40 weeks

Well, today is my due date! And it looks as though it has come and gone. As I'm heading to bed, I figure that even if I go into labor, she wouldn't be born until the 28th.
Overall, I'm actually feeling pretty good today. All things considered, I haven't been too sore or uncomfortable, and I've been in a pretty good mood. It's been kind of up and down the past few weeks with regards to how I'm feeling. I've had sore hips, achy back, swollen feet. Sometimes I have a really hard time finding a comfortable position. It turns out that I really like sitting in our banana chairs. Who knew?
This has definately been the most uncomfortable part of pregnancy for me. Up to now I've had it pretty easy.
People have been asking me for a while, "Are you ready?" I can now say that yes, I am ready to have this baby. I am ready to welcome her into the world. In addition to wanting certain discomforts to end, I'm also feeling more prepared for her arrival. The nursury is ready to go (well, all the needful things - I still don't have any curtains or things on the wall, but that wasn't high on my priority list), and the carseat is installed in the car. I'm feeling more prepared mentally. I've been taking time to read about newborns and infants in the collection of books I've bought while I'm pregant. I know that I'll learn best from experience, but it feels good to go into parenthood with some background knowledge. With all of this time and preparation, I'm also now feeling more ready emotionally.
So stay tuned. Look for a blog post in the near future (we hope)!

Touch-itis

I have contracted an unusual disorder. Its primary target is the left hand. The joints of the left hand become stiff, it hurts to open your hands all the way. You can't grasp things easily. Then your wrist hurts. I had been suffering for several days. I didn't know what was causing it. I was complaining to Christine and wondering what I did to my hand to make it hurt so much. I thought about seeing a doctor. Then I figured out the culprit.---My new Ipod touch, or rather my addiction to my Ipod touch. See, I was holding the touch the same way for quite a while each day. By the way, leaving your hand in the same position for a long time will make it hurt. But while I contracted this new disorder, there are several benefits. Here are few things I like about my new Ipod touch.

• Scriptures - I used to have them on my "Palm", but I couldn't download new stuff because it got so full. Now I have anything the church has published.
• Budgeting - I have found an app that help us manage our budgets. (Mint.com)
• Another one that allows me to scan bar codes and find out how much things cost in several stores.
• All my email is in one place. I have something like 7 email accounts. I just don't know how to get rid of email accounts. However, for some reason my Ipod touch makes everyone who has ever contacted me at my work email be in my contact list, including all the junk mail addresses.
• Free texting - I haven't taken advantage of this one much yet. Mostly because I haven't told very many people that I have a number just for texting. But it should become useful. I have had people send a text to my phone and not know that I don't get texting on my phone. Well, now there is a way. But I don't want to ever become someone who texts a ton, and I am limited to how many texts I can send/receive.
• I found an app for timing contractions, which might come in handy in the next few weeks.
• Then there are those addicting games that you can get for free. This is the primary cause of Touch-itis by the way.
• Weather apps - It is nice to be able to check the weather almost instantly.
• Gas prices - There is an app that allows you to check gas prices by zip code.
• There are some engineering apps that I use too.
• Sometimes it is just fun to browse and find things that you can get for free.
• Music - I have downloaded just about my entire music collection and a lot of Christine's.

My Touch-itis is getting better. If I am going to use my Ipod now, I hold it differently each time. I also set it down and use it. But my left hand/wrist still hurts from time to time. Consider yourself warned about this growing epidemic. I hope Christine doesn't catch it :).

Book Recommendation for Wives and Mothers

Here is a book that I highly recommend to all of you wives and mothers out there. It is called Being the Mom: 10 Coping Strategies I Learned by Accident Because I Had Children on Purpose, written by Emily Watts. A few months ago I was at the DI and picked up a variety of parenting books. This one caught my eye and I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did!
It's a fun and quick read with lots of great advice. As I read it, I felt that she was a kindred spirit - I really connected with what she was saying. Here are some excerpts from my favorite chapter:

"Strategy 9: Be Grateful for the Things You Have to Do"

She talked about the stress and frustration that can come with planning, shopping for, cooking, and cleaning up after meals. I go through cycles where I just don't want to cook, get really frustrated, am tired of "the same old meals," etc. But she really helped me put things in perspective: "The fact that I have to cook each day suggests that we live in a time and place where food is abundant. If I have to plan the meals, all that means is that we have a wide spectrum of possibilities to choose from. I get to exercise judgment and creativity on a daily basis in an activity that helps build unity, comfort, and physical strength in my family."

She also talks about laundry, and how blessed we are to have an abundance of clothing, as well as access to machines that will do the washing for us. I know these are pretty straightforward and simple concepts, but it really helped to put things in perspective.

Let me finish my thoughts on this chapter with one last quote: "I realize that to some people this seems Pollyannaish to the point of gagging. ... But, hey, I just figure that if there's something I'm going to end up doing anyway, I might as well do my best to find some joy in it. The truth is that our greatest blessings and our greatest trials seem to often come in the same package, and if we wish away the trials, we forgo the blessings as well."

I know I've been taught this principle over and over in the scriptures and various Sunday School and Relief Society lessons (and, in case you're wondering, the author is LDS), but it just really hit home when she put it in terms of the day-to-day frustrations we deal with.

Some of my other favorite strategies are:

Strategy 3: Be Discerning: Sometimes a One-Mile Effort is Enough

Strategy 7: If It Can Be Vacuumed Up, Wiped Off, or Washed Out, Don't Worry about It

Strategy 10: Remember That the Years Fly By, Even though Some of the Days Are Mighty Long

A lot of the advice in this book are things I've heard before. But the way she says it and the experiences she shares just clicked with me. I encourage you to check it out. It sure gave me a boost!

Nesting Project - Cosette's Clothes

Since I stopped working a few weeks ago, I have had a lot of energy to clean and organize and get things ready for Cosette's arrival. Everyone I've talked to calls this "nesting." I have been working on a series of projects and tasks each week, prioritizing those that I think are most important (because you never know - Cosette could be early!).

Lately, one of my projects was organizing Cosette's clothes. I first went through everything and made sure my sister's clothes were labeled (she's just lending them to me). I also removed the tags on my new clothes and labeled them, too. Then I washed everything in the baby detergent I bought (5 loads). Here is a picture of the laundry dumped on our queen size bed.

Next, I sorted everything into piles by type of clothing - onesies, pants, shirts, dresses, hats, jackets, bibs, burp rags, socks, bloomers, tights.... I then went through each of these piles and further sorted them by size.

Last, I put everything away in Cosette's dresser. I knew that I didn't want all of this sorting to go to waste, so I decided to use dividers. I bought some for my sock drawer when Jeff and I got married and have loved using them. But with 4 dresser drawers to organize for Cosette, I didn't want to spend a ton of money to buy all of those dividers and organizers. So I looked around the house and used a combination of shoe boxes, scraps of Plexiglas, and pieces of a Wii box I cut up. I am very pleased with the result and have included pictures below.

It felt so good to get all of that put away! Not everything fit in the dresser. A few larger items of clothing went in a bin under her crib, and I'm hanging up her dresses and jackets in the closet. By the way - the hangers I've gotten with the 2 and 3 piece outfits, the ones that have a pant clip attached, are perfect for hanging up the dresses that have a matching bloomer or bonnet.

We are going to have one stylish little girl! Thank you to everyone who has gifted us with clothing. It is such a blessing not having to spend money on her clothing for the first few months.

A lot of endings

Yesterday I was released from my calling as Primary President. I really enjoyed working with the children in the ward. I'm still going to make an effort to know their names and say hi to them at church, but it won't be the same.
This is also my last week at work. It feels like the right time to leave. I've worked there for 3 1/2 years, and it's been a big part of my life. I met Jeff through my boss at La Europa. I earned my Level 2 teaching license this past year. I have been part of a close knit faculty that has felt like extended family. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a variety of students. I feel like I've really had an impact on many of their lives, as they've had an impact on mine.
As Jeff and I prepare for Cosette's arrival, a lot of chapters of my life are ending. But I know I'm about to begin the most important chapter of my life: motherhood.
When my students asked me today why I'm not coming back to work after having the baby, I told them that it's because I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. That's what I've always wanted to be "when I grow up." (So, I guess I'm officially grown up now.)
I know that I don't really understand what I'm in store for. But I'm looking forward to the mixture of challenges and joys that I know motherhood will bring.

Crib

I was really excited when Jeff put the crib together a few weeks ago (it was a very thoughtful Christmas gift for me). But after we bought the bedding, it feels more official. Here's a picture of what the bedding looks like. I love it because it's cute but not too girly.

Sometimes I like to go into the nursery at night and stroke the comfortor, imagining Cosette sleeping in the crib. It won't be too long now!

New Car!

We are now the proud owners of a 2009 Ford Focus. It has about 13,500 miles on it.
At first we were fairly set on a Kia Forte - it looked great on paper - but decided against it after test driving it. It just didn't fit.
We went downtown in Salt Lake on Wednesday afternoon (the day our rental coverage ended) to test drive our future car. It's fuel efficient, reliable, and I LOVE the color. I have always secretly wanted a subtle metallic color. This shade is called light ice blue metallic. Jeff calls it Tinker Bell Blue, but I'm pretty sure he likes it, too. It's not too girly, right?
We thought it was kinda cool that the name of the place we bought it from was called Anderson Motor Co. We wondered if they'd give us an extra discount for having the same name... but no such luck. It was a small, family owned car lot that had good reviews online (we checked before we went), and I was very pleased with the service.
It started snowing while we were signing the papers, so we got to drive home on slippery roads. Fortunately, the car did just fine.
Here are some of our likes and dislikes. A lot of the dislikes stem from differences between our new car and our old car, so they're really just things we'll have to get used to.

Likes

• color
• how it handles - more "get up and go," wheel placement
  
• two sets of keys with remotes - the Toyota only had one
  
• has a button on the remotes for the trunk - our last car didn't have this
• driver's seat height is adjustable
• size of the trunk - a little larger than our last car, but the car length overall is shorter... how does that work?

Dislikes (Things we'll have to get used to)

• lights are not automatic - we actually didn't realize this until after we'd bought it... we got pretty used to having automatic lights in our last car
• no good storage space to put our sunglasses
• windshield wiper control - it's on the left instead of the right side of the steering wheel, you can't flick it to spray the windshield (if you flick it, it's the turn signal)