the swamps of sadness

ok, so not really of sadness, but of wo, i've had so much freelance work come my way lately! i applied to a translation company last week, took a test on friday, and starting monday have gotten a flurry of requests from them to do proofreading and translation. i'm not complaining at all; i like proofreading, especially, but it will just take some getting used to in terms of having a ton of work to do versus a lot of free time. i should've enjoyed the first couple of weeks in january more! :)

now i'm about to embark on the joyous quest of invoicing. yay! billing clients is one of the necessary evils of freelancing, but that doesn't mean i have to like it! :) guess you have to do it if ya wanna get paid.

had my checkup yesterday; things are going well. jenna's healthy (and starting to kick me in not-so-comfortable places), and I measured right at 30 weeks, which is where i should be, since i hit 31 weeks on thursday. the doctor showed me how to feel where the top of the uterus is, which was not a pleasant sensation (imagining digging and pressing on an already sensitive area), but cool nonetheless.

as of a couple of days ago, i'm finding it hard to sleep, b/c jenna can reach further and further up and also to the sides. it's increasingly difficult to find a comfortable position. haha, lil' baby, you've only got a little bit until you're too big to move around anymore, so enjoy it while you can! :)

i went for a short walk today, and man...suffice it to say that i am not as limber as i used to be. i had to force myself to slow down, so that my pregnant body didn't die! ah, the (back)aches and pains of being prego! :)

happy happy survey day to you

1. Is your second toe longer than your first?
No...should it be? Are you trying to insinuate that i'm abnormal? :)

2. Do you have a favorite type of pen?
I've always liked Papermate. But I think I've proven in the past that if someone gives me a pen, I will use it. I am indiscriminate when it comes to free stuff.

3. Look at your planner for March 14, what are you doing?
Waiting for my brother to get his booty up here to visit me so we can have a Law & Order marathon and make cannoli and pinch-me cake. Ah yeah.

4. What color are your toenails usually?
His Royal Gay-ness Purple. just kidding.

5. What was the last thing you highlighted?
Probably something churchy. I don't highlight much anymore now that I'm not in school.

6. What color are your bedroom curtains?
I'm not real big on curtains..they're okay, I guess. We just have white blinds in there.

7. What color are the seats in your car?
Tan/Beige.

8. Have you ever had a black and white cat?
I'd have to be a pet person to answer that in the affirmative, and I'm not, so no.

9. What is the last thing you put a stamp on?
Um, a letter? Unless you count when I stepped on Braden. :)

10. Do you know anyone who lives in Wyoming?
No. If that changes, I'll be sure and let you know.

11. Why did you withdraw cash from the ATM the last time?
Ok, some of these questions are pretty freaking dumb...because I needed some cash!!

12. Who is the last baby that you held?
The cute and ever-irrepressible Amy Jo, my niece. I put "Jo" to distinguish her from my other niece Amy, who is 6 and would probably run away if I tried to hold her. :)

13. Do you know of any twins with rhyming names?
Not off the top of my head.

14. Do you like cinnamon toothpaste?
Yuck. I don't like cinnamon gum or altoids, either. That's a little too much mouth action.

15. What kind of car were you driving two years ago?
Chevy Prizm. She was a good little car, but she bit it.

16. Pick one: Miami Hurricanes or Florida Gators
Like I even care. I choose based on the color, usually, IF I'm watching, which is only if someone else is in control of the TV.

17. Last time you went to Six Flags?
Have I ever been to a Six Flags? I don't know. I wanted to go to the "Geauga Lake/now we're Six Flags/oh, look now we're Geauga Lake again", but we ran out of time last May before we moved here.

18. Do you have any wallpaper in your house?
This is an apartment...take a guess.

19. Closest thing to you that is yellow:
Christmas thank you cards that I still haven't written.

20. Last person to give you a business card?
Well, it was actually given to Braden, but it was from a guy in our ward who invited us to dinner tomorrow.

21. Who is the last person you wrote a check to?
Probably to the management at our complex for January rent. Aside from rent, I don't really write checks; I'll go with a debit card over a check any day.

22. Closest framed picture to you?
There are some wedding pictures of us close by. We'll hit a year and of half of meh-wage next month!

23. Last time you had someone cook for you?
Braden made me some eggs on Sunday morning, and then I couldn't eat all of them b/c they made me feel queasy. I hate that about scrambled eggs, and I don't what it is that causes that reaction...I've always been like that. But Braden makes delicious scrambled eggs!

24. Have you ever applied for welfare?
No.

25. How many emails do you have?
You mean in my inboxes, or email addresses? Please be more specific. I have 2 addresses that I use regularly, and one from school that I hardly ever check, and it's probably full.

26. Last time you received flowers?
Last year. (hint, hint) :)

27. Do you think the sanctity of marriage is meant for only a man & woman?
Yes.

28. (insert question below)
Why am I in such a blogging mood right now?

29. Do you play air guitar?
If I feel it's warranted. I used to a lot more when I was younger. I always play it left-handed (which I am), but if I'm messing around on an actual guitar, I play right-handed. Go figure.

30. Do you take anything in your coffee?
I don't drink coffee. So I guess I take cyanide.

31. Do you have any Willow Tree figurines?
What, is that like CareBears or Precious Moments? :) I have no idea.

32. What is your high school's rival mascot?
If I remember correctly, from reading Ryan's blog, it is the Westlake Demons.

33. Last person you spoke to from high school?
My friend Jenny, who graduated a year after me.

34. Last time you used hand sanitizer?
Dunno...I only use it if there's nothing else around. Otherwise, I go with hand soap.

35. Would you like to learn to play the drums?
I would love to. I just don't have enough patience to learn to play. We attempted it when I was 16, but it got so that I was only practicing on the back of the seat in the car as we were driving to the lesson.

36. What color are the blinds in your living room.
white.

37. What is in your inbox at work?
I work from home, and I haven't actually set up my desk all the way yet. Nothing in there so far, but pretty much everything's on the computer anyway.

38. Last thing you read in the newspaper?
I read about the kid who was found after being kidnapped for 4 years.

39. What was the last pageant you attended?
Hill Cumorah comes to mind, but that's just b/c it goes along so well with the word "pageant". That was eons ago, though.

40. What is the last place you bought pizza from?
pizza hut.

41. Have you ever worn a crown?
Oh, probably a Burger King one.

42. What is the last thing you stapled?
My hub! :)

43. Did you ever drink clear Pepsi?
Yeah, I tried it. They went to all that trouble to make it clear, and so what? It still tasted the same.

44. Are you ticklish?
Yeah.

45. Last time you saw fireworks?
July 4th of last year.

46. Last time you had a Krispy Kreme doughnut?
Last year some time. I LOVE them!! Now THAT is a glazed doughnut.

47. Who is the last person that left you a message & you actually returned their call?
My mom. And I was going to call Ryan back yesterday, but then he beat me to it.

48. Last time you parked under a carport?
Yesterday.

49. Do you have a black dog?
I refer you to question #8. Some dogs are cute...on TV.

50. Do you have any pickles in your fridge?
Yes. Now as for the overall edible-ness of said pickles, I cannot say.

51. Are you an aunt or uncle?
Aunt.

52. Who has the prettiest eyes that you know of?
Braden. And a lot of old ladies think so, too! What a hot nurse!

53. Last time you saw a semi truck?
Umm, anytime I'm driving?

54. Do you remember Ugly Kid Joe?
IIIIIIIIIIIII hate the rain and sunny weaaather... I even remember the album art, b/c my friend owned it.

55. Do you have a little black dress?
Yes. Although if we're talking "little" in terms of today's standards, then no.

tried to post this yesterday, but blogger had major probs

be careful what you wish for! i got a call from the translation company in NYC on monday morning letting me know that they had sent me some files to typeset, 6 documents in all. so i put in a very long day yesterday and finished up late this morning, Outlook and gmail inability to send large files notwithstanding. i need to find a better way to compress/zip my finished files, b/c the way i had to do it was very roundabout and frustrating on both sides, i'm sure. outlook outright rejects sending large messages (we're talking 4-5MB and up, i think), and gmail has issues, too, although it did a better job than outlook. braden suggested maybe uploading files to our website, but it would have to be in a secure location, and i'd have to figure out how to do that. anyway, i've logged about 14.5 hours so far, which is cool, since i'm billing by the hour. it does, however, contribute to my overall tiredness. so i'm taking it easy for the rest of tonight. when i receive work to do, i can't rest until i've got it done, or at least as much as i can do for that day. so yesterday was a 12 hour day. bleh! but, that enables me to have a quick turnaround time and impress the client. i won't always be able to do that; i actually had an eye doctor's appt, but i canceled, b/c that's easy to reschedule. i won't/can't do that for other appts that may conflict with freelance work coming in, such as medical doctor appts, pregnancy classes, etc. i guess right now i'm trying to impress this company, but i can't totally rearrange my life for them if i have other stuff i need to do, and that's something that i'll need to deal with in the future, since there are bound to be conflicts. anyway, the finished files that i sent back to the company are going to go through a proofreader and then to the client. if the client doesn't have any changes to make, i can then upload the files back to the printer's ftp site where i got the original files from.

i had another tutoring session today, which went well. i really like my student; she's very nice and eager to learn. she's doing great, too, and i'm amazed that she's as far as she is considering the amount of exposure she's had to spanish, which is only about a year of college.

i had a wonderful, reassuring blessing given to me last night. it eased my mind about jenna coming and being able to handle things, etc. D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

things are well in the ellisi household. life is good.

Braden versus...the BUFFALO

who won? ah, the mysteries of the Olympic Game Farm.

and she doth pass

yea, verily, kerry hath passed the glucose tolerance test with flying colors! i got an 81 on a scale from 65-130. so i'm pretty happy about that. yay!!

please, suh, can i have some more orange pop?

the 1 hour glucose test is done! the drink really wasn't that bad; tasted just like orange pop, only much more sugary. my results come in tomorrow, so i'll call over there and see what the deal is. i hope i don't fail and have to take the 3 hour test, but if i do, oh well. i did feel a little lightheaded immediately after having my blood drawn, but i had something to drink and some jello, and then i was ok. i was over in lacey for the rest of the morning running errands and such. at the library, i was in full teenage nostalgia mode, so i got 11 young adult books out, plus a regular one on the history of blogging, just b/c it looked interesting.

i asked my doctor a ton of questions about this and that, including signs of preterm labor, etc. apparently, if i do go into preterm labor, i would be transferred up to tacoma (if it's before 36 weeks along), since i guess the hospital here doesn't deliver preemies. not that i think i definitely will have jenna early, but it's just good (and reassuring to me) to have all my bases covered and be as prepared as i can for that kind of thing. not that you're ever fully prepared for it.

i have another tutoring session tomorrow. talk about a sweet deal. i know i don't need to bring in money (we're doing well enough that i don't have to work, and jenna's coming soon), but it is nice to bring in a little bit. i guess that's one of the hard parts of being stay-at-home for me...i do miss the independence of fully supporting myself, having a job, etc. which is not to say that b/c braden brings home the money it's not OURS, b/c it is, and i know that, but it is hard to get used to it. i was planning on setting up my freelance business and getting a PT job or something when we first moved out here, but i got pregnant with jenna way sooner than we thought, and our plans just totally changed. this pregnancy has been rough in some ways (but overall not too bad), and one of them is just not being able to work out of the home...the energy levels are not consistently there. i did that stint up north for 5 weeks and came home and crashed; i wouldn't have been able to do it for much longer, and i think i was blessed with enough energy to be able to do it, since we needed the extra money at the time. i think i've been blessed for things to come in at the right time, and when i've been available and able to do them (unlike my earlier semi-gripe about uk english jobs)...and this freelance typesetting gig should work out (hopefully stuff will start coming in soon), and the tutoring sessions should go at least until summer, i think. but it has been hard to sit at home waiting for the freelance stuff; i've developed this habit of trolling craigslist for jobs, and yesterday braden was like, Kerry, stop looking for jobs...it's okay if you're not working; you can prepare to be a mom and do other things that will be good for you... (he didn't yell, no worries) :) and he's absolutely right. i can review spanish, set up the apt. more, brush up on my desktop publishing/graphic design skills, read mommy books, be healthy, exercise and just relax if i need to, which i haven't been doing. so i am going to try to do those things and chill out on the job front. things will come when the timing is right. everything will be okay.

i love my hubbin!!! (that would be braden)

what's a nopple?

so this loud old man asked the mexican waitress in El Nopal, "So what's a nopple? El nopple...what does that mean in English?" And the waitress was trying to say cactus (El nopal), but was having a hard time pronouncing it (cact-OOCE), so the guy was like, yeah, but what does it mean in English? She tried to say it several more times, and the guy just stared at her and said, "I don't know what that means." So I was finally like, from 10 ft away, "CACTUS!!", and he goes, Oh. Then as he was walking away, we could hear him saying, "She was saying 'cactoose, cactoose'". Ah, good times with the gringos. I felt bad for the waitress, but honestly, their English is hard to understand even for me. I had to ask one of them 3 times what she was saying, and I finally figured out that she was asking me if I wanted gravy on my burrito, and then I realized she meant the red enchilada sauce. Um, I'm not ordering mashed potatoes here. :)

i'm going to start tutoring a local college student in Spanish a couple of times a week. we're meeting for the first time tomorrow in a public setting just kind of to get to know each other, and i assume from there we'll figure out a schedule week by week, depending on what's going on with both of our schedules. hey, trolling craigslist does pay off once in a while! :)

still haven't heard back about any freelance work from the translation company in NYC that should be sending me some work soon...i was thinking it would be last week, but nothing so far. maybe the folks are still working on getting the files ready to send to me. the not knowing is the most frustrating part about freelance work...you just don't know when it will come in, or how much, or how fast they need it, etc. i'm trying to find out as much as possible ahead of time, but i can't bug them about it constantly. i just have to wait and see for now, which is hard for me to do.

our ward seems pretty cool. we had kind of a ward conference thing going on today, so church was a lot of talks. they were good, though.

we just got back from the parental ellisi household, where we had coconut chicken rice and played 'pass the pigs' and 'personal preference'. braden wanted to watch the seahawks game from this morning, but his dad didn't get a chance to tape it, so suerie for braden.

oh, and we played beethoven's 9th and 'there can be miracles' (prince of egypt soundtrack) for jenna this evening. she wasn't responding much at first, but then she almost kicked the phone/mp3 player off my stomach! not sure if that means she liked it or wanted it to go away! :)

good night, everybody!

please stay in the oven for twelve more weeks, Jenna

Hi all. I have some rather shocking news, for those of you who aren't aware, which I imagine is everyone: My friend Jenny from the home ward, who was due April 10th to my April 5th, had her baby at 24 weeks, on December 19th. Baby boy Preston was 1 lb., 1 oz., but has steadily been fighting for his life and continues to hang on. He goes for surgery pretty soon to close his PDA (the opening that should close after birth). Please keep them in your prayers.

Anyway, aside from worrying about them, it also makes me worry a little that I could have Jenna prematurely. You just never know. Last night, before I even knew about any of this, I had really sharp pains in my side that radiated inward...so painful that it made me cry out several times. It wasn't in the right place to be labor, or so we think, but it worried us enough to get some things together right then in case we had to go to the hospital. Luckily, the pains went away after a few really intense minutes, but I was scared that they would return, so I didn't move for a while. It made me think, am I ready to be a mom right now? I don't know if anyone is at this point, or even when in actual labor. It's a sobering thought. I just hope and pray that I can handle anything that comes my way, and that things will work out the way they're supposed to, which I know they will. Anyway, Jenna was very good to her mommy, and reassured me that she was fine after I had those pains. She kicked and moved a lot just to let me know that she was okay, which I was very grateful for. Pregnancy and labor is such an unknown that sometimes you feel as if you're constantly questioning, is that labor? what does that pain mean? is the baby ok? Etc, etc. It's just a big unknown, and you try to be as prepared as possible, but there are always things that catch you off guard. It's like learning Spanish in school, and then going on a mission where you're speaking to native speakers...you realize you don't know ANYTHING!! Reading about pregnancy and labor is good, and it does help, but experiencing these things first-hand is totally different, and you always question if things are going the way they're supposed to, and what the ultimate experience will actually be like for you personally, since everyone is different.

Sorry to ramble, but babies and all that comes with them are just really on my mind right now. My cousin Pam just had her baby yesterday, Sylvia. Congrats go out to them; I hope that they're doing wonderful. I was at Enrichment Meeting last night, and in walked a juzzum that had just had her baby boy TWO DAYS BEFORE!! I know it was her second baby, but GEEZ. I wouldn't have been there, that's all I'm sayin'. I'd be like, I just passed a bowling ball, can someone make me some dinner, thanks.

On a related note, someone who shall remain nameless was discussing screaming during labor (this was a couple of days ago) and thought that doing that was just horrible and unnecessary (my own words). And I thought to myself, you know what, the person that she is referring to did not have any support people (at least in terms of family, husband) around her, she was in a great deal of pain and frightened...I don't fault her at all for letting out a loud scream. I don't judge anyone based on how they perform/performed during labor, I say BRAVO for going through that, and I think you're wonderful and will be blessed for that sacrifice. My two cents.

I will now end this baby mama drama post (thank you, Eminem)

so you want to realise your dreams of being a translator, eh?

Someone from a translation company in Canada contacted me earlier this morning wanting to know if I could work on a project from Canadian English to UK English. I'm from the US, eh? So I emailed back saying that if they needed something done into US English, (or SP>EN, for that matter) I'd be happy to help, but as far as UK English, suerie. It seems like when I do get an email about a potential job, either it's not something I do, or I'm currently occupied, OR they send it to the wrong email, and I come across it a month later by accident. I'm crossing my fingers that the next time I'm contacted, it's a project that I can do! :)

So I've been listening to the "Forgotten Hits of the 90's" Launchcast online radio station for the past few days. Good times. I'm currently listening to Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic. Make my, make my, make, make my day.

It snowed last night, and we've been having strong winds again for the past few days. You can really hear it quite clearly. So far, no more power outages, though (knock on desk).

I still haven't gone to the lab to do my glucose test. We've just had so many things going on lately that it hasn't really been possible to get over there. I have a bunch of appointments coming up next week, so I should probably try to get over there either tomorrow or Friday.

The RS Prez and one of her counselors are coming over for a get-to-know-you visit later on today.

That's about it for now!

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

so i was oot and aboot yesterday at target, basically b/c i just needed to get out of the house. i was looking at some maternity clothes, b/c i like the target brand (liz lange). side note: i found some rad cargo-ish pants, but i just cannot justify spending that much on one article of clothing, for they were NOT on sale or clearance. i did find a pair of pants for $7, but when i tried them on, they were so tight as to be classified as stripper pants. i was way disappointed, too, b/c i thought that i'd found a steal. target has this problem with displaying a huge MATERNITY sign and then having a really small selection and mixing non-maternity clothes with regular ones. i did find a cute white shirt that will go well with all the shirts that must have something underneath.

anyway, so i'm wandering around, looking at bikes and trying to look for silverware trays (unsuccessfully), and i figure i'll just wander over to the electronics section, specifically to the wii stuff. no way they'll actually HAVE the hardware, but i'll just check. and lo and behold, they had like 6 in stock. so i snapped up that baby jonas. i surprised braden with it later that night. he knew something was up, b/c in spite of my best efforts, my poker face and actions leave something to be desired. it comes with wii sports, which has tennis, golf, baseball, boxing, bowling, etc., and teaches you how to use the wiimote and nunchuk. i also got a trial month gamepass from blockbuster b/c it pays for itself in less than two rentals and all the wii games are currently $50. so, anyway, i was astounded that target had the wii and told them so. the guy said this was the first time he'd seen them last beyond noon. he also dropped my wii when he took it out of the case, so i made him get another one. i was like, i don't mean to be anal, but....

i rented a pair of bolt cutters yesterday, and braden and i went over to the old place to try and get that bike lock off. it took over 20 minutes, but it finally gave. that thing was tenacious! so it does its job well...too well. but what's funny is that it didn't stop someone from stealing the back wheel and seat off of one of the bikes a couple of months ago. nice.

after my target stop, i wandered around the mall looking for various wii stuff, specifically a wii points card that allows you to download classic games from the old nintendo systems. nothing doing. no one has anything except storage cases, b/c who wants to buy a storage case? i tried ryan's trick of being on a cell phone when walking by kiosks, and that seemed to work pretty well. i know b/c when i didn't, i got some "how you doing" and "excuse me" crap. but actually all i did was open up my phone and hold it to my ear. lol.

i saw the missionaries in JC Penney and i was so surprised that i didn't say anything. b/c it was right by the hosiery section, and i kept doing double takes b/c i was like, what the heck are they doing here?? pretty funny. i was looking for maternity pantyhose, but i can't find any anywhere. i've taken to wearing knee-highs so that i don't cut off circulation.

so after my long, eventful day, i am back home and resting, b/c i thoroughly overdid it yesterday. my stomach started hurting after i carried the bolt cutters to my car, which in retrospect, i should've asked an employee to carry them for me. BUT, i didn't realize just how heavy they were until i was out of the store, and...okay, i'm kind of prideful in that i don't like to ask for help, especially with that kind of thing. i know i have an excuse, but it's still hard to use it. anyway, my stomach bothered me all day yesterday, and i can still feel it today. i guess i still don't know my limits.

oh, i forgot to mention: when we were using the bolt cutters yesterday, we parked around back and let the headlights shine on our back porch (and everyone else's) b/c we didn't have a flashlight with us. so we proceed to be there for 20-25 min, and we were both thinking that the police would show up and how are we going to prove that these are our bikes, etc. especially since the freeway exit ramp is RIGHT there, so people passing by had a clear view of our shenanigans. plus, red, our crotchety next door neighbor with the no parking cone, seems like the type of guy to call the cops at the slightest provocation. i was actually watching his blinds as we walked by to see if he was peeking through, which he would do almost every time we parked and walked in when we were living over there. however, to our surprise, no police showed up, and we finished our business and got out of there. $10 bolt cutters vs. $55-75 for a locksmith...not bad. just took some perseverance.

rachael ray and other thoughts

so braden and i thought it was pretty funny that dan was annoyed enough by rachael ray's shenanigans on $40 a day to post about it. but you know what, i do agree that she can't just make it seem as if it's 3 meals a day (which is regular for most people, so you would think that when it's a whole day) and then only eat 2 meals a day, or have people take her out. oh, look, my husband is paying! besides, i find rachael ray annoying in general, just because of her overexposure. she must put out like 20 cookbooks a month! and then, when i was in the childrens' section of the bookstore the other day, she even had a few childrens' cookbooks, too. milk it while you can, i guess. it's comparable to iris by the goo goo dolls; they played it on the radio every 8 minutes when it was popular. also, whenever i see rachael spelled that way, i always think "rach-ee-el". color me bad-ded.

where are all the wiis??? they're sold out everywhere. we're toying with the idea of getting one with some of our combined christmas money, but i'm not camping outside of any store to get it! apparently, that's still going on. target said that they get 3 or 4 every saturday morning, and they're sold as soon as the store opens. geez. also, if you name your product the "wii", you can't expect people not to call the remote the "wii-mote". it's just inevitable. apparently, nintendo asked for people to please not call it that. come on, it's the "WII", for pete's sake. :) people that have camped out to get more than one wii are selling them for way more than retail on craigslist. how about let other people get one if you already have one. such is our society. :)

our nephew got baptized on saturday. congrats to steven! he is the oldest grandchild on braden's side of the family. afterwards, we had a get together at steve and april's (steven's parents; steve is braden's bro) house with fried chicken, yummy! i was pleasantly surprised to see my sister-in-law gina, who drove over with her two little girls for the occasion. another nephew felt it necessary to comment loudly, "her hair is way too long!!!" during the talks, about a lady sitting right behind us in the chapel. her response? "thank you, munchkin. now it would make me really happy if you would sit down." this same nephew also said loudly, "how big is he??!!!" about a larger gentleman in our other ward. ahh, the embarrassing things our children say. that's the kind of situation where you want to laugh, but you don't want your kid to know that you find it humorous. i'll have to start working on my poker face! :)

i just choked during my cocoa-bibbing activities. down the wrong pipe, i guess.

so people are still shocked when they find out that i'm pregnant. the most common response is, "I didn't even know you were pregnant!" lo, the smallness inherent when compared to other women, i guess. i feel huge! :) my explanation is that my stomach had to go out to a normal size first and then keep growing, so i look smaller. plus, it's a first baby, and your tummy tends to be smaller. i was reading some prego blogs for people due in april and came across this one that had a picture of this juzzum at 26 weeks or so, and wo, she was big. i can't even compare! for those of you who are not aware of what a "juzzum" is, it's a made-up word by my bro ryan for between a girl and a woman. that in-between stage when you're sufficiently old enough to not be called a girl, but feel weird calling yourself a woman. this applies to anyone who, in your opinion, fits in this category. ryan came up with it after i expressed my annoyance that the term "guy" existed, but the female equivalent was still "girl", which makes me feel 12 years old. he's great for making up words on the spot, even at 6 years old, right, gio regoarrarr? :)

my belly button is starting to come out. it's been increasingly less "inny" for a little while now, but yesterday, a bit of it was starting to poke out. weird! i've been an inny for so long. so i dreamt last night that it was all the way out.

braden mentioned last night that it would probably be a good idea to put together an emergency hospital bag, since i'm "at the point now where you could technically have the baby at any time". scary!! i'm not ready yet. i did sign up for childbirth classes, which start next month and extend to mid-march. i wasn't too happy about the schedule offered, b/c it seemed not well thought out by the schedulers. for example, one class is offered only on sundays during the time when i need to take it, so we essentially have to take it on that day. it just seems to me that some other options could be offered. but, i am all signed up and excited (and nervous) to start.

almost 28 weeks

i know i haven't posted in a while...pretty much skipped december. oops. but we did, um, move, so i think that's a pretty good excuse. we are now in our new place, which i like much better. it's not even 100 additional square feet, but it's enough to feel significantly roomier. and now we have two bathrooms! now that we entirely need that at this point in our marriage, but it's nice to not have to worry about when guests want to use the bathroom.

we like our new ward so far. we're actually in another stake, if you can believe that...only in the western US would you move 20 min away and be in a whole different stake.

i have to go take the glucose test sometime this week. i said i would come in last week, but it didn't end up happening. i went to the doctor a week and a half ago, and i had forgotten that they were going to do that, and i was really feeling ill, so i asked to come in another time. let me tell you, i'm thrilled about taking this test. from what i've heard, it sounds like great fun! anyway, so after the appt, i had lunch with braden and then went home and threw up again (i had thrown up my breakfast about 10 min after eating it). must have been some kind of virus. i didn't eat anything until much later that night, and then i was on fluids until sunday. i couldn't keep anything down.

we watched "the notebook" last night. it was good; i give it an 8 out of 10. the end made me cry.

braden started school again last week. he'll have regular labs and clinics this semester, which is more conducive to his learning style. we're both hands-on learners.

so the nursing calendar that i got for braden for christmas is a bust. think family circle-type humor...need i say more? oh, well. when braden opened up one of his presents, he said, "I hope it doesn't suck", and i said, that's the kind of thing you could only say to me. to everyone else, you'd just be like, thanks! so that's become one of our jokes...i hope it doesn't suck.

we cleaned our old apt on thursday and saturday, so everything's done there, EXCEPT for the fact that i can't get the stupid bike lock off the two bikes out on the porch. i've tried every combination i can think of, and nothing works. i tried WD-40-ing the crap out of it, and that didn't work, either. so now i'm looking into renting a bolt-cutter or something, b/c it will cost $55-75 to get a locksmith to take care of it, which really makes me mad!!! all this for bikes we never even used, b/c we never found anyone to fix them up (where's dad g. when you need him?).

i should be getting some freelance work sometime this week. a friend/former classmate of mine hooked me up with a job as a typesetter (foreign languages and such) for the translation company she works for. the client is a major manhattan bank, so i'm hoping the work will be pretty steady. this job will allow me to combine my graphic design/desktop publishing skills with the foreign language skills, so i'm pretty excited about it. what a blessing!

in other news, we announced our baby's name on christmas: Jenna Marie. it was my compromise, since we had already decided on it, and i didn't want it to slip out accidentally. the caveat was: no poopy comments! but the responses were all positive, and if people pooped on it, they did it in private, which is just where that kind of thing should be. :) Go Jenna!

i am still fighting the ever-constant battle of dehydration. i really wish that i was a water-bibber, but i never have been, and even my attempts to drink more don't even bring me remotely close to where i should be. it is a constant source of frustration. i need to eat better, too, but that's another battle. i have said before, that i would almost rather just be hooked up to a couple of IVs that feed and hydrate me at acceptable levels!! ah, the joys of pregnancy. :) but, on the positive side, the baby is very active and healthy, in spite of her mommy's shortcomings. we just do the best we can, right? i HAVE become a cocoa-bibber to try and get some fluids in me....i drink at least two big mugs-ful a day for that purpose alone.

we're still working on unpacking, of course. ISIABS: i saw it in a box somewhere. that's what happened to the knives: ISIABS. so there was no tomato in the pasta the other day, even though i really wanted it...what am i gonna, cut it with a plastic knife? :)

bonuses about the new apt: washer/dryer in unit (YAY), close to work, so i can drive braden and have the car all day, plus have lunch with him. more room, and we can set up the baby's room how we want from the get-go, the office is out in the living room to make room for baby, bonus bathroom, close to the mall, so i can walk around inside if it's raining, close to a lot of stores/restaurants that i consider essential (olive garden, thank you very much, even though they always think we're cheap b/c we only ever get soup).
downsides: the walls are like cardboard...and the peeps above us are young guys who like to party (loudly) every fri and sat night. we can hear them peeing! braden finally went up there at 2am on sunday morning, and they were like, oh sorry, we've never seen jackass 2 before and it's really funny. they seem like nice guys, but they like to get wasted on the weekends, and when they do, they get really loud. i can learn to deal with everyday apt noise, even though it's not ideal, but i really wish they would quiet down...drink your beers quietly and don't pee ever. :) we will probably put in a noise complaint if it happens again this weekend. we're currently 2 for 2.

we have discovered an excellent mexican restaurant just down the street from us. $6.12 for an entree with chips and salsa, a "salad" (read: taco innards) with ranch dressing, spanish tomato rice and refried beans, plus an additional homemade tortilla. it fills us both to bursting. not bad for $3 each...not many people share their food all the time like we do, but we can afford to eat out more precisely b/c we do that. plus we're cheap, and get cheapo (albeit good) food. so this mexican place has a freaking drive-thru! it's all made fresh while you wait, and it only takes about 3-5 minutes to get your food, if that. and it's way authentic...taco bell ain't got nothin' on authentic mexican food.

i'm now going to end this post b/c it's way long. chao!