A Name and A Giveaway

Okay, I really need your help everyone! I can't figure out what to name my child! When I was pregnant with my first I had my favorite boy and favorite girl name all picked out and ready to go. So when I found out that it was a boy then he immediately became Ethan. Now I still have my favorite girl name available, but no girl to go with it so I'm in a desperate search for a great boys name. I will tell you the two names that I've been kind of "throwing around" for awhile, but I'm just not feeling it yet....I had a dream a few weeks ago (before I found out it was a boy) that I was holding a little baby and his name was Maxwell. I had never even thought of that name before ever and go figure why that name was in my head, but there it is. So Maxwell is one possibility (for a first or middle) and then other one is Andersen, but I'm just not sure. I need some other names to choose from. So here's the deal... Give me some great boy names and if I actually use your name then I will send you the most wonderful prize. I'm not quite sure what the prize will be yet, but just know that it will be good. Your naming my child for crying out loud! So help me out and give me some good ones!

Old School Girl's Camp

My friend Laura just posted a couple of old Girl's Camp pictures from back in the day. They totally take me back to those days, haha! Funny thing is...she's not in any of them!!! Not fair! Let's see if you can find me in each of the pictures (I'm 2nd from the left in the first two and sitting in the middle of the canoe doing nothing in the last one, surprise, surprise). With Girl's Camp fast approaching it just made me laugh.

A New Calling

Well, I've had a few weeks of interesting events happen to our family. It's amazing how your life can change with the change of a calling. I have been serving in Young Womens as the secretary and then the 1st counselor since July and Ryan has been serving as the ward mission leader. So my Wednesday nights have been filled with activities, my Sundays are filled with lessons, my weeks have been filled with tons of work and planning. As you can tell from my blogging, I have been else where in the world of Young Womens. Young Womens is a TON of work! Well, Ryan got called to be the new Young Mens President and along with that call, I had to be released since we both couldn't be serving at the same time with Ethan and a baby on the way. Can you guess what calling I got? Adult Gospel Doctrine Instructor!!! Now I'll take a break while you laugh.......still laughing....okay, you can stop now. I never ever thought in a million years that I would ever be called to gospel doctrine. Ever! I'm a 25 year old young mom, I've never served a mission, I'm 6 months pregnant, and I haven't been able to go to gospel doctrine class for just about my whole married life because of other callings. Can you tell I'm freaking out just a little? So now I'm free on my Wednesday nights and that will be nice, but I will be doing A LOT of studying to make up for that I'm sure. We'll see how it goes and if you have any advice or good study materials, let me know!

I'm Paining!

That's what some of our patients would say back when I worked in Labor and Delivery and I always thought it sounded really funny, but now I feel like screaming that at the top of my lungs! I'm seriously having the worst back pain I have ever had in my life! The sad thing is I'm only 21 weeks, I've just started showing, I'm not even that big, and I'm in pain! What the heck?! Plus it's not even in the usual "pregnancy" areas that hurt. I'm hurting on my right side where your "floating ribs" are (the ribs that aren't attached to your rib cage). Nothing makes it feel better, nothing makes it feel worse, it's just constant pain and I never have relief. It's just weird because I have full range of motion and I can totally move around because nothing tweaks it weird, it's just there. It's just hard to describe. Tylenol does nothing and I've tried warm baths and heating pads, but I'm still hurting. I went to the chiropractor today and he thinks that my intercostal nerve is irritated or pinched so he did a few adjustments, but since I'm pregnant he had to work around the area or else he'd hurt the baby. I felt a little better after the chiropractor, but as the day has gone on, the pain has returned. It's to the point that it hurts so bad that I'm nauseous and I can't think straight. I've never really had back pain ever before so this is all new to me. I had a small amount of sciatica when I was pregnant with Ethan but our friend Mike who was in chiropractic school totally adjusted me and I was fine the rest of my pregnancy. I'm sorry I'm complaining, I know complaining gets old so I try to not do it very often. So wish me luck and say a prayer for me that this feels better!

1/2 Way There!

I reached the "half way" mark for my pregnancy yesterday and I was left feeling a little overwhelmed. I really have a ton to do before I have this baby and it feels like I will be constantly "nesting" for the next 20 weeks! I obviously need to do the usual stuff that comes before you have a baby like getting baby stuff, preparing the nursery, and making freezer meals. That just comes with the territory. But I have some big projects that have to be done before this baby comes. My first project that must be done before October is renewing my nursing license. I have to complete a home study nursing course that I'll have to study a ton for and then take the corresponding test and then send in my application. I have to do at least a 20 hour course plus I have to do the mandatory "bio terrorism" 2 hour course as well. Plus, if I want to renew my California license then I need to complete an extra 10 hours for their requirements. My application has to be in by my birthday in October so it's got to be done. My second big project is finishing up my second blog book. I do a blog book every year in September so I've really gotta get cracking on that. And last but not least I have get Ethan potty trained before D-day. I'm planning on starting when we get back from Florida so I'm going to be studying up on the best potty training strategies while we're on vacation so I'm ready to roll when we get back. So with all my fun little projects and baby prep, this will be a really busy summer! I've already started introducing some potty training things the past couple weeks and I have some funny stories to tell already. More to come.

Drumroll Please.....

Okay, are you guys ready to hear what we're having? I was kind of nervous going to the ultrasound because you're always worried if the baby is okay and that they may find something on the ultrasound. I was also nervous because I will be finding out if I would be stepping into new parenting boundaries if we have a girl or if Ethan will have a "partner in crime." So here's the news....

We have a very healthy and very very active little BOY! That's right, the Elmer boy gene continues on again. The only ultrasound picture that they gave me to take home was only his special boy parts so I'm not going to post that for his sake. I feel terrible because I left my cellphone in my scripture case because I needed to keep time for my lesson yesterday so I don't have it down here at my Mom's house. So I'm sorry if I haven't personally called you and you're finding out through my blog. I just don't have your number with me.

So anyway, the ultrasound went really well and the baby was moving around a lot. The doctor says we have a really active baby and I told him that I wasn't surprised. So I think I will be trading in my running shoes for roller blades to keep up with these 2 little guys. I can just imagine the wonderful things that Ethan will teach "baby" to get into. Despite the extra mischief, I am so happy that Ethan will have a little brother and I know he will be so good to him. We are so excited for our little baby boy!

Stay Tuned...

I leave in less than an hour to go for my ultrasound and I'm just super excited! Will it be a boy or a girl? We'll soon find out!

Scared to Blog

Okay, awhile back we had a guest speaker come and talk to the Young Women of our church about the dangers of the internet and I left that meeting slightly distubed. Our guest speaker is also a member of our church and he is a member of the Dallas Swat team and he specializes in internet criminals and predators. He basically told the girls about how dangerous it can be on the internet with Myspace and Facebook and blogs with random people being able to view your pages. In the end he told us, if you feel comfortable putting your information and pictures up in a busy truck stop bathroom then it's probably safe to post. He said it really didn't matter if you password protect stuff or "go private" if it's on the web, it's on the web and anyone can gain access to it in some way or another and you have no control over what people do with the information. I love how blogs can keep people connected and I can stay in contact with friends and family all over the place. I also love that my family members can keep up with what's going on with us. I love how I can do my sweet blog books of our lives and how my blog is basically our family journal. Now everytime I post I'm always thinking about our family's pictures being in the middle of a truck stop bathroom and random freaks looking at them! So, I'm contemplating a lot of options right now. Do I totally take down my blog and stop blogging? Do I just post stories and no pictures? Do I go private (even though it's kind of pointless)?, Do I just keep going and not worry about it? I don't know what to do. What do you guys think?

Ahhh...Watermelon....

Yes, that's me dreaming about watermelon. I just can't ever get enough of it! I have been having crazy cravings for watermelon these past few weeks and I mean crazy! I have been going to my mom's local gourmet produce place every week for the past few weeks just to get a perfect watermelon. That's the thing, I'm also a watermelon snob...so it has to be perfect. I need just the right crunch, not too mushy, nice and sweet, bright pink, and cold. So I'll go into the store and ask the nice produce person to pick out the best watermelon they have for a crazy pregnant woman and they haven't let me down yet. I have eaten a whole watermelon a week all by myself!!! I eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! What is wrong with me?! Ryan doesn't eat watermelon and Ethan eats a little bit sometimes, but it's mostly just me and my watermelon bowl chowing down. I guess I much rather have that craving over french fries or something super fattening so I'll keep this craving around as much as possible!