20 Weeks

Rode and I at 20 weeks! I think he carries the weight well. I personally have been anxiously awaiting the 20 week mark of pregnancy, because my doctor assured me that I would start to look and feel pregnant at that point instead of just looking and feeling chubby. At our ultrasound on Tuesday, they told us the baby weighs 12 oz. Mind you, that is not even a whole pound, but I've gained 15! You do the math. Yikes!

Primary Pick-of-the-Week: Justin

I've decided that Primary is one of the best places to spend time at church. Kids are just downright funny, without even trying. And so, every Sunday I am going to share my Primary pick-of-the-week. Basically, the funniest kid for that week takes the prize. This week, the award goes to Justin, the round-faced, dark haired, speak-what's-on-his-mind boy.

The Bishop had come to share a thought with the kids about Easter. He was talking about how Heavenly Father wants us to think about the Savior on Easter. "But who does Satan NOT want us to think about?" he asked. "Jesus" the kids cried. Well, all this talk about Satan got little Justin thinking. Out of nowhere, we hear Justin tell us how it really is... "Satan is a LIAR!" It caught the Bishop a little off guard but he echoed Justin's thoughts, "Yes, Satan is a liar." Time passed and Bishop shared his testimony of the Resurrection. His dad died many years ago but he feels grateful that he will be able to see him again. Once again, Justin was taking this all in, perhaps considering his own family members who have died. Then, he remembered one who was still around and notably so... "My grandma is 101 years old!" he said. Bishop: "Wow. She too will pass through that experience of death sometime soon." Then Justin chimes in as if completely oblivious to the Bishop's comment, "Yeah, and she STILL won't die." Apparently, he has great faith in his grandma's invincibility. I mean, she has made it this far, right?! Bishop reassured him his grandma would die one of these days, but I just don't know if he believed it. I just had to chuckle. What else goes through this kid's mind in a day, that he somehow manages to hold back? I wish I knew because I am pretty sure it would keep me laughing all week long.

P.S. This isn't REALLY Justin's grandma, but maybe she has been given the same age-defying power.

A sure thing!

For any of you who have experienced the side effects of pregnancy, you should appreciate my new found testimony of Fibersure. Thanks to my sister, Kelley, who herself has suffered some of these unwanted side effects, I have discovered the joys of this quality fiber supplement. Among it's positive features, it mixes in very nicely with liquids and doesn't add any sort of funny taste. In fact, I am not so sure why I have waited so long to make it a part of my daily diet. It probably has something to do with the steep price of $8.99 a bottle for 34 servings. If I stick to the recommended 3 servings a day, the whole bottle will only last me for 11.3 days. I guess there are some downsides, but I think it would be safe to say it is worth it. And so, I echo the very true quote I found on my own bottle of Fibersure: "A little fiber throughout the day adds up to a sure thing!"

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't...

Tuesday March 18th was the big ultrasound day. We were so happy to hear the news that the baby is healthy and that we're having a.... girl! When we sent out our text to family and friends telling them "almonds are overrated, we prefer mounds", we got numerous replies asking us to decode the message. Well, everyone knows, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Almond joy's got nuts, Mounds don't. We're so excited to have a little girl. Anthony can't wait to have his life taken over by women :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I was feeling the St. Patrick's Day spirit this year, so I decided to cook Rode and I an Irish dinner. Rode always said he didn't like corned beef, until he had Hezzie's New England Boiled Dinner, so I figured it was safe. I bought the smallest corned beef they had, and planned I should be able to get it done by at least 7:30 or 8pm. Well, we finally sat down to our delicious corned beef and cabbage Irish dinner at 9:30pm. Cooking meat and lots of root vegetables always takes longer than expected :) It was good, but I would venture to say that it still didn't top Hezzie's.

Hmmm.... What exactly is corned beef? After eating our delicious meal, I got to thinking and wondered about what I had just sunk my teeth into. There are some pretty sketchy meat creations out there, so I thought I would investigate just for my own peace of mind. In case you're wondering like I was, corned beef according to Wikipedia "is a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round or silverside) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine. The "corn" in "corned beef" refers to the "corn" or grains of coarse salts used to cure it." Not so bad after all!

One year ago...

Well, it was 1 year ago today that Anthony and I stood in front of the divorce judge at the Cambridge, MA courthouse to get permission to be married. How ironic?! After our grand entrance into the courtroom, when the baliff had to charge Anthony to tell him to take his hat off, it was finally our turn to stand before the judge. We plead our case... we wanted to be married the next day, before the 3 days waiting period for our marriage certificate was up. The judge commented that it was refreshing to see smiling faces and signed the waiver. Anthony was insistent, after listening to all of the lawyers who had taken their turns before us, that we HAD to call her "Your Honor." He wasn't going out of there until he had paid his due respects... and so as she dismissed us to leave, he bowed his head and said "Thank you, Your Honor." What a nut! Anyhow, hope you enjoy the few pics from our wedding one year ago tomorrow. It was a rainy day, but we were blessed with a half hour of no rain so we could get some pictures at the temple. It's been a fun year, and I still just think the world of Rode. I am convinced he is the nicest, most mild mannered man alive :)

Baby Names

The word is out now and my students at school know I am having a baby. I haven't necessarily told them all, but we live in a small town and go to a school where word spreads very quickly.

One of my 8th graders had managed to miss the rumor. Two days ago, he came into speech, took one look at me, and said, "Are you pregnant?" I asked what had made him say that, if someone had told him. He said "No, you just look pregnant." Well, it's a good thing I am, otherwise it may have been a major blow to the self esteem. I had actually bought some maternity pants the night before, and had resorted to wearing them that day because I couldn't bring myself to wear my one pair of snug dress pants for the third day in a row. Although I thought maybe my time had finally come to move from the "feeling chubby" stage to the "looking pregnant" stage, I think I was mistaken because no one has said anything since. I am starting to think it was just a particularly unflattering outfit.

Everyone of my students reacts a little different, but a lot of the little girls take it upon themselves to help me name the baby. One of these is a sweet little, red headed 6th grader. She would rather just "chitter chatter" during speech about baby names, than actually do any sort of speech therapy. I try to do my best at redirecting our attention back to the task at hand, but somedays I am sucker for hearing her suggestions. This was our conversation on Thursday....

Student: So do you know if you're having a boy or a girl yet?
Me: No, not for a couple more weeks.
Student: Do you know what you are going to name it?
Me: Well I have some names I like but I'm not sure yet.
Student: What about Jason?
(At this point, I think this is going to be long day for brainstorming names if we're starting with Jason. Although it is a fine name, I associate this name with people I don't have particularly fond memories of, therefore I would never use the name for one of my own children. "If the best she can come up with is Jason" I think, "this is going to be rough.")
Me: No, I don't really like that one so much.
Student: No? Why?
Me: Knew a kid in high school named Jason and I wasn't a big fan.
Student: Oh, okay. What about Wes, Wesley.
Me: Oooh, I actually kind of like that one.
At this point, I am amazed that the conversation seems to be taking a turn for the better- a remarkable recovery. And then she said it, a name that now has me hooked.
Student: Or Reese. That could be cute.
Me thinking: (Reese! I love it. Initially, I thought it would be great for a boy, but I think I am actually loving it for a girl's middle name. I still have to do a little convincing with Rode- it happens to be his boss' last name, so I don't know if he will go for it for a first name. Anyhow, I finally get this little girl focused on what we need to do in class, against her requests to just chit chat to practice her "s" sound. Unfortunately, she slipped a baby name in every chance she could get, and I realize now that this name game can be potentially dangerous...)
Student: What about Matthew?
Me: No, I don't really like that one.
Student: (Her face goes forlorn and she looks down at the table) That's my brother's name.
Me thinking: (Oops! Now I have to get myself out of this.)
Me: Oh no, it's a good name I just don't want to name my son that.
Student: What about Jennifer?
Me: No, definitely not Jennifer.
Student: (This time she looks morbidly offended) That's my aunt's name!
Me: No, no, it's a fine name, it's my sister in law's name, I just don't want to name my baby Jennifer. Do you want to name your baby Jennifer? (Why I was asking her this foolish question is beyond me. She is 12 years old and a few years off from deciding on baby names for herself! It was a sad attempt at trying to fix my unintentional offensive comment.)
Student: Well, I don't know!

And so it went.... we did eventually get some work accomplished, and I got a good name out of the whole thing, although I am starting to think I should avoid these types of conversations with my student's whose siblings and aunts and uncles and moms and dads names I don't know.

Well, you can count this as our latest baby update. We'll find out if its a boy or a girl on March 18! We're so excited. Our guess is a girl... I have never met a man more like my dad than Rode- he is just cut out to be a father of daughters. Let us know what you think.