Our Nephews!!

After Tracy had the audacity to call our potential children "butt ugly" in her comment, she expressed some hesitance at seeing what her own children would look like. So Byron and I took the liberty...

After creating their first child, I feared that my plan had failed, as that little pirate is CUTE. But after the second child was finished, I knew I had succeeded in proving that Tracy and Marc's DNA is every bit as "butt ugly" as ours is!!

That being said, we will still love all of our nephews the same, regardless of how they look. (And with a face like that, he is going to have SO much character!!)

Keeping Occupied

At 3 days and counting, we are finding things to keep ourselves occupied. We are such planners that we got a lot of stuff done in advance, thinking that the baby may come early (it's funny, now.) So I'm mostly down to the task of cleaning/organizing in an attempt try to fit all of our baby items into our tiny one-bedroom apartment.

However, when I logged onto Byron's computer yesterday, I found this picture of our child-to-be tiled all over his desktop. I guess that's how he's keeping himself occupied.

Thanks for giving him the idea from your blog, Kendra. I don't know why our baby is so much more attractive than that red-headed creature you produced (hypothetically, of course). I also enjoy how Byron selected such interesting pictures of us. I look like some kind of crazed mommy-to-be, while he is rugged, handsome and brooding.


The picture of our potential daughter is also pretty funny and I definitely see a family resemblance...

Reassuring News

As we get closer to our due date (FOUR DAYS?!) Byron has begun to lose hope that we will ever go into labor and actually have this baby. I'm not exaggerating; he has used those exact words. He has also made comments such as "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm starting to think that your body may not work."

After 9 1/2 months of my body making an entire human (who is now probably like 9 pounds, yikes!) he feels that I may be incapable of having contractions and finishing the endeavor.

But, thanks to my love of P.F. Changs, we got another fortune on Saturday that has helped reignite his spark of hope that our child will eventually be born. "A pleasant surprise is soon in store for you." Thank heavens a fortune cookie can reassure us when modern medical science and simple common sense cannot. However, that fortune may be indicating that we will deliver a girl (is this the "surprise" it is referring to?) If so, she's going to be a tomboy, as all of her clothes will have trucks and puppies on them.

One Week to Go!!

I can't believe Halloween is only a week away. Also, incidentally, we are only a week from our due date!!

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday, but they haven't been very helpful in nailing down for us exactly when this baby is going to arrive. LUCKILY, we had Chinese food for lunch afterwards and our fortune cookie was MUCH more specific:

Byron's fortune said "Soon, someone will make you very proud." So, we are quite confident that the baby will be here "soon."

Brookie, You are IT!

My sister Tracy tagged me and said completing this would be a punishment. However, I’m not sure who is getting the greater punishment, me or the reader. I choose to pass this along to my little sister Brookie, because I think her answers will be VERY funny!!

10 Favorites...



Color- Black. Sometimes I have to put myself on a “black ban” when I’m shopping, otherwise everything I buy is black or gray. I guess I’m kind of the gloomy type.



Food- Breakfast food, for sure. Usually of the sweet variety, I mean, eggs are okay, but who wouldn’t prefer eating something that could be sugared or syruped??!! And don’t get me started on cereal, YUM.



Song- all-time favorite song is just too hard. But I do like the Chitty-bang-bang song (the Asher Merrell version, which I heard this morning on the phone)



Movie- Byron will be horrified if I put “Love and Basketball” but it is probably the movie that I’ve watched the greatest number of times. C’mon, we all have our guilty pleasures…



Sport- bowling



Season- Spring or fall. Luckily, we’re right by the ocean and it always feels like that by us!! Okay, maybe not ALWAYS, but a lot.



Day of the Week- Friday – no work!! And the weekend is just beginning…



Ice Cream Flavor- Breyer's definitely. I like the cherry vanilla, especially because Byron hates it and doesn’t eat any of mine!!



Time of Day- Right now I’d have to say 10:30 am. My achiness has worn off from a bad night’s sleep and I haven’t yet started to feel the uncomfortable-ness that sets in during the afternoons and evenings. But when I’m not pregnant – 8:00 pm.



9 Currents...



Mood- happy!! Not too much work to do, and tomorrow is my last day before maternity leave!!



Taste- I just ate a cherry starburst, which is lingering delightfully.



Clothes- Black shirt (surprise, surprise), jeans, and flip flops. Yes, I am at work. Being pregnant has its benefits. No one has even mentioned that I’ve only been wearing flip-flops for the past month!!



Desktop picture-

Toenail color- neutral/grown-up lavender (if you ask my pedicurist), teenage purple if you ask Byron (Thanks again for the pedicure, Jessica!!)

Time- 11:30 am

Surroundings- work

Annoyances- The nurses across the cubicle from me who love to laugh so loudly it is frightening.

Thought- Our baby is SO big. He is kicking so much right now, my stomach is out of control. He must like Starbursts too!!

8 Firsts...

Best Friend- Tamera Hunter, 9th grade geometry class and Mr. Turner changed our lives!

Kiss- Josh N. It was up in the mountains and very romantic (expect the part I played in it.)

Pet- Petey, my little turtle who I love and miss.

Crush- Simon, my kindergarten boyfriend (who I guess was technically my first kiss, but he wasn’t too involved.) I also had a crush on two sixth graders (Nick and Dominic) at the time. I was such a boy-crazy little 5 year old!

Music you remember hearing-This is too weird, but I have to agree with my sister’s answer on this “I just remember LOVING the song "lose control" by Eric Carmen, you know: turn the radio up/for that sweet sound/hold me close never let me go/keep this feeling alive/make me lose control. . . AWESOME. Of course my mom didn't like that song because it was about losing control (I'm not joking)” How often did that song get played in our house?? I also liked “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx…

Car- Little Boy Blue, my pastel blue hatchback Honda Civic. What a great car.

Speeding Ticket- Only one - a couple of years ago (in Tracy’s car – darn those Portland plates!) while visiting Utah. I hate Utah for not letting me do traffic school, so that ticket has actually cost me like $700 in raised insurance rates over the last couple years. And yes, I’m bitter about it.

7 Lasts...

Cigarette- Never.

Drink- water. Chocolate milk last night, if you want something more exciting.

Car Ride- I drove to work this morning. And I drove my young women home from our activity last night. Exciting, I know.

Kiss- This morning.

Phone Call- Byroni. Although my favorite phone call of the morning was referenced earlier, with my nephew singing me Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

CD played- The new Jack’s Mannequin. And I actually have been listening to it on CD in my car. When you want to listen to the same songs over and over, a CD really is the way to go. None of this lugging around my cumbersome Ipod.

6 Have you evers...

Dated one of your best friends- Of COURSE. It’s the only way to date!!

Broken the law- I think I accidentally shoplifted a bagged salad the other day, but I’m not positive.

Been arrested- Of course not.

Skinny dipped- Yes, thanks to my primas, what a bad influence. It was pretty fun until Carmen thought it would be funny to turn the underwater lights on in her pool. Then it was more awkward than funny.

Been on TV- I have been on the news more than once growing up. But I always end up saying these short little sound bytes (usually puns) that sound REALLY funny to me when I say them, and then are ridiculous when replayed for the world to hear. It’s humiliating, even for a 6th grader.

5 Things (5 for each)...

You're wearing-two flip flops, two earrings and makeup.

You've done today- Fallen asleep while watching the morning news and arrived at work late, gone to the bathroom three times, IM-ed Kami, IM-ed Jennica, talked on the phone. Oh yeah, I’m sure I also did some work?

You can hear right now-someone stapling, co-workers on the phone, my computer struggling to work, someone yawning (audibly, no joke), and those darn nurses laughing.

You can't live without- Byroni, good friends, AWESOME family, gossip girl (j/k, xo xo) and possibly Cap’n Crunch (with crunch berries)

You do when you're bored- plan obsessively for the baby’s arrival, pester Byron at work by email and phone, eat, sleep.

4 Places you have been today...

1. My bedroom
2. The bathroom
3. My living room
4. Work (exciting, I know)

3 People you can tell anything to...

1. Byron
2. Tracy
3. My girlfriends!

2 Choices...

1. Go to the bathroom or just sit a little longer. This is a common choice I am faced with, multiple times a day.

2. Begin working or eat another Starburst and read people’s blogs. (Not that I am the slacker I appear to be, but with only one more day of work left, I’ve really finished all of my work, now it’s just a matter of cleaning out my desk)

1 Thing you want to do before you die...

1. Own a house. Sigh.

Wow, that was long. Back to work!

Surprised to Hear From Us Again?

I know, this is like some kind of blogging record for us lately. But, I do have a lot more time on my hands now. First of all, we had a VERY exciting Friday last week. I have been wildly studying for the second portion of my licensing exam, hoping to be able to take the test before the baby came. I did schedule it a few times, only to chicken out and reschedule it because I thought I wasn't quite ready yet. (Although one of those cancellations was a blessing in disguise, because I ended up having an emergency root canal right when my test had been scheduled--but that is a story for another blog!)


So, I decided that Friday the 3rd of October was going to be the REAL test date, as I didn't want to test so close to my due date that I risked going into labor during the test (although I swear, I would have tested right through any contractions!) But, I didn't want to tell anyone I was testing, for fear that I should fail and have to face my own shame and their pity.


However, this plan was slightly complicated by the fact that my in-laws were staying with us for the weekend (compliments of a Neil Diamond concert we attended with them on Thursday night - it was "so good, so good, so good!!")









As a side note, I must admit it was an AWESOME concert. Not only does his music span quite a generation gap (young people such as myself to some very gray-haired individuals in walkers) but I also found myself strangely attracted to him. I mean seriously, do you blame me??





Being the sneaky daughter-in-law that I am, I let Byron's parents think I was headed off to work on Friday morning and I went and took my test - WHICH I PASSED!! This is such a relief, as I can now fully focus on our baby coming (and everything else I've been putting off in order to study.) I first started getting ready for licensure in October 2005, so passing this test and becoming officially licensed is the end of a long road, yeah for me! However, because I am so secretive, I really had no one to celebrate with afterwards (except Byroni!)




Luckily, a couple of my friends just happened to want to go to the spa that evening, and my lovely husband agreed that it would be a wonderful way to celebrate the end of my licensure ordeal. So, I enjoyed a milk bath, a pregnancy massage, and a pedicure (Thanks for my baby shower gift Jessica!!) and had a great time relaxing with Jessica and Kami. Boy, they really do love pregnant people over at that spa. In between these treatments I enjoyed a number of naps, time in the solarium, an artistic plate of cut fruit and about 3 seconds in the steam room (way too hot!!) However, there is a downside to all of this leisure - tying a robe is just NOT attractive on a fully pregnant woman - you either tie it below the protrusion and look like a pot-bellied man, tie it in the middle and look like an extremely rotund person, or tie it above the belly - which is attractive, but you do worry about the passing gusts of wind blowing that sucker right open.

My massage was almost identical to the one above, however I was on my side (darn this big stomach) and I did not have a male masseur. I left that to Kami and Jessica, who were VERY pleased with the masseurs they were assigned!!

Long story short - I arrived home fully relaxed and extremely happy. Only to find a husband who for some reason feels that SEVEN HOURS at the spa is a bit extreme. Oops!


And to save the best part for last, we had finally reached 36 weeks. Byron's weekly pregnancy update informed us that our baby was the size of a Crenshaw melon. Hmmm.

And, we managed to fit in our 36-week appointment in between my passing the test and spa-ing it up. They gave us our last ultrasound, which we were very excited for. However, imagine our disappointment when we learned that the baby is now so big, you can't really see "him" in an ultrasound. You can just see one large body part at a time, "there's the abdomen!" and his head was so far down, you couldn't even see it!! The baby was estimated to be 6 lbs 10 oz (with four more weeks to go, WAY bigger than a Crenshaw melon) so I've adjusted my plans from wanting a 6.5 pound baby, to hoping and praying that he doesn't break the 9 lb mark!!

But, they say that we are right on schedule and could deliver any day-which was frightening, but exciting. And the news sent me on a shopping spree that lasted a week, as I was certain my water would break at any time following that appointment. More on that later, as Byron is still recovering.

Pregnancy on Fast Forward

Okay - I will be the first to admit that we have been horrible at blogging. Not only that, we have also been quite awful at photo-documenting my pregnancy (so we have none of the usual pregnancy pose pictures!!) The last blog that showed me pregnant was in MAY (only 4 months pregnant!) So here is a quick catch up of the last few months.

June 2008 - We didn't take any pictures!!

Apparently July was the most attractive month in my pregnancy, because we had plenty of pictures to choose from for that month. After that, it was slim pickings.

Our family reunion in Portland and at the Oregon coast. Boy, my siblings like to touch their little nephew!

Sharing a sucker with my lucky little baby at the Williams' cabin in Southern Utah, with Ali.

August 2008 - Matt is leaving for San Francisco to start law school!!

Notice anything getting bigger?? Sept 2008 - The Williams' family threw my sister-in-law (Stef) and I a joint baby shower. Stef is due in December with a girl. This is the cousins' first picture together, basically giving each other five!

October 2008 - Three weeks to go!! Thank heavens I'm in black, although when I'm wearing my teal sundress, I'm positive I look identical to that cake - other than the outie. This may be too much information, but my proudest accomplishment of this pregnancy is that I do NOT have an outie. Just a flattie! (Perfect for two reasons: Easy for cleaning and it doesn't pose any fashion issues!) However, the swollen elephant ankles may outshine any other positive aspects of my body at this point!!

I will have to post a picture soon that actually shows how pregnant I am, it is pretty incredible. I had no idea this was physically possible. I have actually reached a point in my pregnancy where the following things have happened in the last week alone:

1) The doctor told me we are just waiting for me to go into labor. SCARY!

2) two people have double-checked with me that there is only ONE baby in there. (Who knows how many people have checked with other peole to confirm that I'm not having twins?!)

3) Countless people have started telling me how I look "ready to go" at any minute and started giving me tips about what to do when my water breaks. Fun.

4) Two different co-workers have audibly GASPED when I stepped out from behind a file cabinet and my full figure (no pun intended) came into view

My only saving grace is that I am actually due in just a few weeks. I'd be feeling pretty bad if these comments had started a month ago!!

From the look of this blog I could be a single mom, since Byron is only in one picture. So I'll stick in a few choice pictures of him in the last few months, showing not only how helpful and fun he has been this pregnancy, but also showcasing his UNCHANGING figure.

Looking chipper before his surgery. We didn't see a smile like that for QUITE a while following the surgery!!

Showing off his quilting handiwork!! Byron hand-frayed two entire quilts that we made. I guess his family's crafting skills do NOT skip the males!!

Displaying his culinary skills, making zuccini bread. Also, wearing the UCLA shirt that I bought him. Which is ONLY worn indoors (for chores like cooking and cleaning) and to bed. What a USC snob.

Lest you begin to think that he is all cooking and sewing, my husband is quite the danger-seeker. How clear is it from the look on his face that I made him take this picture and he is not thrilled about it??

One thing I've learned from making this little montage is that it is hard to find pictures of Byron that DON'T have me in them. I'm going to work on that!!

We are doing great here and hoping to post a lot of updates in the next few weeks, pre-baby!!