Weekend Plans

Saturday afternoon was the Carroll family baby shower. It was a small group, but we had fun visiting and eating and admiring all the cute baby things! We got lots more cute clothes, some toys, bath stuff, and a couple of beautiful homemade blankets. Here are a few pictures from the event:Then on Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday. His birthday was last Tuesday, but Sunday was the best night for us to celebrate. The whole family got together for a yummy steak dinner. It had been awhile since we were all together! After eating, we played some fun games and then had dessert. It was so funny when we sang "Happy Birthday" cause Josh and Ian helped grandpa blow out his candles and then they helped him start eating the chocolate frosting off the cake. I wish I had pictures! We had to leave pretty early so Matt could finish up some homework, but we had lots of fun and Kutse and Sobaka got some much needed play time with their cousin, Sadie.

All Hail KFC!

Have you had one of these yet? The famous bowls from KFC? They aren't exactly new anymore, in fact, they've been around for a couple years now. Anyway, I love them! I think they are super yummy and whenever we go to KFC, I order nothing else. However, I am picky about my gravy. I don't like the brown gravy, so I always order my famous bowl with the white gravy. Its so much better! Well, since being pregnant, I have not been able to eat chicken. For awhile there, the sight or smell of it would send me racing for the nearest porcelain god to begin my "worship". As time has progressed, I've been able to handle a little chicken here, a little chicken there. Mostly only if it it surrounded by other flavors. No plain baked chicken for me! Last night Matt and I got off work super late, so we decided to just pick something up for dinner. After months of saying "no" to KFC, the big red sign pulled me in, glowing like a beacon of hope. I started to crave the long-lost (to me at least) famous bowl. We pulled up and Matt ordered my famous bowl with white gravy and then the unthinkable happened. They were out of white gravy! I could have cried! Since I still wasn't ready to take my chances with plain chicken, Matt told the girl his pregnant wife really wanted the white gravy, so we'd just be going somewhere else. Then a beautiful, wonderful voice broke through the crackling speaker, "Hang on a sec, let me see if we can make some more". So yes, ladies and gentlemen, last night KFC made an entire batch of white gravy to fulfill the cravings of a pregnant woman. Three cheers for KFC and the wonderful teenagers who work there! Truth be told, I was only able to eat about half the chicken out of the bowl and my tummy was a bit upset afterwards, but I have never eaten a more satisfying famous bowl. It was delicious!

Random Thoughts

I'm a woman AND I'm pregnant so I have a bunch of thoughts going through my head right now. A lot of little things happened this weekend so I thought I'd briefly mention them instead of trying to write a bunch of different posts.

Have you heard this song? It is one of my new favorites and I can't listen to it without crying. I have owned Taylor Swift's new CD for awhile, but somehow it wasn't until recently that I really listened to the lyrics. Such a great song for moms!


Friday night Breezy and Suzy came up to Layton to hang out. They missed my baby shower and felt bad, so the sweeties brought us a basket of little gifts, including bath stuff (Hooray! We didn't have any yet!) and some onesies and a couple little toys. Then we played games and watched one of the dumbest movies ever created..."Hot Rod". Matt had been wanting to see it and Suzy owns it, so she brought it with her. Suzy and Matt laughed hysterically at the movie while Breezy and I laughed at Suzy and Matt. All in all it was a fun evening.

Saturday was our first (of two) prenatal classes. The teacher recommended if you still have to work a desk job in your third trimester to sit on a ball instead of in a chair. I gotta say, it is much more comfortable! My hips and back are a lot happier!

After class on Saturday we went to my parent's house and my mom and I decided to go get pedicures. Its been far too long since I had one! They massaged my feet and legs for about ten minutes and it was fabulous! Then, as my toe polish was drying, the lady came over and started painting my fingernails. "For the baby", she kept saying. It was so sweet! She even painted little flowers on a couple of my nails to match my toes.

On Sunday Matt was called to be the secretary in the Elders Quorum presidency. He was extremely surprised by the calling, but I know he'll do a fantastic job. Plus now maybe we can get to know some adults in the ward. Not sure what is going to happen with primary yet. With the baby coming, and without Matt there to help, I have a feeling they might release me too. The primary president hinted at this on Sunday. I think our class is going to be very upset. I hope they know we aren't leaving them by choice!

Matt and I have been searching for months for a changing table to match our nursery furniture. We found some really nice ones, but didn't want to spend $300 for one. I have become a KSL junky, searching every day and on Sunday...our waiting paid off! I looked and someone had posted the perfect changing table! It was the right color, the right style, and the right price. Hooray! We had almost given up and were about ready to buy another one and stain it ourselves to match. Thankfully my parents were willing to drive out to Herriman and pick it up for us in their suburban. We brought it home last night and it is perfect! Thank you mom and dad! And thank you KSL! Disclaimer: Every time I mentioned to people that we were looking for a changing table, they told us we didn't need one. Or they tried to make alternate suggestions. I just have to say that after 10+ years of babysitting for people with no changing table, a separate changing table, or a changing table pad on top of the dresser, I knew exactly what I wanted. I prefer the stand-alone changing table for many reasons. And having two dogs who like to "help" with everything, changing her on the floor every time just isn't an option. Plus its pretty. =)

Today I had my weekly doctor's appointment. Last week Gertrude was head down, in the right position, and I was dilated to a one and a half / 70% effaced (I know, this means nothing). Today I'm dilated to a three (woo-hoo, my mom was dilated to a three for weeks before birth) and 80% effaced. However, the little pill had turned around and is now breech. I know this isn't a big deal yet, but if she hasn't turned back around by next week, Dr. Brown is going to do it manually. Which doesn't sound like much fun. Most babies will turn by themselves by 37 weeks. My doctor's only concern is the more dilated you are, the harder it is for them to turn. So I am not allowed to dilate anymore until after she turns around. How often do you hear women in their last month actually say they want their progress to halt? Well I definitely do! Hang on Gerty, its not time yet!

Last week my mom was looking through the paper and she found a Gertrude Octavia. What do you think? Isn't that the best name ever?? After some prodding, she admitted she found the name in the obituaries. Nice.

The Good, the Bad, and the Worst

As for the comments on my last post, I'm so glad so many women agreed with me! I was starting to wonder if I was expecting too much for a man to offer me his chair! I failed to mention the thing that got me so much about the incident is that the men have been treating me especially nice since I got pregnant. Offering to carry things for me, asking me how I'm feeling, even offering to pick things up for me I've dropped so I don't have to bend down. That is why I was so baffled when these same men wouldn't get off their butts and give a pregnant woman their chair! I am so, so glad I have such a wonderful husband! He offers women a seat on the train or wherever we are regardless of if they are pregnant or not. Moving on...

The Good: Yesterday the women at work pulled together and threw a co-worker an emergency baby shower. We normally throw the shower about a month before someone is due, but Mickaela was told she has to go on bed rest. So last week when I found out the news (thank you blogging!) I contacted several women at work and we decided very quickly that she still needed a baby shower before she left us. We also decided to make it a surprise, and it turned out so fun! I think its awesome how quickly all the women came together to help support her! The shower was a blast!The Bad: The parts came from Hoover. They sent us the wrong ones. Again. But we temporarily made them work until we can get a new vacuum. Stupid Hoover!

The Worst: Once again, I am so, so glad I have the husband I do! Some of the men I work with make me remember how lucky I am on a daily basis! I don't normally talk about specific instances on my blog, but this morning's conversation blew my mind so much I just had to share. So last Saturday a guy I work with had his first baby (well, his wife did). Now there is one thing you have to understand about this guy. He's only been married a year and he got married at age 27. Now normally this isn't a bad thing. However, he got married at age 27 because most of the girls he dated didn't make it past the first date. Why? Because they didn't pass his "inspection". Have any of you ever heard the song "15 Pounds"? This is the best version I could find. I couldn't embed it on the blog, sorry, but you are going to have to go to youtube and listen to it yourself. I promise, it will be well worth your time to listen to it and it will help you understand the type of guy I'm talking about. (Don't worry, its not really 7 minutes long. The girl talks for awhile in the beginning and at the end. So go ahead and skip ahead. The song itself begins at 1:47 and ends at 6:33). Go ahead. I'll wait.

Did you enjoy it? Pretty entertaining, huh? Well, the guy in that song is the guy I work with. Somehow he managed to find a beautiful, stick-thin wife. His wife had a baby last Saturday and today was his first day back into work. He sat down and started talking to the guy he sits across from (who, unbelievably enough, is exactly like him. They both married stick-thin wives and are quite pudgy themselves.) So the first conversation they have is not about how his wife is doing. Its not about how his new baby is doing. Its not even about his lack of sleep! Its "Yeah, my wife is losing the weight pretty quick. She retained a lot of water, but she has a personal trainer to help her work it off. Her goal is to be back to her original weight in two weeks". TWO WEEKS?!?! I'm no expert, and I've never even had a baby before, but aren't you supposed to wait like six weeks before you even START to work out? Not to mention you are supposed to keep some weight on if you are breastfeeding, right? I just feel like I walked into douchebag city this morning! My real question is whose goal is it really? Is it her goal to lose the weight that quick? Or his "encouragment" that has stemmed such a speedy process?

Is there a gentleman in the house?

So yesterday at work we had a meeting in the largest conference room. Well, since the entire company doesn't fit in the room at once, they split us up into our units (75-100 people). I happen to belong to one of the largest units and when it was our turn to go to the meeting, I was talking to someone and got in there late. Meaning=there were no seats left. I stood in the doorway beside the back wall for about ten minutes before I started not feeling so good. Keep in mind my unit knows me well, they all know I'm pregnant, and many of them looked back and saw me standing there. Maybe I've just been spoiled because my husband is such a gentleman, but I was amazed that not one out of over fifty guys offered me their chair! Finally, when I had reached the point where I was debating plopping down on the floor or just going back to my desk, a sweet lady I work with gave up her seat for me. A LADY! Now tell me, where have all the gentlemen gone??

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone had a fabulous St Patty's Day! Anyone who knows Matt knows that St. Patrick's Day is his favorite holiday (after Halloween) and that he is obsessed with all things Irish. So, of course, we made sure to celebrate yesterday! In my family growing up, my mom always made us a special breakfast on St. Patrick's Day. We had green pancakes and green eggs and green orange juice, are you getting the pattern here? I wanted to do the same, but being eight months pregnant and having to be to work by 7:00am, it just wasn't going to happen. But I am excited to be able to start this tradition in my own family come next year! So we both decked out in green. Matt wore his new green St. Patrick's Day shirt from Old Navy and his green baseball cap with a clover on it and I wore a green shirt and green earrings with a clover necklace and I even did green eye shadow. I was going to get pictures, but it didn't happen. Sorry. For dinner that night we had the traditional corned beef and cabbage (Yummy!) with green mint brownies for dessert. And since St. Patty's Day is known as a drinking holiday and we are mormon, we had bottled cream soda to drink. So how did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Its Official

My last day of work is April 15th. Yes, I quit my job today. Woo-hoo!! You see, Matt and I have been trying to figure out what to do about work once the baby comes. Originally I was going to take a couple months off and then go back to work twice a week and have the grandma's watch her. But we never felt settled with that decision. In fact, every time we talked about my returning to work, I felt sick. Not to say my mom or Matt's mom wouldn't have done an excellent job, it just didn't feel right. So after months of praying and considering all possibilities, we decided I need to find something I can do from home. That part is still in the works. But as of today, I officially only have 18 more days of work and I AM ECSTATIC!!!