Our little Surprise!

Today we had our second appointment with the midwives. Michael was about to have an anxiety attack because I was complaining about the wait and he just couldn’t take it anymore. I never have understood why a doctor can’t meet a scheduled appointment. We waited 20 minutes in the waiting room and another 20 minutes in the patient room. And what’s worse, you can pretty much count on that with each appointment. Then they spend all of two minutes with you, I can’t understand the hold up! I’m a paying customer – I would never leave a customer of mine waiting for 40 minutes! I guess in Utah pregnant women are a dime a dozen so they don’t really care if you have choices in health care providers.

The midwife finally came into the room and asked if we had questions or concerns and of course neither of us did, we’ve both been through this before and know the drill. Michael being the smart-alec that he is said our only concern was deciding on a name. The mid-wife said oh, so you are going to find out? We both said Yes! She asked if we already had our ultra-sound scheduled and we explained we had it set up for 3/11. She said we could do it any time now and Michael explained that was the only late appointment available. She jumped up and said she’d see if they could do it right then and tell us the sex of the baby.

She came back to the room with good news! The ultra-sound technician would see us right then! The plan was just to have a little peek to see if they could determine the sex. But when she started looking she said that the baby was developed enough to just do a regular ultra-sound and so we proceeded. Michael and I were hand in hand and grinning ear to ear like giddy school kids.



We saw the heart rate was 140, at that point I was sure girl! We’ve just kind of had this feeling that it was a girl. Finally 5 minutes into it the tech moved the wand in between the baby’s legs! And there it was, his penis! Turns out that the heart rate thing is just and old wives tale – as are differences in pregnancies being an indicator that the baby is opposite sex! Good news is we have a healthy baby boy measuring in at 19weeks 1 day and the bad news is that we haven’t thought of any boy names yet!

Happy Valentine s Day!

Last year I told Michael that we would skip Christmas and spoil each other for Valentine s Day! After all that is a day more about us than it is about the kids, however when the time came we were just as broke as we were for Christmas. So we settled on a romantic weekend getaway instead. We booked a room at a boutique hotel called Monaco in down town Salt Lake City. Their website displays gorgeous suites with contemporary décor. It also advertises that they provide leopard print robes; does it get any sexier than that? When we arrived we were a little surprised by how tiny the lobby was and how worn the building looked. We were excited about getting away and anxiously made our way to our room.

When we opened the door we found a 200 sq ft guest room with a tiny water closet – way too small to be a bathroom. We couldn’t see any robes and the room didn’t look anything like what they had on their website. In the mini bar (if you can call it that) they had what they called an intimacy kit in an aluminum container that you would expect to see breath mints in. On the packaging it indicated that it contained condoms and personal lubricant – does it get any sleazier than that. Don’t get me wrong, this was not a cheap hotel and actually carries a four star rating.



Michael could tell right away that I didn’t like the room. I didn’t want to make a fuss about it but the expression on my face made it obvious that I didn’t care for the room. Michael called down to let the hotel know we didn’t like the room and to see what options were available. The hotel sent up the bell man to show us another room which turned out to be exactly the same! Michael anticipating that my Valentine’s day fantasy would soon be shattered told the GM of the hotel we didn’t like it and would be checking out.

While we were waiting for our car in Valet Michael quickly booked a room at the Marriott City Center which was literally two buildings down from the hotel Monaco. He booked a romance package at nearly the same rate which included Valet parking, chocolate dipped strawberries, sparkling cider, breakfast in bed for two and late check out. Not only that, since Michael is Platinum we were upgraded to a gorgeous suite! It ended up being an incredibly romantic weekend!



We got home Saturday afternoon and made Valentine’s Day cookies with Aiden for friends and neighbors. It was a blast! Aiden had fun sticking candy on the cookies and more fun eating his creations!

Over the hump!

Well, I’m finally into the 16th week of my pregnancy and over the hump of the first Trimester!! This pregnancy so far has been very different from my pregnancy with Aiden (could that mean girl??). The biggest difference has been morning sickness - with Aiden I lost my cookies every morning and then I was fine. With this baby it has been all day and night sickness which never resulted in actually puking! Just constant mouth watering and gagging (sorry for the graphic details)! All of my spare time has been spent curled up on the couch. Michael has had to take over all the house hold responsibilities including house cleaning, cooking, making Aiden’s lunch, doing the dishes - this on top of the laundry and ironing that he already did!

The good news is that I’m finally over my morning sickness and starting to feel like I can participate in my life again. We had our first doctor visit two weeks ago which confirmed our pregnancy! The midwife had some difficulty finding the heart rate, she passed by and we briefly saw 144 on the heart rate monitor but then when she finally found it the heart rate was at 156! I was sure once we heard the heart rate we would have a good indication if it were having a girl or boy, but this just confused me more than anything! I guess I’ll just have to wait ‘til the ultra sound.

So far I don’t really look pregnant; I just look like I ate way too much over the holidays and desperately need to go on a diet (I’ll post pix later as part of my official pregnancy tracking)! Luckily I still fit in my cloths and don’t have to buy maternity just yet! Which is good because Michael and I stopped by motherhood maternity this week and I was very depressed at the prices and clothing selection!

10 sure ways to know you are pregnant!

1. More than usual crankiness

2. Enlarged breasts

3. Sudden cravings for pickles and Lemons

4. Food aversions

5. Flu like symptoms that won’t go away

6. Overwhelming urge to take a nap every time you sit down

7. Extra belly fat

8. The need to pee every fifteen minutes

9. Extra sensitive sense of smell which frequently induces flu like symptoms

10. And The number one sure way to know you are pregnant….



Baby coming near you July 20, 2009

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

This year it seems that we have had record snow fall – at least there has been more snow then I can remember having since I was a kid. It’s been great! My feeling is if I have to be cold then I want there to be snow! Just this Tuesday we got 11 inches of snow on top of the foot of snow already on the ground.



I am happy to say that we have been able to enjoy the snow. Bobby came over a few weeks ago and pulled Aiden around the yard in his sled. Aiden had a great time, although I think he enjoyed tromping in the snow more than he did being pulled in his sled.



Last week we made a snowman and a snow fort! I’m pretty sure Michael and I did all the work but Aiden enjoyed it. We had several snow ball fights and unfortunately for me and Aiden Michael always seemed to win!

Merry Christmas!

I realize that I have really been slacking off with my blog this last month; the month just really seemed to get away from me. Couple the holidays with being sick and traveling and it is easy to see why I am so behind! I am repenting now though and hopefully I’ll do better in January.

This year we traveled to Saint Louis to be with the kids for Christmas. We were hoping Michael could couple this trip with business so that we could save on Airfare. So, he scheduled his flight the day before mine hoping to conduct a vendor meeting. Shortly after, our company put a stop on all travel so we went ahead and paid for the flight and Michael flew out before me and Aiden.

Aiden and I were scheduled to fly out Friday evening so that he wouldn’t have to miss school and so that I wouldn’t have to take a vacation day. At 1:30pm my offices were closed because the weather was so bad. I jumped in my car and prayed that I would make it in time to catch my flight. Sam was nice enough to drive us to the Airport which took 2 hours to get there. On the way there we heard that the SLC airport was not allowing anyone to land for next 3 hours. I was immediately worried that I wouldn’t get out. Sure enough my flight had been delayed indefinitely. Aiden and I were lucky to get on the 4:56pm flight 2 minutes before the doors closed which had already been delayed for 3 hours. As we were boarding we got a call saying that our connecting flight in Denver had been cancelled!

Luckily Michael’s Sister Jodi lives in Denver and was an absolute doll and picked us up and put us up for the night! It was great to visit with her and her family while we were there. She was over the top accommodating just like Michael! It was really better than being in a hotel. Early in the morning she grabbed Aiden and let me sleep in until 10:00am and she had breakfast waiting for me when I woke up!! We flew out of Denver at 9:30pm and arrived in Saint Louis just after mid-night. Michael picked us up and we started on our 2 hour drive to his parent’s house.

We had a great time with the kids catching up with what was going on in their lives and playing games. It was amazing to see how much they had grown since I was out six months earlier. While we were grateful to spend the time with the kids on Christmas it wasn’t exactly how we would have liked, one of the challenges with coordinating with two ex wives.

The older kids went home to be with their mom on Christmas Eve and didn’t come back until 9:00 pm that night. We had to have the little kids back home on Christmas morning at 11:00 am which means we had to leave his parents house at 9:00am. We had all of 30 minutes Christmas morning to open presents so we missed out on some of the magic but we were grateful for the time we did have.

We had a 3:45pm flight to SLC so we spent some time visiting with Michael’s brother David and his family. Afterwards we grabbed some lunch to kill some time. When we arrived at the Airport we were informed that our flight had been moved up an hour earlier and that we had missed it. They were able to get us on another airline so we would get home that night but we had to fly through Atlanta. Michael said it was a blessing because it meant we could all fly home together – we were originally scheduled on different flights from Denver to SLC. Aiden is potty trained and I didn’t have a pull-up, he fell asleep and at about 11:30pm wet his pants! I didn’t have extra cloths so I had to take his clothes off and wrap him in blanket.

When we landed in SLC there was a blizzard, the roads hadn’t been plowed and there was zero visibility. I also had a bad cold that seemed to be getting worse by the minute. We made it home though! We told Aiden that Santa was flying to our house and that Christmas was the next day. He woke us up the next morning and I asked him if Santa had come. He went running to the living room and came running back to our room screaming that there were PRESENTS!!!! It was great watching him open presents, it gave us the opportunity to enjoy a little of that Christmas magic!

Tis the Season!

This year since we were planning to be in St. Louis for Christmas I couldn’t see us purchasing a new Christmas tree. Michael on the other hand insisted we have a tree because we had the whole month to enjoy it. He also refused to let me put up what he calls my “Charlie Brown Christmas tree,” he said he was so embarrassed for me last year. So, I gave in.

We bought the tree the day before Thanksgiving and Aiden was so excited that he insisted we put it up immediately which we did. I had all of three Christmas ornaments because the prior year Aiden and my nephew Bear used them for batting practice and broke them.

The tree was up for two weeks with no ornaments and we still hadn’t hung Christmas lights on the house. So, Michael took me to the Home Depot to get some hooks for the outside lights and it turned out they were having a huge sale. We were able to purchase 52 ornaments and a gorgeous angel for $8.99!!!! Aiden and Michael were thrilled to see tree decorated. I must confess though that I never did get around to purchasing new ribbon for the tree…. Oh well next year it will look even better!



Michael also decided to put up the lights that same day. The weather had been great the last two weeks however just before Michael went outside it started to blizzard. That didn’t stop Michael though. While he was up on the roof freezing his butt off I was watching anxiously below with the phone in hand praying I wouldn’t have to call 911. Luckily the lights were installed with no accidents! And so the Christmas season officially began!