Update...

I got to break out of jail for a bit today to venture up to see the doctor. Good news! I am still only dilated to a 2, but I am now 80% effaced. Crappy news... I am still on bed rest. UGH! I have another appointment Monday and I will be at 35 weeks then, so we will see what this little guy is doing... stay tuned!

The B word

It's been quite a fun week. On Monday I went to see Dr. Leavitt for a normal 2 week check up. I had been having contractions all day, so he checked me and he said that baby's head was WAY down there (which would explain why it's so hard for me to walk/sit/stand lately), but I was not dilated. Good.
I started having very intense contractions on Tuesday morning about every 2-5 minutes. Not good. Justin had worked all night and when I called him at 10 am to tell him we had a problem I think he was going on about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. We got our bag packed and headed up to EIRMC.
I got all hooked up to the monitors and was answering all the fun labor questions and telling the nurse my symptoms. She looked at the monitor after about 10 min and matter of factly told me that I was NOT in labor and that if my uterus had indeed ruptured that I would be double over in pain and vomiting. I wanted to vomit on her shoes. Then she left and I was super mad at her and I cried.
Dr. Leavitt ordered an ultra sound to check my uterus and all was well. There is plenty of fluid around the baby and my uterus is stunning. :) Aidan was handling all the excitement like a champ, he was yawning during the ultra sound. Funny boy already.
So I got back to my room and Dr. Leavitt checked me and lo and behold I was dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced. Holy crap! Stupid nurse, take that! I was in active labor. Dr. Leavitt decided to give me magnesium to stop the labor. For those of you that don't know what this is, it is horrible!!! I was on it with Lexi too, so as soon as he said that, here came the tears again. We spent the night tossing and turning, with the nurse coming in every hour to take my vitals... ugh. I was still having contractions that were super strong, but they had slowed to about every 10 minutes.
He came back in the morning and turned of the horrible meds and checked me again. Still a 2. Sweet. If I stayed stable all day I could go home around 5. Justin and I were out of there by 5:15. The one condition he gave me before letting me go was.... the B word. BED REST!
So, now I am on my 4th day of bed rest, and the kids have been out of school and home for 4 days and I'm SO over this!!! I am still having contractions, and I go see him again on Tuesday, at which point I'm sure he will check me... hopefully I will still be at a 2, but the last time I saw him he said he would be surprised if we made it another week.
Justin and I will keep you posted!

6 Quirks...

Okay... this is kinda hard. I asked Justin to help me out and he is sitting on the couch eating his jerky with no suggestions... so I guess I have to think of my little weird-isms all by myself.
1. The toilet- the lid MUST always, always, always be DOWN when the toilet is not in use. Do you know how many germs are just hanging out in there?! EW.
2. Like Erin, I too pee with the bathroom door open. Sometimes this can pose a problem... our upstairs bathroom can be seen right into when someone walks into the front door. If Justin or the kids walk in the door and have a friend with them, well you get the picture.
3. Apparently I tend to exaggerate a tad bit. I have no knowledge of this. Justin has finished his jerky and is now full of ideas. I also LOVE the number 47 and when I am exaggerating tend to use this number when referring to how many times I've asked him to do something, how many times I did something, etc. It seems I can always find someway to throw in a number when exaggerating.
4. I'm paranoid. About everything. If Justin has a bloody nose, I KNOW it's because he has a brain tumor and may die. If I send the girls out to get the mail and they take longer than they should (approximately 47 seconds) then they have either been kidnapped or have fallen into the ditch. Lexi got stung by a bee yesterday and I KNEW she was going to have a severe allergic reaction (she is not allergic to bee stings) and I would have to call 911 and they are SO slow (the EMT's, not the deputies), her airway would close up and she would die. I made her sit by me on the couch for 45 minutes. I won't let the girls play in the play land at any fast food restaurants (it's a breeding ground for germs), especially the ones with the ball pits... I know they will jump in and be stabbed by a needle thrown in by a drug user that has AIDS and Hepatitis C and who knows what else. Or they could find a murder weapon someone tossed in there. You never know. How did I get this way? I don't know. But Justin loves me anyway.
5. Justin's PJ's. I thought all wives wore their husbands' PJ's. I don't know why, but they are SO much more comfortable than all my 47 pairs. And they fit over my belly. That's always nice.
6. I am a germ-a-phobe. Lexi was in the NICU for 5 weeks when she was born, and I know that's where this started. Before you go into the NICU you have to scrub your hands for 2 minutes. Then when the babies get out of the NICU they have to be in isolation because their immune systems are so weak. Anyway, 9 1/2 years later I still have this "problem". When I get home from anywhere, I go straight to the kitchen sink and wash my hands. I use more hand sanitizer than I do hairspray! I was informed this evening that Griffin is following in my footsteps. We were at back to school night and her teacher told us that she uses her hand sanitizer (she has her own bottle) obsessively. I see nothing wrong with this.
So those are my six things... now I want to read about all of yours!

Still Alive

Hey everone, I just figured I'd let everybody know we are still alive and kickin. It's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks around here and we haven't had much time to just hang out as a family.

School started and now Griffie is in "all day" school (1st grade), which made Summer sad but is really pretty nice. It makes it easier when I work graveyard shifts to get some sleep during the day now. Griffie loves school and already says she has a boyfriend. Unbelievable..........

Lexi is in 4th grade and is making me realize that she is a young woman now. She likes school but there is always DRAMA and now she's even shaving her legs......again Unbelievable.....I don't even want to talk about it anymore. It is nice that they both go to Groveland together because they do look out for each other.....I think, at least they say they do.

Summer has been incredibly busy because of the fair this past week. She was working at her work booth almost every day and we were both trying to shuffle the girls to dance practice in between jobs. Summer also found time to take an emergency trip to the ER twice! In case you forgot, she is pregnant and the time is rapidly approaching when Aiden will be here. Yes I said Aiden. Anyway, she started having contractions twice and so we had to get her to the hospital so that they could stop them. Bye the way, Thank you Nancy J. for helping out! She is now 30 weeks, but still too soon. The doctor said that if we can hold him in there for a couple more weeks we'll be good to go. Hopefully we can keep him in there for more than a couple of weeks, but if he should decide to come then he has a good chance (90%) of being perfectly healthy. So she has been taking it easy the past few days and is on medication to keep her contractions at a minimum.

As for me, I have also been pretty busy. In between taking the girls to dance and Summer to the ER I worked every night of the fair. The carnies didn't cause much of a ruccus this year, but it was a long week. I had to work bike patrol around the fair one of the nights and my butt is still sore. You can't just hop on a bike and ride around for 8 hours and not have a sore butt. You have to gradually work your way into it.......or get a banana seat and a big butt pad for the bike, which is what I did. I had a banana seat, a horn and a basket on the front.

Anyways, we are all doing well and hope all of you are well. Also I think we've decided for sure on the name Aiden. I was pulling for a more manly name like Sven Von Olefson Dance or Maximus Urlacher Dance or Maximillius Ditka Dance but Summer wouldn't let me. But I think we both agree on Aiden.........for now. I guess we'll see. Anyways, I've attached a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

First Day of School





Griffie with her Teacher


At the Fair with cousin Karter







On the Ferris Wheel....kinda Scary

Pregnancy Pics...

So, I have had several requests for the ever hated pregnancy pics... I know technically I'm not fat, but ugh! Seeing myself in a mirror or a window as I'm walking by is bad enough, but now you people want me to post it on the Internet!!! This is madness. Here you go.
Proud mama and baby in front of the reflection pool at the SLC Temple this Sunday. (Went for a work trip, FYI.)

Wresting a croc at Hogle Zoo... belly nicely concealed... and squished.

Holy belly (and boobies! Geez. It's like a car wreck, you know you should look away, but just can't.)! This was giraffe was SUPER fun to get off of! Not a pretty picture.

That's all you get. I hope this fulfills your needs for pregnant pics!

P.S. All is still going very well with baby, he continues to be a TOTAL WILD MAN, and we are almost to the third trimester! Yea!

What REALLY happened this weekend... as told by Summer

First off, I have to tell you what fabulous shopping deals I got at the outlet mall, since Justin didn't even touch on that! We went to Oshkosh and the girls and I went a little nuts. I know, shocking, right? I tried to prepare Justin for the damage before hand, but he was still sweating at the cash register as they were ringing up our purchases. The total was over $800. Wait! I know what you're thinking, and I'm not done. Remember I said we were at the OUTLET mall??!! That was the price before all my savings. We walked out paying less than $400 bucks, and we are totally done school shopping for the year!!! I'm talking undies, backpacks, lunchboxes... everything! Go me!
Okay, now for the reunion business... So, Justin was SUPER excited to see all his BFF's from high school this past weekend... me? Not so much. But why, you ask? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my husband was a total gigolo in high school, or the fact that I have gained 20 lbs in the last 6 months... or maybe a little of both. AND I had a dream that we were at the reunion and Justin was talking to one of his friends and his friend said "Dude, your wife is hot!", and Justin said "No, my wife's the pregnant one." So maybe those are all reasons why I was not looking forward to this event...
We got to the picnic on Saturday afternoon and it was freaking HOT. But apparently this does not matter to Middleton mosquitoes because we all got eaten alive, even with bug spray on. (And to clarify, yes I have lost sleep thinking that we all now have the dreaded West Nile.) We still keep in contact with Justin's super close circle of friends (commonly known as the Fab 5... only not gay) so we hooked up with a couple of them right away and the wives gave me the scoop and the poop on all the hot guys and all the girls that Justin... dated.
Everyone I met was super nice. Let me re-phrase. Everyone I talked to was super nice. Usually meeting people means that you get introduced... uh, so I found one thing that Justin stinks at... maybe two. Remembering names, and introducing his wife (even to people whose names he does remember). We went home to scratch our bug bites and take a rest for a while, then it was off to the dinner.
I learned a lot about my sweet, innocent husband that night. Thanks to all his friends and old girlfriends for enlightening me! Apparently he loved steaming up the windows in his Empala with Kim (she was not there, but there were witnesses to the steam on the windows.... thanks for the dirt, Marianne!), an old girlfriend. And I always knew that he and the Fab 5 were naughty and re-arranged the letters on the message board outside the Oregon Trail Church of God, but I always thought it was rated PG... Boy was I wrong! Thanks to Seumas's excellent memory I now know what the signs actually said when they were finished with them. I believe one of them promised "free porn and beer at 11:45"! Nice boys, very nice. I guess now I know what to watch for when our son gets to high school age!
We did have a really great time and it was super good to see all the Friends and the Wives again. I miss you all! Thanks for the french toast at midnight and telling me I'm a cute pregnant girl! :-)
And by the way, all the old girlfriends I met were super nice! He had good taste back then, too!

P.S. Did you see how long Justin's post was?! He started posting at 10:09 pm and came to bed at 2 am!!! He wanted it to be perfect! You did a great job, babe! You have turned into such a great blogger!

Middleton High School Class of '98

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend my 10 year high schol reunion in Middleton. I had been looking forward to going because high school was a great experience in my life and I really enjoyed it. I was anxious to see some of my classmates that I haven't kept in touch with over the years and hopefuly find them all in good health and spirit.
It's kind of funny because my mom and dad came to Blackfoot a couple of weeks ago to celebrate dad's 30th class reunion! Snake River High School Class of '78! I guess "The Willows" assisted living home was reserved so they had to have their reunion at Jensen's Grove..........things got out of hand a bit when they all went "skinny dipping" in the lake but we were able to get them all back home safely in time for Final Jeopardy and a nap.................love ya dad! Bye the way, you and mom have definately aged better than some of the others we met. Anyways, seeing dad at his reunion made me think how fast time has gone by and that it won't be too long before I'm at my 30th................okay, who am I kidding, that's still a really long time away but you get my point.
Anyways, we left Friday morning so that we could get in some quality school shopping at the Outlet Malls in Boise before going to Grammy and Grumpy's. Take note that on "Justin's List of Super Duper Fun Things to Do" "shopping with women" comes in at #472.
(By the way "Grumpy" is my dad. Lexi has called him that since she could talk and it makes sense so it's stuck!)
I will hand it to Summer because she did a good job and found some pretty good deals and then to top it off Lexi and Griffin both gave me really big hugs and told me they loved me so I couldn't stay in a bad mood for too long. So a few hours and a few "Benjamins" later we finally made it to mom and dad's. Summer and Lexi ended up going out for ice cream with one of Summer's good friends, Dejah while Griffin and I just stayed home and ate Grammy's candy.
The next day at 11:00 we had a high school reunion family picnic at a park in Middleton. As we drove to the park I couldn't help but notice how much Middleton has changed since high school. There is new construction everywhere you look and it continues to grow. It's still a really nice area but it's not the same old Middleton that I remember growing up in. In fact our high school burnt to the ground about a year and a half ago and they just finished rebuilding it. It looks pretty much the same, but I guess it's all fancy and high tech now.
Anyways, at the park the weather was really nice and alot of people showed up. The girls played on the playground with all the other kids and I had a good time catching up with some of my classmates. The sad thing is that I recognized alot of them, but I'm really bad with names and I couldn't remember some of them. Sorry.........I faked it the best I could.
Seeing all of my old classmates brought back alot of memories. I have always had fond memories of high school, but I hadn't realized just how much those years had meant to me. I realized that the friendships I formed then still continue to this day even after 10 years of not seeing some of them. It was really cool.
That night we had an adults only dinner at the Caldwell Elk's Lodge. Mom and dad watched the girls while Summer and I went to the dinner. Most of the people from the picnic came to the dinner, but some weren't able to. There were also some who didn't make it to the picnic but came to the dinner. Someone else must have been having a hard time remembering names because we were forced to wear name tags. But by then it was too late...........there had already been countless moments of awkwardness throughout the day. "Hey...........you, it's so good to see you...............you there.........! You look great...........you. Yes you do!..............you."
The dinner was fun because it gave us all a chance to really kind of mingle and catch up without having to worry about kids or anything. The dinner wasn't spectacular but we weren't really there for the food I guess. Lucky for me Summer got to hear stories that even I had blocked from my memory! Apparently I was a manwhore in highschool. I don't really remember it being like that...........but whatever. I also may or may not have been involved in incidents that included:

• road signs
• firecrackers dropped from the roof of a bar
• the police (ironically)
• the rearranging of letters on a message board outside of a church (several times)
• bowling in the middle of the road

And others not safe to list because the statute of limitations may still be in effect.

Anyways............I love you dear! Surprise.............! Just kidding. None of that was true. I never missed a day of school and was home every weekend studying. Probably just like you were..................
Well as the night wore on more and more people left the dinner and i found myself saying goodbye to many friends wondering if this would be the last time that I saw or talked to them. Who knows what the next 10 years will bring or where we will find ourselves when the next reunion rolls around. And as the reunion came to an end a few of us who have remained close through the years found ourselves being pushed out the doors and into the parking lot. We talked and we laughed for a while longer before calling it a night and going our separate ways.
For me it was kind of sad to see the day come to an end. During an important part of my life these were the people and friends who helped develop and shape me as a person. When I was trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted to become. I wondered if they understood how important they were to me and how grateful I am for having known them. I hope they do.
As we drove home today I looked over at Summer asleep in the passenger seat and I could see that Griffie and Lexi were passed out in the back. I couldn't help but think about how blessed I am. I was blessed with "goodly parents" as the scriptures state. I was blessed with great friends who have been there throughout my life, and now I am blessed with a wonderful wife, two beautiful girls, and a son on the way. As much as I'm already looking forward to the next high school reunion I'm excited to be making memories for the reunion that we will all attend. And I'm thankful to those who are a part of my life right now who are continually helping determine what kind of person I am and what kind of person I will continue to become. Thank you.