The Mysterious Baby Booth

The home owners returned today after serving an 18-month mission in Frankfurt, Germany. In preparation for their arrival, we've been working overtime cleaning, mowing, weeding and doing every other miserable task associated with keeping a home. I'm pleased to say the cleaning is DONE! I just hope they're pleased with it. We should hear from them once they've had a chance to settle back in.

Earlier in the week I decided to give-in to my curiosity and paid to get a 3D ultrasound from my doctor's office. I'm just over 32 weeks which gave me a 50/50 chance of getting any shots at all. They like to do the 3D ultrasounds when you are between 28-32 weeks - before the baby gets too big and moves into the head down position. In spite of baby's efforts to shield his face the tech was able to get a few pics . I'm having issues pulling the images from the disk, so you'll have to settle for these. I'll try to post more later when I have more time to fuss with them...

I kind of freaked when I saw this 2D image - baby has some serious lips going on.


Here are the 3D. They're crummy quality since I had to take a picture of a picture... but you get the idea. There's definitely a baby in there. I just don't know who he looks like... or where those lips came from.




When they did the ultrasound they said the baby was breech. I'm hoping he'll get himself turned around and into the head down position over the next 8 weeks. He is very active these days. Things are getting less comfortable everyday - especially when he's pushing against my ribs or out against my stomach. I'm convinced one of these days he's going to break through and I'll see a little baby hand waving at me... or worse, he'll eat his way through with that huge mouth of his!

In other news, we started our prenatal class this evening. It's a fun class and the teacher has a great sense of humor. It was helpful for both of us to learn more about labor and delivery. Obviously the idea of it all still terrifies me, but it's nice to know what's in store. I had made up my mind before, but the class pretty much solidified my decision - I am definitely pro-epidural. This is one scenario where "no pain, no gain" does not apply. The drugs were invented for a reason and I intend on taking full advantage of them. End of story.

Home Sweet Home

It's not completely sweet yet, but the apartment is definitely starting to feel like home. I thought it would be awful, but honestly we're enjoying the change. Well, aside from the fishbowl factor. I have to remind myself constantly that the neighbors have full viewing access into our unit. Walking around in undies is a no-no.

Here are some pics I took a few minutes ago documenting our progress so far. Things are extremely... cozy. On a positive note, portable A/C units work quite well in cozy spaces - a HUGE perk right now.


Living Room


I still don't think the cinder blocks do much for the ambiance, but they are very effective for deadening sound. Otherwise, I may have killed a few neighbor children by now...


Kitchen/Dining

We decided to stuff the dining table in the kitchen after all. It's crowded, but the table is essential considering the minimal amount of counter space. The lack of dishwasher is still an adjustment, but I seem to be getting some weird kind of domestic bliss washing dishes by hand. Creepy.


Pantry

The microwave was a huge problem. It looked normal size until we put it on the counter. It was hugemongous leaving only an inch of counter space in front of it. We decided the pantry was a much better location.


Bathroom

Still too small, but tolerable.


Our Bedroom

This room needs some help. For now we have the essentials just kind of strewn about.


The Baby's Bedroom/Storage/Guest Bedroom

Total disaster and chaos, with the exception of the closet which is pretty tidy. Eventually we'll have given away or stowed away most of these things to make room for the baby's playard and a bed for guests. I hope to start working on it once we finish cleaning the house we just moved out of. The home owner returns next Tuesday, the 28th.


Best Purchase I Ever Made (recently)

Love, love, LOVE the A/C unit. This thing has saved my life time and time again. It's AMAZING!


Da Belly (outfitted in my finest sweats and t-shirt)
31 weeks.

For the record, I'm on my way to clean the house... I mean, I'd probably be in sweats anyway, but cleaning house semi-justifies wearing sweats, right? Hmmm... maybe being pregnant justifies them in itself. I think so.

About the baby. He's very active these days. His punches, kicks and/or head butts are a lot more noticeable, sometimes even painful. Alex loves to watch my belly move all over the place when baby has his "beat-up Mom fits". I would too, but it's usually when I'm trying to sleep or relax. We still don't have a name. We had a few we liked, but they just didn't feel right. We're back to square one. Don't worry Booths, Emmett is still out. Cravings. I have several - lemonade, Taco Bell crunchy tacos or other Mexican-type food, french fries, corn on the cob and sugary things like Frosted Flakes. How's that for a balanced diet? I'm officially a fatty now, outweighing Alex (who claims he's fat) by 2 pounds. I'm currently at 166... my goal is to stay under 180, preferably 175. We'll see.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Notice to Vacate

Dear Tenant,

Per our contract dated 12/13/08, your lease term will soon be coming to an end. Our records indicate your intent to vacate as of September 20, 2009. If you need to extend this date, we will allow a one-time lease extension for a period up to 7 days. After 7 days, we will hire a third party to vacate you from the premises immediately.

As a courtesy to future tenants, we ask that you clean your unit thoroughly and make any repairs necessary. You will be responsible for damages beyond normal wear and tear. Examples of normal wear and tear - stretch marks, displaced hips, weight gain and minor tears. If there is excessive damage to the unit, you will be charged accordingly. As a service to our tenants, we offer financing to cover these charges. Arrangements may be made directly with a member of our management team. **Please note, interest charges will apply for a minimum of 18 years and possibly the rest of your life.

We hope you have enjoyed your stay and look forward to working with you in the future.

Love,

The Management (a.k.a. Mom and Dad)

Mostly Dead

We're not dead. Just mostly dead.

We're in the process of moving, hence the lack of posts lately. I hope to do better once we get semi-settled and have a place we can refer to as "home". Right now we're split 50/50 between the "way too huge for two people" house and the "barely enough room to breathe" apartment... BUT, the apartment wins out. Why? Because when the A/C is running in the apartment, it actually gets cold - and fast. While this may not seem like a big deal to some, it's a huge deal for me and heater belly. I would say I'm running at a constant temperature of "way too hot for comfort".

By the way, have you ever wondered what your hands would look like if your fingers turned into sausages? Me either, but now I know and it's not pretty. Thankfully I didn't have the ankles to match. I'm sure those will follow suit one of these days. For now, I'm perfecting my waddle. I don't have it down just yet, but I'm getting better with each passing week. My lack of balance seems to be making this an especially awkward process. We played DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) the other night and I realized there's a reason pregnant chicks shouldn't be playing that game. Granted, I had maintained most of my wicked awesome DDR skills from my past, but had the added art of almost falling several times and making it look like it was intentional. I may have to settle for watching Alex "dance" until the baby is born.

That's all for now!

Money Tree? How About a Cookie Instead?

I need a money tree.

Not the Mom and Dad variety. Like an actual leafy tree full of 10's, 20's and some nice, ripe 50's and 100's. I wonder how long I'd have to sit and pick the "fruit" before I had enough to cover my expenses...? F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

This month we have so much to get done. With limited time, limited energy and limited funds, it's going to be a challenge. I'm slightly overwhelmed to say the least. Last night we started going through our things in an attempt to downsize and de-clutter. We've made one D.I. run so far and have several others to come. If it's not essential, of high sentiment or otherwise necessary for our existence - it's gone! Which means the Olympic size weight bar and weights we have sitting in our living room now are going bye, bye (assuming we find a fool... er, person in need of them and willing to pay a few bucks). Luckily, my brain has gone into business mode making it possible to unload several items I couldn't bring myself to part with before - clothes, riding boots, DVDs. Sometimes I still have to remind myself that someone will be pleased to receive these things secondhand, at a fraction of what I paid. It's a win/win.

On to today...

Today was one one those days. Despite only waking up once during the night, I felt like total crud this morning. I didn't have time for breakfast, didn't have time for hair or makeup cuteness (why bother anyway?), and still got out of the house 10 minutes late (???). On my way to work I managed to catch every light, between here and American Fork, just as it was turning red. I'm not sure what I did to offend the universe, but I must've done something. After I could see that "on time" wasn't going to happen, I gave up and lessened my expectation to "arrive safely". That's one I can accomplish. If only work ran on Mormon standard time like most other things in Utah.

When I got to work I stopped in the break room for some napkins, a must-have when eating for my OCD ways. It was then I made a marvelous discovery - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!! My all time favorite cookie, unless you have these...


Peanut Butter M&M!!

At that moment I realized this wasn't going to be a bad day after all. I just had to go through the crap to get the reward. Or maybe so I could appreciate it. That cookie wouldn't have been nearly as tasty if I hadn't endured a rotten morning.

Somehow that delicious cookie got me thinking about life and going through trials. Who knew a cookie could be so powerful? I'm sure I needed the reminder. These last couple weeks have been stressful and many times I've thrown my hands up and asked mysef, "how in the world are we going to make this work"? (usually relating to finances). I always get the feeling things will be okay, but I don't have "the master plan" to put me at ease. Every time I've gone through something that felt impossible, I've always made it through. Usually to something great I couldn't have anticipated or planned for on my own. Unfortunately, it means enduring the trial and getting a valuable life lesson in the process, but it's one of those necessary evils. Things feel bad now... but once we get past these next couple months it's going to be great (and a relief)... or so I'd like to think. If not, at least the cookie was great... along with the other three I ate to keep it company. Baby likes cookies.

Thankfully, before the day was out I came up with a plan to get us debt-free by the time the baby is born (3 months) and that feels GOOD! Now I just need to figure out how we're going to come up with $2K for tuition...

Welcome to our Humble Abode

Our apartment lease has officially begun!
We picked up our keys this morning and stopped by the apartment this evening to check things out. I'll attach some pictures for your viewing pleasure... and also because I need some help working with this small space. We are both excited to move and are looking forward to the day when all of our things are in one location.

The good: It looks like there are lots of nice people in our quad (I guess they always seem nice at first). The location of our apartment in particular is perfect - on the corner, next to laundry, garbage, mailboxes, parking and best of all - shaded by a large tree. Today, while the rest of Provo was experiencing not-so-awesome-icky-hotness... our apartment was chillin' in the shade, maintaining decently cool temperatures. Maybe the cinder block walls aren't so bad after all.

The bad: The apartment is pretty small, old and has a bit of a I'm-a-really-old-apartment funk to it. The living room is downright tiny. While the size of the apartment itself isn't completely bothersome, figuring out how to fit my furniture in the small space is. We may have to go through lots of trial and error before we get things to fit just right.. or at least in a way we can tolerate. The lighting is also really bad. All of the rooms and especially the bedrooms are very dim. The front window is nice and big with a great view of the courtyard area, but also gives our neighbors (a.k.a. the ward) full viewing access into our living room.

Without further adieu, here is our place - we're hoping it actually feels like home once we get our things moved in. I figure by showing you the before we move pictures, it will look amazing once it's furnished - or at very least, improved upon.

This is the sidewalk going toward our unit. Our stairwell is off to the right - our unit being the one directly behind the recycle bins, in the shade of my new best friend, that large beautiful tree!


This is a view from the apartment looking back toward the recycle bins. The mailboxes are just behind on the back wall of the laundry facility. While I'm sure I'll miss the convenience of having a washer/dryer down the hall, this isn't much of a walk.


The patio and our front window. The front door is located around the corner in front of the stairwell.


This is our "living room"... it also happens to be the most problematic area - so tiny! That's our front door on the left. Somehow we need to fit our couch, TV.. and maybe even a small table in here... and still have room to move. P.S. This carpet is McNasty, but there is hope. One of our neighbors stopped by and said the complex is planning on replacing all of the carpets in the near future. I just need to find out when. Maybe they can do it before we move everything in..?

Quick trivia: This picture contains the one and only item we moved to the apartment today. Can anyone tell what it is?


View from the living room window.


The other side of the living room, also known as the kitchen/dining area. I'm not sure where one could possibly fit a dining table in this space, but it's going to involve some serious creativity. Or something ghetto fabulous, like a card table.


The kitchen. Small, but cute.


Our wicked awesome kitchen countertops.


The Bathroom... it's very... blue.


The bedrooms look identical to the living room with the addition of these - closet doors and built-in dresser drawers. One of the rooms has a second closet, which pretty much makes it the "master bedroom".

Spare bedroom closet.


Master bedroom closet, which doesn't have a door. Again, we'll have to resort to something ghetto fabulous, like a curtain. The second closet has an accordion door... much like the divider walls you see at church.


Linen Closet?


And lastly (again) my friend out front, the big beautiful tree. I love him.


As always, we welcome any company (minus the "house guests" I referenced in my previous post) and will do our best to accommodate anyone willing or wanting to stay in our humble digs. We'll post new pics once we get the place furnished to make it a little more enticing.

"It's a nice day for a White Wedding..."

This last weekend we drove to Portland for Alicia's wedding. We had a great time. I'll start from the beginning.

Alex and I started the weekend adventure on Thursday. We drove 5.5 hours to Boise, Idaho and arrived just in time for some dinner. We ate at a place called Chicago Connection as suggested by Terry (Jones), a former Boise resident. Chicago style pizza + salad bar = Yum! Our pizza looked something like this, with some extra veggies and meat hidden under the cheese. It was good, but we both only made it through 2 slices before we were full. No problem, the leftovers filled the void nicely when I woke up hungry at 3 a.m.


The next morning, Niklas and Karen met us at our hotel and we continued the journey to Portland. I offered to drive so they could sleep and ended up driving for most of the time. Did I mention I'm a control freak and do much better as the driver rather than the passenger? It worked out nicely and somehow I was able to do all of the driving without too much discomfort. We got to our hotel in Portland with enough time to freshen up, change clothes and hop in the car. We gave ourselves an hour to get to the wedding and thank goodness. Portland traffic is awful! It must have taken us a half hour to get on I-5, less than 1.5 miles from our hotel. Luckily, we made good time once we got on the freeway and arrived just in time.

Alex meeting Alicia's Oma, just before the ceremony.


Bridesmaid and Maid of Honor.


I love this moment in the ceremony when the bride makes her entrance. Alicia did not disappoint, she looked beautiful.


Saying their "I do's".


I wish I had video of the next part because you'd really have to have the audio to appreciate it. After they the pastor pronounced them husband and wife they totally walked out to Billy Idol's "White Wedding". It was awesome!

The now official, Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara.


We had a minute to chat before the reception. Alicia was telling us about everything that hadn't gone according to plan. Here she was showing us her "white" roses. Personally, I thought they looked great. I would have preferred them over white for the contrast factor, but that's just me.


Next, upstairs for the reception.


We ate. We mingled.


The men bonded.
(What's up with the "rose" reflection in the window? What is that??)


... and the girls... sat.


Later we did some people watching by candlelight. It was so romantic.


The newlyweds first dance.


Father/Daughter Dance.


Cutting the cake. I don't know what flavor it was (raspberry and vanilla??), but it was way good. Like so good that I may have asked Alex to take a piece knowing that he couldn't eat it and I would have to eat it for him. Just trying to help the guy out.


The bouquet toss. Or should I say bouquet toss fail. The bouquet landed on the ground and all of the girls just stared at it...


I can't say what happened next since our clan pooped out, but I'm sure those that stayed had a great time.

The next morning came early and we did our last little bit of hanging out with Mom and Dad before it was time to head back.

Karen and Dad at the hotel.


Sportin' the 27 week belly.


Giving you all an illustrated example of why my picture should not be taken on little sleep, no makeup, and a prego belly to boot. The inner hotness is there.. I just haven't found it lately. Or maybe it's reinvented itself as the literal hotness I feel everyday. I swear my body temperature is like 100 degrees!


We had lunch at Azteca. Here's one of my Mom's classic let-me-take-your-picture-while-you're-eating photos. Not flattering! I wasn't willing to pull myself away from the chips and salsa long enough to get a decent photo. They were so good!


One last group shot, minus dad who was playing photographer.


All in all, we had a great weekend... and now I am sufficiently homesick for Washington. As if I wasn't before.