A butterfly flaps his wings. .

What have I done? I didn't realize it until just this morning, but I have messed with the order of the universe, un-do un-do!

Every special occasion, I mean EVERY special occasion in our lives doubles up with another significant day; be it a holiday or just another special occasion day. Here are some examples

September 11- this was when we confessed our true love for eachother (when we were 16, er. . .) but since then we had always celebrated the day, until 2001/ 9-11-2001
October 31st - first time we held hands/halloween
December 9th- first kiss/my birthday
February 14- anniversary/valentines
October 23- the day Blaine got home from his mission/Gwenie's birthday

I just realized today that Ben was supposed to be born on September 23, which is Blaine's birthday. What did I do? I went and got induced early on September 18th. So I don't know if I just opened up a new day for something good to happen, or if I have screwed up the order of the universe and invited in potential disaster.

I am a glass is half full kind of person (except on airplanes and during thunderstorms), so I will just assume that I have something really great to look forward to some 9/18 and 9/23 in the future. . . only time will tell.

Sweetly sleeps. . .

Remember how I was all paranoid about having a boy? Well. . . I love him so much, and he is still cute (even though he is a boy). And I get all emotional when I hold him because I know that in about 12 years he will be bigger than I am and his voice will change. Who knew that my heart could grow so fast to immediately love him as much as I do. Anyway, I promise to not do too many sappy mom posts, but the pregnancy hormones are still surging. . . so stick it out in a couple of weeks I am sure I will have embarrassing tales of trips to the grocery store, etc. Until then though. . . isn't he sweet?

P.S. Do you like my noble attempt at photography? I should post the picture taken right before, and the one taken right after this. . . .screaming, very unhappy little guy. I got one good shot though!

You're it!

Someone cared enough to tag me, I feel so loved!

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago I was 15 (going on 16. . .sorry that came out automatically), I had just started high school. I was in drivers ed and I unabashedly asked "BC" to be my partner for the parallel parking test (during which the coach came over the loud speaker " 'C', quit talking to your girlfriend and keep your eye on the road"- boy was I excited to be referred to as his girlfriend.) Boy was I cool. In fact in my honors physics class #55 Richard Slack "RS" (please Richard Slack, come and read my blog, make my day!) asked me for help with his homework. I was the nerd that got to help the high school football player unattainable dream guy heart throb with his physics homework, I was honored.

I had just barely met Blaine and all of my highschool friends who I love so much. Our afternoons were filled with roller hockey and our Friday nights were spent at football games and getting spicy fries at Sconecutter. I was working at the Winder Dairy country store making ice cream cones and stocking fresh bread. And life, overall, was good.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

Five years ago, what an exciting time! I was in my second semester at BYU, living with roommates in Queens Arms apartments. It was the semester I set out to find who I was-- I had the biggest variety of classes- Wildlife Management, Chem 101, Tap Dancing. . it was a crazy semester but I found my inner tap dancer, and I loved it!

I was working at RPT (Registered Physical Therapists, INC), as a receptionist/transcriptionist/data entry specialist and PT aide. I loved it and still consider it one of the best places I ever worked.

This was the time of year that during finals for summer semester I would go up to the mountains at 2AM with Eric and Laura to watch the meteor shower, how responsible!

But most importantly. . . I was also counting down the days until October 23rd, the day Blaine was coming home from his mission! I had waited (and dated) faithfully and I couldn't wait for the waiting to be over. I had no idea how fast my days of singlehood were dwindling down, about 48 hours after he got home we had our marriage date set!

One Year Ago. . .

We had just returned to Provo, UT from our nine month stint in Rochester Minnesota. We were excited to be moving into our favorite apartment complex in P-town, next door to Laurie (and Anna!). Blaine had a busy busy semester, but Gwen and I loved passing the days with Laurs, Anna and Kate-o potato. We had just met Nick's girlfriend, who is now our sister-in-law (who we love!). It was fall and the leaves were changing and. . . . .sniff. . . I miss the crisp cool weather of fall. . .it is still freakin' 95 dgs in Texas. . . I miss UTAH!!! Whoa. . . didn't think that was where this was going. . .

Yesterday. . .

Yesterday I got an awesome, and much needed, nap from 7-10AM. I also went to the store by myself (thanks mom). I talked to Laurs on the phone, which is always fun. Oh and we can't forget that I tortured my daughter by giving away her cookies to a homeless man.

And at 11:00PM I got to go to the airport in the new car, all by myself, to pick up my dad. There is something about being in a nice car all by myself that takes me back to a time when life was simpler. I love cruising down the freeway with the radio up and pretending that I am back in my teens with no mortgage and no nursing pads. Those were the days (just to note, I don't want to go back to those days, but it's okay to miss them and pretend to be in them for 30 minutes once in a while, right?).

5 snacks that I enjoy. . .
After writing my five I realized that the question was snacks, not desserts. Whoops.

1- Ice Cream (any flavor, any texture, soft serve or hand scooped, with or without cone-- anything cold and full of fat, er, flavor!)

2- My (or my moms) homemade chocolate chip cookies

3- Any cake that Ralphie makes (Texas sheet cake in particular. . . sending mental vibes to Ralphie---December 9th. . . . December 9th. . . )

4- Does olive garden's never ending pasta bowl count as a snack?

5- The winner this year has been Frostees, but that is kind of ice cream, so I am not sure if it counts, so I will add a sixth so as to not cheat.

6- Homemade Salsa (in particular Jan's dad's hot sauce. . . sending mental vibes to Stef . . . December 9th )

Five things I would do with a million dollars
1-I would get it all in hundreds and see if Janssen's pictures from the mint are accurate

2- Buy a house for me and one for each of my two closest friends (let the battle to become one of my two closest friends begin. . )

3-Get a tornado shelter. And a new car. Gee. . . this plan would still leave me enough money to get some other nice things too, like two years of food storage and a new computer monitor so I wouldn't have to keep knocking the brains out of this one.

4- Buy Blaine a hot tub and hanglider (with lessons included). Oh yeah, and tour the entire world, a million is a lot of money folks, I am acting like it is only 10K or something.

5-I would take up permanent residence in Caye Caulker, Belize. Buy a shack on the beach, 10 pairs of flip flops, two new swimsuits, a lifelong membership to weight watchers, and then buy a dive shop and give scuba diving tours for the rest of my life.

Five places I would run away to. . .

1- Caye Caulker, Belize (come on, they only drive golf carts, eat fresh mangoes, and have speed limit signs that say "go slow", who wouldn't want to be there)

2- Vancouver BC or Pike's market in Seattle, I love that place!

3- Oakcrest (minus the campers)

4- ten years ago

5- Anywhere along highway 101 ( I miss the NorthWest SO much!)

Five TV shows I like

1- LOST
2- House
3- Everybody Loves Raymond
4- Dora (hey it buys me an hour a day for a nap!)
5- Hmmm, we only get Fox, so. . .the news, does that count?

Five things I hate doing

1-FLYING
2-cleaning
3-going through the first trimester
4-writing papers
5-saying something stupid

Five biggest joys of the moment

1- Having a husband and two beautiful kids who are generally happy and healthy
2-Ice cream
3- not being pregnant
4- seeing all of our family within the next month
5-having great friends
6- I have to add this one. Sometime soon, within the next two months, it just HAS to get below 90 dgs here. I have heard that people even wear sweaters. I cannot wait for this. Let them wear their sweaters, I will be outside at the park in my shorts!

Five people that I tag

1-Laurie
2-BC (I crack myself up)
3-Allisun
4-Jen
5-Richard Slack I most certainly would like to tag you, since I am confident you will read this some day.If you fail to mention that ten years ago you were receiving homework help from a dorky sophomore in your class I will be sorely disappointed.

Charity sometimes faileth. . .

Today Blaine's boss, Heidi, hosted a little party to celebrate the arrival of Bentley. The children and I (the children. . . that's hilarious!) were also invited. She was so nice to organize his whole group there and to supply cookies and even present us with a very generous gift. It was fun to go and see where Blaine works, what his cube looks like, etc. Gwen was fascinated by some pretty funny things, "Whoa! They have drinking things at your work!" (referring to drinking fountains, who knew this was such a perk- they should have included information like this in the benefits package information!).

It was fun to meet all of the people in Blaine's group and I was overwhelmed at their generosity. At the end of the party there were several cookies left and Heidi wanted us to take them home. So I packed up the kids and the cookies and we were on our way home. I was in distress since I do not need any extra calories (I am on a roll, I've already lost 20lbs this week- that could be a record!), and the cookies were good, but probably not worth the calories to me. So I took the cookies, full well knowing that I would likely eat them all within moments of getting home, even though they weren't my favorite.

Then I was stopped at a stop light and I noticed a homeless man sitting at the corner. First I just locked my doors and looked away (I never know what to do!). Then while attempting to avoid eye contact with the man my eyes caught the cookies. This was perfect. I rolled down my window and offered the cookies to the man, he was very grateful and thanked me. I felt happy as I rolled up the window, what a win-win situation.

About two milliseconds after I rolled up the window Gwen burst into tears, "THAT MAN TOOK OUR COOKIES! ISN'T HE GOING TO SHARE WITH US?" "WHY DID HE PUT OUR COOKIES ON THE GRASS???!!!" sob, wail, scream, cry, huff, puff, sob "THE BOX IS GOING TO GET REALLY DIRTY BECAUSE HE PUT OUR COOKIES IN THE GRASS!!!!" "HE NEEDS TO SHARE, HE CAN'T HAVE ALL OF THEM". "HE TOOK OUR COOKIES!!!!"

I launched into a lecture about how the man didn't have any breakfast or lunch and so he needed our cookies so he wouldn't be hungry.

"BUT BUT BUT HE DIDN'T SHARE WITH ME!!!!!" Right, we shared with him. Thank you for sharing with him, he was so happy. "BUT I AM SO SAD BECAUSE I WANTED MY COOKIES AND HE TOOK THEM AND HE DIDN'T SHARE WITH ME!!!!" "WE HAVE TO GO BACK AND FIND MY COOKIES, HE PUT THEM IN THE GRASS AND THEY ARE ALL DIRTY!"

After another lecture on the finer points of sharing Gwen's screams and wails continued. It took all I had to not laugh, and all I had to not cry, and the little brother slept peacefully through the whole ordeal!

So, was it worth it? Yeah, I am glad the guy got the cookies. If I had it all to do over again though I would have taken one out for Gwen. Then maybe my eardrum would not have burst after the thirty minutes of continuous screaming. Live and learn. . . ;)

Honey, can you shrink our kid?

I was sufficiently warned by my friends with multiple children that as soon as I saw Gwen after the baby was born that she would seem bigger, older, more mature, etc. Though I don't know that she seems more mature she really did grow about a foot overnight.

I have always loved Gwen's feet. It's a long story but most of my life I hated feet. I would wear socks with sandals and quiver at the thought of anyone seeing my ugly feet. I didn't like to see other people's feet either, I would most certainly never kiss, let alone touch, anyones foot.

But then there was Gwen. . . and her toes were so teeny and wrinkly, and so gosh darn cute. Before I could think twice I was kissing her toes and rubbing her feet, it was my favorite thing! And though her feet have grown over the last three years, they still seemed small and cute, and I would still rub them and give them little kisses. Other people's kids had big, ugly, gross, smelly feet (of course not your kids!), but Gwen's were sweet as could be.

So I come home from the hospital with Bentley and Gwen now has the big kid feet, they are huge, and that's not all-- you should change her diaper! Talk about size discrepancy between she and Bentley. We have one in the smallest size diapers they make and one in the biggest (any volunteers to potty train her? ).

Anyway, she grew so much during my two day stay at the hospital. And it seems crazy but Bentley is growing too fast too. His cord is going to fall off soon, he isn't wrinkly anymore. Ahhh, I need time to stop. This time of life is perfect, we are all happy and healthy and all is well. . . I am scared to move forward because what if it isn't always this perfect (it surely can't stay like this for long --- sounds pessimistic, but life does have its ups and downs).

Anyway, I am just trying to suck the most out of life and enjoy every moment having a new little one, heaven knows in three years he will probably have big kid stinky feet :)

Keeping my guard up!

I have received lots of helpful advice with the arrival of Ben. The best, and most well used, advice was given a few months ago by a friend in the ward. It wasn't so much advice to me as a mother, but advice she gave me while I was watching her infant son.

"The first thing you do when you take off his diaper is cover his dodah with a wipe." She didn't say "dodah" but this is a G-rated blog. You get the idea.

So the first time I changed Ben's diaper was during the middle of the night during my hospital stay. He had just come back in the room to be with us after his circumcision. I thought it would be a good idea to change the bandaging. So I take off the diaper, carefully remove the bandaging, add new bandaging (completely smothered in vasoline), put on a new diaper, carefully treat his cord with rubbing alcohol, put back on his onesie and cuddle him up close. About two seconds later I heard a rumble in his tummy and felt the diaper bloat to twice its size. So, I start the whole process again to change the poopy diaper. As soon as I remove his old bandaging (technically it was only about one minute old!), old faithful starts! Right in my face, on the hospital gown, all over my bed. Before I knew it I was calling hysterically for Blaine. Wow! That was gross, and unfortunate that we used three diapers in less than two minutes; not to mention that I was covered in urine.

We did learn from this experience, but regardless of our best efforts we have about ten more similar experiences.

Anyway, it turns out that the best piece of advice I can give you, if you are to ever watch Ben, is to have a wipe ready when you change his diaper!

P.S. I am loving life at home with Ben and Gwen, new adventures and new trials, but lots of love too!

Introducing

Bentley Blaine Bassett!

He has a name! I wanted to post some additional cute pictures on here, but apparently the picture function will not work for me!

So. . . . http://picasaweb.google.com/kristi.bassett/TheNewBrother scroll to the bottom to see the new pictures!

Pictures of the new guy

http://picasaweb.google.com/kristi.bassett/TheNewBrother

Our newest little thing. . .

What a great day! It's a good thing I didn't write in the blog this morning at 4:00AM like I was tempted to. Getting induced is awesome, but there are some pretty funky things going on in your mind the day before you get induced. For example, I could not get the Les Mis song "One Day More" out of my head, which wouldn't be such a big problem except for I only know those three words...annoying. Then of course there is the fact that we had to be at the hospital at 6:00AM, which meant leaving at 5:30, getting up at 4:30. You would think that would have inspired us to go to bed early. Nope, we stayed up late watching episodes of "House" which provoked horrible nightmares all night long that they would find a tapeworm in my brain or some other weird complication while I was here to deliver the baby. Between all this and the burglar that broke in to use the bathroom (it is really hard to remember that you have house guests at 2:00 AM, so much so that we scoured the house looking for bad guys before we realized it was just my mom visiting the ladies room. . ). Anyway, it was a L-O-N-G night.

That being said though. . . . what a terrific day! I was put on pitocin at about 6:30AM, I was already having mild contractions, but they got stronger and closer etc. I was sure to mention to the nurse that I was not opposed to getting an epidural as soon as I was eligible. At about 7:15 my doctor came and broke my water. I think I lost 10 lbs of just water, that was the weirdest thing-- it just kept coming. I had my epidural by about 8:30--just as the contractions were getting a more painful than what I liked :)

Our nurse Laura (pronounce like Lora) was so awesome! She just made the experience amazing. She took time to really answer our questions and go the extra mile discussing baby names, etc. I felt like she was really focused on us and she just made the experience so wonderful!

So I kept trying to sleep, Blaine kept sneaking off to eat (um, hello? He was so hungry he kept saying, but if I recall he at least got to eat Lucky Charms for breakfast, had a donut for a snack, ordered pizza AND a burger from the grill and still said he was hungry--- I didn't even get ice chips!), and the time passed.

By about noon I was at a 9 and Blaine decided to go get lunch. It was weird because right after he left things got kind of scary. The babies heart rate went down and fluctuated, they upped my fluids, had me roll from one side to another (have you ever tried to do that while completely numb- I felt like an idiot!, and finally put on an oxygen mask). Eventually things stabilized, so that's good!

Then all of the sudden I could feel pressure and contractions on the left side of my body. It was actually pretty cool. My epidural was wearing off-- but only half way-- sweet! So they called the doctor in and we started pushing. I was nervous for this because with Gwen I pushed for THREE hours. However, I must be more experienced or something because three pushing sessions (about five minutes) and we had our new baby boy! He weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz, measured 19 1/2 inches and had some cute little black hair-- not as much as Gwen (that's good or else I would have to cut his hair tomorrow!). He was so sweet. Of course he cried for a few minutes, but then he was just gazing around checking stuff out (with only one eye mind you because the other was apparently too hard to open). All of this and he was a champ at eating-- what a difference that made!

It was amazing how different this delivery was. I have never complained about Gwenie's delivery, it was awesome but I think I was a little overwhelmed. She was born at 10PM, she looked all gross and I was terrified at the fact that my life was changing forever. This time though it was about two in the afternoon, I felt fantastic, and I couldn't wait to hold the little goober. He is so sweet. I actually haven't seen him in a couple of hours, he is pretty sleepy and needs help staying warm, but hopefully I will see him soon.

He still doesn't have a name. Just little brother, but that seems to fit him well. He looks so much like Gwen! Hopefully we can get some pictures on here tonight!

We are so blessed and we love this little guy so much! Blaine just called and is trying to lure Gwenie away from Dora long enough to come meet her brother. . . .hopefully she will meet him soon!

Love,

Kristi

Going out in style

I look like I have been hit with a diesel after I give birth. It's true. I could post pictures but I would rather spare you the experience. I have a couple of friends who look a lot like supermodels in their post-birth pictures. Apparently the big secret (besides only gaining 15 lbs during pregnancy) is to get your hair done a week or two before the big day. I thought that was an interesting idea. For some reason though I am really paranoid about dying my hair while pregnant.

So my secret plan was to go get my hair done in a couple of days once I am home from the hospital. It occurred to me today though-- like I am going to have the time to go get that done! I can't remember exactly, and correct me if I am wrong. . . . but I am pretty sure that newborns require a lot of care, and frequent feedings. When will I get my hair done?

So I decided to take matters into my own hands. While Gwen was watching Dora I took some scissors to my hair. It was going pretty good, I felt great! Supermodeldom here I come (well, at least I would only look like I got hit with an SUV instead of a diesel). But the problem with cutting your hair. . . .it's addicting. Before I knew it my cool "crazy" layers that I was so impressed with were a little to plentiful, and I was starting to look more like Jamie Lee Curtis than I had hoped.

So, are you excited to see the haircut? I guess you will have to wait for those after birth pictures. . .

Blasphemous?

For those of you who have not been around Gwenie lately, she adores Dora the Explorer. Everything she does seems to mirror things that Dora does. She even uses "gracias" "de nada" "arriba" and "ayi esta!" (I know I spelled that wrong). Anyway, her bilingualness is pretty funny. And I feel like she is actually learning from Dora, not that it justifies how much she idolizes it, but still. . .

So the other day as she was wandering around completely unfocused while we were reading scriptures I had an idea. We are still in Nephi and reading about the Liahona. It occurred to me that the Liahona is a lot like "Map" on Dora. So I made up a song about it and sang it to Gwen (to the tune of the map song, "Who can help you say 'hey we figured out the way' what's my name? Liahona, say it again, Liahona!"), Gwen loved it! Then I summarized the journey that Nephi, Lehi and family were going on, in a song similar to a Dora song. Anytime Dora goes on an adventure the map gives her directions, usually in three steps and then sings about it. So it worked perfectly; instead of something like "pyramid, jungle, lost city!" it turned into "wilderness, ocean, prom-ised land!". So Gwen knows the story of Nephi a lot better now, but "B" kinda sees this as sacrilegious, or irreverent at best.

Anyway, it is just kind of funny and at least it kept her attention for a bit!

The Buddy System

The main grocery store here in Austin is H-E-B. It's a pretty good store. My favorite is still Winco in Portland, but H-E-B is definitely better than HyVee (sorry Minnesotans).

One cool thing about H-E-B are the "Buddy Bucks", when you go to check out they hand your kid a wad of Buddy Bucks that they they put in a machine (one of those ones with a claw to retrieve a toy, etc.) where they can fish around until they get a little plastic container with a sticker in it. Gwen loves it. I always thought it was weird that the stickers had numbers on them instead of pictures or whatever, in fact one time we got one that said Bonus on it and had a 20, normally they only are 1-5. Keep this in mind. . . .

The other day I received my first HEB dollars in the mail. Think of it kind of like the Smith's Fresh Values Card, except you don't get special deals, you accrue points for every dollar spent, etc. and every quarter your points are exchanged for gift certificates to H-E-B. They only do this at one of the H-E-B Stores in town (technically it is called H-E-B Plus!). Luckily it is close to our house, but going there is like going to Disneyland. I have never parked less than about a mile away (or it least it feels that way) and you have to meander through the whole stinkin store, which is enormous. So it is kind of a pain, but free money? I'm all over it. Just last quarter I earned $6 H-E-B bucks. It was great.

My dear friend "R" did not know what I was talking about when I mentioned my $6. I thought this was weird since she is a dedicated H-E-B shopper. In fact I laughed at her. I was not nice.

So as it turns out, the joke was really on me.

At my baby shower, my other friend "G" was mentioning that she cashed in her "Buddy Points" for a box of animal crackers. I assumed she meant her HEB bucks, but it didn't make sense because she said it cost 30 Buddy points (even the best animal crackers are not worth $30). So apparently the little stickers that Gwen wins from the Buddy Buck machine and later proudly displays all over her clothes until we throw them away, are really Buddy Points, that can be saved and redeemed for all sorts of good stuff, who knew???

So yesterday I go to H-E-B and find the little pamphlet where you collect the stickers and buddy points. We used Gwen's Buddy Bucks and were able to retrieve about 11 Buddy Points, I put them in the pamphlet. Gwen freaks and starts crying "You took my stickers and wouldn't give them to me??" the tears well up in her eyes, "WHY? Why did you take my stickers????" I want my 5". And so on until I had to rip the stickers out of the pamphlet and stick them on her shirt.

What I have decided is that I will fork out the $1.06 for animal crackers and let Gwen keep her stickers. Ignorance was bliss :).

Four more days, at the most. . .

Copy

I just read one of my friends posts about an awesome girls night out we had on Monday. She put it all so well that I am just going to direct you to her site to read about it. In the first paragraph just replace "VW Passat" with "Honda Accord" and replace "Mini-Van" with "falling apart, never know when it might spontaneously combust, Chrysler Cirrus". Enjoy. . .

http://whereisthelaughtrack.blogspot.com/2007/09/why-couldnt-it-have-been-pound-cake.html

You know you married an electrical engineer when. . .

You know you have married a true electrical engineer when he sits down to write thank you notes (for a graduation gift) and gets distracted for about an hour because one of the gifts came in a card that played music and he couldn't figure out how the chip functioned! I love you Blaine!

So only 6 more days (at the most). I went in for an ultrasound yesterday and the baby is measuring 8 lbs 12 oz - note that he is not due for two more weeks technically. Wow. That's one big baby!

Nine days!

So it is official-- we were going to keep it a surprise, but I am scheduled to be induced on September 18th at 6:00AM, assuming the baby doesn't come on his own before then, so hang in there folks... he's coming!

Gratitude

It's true what they say about Texas. Well, they probably say a lot of things about Texas, but the specific generalization that I am referring to is that people here are really nice. I was overwhelmed yesterday at the generosity of my neighbors and ward friends as they threw me an awesome baby shower! I felt so loved and not alone. Moving here while pregnant I was really worried about being away from family when the baby was born. Who would help watch Gwenie for doctors visits, etc. ? My friends (who I have known all of three months now) have really stepped up to the plate. I have had probably four or five people offer to have me call them should I go into labor in the middle of the night, and several more offer to take Gwen for the day so I can get things done. I am just so grateful!

I have loved the adventures that Blaine and I have had over the past three years. Living in Utah, Oregon, Minnesota and now Texas we have always been surrounded by great people. I used to think that it was the locations we chose, but now I am a believer that there is good all around. I was excited to move to Oregon and really sad to leave. I was terrified to move to Minnesota (the land of -30 dg winters), but again I had a hard time leaving because I loved everyone I met there, the beautiful countryside etc. I was also nervous to move to Texas. I was pretty sure that I would be bombarded with tumbleweed and cowboys, but it is beautiful here and the people are wonderful. It is strange to me that we aren't leaving this time. I am happy to be settled and have a house and make friends that I can be with for more than a couple of months; but I am sad that we won't be exploring other parts of the country and getting to know people in other places too. Anyway, my point is that no matter where you go, you can find great people, and that is particularly true here (as it was in Oregon and Minnesota and Utah).

Anyway, don't worry about how I tactfully neglected to mention the surprise comment on my last post. Yes, Bryce found the blog. I was horrified. Now I see why people refer to other people by their initials only, a practice I will soon be incorporating on this blog :) . I just want to point out how consistent my life is--- did he visit the blog on a day when I had written an insightful post about my view of humanity or the world, or a commentary on some amazing book I had read? Nope. He came on the day I posted awkward pictures of myself growing up and admitted to shaving my widows peak. Perfect :). It is so funny to me that he found the blog, and it was even funnier to Blaine; we both laughed until we cried, and luckily I have a new embarrassing moment- you know because I hardly have any these days (rigghhhhht).

Part 2- The scary hairy adventure (go read the next post first for the continuing saga).

I really think I could have handled high school in a much cooler way if only I would have had a straightening iron. Oh well. Also, at the end of junior high- now this is embarrassing, so keep it to yourself- I wanted to grow out my bangs, but I had a widows peak. So instead of parting my locks on the side, I just shaved (yes shaved) off my widows peak, for like a whole year. Don't do that, ever (ever ever ever).
Luckily by the end of highschool I was a major babe. Okay maybe not, but I think I achieved my personal best hair the day this picture was taken. Unfortunately this picture was taken like the day before Blaine broke my heart, so apparently he didn't like it and apparently that was reason enough for me to chop it off about a week later. Why! It has never grown ong since (and it isn't even that long here!).

Oakcrest (the camp I worked at) brought out a style revolution that I hadn't seen the likes of since my mom went perm and curling iron happy in elementary. Short and curly for Laurie's wedding and my time at SLCC.

And finally the day Blaine got home from his mission, short and flipped. It's my style. It's how I see myself. When I look in the mirror at my curly Texas hair I get so sad that the short flip may be gone from my stylebook forever.

Anyway, I just got all of these old pictures on the computer and I thought it would be fun to post them, since I have had no major embarrasing moments this week or profound thoughts. So enjoy!

A pictoral voyage through my life- or- what the heck was going on with her hair?

I started out cute enough. Definitely not Gwen's gorgeous long luscious locks, but good enough for a little kid.

Then I apparently cried while getting my hair brushed one too many times, plus I heard my brother say my hair was ugly, so we chopped it all off.

Don't worry, it came back (why doesn't it do that now?). So I was a pigtail wearing cutie-pie for a few years and then. . . .

My mom got a curling iron. Wow. What happened here. I hope I can avoid doing anything like this to my poor cute daughter. Not only the hair, but the outfit? Wowzers, I think I finished off my elementary school years looking something like this. Cry for me.

Junior high was pretty bad. I always had bangs, I always hated it. Apparently I never washed my hair, it was bad. Luckily my pet snake Hank helped me through the hard times (alright, we were in Florida, it wasn't my pet snake.).

To be continued. . .

Dance Off (the pounds!).

I just remembered one thing I am extra excited about for after the baby is born. You are probably thinking I am going to say something like "counting his sweet little toes" or "singing lullabys late at night". Nope, it's DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). I LOVE this game. So much so that I used all of my graduation money last year to purchase a used X-Box, two DDR pads and the DDR game. However, we were living on a third floor apartment at the time and I was always worried that my neighbors below would start complaining if I danced too much.

So the great news is now I have a house! I can dance my little heart out day or night.

My secret goal is to become a weight loss spokes person for X-Box and DDR - kind of like Jared with subway. So in a few months when I have shed all of my pounds by simply dancing late into the night you better expect to see me on commercials and late night infomercials.

I hope I can find someone in the vicinity who shares my love for the game. It is hard to find people over 18 who like it, but hopefully I can convince someone that they need to participate for me. What friend would not want to support weight loss?

Starting a month from today the dance off will begin. . . . It's going to be fantastic.

Even things that are still, are still changing. . . .

Well folks, the seatbelt is fastened, I have climbed to the top of the tower and there is nothing I can do now to stop the ride before I go crashing down the hill and through the corkscrew turns and loops and ups and downs. For all of my complaining I am finally close enough to having the baby that the time is going by fast and I can't figure out why I didn't spend my time cleaning and organizing instead of complaining the last nine months.


It is really interesting how similar I feel now to how I did right before Gwen was born. Before Gwen was born I started realizing that it was my last few days in all of ETERNITY that I would not be a mother, it was a weird feeling and as excited as I was for a new chapter in life, I was a little sad to kiss my previous life goodbye. I figured it might be a little different this go around because we already have a kid, I am already a stay-at-home mom, what's the difference adding one more to the brood? But there is a difference. For the last three years it has been Blaine, Gwen and I. We've moved across the country together (um, five times!), we've really grown a lot and shared a lot of laughs and tears. We have our little traditions and family jokes. I know we will still have things like that, but it will never be the same dynamic that we currently have. Gwen, or any of our other kids for that matter, will never get as much attention as she has the last three years. She is going to be sharing the show. Don't get me wrong though, I am sure that "the more the merrier" holds true as far as having kids. Maybe not while they are little, but at least hopefully when it comes time for them to pool their money together to put Blaine and I in a nice retirement home :).

It just feels weird to know that the days of it being just the three of us are dwindling down. For all I know I could go into labor tonight and I would have spent my last day with just Gwen and I without even realizing or appreciating it.

Still searching for a name. . . .

Side Splitting

Back in my Junior High days I thought it would be fun to try-out to be the school mascot - - a liger. Having had no gymnastic or dance experience I was at a disadvantage. Luckily though Laurie was well equipped to train me. With her training regimen and my charm, how could I not win?

Well we worked hard every day trying to get me to be able to at least do the splits. It never quite worked out, I don't think I ever even auditioned. What kind of mascot can't even do the splits?

So yesterday I was at my neighbors house talking and decided it was time to get up to go. Somehow after I got up and took a step I found myself slipping into the splits. Before I knew it I was all the way down, further than I got with all my practicing in Junior High. Wow. Apparently when I stood up I put one foot on a toy phone with wheels. .. and well, the rest is history.

Aside from the excruciating pain, it was really quite funny! I couldn't stop laughing (or crying) and I was pretty sure that labor would be imminent after an experience like that. No such luck.

So if you are having a sad day, just picture the 9 months pregnant woman doing the splits at her neighbors house (her neighbor that she had only met once before no less). It makes for a good laugh.