Little Wendy's Words

Christmas time

2011-12-28T16:47:00.002-05:00

This year, I feel happy that we had a full Christmas experience.

Activities include:
-Going clothes shopping on Black Friday
-Christmas party at church where we forced Crystal to momentarily sit on Santa's lap.
-Trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden downtown where we saw little trains.
-Visit to the Festival of Lights at the temple visitor's center where we watched a saxophone quartet.
-Christmas eve at Grandma Kelley's where we witnessed Rudolph sneaking around the backyard.
-I got a new bike for Christmas! and
-Hosting Christmas day dinner at our home with 19 Kelleys. This was the most exciting for me and it turned out great.

Crystal 18-36 months

Other news:
-We're still moving forward to buying half of our home.
-We're still potty training Crystal.
-I may be teaching a different primary class at church next year: I guess I'll find out when the decision final.
-Steve got a B in his Materials Science class this semester and will be registering for another class for next semester.
-The 6th grader that I've been tutoring got a 100% on a math quiz. Yay!

Loving and Missing the Outdoors

2011-12-01T12:24:00.009-05:00

I haven't really been excited enough about anything these last few months. I guess that happens when starts to get cold. My favorite activity lately had been riding my bike (with Crystal in the trailer) to neighborhood playgroups 2-3 times a week and taking extra loops around the lake. I had to stop about a month ago because our garage door fell apart and it became too difficult to open and close in order to get the bike and trailer out. Well, the garage door should be getting replaced tomorrow! Hurray!

Click for some recent photos of our fall camping trip to Shenandoah and Crystal's Halloween costume.

Crystal 18-36 months

Other news:

At church, Crystal loves being in nursery while I teach the Sunbeams class.

Crystal 20 months old now and is part-time potty-training. I would let her be naked all of the time at home, except that she gets bad eczema (dry rashy skin) on her bottom in the winter and she needs clothes on to keep her skin protected from the dry air. So, right now I'm just letting her be naked every hour or so until she goes potty and then her clothes go back on. I'm afraid that that would be punishing her for going potty, so I still don't really have a coherent plan yet. I think that I should get some cloth diapers/training pants or something.

Crystal is also able to say pretty much every word now and several small sentences. She's very good at being polite by saying please, thank you, excuse me, and sorry all on her own. She counts to 12 and she sings some ABCs. She can even say prayers! But, she is still pretty quiet and shy in front of other people, just like her mommy and daddy are. She's also getting better at jumping. She has 16 full teeth.

She goes to sleep 8-9 pm, regularly wakes up for help-milk at 2am and 4am, and gets up at 6-7 am. I sleep on a separate bed in the same room. I think that I'll keep breastfeeding her until after she's at least two. It seems that I still haven't been able to get pregnant while breastfeeding which is fine because we're in no rush.

We're still living with just one car and it works just fine. I loving paying $800 less car insurance per year and not worrying about oil changes too.

We're trying to find a mortgage so that we can buy half of our house (the half that my Mother-in-law doesn't own). The house appraised at $245K, pretty low for it's size and neighborhood, because of its need of major remodeling.

I've also started math tutoring at home and I love it! It has all of the good things about teaching without the bad things like grading, classroom discipline, and bureaucrats. I charge $25/hour and I've only been advertising on craigslist. I need some more students, so please refer me to anyone you know that's looking for a math tutor. As I have a B.S. in Mathematics, I can help with pretty much any high school or college math course.

Earthquake

2011-09-12T05:53:00.010-04:00

On August 23rd, a few minutes before 2 pm, I start to feel the house shaking. I'm thinking: Earthquake? No, Maryland doesn't have earthquakes. Can the house be collapsing on its own? No, the house is pretty sturdy. I look out the window and try to see whether the other houses are shaking too. I can't tell. I wander around for a second wondering what I should do, walk over to Crystals room and watch her sleep for the duration of the quake which ended up lasting a few minutes. Afterwards, I get online to check if there was an earthquake forecast for today to learn that earthquakes are generally not forecast. I turn on the TV and see the news confirming the earthquake. After about a half hour, I get a call from Steve and a call from his mother to check on things. We didn't get any damage and nothing even fell down, but there were many other buildings that did sustain damage, including public buildings like the Washington Monument, many schools (some having to close for several days), and the temple's spire got damaged too.

I think it was two winters ago, during Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse, when we lost power at our apartment in Greenbelt for 24 hours or so, a tree crashed into the window of the apartment next to ours, and we spent the night with our family members, who did have power, in College Park. One of their neighbors was sadly killed in her car by a falling tree.

This summer, Hurricane Irene appeared to take the power away from even more people and for even longer for some. Church was cancelled even before the storm started. Steve wouldn't allow us to open the fridge even for a moment. We cooked items from our food storage on a propane camping stove on our porch. But without the fresh/frozen vegetables, I still felt like I was so starving, so we wound up eating at a Golden Corral. That made me very happy.

See the leaf debris?

And the new pond at our Assateague camp site.

Beach House 2011

2011-07-18T12:08:00.006-04:00

Oh how do I love the beach! The shifty soft sand, the blowing wind, the toasty hot sun, the roaring waves. Relaxing in my beach chair or swimming in the cool wet ocean: Crystal and I only came back inside for meals and naps. Every day, we were the first ones on the beach, and almost the last ones to return inside. Now that we've returned home, I feel satisfied at a vacation well-spent!

Thank you, dear Mother-in-law, for paying thousands of dollars each and every year for all of us to enjoy the magnificent wonder of the ocean and the warmth of our big family's love. I love you very much and I'll soon start counting down again to next year's beach trip. Yippee!

Also, thank you to the Watsons and the Strongs who bought plane tickets to fly across the country for this. Crystal and I loved chatting and playing with all of you and are sad to say goodbye! We love you!

15 Months Update

2011-06-22T15:24:00.011-04:00

Crystal is now 15 months old! She's 25 lbs, 32 inches: putting her at 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. She now has 12 teeth and a little more hair. Walking by herself is still to scary for her and I love it when she often reaches for my hand.

Words that she can say moderately well include book, bike, shoe, flop (for flip-flops), ball, dog, cat, toes, ear, hair, eye, milk, juice, cheese, grape, mommy, and dad. She does try to repeat every word that we say though many of the others come out sounding like "ba."

We got a renter for the upstairs bedroom and he's a 43-year-old Navy officer that had to move to the area for work is leaving his family for a year. He leaves for work early and returns late, goes on many trips, and it's almost like he's never here!

Our Ford Focus' engine died for good, so now we're down to only one car. Right now, we only need one car though it's still an adjustment for us. Steve rides his bike 6.5 miles to work when the weather permits and loves it.

Photos update:

Crystal 12-18 months

Recent photo highlights:
enjoying the airshow
trip to the zoo
Crystal's cousins visiting from Utah

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T21:17:00.005-04:00

I love being a mom!

Other news:

-At almost 14 months, Crystal stands on her own now, but will only walk while holding our hands. She goes in the potty about 4 times a day. She still nurses throughout the night. She still has very little hair but she does have 10 teeth. She loves chasing grandma's cat around the yard and her favorite word to say is "book"

-We might be getting a summer intern to rent the room upstairs from us.
-I'm sad that one of my sunbeams is moving away. I've become pretty attached to them.
-Steve's parents have been called to a different ward.

Crystal is One!

2011-03-14T12:06:00.003-04:00

We had a little party on Saturday with Crystal's favorite friends and family members. It wasn't quite warm enough to have it outside, so we had the party inside and it was still a blast! Crystal had so much fun and also loved having extra time with her cousins for a few hours before the party and the previous evening.

I had never thrown a party for anyone before and I was totally stressing out about it all week long. I spent much of the previous day and that morning cooking and baking and I really enjoyed doing it. We made pita bread, bean dip, guacamole, hummus, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. Steve liked the bean dip, and my dad liked the guacamole. Crystal also loved the guacamole and the cake. My attempt at homemade hummus wasn't that good. I'll try to be more precise with making it next time. Also, the banana cake was awesome!

The right number of people came including 4 of Crystal's baby friends that she loves. The favorite toy was the dinosaur walker and she ended up with two of those, one from each set of grandparents!

Overall, I was satisfied with the outcome and happy that we did it. Even Steve expressed his appreciation to me!

New Year's Resolutions Progress

2011-03-01T10:41:00.004-05:00

Well, it is March, and I still haven't dropped any of my goals. I was thinking about adding one to make handmade bread but I'm still wondering whether it's worth it.

1. Daily family scripture study:
Still have been doing it after dinner but only about 4 times/week. Sometimes Steve doesn't return home from work early enough for us to have enough time before bedtime. Many times, though, we are watching a show from netflix until bedtime and totally forget about reading. We just need to remember to either pause it or turn it off in order to read.

2. Get Steve a higher paying job:
Well, I did apply to 4 or so jobs for him through the UMD's career center but only one called back and they said that they only wanted someone with experience with PLC. Though, I just applied Steve for another job that was just posted today in the middle of writing this (only because I was writing this).

3. Find a renter for the upstairs bedroom?
I posted it on ldshousing.net and one person that is moving to the area in June asked about it. I told her to ask again when it's closer. I'm hoping for more inquiries to come before the beginning of the fall semester. I have reservations about posting on Craigslist though I may if/when we're closer to fall and still have no one.

4. Plan a few trips to the temple: babysitter?
I went to the temple by myself 2 Saturdays ago for the 8 am session while Steve had the baby at home. It was wonderful although the baby was sad. Steve should be planning a trip for himself also. We need to try to make it a habit for every month.

5. Learn the names of every person at church.
I had been learning two names each week until my new calling and now I'm only learning one each week. Trying to say each person's name in my head or out loud when I see them so that I don't forget.

6. Either take inventory and organize or get rid of everything in basement/attic
Being working on it every Mon, Wed, and Fri night while we're in the basement pumping iron. Threw out 2 grocery bags of junk. Organizing baby/kid clothes during the day. Started posting furniture on craigslist this week. Three people are interested in the china cabinet and one person interested in the pair of dressers.

7. Vegetable garden
Reading a book from the library. I need to go to Behnke's to buy some seeds this week. Tomatoes need to be started indoors and broccoli can also be started soon.

New Church Calling

2011-02-15T12:13:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday was my first day teaching the Sunbeams A (half of the 3 year olds) class at church. I had a full attendance of 5 and they are so funny. They learned that "the Holy Ghost helps us," and they got bored silly after only a few minutes talking about it. A few times throughout the 45 minutes they either burst out into silly noise-making or silly romping around the room. They did really well when we sang a short song a few times over at the end. Next week we'll do some gluing and maybe have snacks in addition. The lesson is titled: "I am thankful for the day and for the night." I'm also thinking of ways to get them to want to participate more in sharing time and singing time with the rest of Primary. I love my new calling. :)

Being with Mommy

2011-02-11T10:11:00.002-05:00

Eating lunch
Preparing dinner
Doing dishes
Checking internet

Exercising outside
Other things that we do include:
taking a bath, taking naps, going to the grocery store, and practicing 3D Calculus.

This is the life.

Whoa 2011

2011-01-10T13:20:00.006-05:00

The camera is broken at the moment.

Crystal is almost 10 months old. At her 9-month appointment, she measured 20 lbs, 4 oz, 30 inches long, and 17 1/2 around head. In other words, for her age, she is in the 75th percentile for weight, 98th percentile for height, and 40th percentile for head size.

I just bought Crystal's next car seat. Even though she meets the physical criteria for it, she's supposed to also be 1 years old. I'm just keeping it next to the door for a day when I can no longer squeeze her into her current belt.

Crystal got a diaper rash from sleeping in a poopy diaper after pooping in the middle of the night, so I've had her diaperless for the past couple of days for the rash to heal. Each day, she typically peed at least 5 times on the potty and twice on the floor.

I had apple slices on my lunch salad today. Yum!

You may think that being a stay-at-home mom would be boring, but it is quite the opposite. I am actually way busier now than I was when I was working and without the baby. For example, now I'm expected to do much of the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping, and with a baby on my hip, those things take longer. Also, the baby needs me to spend a lot time rocking and snuggling her.

Actually I can think of a time when I was even busier and that was when I was student teaching 4 years ago. I oftentimes stayed at the school until 5 entering grades and making parent phone calls and I feel asleep at 6pm right after dinner and woke myself up at 3am in order to type up lesson plans that were never finished. And I guess that I did all of that for 3 months for nothing since I got kicked out of the program for "poor performance." I thought that the method of assessing me was sort of wishy-washy and I never figured out how to play the game.

New year's resolutions?
1. Daily family scripture study: after dinner?
2. Get Steve a higher paying job. Need $40k+
3. Find a renter for the upstairs bedroom?
4. Plan a few trips to the temple: babysitter?
5. Learn the names of every person at church.
6. Either take inventory and organize or get rid of everything in basement/attic
7. Vegetable garden

Thrifty and Healthy!

2010-12-21T12:48:00.009-05:00

Oh how do I love salad! It's one of the only things that makes a lunch actually makes me feel full and satisfied!

Wendy's tips for eating healthy:

1. Leave the chips and cakes at the store. When you get hungry mid-morning, there's nothing wrong with having a small lunch at 10:30 and then another lunch at 1:00 and then another lunch at 3:30.

2. Leave the ice cream at the store. When you're hankering for something sweet, reach for an apple! They are so sweet, crisp, and juicy!

3. Thirsty? Drink some water, duh! If you don't like the taste of plain, filtered water, there is something wrong with you and you need to get over it.

4. If you are really hungry and your only/fastest option is the nearest Burger King, then don't get fries and don't get a soda, instead: get both a burger and a chicken sandwich and a cup of water. Then, don't let it happen again by packing 4 granola bars in your purse/bag for the next eating emergency and think ahead before you leave anywhere and pack a sandwich and apple if you anticipate hunger.

5. Never go to any Olive Garden, TGIF Fridays, etc. unless you're celebrating something (3 times a year) and feel free to eat anything you want: just drink only water and don't get a dessert.

6. Go to the grocery store 2 times a week to ensure a continuous supply of fresh lettuce and bananas.

9 months

2010-12-16T14:37:00.006-05:00

Moving wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be after all and living here isn't as bad either. The cons about living here are: not across the street from the store, is cold, higher utility costs, maintenance, yard work. Although it can be harder to live in a big house than in a small apartment, the extra space does give a little more freedom. I put the futon mattress on the floor in the baby's room and now I sleep with her or leave her in there sleeping without worrying that she'll fall off and hurt herself. Since the house is owned by a family member, we don't have to pay rent: we just have to pay the property taxes and utilities and help fix it up. And the family members that moved out left us some sweet furniture.

It would seem selfish to keep this big house to ourselves, so I would like to rent the upstairs bedroom to someone. The idea is kind of scary and it would have to be someone that we trust. Or, should I just keep it available for visiting family members?

Since it's pretty cold in the house, I have to keep some clothes on the baby. So now I only sit her on the potty whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and whenever I change her diaper. Crystal is still getting taller, of course. The last time that I sat Crystal on a bathroom scale, she weighed 20 lbs. Her shots appointment is next week and hopefully it won't give her a fever this time. I think that I want to space my kids 3 years apart, what do you think?

8 Months

2010-11-13T05:50:00.008-05:00

Crystal has been crawling for 1 1/2 months now and she now pulls herself to standing very easily. Before, she would pull herself up and get stuck, but now she can also easily lower herself! She can take a couple of steps while holding but prefers to get down and crawl in order to get somewhere. I keep trying to find a baby that has been crawling as early as she (at 6-7 months), but I haven't found one yet. Out of curiosity, have you found any babies like this? Tell me more about them! When do they start walking?

Crystal has two bottom teeth now and will get the top two teeth soon. She only nurses to sleep now and won't suck on her pacifier anymore and will only play with it, so she has officially graduated from the pacifier. I was afraid of having to force the pacifier away when she would turn one but now I don't have to worry about it. Now I am wondering about how she will relax herself in the future when there isn't nursing: whether it'll be difficult or whether it will come naturally.

She's getting better at picking up little things, like cherios, with her fingers but still needs more practice. She has just started practicing some more consonant sounds like "dadada" and she acts so silly when she does, smiling and with her tongue flapping.

I got tired of Crystal's diaper rashes about a month ago, so Crystal has been naked for most of the time that she's at home now. I've been sitting Crystal on the potty when she seems like she's about to pee. Though, since it requires me to watch her constantly, she often ends up going on the floor. Since it's more obvious when she needs to poop, we always make it to the potty for that. It's easy also because she poops at the same time every day: after she wakes up in the morning. Hopefully, now she'll transition easily to going to the potty on her own in a few months.

I had been continuing to let her go in her diaper while we sleep at night and taking off the over-full diaper in the morning until last night when I tried sitting her on the potty (that I kept next to the bed) throughout the night. Each time we awoke, she wouldn't nurse until after she went pee anyways. It surprisingly went smoother than making her go in her diaper, since she peed more quickly when I sat her on the potty than when she was laying on her back in a diaper. We woke up a 5 am this morning and I actually felt rested! The potty had so much urine in it--I can't believe that the diaper had been holding so much before.

Other news: Steve has been sanding the floors in the house for these past few days. He may have to take another day or two off of work to finish the project. We're moving on the 27th.

About photo: Crystal was a dinosaur for Halloween and we took her trick-or-treating!

How to put this ...

2010-10-23T16:47:00.002-04:00

Alison is moving out and we're moving into her place in College Park. I'm sad that they are moving away to Utah. We'll still be around since we're only moving 3 miles but I'm sad about leaving our ward and leaving Greenbelt. Since it will be a lot of empty space, let me know whether anyone wants to rent a bedroom or two from us. We'll now also have the space to get and store our own Christmas tree, so thanks anyways, Merinda! :)

Hooray for Baby!

2010-10-05T14:49:00.003-04:00

We misplaced our camera, but I wanted to write a post anyways. At her 6-month appointment, Crystal measured 17 lbs and 3 oz, 25 1/2 inches long, and 17 inches around head. At 6 1/2 months, Crystal is now really crawling! She also surprised me by pulling herself to standing! Crazy. I read online that babies typically don't do these things until they're at least 8 months. Crystal still has no teeth, but I can see her individual teeth underneath what seems to be a thin layer of transparent gums.

Crystal's diaper rash was making her do a hurting cry, so I left her diaper off this morning for it to heal. So, I read a little online about infant potty training. Even though she's past the ideal starting age of 4 months, as she is 6 1/2 months, I took Crystal immediately to the toilet after she whizzed on the floor anyways. I sat on the toilet backwards holding her up by her thighs in front of me. She started grunting and kick-pushing the toilet lid in front of her and she pooped in the toilet!

Throughout the rest of the day, I sat on the back rim of the toilet while holding Crystal in front of me between my legs. She also peed in the toilet in the afternoon. I was so happy with this that it didn't bother me whatsoever that I had to also clean up multiple pees and poops from the floor. I was learning when and how she tends to go. I already knew that she tends to do a squeaky grunt when she goes pee and a grunty grunt when she goes poop.

Other news, we bought Crystal's Halloween costume online and I'm really excited to actually celebrate Halloween this year! Speaking of holidays, if anyone has an extra small Xmas tree, we may want to borrow it! Speaking of borrowing, we could still use
more baby clothes size 9M and up. :)

6 Months!

2010-09-18T10:57:00.005-04:00

Gnarl slurp grunt

2010-08-31T11:00:00.004-04:00

Lately Crystal has been crying whenever I don't let her grab food from my plate. I've given her a couple bites of oatmeal puree, but lately I've been letting her gnaw on some carrots. I think that I like the idea of letting her explore the texture of adult food and practice biting and chewing even though she hasn't any teeth. Don't worry, I keep a close eye on her and I won't give her something that she can totally fit into her mouth. It would be a plus if she is getting some nutrients from licking and biting the outside of the food, though, as she's not yet 6 months old, she doesn't need to actually ingest it.

Wet Grass

2010-08-26T10:53:00.005-04:00

Crystal is 5 months old now. I am still breastfeeding her. Instead of cutting her off when she's 1, I kind of like the idea of letting her wean herself or stop whenever I'm pregnant again after she's 2. I hope that I won't be throwing up as bad during my next pregnancy because that was the worst.

I tried sleep training for one day and decided that I really love holding the baby all of the time. The sacrifice of hurting back is way worth the sweet closeness that I get in return. :) And, seldomly, if I put her down in an exact place at the exact moment and cover her with the blanket in an exact way, she'll dose off on her own. This has worked only a couple times so far but I'm eager to see her gently learn at her own pace how to fall asleep.

We've stopped looking for houses. Partly because the tax credit deadline has passed and partly because of our fear of being tied down. Also, I really love it in our small apartment in Greenbelt. I know that we can't live there as Crystal gets bigger, but I would like to move to something that's a lot like it where there are beautiful walking paths and a grocery store and bank within walking distance.

Speaking of the outdoors, Crystal seems to be fussy all the time unless we go sit outside and then she's the perfect angel. Lately, we've been spending a lot of time outside but the mosquitoes are killer, so I have to wear long sleeves and pants while we're out in the heat.

Momentarily Sits

2010-08-10T09:33:00.002-04:00

Pretty good for a 4-month-old! She's also moving around a lot on her back and comfortably rolling in both directions!

Crystal's new sound that she's been working on is: loud gasping. I'm sometimes wonder whether she'll make herself pass-out while breathing like that. She does make herself cough though. Last week's sound was: constant raspberries.

Since church made Crystal not get enough napping and she was less happy, I've lately been trying to be more diligent about following her nap schedule and bedtime.

I've also just started using sign language with her so that she'll be able to tell me more easily in a few months when she's hungry, tired, sick, etc. Yay! Fun!

I'm planning on not going back to work full-time. But, they might let me keep working part-time from home until my replacement is hired in a year or so.

We're resuming the house-search this week. We're visiting three 3+ bedroom houses in Lanham/Riverdale/Hyattsville for around $100K.

Sleeping Crystal

2010-08-04T14:57:00.006-04:00

4 1/2 months now. She had a 2-month-long break from rolling and now she is reliably rolling again; still just from front to back though. I recorded a video but my internet speed won't allow me to do anything else on the internet if I were to upload it for a few hours.

Crystal is so full of energy all of the time that it's still difficult to get her to sleep when she's tired. The only thing that will calm her down enough for bed time is to hold her while walking around. Otherwise, she transforms into a irritated banshee, squealing at the top of her lungs. With how big she has gotten, it has become increasingly difficult to constantly hold her. Lately, I've only been holding her for 5-minute increments before putting her back down to sleep/play.

Ever since before she was born, I was considering using Ferber's "cry-it-out" method when she would be old enough for it. Now, I think I'd rather continue what I'm doing, which is the walk-her-around-until-her-eyes-are-droopy method. This way, she doesn't ever cry all day and all night and she still gradually learns to go to sleep on her own as she's still awake when she's put to bed. She is also able to go to sleep anywhere, which is helpful when we're not at home. Maybe when I'm older and have more children I won't have the energy for carrying her around all of the time, but maybe I will have, with the experience, found easier ways to do it all.

I also don't want to let her cry herself to sleep because when I do let her cry it out after I'm too tired to comfort her anymore, I eventually pick her up anyways, try feeding her and learn that she's actually hungry and not just cranky. So, I don't want to make the mistake of trying to make her cry herself to sleep when she's actually hungry. Again, by the time I have more babies, I may be better at recognizing hunger before the crying starts. I can read a newborn's hunger cues but not a 4 month-old's.

She has pretty good naps: 8-9am,12-2pm, and 4-6pm. I'm pretty happy with the night-time wakings for the most part, as I'm only awake for a short time while I nurse her and she goes straight back to sleep. She is still waking up every 3-4 hours or so. Apparently My own sleep rhythm seems to have matched this because I woke up last night around 12:30 only a minute before Crystal woke up to eat. Though, I've always tended to wake up multiple times throughout the night anyways even before I was pregnant: nightmares, stress, snoring, who knows why.

One thing that I wish is that Crystal would go to sleep before 9 pm so that Steve and I can stare into each other's eyes, hold hands, and say sweet nothings to each other each night. Oh well, I guess that we'll have to remember to do these things while half-ignoring the baby or wait till Saturday.

New skills

2010-07-30T16:58:00.003-04:00

Crystal is still growing strong and learning lots! She also just started sucking on her lower lip. Makes me laugh every time. She likes to screech at the top of her lungs whenever she wants attention. She also wants to stand most of the time. She is even getting better at grabbing and picking up nearby toys. And best of all, when she's sleeping, now I can put her anywhere (ex. on the floor) and she will wake up momentarily and go back to sleep! She even slept on the floor at church! (I guess that the trick is to keep trying it even when you expect it not to work.)

Also, at her 4-months appointment, Crystal measured at 14 lbs, 11 oz, 25 1/2 inches long, and 16 inches around her head.

Beach House 2010

2010-07-18T15:54:00.007-04:00

Last week was our annual Kelley family beach house trip to Buxton, NC. This year was different though because we brought our new little addition. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't have much of a "vacation" while taking care of her but it turned out to be better and happier than I was fearing.

I planned on going to bed early with her every night instead of staying up playing board games with the adults. I ended up staying up to play Nertz for two nights because that's my favorite game ever. On the other nights, someone mentioned Scrabble and I promptly went to bed since that is the most boring game ever. I like to play Risk with them only if I start in a good position since it can be depressing if I'm the one with only a handful of countries in Asia. I wasn't in the mood to play it this year.

My ultimate favorite thing to do at the beach each year is to go swimming in the ocean. I only got a few chances to swim this time. Wah. Sad Wendy.

This year, we left on Friday and stayed at a motel in NC so that we could arrive at the beach house earlier on Saturday. The swimming pool at really warm water so Crystal was pretty happy in it. She was totally trying to swim around and I was fighting to keep her head above the water. The last time that she went swimming, Dale and Tammy's pool was a little too cold for her and she was crying because of it until I gave up trying to get her used to the water temperature and took her out.

At the beach house, Crystal's not a fan of the cold water as we dipped her feet a little bit in the ocean. The baby pool got filled with some water and once that warmed up, she really enjoyed sitting, laying, and splashing in that. Even more, she enjoyed being in the hot tub. The very short time that we allowed her in, she spent splashing, kicking, and trying to dive.

Don't worry: we kept the baby in enough sunblock even though the bottle says to ask a doctor if she's under 6 months old. Doctor Mom says yes: we don't want the baby sunburned.

Crystal loved all of the family members constantly goggling at her. She started smiling and laughing almost every time anyone looked at and talked to her. Such a happy baby! I must be an excellent mother! ha.

I had recently bought a swimming suit that would fit my larger nursing breasts but it's a string bikini. I wanted to be able to match a different size top and bottom. If I got a swimsuit where the bottom fit, then my breasts would be falling out. If I got one where the top fit, then I would be flashing people the other way. The adjustable ties are good because even though my breasts are large, I can make it tight around my slender back. I would've gotten a tank-ini if I saw any that would work. Oh the dilemma! Even though Steve doesn't approve of it, I wore the skimpy swimsuit anyways. At least I tried to stay covered while I wasn't in the water. I didn't want to look saggy, so I wore it so tight that it was actually quite uncomfortable as the string dug into my neck.

Every year it seems that Steve gets sick and has a miserable time. It was no different this year except that everyone else got sick at the same time. I merely had a slight sore throat, runny nose, and a little cough. Crystal also got a cough and a slight runny nose. Steve, on the other hand, got those things but much worse plus a 102 degree fever. He seems to always suffer worse from getting sick than I do. He tends to get a sinus infection along with it. Maybe it's a genetic thing? Ear infections tend to run in his family though he, himself, doesn't seem to get those specifically. I really hope that Crystal won't be prone to ear infections.

Beach Photos

Find the Baby #2

2010-07-18T07:55:00.004-04:00

Crib Baby

2010-07-01T15:11:00.004-04:00

Steve's coworkers gave us a $160 gift certificate to Babies-R-Us, so we got Crystal some new toys yesterday. We got her a teething ring, too, since I think that she has started teething. We'll save the rest of the gift cert for when she's older or when we need something.

Crystal has been sleeping in bed with us basically since birth because she wouldn't go to sleep or stay asleep in her bassinet. Now, as she's 3 1/2 months old, she's no longer considered a newborn. So it is safe to let her cry it out a little bit without losing her trust.

I set the crib up today and she took her first crib nap after only a few minutes of her yelling and me periodically replacing the pacifier and blanky. The bed in our beach house room will not fit the three of us, so Crystal may be using a pack-n-play to sleep in. So, we will need to practice having her sleep in the crib before the upcoming beach trip.

Crystal's aunt, Karen, will be in town soon and we are so excited for them to meet the new baby!

We put an offer on a house in Mt. Ranier but we were out-bid. We're going to continue the house hunt in August.

Baby Wendy

2010-06-27T15:02:00.003-04:00

Everyone seems to say the Crystal looks exactly like me. So, for your pleasure, these are some of my own baby photos:

Different from Crystal, I had a lot of hair and brown eyes. I think that my nose is different too. So, from her dad, she at least got his nose, baby baldness, and blue eyes. Everything else Crystal and I seem to have in common.

Almost 3 months

2010-06-08T12:57:00.002-04:00

I can wear 6-9 months clothes now! It's funny how the average 3-6 month year old would fit in 6-9 months clothes. I think that whoever labeled the sizes for baby clothes wants mothers to feel like their baby is ahead of the game when the baby is merely average. Crystal is super tall though.

Crystal loves going outside while she's awake. If not, she is fussy. So, I've been spending a lot of time walking/sitting around Old Greenbelt like one of those old ladies. :)

I had put on offer a house in Riverdale but we were out-bid. Looking at more houses this week.

Search and Find

2010-06-08T12:50:00.004-04:00

Find the baby! Other things in picture: a spyglass, the yellow pages, a cell phone, an Edgar Allan Poe book, baby links, and an elephant.

2 1/2 months

2010-06-01T17:42:00.004-04:00

At 2 1/2 months, Crystal got bored today. She was screaming her guts out until Steve picked her up and let her look out the window. He then put her in her rocky-chair to look at her baby links and she was fine for a few minutes like that too. Then he picked her up and showed her the window again and walked around the apartment with her and then walked outside. I was making her cry-it-out. When she's tired, she tends to go to sleep after 12 minutes of 3-minute cries. Steve couldn't handle that; he is too sweet. After they came back, she fell asleep instantly when I snuggled with her.

At her 2 month appointment, she measured at 12 lbs, 3 oz, 24.5 inches long, and 15 inches around head. She is really long! I've still been trying to get a video of her rolling the other direction but she only seems to do it when she's hungry and in the middle of the night.

We put down an offer on a house in Riverdale this week but there are multiple offers on it. We'll see.

Rolling

2010-05-15T06:57:00.003-04:00

At 2 months, my baby is doing what most don't do until 4 months!

Her first time was when she was more like 1 1/2 month.

As far as rolling from back to tummy, she still needs some work. She usually would do it from her side to her tummy and then her arm is still caught underneath her. And, she only does it spontaneously.

Eight Weeks

2010-05-10T15:57:00.003-04:00

I'm improving my mother skills each day as I can get her to sleep within 20 minutes of holding and moving her the right ways. During the day, she's been getting hungry about every 2 hours exactly making it easier on me to know when to expect to feed her. I've usually been able to get 2 hours of work in each day while she sleeps on me. At night, she gets hungry every four hours as I typically feed her at 9pm, 1am, and 5am.

Steve had been getting frustrated lately as he tended to get stuck with the baby when she's crying and he can't get her to stop. So now I make sure to give Steve more chances to hold her when she's happy and asleep so that he would feel happier with the baby. This has been working pretty well.

She has always been a strong baby and it appears that she is somewhat ahead for her age as she has already rolled over from both her back and her tummy!

It seems that her arms and legs are getting too long for some of her 0-3 month clothes, so I tried her in some of her 3-6 month clothes and some of those seem to fit! I'm curious to see her weight and length at her 2 month appointment next week.

The structural engineer basically said that the house that we had been looking at is in terrible condition, so we pulled out of the contract, and will resume looking at other houses.

Taking a Shower

2010-04-22T10:34:00.003-04:00

Well, the vibrating rocker didn't put her to sleep, but it kept her happy for my whole shower! Well, it did as long as I kept reaching out to reinsert her pacifier over and over.

Motherly Experiments

2010-04-21T14:34:00.007-04:00

I learn things about being a mother every day. I also forget things every day.

Crystal has just recently only been giving me one 4 hour sleep block instead of two at night and I haven't returned to daytime sleeping because Crystal won't sleep with me in bed during the day any more even though she easily returns to sleep in the middle of the night. The only thing that will put her to sleep during the day is if I wear her in a sling. Taking her out of it wakes her up, so I've been baby-wearing these past couple of days. I'm fine with it though because I can do stuff with both hands when I wear her. I might start doing some work soon.

I still need to figure out when to take my shower. The middle of the night might be easiest for a shower even though I should be sleeping instead. Maybe we'll try a shower after giving the baby to Steve after he comes home. I noticed her quietly watching me from across the room while I was putting away groceries today. Perhaps she'll be fine if I sit her down in the bathroom within eye sight of me while I take my shower. I don't know whether she can recognize me through our clear shower curtain though. Maybe I can sit her in a place where she can peek through the back side of the curtain at me.

I wonder whether all babies do the same things that she does. For instance, since as early as her 2nd week, I've occasionally noticed her laughing. There are some experts that say that newborn smiles really aren't from gas and that they are genuine. I would never understand what she's thinking about when she suddenly bursts into smiles. It's usually when she's sleepy and relaxed. Also, she really likes to suck. Even her cry is really cute.

After always staring at her, I think that she has Steve's shaped eyes and his color eyes, Steve's hair, Steve's nose, Steve's hands, my mouth, my cheeks, and my chin. I'm interested to see how our next child would compare. For no reason, I have a feeling that we would have another girl. Too early to think about that yet, I guess. I wouldn't want to freak out Steve.

As far as the house search goes, we just got the appraisal report. It seems to have been appraised at a value only slightly higher than the price we offered. Aw shucks. The house inspection is scheduled for Thursday night and then we'll decide on whether we want the house next week.

Club Foot

2010-04-08T08:42:00.002-04:00

Steve got worried about the increase in yellow nastiness coming out of Crystal's eyes, so I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday and he said that it is just from her clogged tear ducts and told me to massage them at her diaper changes. He also prescribed some optional eye drops and said that the problem could last for 4 months and wants to know if it is not gone by then. She was weighed at 9 lbs, 10 oz. Perfect growth.

The appointment with an orthopedic specialist was yesterday. He basically said that she has border-line club feet and wants me to stretch them at diaper changes for a month and then we'll go in for an appointment and if there hasn't been any improvement, she'll get the casts.

I've expressed some breast milk and given her a bottle a couple of times already in the past couple weeks. Having a bottle on hand was a life saver when we were in the waiting room for only 5 minutes and in the exam room at the orthopedic clinic. She was able to eat while the doctor looked at her feet.

Crystal has become more fussy lately as she sometimes have been crying when she's not hungry. I've found this to mean that she's tired even though no matter what I did, she wouldn't relax. I've found that letting her cry it out for 5 minutes by herself tires her enough so that she'll finally start relaxing after we pick her up.

We have a ratified contract on the house in North Brentwood and are going to sign the mortgage application for it at the lenders this afternoon. Meanwhile, our agent is trying to get the seller to turn on the utilities for the inspection.

Life With Baby

2010-03-31T09:37:00.002-04:00

I didn't want to start using the pacifier until after another couple of weeks but, at day 8, Steve introduced it anyways. I wasn't angry though because the tired baby automatically stopped fussing and I know that Steve only did it because he was wanted to give me some relief. So far, it looks like Crystal is still latching onto the breast the same, but she seems confused for a couple of seconds when given the pacifier. The only time that she seems to need it is at 8 pm at night, or fussy time. Otherwise, she wants to "comfort nurse" and be constantly attached to my nipples for 5 hours until she's able to sleep.

I've picked up some tricks which help things. After nursing, if she'll sleep while I'm holding her, then I can keep her snuggled on me and sleep in our bed. She seems to stay asleep this way and, during the night, she sleeps for 4 hours at a time. Don't worry: I won't roll onto her. My carefulness tends to cause me to freeze my body and seemingly sleep with both eyes open. Lately, the bassinet only seems to be keeping her asleep for 15 minutes at a time, no matter how snugly bundled she is. I'll keep in mind that I should move her out of the bed as early as I can, while she's still young or when she's less upset, in a few months I suppose.

I'm pretty much back in the same shape as I was before the pregnancy, except for my chest, as I had only gained 7 lbs. I'm probably one pants size bigger due to the change in my bone structure. I already owned clothes that were too big anyways, so no big deal. The birth hardly injured me at all as I physically feel much better now than when I was pregnant. I was even able to go to church on Sunday, at two weeks. The baby stayed asleep basically the whole time and I only had to feed her once. So, I was able to play the piano in Primary.

Other news: It turns out that we didn't get the contract on that one house. We put an offer on a different house instead, one in North Brentwood which seems to not require any repairs or upgrades, for 126K. Moving there would probably put us in the College Park Ward. Though, for some reason, I'm not sure that I like the idea of being in church with Steve's parents. I'll get over it, I guess.

Crystal's Doctor Visit #1

2010-03-22T15:07:00.002-04:00

Just came back from the pediatrician. Although babies are expected to weigh less than their birth weight after a week, Crystal has gone up from 8lb-1oz to 8lb-4oz. I guess that all of that feeding did her some good!

Plus, Doc says that she's very strong since she can hold up her head. Though, her right foot is a little crooked, so we got referred to an orthopedic specialist.

Feeding Frenzy

2010-03-21T16:39:00.002-04:00

All I ask for is a 1-hour nap! Crystal was on a constant feeding binge last night from 8:30 pm to 2 am. She just finished another one from 12:30 to 4:30 pm (at least I think she's finished).

Is Crystal being a special case of demanding? I've been topless for most of the night and day. She also poops about 8 diapers a day: about 3-times the minimum required amount.

Now it's my turn to get something to eat. At least I got two 2-hour naps this morning. At what age do newborns slow down? At this point, it seems that she is only speeding up.

All of this pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing has made me feel very womanly.

Crystal's First Week

2010-03-20T12:27:00.001-04:00

The Birth Story

2010-03-17T15:06:00.003-04:00

Sunday, March 14th

7 AM: I wake up before having an uncomfortable contraction followed by a squirt of fluid. I run to the bathroom to leak over the toilet and I have a bowel movement. I had taken my timer along with me and was timing a few uncomfortable contractions while sitting there. I continue timing my contractions as I sit half-naked on a towel in the bedroom and notice an hour's worth of contractions 2-3 minutes apart. I tell Steve that I'm in labor, I call the midwife, and we start some last-minute packing of my tooth brush and snacks and so forth.

For each contraction, I seem to prefer either being on my hands and knees or standing and bent over a table or rail. The Lamaze slow breathing was actually helping too.

9 AM: We make it to Prince George's Hospital Center. In the triage, the midwife confirms my labor as she says that I'm only 3 cm dilated and cannot labor in the birthing center until I'm 5 cm dilated. She also confirms that my membranes are ruptured. This was almost obvious as I had been squirting everywhere for two hours. So we head to a standard labor and delivery room for me to labor in until I'm more dilated.

In the labor room, the worst part of this were all of the questions that people were asking me while in labor. Steve was asking me things like "are you alright" and "anything I can do?" My mother-in-law asks the same question: "anything I can do?" The nurses ask me questions for their paperwork: "on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt, what is your pain?" I'm thinking "STOP BOTHERING ME!" as I am in the middle of a million contractions.

11:15 AM: The midwife checks my cervix and says that I'm 9-cm dilated and we start heading to the birth center room. I later realize, because of my shakes, that I was starting the friggin' transition phase of labor while people were bothering me in the labor room.

In the birth center room, the nurses attempt to fill the tub for me. They can't get the water to be clear enough as it's not used often enough. After only a few contractions, I say that I'm ready to push and I am put on my back on the bed. I have no idea whether this is the best position for pushing, but I would agree that it is the best position for resting between the pushes.

For each push, I held my legs back along with Steve holding my left leg and foot and Cindy, Steve's mom, holding my right leg and foot. The midwife says, at each contraction to push hard and like I'm "having a BM" (bowel movement). I am also supposed to put my chin down for each push and I forget to do that. I also forget/don't care about doing the Lamaze breathing for this pushing stage as I quickly pant a few times before the big inhale before the push. On the "exhale," I tend to go "ingggggggg" and do it probably without letting out enough air since I was later told that my face was turning purple and my face's blood vessels popped like they do when I throw up. Perhaps it's expected to be like this. Anyways, the most painful part is when the baby's head is half-way out and it stings so much that I'm afraid to push to get her the rest of the way out. Of course, I force myself to anyways.

12:44 PM: The baby is born on the bed in the birthing center. I hear the nurse give her an A.P.G.A.R. score of 9. I am hardly damaged at all as I hear that I got 4 stitches on my inside though I eventually got pretty swollen. They hook me up to a Pitocin IV to contract my uterus and reduce the bleeding and I try to initiate breast feeding but the baby isn't interested in latching right now.

I can't believe that I was in labor for only 5 hours and 44 minutes before having my first baby and I did it completely natural, without any drugs or intervention, as I had planned. Though, I don't know if we even had enough time to put something in me even if I wanted it. I suppose that I should get a home-birth midwife for the next baby as it would be expected born even faster that the first.

Baby born

2010-03-17T11:38:00.004-04:00

Crystal Dawn Kelley
12:44 PM, March 14, 2010
8 lbs, 1 oz
20.5 in

Stay tuned for the story

Baby to Arrive Soon

2010-03-08T11:38:00.004-05:00

My due date was yesterday. At my appointment this morning, the midwife checked my cervix and everything is perfect. I am 90% effaced and 1 cm dilated and the baby is at station 0. Maybe she will come this week. If not, then definitely next week.

It looks like we may not get the house that we almost had a contract on after all. I'll give it another day before we start looking at more houses.

Photo 1:
taken 1 day before due date
Photo 2:
the bedroom setup for baby

Baby Preparations

2010-02-19T11:17:00.003-05:00

So much to think about; so much to do.

The baby is due March 7: 16 days from now. We have a ratified contract on a house on 68th Ave, east of Capital Plaza Mall. We're figuring out the sellers' legal issues before scheduling the inspection.

I'm expecting the baby to come before we close on the house. So, I'm getting organized. Things to do: We're going to take down the crib and put up the bassinet and the glider-rocker. I'll also pack my hospital suitcase and install the car seat in one of our cars. Steve will put on the replacement side-view mirror that we just received (someone smashed the previous one after the snow storm).

I had my second baby shower and still did not get any diapers, so I'll just go ahead and buy those this weekend along with other things that I still need: diapers, wipes, rash ointment, bras, nursing pads, nipple cream, breast pump, bottles, pacifiers, baby record book, massage oil, and new age CDs.

I'd like to get an eye doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment in. I also need to get some more quarters for laundry.

I've pretty much finished what I wanted to get done at work before my coworkers take over for me. I'm still trying to get my donated leave pool set up for me to use for the 6 weeks after the birth since I don't have enough sick leave saved up to cover that. After that, I plan on staying on part-time from home working 1 hour/day or so.

Latest health info: everything's good, except that the baby is posterior. So, I should be expecting to have back labor when the time comes: ow. Apparently I'm still vomiting occasionally (1/month) as I threw up Wednesday night's dinner. I've gained 22 lbs so far this pregnancy.

"Snow-mageddon"

2010-02-07T11:12:00.009-05:00

A tree hit our apartment building in Greenbelt, MD around 8am Saturday morning but went through someone else's windows. Our power went out around 9am. Steve decided that we should escape for the day because we wouldn't be able to cook anything without power. Steve's parents came with their Explorer and picked us up. Yay! We spent a lovely day and night at their house and are now ready this Sunday afternoon to return home and check whether the power is back on yet. We got 22-30 inches of snow. The men had been re-shoveling about twice everyday. Church for today was canceled for the whole stake.

We'll have to dig my car out so that I can go to my prenatal appointment tomorrow.

Sonogram at 35 weeks (8 months)

2010-02-03T12:47:00.002-05:00

They said that the baby is 5 lbs, 6 oz and estimated a due date of March 17th, 10 days after my actual due date. So, it looks like I'm all set to have a smaller than average baby or give birth 2 weeks late.

At my last prenatal appointment, my uterus only measured at 31 instead of 35, but the midwife said that it may be because the head is down really low. The baby is also posterior, facing forward. This explains the clobbering that I get up front and the soreness in my back. There are also feet jabbering my rib cage.

I was prescribed some iron to take in addition to my prenatal vitamins to treat my anemia. The directions say to not take it within 2 hours after or one hour before eating any food. Ugh, so in order to take my iron, I need to starve myself for 3 hours twice a day. Whatever.

Baby Shower: Part 1

2010-01-30T14:30:00.002-05:00

I just got home from the ward's baby shower for me.

Things that I have enough of now: newborn onesies, newborn nightwear, receiving blankets, burp rags, towels, crib sheets, and a car seat. Thank you!

Things that I still need: diapers and wipes, rash ointment, rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs, baby soap, sponges, baby first-aid kit, breast pump, bottles and bottle brush, nursing pads, pacifiers, 6 month clothes, baby monitor, toys...

Home Search 2

2010-01-21T18:40:00.003-05:00

Well, Prince George's county just announced that it is running out of money for its NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program). So, I guess that we now can no longer get the $3000 from them for buying a foreclosure. Oh well.

We plan on going out one more time to visit houses on Saturday before making a decision on one. It appears that the only affordable ones are where the public schools (Templeton EM) and the crime (burglaries/car thefts) are a little worse than other areas. After moving there, if I can't get our first kid into the Robert Goddard Montessori school, then I would probably resort to homeschooling. We'll see.

Anyways, if we got a 3 bedroom house, I was thinking that we'd only live in it for 6 years before getting something bigger. So, perhaps a 4 bedroom house with some storage space would be more ideal for a longer term. I have no idea how many children we're going to have or how room-sharing would work out among the number of girls/boys. In any case, the house that we get will also require some repairs before it can be livable.

Our favorite house so far is in Riverdale with 2 bedrooms on the main floor, and 3 bedrooms in a finished basement for $89,900. It also has a huge attic with floorboards in it. Things that would need fixing/replacing: the three cracked radiators, all the broken basement windows, and the moldy wall. The hardwood floors will also need a refinishing. We'll need to see if something needs to be done to the gigantic tree threatening the power lines and other people's houses. Anyways, I don't want to spend more than $5000 on the necessary repairs. If we decide on it, we'd need to get a couple of professionals to check it out first.

Home Search

2010-01-19T11:53:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, Steve and I attended a home buyer's course. Yesterday, we looked at 5 bank-owned houses with our agent. It was a new experience for us. I think that we might go out one more time to look at a few more before deciding on one. I'm looking for a 3+ bedrooms for under $100,000.

I'd like to buy something before April 30th so that we can get the $8000 federal tax credit. I was thinking that we can use that money to help pay the monthly payments for two years or until Steve gets a raise or a new job. We have about $15000 saved up so far that I would like to use on repairs and as a large down payment so that we could earn more equity faster.

One thing to watch carefully is the property tax. The last house we looked at was pretty sweet and had a low price but it was in Bladensburg where there is an additional city tax. There is no way I'd pay about $7000 ($600/month) solely on property taxes. We wouldn't have visited it if I noticed this beforehand.

Pregnancy update: 33 weeks pregnant now with 7 weeks left.

We've been attending Lamaze classes. Out of the 6 pregnant women there, even though we are all due around the same week, I seem to be the smallest. Though, my uterus has been measuring well at my prenatal appointments and I've been gaining 1 lb/week. I guess that I just have a small body to start with. I haven't any stretch marks. I almost fainted during the last class. I must not have been drinking enough water during that day.

So far, we scored some baby clothes, a rocker, a boppy, and a crib. I'm happy to accept any other hand-me-downs. Diapers are the most needed, of course. My ward's baby shower for me is for Jan 30. The family+other baby shower Feb 6th?

7 Months Pregnant

2010-01-05T10:10:00.006-05:00

Nine more weeks left until my due date. I just bought some maternity clothes from the thrift store. If any of you want to get baby gifts, please by all means give us some hand-me-downs rather than buying anything new. There are some higher quality clothing at thrift stores than at target.

My new nurse-midwife felt that the baby's head is down low with the the butt up high. My uterus measured at 30 cm which is good at 31 weeks. I haven't had any swelling and I don't have any stretch marks [yet]. Also, my nipples, apparently, are in good shape for breast feeding and that when I will breast feed that the baby's mouth needs to be over top of the colored parts too. We may go for a tour of the birthing center on Friday. Our Lamaze class starts this Wednesday.

My mom and I haven't had much of a relationship since she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia 15 years ago, but we got to talking a little the other day about pregnancies. I was asking her about her pregnancies and childbirths and I learned some things about her that I never knew.

She had vomiting and had bedridden herself in the first trimester just like I basically did. She said that she had figured out a painless childbirth method for herself that combined Lamaze, hypnosis, and new age music, and that she was willing to teach it to me. It's funny that I just assumed that she had epidurals like everyone else but I guess that her and I are more alike than I had thought.

Steve put his resume on monster.com and he got a call from some bank. I told him that he could have an interview with them anyways but maybe not take the job unless he's willing to have a career change.

We had Steve's parents over for dinner on Sunday and they thought that catfish is a weird idea but they were okay once they tasted it. It's been my favorite fish to eat this past month.

New OB

2009-12-23T16:56:00.009-05:00

I've never really trusted much medication to work very well. So, I've been somewhat partial to the idea of unmedicated birthing. After reading a couple books on gentle birthing and watching the documentary "The Business of Being Born," I've come to desire a natural birth even more.

The health insurance that we just got through Steve's work, United Healthcare, gives some more freedom in choosing doctors and hospitals than our current/previous insurance, Kaiser Permanente. So after some research online, I've made an appointment in January with the Nurse-Midwives at Dimensions Ob/Gyn in Glenridge Shopping Center in Lanham. This means that I will also be giving birth at Prince George's Medical Center's in-hospital birthing center. It appears that this hospital has a pretty low rate of complications during childbirth.
.......................................................................

And well, since everyone else seems to have put snowy photos on their blogs, here are ours:

Baby gifts

2009-12-16T15:20:00.002-05:00

Well I registered on target.com but I wasn't able to add some things to the registry through their site, like diapers. Maybe I'll go to the store and add those things. Anyways, after creating the registry, I tried searching for it and "Wendy Kelley" didn't bring up mine. What will work, though, is if you type in the ID number: 014399700857333.

Newborn Essentials

2009-12-14T12:14:00.003-05:00

My baby shower(s) would probably be held in January/February, and I was thinking about ways that people can coordinate their gifts. Since not everyone lives near a Target, I don't think that a gift registry would be the best idea. Based on what I read on the internet, this is a list of things that I still need to have or borrow:

hundreds of diapers: disposable and/or cloth
infinite wipes
rash cream
baby first-aid kit
baby nail clippers
baby soap

nursing bras (my pregnant bra size is 36C, pre-pregnancy 34B)
nursing pads
nipple cream
breast pump: manual or electric
bottles
burp cloths

2 sets of crib sheets
swaddling blankets
pacifiers
baby monitor
bouncy seat

new car seat or combination car seat + stroller

4 onesies
4 pajamas
3 outfits
5 pairs socks/booties

If you get or promise something, reply to this post as anonymous and I'll remove/check the item(s) from this working list.

The Temple

2009-12-09T09:57:00.004-05:00

It is suggested that endowed church members should visit the temple monthly. But, Steve and I haven't gone to the temple together for 6 months since before I was pregnant. But now that I'm not throwing up anymore and I can go longer without food, it was probably about time for us to go again. I am 27 out of 40 weeks pregnant, or six months, with a girl that I may name Crystal. Due March 7.

At tithing settlement last Wednesday, the Bishop reminded us to go to the temple. So, during church on Sunday, I wrote a note to Stephen about possibly going to the temple on Tuesday night and he wrote back that we'll plan on it for now.

Last night was the Tuesday night and as soon as Steve got home from work, we got dressed and left at about 5:30. First, we ate some dinner at Checkers and then we left for the temple. The colored lights at the Temple were pretty but we had neglected to bring the camera. While we were changing, Steve had to switch to a different size of temple pants because his normal jeans size ended up being too small.

We made it just in time for the 7:00 session. We planned on a Tuesday night instead of a Saturday because I figured that the session would take less time so that my bladder wouldn't explode. I kept a little baggy of goldfish crackers in my pocket just-in-case I needed some nourishment. There were only 7 of us in there. I looked as we walked past the clock after the session ended and it was 8:40 and we made it home at around 9:30--about bed time. So, it appears that one should set aside 4 hours for a temple trip on a Tuesday night.

Every Sunday, after an hour-long sacrament meeting, I have to sprint to the bathroom. I was surprised that my bladder wasn't exploding after 1 hour and 40 minutes in the temple session. So, I guess that, this was either an answer to a prayer or a result after a full day of work without drinking enough water... or both?

Future Plans

2009-11-28T08:41:00.008-05:00

I started worrying again early this morning that we'll have to move into Steve's parents house if I chose not to work after the baby comes. The baby is due in March, in 14 weeks, and I feel that it's extremely important for me to fulfill the responsibility of raising my own child and not give her up to daycare.

So, whenever I start worrying too much about finances, I start doing research and create a survival plan. Perhaps we could buy a 3-bedroom house and have mortgage payments that are less than the rent for our one-bedroom apartment. We can be eligible to receive government assistance through the programs:
Prince George's County's Down payment on Your Dream which basically provides 3.5% of the home value if the home is within 5 miles of work or 7% if the home is in one of the "trouble" zip codes.
Federal Housing Tax Credit which gives the lesser of 10% or $8000 in a tax return.

So this is my latest survival plan:

1. Continue saving up $20,000. Accomplished by February.

If Steve never finds a new/better job by February:

2. Contact a "Down payment on Your Dream" participating lender and get pre-approved
for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage for a $100,000 house with 20% down-payment.

3. Attending a HUD housing counseling course.

4. Start searching for vacant foreclosed homes within 5 miles of Adelphi, where Steve works, with 3+ bedrooms that are under $100,000. It appears that many of these homes are in Hyattsville. Online listings.

5. Work with a Real Estate Agent to place a contract on a property for which I can be pre-approved.

6. Return to lender with the sale contract and apply for mortgage and "Down payment on Your Dream" loan.

7. Claim the purchase on our tax return forms before April so that we can receive the $8000 first-time home buyer federal tax credit. Use the tax credit to repair/restore the home.

8. Upgrade to a better house/neighborhood in 5 years when Steve makes more money and repay the "Dream" loan. If we space our children 2 years apart then we'll have our 4th (and final?) child in 6 years when our first one is 6 years old. I think that I want to be in a better area before the oldest kid enters 5th grade or so, before middle school. But, if the neighborhood and schools are safe and good enough already then we could stay in the house forever and save money up for college and missions and so forth.

If Steve gets a new/better job before February:

Depending on his new pay, we may be able to afford something up to $150,000 and do only a 13% down payment. If PG's county is within 5 miles of new job, try to get the "Down payment on Your Dream" loan. If not, then research for other local down payment/closing cost assistance. Still get pre-approved for a mortgage, find a home, place a contract, apply for the mortgage, and claim the purchase on the federal tax return forms.

Other news: We are probably switching health insurance to Steve's work's, meaning that we will no longer be with Kaiser starting the beginning of January. We will have Oxford/USA Health. So once we get the materials next year, we'll chose a different obstetrician and perhaps change my birthing hospital/center.

5 Months Pregnant

2009-11-04T14:53:00.003-05:00

Hm, since the last post... My ultrasound showed my cervix to be 2.5 cm. This was a thing of concern since the average cervix length is 4 cm and a short cervix can be indicative of an incompetent cervix which shortens and opens when it's not supposed to and may lead to a preterm labor. I assumed that since I never leaked or spotted or anything that I don't have that particular problem and that I just always had a short cervix or something.

The doctor ordered a second ultrasound and referred me to a high risk doctor. The second ultrasound showed my cervix to be 2.5 cm again. Then the high risk doctor measured my cervix at 3.5 cm which is normal, so now I'm back to seeing my usual doctor. Sheesh.

I called Kaiser to inquire about the contracted birthing center option. It appears that Kaiser is with only with one birthing center in this area and it's in Virginia. So, I'll probably be giving birth at Holy Cross then. I'll pre-register right now.

I got the H1N1 shot on Tuesday. I started having the sniffles that morning though. So far it seems to just be a cold though since I have no fever. I haven't had a fever in like 6 years. We'll see how I am by the end of the week.

Anyways, my main concern is still with our future financial situation. I've become angry at what American society has become in this area. Because more mothers are working these days, their families are making more money and have an advantage over families where the mothers chose to stay home. The more mothers that are working, the more money families make, and the higher the home/rental prices get. So high, in fact, that the other mothers are forced to work also in order to compete for just a basic living for their families.

It doesn't make sense that an entry-level job for someone bachelor's degree doesn't pay enough for them to afford all of the basics of living in a measly one-bedroom apartment. I'm referring to how much my husband is getting paid, of course. My parents were our ages with similar education and jobs when they had their first kid and it appears that they were eventually able to buy a good house. A house like theirs is worth about $300K today and even with our combined full-time salaries minus child care, we wouldn't be able to afford that. Is there no longer any hope for a perfect life? What is the world coming to?

It's a girl!

2009-10-14T16:50:00.009-04:00

I drank the exact amount of water that they told me to: not more and not less. But, the technician sent me to the bathroom twice to empty my bladder because the baby was moving too much. I did feel the baby kicking a lot when I was in the waiting room.

Baby weighs a good 11 oz and is on track at 19 1/2 weeks. We clearly saw that the baby is a girl. I was hoping for and expecting a boy. So, the surprise made it extra special.

The baby's head was too low and my cervix is too short. The doctor says that this is okay. I just need to tell someone if I feel pressure down there.

Prenatal Visit

2009-10-07T13:58:00.002-04:00

I had an appointment yesterday and learned that I had gained 10 lbs this past month. I guess that it makes a difference to be vomiting only once a week instead of once a day. I still have 4 lbs to gain in order to break even. I am at 18 1/2 weeks. I think, at night, that I am occasionally feeling the baby tapping if I feel with my hand. The doctor said that the top of the uterus is where it should be at this point.

I tried eating a salad today, the same salad that I used to be able to eat a few weeks ago, but I had to spit out the first bite and go throw up the strawberry ensure that I had drunk an hour previously. I read in a study that trying to eat foods that one has an aversion to, for nutrition's sake, does not help the pregnant person whatsoever. This makes perfect sense to me, especially if an aversion to one food causes me to throw up something else that I had already in my stomach.

I'll have to leave work early today because I ran out of stuff to eat again. How am I supposed to get any work done if I have to eat every 45 minutes?! I feel like no matter what I do, I'm going to feel horrible by 2 pm if I don't find a place to lay down and relax/nap.

Anyways, I have an ultrasound next Wednesday and will hopefully find out whether it is a boy or girl. I am assuming that it will be a boy. Let's see if I'm correct! Perhaps I'll put a baby bump photo on here soon also.

Steve has been going to the Career Fair at UMD this week. Christian gave him an Italian suit that he had an extra of, so Steve is looking especially handsome. I hope that Steve may get a good job out of this.

Yucky

2009-10-01T09:17:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling relatively happy lately since I got an office mate at work. I've been getting up on time and everything. Steve and I have also been successfully praying every morning and reading scriptures together every night. It's been surprisingly easy too. Now I just need to do personal scripture study, visiting teaching, and cleaning the apartment. Forget the temple--unless I'm allowed to put snacks in my pocket and eat during the session. I get sick if I go for more than 1 hour without eating and feel feint if I go without drinking.

Yesterday evening, though, when I was done eating dinner, I suddenly started getting the urge to throw up. I thought that since I hadn't vomited since last Thursday, that I could keep it down. I should have learned by now that any attempt to ever keep down an oncoming vomit is futile. So, I lost control of course and started running to the bathroom. Even though our apartment is dinky, I didn't quite make it. I vomited through my hand and onto the kitchen floor, the walls, the bathroom door, all over the bathroom floor, on my foot, on my pants, and eventually in the toilet. And then I cleaned it all up. As far as I remember, that's never happened to me before. I've always successfully made it to the toilet or a throw-up pan until now.

I guess that I should start looking towards the 20 week mark in 3 weeks and hope that I'll be better by then.

4 Months Pregnant

2009-09-28T16:01:00.004-04:00

I'm am at 17 weeks now. A couple people on Sunday actually saw a baby bump! Here are my thoughts so far:

I only vomited once last week. The disarray that our apartment is in is starting to get to me. I feel like I have no time for cleaning or for exercise. I basically put myself on bed rest as soon as I get home from work everyday because of how sick and tired I feel. I'm still struggling with having to be at work for 8 hours each day. I can't concentrate on anything anymore when I have to be conscious about how frequently I need to eat and drink. Today was the first day of work for two new people in my group. So, I definitely need to come in to work on time so that my office mate can get into the room before she gets her key.

I feel impressed that I should quit work after the baby comes, but I told my boss that I'm looking at just working part-time. So, that option is theoretically still on the table. I was thinking that I could try the part-time thing and if it doesn't work then quit. I'm just nervous about Steve's employment.

Beaches

2009-09-19T11:23:00.002-04:00

I finally finished uploading the photos that we had taken this summer.

Childbirth Preparation

2009-09-15T12:30:00.002-04:00

As I'm technically in my second trimester, I've been thinking a lot about what I need to decide and do before the third trimester and before the baby's birth. I've been leaning toward a more natural birth since I have somewhat of a general distrust in medication. Though I am terrified of even giving birth.

Here is my plan so far:

1. Prenatal visit every 4 weeks; ask about H1N1 vaccine?
2. Already scheduled the ultrasound for October
3. Pre-Register with Holy Cross Hospital in November
4. Register for a Lamaze class for February in November
5. Attend KP's Prenatal II class in January
6. Register for the hospital's prenatal tour in January
7. Possibly hire a doula?

15 Weeks Pregnant

2009-09-14T10:57:00.007-04:00

I feel like my belly is bigger now but it's still not evident to other people. I plan to delay as much as possible getting maternity clothes. Most of my clothes were already too big since I've had to settle getting sizes that are actually sold in stores. I still can't distinguish an baby movements from digestive movements.

We camped on Assateague Island during labor day weekend. I vomited at a restaurant on the way there but not at all for the rest of the weekend. The next time I vomited was after I returned to work on Tuesday. So, I guess that work-related stress aggravates it. I'm not sure whether sleeping in and minimizing the amount of work that I do helps or not.

It appears that, for the past week, instead of throwing up every day, I've been throwing up every 2 days or so. So, I suppose that the sickness is slowly subsiding. I haven't expanded my menu of foods yet though. I hope that I'm not psychologically scarred by certain foods for the rest of my life like I had been with shrimp when I got food poisoning. I should expect not...

It's been Steve's job to do the dishes and cooking while I lay about feeling sick. Luckily, I will only eat foods that are easy to make like pastroni and corn dogs. But, no matter how much I'm laying about, I still sometimes throw up my meals.

The featured food of my latest dream is tender barbecued chicken.

The apartment had been a complete mess for my whole pregnancy until last Saturday when Steve and I spent a few hours folding laundry and clearing the table and floors off. It makes one more relaxed to spend time in a somewhat livable space. Perhaps next Saturday, we'll sweep and vacuum the floors and wipe down the bathroom.

I've also been getting urinary track infections, causing some extra discomfort. I still hate being pregnant.

I've lately been extremely grateful for my calling at church. I've been the pianist for the primary kids for two years and it keeps me more busy and distracted from my sick self at church than, I imagine, any other calling would for me.

13 Weeks Pregnant

2009-09-02T08:48:00.002-04:00

Looks like they swapped doctors on me. The new one seems better though, so it's all good. I'm 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant today. I'm due on March 7th, but I'll be pessimistic and expect the baby to be born on March 28th, since both Steve and I were each born 3 weeks late.

Steve came to the appointment yesterday and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat. It looks like I've stopped losing weight as I've been 105 lbs for the past 9 days. I haven't been eating any better or vomiting less though, so maybe I've just lost most of the fat that I have and there's just muscle left or something. Yes, I have been taking and keeping down my prenatal vitamins. The doctor said that I should be drinking 10 glasses of water. How in the world... ?

I go to the Kaiser near PG Plaza, so after the appointment, Steve and I went to the movie theater. It is crazy that matinee tickets were $8.50 each and 2 hotdogs, 1 nachos, and a soda cost $20. Good thing that I had a plastic grocery bag with me in the theater because I had to use it. It's also a good thing that there were only two other people in the theater and we were seated far enough from them.

After puking a bunch of nachos and water, I was able to eat and hold down my hot dog and some more nachos and water. That's usually my routine when I eat anything solid. After getting rid of the first half, I'm good to eat the second half. It is aggravating when this occasionally happens twice in a day though and that it's been like this for 6 weeks.

Okay, so I'll be scheduling my big ultrasound for when I'm 20 weeks, and I'll take Steve to that. Even though I usually like to be surprised, I always wanted to know whether it's a boy or a girl ahead of time. This way, we'd only have to think of one name for him/her and people would know what kind of baby clothes to give us.

Less Uncertain

2009-08-31T13:50:00.004-04:00

Well, Steve opted to become a contractor at his work so that he doesn't have to stay in school to keep the job. So, he's working full-time now. In the meantime, though, Steve is looking for a better job. He enjoys what he's doing but I'd like him to get something more permanent. We're going to get the internet at home so that Steve doesn't have to leave all the time to get on the internet to apply for jobs.

After looking at our expenses, it appears that, if I stopped work, under a budget, we can survive. Steve has to bag his lunches and only get new computer games and music for birthdays/holidays, we may have to eat out and go to the movies less often, and buy less of the nonessential food items like chips and ice cream. Also, we may have to eventually lose our cell phones and get a home phone. Apart from those things, I don't see anything else that we may be willing to cut out.

Health Update: Still sick. I have an appointment tomorrow. Steve is going to come too because he wants more proof that I'm actually pregnant. hah.

The Uncertain Future

2009-08-24T10:05:00.005-04:00

If Steve doesn't get a new job, the backup plan is for him to keep is current job which pays about $34K full-time or $16/hr part-time and they would pay for grad school. The only problem with it is that, if he continues to work less than 40 hrs/week, it is not enough to cover our expenses. We would have to take from whatever I save up from my job. This money may keep us out of the hole for 15 months or so after I stop working when the baby comes. So, Steve would have to get a major raise before the money runs out and before we get kicked out of our apartment for over-occupying it.

If Steve gets a job that pays enough, we may be able to use my money to save up for a down-payment on a low-cost home. This is my ideal goal.

Otherwise, if we can't afford to rent a bigger apartment once we get kicked out of ours, we would have to move in with Steve's parents. Either that, or I have to return to work and stick our kid in day care.

Health update:

I'm still throwing up and losing weight. The medication that I was given never worked so I stopped taking it after a week. I'm down to 104.8 lbs (14 lbs total loss). I hope that it will get better in 2 weeks. By then, though, I'm afraid I'll be weighing at under 100 lbs. Getting tired of throwing up everything, I'm hating food more, and I'm running out of food options and so I'm crying a lot about it. I've been coming to work 2 hours late most days and am running out of sick-leave hours.

Music

2009-08-20T10:10:00.002-04:00

Every day, during my 1-hour commute, I listen to Classical WETA 90.9. I find that this music is more pleasant and more stimulating than anything else on the radio or on my CDs. I realize that after listening to it to and from work everyday for the past month or so, I haven't gotten tired from it and I've never had to change the station. There is so much variety with so high of a quality. On Tuesday, I was thinking about it and it was bringing tears to my eyes that there could be something so uplifting playing on the radio in these times. This radio station is listener-supported and doesn't play a whole bunch of ads or anything. So, I decided to go to the radio station's website and donate $50 to it. $50 is about how much we would spend on CDs in a year. I listen to this radio station more often than to the CDs, so I figured that it was a good amount.

On another note, I was watching the WETA channel on TV yesterday and a documentary on ice cream made me cry for a different reason. Thinking about how horrible everything tastes to me and how I don't enjoy eating anything like I used to enjoy eating ice cream caused a emotional breakdown. I was telling Steve about it and he decided to go to the grocery store for me to buy me some split pea soup and popsicles. I love him so much. I also am very appreciative that he's spending a lot of time applying for jobs. I really hope that he gets one: even if it means that we have to move to Alaska.

Update #2

2009-08-17T08:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am still losing weight as I am currently down to 108 lbs. But, don't worry: I still look relatively healthy. I am not skeletal or anything. By the calendar, I'm 11 weeks pregnant, so I still have at least 2 weeks until the end of my first trimester. I feel grateful that the 1-a-day vomiting isn't too bad and that I can still mostly eat and keep down relatively normal food.

My gratitude increases whenever I hear about people that have become really bad off. It is pretty terrible that other people's misery can make me feel happy! Sister Holder was telling me that one of her daughters got down to 75 lbs! And Steve told me that some guy at his work was telling him that his wife couldn't even keep down ice chips! She had to be hospitalized, of course.

I have a friend that told me that she didn't really get sick that often, but that it took her 5 years and 10 miscarriages before she could even have a baby. And the baby was born 6 weeks premature with a final hospital bill of over 6 figures! Steve has a cousin with a similar story. I feel so badly about these horrible experiences that many people have had and, at the same time, I feel so happy that I am well and that the pregnancy is pretty normal and so forth.

Life Update

2009-08-04T08:34:00.002-04:00

According to the calendar, I'm at 9 weeks pregnant. According to the size of my baby, I'm only 7 1/2 weeks pregnant. I hope that this doesn't lengthen my first trimester. I'm still throwing up everyday. I lost 3 lbs last week bringing my total loss to 7 lbs. I weigh 111.8 lbs now. The doctor prescribed me a suppository for the nausea but I haven't decided to start taking it yet.

Our refrigerator is getting replaced today. Thank goodness! So, I'll be able to eat refrigerated foods again!

Steve has been going to his mom's house to use the internet in order to apply for jobs. I'm still feeling pretty optimistic for him. If I can get a good job with a bachelors in math, surely he can get one with a bachelors in physics! Though, there are more applicants these days than there were when I got my job 1 1/2 years ago.

Burping

2009-07-30T10:19:00.002-04:00

My whole life, I've never been able to burp. It never really bothered me though since I was used to it. If my stomach starts to unceasingly gurgle, I lay down and it stops.

I think that this problem has been requiring me to puke in the morning before I eat anything in order to get all of my burps out. My one cracker in bed helps to launch it. I think that I want to teach myself to burp by sticking a finger in my throat so that I can burp when I'm not pregnant and nauseous.

My stomach being full of air may be why I get full so fast when eating and why I've been always pretty skinny.

Toxic Fridge from Hell

2009-07-29T12:43:00.002-04:00

In addition to throwing up 1-2 times each day, I am unable to each or drink anything from our fridge. There is a weird chemical smell that is contaminating everything inside. The smell blasts through the apartment whenever we open the fridge. The bad taste is in all of the food and I can taste it even in the ice cubes. So, lately, I've only been eating toast and crackers and stuff.

Steve is somewhat skeptical about whether it is even a problem. I asked him to at least defrost the fridge and freezer last night to see if that helps. He didn't of course, so I'll have to do it after I return home from work and eat and rest for 20 minutes. I "googled" for some possible solutions. So, in addition to defrosting the fridge, I'm going to wash any mold from the drip pan, clean any dust from the coils, remove and clean behind the panels, etc. If none of this works, I'll tell management to get it repaired or get us a new fridge. I may also "google" the refrigerator model for any recurrent problems with this particular model.

Sonogram 7 weeks

2009-07-24T14:00:00.004-04:00

The white jelly bean inside the big black tear drop is the baby. It was beating like a little heart

Pregnancy Week 8

2009-07-23T13:29:00.006-04:00

I've vomited 5 times in the past 6 days. The constant nausea is disabling. I don't know how I'll survive at least 30 more days of this. I'm starting to hate men because of their lack of understanding or sympathy. Though I think that Steve is getting better the more he hears me vomit. The other day, saying the word "twinkie" prompted me to rush to the toilet and puke.

I'm having trouble packing my lunches for work since I need to eat less than every two hours, or six times, there to keep my stomach from being empty. I guess that my stomach doesn't like any veggies since I puked the salad that I ate for fourth lunch at work today. I'm not getting much work done here.

Since everyone has been asking about my future work plans, I've started thinking about it a bit. Originally, I never wanted to be a working mom. The baby is due in March. As the time is close, I don't know whether we will be able to afford for me to stay home. Will I need my job's health insurance for the baby? We don't really know what Steve will be doing. We would also have to eventually afford to move to a bigger place.

I guess for now, I am going to say "I don't know" about anything until next year when we see whether or not Steve has a full-time job with health benefits.

I haven't had the chance to finish uploading our own beach house photos to the web since I'm not allowed to plug the camera into my computer at work. Here are some photos taken from my mother-in-law's Picasa Web Album:

Beach House

2009-07-20T08:45:00.003-04:00

We left a day early for the beach house on Hatteras Island last week and stayed at a motel for the night. Steve had to do homework at the beach house but luckily he emailed it in on Monday and was able to relax during the rest of the week.

We returned from the beach house on Saturday. I puked at a waffle house on the way back and burst the blood vessels on my face. I also puked this morning in the middle of eating breakfast. The cracker-in-bed thing didn't work. I guess that getting up at 5:30 AM for work doesn't help.

I'm am 7 weeks pregnant so far. According to the numbers of the children of Steve's brothers, I say that we have about 6/7 chance of having a boy. I'm thinking about the name Jason or Kyle.

Here's a slide-show of some photos of the beach house including 15 nieces and nephews:

Beach Trip Anticipation

2009-07-08T10:01:00.002-04:00

The best time of the year is quickly approaching: our annual vacation to the beach house in North Carolina. This year, though, Steve's and my Florida trip in March may have been better than the beach house usually is. Well it was, at least, more relaxing and romantic. I'm surprised that I didn't conceive during that week instead. :P

Last year's beach week felt too short, so some of us are leaving a day early this time. Too bad that Steve can't go swimming yet because of his eye surgery. He hasn't much cared about swimming in the ocean these days anyways. He's getting old or something. As for me, swimming is my favorite part. Water feels sooo good on the skin. The sound and motion of the waves are very soothing too. The physical activity of treading the water also keeps me happy and not anxious or bored.

Steve and I have borrowed some library books to bring and read at the beach. Steve got some war history books for himself. I got a couple of Stephen King books. I'm going to start the Dark Tower series.

The Answer is: Yes I am.

2009-07-06T09:11:00.005-04:00

It appears that I am 5 weeks pregnant. Steve and I had been married for 4 years before we figured that we could finally afford children soon. We got pregnant during the fourth month off the pill. We weren't exactly trying very hard as we were both still terrified of the idea.

Last Thursday, I thought it was normal for me to be 4 days late on my period. My stress and anxiety has made my period up to 10 days late before and an airplane ride has made me skip a period altogether.

When I visited the health center for a urinary track infection, my urine was tested and the nurse told me that I am pregnant. I was stunned. I hadn't noticed any other symptoms. Logically, it would've been possible to get pregnant since I had been off the pill for 4 months. Psychologically, I expected to continue life as it was and never get pregnant.

So, at first, I was in disbelief at the news. Soon after, I was happy and excited. I wanted to immediately tell the whole world. It would be weird to just go up to someone and blurt out "I'm pregnant!" so my plan is to wait until some comes to me and asks, "what's new?" I'm not going to first wait for the baby to survive the first trimester to tell anyone. I hate it when people do that! So I'll just tell everyone when/if the baby doesn't survive also. So what? I feel like my feelings would be hurt more if I kept it to myself than if I told everyone. Though, I've always hated receiving sympathy from others.

I'm almost half-way through the first trimester and I am near symptomless. I haven't had any nausea and I don't hate food any more than I already did. This is good since morning sickness is, reportedly, the worst symptom of pregnancy. I've only had some slight heartburn and I generally feel a little different. I was already eating 6 small meals a day and was getting my daily folic acid, so I didn't really need to change any of my routine.

Anyways, I have an appointment in the late afternoon today and I don't expect to learn anything new.

Appointments

2009-07-02T11:38:00.002-04:00

A nephew broke Steve's glasses last week. Steve is getting his eyes zapped today. He is so handsome with no glasses!

I've had a urinary track infection since Sunday and visited the nurse today for it. My pee showed that I have a extra condition that will keep me from getting the normal treatment. More later.

Amusement Park Day

2009-06-26T08:41:00.009-04:00

I remember that when I was a kid, my brothers and I earned points in the summer by doing house work until we earned enough to go to Wild World: a water park. By the time that I was in middle school, the park got some non-water rides and rollercoasters and was renamed to Adventure Land. A couple years afterward, Six Flags bought it and it became this Six Flags park in Bowie.

Steve and I went to Six Flags yesterday but we didn't take any pictures. This had been the first time that we went to an amusement park together in the 4.25 years that we've been married. Steve had never visited Six Flags before even though he's lived within 20 minutes from it for 20+ years.

As a teenager, I had a friend with a season pass that brought me along a few times. I remember how much I loved roller coasters. I'm a little older now and I don't enjoy them as much as I did. I still love being frightened and feeling the wind and watching the fastness. Whats different now is my attitude about rollercoasters. I'm no longer so obsessed with them. Also, I don't like how the rollercoasters shake my head around and totally kill my neck. The mind-eraser didn't do that; instead, it totally scraped up my ears--which was worse.

Highlights of the day:

We arrived at opening time (1030) and headed straight for the batwing. Someone heading back from it told us that they were performing maintenance on it, so we got on the Superman ride instead. This rollercoaster is the tallest one in the park. I love being at the top of it as it starts to fall. What a rush! We then checked out the Batwing and it appeared that it was running again. We also enjoyed this one. This rollercoaster is unique in that you ride it in the laying down position so that as it the coaster spins around, your body is suspended flat like you're flying. The joker's jinx was slightly more pleasant on the neck although it is more on the twisty-turny side. We realized that, perhaps, we should've started small and worked our way up to riding the Superman and Batwing rides because they were totally crazy.

Since we got these tickets from Steve's work, there was free food for us at a pavilion on the private picnic ground. We went there for two lunches. I didn't each second lunch because my stomach wasn't up to it.

At around four o'clock, we got our swimsuits from the car and entered the water-park part. Steve kept saying that he didn't care about going to the water-park but I made him anyways as I said that I wanted us to have a full Six Flags experience. We relaxed together floating around the lazy river and rode the water slides. Steve ended up really enjoying this cone-shaped water slide. I think that it was a new one since I don't remember it being there last time I went.

At the end of the day, we rerode the Superman and Batwing rides. What was crazy was when the conductor for the Batwing ride told us that Michael Jackson died. I was like "What? Michael Jackson?" She then starting singing a bunch of Michael Jackson songs. We didn't totally believe her until on our way home when the car radio was playing nothing by Michael Jackson songs.

What's pretty weird is that even though Steve and I put the same amount of sunscreen on a the same time, my face ended up getting burned and his didn't. This is weird because his skin is supposed to be fairer than mine since he has blue eyes and I have brown. Maybe walking around campus made him a little more sun resistant?

What I like most about being at the amusement park yesterday was being with Steve. I enjoy talking and laughing with him. What I like most about being with him is simply looking at each other. I could stare into his eyes for ages and ages and still feel the sparks. Even though it seems that Amusement Parks are for people to be indulgent, it is also a great way to spend time with family. A season pass is only $20 more than a ticket. This costs way less than the $200 to be a member of our local swimming pool. So, perhaps one day when we have kids and/or when we don't work as much, we'll get season passes.

FL Day 8: May 30

2009-06-16T07:49:00.005-04:00

My Dad likes this picture.

In the morning, we visited the Okeefenokee Swamp Park. The admission package that we chose costs about $18/adult and included a 30-minute boat tour of the swamp, a train tour, and a nature show.

We saw alligators, turtles, and a river otter.

The boat tour showed us some of the swamp's beauty.

The tanic acid in the water makes it tea-like and safe to drink.

Old Roy was the dominant male in the '90s, I think.

Oscar was the latest dominant male to die. He was about 1000 lbs and will become the largest alligator skeleton.

There was also a petting zoo there.

This rabbit was just hopping around freely, not unlike the ones we have in Maryland.

In the afternoon, the alligators were out of the water absorbing and storing the sun's energy.

The nature show guy taught us things like how to preserve nature's balance by leaving snakes alone so that they can eat the rats. He also said that when we leave the alligators alone, they leave us alone because animals have a natural fear of humans. This reminded me of the part in Genesis that Steve and I had just read together about how the animals were given a fear of humans.

The nature guy was telling us that the swamp has everything anybody needs to live in it: plenty of food and a hut that would last eight years after building it. All the things that we have these days are unnecessary.

We started heading for home. Instead, of camping an extra night on the way, we drove straight through and arrived home a little after midnight.

This whole trip cost us about $600 dollars and an unpaid week from Steve. It was definitely worth it.

FL Day 7: May 29

2009-06-15T07:41:00.006-04:00

I am so good looking!

The next morning after we packed up the tent and left Silver River State Park, we went to the Ocala National Forest and did the sink-hole hike. This is me at the giant sink-hole.

This hike had more spider webs in it than any other hike this week. The webs tended to be face-level too! Are the spiders trying to catch our faces?

We arrived at Laura S. Walker [GA] State Park and started making and eating dinner when a little kitty appeared. Steve made friends with it. Steve gave our extra hot dog to the kitty even though I told him not to.

Both Steve and the kitty were looking up at the camera for this next picture

The kitty hung out with us until we entered our tent for the night. Steve would've brought the kitty home if I wasn't allergic.

There was a lake at the campground.

Steve tends to make dopey-looking smiles in pictures, so I told him to make a serious face for this last one and it looks good! I didn't post most of the dopey pictures.

FL Day 6: May 28

2009-06-12T10:01:00.007-04:00

After leaving Fort De Soto, we drove past St. Petersburg and Tampa towards Silver River State Park in Ocala.

We arrive at Silver River State Park in Ocala and go on a short hike. I guess that we forgot to take a picture of our campsite here. On this hike, we saw two armadillos chasing each other. Armadillos are actually pretty cute.

Many parts of the trail were flooded. We found ways around but not without finding poison ivy rashes on our ankles afterword. Actually, we don't know from which of the hikes we got it.

Lastly, here's another cute picture of me showing my knees amongst the cypress knees. Big eyes!

This is the day when I started getting bored. I didn't want to do many more hikes because I got tired of splashing through the water, getting annoyed at flies and mosquitos, and walking through webs, so we started playing cards and reading back at the campsite. It feels great to have absolutely nothing to do and nothing to worry about.

FL Day 5: May 27

2009-06-07T20:07:00.007-04:00

We saw a few cardinals this week.

In the morning at Oscar Scherer State Park, we went canoeing. We luckily were able to join a little tour and do it for free. I really enjoy tours. I enjoy listening to the local nature wisdom that tour guides share.

After the canoe tour, we packed up the tent and returned to the beach to go swimming.

After the beach, we left and drove north towards St. Petersburg, crossed some bridges and paid some tolls before we arrived at Fort De Soto [Pinellas County] Park.

It was nice that these campsites were at the water.

We went swimming at the beach in the late afternoon. Don't worry: I don't get sunburned after 4 pm.

FL Day 4: May 26

2009-06-07T19:35:00.005-04:00

In the morning at Wekiwa Springs State Park, we went on a five-or-so mile hike. We saw lots of little tiny frogs and an alligator in a lake. We also saw some deer, a hawk, and another gopher tortoise.

After the hike, we packed up the tent and went swimming in the springs. The green slime was nice. I love swimming in natural water.

We then left heading south-west and arrived at Oscar Scherer State Park. This campground is on the west coast of Florida an hour-or-so south of Tampa.

We checked out the beach in the evening and saw some ibis. I love the sound of the waves and the feel of the ocean breeze.

FL Day 3: May 25

2009-06-07T15:42:00.014-04:00

Leaving Little Talbot Island, we took the scenic route through downtown Jacksonville.

We arrived at the Kennedy Space Center early in the afternoon. We didn't realize that it would cost us any money until we saw that admission was about $40/person. After a few minutes of fretting about it, we decided to do it anyways since we made the trip down there to begin with. Also, after doing it just this once, we won't have to worry about going there for the rest of our lives since we already did it.

My favorite part at the Kennedy Space Center was the bus tour. I enjoyed listening to things that the driver was telling us. The government owns all of this land which is mostly untouched, so we saw plenty of wildlife including alligators, bald eagles, and egrets. The bus dropped us off at various places on the base where we took a look around at big buildings and equipment.

These horrid vultures were everywhere.

After the bus tour we went on a ride "shuttle launch experience." This was pretty fun. Finally, we saw a 3-D I-MAX about astronauts on the moon.

We have been very fortunate this week as it only rained while we were traveling in the car or lightly in the middle of the night as we were sleeping.
We eventually arrived at Wekiwa Springs State Park, north of Orlando, to stay for the night.

FL Day 2: May 24

2009-06-03T08:31:00.056-04:00

Note: These blogs will only show my favorite pictures and pictures relevant to the story. There is a slide show of all of the pictures in the blog side-bar. Click on it to see all of the pictures of the trip. I'm practicing making myself look fabulous in pictures. But Steve is not. Though, he is practicing taking the good pictures. hehe.

Anyways, It stopped raining as we entered Florida. We then arrived near Jacksonville to Little Talbot Island State Park.

Most of Florida's state parks have an office or a "nature center" full of mounted animals.

Once we got to the site, we set up the tent and laid everything out to dry. We then went on a short hike.

On our walk, we saw many fiddler crabs and a gopher tortoise.

We saw some little lizards by the restrooms. We were gawking at them in front of some dude. We later figured out that the lizards are actually all over the place, just like squirrels are here in Maryland. So, we probably looked pretty silly.

This was one of my favorite sites of the trip because not only does it have the beautiful palms and spanish moss and so forth, it has an ocean beach within walking distance from the campsite.

We did another short hike in the afternoon where we saw a very sad looking palm tree.

We returned to the beach for a night walk to look for turtles but since lights weren't allowed and we didn't want to blindly step on little creatures, we decided to sit on the boardwalk and watch the waves and talk to each other. I really liked that moment. Since we didn't think that we'd be able to see the turtles anyway and it was getting close to bed time, we left the beach before it started getting too dark.

We saw something running in the dark along the road. We thought that it was an armadillo but it disappeared before we could get a closer look at it. We also saw tons of little frogs/toads.

During the night were heard something moving around next to our tent. We looked out and saw that it was another armadillo. We heard it circling the tent for quite a while. The next morning I figured that it was enjoying the little ant hills.

FL Day 1: May 23

2009-05-31T18:05:00.020-04:00

One thing to help you stay entertained in the car on the way south is to count the number of "South of the Border" billboards that advertise this weird place south of the border between the North and South Carolinas.

We planned on staying at Skidaway Island right outside of Savannah, GA, but by the time we got there, it was all full. We called around and ended up staying at a KOA right off of I-95.

We got rained out early the next the morning as the tent floor was getting everything wet. The propane tanks for Cindy's camp stove were empty, so we ate sandwiches for dinner. We also neglected to bring a hammer for our tent stakes, so we borrowed one from the nice man from the next tent.

They had a "bird sanctuary" as they set out a pile of bird feed in the morning. In a cage, they were actually raising baby mute swans. These swans are originally from Europe and are an invasive species here in the U.S. as they are competing against the native tundra swan. This place is actually raising an invasive species.

We went to a Waffle House for breakfast the next morning. From a nearby Walmart, we bought some propane, a hammer, and some milk. Steve found a tree frog on the floor. I set it free in some nearby trees.

Florida Trip

2009-05-31T17:14:00.005-04:00

As we were leaving home, I extremely excited to be on vacation.

Summary:

Receipts totaled to $592.66:
camping: $182.90
fast food: $51.83
food: $45.27
fun: $153.62
gas: $159.04

Stay tuned for more details.

Florida Anticipation

2009-05-22T15:01:00.005-04:00

Stay in tuned in June for our Florida itinerary and pictures!

Yay lakes! Yay rivers! Yay beach! Yay greenery! Yay canoes! Yay camping! Yay aligators! Yay freedom! Yay Florida! Woohoo!!!!

By the way, I'd never heard of such a thing as chili on a potato until I met Steve! The chili potato was his!

Also, if you didn't already know: I am now off the pill. Though, I don't know how fertile I am since I've never been pregnant before. My cycle is 38 days long, which is way longer than the normal woman's. Does this affect anything? FLORRRRIDA!

Potatoes

2009-05-19T17:27:00.008-04:00

There are trees growing out of the potatoes!

Steve made me eat it anyways. Guess which potato is mine!

Happiness at Work

2009-05-19T16:12:00.004-04:00

Usually, I drive home from work feeling bored or anxious. I make progress on many things in a day but finish nothing. Sometimes when I actually finish something and it works, I feel like a genius for the rest of the day and night until the next day when I find a bug and realize that I'm not a genius after all. It wasn't really like that today though.

I have my own office and I usually work by myself. But today, I spent most of the day training one of my coworkers. It was a break from my norm and I really enjoyed spending time with another human being at work. I think that from now on, I want to spend more time hanging out with my coworkers at work instead of being by myself the whole day. It will give me a happier work day.

Another thing happened that made me happy today. On my way home from work, a lady asked me through our car windows for the way to New York Avenue. I actually could answer her question and it helped her. It made me happy. I love helping people! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Florida!

Luck o' the Irish

2009-05-14T19:21:00.011-04:00

Yes, this clover has 5 leaves. Steve spotted it on our latest walk around the lake. He's got an eye for weird clovers. Irish!

He picked up a four-leafed one the next day at another park. Cute!

My Job

2009-05-13T20:23:00.005-04:00

The following is an example of what I do at work. This small screen shot shows a function in C that takes the coordinates of a satellite and the coordinates of the receiver antenna to calculate the elevation and azimuth angles of the satellite with respect to the receiver.

Florida

2009-05-13T17:10:00.005-04:00

We're vacationing to Florida soon! Comment this blog post with some ideas of good campgrounds!

Also: see our photos from Goshen, VA for some more pictures of the family members.

Visiting Teaching

2009-05-13T07:55:00.000-04:00

Emily and I are now visiting teachers! So far we have both visited Wanda and Kelly. Emily is a blogging maniac, so I've created my own blog to help feed her pregnant appetite for blogging and to encourage others' unhealthy internet habits.

Anyways, visiting teaching is great! I love visiting people! I love listening to all of the interesting events that happen to them. The more I listen, the better I can understand their feelings and the more connected I can be to them like I would be to a family member.

It's interesting to imagine myself as other people. I know how well I know myself and how I feel in this body and how my environment is in my little apartment with my handsomely thin, intelligent, and funny husband that I love so very much. It's crazy to imagine for a second that I'm that wrinkly black guy that I'm driving past and that he's an actual person with a real spirit and that he's having some sort of feelings about something at some moment.

I need to remember that that wrinkly black guy not just some person-shaped figure that my eyes see. Just because I'm the only person that I really, for certain, know actually exists, I tend to think that there are not any others like me. I know that this is false.

The closer that I become with other people, the better I know them and love them and the closer I get to experiencing what Christ and Heavenly Father feel for each person.