Crazy Ideas

Sometimes I wonder what's going on in my brain. I get these crazy ideas and want to try them out, but I don't know where they come from in the first place!

Lent started last Wednesday. I'm giving up sweets again, but the experience has been very different so far. It has all the same benefits, but it just doesn't feel like much of a sacrifice. Being pregnant is a huge motivation to eat healthier anyway, but I've had no real cravings for sweets since I started drinking green smoothies almost every day this year. The few sweets I've had have been good, but just not the same as they used to be, especially ice cream.

My crazy idea is to try going meatless for a month. I guess you could say vegetarian (but definitely not vegan!) I don't eat tons of meat right now, but I want to see what difference it really makes to only get 5% of my daily intake from animal products. So yes, I'd still eat dairy products, eggs, and some broth. I see a lot of advantages to this experiment, like

1. adapting my current meals to be meatless, which I believe I can do for the majority of them. This will be a good way to see how they taste without meat, and since we have no way of storing lots of meat, it would be good to know how these meals taste without it.

2. saving money.

3. eating healthier by getting more servings of veggies, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.

In case anyone worries about nutritional deficiencies...don't! Near-vegetarians are the healthiest people on the earth. A variety of good, whole foods, with or without meat, provides all the nutrients that you need. And I won't go hungry. That's completely against my nature. I hope to be able to add some notes about meat-free versions of the meals on my blog. It will be interesting to see what happens.

On the less crazy side, I've been getting ready for Kenny a little at a time. I washed the car seat cover, set up the crib, and washed my nursing pillow. It smelled a little funny from being in storage for a year. I really want to pull out all the cute clothes, but I'm restraining myself...for now.

My two other boys, throwing rocks in the water

Only 5 weeks till he gets here! That's hardly over a month. The time has just flown by, and Joseph grows up every time I turn around. We figured out that he knows how to "count"...1...2...8...9...4...5...yay! And then he claps for himself. I have no idea how he picked up those numbers, but it's super cute. Time to pull out the video camera, if we can get him to cooperate. :)

Rexburg

We've had a very nice time in Rexburg. The weather in Nampa was gorgeous when we left, so it was almost a shame to leave. The drive was great, though, and we got here in only 4 1/2 hours.

Friday night, we ate dinner with the family and then hung out. Grandma and Grandpa Lee came over with a present for baby Kenny. He now has the most adorable turtle blankie and burp cloths. I can't wait for him to get here. Only 6 weeks left, and I'm finally feeling ready...almost!

Saturday, we went to the temple. It's tough to sit for that long, but it was peaceful and enjoyable. I printed some family names that I've been able to find, thanks to Legacy. What an awesome program!

I took a nap when Jojo did. Although I've been sleeping reasonably well at night (no insomnia), I still need a nap after a good 8 hours of sleep! It makes me feel lame, but I know it's normal.

That night, we saw a Greek tragedy called Ephedre. It fit the bill for emotional, depressing, and heart-wrenching all in one. Gotta love tragedies.

Sunday, it was cool to go to our old ward and see friends. There wasn't time to see everyone, but it was still nice to catch up a little. Since we were Primary teachers last year, some people didn't realize that we'd moved. Haha.

sleeping on the drive

a hug from Uncle Joseph 

ready to play in the snow

We enjoyed a family dinner with the whole family. Sam and Jesse came over too. Joseph has loved seeing everyone again. He's going to be a little lonely when we get back home, I think.

So here it is Monday already. We head back after Joseph's nap, probably around 3 p.m. I hope that the drive goes just as well. It snowed about 6 inches here, and it looks gorgeous. I wonder if Nampa has any. Guess I'll find out later!

Valentine's Day

We didn't do anything too fancy for Valentine's Day. James brought me roses and a huge bar of Belgian dark chocolate. I hope it lasts longer than I think it will! I made a heart-shaped pizza for dinner and some little valentines for James. It was fun.

The actual day was kinda rough. Joseph and I both have a little cold. Apparently, it's enough that he wants to snuggle more while I just want to be left alone. Those are not compatible attitudes. I skipped my workout and piano practice on Tuesday, but it turned out to be a bad thing for this little boy who knows my schedule and depends on it as much as I do! He had a really hard time with a change in routine, even though I was willing to let him watch way too many episodes of Duck Tales. That kid is hooked, I tell you.

Wednesday and today have been much better because of sticking to my schedule. Heck, it's not like my workouts haven't been getting wimpier for a while anyway. Actually, I feel pretty darn good. I've slept through Joseph's coughing and the annoying, barking dog. Miracles do happen!

Here We Are...

The weekend was a little stressful for some reason. Joseph was unusually whiny on Friday, but I figured out that it was because of sleep deprivation. He'd been waking up around 6:15-6:30, which was too early, so I tried putting him to bed 30 minutes later, at 8:30. That was a mistake, but it has now been rectified. He is sleeping just fine again from 8:00-7:15, with a 1.5 to 2-hour nap in the early afternoon.

We went to our ward's Valentine's party on Friday night, and it was great. We had a nice dinner, and there was a chocolate fountain for dessert, along with some dancing afterward. James says that I'm a better dancer because of my workout videos. Ha.

I still have no pictures of myself, mainly because I feel huge and they all turn out bad. Oh well. I think I'll take one on delivery day for posterity's sake.

We went to Boise on Saturday and found two more thrift stores near the D.I. That means we now have six pretty good stores to go to. Actually, we found one more (randomly) today while we were out, and we got another porta-crib for 10 bucks! Now, we are completely prepared for Kenny's arrival, minus buying diapers and making room in Joseph's dresser for him (his clothes, I should say!). That will take all of five minutes.

I guess I'll never really understand the concept of nesting. I'm too much of a neat freak anyway, so anything that could be considered "nesting" could also be considered "normal" neat freak behavior. Oh well. Either way, I'm prepared for this baby boy! I can't say that I felt that until I got a crib, but I'm feeling pretty good now. :)

We go to Rexburg this weekend. I'm excited to both see family and go to the temple. I've really missed them (and it)!

Finally!

I had my first OB appointment in 2 months yesterday. I really like my doctor. Joseph freaked out a little when she was listening to the baby's heartbeat and starting crying. Poor little guy. It's definitely not as easy to take him than to just go by myself. He was good, though. I just felt bad that he got scared.

I'm down to less than 8 weeks now! I was right: Kenny's head is down now. That's where I always feel the hiccups. I keep having really strange dreams that I don't remember later (only the fact that they're strange). Luckily, I don't have insomnia. I fall right back asleep after waking up, with few exceptions.

Working out is getting difficult, but I'm going to press on till this baby is born. I was never a graceful dancer anyway. I should be pretty darn flexible once Kenny's born, because I can still touch my toes!

I had an issue with "Mom radar" last night. I awoke at 3 a.m., which is pretty standard these days. Until that point, I'd slept very soundly. Our doors stick a little (new paint) so I must have woken Joseph up. I heard hime say, "Mommy," very softly from his room, but I didn't go get him because I knew he was okay. Still, I started feeling super guilty and couldn't go back to sleep until 4:30. The rest of the night was very restless and horrible.

Seriously, "Mom radar" should be a thing that can be deactivated sometimes. It makes for a lot of unnecessary worrying! True emergencies would still override the system, of course, but it would make life a lot easier if I didn't have those crazy moments when I worry about nothing.

If only...

Another Fun Weekend

What a weekend it was!

It started off great on Friday night, because I finally got to watch The Help. I thought it was very well done. I teared up a little, of course. I want to read the book again!

Saturday, we slept in till 8:30. I felt super lazy. Ironically, it doesn't seem to matter how much sleep I get. I always feel a little tired these days. Baby Kenny moves around a lot and is definitely running out of space. 8 more weeks to go! The little guy gets hiccups every day. It feels like his head is down now, but I won't know for sure until my dr. appointment this week (finally!).

We went to Boise's D.I. since we're looking for another crib. No luck yet, but we found the most awesome Chinese buffet nearby. It cost 9.95 for lunch, but it was the most amazing buffet I've ever been to. There were 6 long tables of food. Only half of one of those had anything American on it. There was a sushi bar and dessert bar as well with real and soft serve ice cream. The most amazing part was the seafood. They had lobster, crayfish, and octopus, plus a lot more!

I finally consented to go shooting with James in the afternoon. I'll be darned, but it was really fun. Joseph was an angel and just played with rocks. I'm not too bad of a shot.

We had a fun date at home that I planned. We had biscuits and gravy for dinner, followed by banana pudding. Then, we did a country song mad lib (hilarious!) and built a "Nascar" track. It was awesome. Someone had given me the pudding (instant), but I made homemade Nilla wafers.  They are so much better than the ones from the store!

octopus!

me shooting

the track

lobster

sleeping in the car

Now it's back to business. I know what to do on family history now. I'll be linking families to FamilySearch through Legacy. It's going to take forever, but it's easy to do small chunks at a time. I will also be able to update info without a bunch of typing, just clicking! I like that. For the first time in a few months, I am super excited about working on the family history.