionary picking words from the books; the word I got was Hippogriff. I was afraid at first; all I could think to draw was a hippo. I started at the feet and then realized I couldn't remember what the rest of a hippo looked like. Thank goodness I was on Meghan's team, right after I had drawn the feet she guessed my word =).
We also played Mafia with HP characters, 3 of the 4 times we played I was a Death-eater. That is strange for me. I just wanted to be innocent lol.
We closed the night watching Meghan open her gift. She read the card that said something like "we heard potions class was pretty hard so we got you this." She seemed to get really excited and we made sure to say "No, no. It's not that awesome. Please bring your expectations down." Hahaha... and so she did. After opening the gift (a dvd of an old tv series and a cake mix) she was beyond our excitement expectations. It made our night.

We had another appointment for the baby this week. We are a every 2 weeks right now. Everything was good. I gained some weight, which is a new thing; well it was more like what I expected to gain. I measured at 27cm and I was 28.5 weeks along. Everything was good.
I did have a couple of days this past week where I was feeling pretty sick. Couldn't sleep, didn't want to do much when I was awake, but with a blessing from Jake it passed rather quickly. I was extremely grateful. What a blessing it is to have the priesthood again on the earth.
Sometimes I wonder these days if the baby ever sleeps. With all the wiggling I would guess not. But then the other night I was laying in bed thinking and preparing to sleep when I put something together. Jake was next to me fast asleep and he began to twitch a little. This is when I realized that the baby might possibly be doing the same thing. Sleeping but still managing to get those wiggles out, haha.. just a theory =0).

wizard

super soft pathway

View on the way up

Saturday we went to Amicalola Falls. A waterfall in the southern part of the Appalachian Trail, and is not to far from here. We went up with the Braithwaites to do a little hiking and viewing of the waterfall. The Falls were beautiful.

We ended up climbing more stairs than I thought we would, and got to catch a bird show as well. It was worth how tired I was afterwards.

You can view pictures of the birds at the end of the blog =)

That night for Cinco de Mayo we went to the Stewarts, a young couple in our ward, the Markhams were there as well. We ate taquitos, chips, salsa, and guacamole; we also played some games.

And I gained a new niece today, well for me it was the 6th at 1:30am but for Lilly in Utah it was the 5th at 11:30pm. I can't wait to meet her in person.

Sunday we went to the Chords of Faith. It was 1 of 2 performances they put on each year. Along with the choir were an orchestra, and a display of photos and poetry all at the Stake Center. Two of my poems were displayed =).

I was all really good and Jake was invited to audition for the Chords of Faith. Auditions will be in August. I'm excited for him. Just as long as the Christmas performance is before we leave.

Black Vulture

Red Tail Hawk

Great Horn Owl

Barn Owl

Also known as Hedwig

Screech Owl 1

Screech Owl 2

Red Tail Hawk

Welcome to Atlanta

2012-05-02T11:15:00.002-07:00

We finally made it into Atlanta.
Last weekend was a big weekend for us.
Not only did we make it into Atlanta, but we also celebrated our 6 Month-aversary.
Almost unbelievable that we have been married that long. The time has flown by.

So we started the weekend early Saturday morning.
We went to a park close by for a community event. It was National Tai Chi Day. We went for a free little lesson and some free fruit. It was a nice morning, a little warm, but a fun experience. Jake took video of me, I took video and pictures of him :).

Then we went to a few yard sales, which I really enjoyed. We didn't get much. but it's not just the finding cool stuff for cheap that I like, but the experience as well. I'm a little strange I suppose. We got a few things that will and have come in handy already. Jumper cables for the car, a tire iron as well. We also got a couple of fans for our windows; our attempt at keeping cool as long as possible before having to use the AC.

One yard sale was at a Korean church. Took this pic for you AJ.

Later that afternoon we headed into Atlanta.
Our first stop was the Olympic Park. This is where the Olympics were held in 1996 when they were in Atlanta. We walked the whole park.

We also saw Coca-Cola World and the Aquarium, but only from the outside. We couldn't afford to go in.

After all the walking in the sun and heat, Jake decided to use their fountain thing to cool off like the other kids were doing.

This place is called the Tabernacle. It was located close to the park. Again we couldn't get in unless we had ticket to the show that was going on that night. But we got these pictures from the outside.

Trying to blend in

My aunts name,

just spelled a little different

We stood by some signs =)

For dinner we went to The Varsity, a famous drive through in Atlanta. Not the most amazing food, but we went mainly for the experience. The ice-cream we got after dinner was pretty good though.

Long lines

Drive thru Menu

No more foods

inside my cup

super yummy ice

We ended the night watching a play at the same school where Martin Luther King went. A friend from the ward was in it. That was almost the longest play I have been to, we didn't get home till around 11:30pm. That's about all I would like to say about it. If you can't say something nice =), lol.

Cool Quote at the theater by Martin Luther King


Brownies we had with the missionaries.

And Sunday was our 6th month mark. Pretty typical day; except we had the missionaries over for dinner.
Jake avoided the sides because they might have burnt, but after tasting that that they were fine, he was really happy to have his favorite part remaining...haha. --->
That was fun, made me feel a little more grown up ;). It was also a chance to just look back on the time we have had together so far, the blessing of finding each other and the many more blessings that have followed. And soon we will add to our little family. I am truly grateful for my little family, for the chance to be sealed to them for all eternity, what a great blessing the Gospel has brought into my life.

The O So Awesome Shirt

2012-04-30T11:05:00.004-07:00

In the BBQ post I might have mentioned out trip to a thrift store and this shirt that was just so cute....well I couldn't stop thinking about this shirt. I think even at one point I had a dream about it.

Well the hours for this thrift are kind of limited, most of the hours Jake was at work. So I decided that I would see if I could make it to the thrift store by walking. So I had it all planned. I would leave just after Lunch on Wednesday. I got a water bottle ready, some snacks, a book and my journal (if I decided I would wait for Jake to get out of work to get a ride back home).

I would later look up to see exactly how far it was. It was 3 miles away.
I set out at the time planned. I got about 30 minutes into the journey when I started to get worried about time. I hadn't gone very far, almost a mile maybe and it was 1:15pm. Problem was I couldn't remember if they closed at 2 or at 3. I decided to hope for 3 and just keep going.

(Isn't it strange that guys will honk at pregnant women too?)

About 20 minutes later I was sure I had reached my limit. I was tired, starting to hurt all over. I was seriously thinking that Jake would just have to come pick me up on the side of the road where I was. Then a stronger, maybe just crazier side of me wanted to push on.

I kept telling myself "if I could just get this far." So I kept going.
It worked. First I thought if I could get to the school that is about half way. Then if I could get to the park, and then if I could get across the railroad tracks. It got harder when blisters started to appear on my feet, but once I crossed the railroad tracks I couldn't give up. It was so close. So I took my shoes off and walked the rest barefoot.

When I came up over the hill and the building was in sight, I was looking for one thing. In the front by the road they put out a big bear in a chair to indicate that they are opened. I was looking for that bear.

The moment I saw it I was so excited. Not only had I walked this crazy distance all preggo, but I was going to get my shirt.

I went straight to the rack I had seen it last and it was still there. I tried it on and... it was a little tight. Oh ya, that's right, I'm pregnant now. But still I couldn't pass it up. I went and got my shirt. It only cost me $1, 3 miles of walking, and about 2.5 hours of the day. But oh how I love it.

My shirt and fudge-cycles

Post feet with bandaids

The nice lady there even offered me a ride home because she lived not to far from us.

Jake thought I was crazy for doing it, mostly because he worries about me. Also he was planning on picking it up for me the next day. Oops, maybe I need to learn to be more patient.

The Funnies

2012-04-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

This post will probably be updated over time.
I thought I would share some of the random things that have happened around here.
Here are a few.

1. The Cat Convention.
One night we were headed home and came around the corner up by the mail boxes. When we came around the corner there were 4 or 5 cats gathered together in the middle of the street. Once the lights hit them they began to scatter. I still wonder some days what that meeting was all about.

2. The Birds
The birds here are similar to these cats, except they have a standing meeting. Every morning around 5:30am, I swear all the birds of Norcross come to the woods just outside our apartment to hold some kind of daily meeting. Most days I am lucky enough to sleep through the commotion. But the days that I don't the birds are just going at it.

3. The Lizard
I am almost positive that a poor little lizard got painted over on the roof of our apartment. It's frozen in time for our viewing pleasure. You almost have to see it to believe it. No really, I pretty much ask anyone who comes over if they think it is a lizard as well. It's like having a pet with no hassle of taking care of it, lol.

4. Jake's Friends
One day Jake came home as usually, but was stopped just outside the door by a neighborhood kid. He was telling him about a bird house that he had built and placed in the woods. How he had filled it with bugs for the birds, but none had come yet. Jake talked with the boy for a bit then came inside. The very next day we received a knock at the door. Really we were expecting an invitation for church, maybe a package, or some kind of solicitation. That's about all we get around here unless we have invited someone else. To my surprise it was this little boy.
He asked "Can I play with your son?"
I was a little confused. I replied "I'm sorry, I don't have a son."
He stood there a little she but continued to talk to me and he again told me about his bird house. Then it hit me, the boy wanted to play with Jake. Hahaha... however Jake couldn't go out and play, he had homework to get done.

5. Getting the Mail
Some days I walk up to get the mail, but most of the time I wait for when we are on our way out. When that's the case sometimes getting out of the car can be a bit of a struggle for me, especially depending on which direction on the hill we are facing.
I really enjoy getting the mail, or rather getting mail. So sometimes I get distracted after I have gotten it out of our box. Problem with that is the beams that can be found in the middle of the walk way. So yes you can see where I'm headed, into that beam. It may have occurred on several occasions; Jake probably gets a good laugh.
Well the real story is the one that happened a few days ago. Jake's back has been bothering him a bit lately and it just so happened that I was driving so it was his turn to get out and get the mail. He struggle to get out and turned to tell me how he looked like me getting out of the car.
“Haha.. so funny Jake” I thought.
And then it happened. He had distracted himself just enough to run into one of those beams. We both busted up laughing. At first I thought he was just imitating me more, but when he got back into the car I learned that it was a complete accident. I busted up laughing again.

6. We were leaving the church and were stopped at the stop light. We saw the missionaries crossing the street and figured we would see if they needed a ride. Just as we were thinking this another member pulled up beside us, rolled down the windows to call out to them and see if they needed a ride. Jake rolled down the window to tell them how we were going to offer a ride as well. At the same time these members started to back up their car just a little bit, but Jake thought that he was rolling forward and our brakes had given out. His face and reaction was priceless. I started laughing. I didn't know the why behind the face yet, but it was so funny I was cracking up. After another member pulled up in a van behind us and offered all 4 missionaries a ride we took off, and that's when I heard the full story. Our brakes going out, not funny. Jake's reaction however may have kept me giggling all the way home.

Bar-B-Que

2012-04-24T10:17:00.004-07:00

The summer is coming, and that's kind of exciting.
Maybe not the crazy hot humid weather, but the swim parties, BBQ's, family visits, one less baby kicking my guts. It all sounds like a lot of fun.

This last weekend, Saturday, we had our first BBQ of the summer.
Saturday was a surprisingly busy day, even though we didn't have too much planned to start out with.

Not too far from us is a park, and a festival that went on most of the day. We dropped by but it was kind of slow, probably due to the earlier hour. We got there about noon, and the entertainment was, well not very entertaining. So we took a few pictures next to the cool fountains they had there then took off.

It looked so inviting though

Next we wonder over to a thrift store that was nearby. It's opened weird hours and just happened to be open so thought we would drop in. Jake needs new brown shoes for work/church, unfortunately we didn't find any there. And unfortunately they only take cash and we didn't have any on us. I say it’s unfortunate because I came across this cute super cute shirt only 2 bucks. Man, why didn't I have two bucks on me? It's really abnormal for me not to have cash. But ever since I've been married to Jake I haven't carried cash like I used to, weird. We also came across a ton of scout shirts there. I couldn't believe it. I looked all over; I wanted to get one that wouldn't cost the ward much. But no luck, and now that we have one, we come across a bunch. It always turns out that way doesn't it? So in the end we left empty handed, but I still enjoy going to thrift stores not sure why really.

After leaving the thrift store we spotted a sign for an estate sale. We both have never been, so we thought we would check it out. Again we had no cash so we couldn't bid. But that's ok, I don't know if there is much we really need right now. It was still really cool. There was a ton of stuff, some mirrors that might have been nice to have. Really big picture frames, tons of clothes, shoes, handbags, chairs, collections, beds. It was packed with people and tons of stuff. I thought it was awesome; I will have to check out another one sometime.

We also picked up my pre-natal pills, looked at a health food store for grapefruit seed pills for my uti's, and checked out the Grandpa Store. The Grandpa Store is a place we pass all the time when we are out and about. We assume that it is a place you can get a new grandpa once yours have passed ;). Well we finally went after all this time of wondering. It is quite an interesting little store with the most random of things.

Next we headed to the BBQ!!
The BBQ was for work/internship, for everyone who was working there and they're families. I've been looking forward to this all week. It sounded so good to me, and it was. I ate a huge hamburger, chips, fruit, potato salad, and macaroni salad. I had 2nds on the fruit along with some Easter m&m's. I was stuffed, twice =). All I could do was sit, and try and let it all digest. Then about 30 minutes later I find out that there is dessert. Yes!! I knew I liked BBQ's. I know I probably should have passed up on the sponge cake, fresh strawberries, and ice-cream, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to. I could barely walk away from that BBQ. Jake walked away the champion of the horse-shoes, I was very proud of him.

Then we headed with Joe and Peter to play disc golf. I am probably the worst player you have ever seen. I blamed it on being pregnant, but to keep the secret of how awful I really am I will have to only play when I am pregnant. I don't know why I agreed to go, I could barely move, but I thought it would be better for me than just sitting around. After playing half a game we played on the crazy cool play ground they have there as well (see pics).

This thing made me super dizzy

After all of this I was beat. I was so, so tired. I could've probably crashed till Sunday morning, but we still had to do grocery shopping. We had a better list with us this time, despite still forgetting a few things. But we made it through quickly which was a little surprise, and we are well within budget. This all made me really happy.

To end out night we rented the latest Mission Impossible.
However, might night never really ended.
I think the baby was a little upset at how much I ate that day. It really constricted its movement, and this baby really likes to move a lot and often. So to make up more the lack of movement all day, the baby pretty much kept me up all night. I'll have to ask if getting that full is worth it next time.

Sunday was a great, relaxing day, but started a little fast.
After a couple of alarms being turned off I asked Jake what time it was.
He said "8:30."
I gasped and said "what? are you serious?"
He said "Yes. Why? Isn't church at 9:30......or is it at 9?" He began to realize his mistake.
Bahahaha... we rushed to get ready and we were only about 7 minutes late. Pretty impressive for the driving time we have to put in.

And now it is Monday. I've already had the JW's knock on our door today; they were not able to make their last appointment and wanted to set up another one. So maybe this Friday, we still have the Book of Mormon ready for them. Jake will probably keep busy today with school work. Last Friday he was up till 1:30am finishing a big assignment. Today is a test, and maybe more. I really hope he gets a break after all these finals.

Short Week

2012-04-20T10:29:00.001-07:00

Jake is busy as ever.
The internship of course, school work, and another final.
He is working on this work in almost all his spare time, and will probably most of today. Hopefully he can get a lot accomplished.

The oil in the car finally got changed. Of course we hit another wall yesterday before it could be accomplished. Auto Zone gave us the wrong nut for the bottom of the oil pan. So unknowingly Jake emptied the oil last night after work. Then we found ourselves stranded. After a few call we got a hold of one of our home teachers, who graciously came late last night to take us to Auto Zone. Finding the part was still a challenge, it was still listed wrong in their computers. But once we got home it all went together quickly.

Also new, I made fudge-cycles. They are pretty tasty, but a bit hard to get out of our molds. Jake does it, he's figured it out.

And that's the news.

Catch Up

2012-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

I’m playing a little bit of catch up here.
This weekend has been a bit abnormal so I thought I would wait to get back to normal then post.

Friday was a bit strange for us.

We had sloppy Jo's again. Yum.

JW's flogged us. (Flogged was what we called it when our investigators ditch out on our appointments.) This was unfortunate; we had a Book of Mormon and pass along cards all ready for them.
We didn't have any other plans set already, so we spent the evening together. We mostly read. Jake has restarted the same book series that I am reading. I'm afraid thought that he will catch up to me and want this next book. So I might find myself reading more often.
I walked up to get the mail, something I hadn't done all week. Walking down the hill was a lot harder than up it. And I found that we had a package waiting for us at the post office. That was a cool surprise since we were not expecting anything. It was from a friend of Jake's. It had some great things inside. I will point out the shampoo/conditioner and the soap, just because I had literally just put them on our shopping list. So I got to take them right off the list, which was pretty exciting.

What I can take a panorama with my phone? Dark, but Jake slack-lining.

Saturday was Final Day.
Jake worked on his final all that day. Well pretty much all that day. He probably tried to get the nut off the oil pan, and was unsuccessful. We hope to find some success soon.

Sunday we sang.
I was crazy nervous, nothing new. We sang a sweet version of “I Stand all Amazed.” Of course I asked myself why I had agreed to it, the main reason was I really wanted to sing with Jake. And guess what? It went pretty well, there was actually a really great Spirit the entire meeting.
We also had my Visiting teaching companion and her family over for a late lunch that was breakfast foods. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage; It was fun and very tasty.
Just left a huge load of dishes =(. But it actually felt like they cleaned up quickly.

Monday made me think today was still Monday.
Jake stayed home from work to finish his Final as well as his assignment for his online classes that were due that day. I finished sewing on his scout patched, did a bunch of cleaning.
I believe there was some car time in there, unsuccessful still.
Then we cooked =).
Jake made some Devil's Food cookies with little reeses pieces. While I cooked some dinners, a Tomato/Tilapia shells pasta. Another successful meal I believe.
Another huge load of dishes though, =(. But I did them right away. I don’t like them sitting around too long; makes it harder to clean them and I hate being out of different things.
Then we had FHE with my brother and sister-in-law via Skype. Lol, that was fun. They brought the lesson, and we brought the treats ;).

Cookies and my tummy

Baking

Looks pretty good huh!?

And then there’s today. Today started last night. I was woken up again to searing pain from another infection. This one actually focused on the opposite side, maybe not as painful as the last one, but maybe also because I knew what it was. I took a Tylonal right away, two got me through the night, and the Dr. gave me a prescription at our appointment this morning.
Other than the infection, everything looked good with the baby.
I measured at 25cm and I'm 26.5weeks, little small but still normal.
I also actually gained weight, 4lbs this month.
This week the little one was probably tuckered out from last night. On 3 different occasions the baby was having a dance party in my belly.
1. Right before bed.
2. After I took the first pill.
3. Right after the second pill.
So baby's heart beat was between 145 and 155.
Funny thing though, the baby hadn't been moving while we were at the appointment. Once the Doctor put the instrument to hear the heart on my belly, that little squirt started kicking. We think the baby might be a little territorial, haha.

And yes it is true 95 days left till my due date!!

Finals

2012-04-12T09:23:00.001-07:00

Jake is taking one of his finals, due this coming Monday.
He has till then to finish it. So that means all his spare time will probably go to that. But I have the computer for now, so I thought I would update you.
I just can't believe we have made it to the end of one of his classes. Of course, that means he will also be starting a new class soon.

Jake roasting an imitation peep,

with a chocolate mini egg inside. So Gross

I also realized today that we have been in this apartment longer than the one we were in in Provo. The time has really passed so quickly. Before we know it we will be heading back west. But lets not think too much on that, because our lives will be totally different then. I'm going to just try and enjoy the now.

Jake matchy outfit =). Practicing the song

Monday night we had FHE at Sister Dean's home. She is our ward choir director, after FHE she helped us pick out a song because we are singing in Sacrament this Sunday. You would think they would be tired of us. I think I've done more in this ward in the past 2 months than I have in all my wards last year. There was the talk, a closing prayer, singing twice with the choir and this week with Jake.
That's a lot of "face time."
Face time: the amount of time the ward sees my face in front of them =)
Luckily we have picked a song, and have practiced it a few times. Quite impressive with the time we have left and Jake's schedule.

I also made two new yummy meals.

1. Was the Mac & Cheese recipe I got from Emily. Although I might have put a little too much Cayenne pepper, but it still tasted really good. And we got to use one of the evaporated milks that we get from wic. We don't want those piling up too fast. I think soon we will be making fudge. We just need some walnuts and I believe one other ingredient.

2. A Cheesy Potato dish. I kind of just winged this one. We got a big bag of potatoes a little while back and I try to use them on a regular basis; One, because I love them & two, because I don't want them to go bad. So I took the potatoes, cut them into squares and boiled them. Then I added the left over Alfredo sauce I made, the milk we had left, the rest of the cream cheese, some sharp cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese on the top. It was cheesy and super delicious.

Tomorrow I think we are having sloppy Jo's again. Pretty excited about that. I will have to take a pic so I can show you it in all its yummy glory.

I’ve also been working on Jake’s scout shirt. I’m sewing his patches on for him. I am almost finished. It’s a bit tedious, but glad I can do it for him. I love helping out any way that I can.

Last and most recently, the JW's showed up at our door this morning. They want to meet with us, of course. Jake agreed to tomorrow at 3pm, lol, quick. We have a Book of Mormon we will try to give them, we shall see what happens.

2:22 am

2012-04-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling this post might take me some time to write.
We had quite an eventful weekend.

Friday:
We went to the Temple. We even got to do a session. I wasn't sure how I would handle the amount of time it would take. By the end I was tired but really glad we got to go.
A friend of Jake's, who is also out here for the internship, was in the same session with his wife. We went out with them to dinner. We went to a place called "Moe's Southwest Grill." Jake and I split a burrito called the "Homewrecker." It was huge and delicious. Couldn't believe I finished my half, guess I was hungry.
Check them out. I think we might find ourselves back here again before the year is over.

Saturday:

my belly

This was a day for finishing school work and attempted to work on the car.
The plan was to teach me how the change the oil. I got under the car to loosen the nut, but I fear I lack the strength.
So Jake gave it a try, but we decided we did not have the right tools. His ratchet had broken the last time we worked on the car and we hadn't replaced it. However, we did not decide to go pick up a new one till Jake had unfortunately stripped the last nut.
So when we attempted with the right tools we could still not get the nut off.

We decided to take a break, and well the break ended up lasting the rest of the day.
We watched Fringe together and drowned our failure in a box of great value Oreos and milk. And yes we might have eaten the whole box.

2:22 AM (Saturday Night/Sunday Morning)
2:22am this about the time that our fire alarm went off in our apartment building.
It woke me out of a pretty deep sleep, at first I couldn't understand what was going on.
Jake woke up and almost immediately had his hands over my ears. Jake came to faster than me and went over to cover the sound, to make it a little more bearable. While he muffled the sound I got him some clothes and checked the time 2:25am.
I also got dressed and grabbed a Jacket before we headed out of our apartment.
Surprisingly we grabbed nothing else. After this night we decided we need to have a fire box ready with important things all together we can grab on the way out.
Of course we have been grateful for the cooler weather we received this week, but that also made the stay outside a bit on the chilly side. Jake went back it for heavier jackets.

We waited for about 10 to 15 minutes for the fire truck to arrive in which time Jake tried to find out what was happening.
I spent most of my time in one place because I had forgotten to grab my glasses and was left mostly blind.
It turned out that the apartment the opposite end opposite side of us had their pipe burst and that set the alarm off.
We were told everything was fine and that we could go back into our apartments, but the screeching sound that the alarm was giving off kind of a deterrent from going back in. So we continued to wait outside till it was turned off.
About 30 to 35 minutes after their arrival, the firemen finally got the alarm turned off.

Unfortunately, with all the excitement my body really did a number on me. From the start my stomach tightened and was causing some pain, and continued for about an hour after we got back inside.
I felt bad for keeping Jake up even longer.
And of course, it was Easter Sunday and we were singing with the choir. We had to be to church at 8:15am.
So it was a long night with not nearly enough sleep time.

Sunday:
Although my stomach was still bothering me, I was really excited to participate in the Easter program. One of the songs we sang has in fact become one of my favorites. It was a great service with a great message and ample amount of time to ponder the life of our Savoir Jesus Christ.
We got to attend the blessing of baby Curtis, the Braithwaite's new baby.
We sat by this funny kid who was just taken with Jake. He had to have his attention almost the whole meeting. Bahaha... I can still see him staring up at Jake with his huge smile.
Then we had dinner with Braithwaite's and games of course. The Black's dominated ;) lol. Jake won the game of Dominion, and I won the game of Obscurity. We had a great time over there.
Despite our exhaustion we never found an opportunity to take a Sunday nap.

But we did it; we made it to Monday, still alive.

Yummy Foods

2012-04-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

I've got the computer today =)

Over the past two days Jake has taken our low supply of foods
and made two really yummy meals.
Wednesday he made Sloppy Jo's:
My first thought when he said he was going to was "how?" It's true we had the beef but I could fathom how he was going to figure out the rest.
One of the surprise ingredients was the tomato base: Spaghetti sauce.
Crazy Right!?
Along with a bunch of other ingredients, one he is still keeping secret even from me.
And Bonus, it was soooo good. We just loved it a lot. We plan on having again soon. Just need to pick up some more beef and buns.

And the other yummy meal:
Last night we had a chilli-like chicken soup, with chips.
Again, with many ingredients I don't know about.
Strangest ingredient used as a thickener, potato pearls.
We had enough to feed us for a couple of meals.

I love being surprised by Jake's creativity; especially when it comes to meal time.

Pregnancy is Pain

2012-04-04T08:45:00.001-07:00

I really hope that it doesn't sound like I am complaining all the time.
But I really realize how much our parents do sacrifice for us, and I am definitely getting a taste of it.

I've already suffered back pains,
nausea,
loss of appetite and a couple of occasions, loss of food,
headaches,
kidney infection,
stretching pains,
extreme lack of sleep,
joint pains,
my hip is now out and causes pain when I walk, sit for a time, and lay down.

Who willingly chooses this distress? Why would anyone?
Well I did and I do.

Everything I do now comes with the same question attached to it, "will this be good for the baby?"

I'm not hungry very often, but I eat because I know it is what the baby needs.
I know I can find some relief lying on my back but I don't because it is not good for the baby.

I'm not yet in the position that I can see the effects of my efforts. Being able to hold the baby in my arms will make a difference. But for now I go in blind. Know that a piece of me, a piece of Jake, and a choice Spirit is counting on me to do the best that I can. I hope I am doing the best that I can.

Well, over the past two days you haven't missed much.
It's crazy hot here. I'm not sure how I will make it through this summer. And If I'm worried about myself I can't imagine how Jake will do. He runs hot and loves the cold. We might have to start using the AC =( after doing even better on our power usage last month, this thought saddens me.

We had a combined fhe with another couple in the ward. It was really good. Good to get out, good to share thoughts and experiences. We really enjoyed our time over there Monday night. We played a new game it's called "Bohnanza." We were bean farmers, lol, it was a fun game to play. Maybe I feel this way because I won, but maybe it was also because I liked the games as well.

Conference Weekend

2012-04-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

It was such a great weekend.
Conference was so wonderful. There are many things is my life that I need to be better at. I'm thankful for the reminder and the encouraging words that came with it.

Jake and I spent the entire weekend together with the exception on Priesthood Session.
We did some much needed food shopping.
We played some games together.

After seeing the prices of movie tickets, we rented a couple of movies from Redbox.
One we saw that was really good and only rated PG is called "The Big Year."
We recommend it.

We had a bit of a fancy dinner on Sunday.
Steaks and Baked Potatoes; Yum!
Thanks to Walmart price match, we got the steaks for under $6.

Crazy to think we are into April now.
Take the time we have been here, times it by 2 and I will be close to delivering.
Jake and I are having a baby, still quite unbelievable at this point.

Interesting that I am now extremely exhausted today.
I literally fell like I could sleep the whole day.
I have already taken one nap today, and might need another.

I’m still having my good and bad days.
Is it safe to say that being pregnant just causes these days to be even more extreme?
I really hope this is the case.
I feel bad for my crazy range of emotions and hope this subsides a bit after I deliver.