I'm what?!

I decided this morning that if I really am 23 (as of 5 days ago), I guess that is old enough to have a baby. And it's a mighty good thing I've come to that conclusion.

I went to the doctor today. I'm 38 weeks, 5 days pregnant. When Dr. Judd first came in he asked if I had any questions and of course I asked if he could tell when I was going to have this baby. His response: Well, you probably won't make it to have a July baby, but it won't be September, either. Thank you, Dr. Judd. I asked if he could tell how big Little Boy will be when he's born and he said probably on the smaller end of normal-- low 7 lbs. Then he checked me out and casually said.... "Well, looks like you might not be making it to your due date after all." WHAT!?! He said that Little Boy is really low and I'm 80% effaced, but not dilated at all. According to Dr Judd, usually first timers dilate and efface at the same time, but that I'm not that coordinated and am doing one then the other. He also said that since baby is so low, I've got very limited bladder space, probably walk slowly, can't cross my legs, and have a hard time getting out of the car and bed. None of that was really news to me---I'm living it, after all...but it kind of makes me feel good to know that he knows what's going on in all of this.

I still just can't believe that he thinks I'm going to have this baby so SOON! All along I've been assuming I'd be late, probably going a week or so over and maybe having to be induced at that point. He said he'd see me next week and to let them know if I have the baby before then (Thanks, Dr. J---I'd kind of like you to be there!) and he said that I'll probably be to the point next week where they can start me if I want them to. We'll see. I can almost hear my mom screaming all the way from Georgia NOT to do that! And I probably won't. (She gets here on the 11th) I'm really not to the point of just wanting to be done with it all. I have my moments, but I'm still content being pregnant for now.

Ever since my appointment a few hours ago I've been going back and forth between being so giddy and excited that I just giggle---and being so shocked and overwhelmed and in disbelief that I freeze. Of course, anything is possible. I could go late after all. But I just really can't believe it could be so soon!

But I never heard them ringing...till there was you

You may have noticed the new playlist. You may even hate the playlist. If so, press pause, and please don't let that keep you from visiting. The songs are really for me and not for you anyway.
Remember how I work at home? Well, a guy's got to have music, so some days I work and just listen. If you enjoy my songs too, all the better. Who knows? You might find something you love or just become more cultured.
If you enjoy this one, you might try the playlists on these two blogs: Don Emily
Those two siblings have pretty good lists, and there isn't much overlap with this one.

I think i could easily fill half a dozen of these lists (they only hold 100 songs each). If you do listen and happen to find something unsettling, please comment and let us know. We haven't listened through all of them, and some are versions we're not accustomed to, but we wanted the songs.
We hope you enjoy all 76 trombones and 110 cornets!

P.S. I already know the Sting version of Someone to Watch Over Me has wonky sound quality part way through.

At a recent baby shower organized by Mollie, Starla and Suzanna, the attendants played a game called "how well do you know Natalie." I invited myself to the party. I got to hear the responses and determined that I know my wife pretty well. Anyway, here are some additional things you may or may not know about my cute wife:
Natalie has really cute toes. They don't even remotely resemble peanuts! She gets really excited when watching big fireworks shows. She has a large snow globe collection (most of them are still in Georgia). Ella entiende mucho de español, pero realmente no lo hablan. She is deathly allergic to cats. Deathly for the cats, sneezy for her. She is naturally very curious. Curiosity killed the cat, you know? She would prefer receiving some gifts requiring assembly. Be careful looking into her eyes. You might get sucked in and go into a trance....well, she does have really pretty blue eyes. Hmm, perhaps we'll have blond haired, blue eyed children. She is very creative and talented. Natalie is more kind than Princess Di and Lady Theresa, put together. She really wants to be a good mom. She's been consciously preparing for it her whole life. She sometimes talks in her sleep. One night I was woken up by hysterical laughter. I still don't know what was so funny, but it sure was fun. I like this quote by Sheri Dew (what would Sheri Dew?): "No amount of time in front of the mirror will make you as attractive as having the Holy Ghost with you." Natalie's faith enhances her natural beauty.
Happy Birthday Natalie. I love your guts. More than jelly beans and symphony bars. That's love.

One year older and wiser, too...

At a recent baby shower organized by Mollie, Starla and Suzanna, the attendants played a game called "how well do you know Natalie." I invited myself to the party. I got to hear the responses and determined that I know my wife pretty well. Anyway, here are some additional things you may or may not know about my cute wife:

Natalie has really cute toes. They don't even remotely resemble peanuts! She gets really excited when watching big fireworks shows. She has a large snow globe collection (most of them are still in Georgia). Ella entiende mucho de español, pero realmente no lo hablan.
She is deathly allergic to cats. Deathly for the cats, sneezy for her.
She is naturally very curious. Curiosity killed the cat, you know?
She would prefer receiving some gifts requiring assembly. Be careful looking into her eyes. You might get sucked in and go into a trance....well, she does have really pretty blue eyes. Hmm, perhaps we'll have blond haired, blue eyed children.
She is very creative and talented. Natalie is more kind than Princess Di and Lady Theresa, put together.
She really wants to be a good mom. She's been consciously preparing for it her whole life.
She sometimes talks in her sleep. One night I was woken up by hysterical laughter. I still don't know what was so funny, but it sure was fun.
I like this quote by Sheri Dew (what would Sheri Dew?): "No amount of time in front of the mirror will make you as attractive as having the Holy Ghost with you." Natalie's faith enhances her natural beauty.

Happy Birthday Natalie. I love your guts. More than jelly beans and symphony bars. That's love.

2 1/2 weeks to go!

16 days til my due date! I really can't believe it is so soon! Of course that doesn't mean Little Boy will really be here in 16 days, but he will be within 23 days. My doctor will induce for non-medical reasons when you're 1 week overdue. Actually that falls on a Sunday, so 24 days. That seems so much longer than 16 days! When I went for my weekly check-up on Wednesday, Dr. J said that Little Boy's head is now "engaged" or that he's "dropped" ---which is really great news because the week before, the nurse who checked me said that Little Boy was trying to turn sideways. Dr. J also said that I'm not dilated or effaced or anything yet. I have woken up in the night a couple of times with what I guess are contractions (or just Braxton Hicks? ---I really don't know what it is supposed to feel like since I've never done this before!) and that has been enough to make me decide for sure that I want an epidural. It is only going to be a hundred times more than whatever I'm feeling now, and I already don't like that...so why feel it if I don't have to?

I've had a lot of people ask if I'm nervous/scared/excited/fill-in-the-blank ...and the answer is yes and no--- I think mostly I am just anxious to see how it is all going to play out. Will my water break? Where will I be? When will I start having real contractions? How long will we hang out at home and wait around before going to the hospital? When we really do go to the hospital, will I be admitted or sent home to wait some more? How long will I be in labor? Will I be able to handle it without the epidural for a while (or for the whole thing---ha!)? Will everything go smoothly? What if I have to have an emergency c-section? Will everything be ok with the baby? Will it be Dr. J on call at the time to deliver Little Boy or will it be some other doctor? WHEN WILL LITTLE BOY COME??? It's all just a waiting game I guess! I really like to plan things out and know what is going to happen & when, so it all kind of drives me crazy to wait & see...but there's not much else I can do I suppose! We're still working on getting things ready. There are just a few necessities that we don't have yet (like newborn sized diapers & wipes) and some other things that would be nice to have when Little Boy comes (like a diaper bag, boppy, and changing table pad thing) so I might go shopping soon to get those things. Other than that, I think most everything can wait a little bit.

I just noticed that this is kind of long and rambly. I'm bored. Sorry.

All you experienced moms out there---a few questions:

What things did you find useful to have in your hospital bag?

What new-baby goods & gear would you recommend?

Shirts Family Reunion

We had the Shirts Family Reunion last week, from Wednesday through Sunday. It was a lot of fun to get together with everyone and to be able to just hang out and visit. This was Jack's parents, their 6 kids, and 14 of the 15 grand kids... plus TWO in the womb. I think Jack is going to post all the details, but here are the pictures!

Climb Every Mountain

Or if not, at least climb the same mountain 13 times. On Friday, Aaron, Maren & I hiked to the top of Mt. Timpanogos. Natalie didn't want to join us for some reason. This was my 13th time making the ascent in almost 17 years. I made the first trip with my brothers and dad on Labor Day when I had just started fourth grade.
Notwithstanding our experience (it was Aaron's ninth trip up, or something like that), this was possibly the most difficult. We took a fairly aggressive pace, and for a less-than-perfectly-fit guy like me, it was rigorous to say the least. We made it from the Aspen Grove trail head to the tip top in just under 5 1/2 hours (summit elevation is 11,749 ft). We saw plenty of mountain goats near the half-way point. Don't forget the mountain goats!
It's still considered early in the hiking season on the mountain. There was tons of snow. We passed some pansy-men who were shocked to see us just walking across the steep snow patches. They were crouched and moving very slowly. Doesn't this picture remind you of Alaska during the Gold Rush?We were expecting a spectacular sunset view from the saddle or the top, but apparently due to the California fires, the sky was filled with smoke (I'm pretty sure this also affected my breathing). But we made it! Oh, sweet victory! Too bad you still have the whole trip down after a victorious ascent.









We decided to slide down the glacier, and were glad for bringing headlamps. Sliding down in the dark was scary and exhilarating. Maren was very brave to slide down after Aaron had just screamed for two minutes straight before coming to a stop. It was similar to going down the alpine slide, only without a sled or padding, and the slide was ice instead of cement. very bumpy. My backside is still a little bruised. The two lights in the picture are Maren and Aaron below me on the ice.

All in all, it was a success. I'll probably do it again next year. When the thrill is gone and the pain and fatigue set in, I'll probably ask myself why I'm doing it again. But who wants to end with number 13?

The long-awaited car seat & stroller

It took a while to decide which car seat & stroller to go with, and then once we decided, it was out of stock... so after waiting 1 1/2 months for it to come in, Babies R Us finally got it! We went on Saturday night and picked it up and then came home to play :) I read a ton of reviews online and, to me, one of the biggest downfalls to this stroller was that people said it came almost fully assembled. Sure, that may seem like a desirable thing, but I like to play with stuff and put things together. But I guess that isn't really a fair thing to base the decision on so we got it anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised that there was a little bit of assembly to do--- more than just snapping the wheels on, at least. Still not a ton, but some. (If anyone out there is buying a stroller or something else that needs assembling, I'm your guy...err...girl).

And here we are with the final product:

So now it is sitting there in our apartment, just waiting for Little Boy to come along and use it. I guess it is ok that we didn't buy it sooner because it is just sitting around for now. But it sure is fun to have! I get excited every time I see it.

Babies!

Starla, Mollie, and Suzanna gave me a baby shower on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and the food & decorations were really nice. ...I'll have to get a picture from Mollie.

Mystery

Maybe I've just become more aware of doors since the genius video a few posts ago. But this is just weird.

I feel fairly confident in saying that I have gone to the bathroom at work over 1,000 times since I started working in this office last May. These past few months especially. How is it then that, for the first time ever, I noticed a door right across from the bathroom? See my sketch for how totally un-missable this door should have been. How could I miss it?

Now it kind of creeps me out when I see it there. What else is lurking around here that I just haven't noticed yet?

July 4, etc.

We had a pretty typical (and great) Forth of July... We went to the parade in Provo in the morning. If I tell our secret, you can't copy us because if everyone does it, it won't work...so I'm trusting you. Half of Provo goes to the parade super early and camps out to claim their spot on blankets in the very front or in chairs behind the blankets. Jack's brilliant idea, that has proven to work well for 2 years now, is to go just before it starts and to take stools to sit on. We just find a place where there aren't people standing up (or squeeze in front of them), plop down our stools, and enjoy the benefits of sitting during the parade without the hassle of arriving super early & camping out. Brilliant, eh?

We watched the parade with some friends...here I am with my fellow pregnant friends.


Jack & I went up to Bountiful and had an indoor (too hot outside!!!) BBQ with family and then watched fireworks that night. The show was short (15 minutes), and we were attacked by sprinklers and sharp sticker things in the grass, but it was still lots of fun. I love fireworks! It's not the Forth of July without them! We got to enjoy a couple other shows from a distance as we drove, too.


Not much of a story here... I was tied in and I guess I had to finish my dinner before I was allowed to get up from the table?













We're making progress in getting ready for the arrival of Little Boy. My due date is ONE MONTH from today! Last weekend we did some more cleaning and rearranging and got the bassinet set up next to our bed. We're getting really excited to meet this little person!

Doors.

Do you ever laugh so hard that you cry? Me too.

Any clouds in the Sky?

I needed a good excuse to vacuum out my car. But this was not what I was expecting.

Yesterday morning I was driving home from an appointment in Sandy. I had just come to the bottom of the hill after passing the point of the mountain. When out of nowhere...
POP! Kkshshshsh!

Hearing the loud pop (maybe from a rock, piece of tire, or hardened vegetable remnant hitting my window--who knows?), I instinctively turned my head away from the sound. A split second later, my driver's side window was flying in a million pieces. As if the proverbial German-aria-singing Fat Lady was a little sharp on the high notes, the window shattered.

Glass shards shot in at me with the force of a rogue astronaut who accidentally opened the space hatch without first securing himself to the shuttle wall.

Although glass covered every surface in the car, including me, I didn't receive so much as a scratch. Thanks, Mom, for always praying for my safety. I feel very blessed.

So now my beautiful '87 Honda that has a leaky sunroof when it rains, is also missing a window. Bring on the rain!