Ok...I'm cringing

I need to get over my awkwardness about tummy pictures.  I mean, I love when other people put them up!  They are cute and I am always curious about how big people are getting.  So last night, after Christy told me about how I'll regret not documenting my pregnancy, Kyle and I took a couple pictures on our way to dinner.  And it was SO MUCH WORSE than I thought!  I was embarrassed in front of KYLE, which is just ridiculous.  I just can't get the hang of it! It's impossible for me to not have an ugly sheepish look on my face, showing my awkwardness.  SO here's one with my face cut off.  It's a step in the right direction, okay?  I'll work on including my whole body next time.

Anyways, here is my stomach at 23 weeks, nearly 6 months!

Kyle felt left out so he took this next one.  He thinks it's hilarious.  I think my stomach looks freakishly huge.  Like...GROSS!

EDIT: Ok, ten minutes or so after posting this, I am hating how it ends on that creepy picture, but I also think it's funny so I don't want to delete it.  I decided this next one isn't SO bad, and it's almost LESS awkward if it's my whole face and not just my torso.  Am I overthinking the tummy picture concept?  YES I AM.  

What are you supposed to do with your arms? I see everyone cradling their stomach in these pictures...but I felt like an idiot doing that.  So I just kind of...stand there.  Kyle admonished me for hunching over so in this one I threw my shoulders back and it looks weird. 

Anyways...

Today I am saying goodbye to all the clothes that won't fit me anymore--at least for the next several months.  It feels great because now I won't have to look at them in my closet anymore and miss them, and it always feels good to have plenty of space in my drawers!  My motivation: all my new maternity clothes.  I'm blessed to have a generous aunt in the area who just had a baby, so she passed on her stylish maternity wardrobe to me.  The amount of maternity clothing I have now is slightly shocking!  I feel very prepared and organized now.

I KNOW it is my moral obligation to put a picture on here of my pregnant self. It's what pregnant women DO. It just feels so awkward,  especially if I try to take one myself.  Someday I'll force Kyle to do it and then we'll see if it gets posted.  I wish I was one of those Every Single Week pregnant picture posters, it just turns out that I am not.  Originally Kyle felt strongly about photographically documenting the pregnancy...but we just never got around to it.  I think a lot of the motivation fled when I started feeling awful all the time.  Now that I feel pretty good during the day (just not at night, when the migraines/heartburn/back pain/various other maladies strike) we should try again to care.

ANYWAYS I am actually feeling really great and having fun.  My sleep schedule isn't as terrible as it's been, so I wake up and feel human and am able to go to sleep when Kyle does usually!  That is a HUGE deal and makes me really happy.  I work on some baby room projects while Eliza takes her nap (I am back to watching her every afternoon while her parents are at work), and I'm feeling much more alive and social then I've been for the last 5 months.  I really want to make the most of this summer (while I can still move around pretty normally, at least).  I want to take advantage of Saturdays when Kyle is at home and do fun things together!  I want to hang out with all of my friends, especially friends in the area who for some reason I never see.  Once I have a baby it seems like I'll be so busy being a mom that fun social activities will fall by the wayside.  So even if I'm tired and uncomfortable now,  I need to buck up and take advantage of the kidless life.  Christy always tells me to GO TO THE MOVIES, because once you have a baby it gets much harder!  I want to go camping, go on a spontaneous road trip, go to local events, etc.  I know you can do all of those things with a baby, but it is certainly more complicated and, knowing Kyle and me, we'll decide the effort just isn't worth it and we may as well just put the baby to sleep and watch tv.  YES, we are very cool like that.

In Which I Gush About Good Things

The Hokulia Shave Ice stand is open!  I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER.  This stuff is UNREAL and unlike any shaved ice I've ever had.  It's all the way by Helaman Halls (probably the one reason I regret leaving Provo--we're now like 20-25 mins. away) so I promised Kyle we wouldn't have to go every day--but maybe like 3 times a week?  Ok twice?  What is acceptable in this situation?  We went on Monday and it was every bit as good as I remembered.  They have a ton of new flavors (Kyle tried and enjoyed the strawberry cheesecake) but I am unable to order anything but black cherry.  It is just the best and why would I risk having something less than perfection?  ANYWAYS I constantly think about the next time I can conceivably go and get one.  They have irregular hours, which is the only drawback.  Last summer we often would drive (like 4 mins.) to get one and they were closed.  The disappointment of that after 25 mins. would be DEVASTATING.

Over the weekend Kyle's anniversary surprise was AWESOME.  We drove up to Salt Lake to stay at the Grand America Hotel!  Guys.  Wow.  This hotel is MAGNIFICENT.  I have never known such grandeur. I am so obviously a little poor gauche girl, because I spent the weekend gawking at the finery instead of taking it in stride.  Being surrounded by such luxury motivated Kyle to get really rich and have that all the time, but I reacted differently--I kept thinking about how awesome it would be to work in a place like that!  I could TOTALLY man the expensive (for us) continental breakfast in the lobby lounge (awesome croissants), or keep the public bathroom stocked with paper towels.  OH wait they don't even USE paper towels, they are far too fancy for that, they have elegantly stacked hand towels.  And every stall is it's own little room with a real door, marble floors, crown molding, and crystal chandelier.  Yes, even the public bathroom was exciting.  To say NOTHING of the bathroom in our room--I am still pining for it.  I never dreamt that I would ever stay in such a hotel.

What else can I gush about?  How about this quilt that Ashley made me for the baby room?  She knew I wanted purple and green and then spent her whole spring break at home sewing this.  I LOVE it.  It's beautiful and exactly what I want the room to feel like.  I think most of the things I get will be bird/tree oriented.

Speaking of which, I've just about decided what decal to put on the wall over the crib.  We don't want to do anything permanent like paint it, and I am nowhere near crafty/talented/confident enough to just paint a tree myself.  So we decided to go vinyl decal, and I think I've decided on this one:

It's pretty cheap and I like the swirly branches and fat bird.  There aren't too many things going on and I like to keep it pretty simple.  Those won't be the colors of course.  I'm thinking white branch (on our light brownish walls) and lilac bird (because I don't like the shades of green they offer).  It's girly but not like FLOWERS AND FAIRIES!!!!!!

And finally: Kyle felt Velocity kick for the first time last night.  I don't know why, but I have been really excited about that happening.  It can finally be real for him too!  And then Velocity/pregnancy made up for all the preciousness by keeping me all night with terrible heartburn.  Do you know how hard it is to sleep propped up while not sleeping on your back?  YOU CAN'T.  I nearly broke my back trying.

The Can of Orange Soda: An Update

If you don't know what I'm talking about, refer to this post.

We did, in fact, drink the can of orange soda at our reception exactly two years ago.

It was very cute.  And FUN.  It was cool to have something different to do at the reception, something that was really us.  Nothing screams "Kyle and Becca are madly in love" like drinking orange soda, right?

And of course we still have the can.  It got a bit banged up in our moves, and the paint is a little chipped in some places, but it's still our can of orange soda.  We got a little glass case for it to protect it from further damage. It now sits in a place of honor in our living room. I can just imagine us explaining that can to people in 30 years.  I think we'll always have it.

And THAT, my friends, is a non-mushy anniversary post.

Let me sum up

Oh dear, there are so many bloggable topics in my head right now, but I don't want to turn this into a huge long random post.  Let's just sum up some of them:


Mini Blog Post #1:
We have been doing lots of fun things lately, including a fun visit with Ken and Barbara, Kyle's parents.  I now like Springville even more!   We found great restaurants and shops on Main Street, and our canyon is cute.  The Beehive Bazaar at Thanksgiving Point was awesome (we actually went twice and bought some neat stuff).  Kyle's childhood safe (with a long forgotten combination) was returned to him this weekend, and after one night with Kyle and Alan going at it with a hammer and tire iron, they managed to open it--we discovered childhood journals and a TON of comic books.


Mini Blog Post #2:
Pregnancy.  I only throw up like once a week now, which is awesome.  I could do that under normal non-pregnant circumstances and feel like I was a happy healthy person (ok maybe not, but whatev).  I am now having WICKED heartburn though.  Kyle is teaching me his dealing-with-heartburn tricks that he's learned after a lifetime of heartburn, most of which involve pacing and waving my arms around and looking silly.  But Velocity's kicks and punches are becoming stronger, which makes any pain completely worth it.  She is getting so big!  (As is my stomach.) Unfortunately our scanner issues are keeping me from putting up cute ultrasound pictures.

Mini Blog Post #3:
I am a huge grudge-holder.  If someone treats someone I love badly (or, let's be honest, treats ME badly), then I basically hate them forever.  I know that's wrong.  BUT. I am making huge strides in not doing that anymore!  I mean, I have treated people poorly in the past and I feel guilty about it, but I like to think that I've changed since then.  These folks who were jerks to me or my sisters or Kyle 2 or 3 or 7 years ago have probably changed too!  I really should let people change.  So, I've let go of a lot of my hate.  It's amazing how much better I feel.  Next I need to work on liking people who are CURRENTLY jerks.

Mini Blog Post #4
The weight of the responsibility of naming a child is coming crashing down on me.  IT IS A BIG DEAL.  We have our top 3 choices and every day I decide on a different one.  Luckily we have months to decide.  There just so many things to think about!  Some names we love but they're too trendy. Some names I love but I don't love the full proper form--and I just can't feel okay with putting a nickname on a birth certificate.  Some names we love but they offer too many teasing nicknames.  ANYWAYS.  Considering all these things PLUS deciding which name we love the most and feels the most right is taking up most of my pregnancy-limited brainpower.

Ultra Mushy Mini Blog Post #5
Our 2nd anniversary is in less than a week!  Kyle has secret plans for this weekend--I am very excited.  2 years. It is kind of crazy.  Dating and engagement seem like an eternity ago, but it seems impossible that we've been married for Two Whole Years.  It also seems impossible that I could love Kyle more than I did two years ago, but I certainly do.  I find myself saying prayers of gratitude for him every single day.  He continues to impress me with his coolness and maturity.  Being married to each other has changed and improved both of us, and I think it's more fun now than it ever has been.

Addendum:
Ok, so I couldn't leave on that mushy note that so many people find uncomfortable (I usually do too, I just think that anniversaries are special occasions).  I didn't know if I would blog this, but let's just see what happens.

Here are our top name choices (not in order):
--Ruby Caroline, Ruby Kay, etc. (the middle name isn't set yet)
--Abigail Valentine (we'd call her Abby)
--Penny Valentine (I need to decide if I am the kind of person who names a baby Penelope) (And I need to decide if it matters--technically we could just name her Penny Vaughn--this is one of my internal struggles)

Ruby has been THE name for months and months, long before I was pregnant, but suddenly it isn't set in stone and we're strongly considering other options.  We LOVE Valentine as a middle name (it's a big family name on my side) and I couldn't do a Ruby Valentine (too gimmicky), so that's one point against Ruby.    Love Penny but not wild about Penelope.  Love Abby, and Abigail is quickly growing on us (pretty strongly, too).  Isn't Abby Valentine one of the cutest   things you've heard?  But Ruby Vaughn=my heart.  And Penny is just adorable.

I think it might be awkward to blog the naming process and have people form opinions before it's a reality, but I think it's so INTERESTING.  I love hearing about what other people are thinking about naming their babies, so how could I refuse to share these tidbits with others?  And I feel fine telling anyone who asks, so why should it be weird to blog it?  Anyways, there you have it.  Hopefully we will have enough children to use up our favorite names.  If I don't get to name a boy, I will be bitter my entire life.

AHA!

I KNEW that these Frosted Flakes didn't taste as good as they usually do.  I thought I was just losing my mind.  I'm almost to the bottom of the box and I just now actually looked at it.  I hate when I'm forced to eat healthier against my will. Give me back my Original Kellogg's Frosted Flakes!!


I've been eating a LOT of cold cereal lately.  Here's one reason why:

We just cleaned out our fridge, getting rid of all our expired perishables, and this is what we were left with. Mostly condiments, with nothing to put them on. I had no clue we had no food! I think the state of our fridge is HILARIOUS, all those empty shelves.  We haven't been to the grocery store for months.  I've been so sick, and then my family was in town and we ate out a lot, and then I was gone in CA and Kyle just ate tuna and canned soup (gross), then my family was here AGAIN and we didn't make any food, and now...we usually just go out for dinner (mostly Taco Bell).  Thank heavens Katy gave us a lot of leftover pantry food when she moved to CA--we are well stocked with pasta, Top Ramen, and tomato soup.

It's not like I have much of an appetite anyways.  Hence the cold cereal.  I keep waiting to be ravenously hungry all the time--that sounds like a fun part of pregnancy. Kyle will enjoy that too, I'm sure. 

I wonder how long we can last without going to the grocery store.  We are definitely holding out for as long as we can.

Lately

Well, the little cantaloupe is definitely kicking.  It's a pretty cool feeling.  I thought it would be another couple of weeks before I could feel her, so this is very awesome.  There's a real little person in there!  It's amazing how many times this whole thing has actually started to "feel real"--when I started having symptoms, when we heard the heartbeat, when we saw the ultrasound, and now that I feel her.  I guess it just takes a LOT for it to really sink in!  I'm excited for the 20-week ultrasound tomorrow to see what's going on with Velocity.  Oh and by the way I'm HALFWAY DONE with this delightful experience.  Woo!  (By "delightful" I mean "horrific"--why am I still throwing up??)

I stopped biting my nails over a month ago.  This is a record for me!  And thanks to pregnancy hormones, my nails are LONG.  This is a very big deal--I've been trying to break the habit for...20ish years.  I feel like a real girl now!

One of the greatest things to ever happen to us--Netflix streaming to our tv.  We have great internet but our computers are SLOW so we never watched any of the Instant View movies or shows.  Kyle was looking into getting one of the new Netflix Ready Streaming Devices, but they are exorbitantly priced.  THEN I saw that all you need is a Wii, which my parents gave us for Christmas two years ago, and a free disc from Netflix to activate it.  It came this week and it is MAGNIFICENT.  It is fast and easy and convenient and we are getting a ton of use out of it.  We are even SAVING money--because we will use this so much, we switched our membership to just get 1 disc at a time because 2 would just be unnecessary now!  I rarely see Kyle so excited about something :)   Anyways.  We love it.  I have now gushed about Netflix as much as I've gushed about having a baby--I obviously have my priorities straight.

Finally, I get to think about the baby room!  Mom got me this beautiful "chandelier" at Downeast because she's awesome:

Originally heck of expensive from Pottery Barn Kids.  I love it!  I've tried to describe it to people, and once they actually see it they say that I suck at describing it. So finally, a picture.  You can't tell the color really well in the picture--the ribbon is a beautiful shade of green, and in the center of each white paper flower is a lavender or clear bead.  The baby room decor will therefore be pale green and lavender, which I am in love with.  I think we're going to keep it pretty simple.  We have some ideas about what we'll do in there--I'll blog it when we actually get going.