Benefits of Cleaning the House

Sometimes we do chores around the house because we are trying to be mature and not live in a mess. This week we decided to rearrange some furniture -- that required some cleaning. Usually the only reward for cleaning that I get is the satisfaction of having a clean house, but this time I found a surprise! (Daniel will tell you that I should have found this before now, but that is okay.) I only tell you all this because I think you will like the surprise too. New ultrasound pictures from our last doctor's visit!

• Little Baby Feet - We have two pictures of baby feet. Probably because our baby was stubborn.
• Whole Little Baby - regular ultrasound picture
• 3D baby - This is our baby with her hand at her face. 

A Healthy Family

So toward the end of this week, we've finally started feeling better.  We both had residual congestion and got prescription stuff to try to get it all cleared out before we get infections.

The other interesting thing that happened this week is that we had another ultrasound and found out that our baby girl is growing exactly how they expect.  We also learned that she could be incredibly stubborn, but we had a good technician that eventually got all the shots they needed.

On another note, we've got a couple of pictures for you.  We want to find a way to post pictures only for people we know but keep the blog public, so we're trying something new this week.  If you email Elissa or I, we'll get you added to the permissions to see the pictures.  This last week we had our Christmas Cactus start blossoming.  Also, Elissa got dressed up in some of her nice maternity clothes so we got a picture of her here too.

Let us know what you think of the new way of doing pictures.

Sick Not Dying

So, we don't have much news this week because first I caught a cold (last Thursday) and then Daniel got my cold yesterday. We have been busy watching Neflix and getting lots of liquids. So, that was pretty much our last couple of days. Fortunately, Tuesday I made a big pot of soup so I didn't have to cook for the two days that Daniel was home. Unfortunately, our kitchen looked like a disaster area until tonight when I felt well enough to do some cleaning.

Daniel stayed home from work yesterday and today to try and get better. So far I think that plan (getting better) is working. I'm just hoping he doesn't get the cough part. For this cold the "bark" (coughing) was way worse than the "bite" (everything else!)

I've been feeling better-ish, so yesterday I went to the store to stock up on supplies. I forgot that our near by grocery store is probably the worst place to pick up over the counter medicines. They don't stock things in a way that makes sense, and often they don't have generic versions of things that I think that they should. (Like a box of nighttime cold medicine. They had the daytime just not the nighttime. I ended up getting the last combination box) I also needed some decongestant, so I went to the counter to get it too. After three trips through the register, I got all the things I came for at the store, and the knowledge that if I'm not sick and dying I should shop elsewhere for my pharmaceuticals.

I'm excited because I was able to sleep last night. I wasn't coughing violently all night for the first time in a week.  I am taking sleeping at night  as a sign that we are not dying, but just sick.  Seriously, I think I might have pulled a muscle I was coughing so hard and so often. Fortunately, my baby should be okay because babies are generally pretty safe even when they are inside the same body that is sick. I have to imagine that the baby didn't like all the coughing though --Too much shaking! We are going to see the doctor next Thursday, so she'll be able to tell us more about our baby then!

Forgotten Past

So I have to tease Elissa a little because she completely left out the date I planned from our last post.  This was one of the ones we planned for Christmas.  This is what Elissa saw when she opened it (more or less):

It may be too hard to read, but the idea is that we were going to the Symphony.  (Elissa helped plan some of this, but she didn't know what was bringing us downtown -- she picked out a very good restaurant).  When the day came for our date, we got tickets for the metro rail to take us downtown, and for the first time got to enjoy downtown without trying to park.  We ate at The Backspace, which is a 'traditional' italian pizza place (I have no idea if it's actually traditional or not, since I haven't been to Italy).  We arrived early at the Symphony, and found that they had a little pre-concert lecture, helping to explain the music.  It told us that the Symphony would feature Jennifer Frautschi playing a concerto by Bartok.  They then explained that it reflected the impending World War II.  It was intense -- Elissa described it by saying you could definitely tell that he was depicting a Nazi invasion.  I really liked the second movement, which was a lot more peaceful (Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117 -- movement II).

And now, for this week:  Elissa's been battling a cold all week, and today she got a terrible cough to go along with it.  About the only real interesting thing I can think of that happened this week was at work.  NI negotiates with other companies to get training for their employees.  My manager suggested that I should take a particular training class and so I signed up, and it was this last week.  I got to the class, and immediately things started sounding familiar.  By the time they had a short break in the morning, I was about 95% sure I had taken this training already.  So, I walked back to my desk and found the book that they had given us last time as proof that I'd already taken the class (and not just something really similar).  It was really embarrassing telling my coworkers/manager that I had managed to sign up for and attend a class that I'd already taken without realizing it.  In the end, they got someone else enrolled who was waiting to take the class, so...hopefully no harm done.  I'll be more careful next time.  On a positive note, my week at work was much more productive than my original estimate suggested (because I had 3 more days' worth of time to work).

Good News and Bad News

Baby Update: We went to the doctor yesterday and everything seemed good there.  Daniel was a good sport to come with me for the doctors appointment. We got to hear the heart beat on the Doppler and everything. It was good to know that our baby was still in there!

We also got to set up our anatomy scan ultrasound for 3 weeks from now. We decided to find out what the baby is at the scan -- if our baby will cooperate when the day comes. Daniel described our decision making process best when he told me, "Everyone says, 'but I want it to be a surprise.' It will still be a surprise just a surprise that comes earlier than when the baby comes." So, hurry for surprises on the journey.

In other good news, the doctor did not veto our vacation plans! We can finally make some definite plans to come and see our Utah and Idaho friends! It is fun to make vacation plans!

Bad News:

We had a strong wind storm here earlier this week. (Wind gusts up to 50 mph. Strong winds for most of the day.) Our old roof didn't like that, and we lost a few shingles. We had a roofer come out and give us an estimate. Fortunately, to patch it up won't cost too much money. Unfortunately, our roof is old, so we'll need to start saving now to get a new one. Such are the (un) joys of home ownership I suppose. Fortunately, the joys of home ownership are better than the unpleasant parts so far.

Where are you Mr. Postman?

This week hasn't been too eventful but it has been full of online shopping news! Several weeks ago Daniel ordered a 3000 piece puzzle to put together. It came all the way from Germany, and it is going to be huge (3 ft by 4 ft) when it is all assembled. It took a long time to deliver because they had to airmail it to America and then it had to come to our mail box through the postal service. We have been waiting for 3 weeks!

Because Daniel wanted to hang up the puzzle when he was done, I got to help pick it out.  (It is so big that I don't know where we will hang it though!) We decided on this cool old-ish map because it had some cool boats and no half naked Renaissance mermaids. (We had no idea how hard it would be to find an old timey map puzzle without half naked people, but we quickly learned that is is hard to find!)

I also ordered my first batch of maternity clothes early this week, and , they will be here early next week thanks to the miracle of online shopping! We'll see if I like them when they get here. If I do, you will probably get pictures of me in them at some point! I also made a different order on Amazon.com and it should also be arriving soon. So all I can think is "Mr. (or Ms.) Postman when are you going to bring all my stuff?"

Nothing Much

This last week hasn't given us too much to talk about, so this entry will be short.  It was Employee Appreciation Week at work, and this year they decided to give everyone a t-shirt celebrating their 14th year in the Fortune 100 best places to work (that's right, I picked a good workplace!).  It's nice to finally have an NI shirt (of course, I could have bought one any time if I had wanted).

We've been craving lemon bars for a couple weeks now, but kept not having ingredients when we thought about it.  We finally decided to specifically buy ingredients and make them.  I think you'll agree they turned out well.  I offer anyone coming to visit from out of state a free lemon bar*:

*offer limited to supply on hand.

I guess the last thing I wanted to mention was that I found a book (thanks to people here in my ward) called "The Disappearing Spoon", which I thought sounded really boring and 'sciency', but which I would actually recommend to anyone who would enjoy anecdotes about chemistry/science and the elements.