welll...

You're all probably wondering what happened to me. I did a really long post about our first few days in Utah and then ended it rather abruptly, only to not post again for over a week. Well, I'm sorry but it's been a bit crazy around here. Let me tell you about it in (hopefully) the short version of it all.

We got back from Ut the night of the 14th (over 2 weeks ago now) and that night I was really sick. I think it was something I ate. Anyway I struggled through laundry the next day, and almost convinced myself I was better on Friday. Saturday was a crazy day for Joe since he had the YM/Scout garage sale in the morning and afternoon and a multi-stake dance at night. He got up at 5am that day and didn't get to bed until after 1am... Sunday was busy with Joe's meetings, my RS Enrichment comittee meeting, and such. Monday we got some rest and then Tuesday was all right, but I didn't really feel right the whole time. I don't really remember much of the early part of last week. It all kind of blends together, you know?

Thursday we went to the park for playgroup and were the only ones there. That evening I made some cupcakes and a cake because Friday was Karen's birthday Yes, Karen is now officially two years old. She acts like she's at least three a lot of the time, but she's 2! Thursday night I was really sick again. I thought it was funny that I was sick exactly one week after I was sick the last time, but figured it was probably from eating a bit of the cake batter left in the bowl...(I know, I really shouldn't do that). Friday morning I still didn't feel good but it was Karen's birthday so I gave it my best shot anyway. We took a walk, played outside, decorated her cake, and dad came home early so we could get things all ready. The Beasleys and Cooks came over for dinner and presents, and I was feeling aweful. My tummy hurt bad, and my right side was killing me. I ate a tiny plate of nachos for dinner and spent most of the party laying on the floor and trying to stay coherent. Karen got 4 new veggie tales movies (let me explain: we got 3 of them when we were planning on driving to Ut and when we bought plane tickets we decided to save them for her birthday), plastic food (fruit and veggies), and a pink and purple tea set. She also got the LeapFrog ABC fridge magnet set which she really loves and a stuffed lion she yesterday named Roger.

Saturday I felt terrible all day, and I couldn't keep anything down. I hurt everywhere and it was completely terrible. I even went so far as to call my angel of a visiting teacher to come watch the girls while Joe took me to the doctor. We ended up not going that far but we did call a guy in the ward who's a PA and he said they probably wouldn't do anything for me anyway. I felt aweful, but I couldn't do anything about it. Sunday Joe took Karen to church and I stayed home with Rachel. I hurt so bad I could hardly move, but it was still a good day since Rachel rolled over for the first time. It was so cute! I actually saw her do it too, in between trips to the rest room.

Monday was Memorial Day and I felt a bit better so we went to the brunch at the church. It was good but Joe was afraid to let me eat anything there. I got mad at him for that and we didn't end up staying very long but it was the first time I'd left the house since Thursday. That afternoon we figured out what I had (we think). I have all the symptoms for Hepatitis A. I probably got it on our last day in Ut somewhere; we ate out several times that day. No I haven't been vaccinated since I haven't been planning any international travel and they didn't routinely give that shot until after I was 'too old'. Joe and Karen both have had the shot, and now Rachel has the antibodies from me so she shouldn't get it either, but let me tell you it is MISERABLE!!! Besides the nasty yellow-orange color I turned the other day it hurts. Luckily it only lasts weeks to months, so by the end of the summer I should be okay. I'm feeling all right now except I'm still really tired and I eat really little meals. The one up side to it all is that I lost 10 pounds last weekend so my clothes all fit a bit better.

So that's why I didn't finish my post from a while back. Hopefully I'll write about my sister's wedding soon because it really was great, but I'll have to do it another time because now I have to go feed a baby.

To Post or Not To Post... and other things

How is it that I feel like I never do anything, but I'm always busy and never feel like I get anything done? Does that sentance make sense? We've been back from Utah for almost a week, and every day I think, oh I'll do my blog in a little bit...or after dinner... or before bed... Then it's tomorrow sometime, or after church... So here I am trying desperately to remember all those cute and funny things that I was going to write last week but never did. I guess I'll start at the beginning and hope it turns out okay.

We left for Utah early on Thursday (15th). It was about 5am EDT, or 3am in Utah. Despite the craziness of getting to the airport, checking all our bags, getting through security, and finding our gate with 5 pieces of luggage (including 2 car seats which, btw, don't count as a 'second suitcase' for the new rules), 3 carry-on bags, a stroller, 2 kids and 2 adults it was a good flight. We sat at the very front of the plane, Rachel slept a lot, Karen played most of the time and only had one meltdown. We got to Utah around 10 am local time and by 11 were out of the airport in our rental car. We went with Avis this time because we had a coupon; it ended up costing us more money and we were stuck with a stupid Ford Explorer that got terrible gas mileage and didn't have much room for anything; I don't recommend them to anyone. We stopped at Grandma Zillner's to say hi, but no one was home. Luckily we found a door open (I love UT for that... people always leave their doors open) and went in. Joe got us som McDonald's while I fed Rachel. Grandma got home soon and we visited with her and Grandpa while Karen took a nap, then headed for Happy Valley. I talked to Calista on the way and she invited us to go to the temple with them that evening. We went to my aunt Lisa's and visited with the family, had dinner, then went to my aunt Linda's where we were going to be staying. We got the kids down, changed, and went to the temple with Calista and Brandon. It was SOOO nice to go to the temple! We've only gone a few times since we moved out here, and most of those times are when we go to UT to visit. It's just a ways to the temple and the grounds are tiny, and with little kids it gets interesting. Anyway, after the temple we were really tired since it was around 10pm or so (we just made the 8pm session at Timp) and we went back to Linda's for the night. That's when we noticed the cat AND the dog. Joe's allergies are terrible, mine are not good either, and both girls have some (we're not sure how much yet). It's crazy, but no one (me, Joe, Mom, Linda, Grandma, or anyone else) had even thought about the pet issue, and we weren't there long enough in the evening to realize it much. I didn't even remember her having a dog, even though it's like 12 years old. But it was getting really late for us on east coast time, and we couldn't do anything about it that night.

The next morning all of us felt terrible and even though I didn't want to offend anyone I couldn't make my family stay there any more. We packed up our suitcases after breakfast (which was really wonderful, with chocolate chip pancakes and everything) and went back to Lisa's (where my parents were staying). We didn't know where we would be staying now or what was going on, but it was the day before the wedding and there was a lot to do. We took our kids and Mike and Stacia to the park (discovery park is really close to where they live in PG) and my cousins came too. We had fun, Joe got hurt on the spinners, Karen fell off a few different things, and Rachel was mad about being out in the wind, but it was fun anyway. That evening we had dinner at my aunt Cheryl's in Lehi with the Howes family. There were so many people there! It seems like every time we get together now there are at least a few more people; kids, significant others, friends, pets, and so on. It was fun to see everyone since I hadn't seen many of them since my wedding or before, but there were almost too many people for the house. After that we went to where we were staying the night: Brandon's (Calista's husband) grandma's house in Mapleton. It was a whole string of crazy and somewhat upsetting events that led to us staying there but it worked out okay in the end. It was a nice opportunity to get to know the Perazzos, and they're really great people. We even got a bedroom to ourselves (though all four of us in one room isn't fun we did it the whole trip).

The next morning we were all trying to get ready for the wedding. I was in the shower downstairs when this happened, but during breakfast Karen fell through the back of her chair (a folding chair). She tried to grab something to keep her from falling, but ended up grabbing the cereal bowl instead. She and her cereal fell on the floor, and the cereal got everywhere. Joe gave her an emergency bath, and I didn't even know what happened until after it was all over. After we were all clean and ready I once again packed up all our suitcases and we followed Brandon to their new apartment in Provo where we sayed the rest of the trip. Let me just say that it may be a fairly crappy basement apartment as apartments go, but it is definitely worth it since it's less than 2 blocks south of the Botany pond. Also note how many times I packed up those stupid suitcases and all our junk in the first few days of our trip. Although it's not entirely fair to blame it all on that, the next bit that I write doesn't sound quite as bad if you keep in mind that I had packed everything so many times that I couldn't quite remember where anything was anymore. But... I'll have to write that another time.

A Week!

It's amazing that I'm actually posting again after only one week! I hardly know what to write. I haven't really gone anywhere or done anything exciting since we can't drive much with gas so expensive...

Oh yes, I did get a new cell phone this week. It's really nice too! When we moved out here we got new phones with Cingular/ATT, but they were the free ones that aren't very nice...and that was almost 2 years ago (where has the time gone?). Since then my phone has been dropped probably a thousand times, and nearly been flushed down the toilet once (or maybe twice). Needless to say it was about dead and we had a 'free upgrade' on our plan. So I got a Motorola Razor phone-it's soooo nice compared to my old phone and it has about a hundred more/better features (including voice activated calling and some other fun things). Joe will get a new phone in the next week or so too, but they were out of the one he wanted at the store we went to. It's nice to be able to talk on the phone without it being on speakerphone the whole time, and I'm not afraid that every day may be its last. I gave my old phone to Karen, but now that it doesn't call daddy or grandma or Calista it's not nearly as interesting.

The other exciting thing (at least to me) is that Joe has now finished writing all of his papers for classes this semester! It seems like he's been working on school stuff non-stop all semester (probably because he has been) since he had to take an extra class to get his master's this semester instead of waiting until the winter. So he was taking 15 graduate credit hours, plus doing 20 hours of work with a professor (including TAing 2 large labs) and lots of 'extra' research with several other professors and presenting at a couple of conferences. This is all in addition to his YM pres. stuff that takes most of Sunday, Wednesday nights, and sometimes Friday and/or Saturday too. I'm going to be really happy to have my husband back, even if he's still working a full amount of hours over the summer.

And speaking of Summer... our plans for Utah: We get in on Thursday around noon. We don't have plans for anything that day yet, except stopping by Grandma Zillner's and seeing my family wherever they happen to be. Friday I don't know for sure what's happening yet, but I've heard rumors of a Howes' reunion in the evening. Saturday is Calista's wedding and reception in Alpine (it's also the day Jason Flack is getting married-congrats to him, and I hope people who are going to his reception in Lindon will be willing to drive a bit farther to Calista's which is out in Alpine...). Sunday is Mother's Day, and I don't know what's happening for sure; we'll probably go to church with my parents but I don't know if it will be our old ward in Orem or my Grandma's ward in Midvale or what... Monday my family is leaving for the reception in Nevada and we have no plans from that point on until we leave for NC (we should leave for the airport around noon on Thursday 14th). So it looks like our free evenings will be Thursday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for us to get together with Joe's family and any other friends in the area (unless I'm forgetting something which is always possible). I'm so excited! It's only 2 weeks away now! I've also started a list of places where I need to go shopping/out to eat. Here's what I have so far: Arctic Circle, Los Hermanos (wedding!!), Cafe Rio, Deseret Book, Distribution Center, BYU Bookstore, ...okay that's enough for now. TTFN!

Birthday Sharing, Utah update

It seems like everyone I know knows someone who shares the same birthday as them. Not all of us are as cool as our sister-in-law Kathleen Allen who has the amazing ability to remember just about everyone's birthday, but most of us remember when we meet someone who shares our same significant day. For example, Karen shares her exact birthday (5-23-06) with Joshua Sosa, a cute little boy in our ward. Rachel shares her exact birthday (1-18-08) with Bryant Whiting from our ward and Katryn Bockholt, my friend Krystal's little boy.

I also share my birthday, though I don't know anyone born the same year. In my ward in Orem I had a YW leader with my birthday and my friend Becky's sister shares my birthday. It's funny that although I haven't seen either of them for a long time I still remember this near-useless (but interesting nonetheless) fact. This year was a bit exciting for me since I now know another person who shares my birthday. If you've been reading my blog (or want to catch up...), you'll know that last September my friend Jaimie's husband John died a week after a big car accident. It was a horrible and tragic situation, since they had just found out they were expecting. Well, baby Grace Johanna Martinson was born on my birthday last week! I haven't been to see her yet, but I hear she's big and cute and I know she'll be just great because she was born on a good day. ;) So now I have another person to remember every year, which is fun.

Now, for a quick change of subject... I know a couple weeks ago I said we were coming to Utah and would be driving. We were going to arrive on the 9th and leave on the 13th, but our plans have changed somewhat. Due to the rising cost of gas (it's 3.40 here...) we started looking for plane tickets, and yesterday Joe found a steal on Orbitz. We will now be flying in the morning of the 8th (arriving around 11am) and leaving the evening of the 14th (around 5 pm). While we were looking forward to a road trip, we are much more excited that we can save a few hundred dollars and spend a longer amount of time visiting our family and friends. Unfortunately we won't be stopping in Indiana to visit Joe's family, but with the money we save on this trip we might go visit sometime this summer...maybe July 4th, we don't know for sure anything about that yet. So anyway, now I'm really looking forward to seeing Shaille and her family, and hopefully a lot of other people too (like a family who will be shortly moving to Egypt, hint hint ;) ). We're still not sure where we're staying, but it will probably be somewhere in Utah county, maybe with my aunt but we're not sure yet. I just wanted to let y'all out there know what's going on with us.

Last note: congrats to Andy Heiss and anyone else who is graduating from BYU and/or any other schools this semester! It's a great feeling to be done with school!!!

Pictures!

Happy girls
Helping make a cake for RS
Wearing Rachel's carrying pack

Karen likes to help with the Laundry, though how helpful it is I'm still not sure about.
Can you tell which teams we like to watch?
I'm a potato head!

Karen LOVED doing the eggs for Easter, even though she kept dropping them (good thing they were already cooked!).
Look mom, lots of eggs! Listen, they shake! Ooh, yummy candy! Welcome to Easter morning.
Look at the beginning of the chub! (3/25) She's getting big so fast!!

Rachel and I at the Priest/Laurel Prom
Girls with Grandparents!

Rachel always likes to be swaddled and Karen wanted to try it out; she's almost too big for her blanket though!
Karen's Easter/Calista's wedding dress.
Rachel on her blessing day. She's so cute! I love the dress (thanks again Mom).

Utah!

I just realized that we're leaving for Utah a month from Monday!!! (of course we won't get there until late on the 9th...) I'm so excited to go see all my family and hopefully my friends too! It's crazy but it seems like I have fewer and fewer friends left in UT every time we visit; we must all be venturing out of the bubble and into the wide world. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that we wanted to get together with all our friends on the 12th of May sometime. We don't have anything planned yet and we don't know who's going to be around but I thought I'd put it out there and maybe we can get a little something together?

(Sorry no pics, but I was just going to put this up quick; the pics should go up by the end of the weekend or Tuesday at the latest.)

Karen and Rachel

Here's a bit about what my girls have been doing the past month or so...

Karen has definitely hit her 'terrible twos'. It's not that she's completely evil all the time or is even malicious in her intents most of the time, but she is quite destructive and most of what she does is now counterproductive. If I tell her not to do something, like eat old cereal she picked up off the floor (I'm getting better at keeping the Kitchen floor clean, but sometimes...), she'll do it even faster. If I tell her to do something, like put her toys away or walk with me to the car, she runs as fast as she can the other way. One of her favorite things right now is to run away from me the minute she gets out the front door and start climbing the stairs. She's really fast and usually gets at least to the second floor before I can catch her, if not the third. No matter what little punishments I think of (not letting her walk outside, things like that) she still thinks it's the best game in the world. I even tried starting to drive away once, but she just sat there on the third floor walkway laughing at me. On the other hand, she is extremely intelligent and knows her ABC's really well-she sings the song, can tell you what any capital letter is (and some lower-case, but not all yet), counts to 10 by herself, and 'reads' herself stories (the ones she loves the best and now has memorized). She likes to 'help' get dinner ready and empty the dishwasher (she puts the silverware in the drawer by herself) but ends up spilling more food and making bigger messes than it's worth sometimes. She knows how to check if things are too hot (like burners on the stove, the oven, and food that just came from said places), but sometimes forgets to check; while G&G Allen were here she burned her hand on the electric griddle when she pulled a chair up next to it and I wasn't watching closely. Karen's gotten over throwing things at Rachel and I durning nursing time and instead brings us books to read or has us sing songs with her during that time. She also is really ready to potty train, but I'm worried about what she'll do with her potty-power when we do start (see Nancy's blog that I read today about her Rachel...). At one of Rachel's doctor appointments Karen stood on the scale and came in at 29 1/2 lbs. It's amazing that she won't even be 2 for another 2 months!

Rachel is growing like a weed. Her 2 month checkup was 2 weeks ago now (has it really been that long? Where does the time go?). At that point she was 11 lbs and 22 1/2 inches, which means she's gaining about half a pound per week (so she's probably 12 lbs now). She's almost doubled her birthweight and she's not even 3 months old yet. Unfortunately she had to get the nasty shots at the appointment too, 5 different medicines in 3 different shots. ;( She did okay for the most part, but the afternoon after the shots she screamed for about an hour straight because her legs hurt her and she kept thrashing them around, it was so sad!! She's a big and basically healthy little girl though I think she's got some seasonal allergies right now (mine are terrible) and she got the nasty cold that Karen brought us from Nursery last week. Today she hit a new milestone-she sucked her thumb all by herself! She's been working on it for a week or two and she finally got it today! She also has the cutest smiles that she gives to mom and dad and sometimes Karen. She's working on rolling over, but so far has only gotten up on her side and then been stuck.

So that's my girls! They drive me bonkers and give me no rest during the day, but at least they sleep pretty good at night (Rachel sleeps through about half the time now, and doesn't ever get up before 4:30, which is really nice). Well, feeding time has come again so I have to be done. Pictures next time for sure!!!

March

I think I might actually be able to write about something that happened this month before it's completely gone!!! I didn't think that was ever going to happen again!

So... this month started off with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Allen and Rachel's blessing. The week after they left was pretty much survival for me, and I knew that with all the family gone for good we had to get into some kind of a routine. Now that it's been about 4 weeks, I think we might have it but I'm knocking on wood for continued good luck right now.

The week of March 10-15 was really all about Prom. Out here they have a special prom for the Priests and Laurels from the wards of the three local stakes. The dress is formal and it's a big to-do for everyone involved. The only adults from each ward that are invited are the Bishop, and YM/YW Presidents and spouses. So we were expected to go to prom but since it was only 6 weeks after I had a baby there was absolutely no way I was going to fit into the formal dress I already had (I've lost almost 25 lbs but that doesn't mean I fit into a size 8 yet, sadly enough). I went to several stores and encountered a rather significant problem: if a dress fit on top it was really tight on the hips; if it fit my rotund hips the top was so huge that I couldn't keep it on, and all the 2 piece dresses were really expensive. So I ended up making a dress for the church prom. Sadly enough I didn't come to this conclusion until Tuesday night and needed the dress for Saturday... Which explains why I did nothing but sew all week long. It ended up working out all right; it definitely wasn't perfect but it wasn't horrible. I'll probably take it in a bit and wear it for Calista's wedding which is now only 6 weeks away. Despite the craziness of making my own dress the prom was a lot of fun. There was a photographer there, and we got a free 5x7 (when it comes I'll put a copy up here). There were lots of people there, and strangely Joe ended up talking to a couple of high councilmen from our stake and 2 stake presidents. I told Joe he shouldn't do that any more because he's busy enough with what he's already doing church-wise. The last note about Prom was how interesting it was to take a 2-month-old to a formal dance. I had to nurse in the middle and boy was that an interesting experience, trying to feed her without getting milk all over our fancy clothes! (Rachel wore the dress we got her for Easter)

Well, that's enough for today. I hope y'all are doing well! Hopefully more soon (probably Monday).

I'm Back!!!

Well, I only intended it to be a day or so between posts...but I guess that didn't happen. So once again I'm almost 2 months behind in writing...and I don't know that I'll ever catch up. So I thought I'd just hit the highlights of February and maybe March today-depending on how long winded I decide to be-and then 'turn over a new leaf' and move on like I didn't miss anything. Hopefully I've got my life enough under control now that I can blog regularly again. (I know, famous last words)

So February... My sister Calista came to visit us for the first couple weeks of February. We had a great time. I was able to go out and do things some by this time, and almost every morning we went somewhere 'fun'. We went to the mall, we went to different parks, we went shopping, we looked for apartments. It was a great time. Karen absolutely LOVED Calista, thought she was the greatest person ever-except maybe mommy or Kitara. While Calsita was here we worked on her wedding announcements, and got all 300 or so that she brought fininshed. One afternoon we took a tour of Lowe's Motor Speedway, up the road a couple of miles in Concord, NC. It was cool to ride around the racetrack in the big 12 passenger vans and see all the stands and pits and everything. (If you're wondering what it looks like, just turn on Cars; the track at the beginnig is a very accurate copy of LMS.) We took lots of pictures of the girls with Calista's fancy camera. We watched lots of different movies. In general we had a great time, and I think Calista had a good time skipping classes-even though she had a ton of stuff to do when she got back to Provo. While she was here I narrowed our apartment search to the last 2 places; both are in the ward and a mile or less from where we live now. Last week we signed a contract with one of them so we'll be moving about a half mile the last week in July.

The week after Calsita left and the week before Joe's parents came to visit was crazy; like after my mom left I had a few days to get used to being on my own and then had to get ready for more visitors. Joe's parents came the last couple days of February and stayed for almost a week. We had a great time while they were here too. The Saturday they were here we went to the Carolina Raptor Center. For those of you who are thinking dinosaurs, think again. These are raptors as in birds-of-prey instead of the raptors like Utah Raptors or something like that. They had all kinds of owl, hawks, and even a few bald eagles (one of which was nesting-really cool to see). Karen loved seeing the birds and trying to say all the different names; "barn owl" was not hard, but "screech owl", "bard owl", and "bald eagle" were more difficult. Sunday, March 2, was Rachel's blessing day. She wore the same dress Karen wore, but it was a little bit too big (although still adorable. I just realized those pictures haven't been transferred to the computer yet-I'll have to do that soon so I can put them up). There were quite a few people in the circle for the blessing, 6 or 7 besides him and Grandpa Allen. It was a nice blessing but it was very hard to hear because the sound system was going in and out (it was mostly out during the blessing); I also had Karen fussing on my lap which made it even more distracting. Thankfully Joe's mom took good notes and we have basically what was said to put in her baby book. Monday the 3rd we went hiking with Karen for the first time since she was really little. She really loved it! I think she fell down about a hundred times, but she had a great time running down the trail with her grandpa. Actually she just loved doing anything with grandpa. The two of them are quite 'ADD' and they wore each other out nicely while grandpa was here; I think he was glad to go home and rest ;)

Well, I think that's enough for now. I wish I could write more about that time, but if I write too much no one will read it and I'll never get caught up. So I'll stop for now and write some more tomorrow, hopefully. I'll also try to put more pictures up soon.

pictures!

Here are some pictures from the past 6 weeks, since I don't have time to sit and actually write anything right now. They aren't in any particular order or anything, so don't think that Rachel is shrinking or anything. ;)

update 2: the first 2 weeks

**Note: if you haven't checked the blog for a while (meaning any time from 6 weeks ago to 6 minutes ago) read the blog before this first, as this is a continuing update.**

So, Rachel and I came home from the hospital on my dad's birthday (I won't say he turned 49 this year), January 20th. Thankfully Rachel was our second kid and not the first, so we had basically everything for her already (bed, car seat, stroller, clothes, blankets, etc) or we would have been in trouble since she came exactly 3 weeks early. But, at 6 lb. 4 oz, I don't think I would have been very happy if she decided to wait a few more weeks; pushing out an 8 or 9 lb baby is not my idea of fun.

Rachel is a lot like Karen was at that age. She was jaundiced (but not enough for a bili blanket, thankfully) and so yellow from head to toe for 2-3 weeks. She sleeps almost all the time, and it takes a lot to wake her for feedings. She even sleeps pretty good at night, giving us 2-4 hour chunks of sleeping time between feedings. Also like Karen, Rachel loves bath time but hates lotion afterwards. Unlike Karen though, Rachel will scream her little head off if she doesn't like something; Karen would just wimper a bit and I'd take care of her, but I'm a bit more busy now so I guess Rachel has to be more vocal. Also unlike Karen, Rachel is already a pro at holding her head up and looking around (although she doesn't like to do it while on her tummy on the floor).

My mom totally saved us, being here the first week we were home. Rachel wasn't nursing very well, and since she was so hungry she was even harder to wake up. Karen was excited to have a baby around, (but didn't realize that she'd be a permanent addition) but wanted lots of mommy time (or Grandma sometimes). Rachel would sleep most of the time, but that doesn't mean that she was quiet. This little girl is the loudest sleeper for her size of anyone I've ever heard. She sometimes snores, but mostly squeeks and grunts constantly if she's not really deep asleep. After the first part of the first night I kicked my baby out of my room; she was so loud I couldn't sleep at all. So she slept with/by Grandma the whole time she was here. Every time Rachel would start squeeking too loud my mom would pat her tummy and she'd get quiet again. I think she wasn't too bad after the first night, but I'm not sure. I think we let my mom do a lot because we all knew she was going home in a few days and would be able to catch up on sleep a lot quicker than me and Joe. I feel kinda bad about it now though... but only a little. I was so sleep deprived from the hospital that I couldn't stay awake. Grandma Howes stayed with us for about a week-she left early on Saturday morning (26th).

The next week is a total blur. Karen was starting to realize that Rachel wasn't leaving and started to take it out on me. Rachel finally started eating (after we started using a nipple shield; that's another way she's like Karen; neither of them would nurse from me without a shield), and wanted to eat every 2 hours or so. Joe was really busy with work/school and church as always, and really behind from the last 2 weeks of craziness to boot, so he couldn't be around much even though he did his best. That week my friends from church really saved us. Kitara and Doren came over a lot to help by playing with Karen or holding Rachel. Kitara is still one of Karen's favorite people-she calls her on the toy cell phone about 10x/day.

We are now updated through Feb. 2 or so. Karen woke up from her nap so I have to stop; hopefully I can continue soon (like tonight or tomorrow) and maybe even put up some pictures.

Update anyone?

Well, I know it's been 'forever' since I posted something... and all I can say is sorry, I've been a bit busy. I know I'm way behind on the times, but I want to start this Rachel story from the beginning... which might take a while, sorry. Also, please excuse any really dumb typing errors-I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment.

This story actually begins on the 8th of January (or maybe the 27th of December...but that's too far back). I went to my Dr. appointment, and my blood pressure was really high-as in 150's over 60's. My doctor wanted to put me in the hospital to monitor my condition, but I begged her to let me go home; she said ok if I go on bedrest. So I went home and called my visiting teacher and my mom. I figured it wasn't going to be a month until Rachel came, but I had to plan on 4 weeks or so of bedrest. The ward was great; they took Karen every afternoon as soon as naptime was over; they brought meals, books, movies, etc. I went back to the doctor on Thursday the 10th, and my bp was even higher. The doctor wanted to send me to the hospital, but once again I made her let me go home since my baby shower was on Saturday. She said if I had any problems at all to go to the hospital, and that I would probably have my baby before the end of the next week. My mom bought a plane ticket for Sunday.

The shower was great on the 12th, and I got a REALLY nice double stroller along with some really cute clothes (when Karen was first born she wore mostly onesies since it was summer time-that doesn't work well in the middle of winter, even in NC). I felt yucky that night, but didn't do anything about it since I just figured I'd done too much that day. Sunday morning I still felt yucky and had a headache to boot, so we dropped Karen off at church and went to the hospital. We got there at 11am and they didn't decide to admit me until 3pm; I just sat there with the baby monitors on constantly and having my bp taken every 15 minutes. It was crazy; I was really hungry so they gave me jello and crackers (yum...), which made my bp spike near 190; as I got hungrier again my bp went down... until I ate something else.

So I was in the hospital from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday (15th) in the afternoon. My mom came in on Sunday night; Joe and Karen picked her up at the airport, where Karen barfed all over the first time she saw her. That's pretty much how mom's visit was. For 2 weeks I was in and out of the hospital twice, Karen had the nasty flu bug, then Joe had it, I had a baby, and Karen didn't want anything to do with Grandma until the last 2 days.

Thursday the 17th I went to my dr appointment, and she said they would induce me on Friday morning, but when she called the hospital to make sure they had room she said we would come in on Thursday evening instead. We got to the hospital around 7 pm, were admitted, filled out a bunch of paperwork, and the nurse took some blood and got my IV going (after she burst a blood vessel in my arm that left a welt for almost 2 weeks). Since I was only dialated to about a 2, they gave me a Cervadil, which they put up next to the cervix to help it efface quickly so you don't have to be on pitocin for as long. The doctor said I'd have some cramping and maybe in the night my contractions would start on their own and I wouldn't have to have pitocin at all. They put the drugs in around 9:30; within 2 hours I was having contractions every 3 minutes if I lay on my back, every 8-10 minutes if I lay on my side. However, the contraction monitor didn't pick them up very well so they just gave me some narcotics to help me sleep... the first time I got them was around 11-ish, and it worked for about 2 hours (but they could only give it to me every 3 hours); the second time it worked okay for about an hour and a half, and the third it took off the edge for about half an hour...of course I was supposed to be 'sleeping' during this time.

From what I remember (which is kinda fuzzy since they gave me the other drugs first) I got my epidural around 6 or so. It worked good for about an hour then started to wear off. Sometime around or just after 8 the anisthesiologist convinced me to have another epidural since I was only about a 5. Soon after that my doctor came and broke my water, which had some blood in it... a few minutes later I was at a 7. A few minutes after that I was saying that I needed to push, they checked me again and I was all the way dilated; the nurses and everyone got everything ready really fast and after maybe 10 minutes of pushing Rachel was born at 9 am on the nose. She was completely wrapped up in her cord and the placenta was about 20% abrupt (premature separation from the uterus). However, Rachel was fine and after a much more easy and painless delivery than Karen I realized that while giving birth is not fun, it's not nearly as bad as my previous experience would indicate (30 hours labor, 3 hours pushing, pain relief didn't work...). The worst parts about the hospital stay was the bp meds they gave me (so no solid foods for 24 hours) and not sleeping at night-almost every hour someone was in my room, either for a feeding or bp check, or taking blood... it was crazy.

Okay, that's enough for one posting. I'll write some more, but put it in another post in case someone else is like me and can't spend an hour just reading blogs anymore. :)

Rachel Kay Allen

Well, this is Joe...and Joy told me that I had to blog tonight and get the pictures up fast!! That's right, Rachel Kay Allen was born today at 9am. She weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz and is 18 inches long. She's about a pound smaller than Karen was because she was born at 37 weeks instead of 39 weeks and 5 days. For those who didn't know, Joy was dealing with pregnancy induced hypertension. Something she had with Karen, but was never taken seriously. Our doctor this time was more interested in monitoring this problem and for that reason alone the delivery was much more bearable for Joy. In fact, they didn't have to induce in the traditional sense. They did a procedure to help ephase (sp?) Rachel and then Joy went into natural contractions at about a minute apart. When the doctor broke her water, literally 15 minutes later Rachel was born.

Anyway, that's some of the particulars...but we're so excited to have this new addition to our family. It was funny when a friend of ours (Kitara) brought Karen to the hospital to meet Rachel. I hadn't realized just how big Karen is until she held Rachel (see pic). She's grown so much and is so smart. She's going to out-smart us for sure and be a handful when she gets a bit older.

Also, Joy's Mom flew in from Portland to be here for the delivery and to help with the transition home. She came just in time too...but not just for the pregnancy. Karen's had a nasty bit of the stomach flu and we've been cleaning up after her all week. In fact, Karen's first experience with Grandma was seeing her clean the vomit off her car-seat. I think that helps explain why Karen is just now beginning to take to her. Frankly, I don't know how we would've made it through this week without her and the help from our wonderful ward. Not to mention the prayers and faith of our family and friends. Thank you all for all the love and support. We wish you all could be here to share in this moment. Its not everyday your family grows by 25%!!

Well, Joy is much more witty and enjoyable to read, so I'll stop before I attempt the impossible... Enjoy the pics below!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Now, don't get all upset because I didn't start with 'Merry Christmas'. I realize that the main event for December is and should be Christmas. However, since I (and almost everyone else that I know) have celebrated at least 2 major holidays since I last posted I thought it best to start with a happy holiday.





As you can see, it's been quite a while. Almost every day the past few weeks I've thought 'gee, I really should blog today...' but that inevitably fell by the wayside, along with things like cleaning, excercising, and other normal non-holiday activities. Instead I found myself shopping for and wrapping presents, cooking holiday meals, making treats and/or snacks, visiting with friends in the area, or sleeping. It didn't help that Joe's been out of school since the 13th of December and been doing quite a bit of 'work from home' that starts out as school-related things and turns into surfing the internet or playing games... But enough excuses.





Christmas here was really good. It was strange to be 'home for the holidays' without actually going to either of our parents' places, but it was a lot of fun too. We got to kind of do our own traditions (which strangely ended up being most of both of our traditions; we may need to cut back next time...) and we didn't have anywhere that we just had to be for this family or that. We had Haitian food for dinner on Christmas Eve, which was yummy, accompanied by 'Compa Noel' Joe's Haitian Christmas music, which is fun...even though I don't understand most of the words. We read the story from Luke 2, had Wassail (yum) and opened one present from under the tree. Karen's first gift was a teddy bear (thanks uncle Mike), Joe got a BYU t-shirt (Calista) and I got the movie "Young Frankenstien", (Stacia) (which we ended up taking back to Walmart-shhh!). Since we didn't have that many things under our tree, we decided that Santa was going to bring wrapped gifts for Karen (and us) to open and it was really easy to put them out on Christmas Eve, since we'd finished the wrapping a couple days in advance.





The only unwrapped present on Christmas morning was Karen's "Bounce-n-go Inch Worm" It's really cute and green with a yellow saddle. The only problem is that her legs are a bit short so she scoots around on her tippy toes for right now. She got lots of other presents including some wooden puzzles, Mr. Potato Head (the original), and a 'doodle pro', but the worm is her favorite of all. Joe and I got mostly movies; we realized that for Christmas we got more than half of the year's top 10 moives (including Bourne, Rattatouille (?), Shrek, Harry Potter, and another one I can't remember right now).

For dinner on Christmas I (okay we, Joe did at least half of it) made ham, turkey (just a bit that had been frozen since Thanksgiving), potatoes, gravy, homemade mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, pies, veggies and dip, and probably something else that I can't remember right now. We've been eating on all of this food for a week or more now. Even though I just made a little bit of everything it all together took over our fridge. We really couldn't find any room for anything else after the dinner was all put away.

The days between Christmas and New Year's are all a blur. They usually are, but this time it's because we spent most of that time sick. Karen has been bringing home a new cold every week since she started nursery a month ago (except this week!) and the one from the 23rd was especially nasty. It was so bad the couple days after Christmas that I had to break my usual no-drugs-when-pregnant rule and take some decongestants. That didn't work so well since I had to go to my regular doctor appointment on the 27th and my blood pressure was through the roof (up 30 points in 2 weeks...but that's a different story), but by Sunday we were all feeling pretty much better.

For New Year's eve we had lots of treats-mostly left over from Christmas (at least the sweet parts) since we had tons and being sick we didn't feel much like eating anything. We got some salty things to go with our leftover chocolate (crackers, chips, etc). Our friends Doren and Steve Cook came over and watched Harry Potter 5 and Transformers with us, and Justin and Kitara Beasley came in just after midnight (their plane was supposed to get in at 10 pm from Oregon, but it was an hour and a half late). My usual family tradition of doing a puzzle for New Year's was somewhat thwarted by the fact that the puzzle I got this year was from the dollar store. Not only was the picture on the front of the box not a good representation of the puzzle itself, but putting all the edge pieces together (at least the ones that looked like they actually went with the puzzle) did not make any square or rectangle; it was kind of a rhombus shape: having 4 sides but of different lengths and angles not quite 90 degrees... needless to say, the $1 puzzle is now in the dumpster. We got another puzzle yesterday at the mall (American Revolution, 1000 pieces) but it's too big to fit on the piano bench. Once we get all the leftover treats off the table (either in our bellies or in the trash) we'll try doing it on the table.

That's basically how our holiday season has played out. Now the real countdown has begun: baby Rachel is coming in 38 days, give or take, and that's what we'll be working on for the next month or so. I hope to put up a bunch of Christmas pictures soon; for now here is Karen riding her worm outside for the first time. Note the light jacket and capri's; it was 60 degrees on Christmas!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so. Most of them are, of course, Karen doing cute/funny things. Of The second one is our day-after-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. We were invited to dinner with some friends in the ward but we wanted to try doing our own dinner too so we did it the next day, and even though I only made a tiny bit of everything there was still SOOO much food! It was great though. TTFN!

Welcome to December!

Do you ever get so busy doing 'stuff' that random things-like blogging-just seem to fall through the cracks? Well, that pretty well describes the last few weeks here. We've been running here and there and doing this and that and I don't even know where all the time has gone. So, I'll try and get the highlights, and that will have to do for now.

Joe's been busy doing all kinds of YM related things. In the past week or so they've logged about 6 hours of presidency meeting (or more) and then there's all the other stuff he has to do to get ready for these meetings... He's also getting close to the end of the semester, as classes end on Wednesday and finals finish on the 12th. This means he has lots and lots of homework to do, as well as papers to grade and other research projects to work on. For example he spent hours the week of Thanksgiving writing a grant with a couple other people, only to find out a few days later that they wouldn't even be able to apply for it since only one application/university would be considered and a guy in the engineering dpt. got it instead. I guess it's what you'd call 'a good experience' but still...

Karen started nursery last week and has done smashingly well. I stayed with her for the first hour her first week because they needed another adult in the room, and she had a great time. All week she's been talking about going to church and playing with her friends. Also in the past couple of weeks we've said bye-bye to the bottle. While she was never really addicted to her bottle, she really enjoyed getting her milk that way and no other way. It's been a bit of an adventure trying to get her to take it from a cup, but in all she's doing really well with that. A few weeks/months ago I blogged about how you know it's time to do certain things...well Karen has decided independant of what I want that she wants to use the potty. So, we're trying to start potty training, even though it's really quite early. We started Tuesday afternoon and while she's not yet a pro, or really even to the pull-up stage yet she is improving. Today was the first time I had to change a poopy diaper all week, for instance. She loves going potty like mom and dad, and eventually I think she'll get it down, if we take it slowly.

As for me, with these two busy bodies in the house I don't have much time for anything else. Now that the ward has gotten a little more organized and such we've started having RS activities like playgroup and book club, so I can get out of the routine a little bit. I'm also playing the piano for choir currently, although my abilities are diminishing the closer I get to delivery. Hopefully I'll still be able to do something when we get to the Christmas program, but who knows, maybe my toe coordination will increase as my finger coordination decreases and I'll play that way... although can you really imagine me playing the piano in front of the congregation with my toes while only 6 weeks from delivery? That would be a Christmas program for the history books, I'm sure.

Well, as that last thought indicates, It's time for me to be asleep. So I think I'll end by saying that I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are gearing up for a great Christmas and New Year celebrations. I was going to put some cute pictures of Karen up, but I think it'll have to wait since I can already hear Joe snoring in bed behind me. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow...but that's what I said last time.

Balance

Life is all about balance, that is what I'm learning now. You can have too much or too little of everything. Take chocolate for example. All my life I have been a chocoholic, and I feel good about that. It means that I have at least some chocolate every day... otherwise I'm grumpy and grouchy. However it can be taken to the extreme. Like last night when I ate half a king-size Mr. Goodbar while watching "Chuck" on TV (Joe ate the other half at the same time). Because I wasn't paying that much attention to how much I ate, I obviously got carried away a little bit and had to pay for it during the night. First, Rachel got a big sugar high and was doing flips and dances until almost midnight which made sleeping difficult. Then, I woke up a couple hours later incredibly thirsty, and with all that sugar inside it was hard to get back to sleep. Then this morning I had my glucose test at the doctor. This is even more sugar (I think) than my half candy bar, and the cute parasite I call Rachel went totally nuts. The doctor could hardly get the heartbeat on the dopplar she was kicking so much. Between these two events, I need to refrain from the sugar/chocolate for a while (at least a few hours I guess) to get myself back into some kind of balance so Rachel doesn't kick her way out tonight!

Someone in our family who is literally working on balance right now is Karen. She is so cute and fun at this stage, but she is growing again and it's totally thrown off her balance. She has bruises all over her head from running into things. I think it's because a few days ago she wasn't tall enough to hit them with her head and her legs were shorter and so were her steps. As those cute chubby legs get longer and thinner it takes fewer steps to get to the same place, and she hasn't quite figured that out yet. As a note to illustrate how much she's grown recently... Her Halloween costume went all the way to the floor and she kept tripping on it while trunk-or-treating, but now there's a 1/4 to 1/2 inch gap between the costume and the floor!

Joe is working on balance in another way. As I mentioned in my last update, our ward got split just over a week ago. Almost all of the leadership was taken to the new ward and the bishopric has been spending hours in meetings and interviews trying to get everything put back together. As part of that, Joe now has another thing to balance besides just home and school/work. He got called to be the Young Men's President. If you're laughing in shock and/or disbelief right now I don't blame you. Neither of us saw this coming really... until we look back really hard and say 'oh, so that's why that happened'. So he's busier than ever and I'm going nuts trying to figure out if/when I'm ever going to see 'daddy' again! So much for the 'easier semester' we were expecting to start in January.

As a last note, kind of in conjunction with Joe's new calling we bought a minivan on Saturday. It's a 2001 Honda Odyssey, white with gray interior. It's definitely not the 'coolest' van out there but it's really nice that I won't have to drive Joe to school anymore! And it's so much easier to get Karen in and out. Hopefully it will be a good car for us and will last until it's paid off and we can afford to trade it for a nicer, newer 'cooler' van. For now it will work to haul young men on service projects and temple trips. I think that's about it for now; I'll try to post some pics later on this week, since I figured out how to get them on the computer now.

End of an Era

I think Joe and I really are cursed. Since we've been married (about 4 1/2 years) we've moved a total of about 7 times. That means 7 different neighborhoods and wards, and lots of time trying to make new friends and so on. Well, when we moved out to North Carolina we figured we'd be set; we were going to be in relatively the same place for at least 4 years, and the size of wards outside of Utah are such that we could even move a couple different times and still be in the same ward. Then, here we are, in the same apartment for nearly a year and a half, enjoying our callings and finally getting to know almost everyone in the ward, and they announced the week after stake conference that they are creating a new ward from ours and the others surrounding us... but mostly from ours. Just when we thought we were safe, everything gets shaken up. I guess it really is true that the only constant thing in life is change, but really....

Okay, before I go any farther I should probably talk about our Halloween, since I have so far failed to do so. Traditionally my family makes homemade chili and donuts for Halloween, but this year we had ward trunk or treat to go to that evening instead. Of course everyone was there because it was in the middle of the time between the announcement of the split and it actually happening. It was fun, except for the part where they have a 'dinner' that is supposed to be a fundraiser for the cub scouts: $1.50 for one hot dog and fries or $2.50 for two hot dogs and fries...oh goody!!! However it was great to see everyone 'one last time' (it's just kinda funny that we're all acting like we're never going to see each other ever again, even though we're all still in the same stake and we shop at the same stores and everything). Karen was dressed up really cute in the yellow dress and purple cape that I made her. We still aren't sure exactly what she 'was', since the whole 'princess' idea went out the window when Karen chose the bright yellow cotton fabric instead of the more silky pink or blue princess-like fabrics, but she was cute. Our old camera kinda died a week or two ago (that's why there haven't been many pics lately) but we took a couple pictures of her in costume right when I finished making it, so here they are.

Notice the extra blurriness and the more-grainy quality? It's our wonderful camera. In addition the flash no longer works (well, it works sometimes, but you can't really control when it will or won't go off), and if you take a picture next to the window, the window shows up bright purple. Exciting, huh? Anyway, we got a new camera on Saturday, which is nicer and way smaller than our old camera, but I haven't taken the time to figure out how to put the pictures on the computer yet-that's a job for this week sometime.

Anyway, back to the story. As mentioned by several other people with small kids, trick-or-treating at this age is really great. Everyone thinks the kid is so cute whether it's true or not, and I get to eat most of the candy. As for our chili and donut tradition, we did it on Friday night instead. We had a few friends over and watched Spiderman 3, which is kind of Halloween-ish. It was fun to have people over, and Karen was such a show off!

So, Sunday was the long-awaited day of 'the split' (you know, that might make a good mormon movie... sorry, back to the story). Since it involved 3 wards and not just one, we had all of regular church and then a half-hour break and then the 'split meeting' for another hour or so. It was a very long day and Karen was definitely not happy about being kept out so long. As for the outcome of the meeting... about half of the active members of the ward are now not in our ward. This includes our former bishop, RS pres, YW counselors, YM presidency (entirely) Primary presidency (except maybe one...) and the list continues. It's going to be really interesting next Sunday when the only leadership that will be in place is the bishopric (our new bishop was called last Sunday, but I don't know him much since he's on the High Council) and the Sunday School presidency (only one of the counselors has 'left' us). Joe has already been asked to fill in as the ward chorister on Sunday, and I'm going to start playing for the choir, at least for this month... If I swell up like a balloon at the end of this pregnancy like I did with Karen it won't be long before I am physically unable to play the piano!

Last note for this already too-long blog. I officially start my third trimester this week. It seems like February is never going to come, but with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's all between now and then I'm sure it will go by really fast. And at least this year I have a license to eat whatever I want and gaining weight will happen whether I deprive myself or not... so why not have a good time! ;D That is assuming my glucose test next week goes well... otherwise the holidays will be just about unbearable. So listen to this, baby Rachel: be good to mommy and let her eat chocolate or else!!!

update

It seems like a good time to write a blog never comes these days. I'll explain more about why in a bit, but here's some of what's been going on the last week or so.

Last Monday, Joe defended his thesis. Yes, it is a bit early in the school year for doing something like that, but I told him (and he agreed) it really ought to be done before the baby comes in February. So he badgered his professor into moving along with the project all summer and into the fall, and a week and a day ago he passed his defence! Now all he has left for his master's degree is the classwork from this semester and next. Of course we found out that he only has two real classes next semester-6 of his 13 credit hours will be research/thesis work, which will give him some time to get going on his dissertation stuff as well as help out with baby Rachel some.

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings I went visiting teaching. I have another new companion, and this one actually returns phone calls. So far we get along well together, but I figured we would when I first called her cell phone and realized it had an 801 area code. There are just so many nice people in that area code ;) (okay, so there are plenty of wierd people too...but let's not focus on that). Anyway, I find that the longer I'm a stay-at-home mom, the more I enjoy going visiting teaching, and having my visiting teachers come as well (which they did yesterday; I also have one new visiting teacher just in from Idaho Falls... but I'm not sure what area code that is). Karen also enjoyed our visits, since all but one of our sisters to visit has little kids, and the exception has a cute little pug dog. However, Karen seems to have shared with the kids a little too much and by Tuesday night had a bit of a sniffle...

This weekend was really awesome. We had stake conference, which is usually just a nice break from the regular church meetings. However, we got a new stake presidency, which was a big deal to most of the people who have lived in the area a long time. To make the change, church headquarters sent out the 'big guns' (in the best sense of the term), and Elder Bednar was the presiding authority at the conference. It was really cool to hear him speak both Saturday night and Sunday morning. He was definitely more personable in person than as the talking head from General Conference. One note of interest about Elder Bednar is that he is a doctor of Organizational Science-the same thing that Joe's studying. It was really wierd to hear him talk a little bit about that, since it's the same kind of things I hear from Joe almost every day when he comes home from school. Hopefully Joe becomes a successful professor like Elder Bednar, but I don't expect or want him to be a university president or an apostle, so I hope the similarities don't go too far... Anyway, back to stake conference: Joe and I both sang in the choir, which meant we had to be up on the stand the whole time...with a 1-year-old we didn't know how it was going to work-until our friends volunteerd to take her during the meeting. We got there really early and saved a bench seat for them, and then watched Karen play and eat apple slices and cheese for the two hour meeting. She was really good, and it was nice to be able to listen to the meeting and not worry about Karen being too loud or obnoxious.

Also for this past week I've been transcribing some interviews that Joe had to do for his qualitative methods class. I think he's really supposed to be doing it himself, but with his thesis work and getting ready to go to Michigan for a conference he hasn't had the time and it needs to be done soon. Hence I've spent most of my computer time typing, and it hasn't been nearly as enjoyable as writing a post for my blog, but sometimes that happens.

Last note for the week. Karen's cold that she caught from someone last Tuesday has been getting steadily worse. I was going to take her to the doctor yesterday, but she seemed so much better yesterday morning that I didn't. Well, I should have because all she did yesterday afternoon was lay on the floor and watch PBS-not her normal active self. And this morning before we went to the doctor she could hardly walk because the fluid in her ears is messing with her balance. So, note to self: if Karen gets a bad cold again, take her to the doctor before she can't stand up by herself. I'm sure after a couple of days the antibiotics will have helped enough that she'll walk just fine again, but I feel like a lousy mom right now... At least I figured out the answer to one of the questions: when do you take a sick kid to the doctor? before they're too disoriented to walk.

What is it?

It seems like every time you announce that you have something new, or are going to be getting something new, every person you tell wants to know all about it. You mention in passing "we're thinking about getting a new car-maybe a minivan" and all of a sudden there are swarms of people around you, asking what kind, when is it coming, what color do you want, will you get the cool roll-down back windows...and on and on. Then if you go to a dealership to actually test-drive or try to buy any kind of said minivan, the sales person automatically assumes that you 'need' the most expensive one on the lot and won't show you anything else. (and then when you say you won't buy said expensive vehicle, they get extremely angry.) If you can't tell, we did have an experience like this a couple weeks ago at a Honda dealership. While we liked the all-leather, rolling windows, and all the other neat features, we didn't want the 7-year loan they were trying to force on us, or the $400/month car payment ("I'm sure there's enough wiggle-room in your budget for this kind of payment") for a 2-yr-old Odyssey that didn't actually drive that well. The sales guy started yelling at us when we said no politely. So we said it again, a little less politely. He got so mad that he kinda stormed off and his boss came and tried to get us to buy it. We were getting angry and Karen was a pill, but we tried to be polite as the next guy started yelling at us to buy the dang van. We still haven't picked up a second vehicle...but when we do it won't be from that place.

Another time people ask 'what is it?' is when you're carrying a shopping bag. It might have dirty dishtowels in it, but people still have to ask. Our friend and Home Teacher Justin went to BYU on a recruiting trip for work a couple weeks ago. He bought us a couple of 'fully invested' shirts, so we can fit in with the home crowd even though we're 2000 miles from 'home'. Well, he gave them to me in a BYU Bookstore bag in the middle of church, which was just fine with me. I pulled one out to look at it up close (which is different from staring at it on a computer screen, let me tell you), and right after I put it away several BYU alumni saw the bag and came running (okay, not quite) to ask, what's in the bag.

The last and sometimes most annoying time that you are always being asked 'what is it?' is when you announce a pregnancy. As soon as someone knows you're expecting, the first words out of their mouth are "what is it?" For those of us who have uncooperative children from conception onward, it can be a difficult question to answer. You may have two or three ultrasounds before you can actually tell what gender the child is. For my first 20 weeks this time, and nearly 35 weeks with Karen, the answer to 'what is it' was 'a child'. Not knowing the gender of your child-to-be can be really annoying, especially the farther along you get, and most people don't consider that if you knew the gender you would tell it when you tell them you're expecting. However, I don't have to answer 'a child' to this question anymore (at least in this pregnancy). Yesterday at the doctor we got the results from our ultrasound, which also stated the gender was still unknown. So, the nice doctor asked if we would like to wait a couple minutes and see if we could tell the gender. Of course we did, and it took all of about 10 seconds with the machine to be able to tell... that this baby is definitely a girl. She's a lot bigger than she was at the last ultrasound, too. So, now when people ask 'what is it', I can say 'it's Rachel Kay Allen' instead of just 'a child'. Yes, we already decided on the name over a month ago. Sorry to all the other Rachels out there, but my baby Rachel is the cutest one ever-and she's not even born yet.