Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving started out with me getting up at 6:30 because I couldn't sleep. Although I haven't really gotten any bigger, sleeping has been difficult. Partly due to being uncomfortable and partly because the baby has decided that kicking me in the middle of the night or early in the morning is fun. This has been going on for about the past week at least so I'm a bit sleep deprived. It was kind of nice on Thanksgiving though because I was up early enough to be able to watch the Thanksgiving parade. All 3 hours of it. Although I missed some of it due to making breakfast and getting ready for the day. I had never watched the parade before so it was pretty fun.

This year for Thanksgiving we went up to Ashton's mom's house for "dinner" (it was more like a huge lunch). There ended up being lots of people there, most of whom we don't get to see too often so it was nice to see everyone! The food was great and it was nice to fulfill some cravings. I think Ashton is happy that he doesn't have to listen about how badly I want turkey anymore.

There were a few little girls running around and playing with toys the whole afternoon, which was entertaining to watch. Our little boy will be quite outnumbered when he gets here. He might just have to tag along with the "big" boys, although this picture doesn't show their age. I guess put any guy in front of something to build and they become a little boy again.


This little cutie wanted me to take her picture after I got done taking pictures of the boys. She kept posing and then showing me how she had posed. She, of course, wanted to see the picture after I had taken it, although, she was a little more interested in having her picture taken.


The rest of the weekend was spent at home just hanging out and running a few errands. I'm not really a shopper and Black Friday shopping sounds like more stress and hassle than I'm willing to put up with. On Saturday, we did a few chores around the house. Ashton decided to vacuum for me and this is what ended up happening.


Yes, that's right. Ashton vacuumed the dog. She was lying in the middle of the floor while he was trying to vacuum and wasn't interested in moving so he could get that spot. So, Ashton decided to vacuum her as well. To her credit, she took it very well. He thought she would bolt, but she almost seemed to enjoy it. Of course, I had to get a picture although it just encouraged him.

What would a blog post be without a small baby update? I'm 28 weeks now. It's exciting to be in my third trimester even though it will come with it's own kind of crazy. Although I'm not too thrilled about the kicking during the night and losing sleep, it's nice that we have an active boy. We've decided that he's a bit of a showoff. I had my 28 week midwife appointment last Wednesday, and my midwife was showing us exercises to start doing for optimal fetal positioning. Well, after doing them, the midwife checked to see where the baby was, listen to his heartbeat and all of that fun stuff. Now, my baby likes to lay sideways or diagonally, which is fine except he's getting a little too big to do that comfortably. This time, however, when she checked he was laying in the perfect position with his head down and feet up by my ribs. A little bit of showing off on his part, but hey I'll take it. Of course, he moved soon afterward. I haven't really popped out yet so I'm not much bigger than I was before, but here's a picture anyways.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

During this time of year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I try to focus on the real meaning of the holidays so as not to get caught up in the food, however wonderful it is, and buying gifts. This year, I have felt that come easily to me. Maybe it's because I have so much to be grateful for, which is true, or maybe it's because I have heard so many people talk about the need to be grateful, which is also true. In reality, it's probably a combination of the two and many other factors like this constantly kicking reminder of what I am most grateful for.

Now, I don't usually write out long lists of what I am grateful for, because I could never write a complete enough list of everything that I love and appreciate. I'm certainly not going to try to attempt the feat here. What I do want to do is to mention two things that I am grateful for that I don't usually talk about or even think about in my day to day life.

I first want to express my gratitude for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and more particularly the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love going to church. It's such a blessing to be able to go, take the sacrament, and then be able to do my calling in Primary. The ward we are in right now has been wonderful and we're hoping when we have to move into a bigger place that we'll be able to stay in this ward. We've always been blessed with nice wards, but I don't think we've ever quite fit into a ward so nicely as we have here.

I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to take the Sacrament every week. One of my friends had to give a talk yesterday on covenants and she shared her talk on her blog. She focused a lot on the sacrament and, while I already appreciated the sacrament, I have gained a new perspective on the ordinance. I am looking forward to next Sunday to be able to take the sacrament with a new view.

I love my calling! Primary pianist is simply one of the best callings I've ever had. It's usually a thankless calling since most people don't think to be appreciative of those who can play the piano or lead music, until they don't have someone that can do those things, but I've been fine with that. The past two weeks, however, have been touching. Last week, we had our Primary program. It turned out to be a nice program and, although some last minute music was added, I was able to play everything well. A few people told me that I did a good job, including my hubby, but what touched me the most was that one of the classes in Primary took the time to each write me and the music director a card. So, I was handed 4 cards at the end of Primary that day that were made specially for me. One of the little girls was so excited to give me the card that she came up to me and told me that they had made me cards. Then she gave me a hug. Yesterday, she even came up to me and asked if I had read the cards yet, since I didn't read the right away the week before. The cards were very sweet. The two girls that were in the class wrote, "Thanks for our music. Congratulations on your baby!" The two boys were just thankful for the music. Yesterday, I also got a card from another class where they again thanked me for the music and then signed their names. It's the unexpected gifts, and the simplest, that touch me the most.

The second thing I am grateful for, is this great country and those that serve in the military. I don't express my appreciation for being born in America enough. I too often view it as a fact, almost as a right, instead of a privilege. This is a great country, full of great blessings and opportunities, as well as great responsibilities. Freedom doesn't come cheap and I am trying every day to be the person that I need to be, responsible, self-sufficient, selfless, and mastering self-control in order to be worthy of the freedoms I have been blessed with.

Those that serve in the military are incredible. I am proud of my brothers, cousins, and grandfather who have served and still do serve. They have each taught me a lot. I grew up hearing about my grandfather's war stories and I could see how proud he was to have served his country. He has taught me a lot about hard work and dedication, and I will always be grateful to him for those lessons. My brothers and cousins who have served and still serve are also great people. They work hard for their country and often for little thanks. So thank you to all those who serve in the military, but thank you especially to those I call family.

I also want to mention the family of those who serve in the military. Those wives and children that I know personally of those who serve, are amazing people. They are some of the strongest people I know as well as some of the happiest. I'm not sure I could ever be as strong and supportive as they are. I am grateful that there are people out there who are so supportive of our troops. So, thank you.

Baby Projects

Lately, I've been making baby things. I actually had several baby things made previously. Since learning to crochet, baby blankets were the easiest to make so I've made a few of those over the years, and I made some booties back when I made them for the pregnant sisters in our ward. So I had a small collection of baby things already started, but I wanted to make a few new things for David like this hat and these booties.

The hat took me a while to figure out since it was a pattern I had never used before, but it wasn't too hard. Making the earflaps, which you can't really see in this picture, was difficult only because it didn't go the way I thought it should. It also took me a few tries to figure out how to make the ties, and I'm hoping that I did them long enough. The hat is done though and I'm happy with the way it looks. Now I only hope that they fit!

Since I'm done with baby projects for me, or at least the ones that I wanted to get done right now, I'm working on other projects that I want to get done for other people. I want to have all those done by the time the baby comes, although, I'm hoping that they won't take me that long.

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! I've been craving Thanksgiving food for the past couple weeks so as far as I'm concerned, Thanksgiving can't come fast enough. However, Thanksgiving isn't just about the food and it's been great to think about all the things that I'm grateful for. It's something I try to do daily, particularly during this time of year.

Major Accomplishment

It's kind of sad when finishing a puzzle feels like a major accomplishment, but it does! Granted, this puzzle was no ordinary puzzle. Not only was it a 1500 piece puzzle and more like a painting than a picture, but we had started this puzzle before and had given up on it because it was so hard. It took us a while to finish this time, but we did it! Ashton, I'll admit, did most of the work. I wasn't patient enough to sit there for hours and hours working on it. Normally I can do something like that, but this time I was too antsy to sit and look for the pieces I needed. They all looked so similar. It went much better when I had a set number of pieces to try in a certain spot. It went even better when I was able to pick out the exact piece to fit in the spot I was trying to fill without much effort. In any case, we finished it and it's so nice to have my table back. We had to pull out the leaves to get the puzzle to fit so now that the leaves are back in, I can fit around the table to get to the washer and dryer without much effort and the apartment doesn't look so full. We took a picture of the puzzle before taking it down so that we had proof that we did it. I have vowed never ever to do that puzzle again.

Tonight, I am planning a date night for Ashton and I. Actually, I didn't plan anything, not in advance anyways. After Ashton left for work, I decided I wanted a date night and told him that we were having a date night. Thankfully, I have a wonderful hubby who is willing to go along with such last minute schemes. I am letting him pick out where we're going to eat all on his own, which is either a blessing or a curse (blessing if he's been wanting to eat somewhere but I haven't, or a curse if there is no such place and he doesn't know what he wants). Usually, where we eat when we go out is heavily influenced by what I've been craving. The other part of our date night, which is a surprise, I planned. Again, last minute but oh well. Guess we better be spontaneous while we can.

(I forgot to add the picture earlier, so here it is:)

Organizing

I'm an organizer. I like having things put in specific places and I'm always trying to figure out the best place to put things. Ashton has come home a few times to find that I've reorganized the closet or something because I was determined that it could all fit better in a different arrangement. I used to pack and repack my suitcases about 3-4 times when I was in college, and going back and forth between Utah and Maine. This was for no better reason than knowing that I could somehow pack it better.

Well, my brain has been turning to figure out where all the baby stuff is going to go. I decided a couple months ago that I was going to use the wooden shelves in our closet for baby clothes. I think it was originally intended for shoes or something, but we've used it to put our clothes in and now I've rearranged stuff so we could use it for baby clothes. Mission accomplished right? Wrong. I've been looking at it recently and wondering if a different arrangement would be better. The nice thing about rearranging stuff so many times is that I usually do find a more efficient way to do things.

To keep the blog updated with the progression of my baby belly, here's a picture of me as I am right now at 24 weeks. At my midwife appointment last Friday, they told me that I would be getting a lot bigger in the next month, so I'll try to be better about documenting it. I have to admit, when the midwife told me that I looked down at my stomach and couldn't quite picture how I could possibly get bigger than I was already. I knew I would get bigger, but I just can't picture how that's going to work.