The beginnings...

So yesterday, Jeff and I both had a productive day. Jeff got up early and left for work around 6:30am. He didn't wake me up when he left, like he usually does- I think he knew I needed the sleep (as I'd not been sleeping well lately). I had a terribly stressful dream and ended up waking up at 6:45, which ended up being a relief rather than annoying. I walked into the kitchen where Jeff had left music quietly playing for me- The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was so peaceful and much appreciated after such a scary dream.

So, I got on the internet, just playing around and then decided I should get some work done- as I had a ton of homework to do- a ton! So, I got to work and worked and worked and worked. Of course I did take a couple of breaks throughout, but I also worked really hard on my homework.

Jeff came home around noon. He asked if we were still going to go to Williamsburg. I was still doing homework and hadn't even gotten dressed for the day. I said that I wasn't sure and that I should probably keep working on my homework. So, Jeff decided he was going to paint the room that would be the nursery. He went out and bought supplies and got to work. I continued to do homework, checking in on him every once in awhile.

Finally, Jeff and I decided we'd go out and go shopping if I could finish my homework by 6- it was 4. I continued to work on my homework- but I was having such a hard time. I was working on statistics and, well, we just do not get along. There were multiple times that I wanted to throw my computer (all of my homework is on the computer), but I didn't. I held it together. Jeff was really great and tried to offer help and would give me little backrubs to help calm my nerves. Finally, I finished around 7:30 and I asked if he wanted to go out. I hadn't been out of the house all day. So we went to a couple of stores and... we bought a crib! We didn't plan it out too well though because we had the car and the crib wouldn't fit in the car. So, I waited while he went back home to get the truck. Finally, we got home around 10:30. I had a quiz to take for the same math class. He did some touch-up painting and then started putting the crib together. I helped a little at the end, when I was done with my quiz, which, by the way, I failed. So, I spent all of that time trying to understand what it was I was doing and I still failed the quiz! So frustrating.

Anyway, so I'm pretty excited that our nursery is coming together. Of course it's not done yet, but we're pretty excited and I can't wait until we can get the rest of the furniture that we'll need and get the nursery complete! It feels good to have accomplished something. And, I am so proud of Jeff for working so hard to get it done- and for being sooo patient with me, because by the end of the evening, I was not in a good mood, well before we went shopping. Afterwards, I was thrilled. :) I really do have a terrific husband.

Oh yeah, and when Jeff first started painting, I couldn't tell if I liked the color. As you can see from the pictures, it started out as a dark green (which I had painted and I did a terrible job!) and the color we chose was a lighter, brighter green. At first though, it looked more like a greenish yellow and too bright. But with a second coat, I think it turned out quite nice. :)

Jeff is hard at work, painting over the dark green.. see how yellowish the paint looks?

The room has been painted and now Jeff is putting together the crib. :)

Okay, this picture of me is really scary, but I wanted to be included. Jeff offered to take a picture of me helping to put the crib together, but I thought this would suffice. I think I made the wrong choice. :/

And here is the crib set up in the painted room... What do you think? Obviously the nursery isn't done yet, but it feels good to have it started. Also, what do you think about the color? It looks tons better after a second coat, right? I like it. I love walking into the room- it feels like springtime (and I love the smell of fresh paint.)

Jeff found this rocking horse.

Well, there you have it folks... :)

P.S. So I went to the dentist this past week and I have no cavities! Wahoo! :) I was really happy to hear that my teeth look good. :) And I went to the doctor for another ultrasound because they were unable to get a good look at the baby's stomach last time. Everything looked great. Good news. Tomorrow, I will be 23 weeks pregnant (which means I will be six months pregnant next Monday- Kate, I'll make sure I take a picture for you).

P.P.S. Here's the quote of the day- It actually comes from my last lesson teaching in YW (I taught the beehives but was released today).

"The work of God is to bring to pass the eternal life of His children, and all that this entails in the birth, nurturing, teaching, and sealing of our Heavenly Father's children. Everything else is lower in priority. Think about that reality as we consider some teachings and some examples on priorities." -Dallin H. Oaks.

I've thought a lot about what my priorities are lately and what is really important for me to do. I sure hope I have them straight.

Happy Sabbath,

DeAnna :)

Ramblings...

So, it's been awhile since I posted anything... but I want to remember these things.

Since finding out we were having a boy, I've been pretty excited. It's so nice to know a little more about the baby growing inside of me. I'm 22 weeks now. That means in 18 weeks, we will have a little boy added to our family. I can't believe it! And I am so excited. I just want to get everything ready already. Sometimes, I secretly wish I didn't have a job (well, I guess it's not a secret anymore) and I wish that I wasn't in school any longer, so that I could get things ready. I long for May. I will be done with all of my classes by the end of May and what a glorious thing that will be. Right now I am just so exhausted all of the time. I feel like all I do is run around and by the time I get home, I don't want to do anything else, but relax... which leaves me little time for homework or getting the room ready for baby. This week, I've decided that I only get 1 hour each day for leisure time on the computer. I spend way too much time on the computer- reading blogs, hanging out on facebook, looking up pregnancy stuff, reading information about babies, searching and researching baby items (i.e. cribs, bassinets, bottles, food, etc.). And, if I have time to do that, well I have time to do other things. One hour should be enough time to relax, right? And, if I still need to relax, I can read real books! :) Yesterday, I tried this... but when that hour was up, I was ready for bed- so I still didn't have a chance to do anything else. Today, I went to work, then to the doctor, then I came home where someone was waiting for me- I administered a part of an assessment (for 1.5 hours) and then ate Cheerios for dinner. Now, I am using my hour break. Then, I might try going shopping, if I can convince Jeff. Then he has a basketball game that I will go to. We will get home around 10:30 at night and I will be ready for bed. See what I mean? My days are so filled with so many things! When can I even do homework. I have a paper tomorrow... I haven't even started on it yet. Oh, and I have a lot of work that I need to get done for work- guess I'll be getting up a little earlier and getting to work a little early so I can get a head start on some things. Besides Friday, today is the only day that I don't have class- but it's also the day that I schedule other things like doctor appointments and administering tests (I am taking an Assessments class- so I guess I did do some homework tonight). I also have a huge Stats test that I really need to study for so that I can take it next Saturday and I have tons of homework that I need to complete before then (and take two quizzes). Anyway, I don't mean to sound like I am complaining and hope that this blog post doesn't come across that way. Really, I am just sharing what my life is like right now. It's a little overwhelming... and I didn't even tell all of it.

On the plus side- I'm still really enjoying my pregnancy. I worry myself sometimes because I don't feel the baby moving around all of the time- but he's fine. I went to the OB today, just to get an ultrasound so they could see the baby's stomach- they didn't get a good view of it last time- and he was moving around. His heartbeat was a good 152. He looked great. It even looked as though he was saying "hi" at one point- with his hand in front of his face and he opened and closed his mouth. :) I can't wait to see my little guy in person! Less than halfway there- the countdown is on! :)

Oh yeah, and Monday evening, I went to two different stores and checked out some strollers and carseats and cribs and dressers for the wee one. It was such a fun experience!! I loved looking at all of the options! :) I loved trying out the strollers. It's hard to pick which one to get though. Jeff and I did end up getting a bassinet for the baby.

Check out the one we got here! Tell me what you think. We got it for 25% off because we traded in a crib at Babies R Us. :)I can't wait to get it set up. Next, we have to clean out the messy office/junk room and turn it into a nursery. We'll paint it- hopefully we'll do a better job than I did previously.

Well, sorry there are no pictures to enjoy- I know, it's usually my favorite part about reading a blog post, too... but instead, I will leave you with the quote of the week that Jeff put on our refrigerator (don't you find it strange that refrigerator is not spelled with a "d". I always, always want to spell it with a "d"- refridgerator).

Here's the quote:

"We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now."- Elder Robert D. Hales

I guess I'd better just keep on keepin' on. :) Alright, well, I've definitely been on the computer for an hour. Time for me to go for now. :)

It's a...

So we went to the doctor today for our anatomy scan. My sister, Ashley, came along and was super excited. She's jealous and is trying to live vicariously through me... even though she already has three beautiful little girls. :) The technician was very thorough and explained everything that she was looking at. It was so fascinating to see the baby move and feel it move at the same time. It was also really cool to see the heart beating, the brain, the diaphragm, watch her measure the arms and legs, see the nose and lips. What a cute little, chubby cheeked baby we have.

Look at my baby. Isn't that just the cutest 20 week old face you've ever seen! :)

The baby was being quite stubborn and wouldn't turn over- so she had a hard time getting a good look at a couple of things. Suddenly, I got so nervous, because I knew at some point we would see what we were having. And... it would be real. But it seemed like it took forever! I really did enjoy the ultrasound though. The tech was super nice. Finally, before I even realized it, she had a picture on screen and told us what we were looking at. I immediately teared up. Tears of joy, tears of "this is real", tears of "holy cow, we're having a baby?" For some reason, knowing the gender just put things into perspective for me. Just knowing what our little baby is gave it more of an identity. This is our child. I can't believe it. I'm gonna be a mom! Wow. Okay, okay, get to it already, right? I'm sure that's what you're all thinking. So....

And just in case you can't get it from that picture... here are a couple of others- my attempts at taking self-portraits. :)

The bow isn't super elaborate... I didn't feel like working that hard on it- plus I kinda like simplicity. But, I wanted to take a picture of my pregnant belly wrapped up in a bow, just like the wonderful gift that it is. Of course, my belly doesn't look very big in the pictures.

Okay for some stats- my health looks great. My cervix is wonderful. (Italicized because that's how the doctor said it). Which by the way, I had no idea that they were going to check that. My urine looked great. My uterus looks good, my placenta is perfect. So far so good. I have gained 11 pounds so far (hard for me to believe, but I guess it must be true). And the baby weighs a perfect 12 oz.- the size of a soda can. So, so far, things are going super well for mom and baby. I really could not be more blessed with this whole pregnancy. I feel like I say that often, but it's so true and I'm so grateful.

By the way, we saw the doctor (the same one as before) and she was soooo much nicer and more pleasant. I actually really enjoyed talking with her today, though I was a bit nervous about how the appointment would go. We just talked about my health and the baby's health. I asked her a couple of questions- like how I don't wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and is that a bad thing (which she answered that I soon would), and what if my diet pretty much consists of not much protein? I eat cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit and juice a lot. She said that's fine. Asked if I ate peanut butter, which I do, and said that's good. I also asked about my prenatal vitamins, because I forget to take them everyday. She said it's most important that I get iron and to take them when I remember. Other than that, we didn't talk about much else. It was really good.

I did also try getting in touch with two midwives today. Neither were available at the time and both called me back while I was at the doctor- so I'll have to try talking to them again tomorrow hopefully. Both midwives were recommended and I am anxious to get to talk to them and see if I can have one of them as my midwife. I think it will be a great compromise to have a certified midwife working with a doctor and that I deliver in a hospital, though I still sometimes think it would be really cool to have a home birth. Wish me luck with getting one of them!

Well, I suppose that's all for now! :)