HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER!

Happy, happy birthday Tanner dear! Today is our nephew, Tanner's, birthday! Hooray! He is 6 years old today. This is the most recent picture I have of him, but I love it because it really shows his personality! He is a fun little boy, who is also very smart. It has been so much fun seeing him grow and learn. Some of my favorite memories of Tanner are him telling me that he has new teeth (he just wanted to let me know, because he "knew that I liked teeth" HA! And then one other time when he was about 4 years old, we were playing with a stethoscope. He was listening to my chest and then after he finished I asked him, "what do we do now?" His response was so hilarious: "We call another doctor!" I thought, oh dear, he is 4 years old and he thinks I need a 2nd opinion! EEP!

Well, he is spending his birthday up in Utah with my mom, so I am sure that she is loving having her grandson there. So, this is a long distance, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Where were you?

Ok, so most of us Californian's know that there was an earthquake today, that is no longer news. The earthquake originated in Chino Hills, but was felt from Oxnard to San Diego...strangely enough I have spoken to people who were in both of those cities. I was in Placentia, which is only 15 miles away...so we were rocking pretty good. I was working in a dental office. I had left my patient in the chair for a minute to go get her x-rays when it happened, so unfortunately my patient was alone, reclined in a dental chair. She got a little freaked out, luckily she was the last patient of the morning, and we had already finished her cleaning. So were you doing anything interesting when the earthquake hit?

So now, let me transition to a little question. Why are people so scared of earthquakes? I am not talking about the enormous ones that take down buildings and kill people, I am talking about the ones like today. 5.4 magnitude, no damage, no serious injuries, just a few things getting knocked down. I understand that if you aren't from an earthquake-rich part of the world that it can be a little scary, but if you have lived in California then you know what they are like, and you should know what to do. And any building built in California after the 1930s is built strong enough to withstand minor quakes, unlike buildings in small undeveloped countries where an earthquake can be devastating.
Today I had a lady spaz out on me. She grabbed my arm with her claws and like a death grip, did not let go! She left a mark. She was running back and forth like a crazy person during the earthquake and shouting (doesn't help that she is one of the employees at this office and her priority should be the safety of the patients). She actually thought an airplane was landing on the building. Then, we have to listen to non-stop coverage of the earthquake on tv, on the radio, etc. Can anyone explain to me why earthquakes are scary? Logic says: move away from anything that might fall and hurt you, and just hang on. That is really all there is to do (duck and cover!). *sigh*

P.S. I actually think earthquakes are kind of fun! I would have enjoyed this one if that lady hadn't been skewering my arm!

Poor Dad

My dad is in the hospital right now. Lately he has been having some kind of terrible abdominal pain and after 3 visits to the emergency room and a consultation with his gastroenterologist, they elected to remove his gallbladder. They weren't sure if the surgery would fix the problem, but when they got in there they did find that his gallbladder was pretty inflamed.

So, after this usually simple procedure, my a portion of my dad's right lung collapsed. YIKES! He is fine, but still, it isn't that much fun for him. The crazy part is that this procedure is usually outpatient, but he is still in the hospital 2 days later, going on three.

I am not sure what the point of me blogging about this is, but I just wanted to put it out there. Get well daddy-o!

Pregnancy update: Halfway done!

This last Wednesday was not only Matt's birthday, but it was also the end of 20 weeks of my pregnancy. Woohoo! Half-way done, and just about 20 more weeks to go! I am loving my pregnancy. I have heard a lot of different stories about pregnancies (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I am lucky enough (so far) to be having a great pregnancy. I realize that it may not always go so smoothly, so I am just enjoying every minute of it.

I thought I could just write out a little update about my pregnancy thus far. Yes, I am 20 weeks, yes I am having a boy, no we don't have a name picked out. However, since everyone and their brother seems to want to know the baby's name I sometimes pick a strange name like "Cornelius Morpheus" or "Curly" to rhyme with our last name. HA! My bump is starting to really show, there are times I think I might just look like someone that ate too much, then other times I think, "yeah...I look pregnant." Here is a picture from today, what do you think? My little boy likes to move. I first started noticing him moving when I played some music for him. So, every day I like to play a little mixture of classical, The Beatles, They Might Be Giants, and I think the Star Wars' theme song (Matt made the mix on my iPod). I know he can hear the loud noise because he always kicks right underneath the headphone. One night the little squirt wasn't really moving too much so I asked Matt to put his hand on my tummy, and within seconds that little guy really started dancing! He just wanted to play with daddy! Cute!

I have no aversions to food or smells, and I am hungry constantly. The baby likes to sit low, like on top of my bladder, so I have to pee constantly too. He even can get in the way when I am sitting down, or try to cross my legs, etc. But my mom gave me the good advice of getting on my knees and putting my head to the floor so my bum is in the air, that way gravity will get him to move up a little bit.

I am no longer having sciatic pain. I found comfort in the form of massage! :) In fact, I got a massage and then a few days later I went to girls camp and the pain was gone! HOORAY! So, I am just keeping up with the massages once a month.

At night I am sleeping with like 50 pillows. I don't think there is room for Matt on the bed anymore! I keep the pillows all around me. I have been thinking about buying a big pregnancy body pillow, but they cost $50-60, and I can't decide on which one I want. Does anyone have an opinion about these? Do I really need one? Which one should I get?

On a medical note: I do have placenta previa (or at least that is what the last ultrasound showed). So I go in for another ultrasound at the end of August (hooray, more pictures!) to try to see if there are any changes. My doctor didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal, and after doing some research I have found that it isn't uncommon for placenta previa to be present early in the pregnancy, then as the tummy grows the placenta is pulled away from the cervix. (I officially apologize to any male that might be reading this).

Other than that, life is great! I am having a wonderful time! I get so excited every time my little boy moves, it just gives me the warmest feeling in my heart (no, not heartburn--which I am not having either by the way). Matt has fun with the baby too. I just know he is going to be a great dad. I can't wait to meet my little guy, but until that day, I will just keep enjoying being pregnant. (I will let you know if my attitude ever changes!)

An addendum

Matt wanted me to add a picture to my previous post, so read on if you haven't seen it yet. But just remember that this picture is Matt's own addition to the post.

Matt started reading at a very early age.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is Matt's birthday! Happy birthday to my dear husband! This is Matt's (deep breath) 29th birthday, don't tell him I told you. I thought it would be fun to honor Matt with a few pictures of his life. Thanks to Matt's mom, Darlene, for her awesome scrap-booking skills, which have allowed me access to these pictures!

First day out in the world, look how great Matt's mom looks! I can only hope I look that good the day I deliver my baby.

I love this picture, I just love how he is looking at his mommy.

Don't you love the '80s? Check out that background! C'mon, look at that adorable face, and that super BLOND hair! I am crossing my fingers that our baby will look just like his daddy!

Matt's life wouldn't be complete without his older brother Michael. Even now, they are still very close.

I like the buzz-cut.

Matt and his brother did theater all through school. Matt got to play Oliver in "Oliver."

Boy and his dog. Darla still loves her "little boy."

Matt loves his nephews and niece. I think they have all really prepared him to be a father.

I love you babe. You are such a great husband, and already a great daddy. You make me laugh and you keep life exciting! Happy Birthday!

...and don' t worry about turning 29, even though it is one year closer to this:

The name is Katie, Katie RDH

Oh, by the way, I passed my hygiene boards and received my California state license!!! I wasn't expecting the results for another week or so, but they came this last week. It was such a nice surprise. So now I am Katie, RDH. I still have to get myself some malpractice insurance (which doesn't cost much for hygienists...unlike the poor doctors) then I can go out and make some real money!

Argh Matey!

We have picked out our bedding set for the nursery! I think it is so cute, and it will still be awesome as a toddler's room. Matt usually doesn't like the conventional style of doing things, so I wasn't surprised when he liked the pirates. Now I just need some ideas for decorating the room. What colors do we paint the room? Should we have a crib with light wood, dark wood, or even painted a different color? I am horrible at decorating...anyone who really knows me knows that, so I could really use some help here! The room we are using for the nursery is pretty big, so there is a lot of room for ideas!

Tuscaloosa

Matt is sent off to various locations for work, and this weekend I was able to go with him! Our destination: Tuscaloosa, Alabama!!

I have to admit, I was so thrilled to go down to the "south". I am intrigued by the architecture, culture, history, and the beautiful country. Tuscaloosa was not your stereotypical honkey-tonk/hillbilly city. The University of Alabama is the focal point of this city, which is why we were there.

Matt's job this weekend (I helped!) was to shoot a ballet concert held at the U. of Alabama. The concert hall was actually a music concert hall, and it had a beautiful organ, I had to get a picture.**Warning, this post may contain a lot of photos!**

Ok, I shall carry on. The actual concert was semi-entertaining. Basically is was a show put on by students that were sent to a 3-week summer ballet boot camp. We did a 12pm and 4pm show...the exact same show...ugh, I love dance, but the same show twice can be a little much, espcecially when you are standing on your feet the whole time.

Once the show was over we took advantage of our remaining time in Alabama, I think the best way for me to share our experiene is to just give you some pictures!

I love this picture, because it shows not only the beautiful river that runs through Tuscaloosa, but it also shows the sky during one of the thunder/lightening storms we had.

This is Matt and I standing in front of the river...is that a baby bump?

The homes were so cute! California doesn't have a whole lot of brick or stone houses, so I just think they are so beautiful.The buildings are beautiful in Alabama. This is one of the buildings at the U. of Alabama. (I apologize for the power line and pole in the picture, I took most of my pictures as we were driving).

This residential street seemed to be the typical look. I LOVE the trees and how green everything is. I love that you can't even see the houses in this picture. Some of the homes had porch swings and I even saw one house with clothes hanging out on the line. I think living in southern California makes me appreciate the simple life when I get to see it.

This is one of the many churches found in Alabama. Besides Utah, I don't recall seeing so many churches in one little city. Again, I love the architecture, it is so beautiful.

I have no idea what this building is, there wasn't a sign, but isn't it beautiful?

We asked our hotel desk clerk for a recommendation for dinner and I really wanted some good 'ol Alabama cookin', so we went to Dreamland BBQ. It was unbelievably good! Even Matt, the BBQ-man, loved it.

We managed to go to church on Sunday, there is one chapel and one ward for the city of Tuscaloosa.

We tried to get a picture of ourselves in front of the church, the reason the picture is so foggy is because we had just come outside from the nice air conditioned building, into the HUMIDITY! At one point I got out of the car and my glasses fogged up so much is was like I had put my head over a pot of boiling water.

Keeping with the theme of having southern cooking, we stopped at the waffle house for breakfast. It was so busy, they actually had to turn people away.

Enough food?

I did it! I tried grits! They were...interesting. Needed a little salt though.

On our way back to the airport I managed to convince Matt to take a 10 mile detour to the Birmingham temple, built in 2000. It was a smaller temple that shared the lot with a chapel. It was beautiful. The white marble bricks were so pretty.

Its too bad we didn't make arrangements to go inside while we were there. It was kind of funny, when we were out eating our BBQ the night before I asked the waitress what there was to do, and basically the only answer she had for me was where all the bars were. Maybe we could have gone to the temple instead, quite a contrast. But I am glad I go to see it.

All in all, I loved Alabama! I would go there again, but chances are slim that we will ever have a need to go back. Maybe next time we come to the south we can go to Georgia!

We are having a....

We went in for our ultrasound today! I've been so excited for today. I have been practically counting down the days! Last night I could hardly sleep. I started waking up at 2 am, then each hour after that. Luckily our appointment was first thing in the morning, so we got to go right in. Out tech lady was really nice, and when she asked me if I wanted to know the gender I think I might have scared her by nearly yelling "YES!" Ha! So, she got right to work and started taking a bunch of pictures. Here are a few:

It took her forever to get the baby to cooperate just to get a profile shot. I even had to lay on my side, but the baby just wasn't cooperating. FINALLY, she managed to snap a quick picture of the baby on its side. A couple of times she had to tap on my belly to try to get the baby to move. It was kind of funny.

Here are the baby's feet. You can see the little toes. Aren't they cute!?!

Thumbs up baby!

And of course, I must reveal the sex of our baby. We are having a little baby boy!!! Here is the picture to prove it!

I am so thrilled to be having a boy. When she told us that we were having a boy I just started to cry! It is actually kind of funny because my family seems to go for the boys being first born: my dad, my brother, my nephew, and now our little boy! I couldn't be any happier. Matt is pretty excited too. I think he is just going to love having a son to play with, after all Matt is a little boy on the inside too.

No names have been discussed. We were joking with our ultrasound lady about baby names like Yoda, Anakin, and other sci-fi names. Then she told us about a lady that came in with her twin boys that she had named "Cain" and "Abel"! I can't even believe that there are people out there that are that mean to their babies. I know I am going to be putting a lot of thought into baby names (I will happily take suggestions).

So there it is, our little baby boy, we can't wait to see you baby!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!! Matt and I started our morning off by going to our annual church pancake breakfast. It is always something to look forward to. I've been going to these breakfasts since I was a kid, so it really means a lot to me to go and see the scouts raise the flag, then enjoy the yummy food!

We enjoy our freedom by taking advantage of the fact that we have the day off! We've already taken our dogs on a nice long walk to try to tire them out. They have a lot of energy and they don't get out much. Our new neighbors have a couple of dogs so they have been getting pretty worked up with their new barking buddies.

I think we will just spend the rest of the day watching our Netflix movies, and going to the park to fly our remote control planes.

I hope you all have an enjoyable holiday. I love living in America, I am so grateful for all the freedom that we have. I've said it before, and I will say it again, I am grateful to live in a country where I can go to school and get an education and raise my daughters and sons to make their own choices.

And last, but not least, I am grateful for the men and women that serve the country in all their capacities. I am grateful for the armed forces, for the police, for the firefighters, and everyone in between. My cousin Royce is currently serving in Iraq with the Marines. I pray that he is safe. I can't wait for him to come home.

Yikes!

What is with these sandals? I saw them on a commercial, and I couldn't help myself from gagging! They are so stupid looking! I was sure that everyone would agree with me, who wouldn't? Just look at them!!! Then, at the grocery store yesterday I saw a young woman wearing them. Oh man...so there are people out there that like these? They are so weird. What do you wear them with? Are they casual? Are they dressy? I even saw a pair online where the straps that go up the leg were like 5 straps high.

Ok, so I am so fashion impaired, so I realize I may be way off with my opinion about these. So, if I am please correct me and please explain why these sandals are so "nice."