Bigger baby bump!

Time is flying by! I'm nearly 6 and 1/2 months along, which means I've only got a little over three months to go. Crazy! Baby has been growing like crazy this past month. I feel like my tummy is poking out a lot more now than just a couple of weeks ago. She's also become even more active and I feel her move frequently throughout the day and quite a lot when I'm laying down at night or in the morning. I've also been able to feel little hard parts of her body in my stomach at times, which is fun. It's been especially fun that James can feel her move now too, so we can both revel in the reality that a new little person will soon be joining our family. We love her already!

25 Weeks

Baby's first pictures!

Look at our beautiful baby girl. She's cute already, huh? I can't wait to meet her! I love that you can see her little fingers and her profile. The ultrasound was amazing. The technician was so detailed and measured everything on her little body. My favorite part (other than finding out she's a girl!) was seeing her heart beat on the screen!

In Memory of my Soap Collection

Growing up, I had a soap collection.

That's right.
A SOAP collection.

Weird.

What kid has a soap collection?

Well, this is how it happened. Somehow, my mom had a small collection of pretty shaped soaps from her childhood, including one hand-painted soap bar from her grandmother. As a child I was fascinated with these soaps and because of my enthusiasm I inherited them from my mother. And, as the years went by my soap collection expanded. I got little soaps in my stocking from Santa or picked them out as souvenirs on trips.

Over Christmas break last year I went through a box of treasures from my childhood including dolls, stuffed animals, paper dolls, and my soap collection. The soaps smelled so strongly (that's a nice way of describing their stink...) that they'd made everything else in the box smell as well. Somehow at that point I couldn't bear throwing them away because they brought back such sweet memories from my childhood. So, I threw out some of the newer ones that I'd collected and slimmed my collection down to fit in a small shoe box. I double wrapped everything in plastic to try to contain the smell.

Then we moved. And I had to face my soap collection again. My goal during this move was to get rid of things that we didn't need, but when it came to my soap collection, it was still hard for me to cut the strings. Even though it really didn't smell good.

I was talking to my sister Marnae last week and I told her, "Marnae, talk me into getting rid of that old soap collection I have." To which she responded, "You still have those gross old soaps?!" When I told her that I couldn't bear to get rid of them in party because one of them had belonged to Great-Grandma she said that fact made it even more gross. She led a very compelling argument, ending with, "Besides, they stink!"

Marnae suggested that I take pictures of the soaps to preserve the memories I have and then get rid of them. I took her advice and I haven't regretted it. I'm still glad that I have the pictures though! I'm sharing them so that you can see how cute they are, especially without having to stand the horrible smell!

This is the hand-painted one from Great-Grandma.

These were my mothers.



And these are a couple of my favorites of the ones that I later got.

Moving

We just moved to a new apartment in Provo. Even though we only had to move about 10 blocks, it's still taken us two weeks to finally feel mostly settled in. We've been playing the KSL/Craigslist game of searching for furniture, since we didn't have any before and our apartment now is unfurnished. We've gotten everything we need except a washer and dryer. After going to the laundromat last week and spending a fortune doing 4 loads, we're hoping to get a washer and dryer before we're forced to do laundry again. Finally, though, I'm starting to love our new place. It's got more closet space and more shelves and has a little deck with a sliding glass window that faces East, so our whole house is flooded with light in the morning. Our front room is a little bigger than our last apartment and we have two bedrooms, which will definitely be great when the baby comes.

Before we finally found a table, we ate off of this cardboard box for a couple of weeks--oh the joys of moving!


Now we've just got to hang pictures...

More pictures of my bump!

Here are a couple pictures of my bump that's starting to show a little more.

This one is at 16 weeks.

This one is today at 21 weeks.

Baby is moving a LOT lately! I absolutely love it. Baby's still so small that it it's continuous movements don't bother me at all--they just remind me that there's a little body growing and learning to move inside of me! It makes me think about Baby a lot and wonder who this new little person is going to be. On Monday we go in for our first ultrasound and we'll find out if it's a boy or girl! We can't wait!!!

I've started this post about 6 times already. I guess there are no 'right' words to cover the gap of the past year and a half. One of my hold-ups to posting on my blog is that I always want to write something clever but never feel much inspiration for cleverness, so the blog goes untouched. I finally decided that I like my friend's blogs no matter if their content is entertaining or not because it gives me a glimpse into their lives. So, I decided that I would start posting occasionally to share a few of our adventures!

The biggest adventure that we've only recently embarked on is only just starting to show...


We're expecting our first baby! I'm 12 weeks along in this picture. The due date is January 21, 2012! We're so excited to welcome a new little person into our family. Often I'll turn to James and ask, "Is this really happening? Are we old enough to have a baby?" And then we laugh because we're not sure. But we both know it's ok to not feel ready because we know that God thinks we're ready enough and we are preparing ourselves to learn and grow together through all the unknowns ahead. I am really looking forward to becoming a mother--this is what I've wanted my entire life! Already, I'm feeling a love that's growing in proportion to the new little life that's forming within me. I truly believe that family is the most important part of our existence here on earth. Belonging to a family gives us opportunity to serve and to learn and brings more joy than any other endeavor. Also, I'm so thankful to know that we can live with our families for forever! I can't imagine a happy life without James and I'm grateful to know that we will be able to share our existence together even after this life ends!

Procrastination...to the bitter end.

Procrastination. It is so easy. Anyone can do it. And it feels so good...at first. But it always comes back and bites you, usually in the face where there is no way to ignore it. I like to think of myself as a careful, responsible procrastinator. I don't procrastinate to the point of no return, only to the point right before the point of no return. And that is a very distinct, important difference. Somehow I just can't quite find sufficient motivation to dig in and do the dirty work of a project until time constraints leave me no other option; imminent due dates seem to serve as sufficient motivation.

This principle is particularly applicable to dreaded college research papers. It's not really my fault or choie that inspiration finally seems to flow during the last few, vital hours before the paper is due. And I can't really help it if those few hours are usually either deep into the night, or in the wee hours of the early morning. I always do the necessary research with plenty of time and the many valiant, if fruitless, attempts that I always make to start the writing process surely help me in the end, right? But regardless of my efforts, the inspiration simply refuses to come until the lack of time demands its presence.

So, the waning time then becomes both friend (bringing inspiration) and foe (bringing the imminent due date closer and closer) in the battle to win the race. Ironically, I have come out triumphant every time, which strengthens my resolve to become an even more avid responsible procrastinator. I'm becoming quite skilled at eliminating all worry and fretting regarding looming due dates, knowing that good old Time will work his magic in the end, demanding inspiration and a little sweat, and producing an acceptable end product.

You might ask if there was anything in particular that inspired a blog on the last day of finals, five months after my last blog. Yes. There most certainly is. The last due date for my final research paper is quickly approaching, but I haven't quite wasted the last possible minute before I'll have no more to spare, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on this silly situation I put myself in. Really, I was just looking for any half-valid excuse to procrastinate a little bit longer. But I feel the first pangs of panic setting in, wondering how on earth I'm going to finish the paper that I have yet to start by this evening, dreading the grueling hours ahead, but knowing that freedom will shortly be mine. So, I'd better go get started...

Responsible procrastination. It works like a charm for college research papers. But I don't think it's an eternal principle. So, I plan on reforming as soon as this paper is finished today...