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!!

The last three weeks . . .

This is Byron. This past three weeks has probably been the most "educational weeks" I have had in a LONG, LONG time. To give a little background, shortly after Kim and I got married, Kim noticed that I stopped breathing during the night sometimes. Well, to make a long story short, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. We tried what the doctor recommended initially, which was to sleep with a machine that would force me to breathe during the night. This machine is called a CPAP machine (aka: human sleeping snorkel mask). Needless to say, neither Kim nor I were too happy with this.

So after a few months of dealing with this, we decided to take the doctor's next recommendation. . . surgery. This happened three weeks ago today. I had NO idea what this really entailed. At first, I thought it would be a good thing. I somehow made myself believe it would be like a vacation, a nice break from work. Sure, I thought there would be some pain at first. But I thought after a week, it would not be too bad and I would be healing. Not quite. The doctor performed a number of procedures (seven in total, including removing my tonsils, a couple of nose surgeries and shortening my palate and tongue muscle). Well, to say the least, it was a VERY hard experience.




My first hospital stay was not that fun. There was a lot of pain and poor Kim and my mom had to wait in the waiting from for about 9 hours. The hospital did not tell them when I was out of my surgery and in my room. Luckily, I was only in the hospital for two days and came home. However, I was on some major pain medication for two weeks. So that was fun. Unfortunately, right at the time that I started healing from my surgery, I got an infection on my foot (which they think was from the hospital). They gave me some pretty strong antibiotics, which I found out later I was allergic to. So after a trip to the emergency room and 5 visits to the doctors within one week, I am on the road to recovery again. Basically, this past three weeks stunk.

However, there are a few good things that happened as a result of the past few weeks. First, I think it helped me become more compassionate. Before when people told me that they were sick or had surgery, I thought "That stinks. . . What are we doing tomorrow?". I didn't really care. Now I do. I am afraid I may have become too emotional.

Second, I got to spend a lot of time with Kim and although I was sick, we did do some fun things. For example, Kim decided to make our new son his first two new baby blankets.



Next, we also went to the Second Annual Santa Monica 4th of July Parade. I love hippie parades. There were so many electric cars in the parade. Our favorites were all of the electric cars, the dancing elders from the local synagogue and the hippie band.

Lastly, I also felt our son kick for the first time. That may have been the highlight. Overall, the three weeks were awful and I am glad they are done, but I did learn some things. So I guess they weren't a loss overall. Especially when I have a wife and a future son like this.

It's time to break out the blue!!

Well, it is about time we finally announced it on our blog. We are having a boy!

We will be taking name requests now.

Excuses, Excuses

I know it took us forever to announce the pregnancy on our blog, but I SWEAR we had a good reason. Byron has been so busy at work lately (as always) and I have been studying for my LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) Licensure exam. I started getting ready for licensure almost three years ago, because you need two years worth of very specific hours of supervised work in different areas to qualify to take the test. I became eligible in February to take it and I've been studying literally for months. Originally I was going to take it a couple of months ago, but the pregnancy kind of derailed my studying for a bit--I HAD to read about pregnancy and what was happening with the baby!!

Anyway, I buckled back down a couple of months ago and studied like a fiend. I took the test on Friday morning and PASSED!! This was actually a crazy experience for me, because I usually am a great test taker and don't worry too much about passing tests. But for some reason, this was a very big challenge for me. Byron says I'm now going to be more empathetic if our kids have a hard time with school, so I guess there is a bright side. But, my passing was something very close to a miracle and I've never been so relieved! (Thanks to Tracy, who pep-talked me into not postponing!)

Here is proof that I passed:

That unattractive picture of me stared out at me from my computer screen for FOUR HOURS while I tried to concentrate on not failing (I guess so the proctors make sure the right applicants are at the right computers). I never want to see that picture again!! (And I certainly would have posed better if I'd known it was going to haunt me throughout the test!)

I've never ever felt so uncertain while taking a test before. It doesn't help knowing that you have to wait 6 months to retake the test if you fail, or that the test has a 50% pass rate! But, I survived.

Byron was great throughout the whole thing-including studying flashcards with me (even when he had NO IDEA what he was even asking me!!) And I think he really understood how incredibly possible it was that I might not pass. He booked me a pregnancy massage at Burke Williams (I know, perfect husband) for afterwards. But I have admit I was very afraid that I wouldn't enjoy a massage while crying about my failing score! It was much more enjoyable knowing that I'd passed!! Plus, they gave me a "milk bath" as well--which was AWESOME!! I don't usually love the spa because it hurts me to spend so much money, but it was the perfect thing. I loved the massage and after months of being on a "reading diet" because I needed to study, I could finally lay around and read at the spa all afternoon. And I did!

I actually have one more test to pass before I'm officially licensed (darn California for being the only state that requires two!) but this first one is the real hurdle. The next one is just a two hour little joyride, as far as I'm concerned!

Anyway, this blog was a lame explanation for why I didn't have time to blog about the baby before now--but we really are THRILLED!!! And I can't believe my baby is lucky enough to already have been to the spa--what a pampered little baby!!

Not so new NEWS!

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we're pregnant!!

We're 18 weeks along and VERY excited, although you can't tell from how long it's taken us to blog about it!! And in case you can't tell--our little baby has its hand in its mouth!! This is from 12 weeks along, so our baby is MUCH bigger and better looking now.

Here's a look at the card we gave our families to break the news:

We figured we had to take advantage of the fact that the baby is due ON Halloween!! Plus, any excuse I can get to make Byron dress up in a Halloween costume...Here's another cute one (to get back at him for posting the duck picture of me!)

Can you tell how thrilled he is to be wearing this costume?? What a good sport he's going to be as a Dad!

We find out the sex of the baby in a week! I felt like we needed to make a blog announcement regarding the pregnancy itself, before I announced whether it's a boy or a girl!!

6 Days and counting, then we will start taking name suggestions!

My Turn on the Blog

This is Byron. Kim has been so good at updating our blog, so I thought I would take a crack at it. Things have been pretty good here in So Cal. A couple of weeks ago we walked down to the beach with Kim's sister, Brooke, and her friend who were visiting for a few days. It was really beautiful.

Lately Kim and I have been talking about our "next step" and where we will end up after we leave Santa Monica. We went to Las Vegas this last weekend for General Conference to visit my family and while we were there we looked at some model homes. We loved a lot of them and are really excited to get out of our small one bedroom apartment with no storage space, no washer and dryer and no dishwasher. However, we really do love our neighborhood and our 5 minute walk to the beach and this view whenever we feel like it. We are really lucky to live here right now.

One other thing that I would like to tell you that I am really lucky with. . . Kim.

Just look at this picture. She will probably not like that I posted this, but it makes me laugh. I hope people can see it before she makes me take it down.

Happy April Fool's Day!!!

I love April Fools Day. I think it all started with my family. I remember my dad setting off the smoke alarm countless times while my mom was in the shower, only to have her coming running outside wearing only a towel. And, my mom didn’t limit her culinary expression of holiday spirit to food coloring. I distinctly remember some intentionally disgusting pancakes on April Fools Day growing up. As a child, I have a vivid memory of trying to “fool” my family. One such debacle included my little brother, Matt, a lot of fake fighting and yelling, and me laying on the kitchen floor with ketchup squirted all over my legs.

So, I thought I would bring my love of the holiday into my marriage, like a good little wife. After adding baking powder to Byron’s water at breakfast (a tiny amount), I was informed that he does not enjoy celebrating April Fool’s Day. Killjoy.

So, I had to set my sights on my co-workers. I have a recently pregnant co-worker who is very devious in nature and she convinced me to send out an email announcement in regards to my “pregnancy.” I wasn’t sure I could do that without Byron’s permission, so I CCed him on our email to see if he was okay with that joke. He promptly responded that he would send the same thing to his co-workers. (Only later did I find out that my devious co-worker, Cristina, had put him up to that to get me to go along with it!) Long story short, I made many many people in my office VERY VERY happy for about one minute, before I sent them another email wishing them a Happy April Fools Day. Priceless. It takes a very funny girl (and some coercion from her coworker) to send a fake pregnancy email to her boss. Social workers have all the fun!!

Hello again!

Sorry about the long wait, I have been horrible at keeping up on our blogging. Part of my hesitance to blog was thinking that I'd have to catch up on everything I haven't blogged in the last two months. But I've given up those ambitions completely, so I'll just start again from right now.

I'm actually inspired to blog because Byron has been SO nice to me lately, I wanted to think of something that I could do to be nice back. And starting to blog again will definitely make him happy. Although, typing on the computer is much easier than cleaning the bathroom and doing the laundry, so I think I got the better end of the deal. Thanks again, honey!

One reason I've been SO behind on blogging, is that in February I got called as Young Women's President in our ward!! If you can't believe it, just imagine how shocked I was. I spent an entire day asking Byron how the girls could look up to me, when I am so short (For some reason, I think girls need a tall, imposing leader that they can respect). And I believe Byron's favorite comment was when I was so overwhelmed I was yelling, "How can I be a role model?!" and (according to him) my mouth was full of food at the time. Very dainty, I know.

Here are my girls, cooking empanadas and making thank-you baskets for the old presidency:
















As well as pigging out at In-n-Out after temple baptisms (I honestly had no idea how much young women could EAT) and then hitting Diddy Riese afterwards.
















Yes, those four young people comprise the entire youth program in our ward!!

So, we had Byron's sister come into town over the weekend of St. Patrick's Day (and our one-year anniversary, love you honey!).

Byron is SUCH a great uncle, he woke the girls up early and took them to the flower market downtown and let them go CRAZY buying whatever flowers they wanted. The girls loved it, and they got to arrange the flowers themselves when they got home.

LA is great, ALL of these flowers were only $25 bucks!!

My contribution to St. Patrick's day is my absolute love of food coloring (thanks to growing up with my mom!) We had green German Pancakes, green scrambled eggs and green hashbrowns. That was the highlight of the holiday, as opposed to me being wakened by a huge man in green pinching me all over my body. I guess people show their holiday spirit in different ways!



















Their plates were SO much more festive, before they added the ketchup. Party poopers!

We had such a good time with Chanda and her family--we wish they would visit every weekend! They loved hanging out in the house, relaxing. And we did NOT complain. And anyone who eats green food so happily is welcome back anytime!

Who pays this much for gas?

I did something that I never thought I would ever do. . . pay $5.19 for a gallon of gas. Kim and I went to Big Sur last weekend for a quick weekend getaway. We went with a couple of good friends and had a great time. It was so beautiful. It was a long drive (750 miles over two days), but that is the beauty of it. We took the PCH most of the way. However, on the way up there, we realized that we were running out of gas. Luckily (about 15 miles after the gas light came on) we came to a gas station in a place called Gorda and here is where we met our friend and his $5.19 a gallon gas. We did the 4 gallon special and got out of there. Why is gas so expensive now? I never thought I would pay this much. I know it was bad planning, but seriously, over $5.00 a gallon.

It didn't ruin the trip. We stayed up in Monterrey, went to Pebble Beach and Carmel. We also did a couple of fun and quick hikes (one of which Kim decided to do in socks AND flip flops). Kim is from Utah. Enough said.

Byronikins: The Good, The Great, and The Ugly

This blog could have a sub-heading: My Husband, the CandyMan

I strongly believe, after the events of the last week, that candymaking may be an inherited trait, specifically passed down through the paternal line. Byron's dad, B.N., is a fantastic candymaker. It is a skill he has honed over the years and that I have appreciated in the years since I've known Byron. Yum.

But, I had no idea what skills lay lurking in my own husband. I came home from work the other night to find the smell of candy in the air and Byron stirring in the kitchen (two things that make me VERY happy.) He had made peanut brittle, with the help of his father (who stayed on the phone with him during the process saying things like "Candy One to Candy Two, what's your status?"

However, the first batch wasn't entirely successful. (As you are aiming for "brittleness" with any candy in the brittle family)

Batch numbers 2, 3, and 4 (the last being made Sunday morning before church--what a trooper!) turned out beautifully. I dare say as good as B.N.'s would have been...?

And, as a result, the treats we gave out to our friends looked and tasted spectacular. All thanks to the genetic makeup of Byron C. Williams, son of B.N. Williams, a.k.a. Candy One.

FYI, the tags above were also made by Byron. He's putting me to shame.

Byron also has other skills that he has showcased this holiday season:

He does make me dinner sometimes. (VERY rarely, but delicious and picture-worthy, just the same!!)

He takes me to cultural events, to broaden my horizons and help me become more sophisticated.

Obviously, from the look on my face, this plan has been a success so far!

And, he encourages/forces me to write our Christmas cards (handmade by him, as noted in a previous blog) when it is obvious from my outfit that I'd prefer to take a Sunday afternoon nap. But I was glad later, when they were done!

But lest you think life with Byron is all good times and brittle madness, let me tell you a little about the dark side of Byron. I got out of bed the other morning, only to look down at this:

Byron's sweaty, smelly work socks lying right where my precious face and body had been scant minutes before. Byron erupted into a giggling fit, confessing that he had put them there the night before as I was coming to bed, to be funny. However, I came into the room when it was already dark and didn't see the socks. Instead of admitting that the joke was up, he must have giggled himself to sleep (not caring what MY sleep would be like, with those things practically shoved up my nose) just imagining how much funnier it would be in the morning. Indeed, it was funny to one of us.

So maybe the brittle and the socks balance out.

Tracy has ruined me

You know how Harrison's are addicted to reading? Well, this can easily be solved in a professional situation, because I just don't bring a book to work. However, because Tracy introduced me to the joys of blogging, I have recently begun to take an occasional short break to read blogs when I am bored at work. (Not that I don't have work to do, it just doesn't sound fun to do it at that moment.)

So at work this afternoon, I suddenly realize that I've been reading my cousin Denae's blog so voraciously that I lost track of my surroundings completely. My eyes are now not able focus on anything else, because I've been reading a green screen for so long they can't adjust. That is embarrassing and what must my coworkers think of me--I've been lost in blogging land for who knows how long!! Also, I did indeed laugh out loud at one point. Please read her blog if you don't believe me. And blame my genetics, because I really do lose track of the outside world when I'm reading. I hope my supervisor didn't try to talk to me while I was caught up in the excitement of Denae's life.

So thank you Tracy, for ruining my professional facade at work.

P.S. This actually started as a ranting email to Tracy. But then my blogging obsession clicked in, and here you go!