Home Improvements, Fires, and of course, Babies

This time of year has got to be the weirdest time of the year for people like me who come from colder climates and live in Southern California. You would think that November would be cooler than October, but yesterday it was 90 degrees here! Just when I was starting to feel comfortable drinking my beloved hot chocolate we get this November heat wave. Blame the Santa Ana winds.

Robert and I did some yard work yesterday and it was a beautiful day as long we stayed in the shade.

Here is what we were working on:

Before
Afterand we did the other side last week.We had to make a trip to Home Depot for the wood chips and were surprised to see the southern sky (opposite side of the house that we were on) full of smoke. There are fires burning all over Southern California right now, and a fire started burning yesterday in Orange County just south of where we live, in the Corona and Yorba Linda areas. You can see the progression of the fire on this LA Times Map. We live just north of the 10 freeway, so you can see it is actually getting pretty close. Good thing we live in the middle of the city and not in the hills. Last night we looked out our window and could see the hills along the south horizon glowing with fire.

We tried taking a picture, but the other light sources drowned out most of the glow. You can still see it though if you look closely. The fire was all along the ridge.So here is a pic from the LA Times
In other exciting news, we got curtains! No more sheets hanging on the windows! It's amazing how they make the house feel more like a home. Now I am excited to hang up pictures .More house pictures when we hang up our pictures and clean up a little. And lastly, we obviously have our camera working now. Here is me at 18 weeks.

It's Starting to Feel Real

Yesterday we went to Mervyns (I'm so sad they are going out of business) to check out their sales. I found a rack with little kid and baby clothes for $2! Except, I couldn't get anything because they were either very definitely little girl clothes or very definitely little boy clothes. I found a green little onsie that could go either way and snatched it up. Then I also got another green baby outfit that was on sale (everything was on sale) because it was cute and I really wanted to get baby clothes. When I got home I hung them up on the mirror in our bedroom and felt giddy looking at them. Having some baby clothes makes it feel so real. I really will be having a baby in another five months that I can dress and put those clothes on.

What I really should have been looking at was the maternity clothes since I actually do have a tiny belly now and my clothes are starting to get a little tighter. (It was dinner time though, and Robert and I were hungry) It will still be a little longer until I outgrow my clothes, but it's nice to have a little belly. Now Robert can see that I actually am pregnant and not just whining that I don't feel good because I want him to do everything for me. Robert is really cute about my little belly. When I first got pregnant I asked him what he thought about me getting big and he said he probably wouldn't like it. But now that I am getting bigger he loves it. He likes talking to my belly because, "Thats my baby in there!" I really need to find some batteries for our new camera (our old one was stolen) so I can take pictures of my belly now that I'm starting to show.

Another thing that makes our baby feel real is hearing his heartbeat. We had our latest doctor's appointment on Monday and it's just so comforting to hear his heartbeat and know that he (his heart at least) is doing okay in there. I've started to feel more activity in my belly area, but I don't really know what he feels like when he's moving. I can't really say I can feel him moving, but I probably do feel him and not realize it. So right now hearing that heartbeat feels like all we have to know he is really there. Our next doctor's appointment is December 1st and we get to have the ultrasound and see our baby!

Which brings up my next topic. Should we find out the gender of the baby? I really want to. I want to feel connected to the baby and instead of saying "Good morning baby" (like I do now when I wake up) I want to be able to say "Good morning baby Micah" or Good morning baby Julia." I also want to be able to buy cute baby clothes because after shopping at Mervyns yesterday I've realized there is really not much out there that is gender neutral and the baby would end up with a wardrobe full of green and yellow clothing.

Robert wants to be surprised. He figures we have a boy and a girl name, what else matters? We can buy clothes later, even have a baby shower later if we want to. We already want to go as gender neutral as possible since who knows if it would really end up being what the doctor tells us it is. Then we can also use the baby items for our next baby if the next one ends up being a different gender. Robert has even been so kind as to tell me that he would be okay with me finding out and even telling everyone else, but he would still want it to be a surprise for him.

Eeks, I'm torn. I really want to know. Robert really doesn't. I think it would be hard for everyone to keep a secret like that from him. But I guess if he really doesn't want to know...What do you think? Take the poll on the right.

Wow, this ended up being longer than expected. Congrats everyone who is still reading! And be sure to check out the last two posts too! It's rare that we have three posts in one day, but it may be ever rarer that Robert does a post!

Baby Names

I thought this deserved it's own post now since Robert already wrote that he is grateful for Micah or Julia. Our baby names that we have had picked out forever are

Micah Robert Wheat
or
Julia Grace Wheat

Now you know. And now there should be no confusion over Robert's "I'm Thankful" list.

My Thankful List

Ten things I (Robert) am thankful for are:

1) Melarie
2) Micah or Julia (whichever it turns out to be)
3) Jesus Christ and the Atonement
4) My Job - I just enjoy business
5) Technology (Internet, Playstation, TIVO, The MTN on DirectTV, telecommuting, GPS in golf carts, airplanes, wireless communication, blackberry, DVD Burners, laser sights, night vision, laser guided weapons, etc.)
6) Sports (BYU Football, Lakers basketball, Dodger Baseball, and Robert Golf)
7) America, Star Spangled Banner, US Armed Forces, and any Toby Keith song about sticking a boot up your a**.
8) PROP 8 and the understanding that at least 52.7% of Californians still have moral character and are willing to vote their moral conscience despite the accusations of being prejudice and intolerant. I still am surprised this actually past, good job to all of those who supported and volunteered to protect the sanctity of marriage.
9) Microsoft Excel - How simple it makes my job
10) EBay, NewEgg, craigslist, and Steapandcheap

10 Things I Am Thankful For

Welcome to November everyone! I love this time of year. To start out the Thanksgiving season I am creating my own tag. It's a really simple one on being thankful.

10 Things I Am Thankful For:
1. Robert
2. Our baby
3. Family
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
5. My washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher. ( I guess that's three)
6. Our house
7. Being able to sleep in on Saturdays
8. Public transportation (I hate driving to work)
9. The Internet
10. Books

I tag: Robert, David and Jen, Kevin and Ellen, Rick and Denise, Lauren, LaRee, Haydee and anyone else who wants to join in.

This pregnancy mind must be getting to Robert too. Yesterday he wished the trick-or-treaters a Happy Thanksgiving!

Snippets

Robert and I gave talks on Sunday. Now the entire ward knows I'm pregnant when before only one person did. I thought that was good timing.

I also declared my talk a success after one minute when I introduced myself as Melarie and my husband as Robert, instead of introducing myself as Robert and my husband Melarie like I did during one the last talks I gave. I thought relating that would get some laughs (it did) but afterwards everyone kept referring to me as Robert or making some joke about it. Uh, huh, what did I set myself up for?

On the plus side, four people brought up our talks during comments in Sunday School, so they were actually listening and got something out of it!

I've been really absent minded recently, or maybe I always have been but now I can admit it because I have a good excuse. I now:
-Write case notes for the wrong client in my client files.
-Instead of writing today's date I will often put down some random date, like 8/23/08. Then I wonder, what was I thinking?
- Walk out of the bathroom with my zipper UNDONE. This one is very often and very embarrassing, but I'm usually the only one to notice (I hope).

Nine months can seem like a very long time to wait for something when you are thinking of it all the time (and I don't mean labor and delivery)

I'm almost 16 weeks and I still weigh slightly less than my pre-pregnancy weight. And yet, I have obviously gained a lot of mass around the belly. How can that be? My theory is I am losing muscle from all those lethargic evenings sick on the couch, and baby+baby junk must weigh less than muscle.

BabyCenter.com says my baby is as big as an apple! (No, Robert, that doesn't mean he's as fat as an apple, just as long as an apple. Our baby is not a fat ball.)

My mom sent me a package with Stephens Hot Apple Cider. Yum! I had a craving and went to the store looking for something similar and couldn't find anything here, so I asked my mom to send some from Utah.

One day a week is not enough time to properly maintain a house. We need more Saturdays.

"Baby, why don't we go down to Home Depot?" (sung to the tune of "Kokomo")

Yesterday I actually went somewhere besides work and home! I almost felt normal so I joined Robert on a trip to Home Depot. We drove down to the Home Depot in Chino where they were having a moving sale (the store is moving) and are trying to get rid of all their inventory. It was awesome because everything was on sale! Our major buys were some nice patio furniture and a weed whacker.

Wahoo, now we can sit outside. Except after Robert set up the patio furniture and we had dinner outside he brought everything inside and into our empty middle room. He said we can't leave it outside with no covers on. So today we ate lunch in our middle room, on our patio furniture, and I kind of looked outside and imaged we were out there.

An Update Post

Now for some updates. Our baby is due April 14th, so I am 13 weeks and 5 days (according to my little sidebar ticker). I have been feeling sick for the past month, so I am really looking forward to this second trimester. I mostly have my appetite back, now I'm just waiting for the nausea to go away. (Note to Nausea: Hint, hint, any day now, really I'm ready). I think I have vomited more in the past month than I have in my entire life- sorry if you didn't want to hear that. I think what surprised me most about morning sickness, which for me is more like evening sickness, is the nausea. I always thought of morning sickness as being more like being regular sick, like with a cold or something. But of course, duh, morning sickness makes you nauseous! So I was surprised that my morning sickness has been more like being car sick, everyday. Well, enough about that, I feel like I'm starting to whine.

Robert has been really good about it all. He has been in charge of making dinner during the weekdays (when he's home) which has been really nice. This week happens to be one of the busiest weeks of the year for him, so I haven't seen him much. After Oct. 15 he should be around a lot more. Work on the house has pretty much stopped until I get my energy back and Robert isn't so busy at work anymore. And..that's pretty much it. Over and out.