Party Crasher

I know that I don't have a baby yet, but I have been crashing my ward's Playgroup Dates for the last two weeks. You know, trying to get to know everyone and spend some time with the other mothers in the ward. Last week, and the week before, we went to the Tempe Splash Park. It is one of those glorified fountains that I've blogged about before. A little slide or two, some water shooting out of the ground, a mini waterfall. In general it is a nice little oasis for children under 7.

Well, I found myself needing to cool off as well and so did my best to wade through the water and chase after some of the kids I know. I got tired and so ended up trying to find a seat where I could still keep my feet in the cool stream and I ended up with this:

Hind site tells me that putting a 160 pound woman on that little whale was not the best idea, but it sure was fun at the time! The little guy next to me is Cason Paxman, my favorite little guy in the ward. He spent the whole time at the park trying to get his "Nemo Fish!" to swim down the trickling stream. So cute!

3 weeks left, but really this is about Angela

That's right folks, one more week is gone and I am now just 3 weeks from my due date and 6 days from getting insurance! Woo-hoo! And in other celebratory news, today is my lovely sister Angela's birthday! She is my baby sister and one of my best friends so I want to take a minute to tell you a couple of my favorite things about her.

She is so laid back. I tend to stress about everything and she always seems to put my complaints in perspective with a funny look and an inquisitive, "And?".

She is too funny. Her stories about work, friends, and family crack me up.

She is devoted to her family. Whenever Joe and I go up to Utah to visit she spends as much time with us as she can, which tends to lead to her getting promoted so this is good in several ways. If she is not with her side of the family she is with Micah's side.

She is down for whatever. Whether it is hiking at scrambling at Red Rock Park, hiking in Utah, or mountain biking in Moab (tee-hee), she will give it a try.

She is a HARD WORKER. I have worked with a lot of unreliable and flaky people in my day and it is so refreshing to see how Angela takes her job very seriously and lives up to her responsibilities.

These are just a few of the things, but you should all be jealous that she is my sister and not yours. Unless of course you are reading this and you ARE another one of my sisters or my mother, then you are just as lucky as me!

Hello?

Oh where, oh where have my sisters all gone?

Oh where, oh where, can they be?

In this blogging world they've been absent so long.

Oh where, oh where can they be?

A New Idea

I have this new project I want to do. It's not really a big project, but one that I think would be fun and useful. I have found that when I ask family members and friends about their pregnancies they remember all the big stuff. They remember if they were sick a lot, if they had swollen ankles, that kind of stuff. But most don't remember some of the little fun stuff with each pregnancy since they have had more children since or it has been a few years. So I have decided that I need to keep a journal.

This journal is not for me really but for Baby Girl Jackson. I told Joe that I wanted to write down all about how he got so excited once he saw her on the ultrasound, even though he thought she looked like Skeletor. I want her to know that we waited FOREVER for her to start moving around but that once she did she just couldn't stop. I want her to know that Joe talks to her at night and asks her questions hoping for a response. I want her to know that when I drink soda she gets very dancey, and that she always reacts to Joe's touch like she knows it's her daddy.

Joe liked this idea a lot, and we just happened to be at Barnes and Noble, so we went searching for a little journal to write down the fetal life and first year of our little girl. After much deliberation we chose this book:

I realize at first that this will be a book for me. I will want to look back and remember what it was like the first time around. I will want to compare this pregnancy with my others. I will get joy out of thinking of her reading it someday. But a day will come, I am sure, that she will want to know what she was like even if it is just to compare it to the way her own children are. I know that I should have started this in my first trimester instead of 3 weeks before my due date, but I have time now and motivation. I'll just have to backtrack a little.

Frustrated

I hate dealing with Doctors and their bills. Some of you may know that I have had a bit of a stressful time getting care, or not getting it, this pregnancy since I do not have insurance yet. It seems like I go to my few visits, pay them what they tell me to, and then a few months later (or 6 in this case) I get a mysterious bill for some ridiculous amount of money and I don't know what it is for. Then comes the fun part; calling the billing office.

Do you ever feel like people avoid you on purpose? Not just someone at church or bratty girls in high school, but people who know that you have serious concerns that need to be addressed and they just choose not to talk to you right now. I received one of these mystery bills on Friday. Of course it was on Friday because then the Doctor's office is closed for the next two days and it gives people time to calm down about this surprise bill before they, the billing department, have to actually deal with them. I call one office involved in the billing and am told that billing is unavailable to talk to me right now. Literally unavailable to talk to ME specifically. That's how it was said. But don't worry, they are supposed to be calling me back soon. So I move on to the next office that has a high volume of callers just now so do I want to leave a message and they will call me back in the next 24 hours? Yes please, I would like to leave a message, but no I do not have a W-ID#, what the heck is that? I'm sorry, but you have to call back another time if you do not have a W-ID#. So I call the final office involved only to be left on hold for 20 minutes before I decide that emailing them might actually be faster.

And Joe wonders why I go over my minutes sometimes. I swear I should get to bill these offices for every minute I am on hold or told that no one can talk to me right now. This is especially frustrating since I thought that we had finally figured out all of this maternity care stuff. I get insurance on October 1st, I canceled my stupid Maternity Advantage program (DO NOT USE THEM!) that was costing me more than it was saving me, and I was feeling good about life. Three days later it all starts again; mystery bills. It's this kind of stuff that makes me want to burn something down.

4 Weeks From Today!

I realize that most babies do not come on their actual due-date, but I am due 4 weeks from this very day! I thought that it would be an appropriate time to post an updated tummy photo as well as pictures of my nursery.


Now that I have received all of the cute bedding (thanks sisters and Mom!), my glider (thanks to Joe's family!), and all of the other odds and ends (thanks to everyone!), the nursery is ready for Baby Girl Jackson. This picture is not the best but it shows how the crib lies on one wall while the glider is to the right next to the lamp. It is the CUTEST lamp (thanks to Joe and IKEA!).




I had to post a close up of the crib because Baby Girl Jackson already has so many friends to share her crib with and I LOVE the bedding we got. The bed has never been used and I still want to change the cute sheets all the time so I can see all the cute ones that I have. I know that will not be the case when I am having to change them three times in the middle of the night, but for now I am thrilled!


This is the other side of the room with my cozy corner and the baby's dresser. If I had thought about it I could have opened up the drawers of the dresser and the closet so that you can see all of her cute little clothes just waiting to be worn, but that might seem a little silly.


I am so excited! This is my first week not having work anymore so I have had a lot more time to just prepare for our little girl and it has been making me giddy! I have to be careful about wishing to hard for her to get here since Joe and I still won't have insurance until October 1st. So, 2 weeks till insurance coverage and 4 weeks until baby. As you can see, the walls of the nursery are still pretty bare so I have a project or two I can still work on. Things are happening so fast now. I keep hearing how the last month feels like three so I figured that it would be good to post while I'm still feeling good and excited instead of tired, cranky, and ready for it to just be over.

My Favorite Things

New baby bedding with soft fuzzy blankies,

Sheets, bumpers, books, all especially for baby,

All wrapped in pink and green, tied with a bow;

All gifts I love as I'm sure you all know.




Better than presents are people who send them:

Melissa and Val'rie, Mom, Jen, Beth and Ang'la.

My sisters and mother all so far away,

All top my list and they prompt me to say...


When my ankles swell,

My hands get chubby,

While I grow and grow,

I simply remember my sweet family,

And I don't even miss...

the sight of my toes!

-Thanks to my wonderful family who has been so supportive and realizes that I really appreciate a beautifully wrapped present!