Best Pudding Ever

My sister-in-law Heather shared this recipe with me the other day and I'm a sucker for good pudding. Not to mention, I refuse to buy the store stuff and so when she mentioned this recipe, I was excited! I made it after David went to bed, although he would have gobbled that stuff up like he was starving, and it was fantastic! Ashton said that he thought it tasted more like chocolate mouse than pudding, but I don't think that's a bad thing. So here's the recipe:

2-3 avocados (yes, I'm serious)
1 banana (add more if you want and it's a good use for ripe bananas that you don't want to eat plain)
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla (I didn't actually measure the vanilla)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 can coconut milk

I put all these ingredients in my food processor, but I'm sure a blender or mixer would work just as well. For those of you who don't like coconut, Ashton hates the stuff and he enjoyed this. You can hardly tell there's coconut in there so don't let it discourage you from trying it. Enjoy!

History

I love history. It was my favorite subject in High School and I took more history classes than I was required to take. Part of my love stemmed from the ease of it. I have a pretty good memory so memorizing some dates and facts for a test was fairly easy. Then there is the part where I viewed history as fact. This is stuff that happened so there's no hedging about what to do about it. It's in the past and that's that right? Well, not so much apparently.

What I didn't take into consideration back then was the interpretation of history, which is all circumstantial. Depending on your viewpoint, you interpret history differently, especially if you leave certain parts of history out. For instance, you can think that the Civil War was about State's rights and that Lincoln only issued the Emancipation Proclamation to boost the war effort of the North and give the troops morale, which is how I learned the Civil War. You can think that until you read the Confederate's Constitution which makes it clear that it was about slavery.

When people make up their own version of history, which usually means ignoring parts of the picture, it ends up being wrong. When I finally learned the whole truth, things started being clearer. My understanding of how our nation functions is much better because it is not our history that makes us, rather, it is what we do with our history that creates who we are. Anyone can sit around and be bitter about the things that have happened to us as a nation or individually. It takes true character and strength to get up, and learn from it. To blame our circumstances on the past is to neglect our future. If we are always looking behind us, we will miss the opportunities and blessings of right now, and the future. Never forget the past so that we will recognize and be guarded from recurrences, but look ahead to our future and start protecting that. 

Always Busy

While I am writing this, David is walking around the coffee table. Well, kind of. He hasn't figured out how to get around the corner yet. This has been his favorite game for about a week or so now. He started crawling a few weeks ago and instead of perfecting that art, he has decided to move onto the next thing: walking. He loves holding our hands and taking steps. He hasn't figured out how to pull himself up to the coffee table yet, although, he's really close. If he's holding our hands he can do it pretty much by himself. To get down he usually either falls down or reaches out to whoever is next to him and grabs them. This morning, however, he sat down. Of course, that posed a problem since he can't get back up on his own. At least he's learned not to try to reach down for whatever he's dropped. Seriously, it's the best game. Load the coffee table up with a bunch of stuff you don't mind him having and then he proceeds to push it all off the table. Repeat.

We've also discovered a love for swings. We also tried the slide, but that didn't hold the same kind of magic apparently.

As busy as he is and as much as I apparently have to be right there with him to play with him, I love my little mover. The solution to walking away from him to do something else is apparently one of two things. Either I have to wait for him to be perfectly happy on his own or sing to him while I'm gone. Unfortunately, neither is fool-proof.

6 Months Old

This morning I tried to ignore everything that was going on to try to sleep in. I ignored the light from the bathroom that was shining in my face from Ashton getting ready for work, the music that was playing to try to keep David quiet and happy, and, of course, David fussing in the pack 'n' play. David chose this moment to say, "Mum-ma." So much for trying to teach him "Dada" first. It was cute and I knew I wasn't going back to sleep.

David has been trying all kinds of new things lately. We've been giving him solid food for almost a month now and he loves the stuff. He goes back and forth between trying to feed himself using the veggie/fruit bag and wanting to be spoon fed. He does well with both though and so far he eats avocado, bananas, yogurt, and applesauce. His favorite thing though is trying to drink from a glass. He's not really interested in straws, and it doesn't help that I can't quite figure out how to get it in his mouth without nearly stabbing him. If only he didn't wiggle so much. In any case, he's decided that drinking straight from the glass is the way to go. He's getting pretty good, too. Doesn't nearly drown himself as much as he used to.

Wanted to do it himself

We expect him to start crawling any day now since he has a determination to get things out of his reach. He's not so much lunging for things anymore; now it's a deliberate "how do I get that?" Guess I better start baby proofing. Can't have his first day crawling followed immediately by his first accident.

One of my favorite parts of his development is that he's started to sleep in his pack n' play, without being swaddled! We've tried about everything to restrict his arm movements while he sleeps and still that's only really achieved if we put him in his swing to sleep, which occasionally we have to do. The kid is just too wiggly and strong. I'm sure he'd give even the best swaddler a run for their money. So a couple weeks ago, we started putting him down in his crib to sleep. He does really well with it and is starting to spend the whole night in there.

My other favorite part is that I don't have to feed him at night anymore. Almost 12 hours free from feeding him is amazing. Sure, it'd be a whole lot nicer if I didn't have to get up at all, but hopefully that will come when he has his own room. As it is, I only had to get up twice last night to give back his pacifier.

Since David is 6 months now, we went in for his wellness check. He's 17 lbs 12 oz and is 25 3/4 inches tall. He's doing great and his motor skills are particularly developed. He had his first shot during this appointment and he took it very well. He cried a little bit afterward, but not nearly as much as I thought he would. He was perfectly happy upon getting his pacifier.

Spare Time

In my spare time, which usually lasts as long as David's nap time, when I'm not busy with other stuff or I just really need a break, I've been reading. I haven't read anything new really, although one book it had been such a long time since previously reading it that I felt like I was reading it for the first time. I enjoy the classics so after I got done reading the Twilight series again, I started reading Jane Austen books. Yes, I've got them all. One of the best Christmas presents ever from my hubby!

David has also become a bit of a reader. I've been reading to him for a couple months now, but he loves looking at his books on his own. He'll just sit and flip pages, or rather he'll try to flip pages. It's really cute and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. Thankfully, he was mostly absorbed in what he was doing so, although he would look up every time the camera went off, he usually went right back to the book.



Ashton decided that he should start reading David a book, a long book. So, what do you think he chose? That's right, Harry Potter. Starting on the chapter books early.

One of My Favorite Songs

I started listening to this song a lot last year. I loved the message and the tune. It made Ashton laugh when I'd play it over and over again, which happened a lot. Thankfully, he didn't get sick of it because I have yet to grow tired of it. I don't have to play it now though because I have it memorized and can sing it. I started singing it to David when he'd get fussy or when I wanted him to fall asleep and he was resisting. It's become David's favorite song and I'll sing it to him when he's sad or tired or both. It's soothing for both of us. The song is called, "Window to His Love" and it's by Julie de Azevedo. There are two slightly different versions of this song, but they are both really good. I cannot adequately explain why I love this song so much, but what this song talks about is what I want to accomplish as a mom and if I can even achieve a small fraction of it, I'll be happy.

I want to be a window to His love,
So when you look at me you will see Him.
I want to be so pure and clear that you won't even know I'm here,
'Cause His love will shine brightly through me.

I want to be a doorway to the truth,
So when you walk beyond you will find Him.
I want to stand so straight and tall, that you won't notice me at all.
But through my open door He will be seen.

A window to His love.
A doorway to the truth.
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day
I want to fade away.
'Till only He can be seen and I become a window to His love.

I want to be a window to His love,
So you can look through me and you'll see Him.
And some day shining through my face, you'll see His loving countenance,
'Cause I will have become like He is.

A window to His love.
A doorway to the truth.
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day
I want to fade away.
'Till only He can be seen and I become...

A window to His love
A doorway to the truth.
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you.
And with each passing year
I want to disappear
'Till He's become ev'rything
and I've become a window to His love.

4 Months Old

So today we're closing on our house and tomorrow we move. Crazy. Thankfully, we're not moving far away which means I don't have to stuff everything into a box. I thought that I'd take a break though from all the stress and write about the fact that David is 4 months old now!

I love my little guy. He has the biggest grin I've ever seen and I love his laugh...it sounds like a sheep sometimes. He laughs at the littlest things like when I rub my nose against his and I love that he gets the hiccups from laughing so much.

He likes to look at everything and takes it all in with big blue eyes. He's a fan of sitting and standing for that reason. When he gets tired of being on his back, he tries to pull himself up. He is so close to rolling over from his tummy to his back, but he does roll onto his side a lot from his back to his tummy. From there he'll go onto his tummy.

He has just found his toes and he likes grabbing them. He has also recently started taking his pacifier out. My favorite part about this is that he'll pull it out and stare at it like he wants it back in his mouth, but can't quite figure out how to do it. Then there's also the fact that he'll take it out and start squawking because someone has taken his pacifier away from him.

Now, a lot of people have been asking me how much David weighs now. Well, I now know. He weighs 15 lbs even. I actually didn't think he weighed that much. I thought 14 lbs tops. It's hard to believe that just 4 months ago he was just 6 lbs 6.5 oz. He is 24 inches long now. To me, he still looks longer than anything.

Here are some pictures of my now 4 month old baby.

It's About Time!

Yesterday I went in for surgery to get my tear fixed. For those who don't know, I tore my labia when I had David and the stitches the doctors put in it then didn't hold. So essentially, I had a labial separation. It's been a long and hard battle getting someone to approve getting it fixed. For some idea of how long and hard, it took 3 doctors and appointments over 3 months to find someone who said, "Oh yeah, that should be fixed." In any case, I got it done yesterday!

It was pretty entertaining actually since I didn't want to be put asleep or have any drugs besides the local anesthesia. Yeah, I might be crazy, but there was no way that I was getting put asleep for a minor procedure and I wasn't going to hang around in the hospital for a couple hours just so I could wake up. It was mostly the attending doctor who freaked out the most about that. In the end, I did end up having some medication to take the edge off when they were putting in the local anesthesia. Other than that, it was a while of laying down with my legs in the air in an uncomfortable position while I heard the doctors and nurses talking on the other side of the blanket curtain they had put up. I couldn't see anything since they had me take out my contacts, but there wasn't much to see anyways. I would have only been able to see the blanket in front of me and it was close enough anyways to be able to see without aid.

The entertaining part came into play because obviously they aren't used to people being awake while they do the procedure. I know this because a couple times the doctor doing the stitching would push against my leg with her body to get a better angle and I heard the attending say, "Remember, she's awake." It was also pretty funny when they popped their heads around the curtain when they were all done to tell me how well I did. The attending even added that she was surprised at how well I did. Apparently all those comments from my brothers to "suck it up" paid off.

So now I get to go through the healing process again. This time, however, the doctor is going to keep better track of my healing. I have an appointment at 1 week and again at 3 weeks. Here's to speedy and correct healing so I don't have to go through this again!

A Change in the Wind

I know that I haven't been good about updating recently. I always figured when I had a baby that I would have more things to write about, and I do. What I didn't take into consideration is the lack of time I'd have to update.

I've also been considering what I want this blog to be. I know, after a few years it seems a little late to be deciding that. Up until now, I've been content enough to allow this blog to be an update on our goings on and pictures. I still want to do that, but at the same time, I want the blog to be more. It's not just because I don't always feel like what we do is noteworthy, we're not the most exciting people; it's also because writing about activities gets monotonous. Sure we have some exciting things coming up, like we've made an offer on a house and if all goes well, we'll be closing in a few weeks and David's milestones are always exciting. At the same time, I write about that stuff in my journal and honestly, who wants to write the same thing multiple times? These are also things that I feel that people can call me and talk to me about, or I can share with them when I see them.

I'll admit that there are times that I start writing a post and get completely bored with it. This is probably caused partly because often I lack a clear vision of what I want to talk about, I am afraid of people's response, and also because the subject I'm writing about doesn't seem all that important in the end. Besides, if I get bored with what I'm writing, then there's not much hope that someone else will find it interesting.

So, what do I want this blog to be? It's a good question and not one that I feel like I can completely answer yet. I find in life there's always a balance to be found. In this case, perhaps the balance is a mixture of seriousness and light-heartedness.

2 Months

David seems to have had a bit of a growth spurt recently. At least, that's how we're explaining the increase of sleep during the day. He was so easy to put to sleep for about a week. I'd feed him, and often times, as I was feeding him he'd fall asleep. From there I could hold him or put him in the swing and he'd be fine. Well, it seems that has ended.

Yesterday we were back to the old schedule of David hardly sleeping at all during the day. I think collectively he slept for maybe 3 hours all day, but at 1 hour increments at best. He'd have none of the swing. He could be pretty much sleeping before putting him in the swing and then his eyes would be wide open after sticking him there followed by some crying until I got him out. The good thing about all of this is that it means we're back to him sleeping for 4 hour blocks of time at night. There have been a few times that I've felt that David needs to take a nap during the day for my sanity, but who needs sanity when you can sleep for large chunks of time at night?

David had his 2 month appointment last week and he's definitely grown. He's 11 lbs 9 1/4 oz and 21 3/4 inches. He is getting to be a fairly social little guy. He has the biggest smile I've ever seen and he loves to talk at us. This past Sunday, he was smiling for all the ladies during church. He is growing so much, but not fast enough for his liking I'm sure. He already wants to be crawling everywhere and has for a while. When we put him on his stomach, he gets his legs going trying to push himself forward. He has just started to get his arms involved. So much for learning to roll over. He also loves to sit and stand. The doctor was impressed by David's strength since David has gotten good at helping us pull him up into a standing position.

I love all the development that David has made so far and I'm excited for him to learn new stuff, but at the same time, I wish he'd stay little forever.

Crazy Busy

It's amazing how one little guy can make your life so busy, but he sure does have a knack for it. David has been battling a cold for almost a week, but thankfully it's not too bad. He has a little bit of a stuffy nose and some coughing. It's been getting better though and I appreciate that. It's so sad to hear him cough although he does have this one cough that sounds more like a yell and that's kind of funny.

I'm still trying to get him to sleep during the day. Some days are better than others and I still have to wrap him up to get him to sleep at all. I'd rather not have to wrap him and there was one day that he took two naps without needing to be swaddled. I haven't been able to duplicate that success.

Since David prefers to sleep on me during the day, and because I don't have a sling yet that totally fits, I have had to find things to do that allow me to sit on the couch and hold him. Not all of them are productive, like watching episodes of Castle, but I have managed to find some things that are fun and educational. My favorites has been a podcast on the History of Rome and a book called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. I got the book in audio form so I can listen while doing most anything and not worry about holding a book. I love this book. It's about a German pastor who tried to warn the church and others about Hitler and the Third Reich. It's nonfiction, but it's not dull like some nonfiction I've read.

Here's the part I know you've all been waiting for: pictures! I can't believe how big he is getting. At my 6 week appointment, David weighed 9 lbs 10 oz. He hasn't chubbed out really, he's mostly just gotten longer.

Around Here

I've been meaning to blog for a while now, and I've even started a couple of posts, but never got around to finishing them or posting them. It's safe to say that David keeps me pretty busy. He sleeps pretty well at night, but I'm lucky to get him down for a nap once during the day. I don't mind him being awake and happy, it's when he's crying and there seems to be nothing that makes him happy that is hard. Nothing that is except eating, but even that doesn't always work or sometimes he'll start eating and then whimper. Thankfully, if I get really desperate, I know that I can always stick him in the car and go for a drive. That has yet to fail as a method of getting him to fall asleep. Too bad gas prices are so high.

We blessed David on the 13th of this month and we are so grateful to everyone that could come. It was a great day.

Anyways, I know that everyone just wants to see pictures of the cute little boy so here you go.

David in his cute jacket that has ears on the hood.

In his bouncy seat just chilling

We put this on him for a BYU basketball game. Too bad we lost.

No matter how well we wrap him, he always manages to get out.

It's moments like these that make everything worth it.

Baby Pictures

So I've been meaning to write for a while and post some pictures of our cute boy, but I've been a bit busy. For the most part, David is a calm little guy, but he's not fond of sleeping or being anywhere else but in someone's arms. Once in a while I can get him to sleep or at least be calm in his swing or his newly acquired bouncy seat, but that doesn't happen too often. When it does, I prioritize what I need to get done. I don't mind any of this. I'm perfectly content to sit around and hold my baby. It does get a little tricky when I'm hungry though.

David when born was 6 lbs and 6.5 oz, and 19.5 in long. Definitely smaller than we thought he'd be, but I'm not complaining. He's now 7 lbs and it seems like he's always starving. He has blue eyes and we're waiting to see if that changes.

Here are some pictures of the little guy:

He's Here!

Well, he's here! Our little baby has arrived. I think most people who read this have heard the stats and all that, but if you haven't, let me know and I can give you all that information. The birth didn't go quite as planned, which I know that during labor and birth, a lot of things don't go quite as anyone planned, but one major thing changed in my plan: I gave birth in the hospital.

Originally, I was planning a home birth and was thrilled about my decision. No travel involved, familiar with my environment, and no strangers coming in and out. So when you spend 9 months planning and gearing up for a home birth, it's a little shocking to discover that it's not the way that you are going to give birth. The past few weeks, I've had high blood pressure. I was working on trying to get it down and succeeded for like a week. This past Wednesday, however, there was an added surprise in my prenatal appointment: I had protein in my urine. Combined with the high blood pressure, it's a sign of pre-eclampsia. So because of that, I had to go to the hospital to be induced.

I wasn't very happy with the need to go to the hospital, but I knew that it was necessary. Hospitals are there for just such occasions. I won't go into the details of the birth, I wouldn't be able to give a very good hour by hour account anyways since my sense of time was obscured by the fact that I was in labor and it being late at night. The whole labor took about 9 hours though. Besides having to be induced, I was able to have a natural labor, which was the most important thing to me besides having a healthy baby.

Although I don't like hospitals in the slightest, and I would have preferred to have given birth at home, I'm happy with how it worked out. Yes, I would have been even happier without having to fight the nurses about what procedures would or would not be done, and it would have been nice to be able to go home when I wanted to. I have to say though that it was kind of fun to hear the OB resident beg me to stay for the 24 hours that they wanted me to. On the whole though, I can't complain. I have a beautiful baby who is healthy and happy. What more could I want?

Strange Strange Weekend

This weekend has been a bit strange in regards to the weather. Saturday started off good with sunshine and temperatures warm enough to melt the little bit of snow we had. We decided it was a good day for Ashton to play mechanic on his car, the accelerator was sticking in the freezing cold temperatures that we had early in the week (by freezing cold I really do mean freezing cold -20 degrees). While he was doing that, I was going to run some errands.

Well, I left Ashton trying to figure out where the part was located in his car that he needed to clean and headed out. It was slightly colder than it was earlier, but not by much. It was still warm enough to melt snow so I wasn't too concerned about the fact that I wasn't wearing a coat. Not that any coat actually fits me anymore. Sure, I can get my arms in, but there's no closing any coat that I own and I am too frugal to go out and buy a winter coat for a couple months. I actually haven't been able to close my coats, besides maybe a button or two, for months now. In any case, I felt that wearing Ashton's sweatshirt was good enough for running to a couple stores and then coming back home again. No big deal.

So, I went to Target and suddenly remembered that the Superbowl was the next day. The parking lot was packed, but it didn't take too long to find a parking spot and thankfully, I didn't have to park out in the outskirts. By the time I came out of Target though, it had started to snow. Not blizzard conditions, but enough to make it chilly. Still, it wasn't bad enough for me to head home. I still had to run to the grocery store.

So I head over to the grocery store and do my "quick" shopping. Let's face it, nothing gets done quickly when you're 38 weeks pregnant. It was still snowing when I got out, and in fact, it was snowing even harder. Hard enough that snow had accumulated on my car. I had managed to get front row parking, which was nice, but of course that meant hiking to put the shopping cart away. I got a call from Ashton as I got in the car asking if he had to come and dig me out of a snowbank somewhere. Apparently, I was taking longer than expected on my errands and he was worried. So sweet. I assured him that I was fine and just had to brush the snow off the back windshield, I wish I had a back windshield wiper, and then I'd be heading home. I've been lucky so far this winter that by the time I have to go anywhere, the snow has melted off my car, or if my car has to be scraped off, Ashton has done it for me. So, I actually haven't scraped off my car all winter, until Saturday. Thankfully, it was just a little bit of wet snow and I only had to do the back windshield. I made it home safe and we spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. It started snowing before Ashton could actually fix his car.

So, it snowed off and on the rest of Saturday, and into Sunday. There was actually quite a bit accumulated by Sunday morning, but we decided to head to church anyways. We kept watch of our phones just in case we got a call that church was canceled, but there was nothing. After brushing off the car twice and having to drive around to the other side of the building where maintenance had actually done some shoveling of the sidewalks so I wouldn't have to wade through the snow, we were off. The roads weren't really slippery, but they sure didn't look freshly plowed. In their defense, it seems that the snow was coming down to heavy to really keep up with it.

In any case, we made it to church safely. As we were walking from the car to the church building, however, we were met by a member of our bishopric who asked us if we wanted the good news or the bad news. Yup, we trekked all the way to church to be told that church had been canceled and that the bishopric had just gotten the call 10 minutes earlier from the Stake that the bishopric could decide to cancel church but that the Stake wanted everything canceled. So it was back in the car for us and we headed home. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but it did continue to snow off and on the rest of the day. All told, we probably got a good 6-8 inches.

The one funny thing we have discovered through all this snow is that our dog likes to eat snow. I don't mean that she'll just start chomping on the snow while she's outside. I mean that when we come inside and the snow that was on shoes, pants, etc comes off in pieces and fall to the ground, she'll spend time going around and eat each chunk. Yup. That's my dog.

Good Timbers

During Sunday School about a year ago, the teacher passed out copies of this poem to everyone in attendance. I loved the poem and decided to glue it to the front of my journal. There it stays and I read it often. I've been meaning to share it, but have gotten distracted by other things. So, here it is:

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow at ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, in rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold council with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

~Unknown Poet

By Popular Demand

So, some of you have asked for a picture of my pregnant belly. Here it is. I'm about 34 1/2 weeks along now, for those of you who aren't keeping track of how much longer I have. I'm still getting stuff organized and ready for his arrival, which will be the case until he comes I'm sure. Thankfully, our Christmas stuff will be going back into storage so we'll have a bit more room in our apartment. Not that we have really any more big stuff that we're looking to get, which is a relief because I'm not quite sure where we're going to put the stuff we already have. Nothing brings out creativity like a challenge, that's for sure.

Getting to be That Time I Guess

Well folks, I guess it's that time. It's that time of the pregnancy that everyone wants to know exactly how much longer I've got. As if I know. I should have seen it coming. I knew it would happen, but I guess I forgot or didn't think it'd happen so soon. In my mind, I've still have a few months when it reality, I have plus or minus 6 weeks. So, I was a little surprised how many people this past Sunday asked me how much longer I had. The usual question of when my due date is no longer sufficient. I did find it amusing when one sister responded to my answer with, "Really? You look like you could go now!" I have to say it was much more entertaining than the other responses of "Oh! It's getting close!" I don't feel like I'm that much bigger than I was at 28 weeks, but apparently I am at least a little. Next everyone will be saying, "You haven't had the baby yet?"

This trimester has been an interesting one. The baby still likes moving around and kicking. It's getting harder and harder to ignore. He's added a few tricks to his routine like moving to one side and somehow pushing against my belly so you can totally see where he is. I have to say that I actually like it when he gets the hiccups. I find it entertaining. I'm less amused by the discomfort of trying to sleep, especially when I try to roll over and find that happens to be the side that the baby has decided push himself against. Last night, I woke up to discover that he decided to try to be sideways in there.

Ashton also finds this trimester interesting. He's constantly amused by my lack of ability to do things like get up off the couch with ease. He also finds entertainment in me putting on my sneakers on or taking them off and tying them, or trying to get out of a pullover sweatshirt. Yes, I've had to have him help me with both. I've mastered the sneakers so I don't need his help with that anymore, at least at the moment. The sweatshirt thing is a little trickier. I think the only thing he could be disappointed about is the lack of weird cravings. I actually haven't had too many cravings this trimester, although the ones I do get amuse Ashton. Maybe it's because I'm so emphatic about it. He should be grateful though, I haven't made him go on any midnight runs for food.

Maybe I'll start.