Visiting Teaching

Am I a horrible person because I don't enjoy visiting teaching? I'm feeling guilt tripped for this, but what can I say? Visiting teaching is too much like home visits which are a monthly part of work and just don't bring warm fuzzies for me.

Depressing Realization...

So I've been reading about how first time moms often go longer than 40 weeks (average of 8 days longer). I definitely don't want to be induced (that pretty much throws a natural birth out the window. Pitocin=more pain=drugs) so I could be pregnant LATER than May 27. I'm still okay with this baby being inside but I'm sure I'll be more than ready when the time comes. But even more than that, I'm already ready for my maternity leave from work. Sigh.... Maybe I should start telling myself my due date is June 10 so I'm not disappointed if May 27 comes and goes without baby (And I'm still working!)

PS
My belly is huge now and I'll post some pics tonight. I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow.

Down to Double Digits

I am extremely excited to report that we are officially out of the triple digits and into double digits. Since, only about 5% of babies actually come on their "due date" I doubt the count is accurate, but you know, it gives us somethin! I'm now 26 weeks and I'm feeling HUGE! My belly is probably double the size that it was last month. It's amazing that it can grow so fast! I also fill up exceptionally fast so I spend a lot of nights whining about how uncomfortable I am from being too full. Jon is very patient with this whining though :)

Other than getting bigger and bigger, nothing much has changed. I'm just going nuts, with all the things that WILL change and the fact that I just have to sit idly by and wait for them to happen. I'm trying to just enjoy it all and not wish it away, but I get so anxious sometimes! (obviously, patience is not happening here).

Upcoming events include: Jon not being in school (for a semester), Jon starting a new job, Jon taking the MCAT and applying for med school, having a baby and moving! It's going to be a crazy summer and I'm just waiting for it...sigh...

I am studying childbirth though. Which is quite exciting, to me at least. I think poor Jon hears more about childbirth than he ever cared to know, but he's pretty patient with me :)

Go Steelers!!

SuperBowl XLIII Prediction:

Pittsburgh - 21
Arizona - 10

You know it's gonna happen!

4 Months From Today....!!!!

Our due date is exactly four months from today! (But who's counting right?)
Some odd things I've noticed about my pregnancy....
-You're actually pregnant for ten months. 40 weeks=10 months. I often wonder where nine months came from?
-My body temperature is through the roof and Jon isn't much a fan of cuddling at night cause I make him so hot.
-Sometimes it literally feels like this baby is running, jumping, somersaults, acrobatics, you name it. The "quickening" phase, or "light flutters" only lasted about a week. Even Jon has been able to feel her bouncing off the walls for a couple weeks now.
-I was actually excited for cravings after going through morning sickness. The idea of enjoying food again sounded wonderful. Cravings haven't been so strong, which has been disappointing. But I definitely do enjoy food now.
-I already feel like my stomach is stretched to its limit and I get what I call "growing pains."
-Some of the books I've read say the mood swings calm down in the 2nd trimester, but I think mine just started in the 2nd. (maybe that is a question for Jon though). I watched Notebook a couple weeks ago and cried the entire two hours!
Needless to say, pregnancy has been a crazy experience. I think it will go better the 2nd time around, when it isn't all so new!

22 Weeks

I am slow posting this. We took this picture almost a week ago. It's our first picture of my "bump." I swear it is already bigger but it always looks huge to me, so who knows.

Excuse Me?!

I have to tell this story because even though it WAS quite offensive, I realize it was really funny too. So I had court today for one of my cases and we were waiting out in the lobby to go into the court room. Mind you, we are sitting in the lobby with about six or seven other people. So my client, who is not sitting anywhere close to me and who talks loud anyway, asks me "so when are you going to have kids?" I responded with, "in May." He said "May? So, you're pregnant?" I said "yes." He proceeded to tell me that he knew I was but he wanted to be polite so he asked in a round about way. But the kicker is that then he started to tell me that he could tell I was pregnant because I have been gaining weight here, here and here. (That is him pointing to his butt, thighs, and stomach!!!!) All I could do was shake my head. I mean, who doesn't love being told their gaining weight right?! The worst part is that I really don't look pregnant. I really do just look like I'm gaining a little weight. Geez, what do you do?

Jon and I made 2009 collage calendars for our parents for Christmas. They took a lot of work! But we were really pleased with the result in the end. I just wanted to share these two because they were my favorite from each calendar. The top is from the Purdy calendar and the bottom is from the Brady calendar.

Happy Anniversary

Jon and I were married one year ago...a couple weeks ago. It's kind of a crazy time of year and I'm beginning to see why it may have been a good idea to wait until Spring. But then again, that would have meant more waiting and obviously, we like to be quick about things. Our anniversary was great. We were thinking of going snow shoeing but I was sick :( So we settled on Pf Changs and a movie. Jon also got me a very sweet pink jazz jersey. He's turned me into a serious Jazz fan. When I'm awake for the whole game, I really enjoy watching them! We have both (maybe I should speak for myself but I think Jon agrees) that we love being married and are more in love today than we were a year ago. I have the sweetest sexiest husband in the world, so what's not to love?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON

Today, almost exactly 26 years ago Jonathan David Brady was born. And now he is absolutely the most amazing husband in the whole world and he'll be an awesome dad too. I'll put some pics up later but I just wanted to wish my hubby a very happy birthday!

It's a Girl!!

The ultrasound showed us that we're having a little girl! This is her profile at 16 weeks. Lynette thinks I'm weird but I already think she has my chin and Lynette's nose. I don't know about that big upper lip though. I think it would be cool if she had both our eyes; one green and one blue.

16 Weeks

We're getting our ultrasound in two days. I'm so excited, I'm having a hard time focusing at work. I just want to look at baby stuff. But more like shopping, not education.
I always felt like being more educated about a subject left less to fear and you're more prepared that way. HA! Not so with having babies. Jon has officially banned me from reading about child birth, and I have banned myself. I was freaking myself out way too much! I'm still not sure how we are going to get this child here without me freaking out. I don't want an epidural AT ALL! I am more afraid of the needle and being stuck in that freaking bed than the pain. But then again, I've never had a child so maybe I don't want the pain either. Who knows! And I won't even mention that fact that I am an EXTREMELY private person and being so...er...exposed makes me nauseated and enraged at the same time. Ya, I think child birth is going to be interesting for me...ha ha and poor Jon!
This is a little weird too but I am teaching myself how to meditate (yes you may laugh but it helps me cope when people just can't help but tell me the last child birth horror story they heard). I've never been able to do it but I've found something that works for me. If I listen to music, more of the alternative style, and really focus on the words, I can block out almost all thoughts except for the words of the song. Granted the words have to be happy or it doesn't help much, but I think I'm on to something.

So the avocado is because babycenter.com told me my baby is the size of an avocado this week :)

That's Right Folks....

I don't think we have really succeeded at keeping this a secret so we might as well get some guessing games out of it. Jon and I find out December 12 whether we are having a boy or a girl! Everyone venture a guess and we'll let you know who is right!


A little info on the baby:
Baby Brady is 13 weeks in the making
This little baby likes to make me insanely tired
Food has no appeal still, though I am lucky enough that it all stays inside
Expected due date: May 27th

Citizen or Not?

This article is really interesting. It's about Obama, and I know, the election is over. But this little detail has to be cleared up through the Supreme Court by December 1, 2008 (from what I have heard) or else the $20,000+ tickets to the inauguration might not be any good. Take a look.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066207/posts

It's FINALLY Here!

That's right. This little beauty makes me rich! Ha ha, not really, but it helps right? I passed my test in September so I feel that FINALLY is much the appropriate word. It's Christmas and Jon and I can definitely use a raise!

Things I Am Grateful For

I decided to start my "Grateful For" list early this year since I have LOTS to be grateful for but I seem to be forgetting that often right now.
1. My number one is most definitely my wonderful, amazing, handsome, charming, smart, hard working, adorable husband. I feel like I am the luckiet girl in the whole world and I couldn't have dreamt for better. Heavenly Father sent Jon to me as an answer to so many prayers. I love him with all my heart and I know he would do anything for me and I would for him.
2. My family. I actually have two families now and I have to include boths. I love my siblings and my parents; they're the greatest and I feel very blessed to have them and be so close with them. I also have great in-laws. They are just awesome and have welcomed me fully into their family.
3. My job. Now, this one is hard to be grateful for most days but I know that I have to be appreciative of the fact that I have a good paying job with excellent benefits, especially given the look of the economy these days. There are some pros to my job, I just have to really ponder why I got into Child Welfare in the first place.
4. My faith. I am very proud to be LDS and look to my religion as an answer to everything in life. I love that we have modern day prophets to guide us through the scary times and remind us to be optimistic and do the best we can.
5. My Health. I'm not out running marathons right now but I think I have a pretty healthy heart. Can't complain of too much these days and everything seems to work correctly. I know that is a blessing way too many don't have.

I think I'll stop there for now. But I'll start this as a tag to all my family and anyone else who would like to start their "Gratful For" pondering early.

New Look

So what do you think of the NEW look? Thanks to Lisa for showing me the new site that is so much easier to work with! And it doesn't delete your page gadgets if you want to change it. In case anyone is interested, cutestblogontheblock.com

All that JAZZ

The Jazz season has started!! Funny how certain things can make you so happy. I'd have to say the best things in life are as follows:

1. Lynette
2. Family
3. The UTAH JAZZ

Of course motorcycles, guns, scuba diving and Pepsi can be in there as well.

GO JAZZ!!!

Day Off From Everything....

Going with the Governor's order that all state employees work 4-10s, I now have Fridays off. To be honest, I think this is the first Friday that I have been at home just chillin and watchin cooking shows (nothing is on at 2:00PM in case you haven't had the leisure to check it out, so you're not missing much!) Earlier today I met Jon up on the BYU campus and got my official spouses card! How exciting right? Well, I'm not a converted Y fan yet (I vow it will never happen) but I am excited to have a free gym. However, it made me ponder on some serious differences between the good ole U (the REAL school ;) and the Y
1) What is the deal with gym issued shirts?! I hear it's an improvement from having to buy a uniform but still, who wants a stinky used shirt?
2) Posters around the school about dress code, hair length, and clean shaven
3) Prayers at the beginning of intramural sports (not that it's a bad thing)
4) Housing! What a nightmare! I don't think there is anywhere else in the world that has men's housing, women's housing, and married housing! And trust me, there are not a lot of married options--if it's nice, married folk probably aren't allowed
5) Men having an electric shaver on hand before intramural games or tests
6) Men with mustaches (it's making a point, but it's ugly!)
7) I realize I was only campus for short time, but it seemed like there were less minorities. I could be completely wrong on this one, but just a thought.
8) No one walks on the grass
9) Two old friends running into each other, only to find out they are getting married three days apart
10) No smoking! (The behavioral sciences building, where MOST my classes were, was a smoking haven right outside the door. I would always have to hold my breath to get past)

Evil Landlord

So, Jon and I moved to Provo the end of June. We moved from a rather spacious, nice apartment in Bountiful to a mediocre, very small apartment in Bountiful. When we went to sign the contract, the manager was slightly chaotic. I tried to read through the whole thing very carefully so that I wasn't signing anything I would later regret. I was slightly bummed when she said that the rent was going to go up in July and now tenants had to pay gas/electric. It had previously been included in the contract. Still, we decided it was a pretty good deal and signed. We had come to the conclusion that we had a pretty good deal. It's small but it has a dishwasher and sometimes our neighbors fight in the parking lot which makes for some exciting neighbor watching! Well, last week our landlord (who shall now be called the evil landlord) decided to drop the bombshell. Please notice the timing on this, after school has started and ALL married apartments (because there aren't many anyway) in Provo are full. They left us a note stating that we now had to pay a $25/mo communication fee, as well as $25 for a parking sticker. I was so mad that night that I could hardly stand it. It's not even the fact that our landlords are completely breaching their contract and trying to rip everyone off but where is the integrity? It makes me more mad that we're being taken advantage of than that we are starving students and that same $25 a month could go to a date night, groceries, car insurance, gas, phone bills, etc! Well, the story is much longer and aggravating and crazy but I just thought I would share my landlord woes. My lesson learned...Request a contract in advance so that your future landlord isn't staring you down while you try to quickly read for loop holes and crazy ways your crazy landlord can try to rip you off.