Baby's First Disney Trip

All of our pictures, our sleep schedule, and pretty much all of the rest of the universe center around baby these days. Good thing he's so stinking cute!
Little bitty hand
Fat tummy
We went to Disneyland (courtesy of DigiCert, once again). It was really fun, although we spend most of the time in the hotel room (feeding baby) or here, in the very convenient baby changing and feeding stations.
Here we are before the World of Color show.
This is some random kid who talked to us in line to meet Mickey. I think he just went around meeting characters all day and didn't ride anything. Our friend Julie made Mickey ears for Joseph. He HATES hats, but we made him wear it for pictures anyway. Mickey went to lunch before we made it to the front of the line.
Aawww, cute baby. I'm about done typing with one hand now. A certain little someone always wants to be held. More later.

D Day

Well, it finally happened. I'm not pregnant anymore!!! October 21 was the big day. We got an early start when my water broke at 5:30am. I'm proud to say that I was already in the bathroom and didn't spill a drop. That would've been a real mattress ruiner. We stayed home until about 10am when things started to get crazy. By the time we got to the hospital I was already dilated 6cm. Yeah hypnobirthing! I'll be honest, I didn't love labor, but it was nice to be prepared and things moved along pretty quickly. We were super lucky to have Jennifer working that day (mission buddy nurse!) and she was with us the whole time. Our little guy made his grand entrance at 4:35pm. I pushed for a couple of hours, but I'm glad it was slow going because I had no tearing or episiotomy. Once again, yeah hypnobirthing!

He screamed at the top of his lungs for the first half hour...and then went to sleep.
Such a stinking cute kid...if I do say so myself.

We didn't name him until the hospital threatened to charge us double for a birth certificate if we didn't hurry things up. Then we named him Joseph Isaiah...neither of which were finalists on the name list, but it fits him. James threatened to change his name to Christopher for a couple of weeks afterwards, but was unsuccessful.

My favorite things about not being pregnant:

--Bending over

--Laying on my back and stomach

--Making only one trip to the bathroom at night

--Being able to eat breakfast

-and lunch

-and dinner

-without throwing up

-EVER!!!

--Freedom to walk down any aisle in the grocery store without dryheaving into the meat

--No more swollen ankles

--My wedding ring fits again

--Walking, not waddling

--Weighing less than my husband

--Fitting into my shoes (no more flipflops this winter)

--Being able to take a deep breath

--No one is headbutting my bladder

--SO much more energy

--No more awkward hugs

--Oh, and I have a very cuddly newborn

Things I'm still mad about

--Stretch marks that appeared 3 days before the baby was born

--Muffin top lopping over my jeans

--Very bruised up bum area

--That dark brown line bisecting my stomach that hasn't even begun to fade

...I think that's it.

Maternity Photoshoot

3 days before the baby was born, we finally got around to taking some maternity pictures. And I stepped in poop.

Ok, here are the real pictures.

Falltime Fun

Well, here's a bunch of random stuff for ya. I wrote a nice post, pictures all in order and captioned, and then it got brutally torn apart and eaten for lunch by the monster inside the computer. I don't know how it happens. If I were wearing shoes, I would've thrown one.

We had a Jamba Reunion in our back yard! First of all, it was a celebration of having a back yard for the first time. It was really fun to see some old Jamba coworkers, potluck it for a delicious dinner, and whip up some delicious blender whirls. This picture doesn't look like much, but considering that it was dark and James had our little camera and tripod balanced precariously in a tree, I'd say he was very successful.

Here's a little tribute to James's inner engineer. Sure, he's got a linguistics degree, but I think that was divine intervention to get us married.

In this picture we've got some of his finest work rigged up. The projector on the table was a 3 month long soldering job. He managed to take apart his own and his brother's broken projectors, not break anything vital, and put them back together into one that works. Very nice. My job was to hold wires and buy a white sheet so we could have a screen. The rest of the stuff on the table was for our Jamba guests' enjoyment. James's friend lent us his Wii to play games on the big screen. Then we've got a whole system of cords and speakers to make sure it sounded just right. The sheet blocked the AC from the kitchen...hence the fan. So, it doesn't look great, but it worked great! We got to have a living room date afterwards of Labyrinth on the big screen.

Here's the artist at work again, this time turning a rain gutter into a cord organizer. Why no one has figured out how to run a computer on less than 57 cords is anybody's guess. Anyway, it was a mess. Now, several hours, some sawdust and lots of twisty ties later, it looks great! Probably saved our kid from electrocution too.

Ok, enough about him. I want some sympathy for my cankles now. Sick, huh? I don't know why it happens. All I know is that I can no longer fit into any shoes. Also, if you push on my ankle, you can make a dent that stays for 5 minutes. James thinks it's disgusting but I'm pretty sure it's a valuable skill somewhere.

We tried our hand at the stand-by line for a session of General Conference. We failed, but it was still fun to be up in Salt Lake and watch conference in the Joseph Smith building. We ended up parking at the capitol building because there was seriously no other parking anywhere. It was actually a nice place to park and isn't as far as it looks. (Uphill on the way back though.)
Here's more proof that we went. Next time we'll get in line a little earlier.

The Bump continued...

Still growing...

The doctor told me 2 weeks ago that he thinks the baby will be early. I was really excited for a couple of days until I realized how mean that is. You can't do that to a pregnant lady! What if he's late? That doctor takes his life into his hands.

What they don't tell you...

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for not ranting in print about the joys of pregnancy. I figure no one really wants to hear about it. Today I'm giving in though. There are just so many things that no one told me going into this whole baby business. I'm just doing my duty to the world by exposing the facts. I hope it doesn't make anyone feel awkward.

1. "Morning" sickness
Seriously? Who came up with that name? Certainly not someone who spent morning, noon and night hunched grossly over a toilet. To its defense, I started having real morning sickness at about 32 weeks when, after giving in to Unisom and Vitamin B6, the queasies were finally quelled after about 11am. Which brings me to my second beef with issue number 1. Someone told all the books (and doctors, for that matter) that you should start feeling better at about 14 weeks. That's some nice light at the end of the tunnel for those who actually DO start feeling better, but it makes the rest of us question whether life really is worth living for the second two trimesters.

2. Hairiness

Ok, I've heard that pregnant women have nice hair. Anyone want to know why? Because none of your hair falls out when you're pregnant. That's right, not just the stuff on your head. Blondies don't notice quite so much (so I hear) but the rest of us get pretty fuzzy all over. So as if shaving blindly over a huge belly wasn't hard enough, it is now a daily necessity.

3. Hyperpigmentation

I think I just made up a word. What I mean is, everything that was light gets darker, and what was dark can now be seen from a mile away on a galloping horse. One day it's a freckle, the next, you think you have cancer. Same goes for scars and that lovely line running all the way down your belly (betcha didn't even know what was there).

4. Braindeadness

I've never been so dumb in my life. I promise, I graduated from college and got good grades and stuff, it's just that now I can't seem to make it through a day without some kind of disaster.
Example: Locked my keys in the house while on my way to get James from work. So I can't get in the house; can't get in the car; everybody's stranded. This was after I put the keys on the table thinking 'I'd better not forget these when I go out the door'.

5. Peeing in a cup

I seriously was going to take a picture of the cup you have to pee in every time you go to the doctor, but...see number 4. The thing holds one ounce. Like half a dixie cup. I'm convinced that even a man would have trouble stemming the stream to fill that puppy without spilling. Add to that the following limitations:
You're a woman:

You can't see a thing

You have no idea when how full the cup is until it's already overflowed

You're squatting uncomfortably

Missing the cup altogether is entirely possible

You're pregnant:

Everything's a bit swollen which makes you pee crooked

Not only are you squatting weirdly on the toilet, but you've got a huge belly to reach around

You've been holding it for what seems like an eternity (which is probably just 30 minutes)

That being said, I'm proud to announce that at my last doctor's visit I didn't spill a drop.

6. Sleeping is really hard

You're not allowed to lay on your back or stomach or your baby will die (or something bad like that). For some reason your joints are super loose and will actually fall out of socket if you're not careful. So you've got a pillow under your knee (protect that hip joint) and one under your arm (ditto shoulder), one behind your back and however many under your head. Now where's your husband supposed to sleep? Add to that the 12 nightly bathroom runs and the time it takes to get resituated after each trip and you've got yourself a humdinger of a night!

7. Eating for two

Right. Assuming you can keep your food down in the first place, try fitting a whole meal in your stomach with a baby. On the other hand, you're hungry for two, so join the toddlers in church with your fruit snacks and crackers.

8. The snail trail

I've heard that your body produces more mucus in preparation for shooting that baby on out when the time comes. Ok, great but why does it last the whole 9 months and why on earth do you need that mucus in your nose?

9. Contractions do not mean labor

So, it turns out that you can have contractions every 10 minutes for weeks and no baby. I'll admit to liking them at first because they made me look tough (your stomach gets so hard you could bounce a quarter off it), but after a few nights of waking up to every single one of them I've started to wonder what the point is.

10. No one can tell you what labor feels like

Seriously. I've asked around. Since contractions do not equal labor, what does? Some people say their back hurts. Ok, so I've been in labor for 5 months now. Some say their contractions get closer together and more regular. Some people have their babies with contractions 20 minutes apart. Pretty much I'm going to either spend days in the hospital with false hope, or have this baby in the car when I finally realize what's going on.

I think that's enough complaining. I feel better now. I think I'll top off the afternoon with some chocolate milk and yet another deep cleaning of the bathroom.

The Bump

This is the moment you've all been waiting for...well, some of you anyway. I've gotten more than one email and threatening phone call saying that you want to see just how much of a heifer I've become during the last 8 months. I'll admit, I was one of you, begging for pregnancy profile shots, until I became the bulbous profile; now I'm all about hiding out in my over-sized maternity clothes and willing myself to go into labor.

Long about week 18 of pregnancy, James and I got the great idea that we should take a mug shot every week in the same shirt to track my hugeness. By 18 weeks I was already pretty huge. That's one of the perks of having a torso so short that my ribs and hips are normally about an inch apart. I had outgrown my pants by 6 weeks and, even though I didn't really keep a meal down for the first few months, I've done a masterful job of packing on the pounds (and inches). My doctor is so proud of my weight gaining skills.

And so, here we are at 34 weeks. I haven't seen my feet in quite some time and I'm quite sure that I now weigh more than James. The baby now weighs about 5 lbs. Explain the other 30!

***WARNING***

Most of these pictures were taken in an un-airconditioned apartment in the middle of summer. No make-up. Definitely no hair stying. Just look at the belly and ignore the head s'il vous plait.

It's a boy!

We were in Italy this week. No sticky notes for week 22. Also the last time my feet were small enough to fit into anything but flip flops.

This is the week we started moving. No pictures on the wall, yes piles on the floor.

New apartment!

And here is my condition as of last Monday. Man, that thing protrudes! No wonder I'm always burning it on the stove and getting stuck between the shopping cart and the check-out counter.

Mentos and Diet Coke

Ever since he saw a video about making rockets out of Mentos and Diet Coke, James has pretty much been obsessed. We found some Coke on sale, he borrowed some Mentos from work, and we even made a special trip to Home Depot for PVC pipes in preparation for the big day.

The next step was finding partners in crime. We chose our friends Jarom and Stephanie Brown because a) we like them. b) they're not afraid to get sticky. And c) every time we see them a new invention seems to hatch (i.e. giant hamster ball that propels itself across the water).

Jarom and James got busy making a PVC pipe launcher.
Trying to speed the hot glue cooling process in the freezer...
...and with a fan
We had to drink 2 liters of root beer during dinner to get another bottle top of the right size...just to make sure the aerodynamics were just right. Stephanie made some nice cardboard fins to help this puppy fly.
We drove around for quite a while trying to find a place to make our mess where we wouldn't get arrested. We settled on a field by a high school. There were sprinklers going all around us, so we hoped that the coke smell would be gone by morning. The first attempt proved to be the most successful, flying up about 15 feet.
The boys were completely soaked in artificially sweetened stickiness.

We tried smaller bottles to see if they'd fly higher. No luck. Our parking lot got its share of sticky puddles though.

So Coke and Mentos rockets = big mess and not a lot of flying. I'm sure this is only our maiden voyage though. Watch out Utah!