I almost feel like a traitor that I have yet to dedicate a post to the STEELERS going to the super bowl tomorrow. My folks are coming up to watch the game here with me. It won't be anything fancy, but we'll have a good ol' time. I'm not usually a football fan; football makes for a great nap in my opinion, however, Steelers games are worth remaining concious.

Cheer the Steelers,
The black and the gold,
Here we go,
The town of Pittsburgh’s heart and soul,
Here we go,
With Iron Mike Tomlin,
And his bag full of tricks,
This is the year we'll get that ring number six!

Roethlisberger fires his gun,
Here we go,
At Ward, Santonio, and Nate Washington,
Here we go,
Fast Willie Parker’s gonna make a touchdown
And if you get in his way, you’re gonna look like a clown

Now the offense is ready to score,
Here We Go
And there’s one thing we know for sure,
Here We Go
If we don’t get it in the end zone,
We’ll get 3 points off of Jeff Reed's toe.

We got Farrior, Porter, Haggans,
Here We Go
Polamalu, Hoke and Townsend,
Here We Go
The other team won't get any ground
'Cause the defense is gonna bring the steel curtain down.

why c-section

So I have been asked about 50 times, why Simon is going to be delivered via c-section. Here's the down-low...or whatever it is the kids are saying these days.

When I had Ava, I woke up at 5am with contractions already 7 minutes apart. By 8:30 am I was 2 minutes apart and on my way to the hospital. I don't remember all the dialation etc stuff, but I stayed 2 minutes apart until like 11am. They gave me a shot of morphine--and told me to come back later. We went to Joye's and had pancakes--they were the most delicious pancakes of my entire existance. I dont' remember much, because the morphine made me slip in and out of conciousness and did NOTHING for the pain. NEVER ACCEPT THE MORPHINE!!! I remember being on Joye's bed and just crying, as the pain got worse, and Chris carried me back to the car. This was about 1:30. The nurses immediately called in my favorite person in the whole world, Dr. Silver--aka anestesiologist. The contractions got harder and faster, but the rest of my labor didn't progress. Instead of dialating and softening, the lady parts closed up shop. About 4, they noticed that every time I contracted, Ava's heart rate dropped. Since my doctor was not available, I had about 3 different "on call" docs. About 7pm, Dr. Margit Lister came on duty. She walked in, checked out the chart, and about 2 minutes later I was wheeled down to surgery. Ava's chord was wrapped around her twice. Dr. Lister delivered her and saved her life. It was decided that since Ava was only a 7lb 3oz baby, and I definately have the child baring hip space, that there was no explaination as to why my body wouldn't progress. So, my doc advised that future children should also come c-section, to avoid tearing my scars and save the babies from the fetal stress.
Also, I had a really great and easy recovery from Ava's birth. I did not have the trauma and horrific pains I have read and heard about people having from a vaginal birth. Quite frankly, if my doctor told me I had to give birth vaginally I'd probably get down on my knubby knees and beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg for the alternative.
Well there ya go. That's "why" Simon is coming via c-section. Hope that satisfies curiosity.
The end.

dear deb,
you know what eating a dozen cookies a day does to you? It makes the scale read numbers in this order 179.2 with 6 very long glorious weeks of weight gain to go. In the next 6 weeks, Simon "theoretically" will gain 1/2 a pound a week...so 3 pounds...meaning there's a good chance you'll put another 10-15 on. HORRAY! You get the wonderful experience of needing to lose 40 pounds when he comes out. HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!! twenty-five pounds on so far...just to put that into perspective...THAT'S AVA AT AGE 2!!!

Ok...vent...not really over. but I'm going to attempt to quit dwelling. Fat Chance. Anyone want to lend me a treadmill?

so...sanity...obviously not my strong point--especially during late stages of pregnancy. Thanks to those who endure me and my bouts of depression, aggravation, and all around not pleasantness. Today in relief society, the lesson was on Finding Joy in the Journey. I know the President Monson is a true prophet, but...I cannot believe that I will miss piles of laundry. I guess I need more faith. I really had a rough day Saturday. I spent most of the afternoon throwing a really intense pity party and then...about 4 hours into it, I realized I had baskets of clean laundry waiting for "tomorrow" to arrive so they could be put away. I got to work on them. I also washed all the dirty laundry that had accumulated. It's amazing what relief can come from just ....getting to work. The mundane task that I had been avoiding all week, was exactly what I needed. Did it snap me back to reality and pure joy? Oh heavens no. But it did get me out of bed and today, I was grateful not to trip over a basket of folded clean laundry. Chris was grateful to have clean dress socks magically waiting in his sock bin, and Ava was more than happy to wear the clean dress and tights. It sure made Sunday morning easier--haha but then again, so did the fact that for some reason our alarm was 30 minutes fast this morning...so we woke up thinking we had 30 minutes to get ready, and we really had an hour.
Another constant lately that puts my life into perspective is having Matt & Angie for neighbors. Can I just say that their life the last 7 weeks...has been one trial after another? Moses! Talk about refiner's fire. Poor baby Flash (Colton) has been at Primary Children's since Friday. He is a complete mystery to every doctor. His heart scans as perfect, but refuses to cooperate when he falls asleep. He nearly went into cardiac arrest about 3am. As you can imagine, they are beside themselves with worry, frustration...I can't even begin to think how it must feel to them to have no answer as to why he is not well. Angie never complains. It's amazing to me. She just smiles and endures...I guess is a good way to put it. She has such strength. I am so fortunate to have her as a friend and example in my life. Colton is scheduled to stay at PC until at least Tuesday...they don't want to send him home until they know why his heart is irregular.
Ava is boundless energy today. She has been run-run-run for hours and is still going. It's 11pm. She's bathing now, so maybe that will help to calm her. No more chocolate chip cookies for her. Speaking of which, I made some today--ate about a dozen....and now need to be rid of them. Please come take them from me.

Becca, you're totally with me on this.

Um, I'm so tired. Today my phone has been ringing non stop. It's GREAT that Inwest is busy; I just forgot what life is like when we are rockin and rollin. Madison is here keeping Ava company in the princess tent. YEAY princess tent. I have yet to hear a scream or cry and it's been almost a full 30 minutes. HAHA! Sweetness. Um, whatelse? The plumbers came today to do the bathroom stuff. They were quiet-even with a jackhammer in tow, very friendly and so clean! Seriously, every crew that comes in, leaves my basement with no trace of their visit-other than improvments. I'm extremely impressed. Tomorrow the electrician comes to finish what Chris started. It's moving right along. Pictures may be posted tonight. No promises.
Sandi has been gone for 2 weeks. She's not coming back either for another week. I miss her. I hope she's enjoying the weather down there. I'd be in St George if I could be. Away from the snow; away from the inversion; away from...my laundry. :)

are we there yet?

So...I'm to that point in pregnancy, where climbing my stairs takes WAY more effort and energy than it should. I'm not sure if it's because I've been on the go non stop for the last couple of weeks, or just where I am in the stage of pregnancy, but I cannot remember ever being so tired and....fatigued? is that the right word? I've decided that I hate laundry, and am thus going to a laundromat tomorrow to do it all in one fail swoop, because climbing 12 stairs over and over with baskets full of clothes-clean or dirty-is the most unappealing thought to me. I am beyond caring that I have my own perfectly functional washer and dryer. I also have lost the desire to sport any clothing not made of flannel and a great arch support. The underwire in my bra is about to face a seriously heinous death. Whose bright idea was it to stick wire under my boobs anyway? As if anything could hold these ever growing beasts off my -again-every growing stomach. Let's get serious. All it does is bore into my stomach making me ever the more grouchy. DOWN WITH UNDERWIRE! I'm going to visit Lactation Station soon and then my bra hostility will be numbed for a bit. W00t. I loved Mother Hen Maternity, but they have been replaced with a Cuddle Haven-and now, I have to travel to Salt Lake for a nursing bra store. *sigh* Wow, I'm a sour puss. SURPRISE!

Hey good news though-shocking I know! Kira and Blake came to see me today. I was totally caught off guard and hugged her for a freakishly long time. I was scared if I let her go, she'd disappear. She's been in CO for the last 3 months. *sigh* and will be here a week...before departing for San Jose, CA--where her next assignment is. It's been good for their family, because she makes a crap load more as a traveling nurse, but I've missed my best girl friend. Kira knows the stress and anxiety and craziness of my life and has experienced it all and then some. She's also lived with me for 2 years during college, so she knows the craziness of my mind as well. Next to Chris, she probably knows me better than anyone. She could probably give Chris a run for his money acutally ;) I loved having her here. They promised to visit one more time before heading to Cali. I'd be so spoiled if they did. Jen and Ava played dress up the whole time, and make up and giggled and were SO cute. it was as if they'd never been apart. Jayden is so tall! Almost taller than Ava. He's no longer the chunk-a-doodle he was last summer. He's still all smiles!

uncontainable excitement

So tonight, after dinner while Ava was taking her 2nd bath of the day--her idea, not mine--Chris suggested we take her to FYE to let her run down. We've been trying to get her down by 9:30 and figure letting her run around a massive store is usually a winning choice. So while there, we bought THE HOST!!! It was 40% off so it was only $15!!! And THEEEEEEEEEEEEEN....we pre-ordered TWILIGHT BLU RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yes!! I'm so flipping out. We also purchased the devil wears prada, because it's a fabulous movie and MERYL, and was on sale. Anyway, all in all I"m pretty stoked. Oh yes, I also scored a $10 pair of dress pants for Ash at NEW YORK AND CO. 70% sale. uhhh insane. So unfair that it's going on while I'm pregnant.

BLU-RAY TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be having a massive party. Becca--you and Bryant must attend. Simon will only be about ooooooh 3 weeks old...so no sick persons allowed.

So I just finished the Twilight series. I realize I'm months behind the true fans, but hey..until this last month I didn't have the time really to set aside to read the way I do. I'm a 100% obsessive reader. Once I get into a book-let alone a series-don't come looking for me, because I am of no good to anyone until I've completed the story. I LOVED this series. After reading Twilight last year, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading the series. I'd invested 6 straight hours to the book--and knew that I didn't have the energy to really invest into the next. Besides, I knew if I got hooked, waiting for the other books was not going to be a pleasant experience. I have nearly zero patience. So, when the Twilight movie came out...the previews made it look almost cheesy. I heard mixed reviews-again-and finally agreed to see it with Ash. The version she had was bootlegged--I'd never seen a pirated movie before-but she said it was a good verison? It peaked my interest, although, the dialog was muffled and the picture, not so great. Plus I felt supreme guilt for watching an illegal copy of it. Angie and I went to see it the next Saturday. It had been out almost 2 months, and we bought the last 2 tickets in the theatre. Bad Bad BAD seats. I'm pretty sure my seat was a handicap seat actually. I had some issues with the film style, but overall, a great production. True to the book--as far as books to movies go. I started reading New Moon a few days later, when Chris convinced me to get the Ebook. I went right to Eclipse and this last week finished Breaking Dawn. I also went to Stephanie Meyer's sight and read what she's posted for "Midnight Sun" If anyone wants to take pitchforks and hunt down the moron who released it early and thus keeps us all from having that book for another 2-4 years, please count me in. It's GENIOUS. and I'm so disappointed they ruined it for all of us. I really hope she is able to continue it one day. It brings so much insight into the series on the Cullens as a whole-not just Edward. For those who have not seen Twilight-a word of caution. It's still selling out every weekend at the Megaplex in Ogden--which is, let's face it-the only theater worth going to in the Davis/Weber county area. You can already pre-order your DVD copy from Amazon.com also. I'm waiting for the Blu-ray to become available before preordering. That's going to be AWESOME!!! So yes, I'm behind, or rather, just now catching up. I want to get a copy of her book "The Host." Her ability to build characters that matter to the reader is AMAZING! No wonder she's a fan of Orson Scott Card, who also shares this talent of excellent character development. Can you imagine going from mom one day to become a phenomenon the way she has? Oh it's just your average day...and then suddenly you're offered $750,000 for a series. And then...oh here's a $500,000 deal for the FIRST book, so that we can make a multi-million dollar producing movie. How surreal.
I'm now out of reading material. The only thing keeping me up at night is my rib kicking baby and the occassional Ava 3am visit. Somehow, reading while Simon attempts to kick his way out of my rib cage, makes it less aggrivating. Ahh distraction.
I'm craving heath icecream. and cookies. and all things bad for me. Time to down some water. yeay.

Today we did an experiment. NO TV! It was lovely. At 6:30 tonight, I left Ava put on Money Money aka Mama Mia! so that I could do dinner. She loves this movie and sings along to every song. Apparently Musical Theater is a genetic disease. Let's pray she has better dancing skills than her parents. Neither of us is even remotely functional when it comes to choreography.

Ava was up at her usual 7:30am. WHO'S KID IS THIS?? I was not extremely pleased that this pattern is continuing. 10:30-7:30...not long enough for a toddler, let alone a mommy. So I played dead until about 8:30 when she asked me to help her find her Barbie--which of course, she had left in Ashley's room the night before. We played and she asked to look at pictures. I put on a slide show of family pictures over the last few years from our archive. She passed out about 9:30 and slept until almost 1pm. HORRAY!!!!

Our framer is quite possibly coming tomorrow to complete the framing, and fix the problems the previous owners so generously created when they did some down there. I made speghetti tonight--ahh the 30 cent dinner wonder. Now I'm ready for bed. hahaha as I sit here, I'm literally fighting to keep my eyes open. *sigh* Chris is right, I am the old married couple wife.

I did not at all even come close to my 90 ounces (no joke) of water that I'm supposed to be downing. I think I got to about....32. If I catch up now, there will be no sleep for this mom. I'm telling you man. Sheesh! I realize that if I'm awake for 12 hours, that drinking even 10 0unces an hour would more than help me make my goal....but seriously, it's like knowing I have to get that in, makes it nearly impossible to get water down. I'm a wuss is what it really comes down to.
Ok my brain is officially off the clock and refusing to create thoughts in general.

Right on track...

c is for cookie craving

My only cravings lately have bee Countrytime Strawberry Lemonade and fresh homemade chocolate chip (walnuts optional) cookies. I can't get enough of either. And neither is really all that healthy for me. I mean...lemoade isn't toxic to me or anything, but it does have a high sugar and sodium content. And the cookies. Like, last week when Jeff was here-I made a HUGE batch of cookies. Matt had hinted --ever so slightly hahaha- that if I made cookies to feel free to bring some over. I figured I'd make some for Chris and Jeff to enjoy while working in the freezing basement, make my house smell good and share some cookies with Angie and Matt. That night we probably ate about 12 of the whole batch--it made about 3 dozen. The next day by 2...they were GONE~! I was mortified and so sad all at the same time. I have no idea how many I ate by myself, but it was surely too many. Then, Friday...yes like 2 days later, I bought the Pilsbury cookie dough to make cookies-I didn't want to deal with the mess of makig the dough. I ate 1/2 the cookies myself again without realizing it. I had to conciously cut myself off. I've never been a massive cookie eater like this before. I mean-don't get me wrong... I love them but a whole dozen or two by myself in a day...not really my thing.

Awww Ava just fell asleep so peacefully watching the old Carebear episode. She looks so sweet and peaceful. I always hate to move her when she falls asleep on the couch--but I know she'll be more comfy and sleep better in her own bed.

Inwest has been really busy the last month--HORRAY~!!! It's so nice to go through the day with requests and feel like I'm useful to the company; it's also great to see the confidece boost in my co-workers and to be able to have fun with this again! It's been so stressful the last 18 months and it just feels so nice to have a relief from that. We're launching some new marketing campaigns, and I've been creating the ads for them--it's been so FUN! yeay for being useful!

So I spent yesterday reading Eclipse. I then had dreams of the characters-awesome. I'm such an obsessive reader. Once I'm pulled into a book, or novel sequence, I can't concentrate on anything else until I've finished the series; so of course I'm a total zombie today, because I didn't finish until 1am. I have some issues with the idea that Bella could become pregnant via vampire--but maybe it'll make more sense when I read it.

For some reason, my wireless internet is working just fine, but my desktop won't connect...probably has to do with the VPN, and since Chris is i class--I'm in the dark work wise for another hour. Frustrating!

I have a serious laundry issue waiting for me upstairs--clean, just needing folded and put away. Clearing out Ava's room and moving her into the nursery that had been set up for Simon sort of made a massive mess in our bedroom. The overwhelming kind that kind of makes you dread starting the clean up process.

The heating and cooling guys are here today doing the work for the basement. It was going to be about $950, but I got him down to $850. Meh...even if we can't finish in one swoop--he'll have heat now and it will be tolerable to be down there. It's been SO cold, that even running wire down there set his cold back like a week. Speaking of school--he started class today. Perhaps that's why I woke with stress already weighing me down.

I'm up to 172. That scared me. I mean...technically I'm still low on weight gain--14 pounds so far. I think I was around 188 when I delivered Ava. I'm at 30 weeks today. So 10 more weeks. well...9 if they do the c-section at week 39. I know weight numbers shouldn't concern me, especially since the doctor says I'm doing really well and that my blood pressure is "beautiful"-hahaha odd phrasing I thought; although it freaks me out to think I might get to 180 again, because man it's hard to lose 30 pounds. Ava will be sure to help me :)

Ok well "money money" aka Mama Mia is ending and I'm going to put Ava down for her nap.