Winter Wonderland

We finally got our first snowfall of winter last Tuesday. Snow is something that I'm generally quite happy to do without, but you can't argue with how beautiful it makes everything look.

Even ordinary, every day things look magical when they're covered by snow--8 inches in this case.

We have a forested hill behind our backyard that looked particularly beautiful.

The snow was enough to cancel work, and we celebrated by going outside first thing and playing in the snow. Mike played in the snow, at any rate. I was content to be the family photojournalist.

Mike threw a snowball at me at one point. I couldn't believe it! My own husband! I wasn't even wearing gloves. I tried kicking snow in his direction and I even got a couple of hits in, but I was no match. A minute later, he thought it would be fun to throw snow in the air and for me to photograph it as it came back down. Remembering our snow fight moments ago, I kept "not quite getting the perfect shot." I think he ended up throwing 5 or 6 huge armfuls of snow on himself before I finally told him it was OK to quit. If you can't win a snowball fight through force...

Baby's First Picture

Thanks to our ultrasound last week, we found out that we're having...

A GIRL!!!

We are so excited!! We've already decided to name her Sophia Lily Clark. When we got home, Mike called all his friends and told them that his "Daddy's Little Princess" is on her way. He was NEVER this excited when he thought we were having a boy. Correction, make that when I thought we were having a boy. So sure was I that our baby was a boy, I even referred to her as "he/him" for the first 4 1/2 months. I think my Mother's Intuition is on the fritz. I'm seriously going to have to apologize to Sophia for the confusion.

Mike is the cutest dad. As we walked out of the ultrasound, he turned to me and said, "We should celebrate by going and getting Sophia her first outfit!"

Well, you can't say no to that, so off to the mall we went. We visited the typical stores like Gymboree and Children's Place, but Mike was unimpressed. I thought there were a lot of adorable clothes there, but Mike felt like they weren't cute enough. We finally ended up at JC Penney and separated from each other looking for clothes. All of a sudden, I heard Mike running up to me excitedly because he had found the perfect outfit.

And it seriously is the cutest outfit. He chose the one on the left. He even picked out the cardigan to go with it. The one on the right is a bonus outfit because...why not.

On our way to the cash register, Mike stopped and said, "We forgot to get her shoes!!! And socks!"

So back we went and got some things to complement the outfit.

I feel I must insert a note here: I didn't forget the shoes. That's not in my nature. I've actually had Sophia's first two pairs of shoes picked out online since before we got pregnant, just in case we had a girl. Now I'm free to get them, but I haven't had a chance to run it by Mike. They're handmade and a teeeeeeensy tad bit more expensive than the $10 ones you get at JC Penney. But they're so cute!!!!! Anyway, I didn't say anything at the store because I think Mike should be encouraged to get his daughter shoes. And, frankly, I'm willing to let Sophia have piles of shoes if it means I can dress her in them.

Goodbye, 2011. We'll miss you!

Ah, the end of another year. It seems like everyone from Dave Barry to Yahoo has an end-of-the-year recap, so here's ours.

January through March were kind of hum drum, as was the weather in Washington. We plugged on through work, school, and callings. Mike got deathly ill with influenza in February and felt so crummy he even asked to go to the doctor. He spent a week moaning on the couch and it took him a good month or so after that to bounce back to normal. However, Memory seems to be a fickle mistress and by the time flu shot season rolled around, the misery was sufficiently forgotten so that Mike was not even tempted to get a flu shot.

In April, I survived a week of being pediatric ward attending and was rewarded for my frustrations and angst with an awesome date planned by Mike, who designed and carried out a landmark "treasure hunt" that took us through historic Tacoma.

With the hope of the sun's return still far on the horizon in May and June, Mike and I took a trip to Disneyworld and learned a few lessons. #1: You never outgrow the magic of Disney. #2: The magic of Disney is hard to appreciate when you're forming new blisters with every step. #3: Break in new shoes before you go on vacation.

Mike and I celebrated our first anniversary in July. Our July 3rd anniversary allows us to take advantage of the Armed Forces tradition of the 4-day weekend around major holidays, so we took a drive up the beautiful Oregon coast, something I recommend be put on everyone's "bucket list" as something to do at least once during their lifetime.

We took another vacation in August/September to visit family in Utah, said good-bye to two siblings who are now serving missions, and welcomed my brother, Stephen, as he did a month-long ER rotation at the hospital where I work. Mike made Dean's list for Ashford University for the 2nd time in a row and I found out that my promotion to major came through but will go into effect during the first week of May 2012. Through the experience of commuting to Seattle three times a week, I discovered juggling work, church, and family life can get a bit dicey when Mike had less-than-stellar birthday festivities that were celebrated through my tears.

October through December saw a change in our blog name to "Semi-Bedrest Bulletin" since I was threatening miscarriage and had been ordered by the OB to keep activity to max of 4 hours a day. Trying to make lemonade out of some pretty big lemons, I imagined that I would use all the down time to get to all the unfinished projects and crafts that were sitting around taunting me with their incompleteness. What did I get done? Zilch. Nada. *insert spitty sound* As it turns out, when you're feeling exhausted and nauseated and bloated and crampy and light-headed all at the same time, you just want to lie down on the couch and do nothing. Even watching TV takes too much energy. Hence, the piles are bigger than ever and their friendly mockery has escalated into malicious persecution.

December 31st: I'm officially at 18 weeks and therefore I am off bedrest. It's such a relief and I know that we've been very blessed through the faith and prayers of our friends and family. Through all of our 2011 ups and down, I know more than ever that the Lord is mindful of us and continues to watch over us.

On that note, there's even more for us to look forward to in the year ahead. Over the next 5 months, we'll not only be preparing for the arrival of our as-yet-to-be-determined son or daughter, but we'll also be preparing to move. We've been told that barring any unforeseen circumstances, we're almost certainly, probably definitely going to DC after I graduate from my fellowship. This is as close to being 100% certain as you can get in the Army. DC is exactly where we want to go (except for the fact that we'll be farther away from family) and couldn't be happier with the decision.

In fact, we couldn't be happier. Period.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

A year after starting our Christmas stockings, I finally (FINALLY) finished them...with the invaluable help of my mom, who stitched together the fabric part of the stockings. Mike's is on the right, mine on the left.

In other news, we had another ultrasound this week and everything looks good. The baby was crossing his/her legs, though, so we still don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. Mike thinks it's a girl being modest. I think it's a boy being a stinker. Next ultrasound isn't for five weeks, so it'll be a while longer before we get another chance to find out.

Car Buying BedPost, aka I Should Have Stayed in Bed

There are many things in life that must be done that are not my favorite activities. Doing dishes might be at the top of the list. Struggling through pushups for my Army Physical Training Test, paying bills, typing up doctor notes, and switching the used-up roll of toilet paper for a new one round out my top five of Unfavorite Activities Done on a Regular Basis.

Last week, Mike and I had to do one of the things I despise most – buy a car. The last time I did this was in 2005 and I still haven't recovered from it. On the plus side, I now have Mike to run interference, which is nice. Also, the internet has made car buying so much easier than it used to be. Instead of going to lot after lot and driving car after car, we were able to do the bulk of our research online and narrow it down to the one car we wanted: the 2011 Honda CR-V. All we needed to do was test drive it...and that's where the pain, anguish, and agony came in. Because even though the internet has made car buying somewhat more palatable, it hasn't eliminated The Car Salesman; and until that happens the experience will always be torturous.

We essentially had our car picked out and we planned on paying for it in cash, so shouldn't that mean that we could get in and out somewhat quickly and (relatively) unscathed? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No.

I hate, hate, hate that we are expected to barter for the ultimate price of the vehicle. I never to go Best Buy and offer to give them $1000 for a $1200 TV. I never haggle over the cost of eggs and apples at the grocery store as I'm standing in the check out line. Why do we have to do this with cars? Why can't the price just be the price?

My other beef: Although the dealer may take off some of the price, then they add "drive out of the lot fees" and paperwork fees and "we loaded some extras that aren't included in the sticker price but now they're part of the car so you have to pay them" costs. And then they act oh-so-annoyed when you ask why there's that particular fee to pay and why it wasn't included in the first place. They don't add extra buttons and doo-hickeys that I have to pay for to the TV at Best Buy. My eggs don't have hidden "chicken/egg separation" fees and I don't have to pay extra on my apples to say that I have the right to take them out of the store.

In the end, we spent almost a whole day playing The Car Buying Game, which the buyer never wins. I felt like the dealer fed us more than a few lines, the finance guy was a total jerk, and as we neared our sixth hour there and I was tired and lightheaded and nauseated, I realized I would have paid them twice as much as the car was worth just so that someone could land on the Game Over space. Yes, The Car Salesman won; and, here's a hint, the dealers always win because they're not afraid to play dirty.

To end on a positive note, we got a car that we love. It's fun to drive, a smooth ride, has a great sound system, and (the part that sold me on the CR-V), the safety specs are excellent. This is our family car, the first car Mike and I bought together. We purchased it with our future kids in mind and we can't wait to fill it with little voices asking if we're there yet and informing us that their sibling is touching them.

Here are our Halloween pumpkins. Mike's is on the top, mine on the bottom.

As expected, our home was inundated with hoards of little trick or treaters. We had bought five bags of candy and thought we'd be fine, but ran out around 7:15. We started off letting kids pick out their own candy, but quickly shifted tactics when two girls who were old enough to know better picked a huge handful rather than just one. As our stockpile started dwindling, we entered panic mode and started rummaging through the house looking for forgotten candy. We found some Kit Kats and Nestle Crunch left over from Easter, a few bags of cookies in the pantry, some coconut M&Ms that we didn't get around to eating yet, and packages of gum. Hooray! Back in business! We just barely made it to the last trick or treater without running out.

Our candy predicament aside, we had a great evening. Our meal turned out well (to be blogged about later). We enjoyed our last night of "13 Nights of Halloween" watching "Nightmare Before Christmas." And we filed away several lessons learned:

1- Buy one more bag than you think you'll need.

2- Hand out treats to the kids rather than letting them pick. This lesson is based not only on the greedy girls but also on numerous indecisive five-year-olds.

3- Use apple cinnamon scented candles in your pumpkins and it makes the porch smell really nice.

4- Throw pumpkins away first thing the next morning, as pumpkin fuzziness, mushiness, and bug infestation are directly proportional to time elapsed since carving. Other option is to carve closer to Halloween.

5- Use gloves and/or a shovel to throw away pumpkins.

6- Don't store refrigerated roll dough in the pantry.

Halloween BedPost

I love Halloween. Love, love, love Halloween. Mom always made October SUCH a fun holiday month and there was nobody better than Dad to liven up trick-or-treating. (Sing it with me now: "When you're all alone in the country, and the night is dark as pitch..." My Stacey siblings are finishing the song in their heads right now.)

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do as much this Halloween because of decreased energy and increased feeling gross. Mike went out and picked out our pumpkins and cleaned them both out...alone. He decorated the front of our house...alone. He's gotten everything ready for trick-or-treaters, which is no small task, since the number of children in DuPont is roughly equal to that of the rest of Washington state put together. And he did it all...alone. I feel bad watching him because I've been so boring lately.

One tradition that we started last year that I've been able to participate fully in is our "13 Nights of Halloween," where we watch a Halloween-ish themed movie every night for the 13 nights prior to and including Halloween. We have a whole list of movies and obviously we can't get to all of them every year, so we rotate. Some of the movies on our list are "Phantom of the Opera," "The Mummy," "Scared Shrekless," "Monsters, Inc.," "Rear Window," "Blackbeard's Ghost," "The Private Eyes," "Arsenic and Old Lace," "Scooby Doo," "Harry Potter," "Ghostbusters," and "Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." I love that there's at least ONE thing I can do to celebrate the holiday with him.

Another tradition is to make a fun meal on Halloween night. Last year we had a feast, but I didn't know if I'd be able to do something this year. I'm kind of a Halloween food snob when it comes to creativity. I DON'T find it creative to put "Spooky" or "Ghoulish" on the front of a normal recipe and call it Halloween food. I think that's a creative cop-out. And I don't want my food (no matter how good it tastes) to look like gross things such as vomit or cat food. So with those stipulations, I had to find something that both Mike and I like (difficult since there are about 10 foods right now that don't make me nauseated) AND is easy to make.

I think I found some fun things... Tune in to tomorrow's entry to see how our Halloween feast turns out.