Swimsuits Don't Lie

As a first-time pregnant person, the advice I hear most often is to take one last vacation as a couple before we have a baby. When we lived in California, Brian and I were never one to stray away from a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland. But since moving to Georgia and getting a dog, we have only taken four trips this last year. (Which is pathetic because we used to visit Disneyland at least four times a year, and then we always had a special trip to San Francisco, and of course trips home to Oregon and Utah to visit family.) Our four trips in the last year consisted of:
1. Trip to Savannah to pick up the dog.
2. Trip to Florida.
3. Trip to Vegas.
4. Trip to Oregon for Christmas.

I guess I should have expected a decline in big and mini vacations because family is now SO far away. But I didn't realize having a dog would completely take away our spur of the moment trips. If we do leave for an overnight anything, we have to call the dog kennel to see if there is an opening, pre-measure her food, re-label all her dog stuff, and drive the 1 hr 30 min round trip to drop her off. Ugg.

My days of "spur of the moment" are over.

So for the last week Brian and I have been planning a little getaway to Destin, Florida. I am so excited!! White-sand beaches, snorkeling, air museum, aquarium, new resturants!

I have never been to a Florida beach, and it has been a year since I have seen the ocean. I miss it.

I suppose it is good that I am so excited, because I couldn't resist trying on my barely used Hawaii swimsuit. I shouldn't have been shocked when I put it on and looked in the mirror. I shouldn't have been mortified at what I saw.

I don't know what I was thinking. Of course it wouldn't fit anymore.. my stomach HAS grown a few inches. But I was convinced that the suit would just stretch to accommodate my slightly larger midsection. And actually, it did. But surely the rest of me would still fit the same, right?

Sadly, even my second and third swimsuit revealed the depressing truth... the rest of my upper body has grown too. Sure I knew my boobs were bigger - one of the only true perks of pregnancy. I thought this change would just fill my loosely fitting top section. But I really really really didn't think ANYTHING ELSE had changed.
My memory of how I looked in my swimsuit last year was very clear. But my reflection in the mirror clearly stated that the suit I was wearing at least one size too small.
Equally depressing, I need new board-shorts too.

I love shopping, but swimsuit shopping is always depressing. You must find just the right suit, that fits your body in just the right way to make it the least awkward looking and the most attractive.

I thanked the Lord when girl board-shorts were invented, they went a long way to hiding any butt/thy insecurities I had. But now they have these two-pieces that are like a tank top and board-shorts combined! I must look into these. I have a feeling it will be my best bet for a growing belly. I don't think I'm big enough for full-on preggo one-piece suits.

Comically, the Young Women have planned a pool party for their Wednesday activity. As the YW Secretary I don't have to go, but my President has expressed the desire to have me at the activities.. one more adult goes a long way when you have 30 or so girls running around a pool. So my swimsuit needs are even greater this week.

Wish me luck as I go shopping tomorrow.
(at least my surfer shirt used for snorkeling still fits.)

I Made It!

I survived. In fact I think it went rather well, some might call it fun even. Not that I didn't expect Girl's Camp to be fun, but I expected it to be more work than fun. The point I miscalculated, was that in this instance, there is fun oh yes, but the work too was enjoyable and satisfying... fun.

I loved leading the Friendship Games on our Certification rotation day; I loved helping cook and problem solve all the food issues that happened at nearly EVERY meal; I loved setting the tents up and taking them down; I loved watching Sister Tuck and Sister Walsh leading the girls in the crafts we had planned; I loved doing some activities with the Bishop. I even enjoyed it (afterward) when things went totally wrong and in the end turned out possibly better than I planned.

I did not love the severe thunderstorm we had to sleep through the first night.
No offense to those that donated tents for us to sleep in, but half of them were the kind that look really "cool"- with the pop-out sides, a dog door, space for extra leg room, and crazy angles- had really "cool" looking rainflys that went in all directions except to properly cover the tent. So needless to say we got a little wet. Most of the girls and leaders slept on inflatable mattresses, so they were kept off of the wet ground. But all the little "cool" extensions some of the tents had didn't hold up in the rain that first night. They maybe could have withstood a short Georgia cloud burst, but not a multiple hour severe thunderstorm.

Most of my assumptions were correct about how the majority of things would run. My only true disappointment was that campfire camp songs were kinda lame because there were sooooo many first years who didn't know the words and no one could figure out how to "teach" the words to any song but those where you repeat what the leader yells/sings.

I will have to work on this for next year. Camp songs are a key part of my love for Girl's Camp.

I also have to give my mom credit for passing on a love of Girl's Camp to me. She attended all the Girl's Camps I've ever attended (except this one) as a leader of some sort. And I never wished she wasn't there. In fact, as this was my first solo Girl's Camp, there did come a point where I wished she WAS there to help me figure out some problems. But luckily I had great leaders, especially Sister Toro, to help me when my pregnant brain simply could not comprehend what to do next. (Seriously, there would be times where I would stand there and I simply could not figure out what I should be doing.)

I'm so excited for next year. I know I'll have a seven-month-old boy, but I still really hope I can be the camp director. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that now, the Lord will know where to put me.

Mars Hill Ward!! (Just before tent assignments were given out.)

Sister Walsh braiding Britteny's hair.

Bishop's Night! Thank goodness Sister Bleak brought dessert up. It was soooooo good- Mint brownies and sweet biscuits with berries.

Bishop and his girls!

I nearly forgot the best part:
When I got home, Brian had cleaned the kitchen and family room, hung up the pictures I've been trying to hang up for months, put the crib together and had it waiting in our little boy's room, gone grocerie shopping, returned a pair of pants to the store and bought the correct size, and done most of the laundry!!!
Really, I married such a great man.

Later that day we went back to mall, and after much measuring and decision making, bought a new sectional sofa at Macy's One Day Sale. We knew we got a most excellent deal on the couch because we've been shoppping for 6 months for a sectional, but we were still skeptical of how good a deal we got. You always are after a big purchase right? So we checked the price online the next day and the price went up $500! And that was still their "sale" price!

Now I'm not saying that because I did such a great job at Girl's Camp that we were blessed to find a super sale. But I'm not not saying that they are totally unrelated. ;-)

Little Boy

Well... It's a boy!!
These are my 19 Week Ultrasounds.

Brian is next to positive this hand says rock on, I think it says I love you.

Now what am I going to do!!!

So I'm laying on the table with the goo on my belly and the Ultrasound Lady is chattering away at how photogenic the baby is already. Perfect profiles, cute little feet and hand shots. And while I am yes, mesmerized by the little flip-flopping creature on the screen, I'm also thinking... "GET TO THE GOOD PART LADY!" She keeps chattering, and Brian keeps a fairly good conversation going while I am free to make sense of the images on the monitor. Finally she says okay, lets see if we have a boy or a girl. She jabs the sensor into my lower abdomen and the baby totally flips around. I felt it AND I saw it on the monitor and a little thing clicks in my head that says. "OH, duh, that feeling like my stomach is rolling around is actually the BABY rolling around."
Just as I make this revolutionary discovery she announces, "I was right! It's a boy!" And sure enough, there is clearly a little doodle there between the legs!!
Of course I get all teary-eyed, but I am so happy. I've never felt this happy I don't think. And Brian, standing next to me, has this smug but shocked look on his face, he has been saying boy from the start.
I think we both drove home in a daze, but as soon as I got home Brian called to double check that we were going to tell people. Of course we are. I can't keep this in any longer than the six minutes it took to get home, and the 10 minutes it took for me to write "BOY" on my belly and take a pic of it to text to my relatives.
Mom, Momma Lou, and Heidi all called within minutes. I missed Heidi, but got her later that day. I spent the rest of the day daydreaming about the little bundle of boy I would get to take care of.
I was completely ecstatic about the boy thing till I called Heidi back. She was clearly excited and began listing all the things that had yet to occur to me... "Now you can play sports, take him to soccer games, do cub scouts and boy scouts....!!!!"
Ummm. I was just excited that I get to use the PeePee TeePee, pretty much that was as far as I got when it came to contemplating my life with son. So now I beg the question: What DO you do with boys? Let them climb on everything and put cute little button up shirts with turtles on them?

I think for now I'm going to go ahead and not worry about that. I'll focus on my PeePee TeePee skills, and I can worry about sports teams and such later because, I'm having a BOY!

Camping at Amicola Falls

Steph, Portland, and I went camping at Amicola Falls State Park in Northern Georiga this weekend. The purpose of the trip was to scout out the location of the "girl's camp" that Steph is is in charge of for our church. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much, because I heard these falls were of the cascading variety. I guess I am spoiled growing up near the Multnomah Falls.

When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised! Not only were the falls beautiful, but the view of the Georgia landscape was the best we've seen since moving here. Before this weekend, the only hill we'd been on in the South was Kennesaw Mountain, which is beautiful, but is only a modest elevation gain.

We got there late Thursday night (this is one of my off-Friday weeks), checked-in at the beautiful hotel/lodge, and went and found out campsite. We had brauts and dutch-oven potatoes for dinner.

In the morning, we ate pancakes and bacon (Portland may have got some bacon), Cleaned up camp and headed for the waterfall. There was a bridge at the top of the falls and a series of stairs and bridges down to the base of the falls (more than 600 stairs). Once we got to the bottom, pregnant Steph and lazy Portland waited at the bottom, while I ran all the way back up (yes, this was extremely tiring) and drove the car down to meet them.

Portland didn't appreciate me picking her up. She is a little bit afraid of heights...

Portland was very very nervous the entire time we were on the steps and bridges.

Monsters In Georgia

I think everything in Georgia is just a little bigger or more prevalent than in Oregon or California. There is always road kill on the road. I see three or four squished animals every time I drive somewhere. Kudzu vines grow over street lamps and telephone poles, they take over hundred foot trees and make it impossible to see very far along the roads. Of course there are more bugs and they are bigger- see below, but I didn't expect the plants to be bigger too.

At the beginning of May we planted our deck garden. A mere four weeks later our tomato plants have nearly outgrown their giant pots! All three of the plants have little budding tomatoes on them but look more like and grow more like the kudzu vine monsters than cute little cherry, heirloom, and early girl tomato plants.

This is my backyard. No kudzu here, but you still can't see the neighbors.

This is the biggest spider I have ever encountered outside a cage.

He was three inches in every direction. After Brian killed it with a mallet, we looked it up on the Internet. Turns out this is a male crevice spider- not poisonous but often mistaken for the horribly poisonous brown recluse. It also turns out that the make spider wanders around looking for the female instead of setting up shop. So the question I now ask myself every time I go into the basement is, was he just passing through, or is his girl somewhere around the corner?

Jon and Kate Plus 8 Bags of Money

Steph complains that I never post on here, so I've decided to rant about the TLC show John and Kate Plus 8 that Steph makes me watch.

I think it is pretty clear that Kate is drunk with fame, and Jon is drunk with money. I wonder how the kids feel about all this? The twins must be old enough to realize what is going on. I wonder what it is like to have a mom gone all the time on book tours and a father who goes to college house parties and night clubs. What happened to the nice family we all use to watch? Don't give me that rubbish about all families having problems. Plenty of us had/have parents who always put their children first (it does exist)! Financially, this family would be set just living off reruns, DVD sales, and book sales for years to come... so, clearly they have become greedy for money and fame.

While Jon has made some poor decisions, I cannot help but place the majority of the blame on Kate. She seemed like a very different person on last night's season premier. Her attitude towards her children reminded me of a snobby teenage girl who's parents have asked her to watch her siblings. She claims that she is doing all of this for her family, and she might actually believe that, but clearly she is disillusioned with fame at this point. They both claim that they didn't sign up for the fame and paparazzi, but at this point, it is clear that Kate is bringing it on herself by seeking out more fame. They both could end all of the stress by not signing on for another year of the show and by not writing any more books, but of course, they want more money.

I wonder how long the show will live. I know it is seeing its biggest audiences ever, since we all like a controversy; however, I think the controversy will become played out, and all their once loyal fans will wish for the show to return to its original style and mood.

Then again, maybe this is all just a scam. We all know that so-called 'reality' TV is generally anything but reality. These controversies could be entirely cooked up by Jon, Kate, and TLC. A way to lift ratings as the show enters its 5th season (shows often times add a twist or introduce a new character around their 4th or 5th season to keep things fresh). On the other hand, maybe the sweet, close, and loving family that we saw in the first 4 seasons was a sham. Who knows... but in my opinion the show is taking a turn for the worse either way.

Prego in the US

I get weekly email updates from babycenter.com about how far along I am and about being pregnant in general. (FYI I'm carrying an avocado this week.) But I couldn't help post some of the latest US prego stats.


*The most popular day for babies to make their entrance? It's now Wednesday. (This is the first year since at least 1990 that Tuesday wasn't the biggest birth day.) There were 15.4 percent more births on Wednesday than on the average day.
Angie and Audrie... looks like you should be praying for Wednesday to get/not get here!

*Twins level off: The number of twins born in the United States was roughly the same in 2006 as in 2005, with 32.1 pairs of twins born for every 1,000 births. While leveling now, the rate skyrocketed 70 percent between 1980 and 2004.
I was convinced that I was going to have twins. And while my family thought this would be awesome, it still makes me nervous to even picture raising twins. It still could happen... next time.

*The rate of triplets and higher multiple births declined in 2006 for the eighth consecutive year to 153 triplets per 100,000 births. The rates shot up by more than 400 percent between 1980 and 1998 but then started to drop, in part because of improvements in fertility treatments. See, everyone thinks that this is on the rise because of Octo mom. It is just more interesting to the public right now, so it is more publicized. All the multiple birth families on tv had their kids before 2006, so I really don't think that the trend will shift when we get the info for 2007-2009.

*Utah continues to beat every other state, with about 21 babies born per 1,000 people. Vermont has the lowest birth rate, with slightly more than 10 babies born per 1,000 people. Duh. Go Utah!

*Boys outnumber girls: With about 1,049 male babies for every 1,000 female babies in 2006, boys are keeping the edge in a ratio that's stayed about the same over the past 60 years.
Looks like I have a slightly better chance of getting a boy than a girl. We'll see...

"Most of the fascinating facts are from the CDC. CDC data is always a few years behind because compiling it and analyzing it is a big job. That's why the latest info –released in January 2009 – is from 2006. We also pulled a few interesting stats from the U.S. Census Bureau reports, 'Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns: 1961-2003' and 'America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2008.'"