I love my man!

So I've decided that the worst part of being pregnant for these past couple weeks and whatever time is left is that I have two shirts that semi-fit me. They're both a bit short though so I have to constantly hike my pants up and pull them down. One of the ways I've coped with this (so that I don't get a cold midriff because today is the first day I've turned on the heat and it's only because we have an inch of snow) is to wear one of Paul's hoodies.
I started wearing it a bit while I was at the E. Looslis' because it smelled like Paul and I missed him- how cute/pathetic, I know. It's made to go over lots of layers so it's got extra room for my massive belly (and by massive, I mean beach ball sized). It's comfy and I really do like the way it smells so I've been wearing it around the house this week. On Thursday night, my friend Brittany called and needed a ride to one of the Enrichment groups so I decided to suck it up and go out. I put on make up. I put on my red long sleeved shirt. I made my hair cute and then just before I walked out the door, I threw on the hoodie because it was chilly.
Paul gave me our standard "going for somewhere longer than half and hour" hug and kiss and I asked him if I looked okay. Now, let me be the first to say that I have an amazing husband when it comes to giving compliments. He's always telling me that I look beautiful or better than amazing or whatever and it makes me feel fantastic but this time he hesitated. "Don't you have something else you can wear?" Something else? "It's just that you look like a homeless person." I will never again doubt the sincerity of his compliments because obviously he has no problem telling the truth. It had been a bit of a hormonal day for me so it was extremely hard for me not to cry or get mad or something along those lines but I took off the homeless person hoodie and pulled on a light swing coat I have that hasn't been able to close around my belly for a few weeks and with the thumbs-up of approval went to the cookie swap.
I really hope you know I'm not bashing on Paul. Now that I'm not quite as wacked out with the hormones, I think it's hilarious because he said it so innocently and he just wanted to be honest and he really did it with the best intentions. Poor guy realized what he said while I was gone though and has been apologizing profusely ever since I walked back through the door. Last night while we were out shopping he begged me to buy another shirt for the next couple weeks (doubt it will be that long) so that he wouldn't feel so guilty. He's so ridiculously adorable. I love my man!

I can wait...

So for about a month I was so done. I was done being pregnant. I was going to get this baby out of me in November no matter what it took.
I'm better now. I'm fine being patient (at least for now). I'm not going to do anything to try and induce labor- no jumping on a trampoline, no extended hikes. And you know what did it for me? I realized I was totally being selfish. I had this plan all worked out where I'd have her this week- over Thanksgiving break and then my mom would come out for a week and then Paul's parents would come out for a week and a half and he could get all of his work done for school because he wouldn't need to help me at all- the parents would have it covered. Paul always seemed annoyed whenever I talked about it though and as embarrassing as it is to admit it, it took me until last Sunday night to figure it out. Paul WANTS to help. He WANTS to be able to enjoy our baby with me. He doesn't want to have to miss out. So sure, Paul's parents most likely won't be able to come out after my Mom does but in the grand scheme of things, a daddy who wants to be there and love his little girl as much as possible should be allowed to do that if at all possible. I love my husband! He's so wonderful! I'm so lucky and so is baby Pearl!
So now the goal is to keep her in until Dec 6 at the earliest. When we went to Thanksgiving at the Hendrick's house their son mentioned it would be funny if she were born on Dec 7 (Pearl Harbor Day) and honestly, we think that would be fun too so maybe we'll try for that.

AMAZING friends!

So I often feel bad for people I know that don't go to church. This isn't one of those self-righteous "I'm better than they are because I have religion" things- I don't think that way anyway.
I'm so thankful for the church and all of the opportunities it gives me to make such wonderful friends! I naturally like people but at the same time I'm incredibly shy which is something I constantly work to overcome (in fact, I think I do a pretty good job at it!).
On Monday, two of my good friends from church threw me a baby shower and it was great! I was so nervous- what if no one came? and worse- what if people did come? could I handle the attention? I had similar feelings about our wedding reception but you know what? It turned out a lot like our wedding reception. Lots of people showed up and they all brought the most adorable things for Pearl (who made out like a bandit- thank you all!) and we had fun and played fun games but at the same time everyone seemed really content to visit with each other which meant that there wasn't any awkward spotlight kinda moments. I don't really understand why I love to watch people visiting with each other in earnest. I think it's so fabulous to see women talking with other women and then talking to different women and just enjoying all the company. I've never found something outside of the church to compare to it- no book group, no knitting gathering- nothing.
I'm thankful for friends that get together with us weekly to practice having FHE- it's so much fun to visit and have a spiritual message without things being too stuffy and formal (something I felt the sporadic FHE's I had growing up were like). I'm thankful for friends who listen to my endless questions about cloth diapers and "how does this work" etc and all of my "this person (there is only one person who I rant about and don't worry, it isn't you) is driving me nuts and I don't know what to do about it!" rants. I'm thankful for friends who call me to tell me that Old Navy is having a sale and if I want I can also use their husband's military ID for an extra 30% off and then come with me and hold my hand while I clumsily pick out baby clothes. I'm thankful that I feel comfortable at church. I'm thankful that I have friends who make me into a better friend which is definitely something that is foreign to me. I'm thankful for friends who know a ton about the gospel and that I can ask questions of without feeling like an idiot who should know the answer already (well, who don't make me feel like an idiot- that's my own doing).
So yes, I know the purpose of the Church isn't for us to come and just be social but the more I interact with members the more I value the organization of it all. We're there to learn but we also get to learn from and teach each other. I'm so glad for this perfect plan!

A 5 month Gestation would be just about perfect...

So I know everyone says they're ready to be done being pregnant around this time but really... 9.5 months is a long time, especially when you're like me and you apparently found out you were pregnant just before you hit three weeks (doesn't make sense to me either, but my doctor is insisting on going by the due date that came from my third ultrasound and doesn't make sense).
Here's my biggest issue. It's stopped being real to me. She's been trying to Kill Bill punch her way out of my stomach (if you don't know what that is, it's a crazy strong punch in a space too small for a wind up) for three and a half months and now I find myself not even thinking about the fact that there's a baby causing my stomach to jerk violently or my bladder to want to burst. I'm forgetting I'm pregnant and accepting all this as normal and that bothers me. I'm scared this means I'm going to be a cruddy mom.

It's not that I haven't started writing posts...

it's just that I either don't finish them or forget post them.

Sorry.

So what has been going on in our house lately?
Apples. Lots and lots and lots of apples. Like 60-80 pounds of apples.
I told you it was a lot.
It was so many they have their own post with pictures that will be coming forth shortly.

What else has been happening?
We finally started buying things for Pearl! WOOO. Well, it didn't feel like "woo" at the time, it felt more like, "ahhh! I really hate shopping!" but after hours of research and consumer reporting and price checking we finally decided on a crib:
and then we decided on a car seat and stroller combination:
The stroller and car seat aren't the most beautiful things in the world but they're the best gender neutral things I could find. Just watch, I have 8 girls. Well, at least they'll know that before they were even conceived I didn't want people to mistake them for the wrong kind of kid.
I've been doing more research too now that I'm 36 weeks- can you believe that? Neither can I.
I think we're going to go with cloth diapers. On Monday we're going to buy a set of 20 Bum Genius Diapers from Amazon. I've heard amazing things about them and I have several friends who swear by them but when I did a price comparison, there was just no way that I could justify going with disposables. Yes, it will require more work and sometimes it will be gross but 350 now as opposed to <1000 over long term is a no brainer. At least for the first few weeks we'll use the disposables though because that nasty black tarry stuff is just worth throwing away to me.
I also found this awesome site where they teach you how to make your own Moby wrap. I have a 40% off coupon for JoAnn's so I'm totally going to make one! I'm excited! I made Paul watch this instructional video about how to wear one (it's tricky to put it on) and he thought it was so cool that he wants to wear it sometimes. He's fun!

So we have been really really blessed lately. Paul's looking for an internship with the Church for next summer if at all possible. Since we've never lived in Utah and we currently live across the country, we've been trying to figure out how to get him an interview or something. We have been blessed in our friends though! We decided that we needed to have faith and so we bought him a plane ticket to go out to Salt Lake on the 18th (a Wednesday) and then come home on Sunday (his parents are going to meet him on Friday night so he'll get to spend some time with them). As soon we we did that we found out that our Institute teacher's dad works for the Welfare Department and he's looking into finding something and then our friend Karen talked to her friend of over 45 years Daryl who is Bishop McMullen (of the presiding bishopric's secretary) and she gave us the direct number to the head of Humanitarian Services! Paul called him on Friday and he said that he seemed really interested in Paul. He told Paul he didn't know if any internships were still open but that Paul would be really qualified because of his studies and such so he told Paul to send over his resume and he'd see what he could do. I Now I know that's not a guarantee and we're not getting our hopes up but it would be so wonderful if Paul could get an internship with the Church! There is just no other organization in the world that is equipped and able to accomplish all that the Church does. There is no corruption or ulterior motives or anything that is so rampant out there in the regular world.

The only worrisome thing about him going out to Utah is that it's so close to my due date. I've been telling Pearl for months now about how awesome November is- that it's my favorite month, the leaves are pretty, the people are happy and now I'm worried that she'll have taken me too seriously. Not that I'd mind if she came after Paul gets home but.... it would really be crushing to both of us if he wasn't here for her birth. Paul's flying out of Baltimore so I'm going to stay with the wonderful Erek Loosli family. I am really excited for that! We usually see them over the summer or in August but with my work schedule it's been really way too long since we've visited them (since February) so I can't wait! I love their kids and I love love Mireille- she's simply the best! I know I'll have a good visit to distract me while Paul is gone (when I think about how hard it was a year and a half ago when he went to Aaron's Camp with his dad and then I think about how hormones are going to play into it this time, I get scared). Plus, they have 5 kids and they live right across the street from a hospital so if anything should happen.... I'll be okay.
Wow.
Novel.
Sorry.
More on apples later!.

Wishful Thinking...

So I'm really good at not wanting much. Please don't think I'm bragging- I'm not trying to. I just find it really hard to ask for things so I don't let myself want much- besides being with my sweet husband is my favorite thing in the world- and since nothing can top it, I don't try.
Yesterday, Paul and I purchased something for Pearl. The very first baby thing we've bought. It's a snuggle suit to wear over her clothes when we go places- ridiculously adorable and about as soft as a 5 week old kitten (I got to hold one of those a couple weeks ago!) . But yes, we've pretty much come to crunch time- I'm 34 weeks- only 3 from full term- yikes! and we don't even have a crib. Why? I hate to buy things and I'm so used to not thinking about buying things that when faced with the fact that there are a lot of things a baby needs that I need to get, I try to ignore it because that would require me to make a decision about things that I want.
So what does that have anything to do with me?
I've found something.
I want one so much!
It would make me soooo happy! We could use it for years and years. Paul could even have it for himself, he could study in it. I could sleep in it on nights when my back is bad. It would be so nice to have with every baby that comes our way.
What is this miracle thing? I want a recliner. A big squooshy rocking recliner.
It's not so much to ask for is it? Oh wait... they're like a bazillion dollars.
Maybe by the time our third baby rolls around we'll get one. Yeah, we'll plan on that. I can't wait til I have my third baby so that I can get my heavenly recliner!

How not to make a banana cream pie.

I always loved eating the dream pies that my mom would make.
Last week I made a chocolate one for FHE and it turned out well. Last night I got the brilliant idea to make a banana cream pie. It tastes like melted banana laffy taffy with a side of graham cracker. I don't want to tell Paul how much I can't stand it but it's nasty. I vaguely remember now that my mom used one banana pudding and one vanilla pudding mix. Curse this distracted brain of mine!

So I've written several posts...

... within the last couple weeks but never got around to actually putting them up here.
So here's what's new:
I gave my two weeks notice a couple weeks ago and Monday was my last day. It's been supremely weird not going into work and trying not to think about all of the things that probably need to be done at work. I haven't had time off since the beginning of March- which is weird to think about- so it's definitely a change not to have gone in for so long. I'm finding that I'm actually able to sort of relax at home. I've even been able to take a couple of naps! - that's something I find ridiculously hard to do.
This last week I was pretty busy, I helped Paul prepare for a three and a half hour lecture he had to give on the "awesomeness" of anarchy. This is what I learned: I never want to go to Burning Man. I was able to help Mary Lou cook some stuff and I made Pearl her Christmas present for this year, a tutu. Of course she won't be able to wear it until she's probably almost a year old but it's adorable anyways- it's violet and shimmery butter yellow and I love it. I'm going to make all of the nieces tutus this year for Christmas too- I really wanted to give them books for all of their presents but it's really a bummer to give them books every year and feel like they're never touched. I want them to read but I don't want to waste money. Anywho. Today I went to JoAnn's and got all of the tulle I need. They're having an awesome Columbus Day sale and I was able to get all the tulle for half off! (a really good deal) Now all I have to do is wait for their waist measurements and then I can get cracking. I think it's funny that right now, the only sign that a baby girl is going to be here in less than two months is a foofy purple tutu hanging on her closet door.
Anywho. I've started taking two more institute classes. I figure that there is a time and a season for all things and until Pearl comes, it is my time and season for Institute. Hooray! I really do love it and I learn SOOOOOOOO much!
Other than that my life is boring. My house is pretty much spotless and I am definitely content. I'm thinking about reading The Lovely Bones. Have any of you read it? It sounds sad but for once, the thought of a sad book doesn't repulse me.

RETRACTION

I read through my previous post about not wanting pink and fluffy but I don't feel like I expressed myself quite right. Maybe I've moved on.
So, this is how I really feel. I don't want to be stuck with an entire wardrobe of only pink. I get bored easily. BUT I don't mind pink. The only things that I can think of that I really can't stand are things that say things like "diva" and other nonsense. That and things that are immodest but those are at least pretty hard to come by during the fall and winter.
Sorry if I've offended anyone. I was just very hormonal last time.

A novel about the stuff Paul has to deal with.

Last night I had a very interesting and sad experience that made me admire my Paul all the more for the stuff he has to deal with every day in school.
Paul has class until 7 on Thursdays so usually I work until 7 but there was an Enrichment hike at 6:30 and I have decided that I really need to make an effort to be active in RS activities now that I'm in Primary. I love my kids and I really hope I don't get released for a long time but even though parts of me want to just stay at home and read and hang out with Paul and only Paul, I know it's important to have balance and to interact with fun, happy people who share the same values that I do. I went and it was fun. I got back into town around 7:35 which would have put me arriving home at the same time as Paul (he was going to walk). I called him and I heard voices in the background. He told me he had decided to go out to dinner with his professor and some people from class and to meet him at Blacksburg's only Indian restaurant.
Now, in my head I was thinking it was probably his undergrad adviser who is just plain awesome. It honestly never occurred to me that he'd go anywhere with the crazy that he'd just had class with- she's just about the craziest kook I've ever heard of. But that's who he was with.
So we were there with his crazy self-professed "die-hard" Marxist professor, her equally crazy "Communist-and-proud of it" husband-type-person, a guy about our age with a black armband on that said "Iraq" (I thought he was a veteran at first- he's not so I don't know what that was about), and this pretty little Ukrainian woman who is also in Paul's program (she's 31 but looks 25 max).
Paul told me he wanted to stay and so I said it was okay. What followed was an hour and a half of the most shameful and arrogant "conversation that I have ever been privy to. If it were not for the fact that I understand wholly how much my behavior would affect Paul's image (and therefore his grade- we try to fly under the radar with these people because college is a game), I would have stood up and left about 5 minutes in.
They talked a myriad of subjects, in the old crazies' cases, mostly themselves, but every topic was filled with as much vitriol and downright disgusting condescension as the last. If the crazies or the Iraq arm-band kid could find a way to be insulting and/or disgusting they did.
For the most part, the Ukrainian girl and I sat in silence, Paul interjected a couple of things here and there but he was quiet as well.
When Paul excused himself to use the restroom during a particularly graphic discussion of how we farm chicken in the US (I wasn't eating but Paul, both crazies, and the Ukrainian girl all were eating chicken main dishes!), his professor turned to me. Was I going to do natural birth, she wanted to know... I'm not and honestly I'm not ashamed, I'm practically a cripple now, I don't want to actually push it the last little bit and make it official. Her eyes narrowed (but you see, she's never had kids before (thank goodness) and I understand she has no idea what labor is like- she even thought that I look ready to "pop at any moment" - HAHA I'm not very big at all- so I wasn't concerned). She began a new conversation and then stopped herself and turned to me, was I alright, she wanted to know, because she knew that they were all using words that maybe I didn't know and she wanted me to feel free to ask her to define words if anything came up. Paul wasn't back from the bathroom yet and I was STUNNED. I answered her as politely as I could, I thanked her for her offer and then fell silent again. Paul got back to the table and she immediately turned on the poor girl from Ukraine.
What followed was the most interesting and absolutely flabbergasting set of exchanges I think I've seen in a really long time. Kate, the girl from Ukraine, is married and while she is going to school here in the US, her husband is working on a contract freighter. His contracts are 6 months at a time and it's hard work but he is saving up all of his money to buy and fix up an apartment for them in Kiev. I think that's rather honorable, he's working hard to provide a good life for his wife and future children. Somehow, the professor missed all of that though. She heard that Kate's husband was on a boat and decided he was a fisherman- he works on a freighter- and she heard 6 month contracts and immediately starts griping about the fact that it's just so his bosses don't have to give him benefits. She tried really hard for about 15 minutes to turn this poor girl and her husband into victims but (and I'm not sure if this was because of her culture or what) Kate would have nothing of it, she kept repeating what a better life they would have after. Finally, the professor turned to her husband-type-person and told him to start telling her his opinions on Stalin. I'm pretty sure he would have married Stalin if he ever got the chance; Stalin and all the "amazing" things he led to. Kate tried to protest, "but he killed millions and millions of people! He was quite evil and his policies didn't work!" But this man had none of it. You see, he has a doctorate in Sociology and so he automatically knows more about it than she, a naive Ukrainian girl ever will. He defensively told her that Stalin wasn't so bad as she was making him out to be and that she was just falling victim to propaganda. She looked like she was ready to cry. It was then that I decided I was far too tired to deal with this kind of perverse evil and I told Paul I needed to go to bed. We were invited back next week- apparently this dinner is a weekly thing- but there is no way that I will ever put myself in a position where the Spirit is so definitely absent again.

Anything but pink and fluffy....

So lots of people have talked to me about the fact that we know Pearl is a Pearl and not a Victor. The amount of "oooh! aren't you excited for all of the cute pink and fluffy things?" that I've gotten has almost reached the level of ridiculous- and we've only known since Tuesday. But here's the thing- I don't like pink. I don't like pink almost at all. I mean, I don't hate it, I'm fine if Pearl has some things that are pink and I fully realize that it's the most common outfit color by far but really pink? Fluffy? Themed? Princess? It all makes me kind of cringe.
Part of my problem is that I don't consider myself picky- well, my mother-in-love would disagree but it's not picky to only buy clothes you love right? But at the same time I'm finding that although I'm not one of those picky snobby women that say "oh I'm going to theme my baby's room and clothes with a Pooh theme (or princess or ducks or what have you)" I'm catching myself being almost as bad about not being that way. I like purple, I like other pastels for the most part, I like dinosaurs, I like gender-neutral animals (but not too many, I'm making a baby girl, not a hermaphrodite), I like white, I like simple, I like pretty. I think that that's a pretty broad spectrum but maybe I haven't looked at enough baby sections- I just don't see a lot of clothes that look like that.
I guess I'm conflicted because I don't want to be that mother that I hate but I don't want to deal with mostly pink all of the time. Hormones have really been wacking me out and the worst part of it is that I keep worrying that I come off as a hippie women's lib kinda mom who doesn't want her daughter to be put into that box- I'd like a girl who is a girl. I don't want to screw her up!
Anyways, that's my pointless ramblings for right now.

So we're having a Pearl!

After all of the weeks we spent waiting and waiting and after two ultrasounds returned nothing as far as gender goes we finally have news!
Sometime in the first part of December (or middle if the baby so chooses) we're going to be blessed with a wonderful little baby girl! Now I've heard a lot of different opinions regarding whether you should talk about what you're naming your baby and I can see the pros and cons of both sides but I don't care. We're calling her by her name now and so it's not like it's going to be a secret- neither is it going to be a popular name and actually, come to think of it, I can't think of anyone who is due with a girl in between now and our due date whose name I don't already know- not that it matters anyway because we totally love our name- who could "steal" it so here it goes, our baby girl is going to be named Pearl Grace Platz.
I hadn't thought much about the name Pearl before we got pregnant. I think one time I threw it out to Paul (because we've been talking about names since before we got married- they're fun) and he liked it so I put it on my list of "names to think about after we've exhausted Lucy, Charlotte, and Valentine" but I don't know, it was the one girl name that ever felt fun enough when push came to shove. Pearl is the name of my great-grandma- my mom's dad's mom. She was short and spunky to boot! She used to dress up like a hobo at Halloween and black out her teeth and hide in the bushes to scare the trick or treaters. She ice skated with her grandkids until she was in her 90's and couldn't physically do it anymore. Even after she had been a widow for a couple decades she would drive and pick up the widows in town (most of whom were far younger than she) because she was worried about them. She had a bright pink kitchen with pink appliances and every week when she had one of her grandkids spend the night, she'd put on her hula skirt and hula or put some big band marches on her old Victrolla and march around her house, baton in hand and leading every measure. She loved the gospel and was faithful til the very end even when her husband was not. She died long long before I was born but I've always loved my Grandma Pearl. I'm quite sure my mother tired of telling me the same stories about her over and over but I'm so grateful to her that she did! Another reason we love the name Pearl is that it calls to mind the image of a precious gem (my very favorite) and no matter how many more kids we have, be it none or 8, we'll always cherish our most lovely gift from Heavenly Father.
All sentimentalities aside, since we're almost 29 weeks along, Joyce (the ultrasound lady from our first train wreck appointment) took most of our ultrasound in 4-d which still looks like jelloish blobs to me but more baby like now. She said that we're far enough along to see pretty much exactly what Pearl will look like when she comes out. And boy is it obvious she looks just like her daddy! She has his skull shape, his nose, his poofy lips. We're not quite sure about eyes, I think we'll have to see when she comes out. She probably has Paul's eyes as well though because mine are what is commonly referred to on my Mom's side as "Chinky" eyes- meaning that we all have very almond eyes and when we're babies we look rather Asian. The ultrasound showed a ton of hair which makes all of my reflux and middle of the night acid puking well worth it. There is this adorable baby girl in our ward and C. has the CUTEST hair. She had to have her first hair cut when she was only a couple months old. WAY cuter than any baldy. Plus, the joke has always been that Paul and I would end up with Chia pet babies since we both have ridiculously thick (in every way) hair.
So now we're left with 11 weeks or so to go. Only 11? It feels like an ETERNITY! But in just over two weeks it will be October already and then there's Halloween to look forward to and then just a few short weeks after that is Thanksgiving (the day I'm REALLY trying to talk up to Pearl- maybe not the day, just the week, "November is the greatest month, Pearl, it has tons of beautiful leaves and good food and happiness and none of the cold that crummy old December has"). And then? And then we're going to have our lives turned upside down. I CAN'T WAIT!

Paul's classes get even more insane.

So I've finally started on the baby blanket that I've been planning to make since I found out I was pregnant. I was going to wait until we found out for sure what we're having but I had a whole bag of some really pretty grey blue yarn that changes tone here and there. If you look at it and think "girl" it looks somewhat purple but if you look at it and think "boy" it's back to just being grey blue. Regina has been having happy flashbacks to her baby puppy times at the yarn shop- smelling all of the hand dyed yarn (a lot of it smells like vinegar), licking it, rolling around with it, trying to make it her brand new friend. What I love the most about not having a destructive dog is that things that would really upset me are just plain cute.
On Thursday, it was Paul's day for snack in one of his classes. Gag me, I know. After the ridiculously long list of rules, the only things we could bring to feed 25 people that weren't hideously expensive were vegetables (they were supposed to be organic but I refused- sue me), apples, and home made hummus. Now, I've never made hummus and when Paul told me that we were going to make it I told him that was a terrible idea because of all of the horror stories I've heard about making it or eating bad home made hummus. He told me that it would be much much cheaper to make it ourselves. I didn't want to do it, but I also didn't want to spend bookoo bucks on people that I not only don't know but probably wouldn't like to begin with (God-hating Marxist jerks). On Wednesday night we went to Kroger and picked up all the supplies- it turns out that one jar of Tahini paste is just as expensive as buying two "party size" tubs of hummus from the deli but Paul was adament- two "party size" tubs just wouldn't be enough to make everyone happy and we could probably get three or four batches of hummus out of just the one jar of Tahini. So 30 dollars of Tahini paste, crunchy veggies, fruit, and a lot of stress later, we arrived home and I put the chickpeas in to soak overnight.
I set aside an hour and a half in the morning to make the hummus and cut the vegetables before I needed to go into work. I made the hummus just like Ina Garten told me to and it was icky. Coarse and tasteless and my heart fell. I put some on a carrot and gave it to Paul and sure enough he hated it. I wanted to cry but I just could not waste that much money so I went back in the kitchen and doubled the garlic, put in some roasted red peppers that were for some reason taking up valuable can space in my cupboard, more Tabasco, and a whole lot more cayenne and red pepper than I should have been able to. I took it out to Paul and he still didn't look impressed. He then confessed to me, "Remember that conversation we had when you said you didn't want to make it because you knew it might turn out badly? Well I believed you but I want them to suffer." Honestly, that really hurt. He wanted me to fail but that would be so much money wasted! He said it tasted a little better and I definitely agreed. The problem was that the spices that should have been too hot and overpowering were just barely noticeable. I returned and dumped more in. That made it pretty tolerable and I took it out to Paul and he felt bad that he'd upset me. He then told me that it tasted like real hummus and that he'd been thinking and all the other times he's had hummus (not out of our usual plastic tubs) at Greek places etc, it was a lot like the stuff I'd just given him. I thanked him for being nice, put it in a nice tall tub and carted it off with the veggies to stuff in my work fridge. All day long I stressed about whether he'd get in trouble for bringing in a snack that wasn't very good. It was my fault and I didn't want people being mean to him. When I left work and picked him up at 7 the first thing he said was, "I'm sorry about your hummus," my heart fell but he continued, "my professor asked if she could take some home and just took the rest with her." What? I asked him how much was left and he said that the container was a little over half full (I made about 5 cups at least). "Is she crazy?" "No," he said, "she said it tasted just like some stuff from a little village she stayed in in Greece last summer and everyone else loved it and asked me for the recipe." Now, that made me feel a little bit better but not because I think I'm awesome at making hummus, I feel better because people think Paul's pretty neat for making his own hummus and having it turn out to their liking (he's just not telling anyone he's married). At the same time however, it made me really really sad. The class had their input about some of the rules for snack and this is what they chose and this is what they honestly really like. Paul said his professor acted the same way about the hummus that I do about that lemon cream cake they have at Olive Garden and that's just SAD. Now I do like the store bought fake hummus, I think it's delicious but would I ever prefer that to things with a lot of taste? No! I'm sad for these people that they don't belive in families, they don't believe in God, they don't believe in anything outside of themselves, and now even their favorite foods are seriously lacking in savor. I'm pretty sure that most people would consider my life boring (I love it this way) but it's in technicolor compared to the dull and empty lives people have to lead to act like my pathetic attempt at hummus was manna from heaven.

I have a perfectly good excuse for wanting to sleep all day...

... it's called there's a skeleton in my tummy.

Paul says I shouldn't talk about being pregnant that way to people outside of us but I think it's awesome. Behind my quickly disappearing tummy button is a little skull. How awesome is that?!
Maybe not as awesome as the person the skull belongs to but since she's not here to comment yet, thinking about the fact that there is an actual human skull hanging out inside of me makes me feel better about the fact that right now I could sleep 16-20 hours a day no problem.
Every time we go to a doctor's appointment, I fall asleep on the exam bed. This morning Dr. Anderson came in and woke me up and he seemed genuinely sorry that had to do that. He's my favorite OB ever and it makes me mad that his wife got a stinky superintendent job in Missouri so he can't deliver Pearl. I mean, come on! Isn't my baby worth two months of not living with your wife and kids? I think so! (Note: because sarcasm translates very poorly through the written word, I would like you to know that I really don't think this, I'm happy for them but at the same time sad for me- Doctor Roberts just doesn't compare no matter what the other girls say).
In other news, my heart issues just disappeared! I went from having issues 6-10 times a day and nearly fainting a lot to nothing. Thank goodness for the priesthood! My cardiologist is having a hard time comprehending it because my problems should be getting worse, not going away.
My darling friend Pearl lent me The Lightning Thief last week and it is way better than I anticipated- actually the whole series is. I'm on 4 of 5 which is bad because there will never be any more but even Paul likes them. Not to say that the author is amazing- because he's good just not as good as some others but I can't complain about that until I become a children's book editor (pretty much my dream job) so that I can tell authors that no, you have to look at a map when talking about real places in the world because there is no way that there is a ski resort in New Mexico that's only half an hour away from Alamogordo etc. They're really good fun though and not mushy and not scary (I mean, when this guy kills people it's hard to believe they're dead as opposed to when JK Rowling kills people because then you sob for hours whether you liked the character or not- and you know what? that's not a bad thing, I have too many scary dreams as it is).

A head for numbers.

So this semester I'm taking two institute courses. Because of a class that he has from 6-9 on Tuesday nights, Paul can't make it to the regularly scheduled Book of Mormon class so I am going to that by myself. The class that he has that night is the one that seems like it's going to be filled with the most lies generated by Satan so it's nice to be able to balance that out and come home and tell Paul what I learned that was true as opposed to what he was taught (they have to study a book that his professor just raves about on the ways the family unit is destroying society- that is just insane to me, how can anyone believe that?!)Thank goodness there's a Doctrines of the Gospel class at 7 am on Tuesday mornings. There are only four of us in it and I really like having such a small class because it forces us to talk. Anywho.... Back to Book of Mormon. During our first class Brother Cornelsen had us think about the tender mercies of the Lord. They're mentioned in the first and last chapter of the BoM. It really hit me that Moroni talks about the tender mercies of the Lord being ever present and he's seen his whole entire people killed, his family, his friends, he's been living by himself for years and years and he still talks about how life will always be full of them. Lehi speaks of them right after he sees the destruction of Jerusalem. So I've been thinking a lot about tender mercies this week and this morning I found another one that is just so impressive to me and it's wholly personalized- Heavenly Father is wonderful like that!
So I have an amazing memory. I have always had one. I can tell you down to the tiniest detail about things that happened when I was four. I've never had to take notes in classes (but I do like having something for my hands to do so I doodle). It's a great blessing! Since I've been pregnant though.... it's awful! Paul said I probably have a normal human brain capacity for memory now but the rest of you can't live this way... I can hardly remember anything. It's something that frustrates me and embarrasses me constantly. On Friday we had to go to Wal-Mart and I had my list (something I never used to need and now I have to consult it at least 100 times before we can leave). Our friend Daniel was with us and he made the remark that some of the prices at Wal-Mart did indeed seem to be cheaper than at Kroger's (our local grocery chain) and I realized that I did know that but not only did I know that I could tell you the prices of the things we have purchased in the past from Kroger and how much different they were from Wal-Mart prices. Now that may not seem like a big deal but Paul's been really really stressed about our budget lately. It's looking more and more likely that I will not be able to work past the middle of October let alone up until I have Pearl and then next semester while Paul's not in class and can watch her. That makes our budget take a supreme hit. We can do it, we're really not in a horrible situation but Paul's still really worried. The fact that I could with confidence tell him how much different our grocery bill would be if we shopped at Kroger (a place that we did 98% of our grocery shopping last year made him feel so much better. That's a huge tender mercy and not only does it make Paul feel better, it makes me feel like less of an invalid.
I'm so grateful for institute! It's such a blessing and I'm really excited to put this recognizing daily tender mercy thing into my schedule this year!

In which we get a possible gender and Paul starts Grad School.

So the baby and I went in for echo cardiograms on Tuesday. The baby got to go first and was so good! The nurse doing taking the initial pictures said that she hadn’t ever had a baby be so easy to get the necessary pictures from. For them to get the right angles the baby has to move around and she said that most of the time you just have to wait until they decide to cooperate but it was like the baby knew exactly what it needed to do. Then she tried to take a look and see what kind of baby and of course for the non-essential shots the baby had impossibly crossed legs and would move them for a split second but then cement them back together blocking any kind of view. When the Pediatric Cardiologist came in she looked at the pictures and told the nurse she was disappointed because there was nothing she needed to get a better look at. She told us that our baby’s heart looks better than good, that it looks better than most normal babies. I’m so glad our baby has a perfect heart! The doc also took a look to see what we were having and managed to get a sort of look even though it wasn’t very good. She said that she wouldn’t put money on it or go buy things or paint just yet but that she couldn’t see any “outdoor plumbing” so she thinks we’re having a girl! She told us even before she looked that she thought we must be having a girl because of how well she behaved for heart pictures. The doc said that she knows it sounds sexist but boy babies just won’t pose like girl babies will. We’re not going to tell very many people about what she said (not very many of you read this that don’t know already)- we’ll wait another three weeks for another gender specific ultrasound but I’m really tired of calling the baby “it” so it’s nice to be able to say “she” or “Pearl”. Paul’s not convinced in the least though so he’s sticking with “the baby” for now.

My echo went alright I think. When I asked the nurse about what she saw she refused to say anything which I refuse to be worried about. It was kinda neat imagining what my heart looks like from the pics though. It sounds a lot different than I expected, rather like a soggy pair of galoshes. Lots of squishes and such.

Paul started Grad School on Monday morning. I’m so glad that I have a husband so completely willing to put up with the absolute crap he’s going to have thrown in his face by all his professors AND the other students. Last night he went to a class and the teacher has decided it will be completely about “right wing extremist groups” by which she means anyone who identifies themselves as Christian etc. One of the required texts is a book about how the family organization is apparently destroying society and America. People seriously think this? The professor is one Paul has for two classes and I’m worried about how accommodating she’ll be when she finds out that Paul has a wife who is going to have a baby and is due the first day of finals. Thank goodness most of the class is going to be 3 hour student presentations and that Paul got to choose his topic (he chose the collapse of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac- maybe we should look up the Leftist bull crap on that so that he won’t get in trouble for telling the truth- on second thought he’ll be fine as long as he blames it all on Bush, right?). He knows the girl who chose to present on how “bad” the family unit is. She was a GTA in his most Marxist class last year. Every time he had Resuscitation he would argue with her (she had no say on his grade) because she was constantly talking about how the people killed on 9/11 were evil and those doing the killing were actually good guys. He says she remembers him- we’ll see how that goes.

Paul’s program is part of a larger “school” which is part of another “school” and the bigger “school” had a reception on Friday for people to get to know each other. Paul and I went and boy were we shocked (well, at least I was). We got there right as it started and people were already starting to get tipsy. The school provided a couple kegs and some boxed wine and some food and somehow chose the most awkward place for people to socialize (on the tiny front porch and in the front hall- it used to be a house). I met a really nice lady who is also a first year in Paul’s program. Her name is Christina and she’s from Brazil. She’s in her late thirties and is the first person who has ever touched my stomach. She just put her hand on it. So weird! She told me to sign up for VT daycare right now or else I wouldn’t have a chance of getting the baby in. She made it sound so urgent that it took me a second to step back and say, “wait a minute, I don’t need daycare!” I didn’t really talk to anyone else except for this girl who seemed nice and looked like Teensy. She and her husband (of two years too) just moved here to be in the Urban Affairs and Planning program and want to do sort of the same thing that Paul and I do only with structures instead of water and humanitarian aid things. She was really nice until she asked me why I was only working and not going to school with Paul and I said, “Oh! Because I’m going to be a mom in December!” I smiled and pointed to my stomach. She gave me the weirdest look- it started out puzzled and then her eyes narrowed and she said “Well, that’s okay for SOME people,” and walked off. I’m glad that I still have enough sense not to be offended. I’ve thought about that exchange quite a bit though and it really makes me sad. Satan is just awful. What a polluter of happiness. You can try all you want to be a good person and help other people but I don’t think that you’ll ever be as happy as you could be if you choose not to be parents. The fact that her reaction was so venomous makes me even more sad because you really will never be happy if you can’t let others live their own lives and do things that maybe you don’t agree with without getting so upset.

Filthy.

So yesterday I helped a friend and her husband hold bags under a feed pipe for storage. It seemed that no matter where I stood, I took the brunt of the gluten dust. It was really fun work and probably took almost two hours which I didn't notice at the time but by the time we were finished it was five and I was very worried that Paul would be mad because I'd been gone so long but Mary Lou just laughed and told me to go straight home and show him what I looked like. She told me that he'd see how hard I'd been working and then laugh a lot (I hadn't seen myself yet). As I was getting in the car we remarked on how ominous the clouds looked and how it was definitely going to rain. Mary Lou laughed that if it had come any sooner we'd be covered in mud and not just dust but sure enough when I was halfway home it started pouring just buckets and buckets and I got pretty wet just getting from the car into the house. I stood in the doorway trying not to get everything filthy and sure enough Paul laughed and laughed and then he took a picture. I don't post pictures on here very often but this one is ridiculous enough that I think it needs a post.
You should also consider yourself lucky that I'm not-hormonal enough to post this hideous thing.

No news is bad news....

So yesterday I did manage to keep myself extremely busy. I made bread, I even almost completed one of the aprons (keep in mind, it's being designed as I go so it's taking longer than I expected) and it's super super cute! I fell asleep last night feeling excited but even though I took my usual Tylenol PM and it didn't even rain that much last night, I woke up at 3:30 and nothing I did could make me comfortable enough to sleep. That left 5 hours to kill til we were going to leave. To top that off the laptop randomly gave me a blue screen of death and since the only other computer is downstairs where Alyssa sleeps I really had nothing to do.
Somehow I made it and we left and got in to the appointment on time and since the baby had been up and active since about 5:30 I was really confident that everything was going to go well. The lady doing the ultrasound has been doing nothing but baby ultrasounds every day for 23 years. She's only been wrong three times and that was back in the early days. She keeps track of how many she's done and gotten right and it's something over 15,000- that's ridiculous. She was really nice and answered most of my questions. She told us the baby is in the 51 percentile so it's right on track that way and for the brief second she showed us the face it was very obvious that the baby is going to look similar to how Paul looked as a baby (he was flipping adorable and that's exactly what I wanted). When she went to take pictures of the spine, the baby kept wiggling and she had to repeat a couple of the pictures and then she immediately went to find the gender. The baby had legs spread as far apart possible so it should have been an easy picture right? Wrong. The way ultrasounds work is that the amniotic fluid acts as sort of a medium, it forms the window which they use to take a peek. Our baby went to sleep (as it always does around nine thirty) and had its butt pressed so far up against the placenta that there was no fluid between boy/girl parts and the wall. She took out a weird little vibrator thing she called a buzzer and buzzed the baby- she said that it worked with all of her difficult ones but sure enough, our baby refused to budge. I poked and poked and talked and moved around and the baby would move just a bit for me but then then would re superglue its hiney to the wall.
The ultrasound lady called our baby the meanest baby she'd ever dealt with because she loves her stats and our baby is only her 6th in all of her time that she hasn't had a clue about about and only the second in the last seven years but for all of the others it's because the girl parts could be boy parts or the boy parts could be girl parts but ours is the first that she had no view of anything at all. I'll be honest, it was helpful to know that she wasn't just awful at ultrasounds but knowing that ours was the first in over 15,000 and having her call ours the meanest she'd ever encountered made me feel worse and to top it off she was supposed to record a dvd for the whole 45 minute ultrasound but forgot to push record except for the last two minutes which was even more annoying but I guess she spent the vast majority of the time trying to determine sex because she was determined not to have a blip in her record (and yeah, she didn't want to disapppoint us either) so a lot of zooming and then zooming out would have made a super boring watch. I was disappointed in the first place but then I was overwhelmed and all I wanted to do was go curl up and cry but we had another doctor's appointment directly afterwards so I couldn't. The doctor had to be called away to deliver a baby so we had to wait for an hour and a half in the waiting room and I had to really work not to burst into tears when three girls came in with their mothers because they had been knocked up on accident (their mothers joked about it, I'm not being judgemental) and none of them are as far along as I am and they all know and listening to them it just made me even more frustrated because they were all cavalier about behaviours that are harmful to babies. I'm bringing this baby that I already love into a family with the gospel and two loving parents and they get to know before me?
At my doctor's appointment he told me we'd do another ultrasound in 6 weeks- 6 weeks! I'll get to find out what my baby is at 28 weeks. That's so far away and late! But they're worried about the baby's heart and I have to go in to have a fetal echo. I wasn't worried about that at all until the office staff who book all of the specialist appointments had no idea where to book one of those, none of them had ever heard of one being requested. They called four offices to find someone who could tell them who to call that would be able to do one. I'm glad we'll know if baby is going to need surgery but it still makes me a bit nervous. After he told me about the fetal echo he asked me if I had gone to my follow up appointment with the cardiologist and I told him that work has been ridiculous lately and since I was fine the first time I wasn't in much of a hurry and then I got chewed out because apparently my first scan wasn't as clean as they all pretended and so there's another worry for the day.
So when I got home I watched a couple episodes of Psych in bed with Paul and took a nap which helped and when I woke up I tried to talk to some people about how disappointed I was and the overwhelming response that I got was "it's no big deal." Now, with the exception of one, I love the people I talked to but here is a word of advice for everyone including me, never tell a pregnant woman that something is no big deal. Number one, gender is a huge thing! Not life or death, I know but what with hormones bugging me out and everything the last thing I needed was to feel like I was crazy for being upset over something that was "not a big deal".
Sorry if this post was negative and whiney. I know it was. I'll be back to being cheerful probably tomorrow but today was a bad day and you know what I've decided? Bad days aren't things to be ashamed of. I'm acknowledging it and preparing to move on.
One last thought- gender neutral colors are ugly!

How am I supposed to survive another 21 hours???

Okay folks, so we've reached the day before the big reveal. Man am I pumped! I can't wait to get good pictures of my baby looking like a miniature human and wiggling around (the ultrasound is at 9, the baby is generally very wiggly then).
Now, I write this blog for me, because I forget things and in the future if I find my actual journals still too personal to share, at least we'll have some sort of a record of just how things are going, so bear with me as I make a list of some possible things to keep me occupied...
A couple more hours at work.
Bread making! (that should take a couple hours)
Dinner- I really really really want corn chowder (another hour)
Working on my aprons so I can give Jenny back her sewing machine- oh! and did I tell you I got the most amazing fabric for the two cutest aprons ever!!!! Paul is less than convinced and told me that he doesn't think my pregnant brain should be allowed anywhere near JoAnns until after the baby is born but he did allow me to purchase the fabric and give it a shot. Actually, this sounds really fun! That's what I'll do!
Taking my pills at 8:30 is an option and then settling in to watch the end of Pooh's Grand Adventure. I've been falling asleep to that for several nights now and I really have neat dreams.
What with scripture study and getting ready tomorrow morning I probably will have enough to keep me busy and not freaking out.

On to a non-baby topic. My best friend from freshmen year of high school in Albuquerque, Alan Vaughn, and his wife just moved here for school! Of all the places in the country to end up from BYU, Tech seems like a really random place but the way he got here was pretty neat and unexpected so I know it will work out grandly. They decided to move here about a week early because of Stephannie's internship and when they got here on Saturday they had no electricity so I had them come over. I'll admit that I was really really nervous. I mean, yes, we'd been best friends but that was 8 years ago (seriously? that doesn't even seem right, but yeah, it's been almost a decade since we've had a lot to do with each other) and I know I've changed and grown up so of course he has too. It went really well though! I felt less awkward hanging out with them than I do even at our FHE group sometimes (and we've been doing that for a while).
I'm excited to get to know them as a couple and him as a non-16year old hormone-ruled kid.

Heat Wave

It's official, today it hit 85 degrees. This summer has been really cool. The daily high is usually around 75 at the most so this hot and humid stuff is miserable. Hot makes me not want to eat which makes Paul worried but I make myself eat enough to not be hungry, if the baby hungry, I'd know. To top that off I've started a bizarre thing where no food sounds good to me at all- not even candy or ice cream or junk food. Not even kosher hot dogs (which is really saying something). I had a few food restrictions during my first trimester but never did I not want to eat. I'll ask my doctor about it next week. (7 days and counting til we find out just what kind of baby is going to join our family!) Oh! and there's another weird thing with food going on now. I don't like Mexican food. I mean everything I've grown up with, tacos, soups, enchiladas, you name it, it's all disgusting to me. I think it smells like dirty diapers and it tastes like sucking on a rotten peach. What is with this baby? All I can say is that it better like Mexican food when it comes out because that is what I like to cook the most and I definitely have the most recipes for it. Haha.

So anywho, there is one thing that sounds good to me right now and that's a tiger's blood snow cone. I have the snow cone maker, I just need the tiger's blood stuff to go on top of it. If you know of someplace where I could either get the juice or a full out snow cone, let me know! I'll be your friend forever.

Wiggles.

T-minus 9 days until we find out what kind of baby we're having! I feel like we've been waiting for this day forever. I honestly have no idea what kind of baby this is. I mean, at the beginning, I felt like it was a boy but that went away and I've had no inclination whatsoever since. I've had three dreams in the last couple weeks where we see the ultrasound and it's a girl- super weird because I wake up feeling like it's all settled then I remember it's just a dream and go back to normal.

I'll admit that I was really starting to get nervous that I hadn't felt the baby move yet. Last Sunday, we even said a special prayer for it. I was freaked out that the baby was dead and it was my fault and lots of other bad things like, "what if the baby has broken arms and legs?" yeah, lame. So anywho, on Tuesday night we went to bed and were watching Malcolm in the Middle, like we always do and all the sudden it was like, "wait, that wasn't a heavy gas bubble, that's way too heavy to be a gas bubble" and then it happened again and again and it eventually went away. I can't remember if Paul felt it that night very much but he's probably more than made up for it the rest of this week. We definitely have a wiggler. I probably need to chart how often it happens because it seems like it's happening every couple hours at least it but the baby's jabs have definitely got a bit more direct, to the point that when we're laying down sometimes at night you can see my shirt move. It's such a weird feeling! It's neat! It makes me even more excited for next Tuesday! Paul thinks it's hilarious and sometimes it's pretty tickley. It actually woke me up yesterday morning- that and hunger.
This pregnancy thing just keeps getting more and more exciting!

I could totally take a vacation.

Today is the last day of Freshman Orientation here at Virginia Tech and boy am I glad about that.
I don't often feel as if I could really use a vacation but right now, I definitely do. During the rare down times I have giving students their software and explaining to them that no, macs are never the same thing as pc's, I've been looking at pictures of all the places that I would like to go visit or at least go and relax and it's been really nice. It's calming and makes me relax a little (big feat there) but at the same time, it's really not hard to fall asleep daydreaming about relaxing and doing nothing. Since I know that vacation is not going to happen any time soon- not even to DC now that we're in primary, I've decided to make tomorrow a "Nothing Saturday" day. Paul's not going to like it much because he feels guilty when he doesn't get a bunch done but maybe I'll try and convince him that by doing nothing, he'll be accomplishing a lot by saving his wife's sanity and possibly health. I think I'll start it tonight after I get home and make dinner and clean up the kitchen and then I'm going to go upstairs, take a bath and put on my jammies before 9:30.
As a side note, have any of you ever sat on my bed before? Heavenly is the only way to describe it, so divine you never want to leave it and I just may not for 24 hours. No cooking, no cleaning, no stressing, just a lot of sleep and possibly a movie and some reading. Yeah, that sounds perfect! (now all it needs to do is rain tonight and tomorrow morning and then I'll be completely content).

So anywho... when I get back from shutting my brain off and letting it take as long as it wants to reboot, I promise to be a better friend, a better correspondant, and to make dinner before 8 every night.

Here's a Friday fill-in. I'm afraid it's just my answers today because I'm at work and Paul's asleep.

And...here we go!

1. _____ is not the end of the world. K(I suppose that gaining weight)

2. Sitting here, listening to the sound of rain falling, I _____. K(want to cuddle with Paul all day)

3. _____ tastes so good! K(A Kosher hot dog with mustard and potato chips in a Snuggie bun)

4. Sometimes, putting others first is _____. K(much easier than thinking about myself)

5. _____ is breathtaking, really. K(Our firefly wonderland backyard)

6. Well, maybe there is _____. K(a chance that there will be no more brains to be sucked out when I start nursing)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____! K( my bath and jammies, doing absolutely nothing except laying in bed all day, have fun with my 9 year olds!"

Big News!

WE GOT A WASHER AND A DRYER!!!

So last week we moved into a townhouse across town width-wise (it's a longer town than it is wide) and it had washer/dryer hookups and so we bought some! They're a beautiful blue. They're front loaders and Paul, being the best husband in the entire world, surprised me with the pedestals they go on so that I won't ever have to bend down to take things out of them. I'm so glad we got them in a color, they're in our kitchen and I really think that white appliances like that look pretty dingy after a while. It would have stunk if I had to add "wash the washer and dryer" to my list of kitchen duties.

Okay so was that not the news you might have been looking for? How about, WE MOVED!! Yes the townhouse was mentioned in the last bit of news but I haven't said anything about it. After living in the apartment for 3 years (2 years for me), we were really ready for a change. It was a great apartment and had pretty reasonable rent but the kitchen was tiny and we never ever got any sunlight- at all. This last winter I actually started craving sunshine, something I've never done before. I really don't want to say anything bad about the apartment because I loved living there a ton (granted that may have just been because Paul was there with me). It's probably because I'm hormonal but I feel a bit guilty for leaving it. Anyways, we were giving a ride to the Christmas Party to the ward activity chairwoman and we told her how nice we thought her town house was. She told us how much she paid in rent (the same as we were paying for our apartment) and that since she and her husband were moving this year, she'd put our name in for it. I don't know why I honestly didn't think we'd get it. Maybe I just didn't want to get our hopes up? But we did! It's got two upstairs bedrooms (our room is HUGE, it has two closets and one of them is walk in!), one bathroom (it's mustard yellow and very 70's), a separate kitchen/dining/washing room with an amazing oven! (our last one was on its way out), and finally a pretty big living room (big enough to fit all of our living room furniture which is a bit of a feat). I love it! Oh! and it has an attic fan which means we don't have to turn the cooler on at night to keep our room freezing. Hooray!

The news just keeps on coming....

Paul and I are now the CTR 9 teachers. We've been there for a couple of weeks and it's totally going to be a wild adventure but we love it! We have 5 rambunctious boys and one talkative girl and one shy girl. We had one more girl but they're moving out of the ward today so our class won't be huge. I think the biggest challenge we're going to have is to keep them entertained enough that they stay with us after church until their parents come pick them up. They're at the age where they think they're big kids and regard the whole idea of needing adult supervision embarrassing. We were thinking we'd quiz them after church and give candy for right answers. If any of you have good ideas, please share!

And wait there's more!!!!

My little sister Alyssa is coming out on Sunday to live with us for a while. I think she should enjoy it here. Let me rephrase that, I HOPE she likes it here. She may be bored for the first week because I have to work a lot but the next week I should return to my normal schedule and that would mean getting home before she even wakes up.

Are we done yet?......

Nope! We're going to have a baby! I know you probably already know that but I'm writing it down for sure for sure. I'm 19 weeks along and am due the first week of December. We were supposed to find out the gender last week but my doctor decided that I look really small and that he would rather do the big ultrasound at 22 weeks. That's pretty hard for me because everyone I know who is having babies in December already knows. I can't believe I'm halfway through though! When we first found out we were pregnant, time seemed to pass extraordinarily slow but now it's sped up (do not think that I'm complaining. I'm already ready for the baby to just be here already). I haven't really felt the baby kick yet but that's normal for first timers. If you would have told me last December that I'd have a baby this December I'm not sure I would have believed you but we're so so so so grateful that we listened when we felt we should start trying. I originally wanted a spring baby so I could be warm during the winter but this way I get an actual space heater for the coldest months! I can't wait to be a mommy!


Are you caught up? Can you forgive me for not writing very often? If not, let me remind you that on top of moving, I've been working 45 hour weeks (up from my normal 20) and the whole second trimester energy boost is a complete load of tosh as far as I'm concerned- all I want to do is sleep!

I don't remember where I left off,....

But that's alright. Paul is enjoying being out of school for the summer. He's been busy packing up our house and the bazillions of books we have. Seriously, I thought it would take us years to get this many but somehow two five shelf book shelves and one little three may not cut it anymore. Anywho, our place is a disaster area. It looks like a box bomb went off and I hate it but it's only a month right? I can live with anything for a month. Next month we move into a two bedroom townhouse with washer/dryer hook-ups! The kitchen is huge and it's in a good neighborhood and the same price as we pay now for rent and on top of that we have tons and tons of storage space. The only downside is that the bathroom is upstairs and I have to go every five minutes.... whatever burns calories, right?
Anywho. We have bigger and better news. Paul got accepted into the program he really wanted!!!
This fall he will start working on a Masters in Public and International Affairs. If all goes well, we might stay here for a Ph. D but we're going to take this one step at a time. Paul's been super freaked out about getting in for a few months now. He really doubts his intellectual abilities (wrongly so, he's super smart!). I haven't been worried though. He had good grades and a decent GRE score (despite passing out halfway through the English portion), recommendations from really well-known professors, and a killer essay. The only time I worried was after I'd stalked the mailman and begged him to give us our mail (we lost our key a couple weeks ago) and the only thing from the graduate school was a little envelope. Paul was afraid of it so I opened it. And it was a letter of congratulations! Apparently, everything is done online now which is why there were only two pieces of paper. I'm really incredibly proud of him. He's my sweetheart and I knew he could do it and I know that if he didn't have this opportunity, he'd spend the rest of his life thinking he was merely average because, according to him, "everyone has a bachelors". He's great. I love him so much. I'm also glad because we know what we're doing and where we're going for the next couple of years. It's so nice to have a firm grasp of our position.
WARNING: Mushy segment.
AHHH I'm just so in love with him! He really takes care of me and will do whatever it takes to take care of me. He's been taking good care of our garden and he doesn't complain when I forget to cook dinner for him (it's weird to think of cooking when you're not hungry for real food). He's good with Regina and I love how much he smiles. I love that he always wants to hang out with me and take me with him on errands.
I love my husband!

It's so hard to blog when you can't say what you want...

Paul graduated!!!!! Last Saturday, Paul received his diploma for a bachelors in history and another one for his bachelors in political science. I am so so proud of him! The weekend was pretty stressful for me but I knew what it was going to be and at least the stress wasn't a shock. On Thursday, Paul's parents drove up from Charlotte where they had spent the night after their plane ride the night before. Before they got here, we went with Pearl and Joe to the "luau" for seniors. There were free hotdogs and popsicles. After a while Pearl decided she was done and we almost left with her but we knew the band Mae was supposed to perform and we love them so we stuck it out. Before we left, I covered myself in spf 70 sunscreen but I still burned really badly. A few days later, I tried spf 70 again and more burning, guess for a while I'm going to have to step up the spf. The concert was fantastic! There were only about 25 people there but it was outside and the band was fun and clean and it was just a good time. It was really fun hanging out with them while they were here. On Friday night, we went to Paul's convocation. They had it in the football stadium and it was pretty much packed. The speaker was so surprising but awesome! He was a retired air force general and talked for like thirty minutes on the truth about socialism and being proud to be an American. It was really interesting to watch the professors squirm in their seats.
After the convocation, we met up with Paul's cousin Erek's wife Mirelle and kids, Neil (9), Nathanael (8), Helene (7), Nelson (4), and Newel (1) at out house. We made sure they were all comfortable, decided the schedule for the next day and went to the Rose's house. They were so kind to us and let us sleep in their guest room because there was not enough room at the Platz Inn.
Saturday morning, I made baked french toast and we went to Paul's ceremony and took lots of pictures. By saturday afternoon, after the Looslis left we were all so exhausted. Paul and I hadn't slept in our own beds or for a full night in over a week because of finals and sutff. We went to Pearl's graduation bbq for a little bit and then came home and just didn't move for a few hours.
I'm tired of writing, we'll get to the rest of the visit later.

Birthdays....

Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday! (I seriously almost wrote 20th. I'm a little special) Since Paul's birthday is on Saturday, we'll just wait and celebrate together sometime this weekend, I think. So nothing special tomorrow, just work and visiting teaching and maybe some grape slushies!
On Tuesday Laura is flying out! YAYAYAYAY I'm not sure that I'll be able to see her any day other than Saturday when Paul and I go out there for graduation. Maybe we'll go up Friday night. That would be fun. I can't wait to see her!

Happy Easter!

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. Things have just been a little crazy lately. Well, actually a lot crazy. Our schedule has been jam packed every night for almost three weeks now. Let's recap:
Paul is getting ready to graduate in about a month so there have been papers and briefs and projects galore. I had a high fever for about three weeks that would not go away. We've had tons of meetings for church and other stuff. We made our own jerky. We found out some amazing news! I've been a grumpy pants. I've gained a little bit of weight (which even though my brain isn't thrilled with it, I probably needed to do). I've finished something like 6 novels. I discovered coconut cream kisses and coconut macaroons. My boss decided to try and run me off. The maintenance guy at our apartment complex fixed our crazy outlet. The same maintenance guy managed to track dog poop all over our house, in every room, on a blanket and some of my new clothes. We shampooed all of our house and our couches. I got an appointment with a doctor that I've heard is really really nice- that's what I totally need. We watched every session of General Conference (boy we love it and I especially always look forward to hearing Elder Holland- he's our favorite!). We got to know Brad better and I've decided that he deserves to be married because he's funny and nice so now I'm on the lookout. We had our ward Easter activity. It went decently well but I'm certainly glad it's over. I've been a bit out of sorts and grumpy and I seem to have lost my brain, it just doesn't work like it usually does which is frustrating. We had a great Easter dinner at Chris and Jenny's.
There. Boring. To the point. But at least we're caught up.

Who likes to rock the party?

I like to rock the party?
Who likes to rock the party?
I like to rock the party.

LAME

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can stop feeling so pathetic? We're almost at two weeks with this plague and my fever hasn't gone down at all. My body is exhausted but I can't sleep and I can't do anything and it's started to make me feel grouchy- I'm never grouchy! I hate it! I feel lame because I'm not getting everything done that I usually do.
When Paul's not at home, to distract myself from everything, I've been watching the baby things on TLC and boy they are dim depictions of the whole delivery ordeal. Yeah, this is not helping things.
Funks are super no good!

Happy Friday!

We certainly hope that all of you are doing well, even though I'm pretty certain that Laura is the only one who reads this and so if you're Laura and you're the only person who reads this, then "all of you" really means you.
I've been ghastly sick all week. Like really bad. I've had a high fever that hasn't gone away with tylenol and motrin and it's taken a lot out of me. I went in to work on Thursday because I was worried about missing any more of it and they sent me home immediately. I was bummed because I got up and showered and dressed nicely for it and all I got for that was my man-boss telling me "yeah, you really look just horrible"--- that is a phrase no one should ever use unless they're speaking to a close friend or close family member and maybe not even then....
Even though I've been pretty cruddy today I decided we needed to get out and do something and so we went to the Institute Luau. We were specially invited to it. It was a dance and food thing and I actually looked forward to it. We got there an hour late- 10 pm! That was nuts. Brother Bowman spotted us and made us put on plastic leis before directing us down to the basement and the festivities. Half-way down the stairs, Paul and I stopped and looked at each other and we were like, what were we thinking? Cha-cha slide was playing and we suddenly realized that not only were we going to have to hold hands the whole time to prevent awkward dance invitations but because the single's ward is small and everyone knows each other really well there probably wouldn't be many slow songs- the only things we'd dance to- and if we tried to hold conversations, I wouldn't be any use because I can't hear anything with music or other conversations in the background (one of the reasons I don't like going out to eat). So after we established that we hadn't thought the whole decision to come through, we bolted out a side door so that Brother Bowman wouldn't see us and made a made dash to the car laughing (well, Paul was laughing but I was giggle-hacking) and that was the end of that.
Tomorrow we're going to go to the single's ward's fireside that we were also invited too but that will definitely not be awkward like the luau would have been. We realized that some activities are supremely for singles and meant to encourage singles getting together and in the future we'll make decisions based on how much boy-girl mingling is supposed to happen.

I was bummed we weren't able to acces the internet the last couple fridays for the friday fill-ins but here is this week's.

1. Why do we have to_____? K(get so off sleep schedules sometimes) P(eat so much candy)

2. _____ are now habits. K(making dinner and driving to work) P(procrastination)

3. I have _____. K(fishies in my bathtub, I put them there) P(a lot of work to do)

4. I had never heard the phrase "_____" and it _____. K and P (Ryan Richards said something earlier but we can't remember what it was.... it was weird)

5. _____ the way I always do. K(I got in my space jammies when we got home) P(Fail)

6. How was I to know _____. K(that Regina would eat through a shopping bag and a foil wrapper so that she could eat a whole Cadbury Egg) P(Regina would eat a whole Cadbury Cream Egg).... I just want you to know that I just ask Paul for his answers and then I tell him what I put- this was just us being on the same brain wave length.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____! K(the office.... an exciting fireside!.... make a cake for Daniel's birthday) P(sleep... schoolwork.... study)

That's all for now I guess....
OH WAIT! We've been listening to She and Him (with Zooey Deschanel as the lead singer!) and both volume one and volume two make us so happy!
Check them out!

This one is going to be a bit depressing.

I think it's really sad about Natasha Richardson. She was on vacation with her kids. It was a total freak accident but I bet they're going to feel terrible about it forever. I've really liked her ever since I was little and Parent Trap came out and she was just so sweet. I know I haven't seen everything she's done but I've always been really impressed by the way she and Liam Neeson acted together in public and I was really impressed by the fact that they always made sure that only one of them was working at a time so their kids would have a parent with the.
Sometimes life is sad... I'm so affected by husbands and wives dying, even in literature, even when people are super super old. Paul and I can't stand to be apart while he's at school and I'm at work, even knowing that our marriage will last for eternity isn't going to get rid of the fact that the loneliness is going to be the worst ever.
Before Paul and I got engaged, we used to go visit this man named Brother Black, who'd known Paul since he was a baby and used to give him life savers at church. He was so fabulous! He'd talk and talk and tell great stories. He was married to his wife, Leah, for seventy+ years before she died and he took it so hard. His health declined tons, and he hated taking medicine because he didn't want to get better, he didn't want to prolong the day he'd be reunited with his sweet wife. Finally, he talked to the bishop and stake president and told them he was going to stop his treatment and they said that was okay. I was a bit bothered because I wasn't sure if that was enduring to the end but I honestly understand why he did it and the church leaders didn't have a problem with it. It took longer than he expected and he joked with us that dying was the hardest thing he ever had to do but six months to the day after Leah died, he got his wish. The day before he died, Paul and I visited him right before we went to the park and Paul proposed. We told him that we were going to get married and he talked to us for a decent while about that. He told us, smiling (and in such a Lee Black way), that because he was so close to the veil, he knew more than most people do about things like marriage and what's going to happen. He told us that he knew that it was the right thing for us to get married and that he knew for sure that we knew what real love was. He told us that he knew our marriage would be at least as good as his was and then, he told Paul that he was incredibly lucky because apparently I have the prettiest eyes Brother Black had ever seen- "They're not bedroom eyes, they're beautiful, dark, and full of joy."
I don't know, that doesn't have a ton to do with what I started off with but it's what I've been thinking about, and writing this all out has made me less disturbed about the whole young death thing.
I know that whatever happens will happen but that it will be okay. Heavenly Father knows everything that goes on in our lives and He loves us and that is what is going to really matter in the end.

Sorry this has been a bit depressing, it's just what I've been thinking about.

A whirlwhind couple of weeks and the saga of the plague.

I know we missed out on two weeks of Friday fill-ins. They've been ridiculously full and this week Paul has three mid-terms and two papers due.
The weekend before last, Paul started getting a cold, it was right before spring break so I wasn't particularly surprised. Thankfully, the symptoms seemed moderate and mostly happened one at a time so things weren't as bad as they could have been. On Tuesday, my throat was pretty bad but I didn't think much of it and the rest of the week I had some cold-like issues but nothing that particularly retarded any of our plans. Saturday, things got worse, I don't know what my problem was, I cried over practically nothing. Paul bought me the second Shopaholic book on his iphone though and I must admit, I never thought reading a book on a computer thing could be so enjoyable. I finished it on Sunday and he got me the next one which has come in handy because yesterday this cold turned into full blown black plague with a dash of black lung... I called in sick to work today and the lady I sit next to and talk to every day asked me who I was and she almost didn't believe me when she finally understood the words "it's kelsie". I just finished watching my one of my stories from last week. I do really like the Gilmore Girls. I think it's an interesting show and even though Paul doesn't really like it and gets confused, I like it.
Last night was pretty tough. I don't know why that was either, we were both kind of down. I cried several times over nothing, Paul asked me if I was hormonal but I shouldn' t be, I don't know.
Wow, this blog makes no sense. I just kinda splashed everything together. Sorry.
Regina visited with this couple who loves her and their dog last week. Apparently she was a royal terror. She harrassed Odin constantly and then when he got sick and they paid more attention to him than to her, she started really acting out and growling at them and barking at the slightest noise and pooping inside even though they took her out a lot. They figured out that putting a laundry basket on top of her really works as a punishment and she seems to get it but I was still really embarrassed when I found out about it. She's never like that with us but I expected she might be bad when we brought her home. Boy was I wrong. She's been sweet and cuddly and quiet and reserved and just wants to lay on us all the time. That's usually how she is which is why I was so surprised that she was so bad for Pearl and Joe. Paul and I decided that she's really insecure and we're her comfort zone so as long as we're around somewhere she's fine but when we're not there to back her up, she freaks. Poor kid. Paul says that she doesn't look like a puppy anymore so I'm not allowed to call her "little baby"- she knows that's one of her names and answers to it- but I told her that she will stop being little baby when we actually have a little baby.
Man this post has been lame but Paul will be happy that I at least updated this.

Tired of writing boring briefs...

I mean seriously, law school must be the single most boring place on the planet... Law is lame.

001. Real name → Kelsie Ann Platz.... I used to be a Miller but moved on to greener pastures.
002. Nickname(s) →I have several, Kelsipher is the one used most, followed by Hunny Bunches- so cheesy and amazing, right?
003. Mood Status → grumbly tummy.
004. Zodiac sign → taurus!
005. Male or female → I am definitely a woman!
006. Elementary →Matheson Park and John Baker- named after the PE teacher who died of cancer when he was 25.... so sad.
007. Middle School → Hoover Middle School.... it was pretty weird...
008. High School →Eldorado High School (one of the best schools ever!) and Pine Creek High School (pretty pathetic)
010. Hair color → black
011. Tall or Short → tall and will get taller.
012. Loud or Quiet → Quiet, Paul and I are both quiet, when I get really tired I start speaking loudly but I don't really know it.... apparently that's something drunk people do too, but I don't drink....
013. Sweats or Jeans → jeans- I can't stand when people wear pajamas and/or sweats outside of home and the gym.
014. Phone or Camera → phone... paul would definitely say camera though, he has a nice one too, so he'd better say that.
015. Health freak → oh most definitely! we don't eat anything that's processed or articificial, mostly we eat whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables and some fish or chicken.
017. Do you have a crush on someone? → I'm so in love with my husband!
018. Eat or Drink → I love water
019. Piercings → one in the ears.
020. Tattoos → nada.
021. Water or Fire? → no idea, i'm terrified of drowning even though I'm a good swimmer but I'm not sure I'd choose fire eithere.
022. Love of your life or 4 Billion Dollars → Paul!

FIRSTS:
023. First fear → being abandoned.
024. First best friend → joseph isabell.
025. First award → best show and tell in kindergarten... oh yeah!... haha!
026. First crush → matt adamson.
027. First pet → Diabla, she tried to rip out my throat and then she had to go away.
028. First big vacation → nauvoo? several years later, disney land?
030. First big birthday → i only had one party, it was when i turned 5. there were three of us.

CURRENTLY:
049. Eating → nothing, it's way too late.
050. Drinking → water.
052. I'm about to → finish up some stupid briefs.
053. Listening to → go on... RELAX!!- our special station on Slacker
054. Plans for today → Go to bed.
055. Waiting for → institute tomorrow night!

YOUR FUTURE:
058. Want kids?→ Yes! We're so ready to start our family!
059. Want to get married? → I can't wait to be sealed!
060. Careers in mind → world's hardest trying mommy!

WHICH IS BETTER WITH GIRL/BOY?
068. Lips or eyes → with Paul? both.
070. Shorter or taller?→ Taller than I am.
072. Romantic or spontaneous → not spontaneous, I don't do well with that at all.
073. Nice stomach or nice arms → Arms.
074. Sensitive or loud → sensitive and quiet.
075. Hook-up or relationship → ? marriage.
077. Trouble maker or hesitant → hesitant.

HAVE YOU EVER:
080. Lost glasses/contacts → yeah, used to lose my contacts in the pool all the time.
081. Ran away from home → yes.
082. Held a gun/knife for self defense → nope.
083. Killed somebody → I should hope not!
084. Been heartbroken → it heals...
085. Been arrested → very nearly.
087. Cried when someone died → lost months and months.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
089. Yourself → yes!
090. Miracles →most definitely!
091. Love at first sight → absolutely not.
092. Heaven → I have so much to work on!
093. Santa Claus → I love Tim Allen.
094. Sex on the first date → no way Jose.
095. Kiss on the first date → I was a mouth whore but I do not condone it.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now → With him! But I want to visit with Laura.
098. Are you seriously happy with your life→ Incridibly.
099. Believe in God→ You betcha!
100. Post as 100 truths and tag 10 people → no thanks.

The weekend...

On Friday we drove up to DC for Paul to interview with a "distinguished alumnus" of KU, one of the graduate schools he applied to. We left Regina with a friend and got up there around 3 in the afternoon. Paul's interview was scheduled for 4 so we found a Wegmans and he got some Sushi and changed. After that we went to Paul's cousin Erek's house in Woodbridge. Paul and I went swimming in their subdivision's super "warm" pool- even though it was 86 degrees I still froze... I'm pretty pathetic but swimming with Paul was a lot of fun and the showers afterwards were amazing! I didn't want to get out from under them. On Saturday, we got up and played with Erek's kids and helped clean up for Nelson's fourth birthday party. It was a Planet Heroes party and we made a quick run to Toys R Us to find one for him- I haven't been in a Toys R Us since the only time I went when I was about 7 and accidently got into a stranger's car- I was so embarrassed. We discovered Toys R Us sells mini Cadbury Eggs and since I like Cadbury Eggs but hate getting sticky from the "yolks", we bought a pack and lots of chewy spree- our favorite candy.
When the other 4 year olds started arriving, we decided to skedadle and went to Wegmans for a quick lunch and then to the Potomac Mills mall which is about three minutes from the Loosli house and the largest outlet mall on the East Coast. We got Paul an amazing charcoal suit from Brooks Brothers- it was on sale too! He looks so good in it, his old one had shoulders 4 inches too big for him and he was drowning. We also found a great tan courderoy jacket for him and an incredible green/navy/black plaid dress for me- it was 120 dollars off! It has sleeves and is so classic and classy and it's wool and long enough (so hard for me to find) and I'm totally excited for it because it even has room for me to get a bit heavier (even though it's a size two).
We got gas for the drive home and started our fast and went home to visit some more with the Looslis. I will never get enough of Mirelle. She's just the best! Erek talked to Paul about how to finance college and we found out that he could get Paul into Georgetown if Paul wanted to go there because of his connections but I don't think that I would be able to stand living up there. I hate DC. I'd never see Paul because he'd have to commute for hours every day. No good. We also spent a good deal of time playing with their baby Newel. He's nine months now and he says "thank you" "please" "daddy" "hooray" and a plethora of other words. He's incredibly bright and is good at using his hands. He kept taking a lid off of one of my pens and putting it back on- it was a small pen too! He gives the funniest kisses and problem solves and we just adore him and super hope our kids are like him.
On Sunday, after church, Erek ordained Paul a Priest. Another man who was just ordained a priest three weeks ago helped him. The blessing was great and Paul is really excited to be able to bless the sacrament. He'll be getting his patriarchal blessing soon and then the Melchezidek priesthood and then we'll be sealed for time and all eternity!!!!!!!! I'm beyond excited for that, it can't come soon enough!
We left later than we expected last night but we'd still make it home by midnight. When we left the roads were miserable and it was snowing so hard! When we got out of DC for a while the roads were clear and there was no snow but that started up again and got worse and worse and the roads became almost impossible and then our car started jerking and I asked Paul if that was us slipping on ice but he said it was the transmission and I really felt we needed to stop and stay at a hotel. Luckily, we came to the biggest town in a hundred miles a half mile later and we stayed at a Holiday in that was right across from a Walmart where we got food for breakfast and dinner. This morning we left and the roads were clear and our car didn't jump or jerk anymore and we truly know that we were extremely blessed with promptings to stop. We are so so blessed every day! Unfortuntately I didn't make it back in time for work but I got the house cleaned so that's a good thing. So I guess that's it for right now, you're up to speed.
Now that I think about it, our weekend was really exciting for us but probably not for everyone else to read... HAHA... sorry we're so boring!1

Lots of love!

Back in the land of the in touch....

This weekend was such a whirlwind and we loved it! We are, however, very happy to be home and be safe because last night was somewhat scary... But before we go into that...

I wasn't able to post our Friday fill-ins that we did last Friday, so here they are....
1. I'm _____, I'm _____, I _____. K(deliciously happy, cold all year long, suck at sending people packages) P(very busy, in love with my wife, have lots of midterms coming up)

2. Why do I have _____ and not _____. K(my puppy back... no leash) P(a soft box... no stand)

3. How does this _____ work, anyway? K(bread machine) P (literature review)

4. Every morning, I put _____ on my _____. K(home-mixed mineral makeup.... face and puppy's nose- she sit on my lap while I do my makeup and so i put a bit of blush on her nose... don't tell PETA!) P(shoes... feet)

5. I consider myself lucky because _____. K(I have the most wonderful husband and the best sister-friends ever!) P(I have the most beautiful and kind and amazing wife in the world!)

6. One day we’ll see _____. K(where we end up) P(a baby)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____! K(Seeing Mirelle....shopping and playing with the kids and talking as much as possible with Mirelle... see Paul be ordained!) P(my interview with KU.... talking with Erek and going to Wegmans.... being ordained a Priest!)