Parenting Tip #1 (from a non-parent)...but still, I think I'm right.

If you love and are that distracted by the sight of crafts, get a babysitter before you go shopping.

Thursday at work I was standing in the back work shop talking to a co-worker, something caught my eye after talking for a minute. I look over and see a little toddler climbing a ladder in our shop! By the time I saw him he was 3 steps up, I ran over to him and helped him down and told him we needed to go find his mom. He ran out of the work shop area and I followed him to make sure he got to his mom. His next stop was our 'Employees Only' order area, which is under construction. Half built shelves, stacks of wood, extension cords all over, screws, nails, tools, etc. He looked around in there for a minute and I stayed with him. I didn't want to pick him up and scare him or anything so I tried to lead him out, hoping his mom would find us. No such luck. He saw an open door in the order area where a big red truck caught his eye. He ran outside! I of course followed him because he was now in a side alley where big trucks constantly pass through loading and unloading stuff. He was really excited to look at a parked red truck, but I finally decided it had been long enough. I leaned over and asked him if he would come with me to find his mom. Thankfully, a big grin came over his face and he reached out for me to pick him up. (He couldn't have been older than 18 or 20 months.) I scooped him up and walked back to the store area. She was no where in the back part, so we headed to the front. We got to the front part of the store and found 3 women. He started bouncing, giggling and pointing and one of them so I walked over to her.

Me: Is this your son?
Women: Yes. (No reaching for him. No surprised look that a stranger was holding him.)
Me: I found him climbing a ladder in our workshop and then he ran outside to the alley way full of work trucks.
Women: Ooohhhh. (No I'm sorry. No Thank you. Still not reaching for him, so I set him down on the floor and walked away.)

I wish I would have told her what I really thought.

I can understand if you look away for 5 or 10 seconds and your kid runs away. But when you realize that happened, YOU GO FIND THEM. I can understand having more than one kid and realizing they are not all by your side anymore, BUT YOU GO FIND THE ONE THAT'S NOT. But one kid, and TWO adults. This kind of thing should not happen. Yes, after listening to them as they were leaving I learned that one of the other two women in the store was this child's Grandma. My adventure with this child wasn't long, 2 or 3 minutes max, but I think that's way too long.

I would say that maybe I feel stronger about it because of where I work because it's not safe for kids, but I don't think it's that. Because, what public place is safe for a toddler to run off alone?

Am I overreacting?

Is it really that easy to get distracted in public?

So annoying.

(un)productive conversation

I was talking (venting) to Paul a few nights ago about a little situation that is driving me crazy. I talked and talked and he listened and listened.

When I was finished I said, "Ok, now you can respond. But just so you know I don't want you to try and fix anything, and I don't want you to point out any of the things I said that you don't agree with."

I paused.

He looked at me...

Then I said, "So, yeah, just tell me everything I said that you agree with."

He did a pretty good job considering the crazy, unrealistic, unproductive rules.

Ahh, life.

*sigh...*

33 weeks, etc.

Saturday the 24th was 33 weeks.
We went to the farmer's market, shopping, and to the parent's house for a pioneer day bbq. Paul and I made yummy homemade ice cream. And I didn't take any pictures. I got a few too many boob stares, laughs and comments about the shirt... I don't know what we (Paul) was thinking when he bought it...Sunday we had another bbq at our house with friends. Cat's 25th birthday on the 25th!
It was a really fun night with fun people.

It's Official...

...I'm quitting my job.

Friday is my last day.

It feels so weird to say that.

I'll still go in a couple times in August to finish training my replacement and to help train her replacement, and to tie up all the loose ends. But as far as a regular schedule, that all ends at the end of July.

Paul and I have talked a lot about what this time in our lives would look like, and let me just say how much I love that man.

I've hoped my whole life that when kids came along I'd be in a place where I could stay home, but now that that time is very near and I'm blessed enough to be able to be home, I'm scared. It's a big transition into a little bit of the unknown (or a lot of bit.) But ultimately I'm looking forward to the change.

I'm so blessed to have the husband that I do. I love that our son and I are his priority and he works so hard and is willing to do whatever it takes to provide for us. As if being a funeral director/marketer/case manager/head of Ogden funeral home location isn't enough, Paul recently spend several weeks studying and preparing for an insurance test to become licensed to sell pre-need insurance. (Pre-planning your own funeral) And he passed the test! I'm a proud wife and I admire his drive and motivation and work ethic.

People can see very quickly what a good, honest and hard working person he is. And he's so good at what he does. I've heard him on the phone with families, been to some funerals with him, and even met with a couple families with him. He has such a natural way of connecting with people who are grieving and he makes everyone he works with feel like the are the only person to ever lose a loved one. It's quite amazing.

He did a funeral for a good friend I work with who's brother in law took the life of his girl friend and then his own. It was a devastating time for this family and I was with them and Paul through the whole thing and I was so proud of him and amazed at all the comments I heard from people who didn't know I was with him. They invited us back to their family lunch after the service and they treated Paul like royalty. (Royalty is a big word, but I can't think of a better one.) Paul would disagree but he's a lot more humble than me.

A couple days later there was another funeral of a co-worker of mine who also took her own life. Paul didn't do this service, and later when it was all done and we were all back at work I was talking to my boss and he told me that I needed to tell Paul that if there is ever another Wood Co funeral and he's not in charge of it, that he still needs to be there to make sure everything goes ok. I just laughed and he continued by saying, just let him know that I'll give him a thousand dollars just to show up and he can even have an office somewhere in our store if he wants one. It was a joke, but a nice compliment.

(Ok, I'm done gushing.)

We were in California earlier this week for a funeral Paul did in Utah with burial in Southern California. We stopped by a flower shop and he introduced me to an old family friend. The man saw my stomach and congratulated us. He asked if it was a boy or girl and Paul said boy. The friends next comment was "Wow, that's exciting! The 7th generation funeral director!" I'd be lying if I said that thought hadn't crossed my mind, but hearing someone else say it made it sound much bigger. We don't know what our future holds and if funeral service will always be what we do, but I'm thankful that for now its providing what we need, and that its something that comes so naturally to Paul.

So there you have it, we're going from DINKs Dual Income No Kids, to a SAHP Stay At Home Preggo, and in a few short weeks a SAHM Stay At Home Mom.

Thank you, Paul. I love you.

Busy Long Week(end)

I've cut back so much at work that I'm starting to feel like everyday is the weekend. So here's what I've done this week. (thinking everyday was Saturday.)

Wednesday:
-Had lunch with Sephra. Lot's of fun!
-Went back to blonde. Thanks Sara.
-Toured LDS hospital. Very impressed. Really nice staff.
Looking forward to pushing.

Thursday:
-Worked. Weird, I know.
-Went to Elen's birthday party at the park.
-Went to the Mchenry's at 8:00 to visit them, Cat and Kim.
Planned to stay for an hour. Got home just after midnight.

Friday:
-Slept in til 9:15
-Worked on centerpiece ideas for Mara's wedding. Then we went to lunch and Toy Story 3. So much fun, love her.
-Went to Ian and Bethany's wedding. So many good friends, beautiful evening.
This is how I found Paul a few minutes after we got home from the wedding.
Saturday:
-Realized it was actually Saturday.
-Breakfast at Mimi's with lots of great friends, most are here from CA.-Taught a class at Wood Co. for 3 hours.
Thanks Kim, Deborah and Shannon for coming to visit me.
-Date night with my hubs, Rachel and Codee, and Nate the Great.
Mini golf, In N Out, face painting (Nate's favorite thing in the world) and ice cream.
I thought this was my 32 week picture, but it turns out yesterday wasn't Saturday.
So here's week 32. (Not sure what happened to my face...or to me. I think I'm just sick of taking the same picture over and over.) And now we're getting ready for tomorrow and the next adventure. I need a nap...

baby blog

Little baby PAW has a blog. I don't know if it will last, but there are some things I want to remember and I don't necessarily want to keep it all on this blog. The baby blog might eventually be private, and it might eventually be nonexistent, but for now, we're trying it.

There's a link on the top right sidebar. Or you can click HERE to see what's going on at littlebabypaw.blogspot.com

Oh, and here's my 31 week picture. 9 more weeks!

pies and colors

Paul is out at a lake somewhere all day today boating with a bunch of his guy friends for a bachelor party of a friend of ours who is getting married this Friday. So after church today I decided to cook.

You know those people who cook or bake and blog about it by taking pictures of each and every beautiful step? That's not me.

These are the peach skins and pits in the top of the trash before I took it out.
And this is the pie chilling in the fridge.
It's close to Marie Callender's fresh peach pie. My father in law bought me two of 'em in two days last weekend. (I shared the second one.) But of course Utah's fresh peach pie season doesn't start til the end of August. So until then (and probably after then) I'll make my own. Last year I made one from peaches off my parents tree and this year Paul and I have our own tree full of little peaches, not ripe yet, but I'm looking forward to them growing and ripening.

Here's my top secret recipe. (That I found on the internet.)

Ingredients:

5 large ripe peaches
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp constarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter
Frozen pie shell (Marie Callendar’s of course)

Directions
Bake 1 pie shell per instructions. Set aside and cool.
Mix together the sugar and corn starch(mix well).
Slice 3 large peaches for filling.
Mash 2 more peaches with a fork and combine with the following in a small saucepan: mashed peaches, sugar, cornstarch, water.
Cook for 5 minutes, until it boils.
Add the vanilla and butter.
Stir until the butter is melted and the consistency is thick and gluey.
Place the sliced peaches in the pie shell.
Pour the mixture over the top, covering every sliced peach.
Chill in the refrigerator. (about 1-2hrs)

(I usually cut up an extra peach for the shell, and then I don't use all the sauce.)

In other news. I'm getting anxious about finishing the nursery. Everything is picked, and almost everything is purchased. I chose the colors back in March/April and bought all the fabric and ordered all the furniture. I made the decision before I knew if it was a boy or girl. But it is definatly more boy-ish. I love the colors we picked. I feel like we have a pretty unique color scheme, especially for a baby. But I like it. His room is brown, green, red, orange, yellow and blue. A lot of color, but I love 'em all!

Everything in the nursery except the glider is either made by me, my mom, or someone I work with. I've loved coming up with ideas for the room and I love that I spend my days with people who can build anything that comes to my mind. It's been really fun.

I'll work on getting some pictures up soon.

Maybe I'm a little bit picky.

I really don't think I'm too picky. I guess there are some things I'm picky about, but when it comes to doctors I've never had any problem. I've had doctors referred to me over the years and have had no complaints, nor have I spent any time 'shopping around'. When I had surgery in the ER, I didn't have a choice, I got the on call doctor for that particular Sunday night, but I loved him and recovered fine. I've always just thought doctors are doctors. They all have about the same training and they all know what they're doing. Right? When I found my OBGYN in Bountiful several years ago, it was because I needed one that wasn't in Ogden so I called around til I found one who was taking new patiences and didn't have a waiting list. I used her for 7 years and was happy. I saw her a couple times during my first trimester, but as I was getting close to 12 weeks, Paul and I decided it would be more ideal to have a doc in SLC. Dr. B in Bountiful pulled out a big book and read me a list of docs and hospitals that take our insurance. I picked the first one she said. Mainly because I didn't know anything about any of them, but also because I was in my doctors are doctors mindset and didn't want to go to a bunch on consultations, and lastly because Dr. B's PA said she was good. So I called Dr. H's office and set my 12 week appointment. Turns out Dr. H was on maternity leave, so we had another doctor for 2 months. We loved Dr. R but he is retired. Finally at about 18 weeks we met Dr. H. She seemed good and we were happy. I think we were happy because we were almost half way through pregnancy and had already had 3 doctors.

Long story short, we started a birthing class 6 weeks ago and we've made some decisions about our birth plan. The route we're taking is not too popular in Utah. We talked to Dr. H about our plan and hopes. She was ok with it. But it was almost an attitude of, I don't like it, but you can do it if you want to. We left feeling like we would still be ok, but that the process might be a little uncomfortable. I vacillated for a day and finally got on the phone with friends, hospitals, talked to co-workers, and called our instructor. After several hours, I felt good about the one consultation I'd scheduled. We went to the new doctor yesterday. It went wonderfully. We feel really great about Dr. C. (Thanks Melanie) It's scary and awkward finding a new doctor less than 10 weeks before our due date, but I decided I'd rather have the stress and awkwardness now, rather than when I'm in labor wishing I'd done something about it. We won't be delivering at IMC. We'll most likely be delivering at LDS. We're taking a tour of the hospital next week but we've heard nothing but great things about their newly remodeled labor and delivery floor. Also, we've heard from several people, including our Bradley instructor, that the nurses and staff there are the best, and work really hard and are very supportive of mothers who want to labor naturally, which is our goal.

It's interesting how much more you worry about medical care when its for your child and not just yourself.

Now I just need someone to call Dr. H and let her know....
And pay the bill...

GrOw!

I love watching things grow. I'm fascinated with plants and how quickly they change with the right light and the right amount of water. The wheat grass was my favorite part of our wedding decor, and it was because I grew it myself.

Paul and I are doing square foot gardens this year. Remember this picture?
That's how it started. The only thing that didn't start with seeds were the tomatoes in the back left.

Now look at the boxes!
We're proud of ourselves. And even if no vegis grow I still feel like it was a success...but I do hope for some vegis.

Last minute California

My father-in-law spoiled us this past weekend by surprising us with tickets to California for Independence Day. He bought my brother Dave a ticket too. We left Friday night after work and came home yesterday morning.

It was a good trip. (Our last before Paw shows up and probably our last 'last minute trip' for a while.)

Phil's best friend and his wife and kids were there from Seattle. And Mario, one of Paul's best friends from Utah was also there for a two week class at BIOLA, so it was a party.

Saturday the guys swam and did man stuff and the girls went shopping! My mother-in-law found some really cute stuff for the babies room and she bought it for us. (wall decor) I'm really happy about it and I think it'll be cute.

That night we all went to the Angel's game. I love going to baseball games. I tried to do better at pictures this trip, but still never got one of the group.
Sunday, Paul and I took Dave to the beach. It was a beautiful day.
After that, everyone hung out in the pool and we had a big bbq with about 20 people. So yummy! Later was sat on the deck and watched all the firework shows. We had a perfect view of 3 or 4 different locations and it didn't involve driving anywhere or fighting any crowds. It was great.

Here are the boys showing off. It was actually quite impressive. Paul ended the day with no injuries and Dave ended with a slight black eye and a bruised (maybe cracked) rib or two.
The next morning we left. The time always goes by too fast.

Here is my 30 week picture from Saturday. At least I'm pretty sure it's 30 weeks. Is it weird that I don't keep track? Well, I try to, but I forget.
Paul and I saw a pregnant girl at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago wearing a shirt that said:

I'm not fat,
I'm pregnant.
(and fat.)

I loved it. I feel like I'm nearing the chapter of pregnancy where I stay behind the camera...