Second Pregnancy...

To those who don't know me from Adam, or who know and love me dearly:

I have a few suggestions on what (not) to say to pregnant women--especially if you saw both their first and second pregnancies and the less-than-positive aspects of this most recent one. I find these comments funny (especially when I get to tell my husband about it) but others might not see the humor...especially if they are dealing with other more hormonal effects of pregnancy.

You don't have to tell me I'm huge. I figured that out on my own, and I am reminded of it every time I stand up. It is not the most tasteful comment in the world to (7 tell a  months pregnant) preggo lady that

#1 "You look like you should be delivering tomorrow"

#2 "Are you sure you aren't having twins?"

#3 "Did you just get huge overnight or have I not seen you in forever?" (from someone who sees me weekly)

#4 "You're due in March, right? (no...May)

#5 (for obgyn doctors only) "You are measuring 28 weeks on the dot!...ohh, you aren't that far along? [checking my chart] Well, it's normal to be a little large on your 26 week visit...ohh, you are only on week 24? That's fine too, second babies get larger quicker quite often, ah-hem"

  My only question is--why didn't you tell me I was huge the first 25 pounds I gained? The last month I only put on 3 (and a half) pounds. Why wait until now to tell me that I look like a bloated whale?

  On a related (and more important) note, thank you for noticing that I am pregnant. Thank you for being excited for me. Thank you for wanting to talk about my baby. I know and love lots of people who haven't had the chance to be expecting a child and I've been blessed to be able to travel it road twice. I am savoring 96% of the journey (minus the hugeness and running out of clothes that fit) and I love talking about 100% of it, so even if you come up and tell me I'm fatter than Jabba the Hut, it's going to be enjoyable for me to comment on it--it's all part of the miracle, and I love sharing it with those around me.

 

True Love...or the Truth About Love

  So, February is the month of love. With all the hearts and pink and red and romantic expectations revolving around, I've been thinking a lot about the truth about love--that it always involves effort, either on your part or someone else's (usually both). But that effort comes at different times and in different ways. For example, sometimes other people's efforts are easy to love...and other times, it takes effort on your part to love others despite what they do/don't do.

Let me illustrate:

Rosie spending ten minutes quietly dissembling the filing system in my bedroom which organizes all the tenants and their history of the apartments we manage, just because she likes to be where I am, handling things I handle = Hard to love.

Rosie shouting "I love you TOO!" from the backseat of the car = Easy to love.

Dustin taking my kitchen scissors outside to trim our roses (for me) and breaking the scissors after I told him they would break if he tried using them = Hard to love.

Dustin getting me a maternity massage for Valentine's day because, even though we are not that kind of people, he thought it would be "romantic." = Easy to love.

Rosie getting out of her bed in the middle of the night, coming into our bed, and scooting me off of my pillow and eventually out of my bed = Hard to love

Rosie waking up (sleeping in past 7:00!!) after spending the night in our bed, gently holding my face, and saying "hi, Mommy!" = Easy to love

  You get the idea. People can be easy to love. People can be hard to love. Especially family. And yet, even the hard to love moments can be filled with such a deep and lasting emotion that I sometimes just pause in awe at the blessings I live with every day.

  I got to pick my husband (well, I got to stand there stubbornly until he convinced me that picking him was the only way I would ever really be happy) and was lucky enough to find someone who loved me more than anything--and acted on it every day. Choosing your spouse (AKA roommate/companion/eternal buddy) is a plus that comes with marriage--there are a lot of people in this world I can't stand being around for ten minutes, let alone for ten eons--so lucky for me I don't have to be married to any of them for eternity. 

  But kids are a crap-shoot: you really never know what you're gonna get until they pop out (or even later, when it's too late for exchanges...just kidding). I don't know how I got lucky enough for God to send someone that I (a life-long babysitting-hater, ugh!) could not only love and care for but that I want to spend every day with, someone who can be my best friend, a little girl that I can see loving and cherishing for life, who just gets funner (and funnier) with every word, look, dance move, etc. that she pulls out of her hat. Who gets that lucky? Is it too much to hope that all my kids will be this fun? 

  The truth about love is that it takes work. But God also gives us a break and send people into our lives that are not only easy (and hard) to love, but who make our life worth living--and are the few souls in the universe we literally couldn't live without.

New Year, Old Resolutions

I really like blogging. You'd never know it to glance through a timeline of this blog's posts--so sporadic. Usually grouped in twos or threes, but spread months apart.

Mostly I attribute this to school. Doing a masters degree as a mom means that every moment that is nap-time or otherwise free (like when Dustin gets home and can watch Rosie) is used to work on homework, lesson plans, and thesis. BUT I am in my last semester and I am determined to get into the habit of posting once a month until I graduate and am FREEEEEEEE.......

Oh, wait. That's when our family's kid count doubles. Baby girl #2 will make her debut sometime in the middle of May (the week of Rosie's 2nd birthday, actually), but if I start now and condition myself to get on here at least once a month, then hopefully that will keep happening when craziness hits this summer.

I have a dozen drafts from last year half-finished that I'd love to post--but I personally lose interest quickly in the blogs that continually start "ok, so I know I am WAY behind, but SO much has happened I've just got to share the past six months with you..." So I will cave only so far as to end this post with a photo blast, but I feel justified because it is so nice to post pictures of Rosie now that she has hair :) I will limit myself to that and keep moving forward, looking forward to a new year with old resolutions (which I WILL accomplish this year!), including:

Blog at least once a month.
Take Rosie to the library once a month.
Study the scriptures daily as an individual, couple, and family.
Use my sewing machine.
Hike a mountain peak.
Clean the house at least twice a month.
Plant and keep a garden alive.
Restart foreign language study.
Leave the state 5 times.

 New resolutions for the new year include:
Graduate with a masters degree.
Have another baby.
Buy a house/place to live.

  And just for the record, even though I DO have a dozen old resolutions, I did get a few things accomplished during 2013:
   Became a writing instructor at BYU
   Ran a marathon
   Kept my first child alive for a whole year--and relatively unscathed
   Visited my childhood home, school, and neighborhood.

   Took Rosie to Disneyworld

   Rode in a hot air balloon

   

   

  

Yup, a great year, and we're ready for another!