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!

Only 13 Days...

Technically I could find out what I'm having now, but based on my appointment schedule I won't be having my ultrasound until I'm 20 weeks. Only 13 days to go and it's driving me crazy! I just want to know what I'm having! According to the Elmer tradition that's been going on, just about all the Elmer boys are have only boys (there are a couple excpetions). So we'll see if the tradition is carried on or if it will be broken. What do you guys think? Boy or Girl?

A Little Change

I know it's the cardinal rule of pregnancy to not cut your hair, but that all went out the window on Monday. My friend that does my hair has been on bedrest for pre term for the past several weeks so the day she got the go ahead to get off, I was ready to get my hair cut. My hair has gotten so long and heavy, it just needed to go. It even got to the point where I could feel it on my arms when I wore a short sleeve shirt and that is just too long for me. I ended up cutting about 4-5 inches off and I feel so much better! Sorry the picture is lame, I took it myself in the mirror but that's all I could do at the moment. I also didn't got brunette after the whole "Stacey" hair craze. My Young Women were actually worried that I had dyed my hair that way permenately and when I told them it was just spray they were nicely relieved, kind of funny. So now I'm officially ready for Summer, bring on the heat!

I Am A Robot

The other day E was playing in the cupboards and the funniest thing happened. He found my strainer, put it on his head, and walked around the kitchen talking in a robot voice saying, "I am a robot." So I played along with it and asked my little robot if he'd help me with the laundry. In walks my robot saying, "I am a robot. Robot help with laundry." He did a wonderful robot job and I thanked my little robot for all his help and he said, "you're welcome, mama" (still in a robot voice). We still try to get him to act like a robot because it's absolutely hilarious and he loves to do it. I'll have to get it on video sometime.

Popcorn Popping

No, I'm not talking about E's favorite Primary song, I'm talking about one of my favorite childhood memories. If you know anything about my side of the family, my family loves popcorn. Bottom line. As a young child, I remember my dad firing up the air popper on Sunday evenings or for a special treat during the week. He always had a particular way that he made our popcorn. We had a specific popcorn bowl for us and a specific popcorn basket for my mom. Our bowl had butter and salt on it that my dad would mix up his special way with his butter knife and then my mom had a special way she did hers. She would spritz it with a little bit of water and sprinkle with Molly McButter (gag!) Then my dad would fill up his huge blue BYU cougar cup with ice water and we'd enjoy some Sunday Disney Special or our favorite TV show. We made popcorn like this for just about all my life until microwave popcorn became more readily available and the air popper got the boot.

So the other day my hubby was out of town and I was at the store with E and I made an impulse buy. Totally impulse, but totally worth it. I was remembering all of the fun times that I had making popcorn with my family and I wanted to start doing that with my son. So I purchased an air popper and some popcorn kernels and that night we made popcorn. E totally loved it! He loved to listen for the popping kernels and see it pop up all fluffy and shoot out into the bowl. He was all giggles! Then he loved helping me shake salt on top and helping mix it up. We sat down that night, watched a new movie from the library, and ate our popcorn together. It was so much fun and I know E just loved it because he always hands me the popcorn kernels throughout the day and asks to make popcorn. Tonight we made up some popcorn while Ry was watching the Mavs playoffs and when Ry saw E eating his popcorn, he looks over at me and says, "That is such a Terry thing!" I just started cracking up and realized, it's so true. I'm just passing it on to the next generation.

This Is Why I Haven't Been Blogging...

I have been planning and preparing for our youth Standards Night for the past 2 months and it pretty much has consumed my time, hence my absence on the blog. So Wednesday night was the big night and I am so happy things went well, but I'm especially happy that it's over!

Our theme for the night was about respect for yourself, others, and God. We had 3 different presentations to illustrate these points. My husband spoke for the first portion and he talked about how we should treat each other, how we should respect our leaders, a few key manners that needed to be addressed, etc. He did such a great job! Thanks, Ry! After he spoke we moved everyone into the other half of the gym for our big skit.

I've had this skit idea in my head for awhile so I was really excited to actually use it and see it come together. Basically, our Stake President came out with a letter about how we should dress for our certain activities. We want the youth to understand that the way they dress is very important because it says a lot about ourselves. It also is important that we show respect in the Lord's house by dressing appropriately. Anyway...I made a skit that was a spoof off of the show "What Not To Wear" from TLC. I was Sister Stacey and one of our Young Men's leaders was Brother Clinton. It was hilarious!

I got 2 cans of black hair spray and totally sprayed my hair to look like Stacey's, and it was so funny to see their faces when I walked in. We started off talking about the show and then we started showing the secret footage. A couple of weeks ago we had 2 of our seniors help us record some "secret footage" of themselves wearing all sorts of "inappropriate" clothing and hairstyles (a mullet wig) so we could show it during our skit. After we called them up and had them take a look in the 360 degree mirror and trashed all their terrible clothes. Then we had a bunch of our youth come out and model some appropriate outfits for Sunday, youth activities, and seminary. After that we went them to our hairstylist, Carmindy (played by Kaitlyn), and they went out on their shopping spree and came back for their big reveal. It was just a great and funny way to teach the youth about modesty and respect through our dress.

After the skit we went into the chapel so the bishop could talk about respect for the Lord. He did an awesome job and it just completed the night so well. The night ended with some homemade strawberry shortcake and homemade lemonade. It was perfect! What do you think of the black hair? So all the preparation and hard work payed off and the night went off great!
I just had my 16 week appointment yesterday and things are going well with the baby. I have started to have some "tighenings"/contractions lately so my doctor might put me on a shot to prevent pre term labor since I had pre term labor with E. We'll see what happens. I think we're going to find out what we're having in the middle of May and I can't wait!

What E Prays For

E has been saying his own prayers lately and it's kind of funny how our prayers work. Most kids start out with their parents telling them phrase-by-phrase what they should say, not E. He makes us repeat phrase-by-phrase what he says. I'm serious! He'll keep repeating it over and over until we say it back to him. Here are a few of funny and cute things that he prays for...

-all of his family members: Mom and Dad, baby, grandparents, Aunts and Uncles (especially Aaron and "Tina" (Teana) because he loves to talk to Aaron on the phone and whenever he talks to him he asks for "Tina", Cousins, you name it!
-for his friends
-kitty
-Papa's golf clubs
-football
-Scooby Doo not be scared of "Monsners"
-books
-slides and big castle (the playground)
-ice cream cones
The list keeps getting longer and longer everyday. He basically goes through every little thing he did that day and he blesses everything he did and every person he saw. It's so hard not to laugh, especially when I'm repeating what he says and blessing Scooby Doo. I'll have to keep a notepad next to his bed for any new ones!

A Date With E

When Ry left for Priesthood meeting on Saturday, E kept telling me he wanted to get in his car seat and "go drive!" I was having an ice cream craving so I figured why not. I drove him out to Dairy Queen and got him a dipped cone and thankfully Dairy Queen has these new take out cups that everything stays contained in the cup and you can transport your cone without spillage. Anyway...I told E I would take him to the park and we'd go eat our ice cream and go play. When we got there E was too excited to play that he bypassed the ice cream and headed straight for the tallest slide on the play place. He was wearing wind suit pants so when he started going down the slide he was going super fast. I swear it looked like it was straight out of Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football out away from Charlie Brown. He got to the bottom of the slide, flew a few feet, and landed flat on his back. The poor kid! He was so upset and covered in mulch! I had to contain my giggles since it was pretty funny to watch, but I composed myself and comforted him. He walked it off and never went on that slide again. Finally, he was a little bit interested in his ice cream cone and he just looked so cute eating it that I had to snag some pictures.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

I picked up a kite for E as one of his Easter gifts and it ended up being the kid's favorite thing! It was one of those cheap Buzz Light Year kites, but it ended up flying really well and E was totally into it. Ry took him out before Easter dinner to give it a spin and they had a blast.

A Blast From The Past

Okay, so I have no excuse at all for not blogging for 2 weeks. I don't think I have ever gone that long without blogging ever since I started 2 years ago! Go figure!

Anyway...this past Wednesday I did a presentation about Nursing, motherhood, infant care, etc for my cousin's Young Women's group. I put on my old pair of nursing scrubs and went prepared for the part. It didn't really occur to me how much I missed being a nurse until I had my whole "get up" back on again. I had such wonderful memories and such great experiences at that point in my life that I really missed that a lot. I don't miss going to work at 10:30 pm and waving to my husband as our cars crossed paths at the traffic light at 8:00 am when he was on his way to work and I was on my way home to bed. But I do miss the fun people that I worked with and feeling like I made a difference in people's lives through my career. It is nice to be able to share my experiences and knowledge to others, especially the Young Women, I think they really enjoyed it. So here are a few pictures that Ry took of me before I left. Just for an update...I'll be 15 weeks this week and I think we'll find out what we're having at the beginning of May.

12 Weeks and E's First Movie

On Thursday I had my 12 week appointment and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Very fun and exciting! I can't believe I have a little heartbeat inside me right now. I've gotten over the sick phase, I'm not showing at all, and I feel just about normal (except for being tired and frequent bathroom trips) so it's kind of surreal to think that I'm having a baby. So the Dr.'s visit went well and I will be finding out what we're having in about 6 weeks (beginning of May) so I am counting down the days. I can't wait to find out!

After the Dr.'s appointment my mom and I took E to see Horton Hears A Who. Ethan has never been to the movie theater before so I was really interested to see how he'd do. My mom and I were prepared to leave if E got wiggly, but we wanted to at least give it a shot. So we took him in and sat him in the booster seat just as the previews were starting. I handed him his snack and he just sat there, totally frozen. I think he was kind of scared of the previews since it was dark and really loud, but once the movie got started he wasn't so scared. He just sat there, holding his unopened snack, motionless for seriously 45 minutes. He didn't sit back in his chair, he didn't ask to open his snack, he just sat there. Eventually he came back to reality, but he was so good to sit in his chair or sit in my lap and watch. I think my mom and I had more fun watching him and laughing! Now he asks me all the time to watch "Elephant" so we may have to go again sometime.

Above and Beyond

The other day I got an e-mail from the PR rep for Karen Neuburger, the company that I won the Mouse PJ's from. She had read my blog post about how E thought the PJ's were for him and he was really sad when he found out they were for Mom. Well, she offered to send a pair of matching PJ's just for E! I couldn't believe it! Well, the package came the other day during E's nap so I let him open his package when he woke up. He was so thrilled to have his own pair of "mouse jamas"!!! Well, when I pulled everything out of the package, there was an extra set of really small PJ's that were in there. When I read the card, she said that she wanted to send E a pair, but also one for our "upcoming arrival"!!! I was totally overcome with her kindness and I was amazed that they would want to do something so fun for our little family. It totally made my day! I LOVE the pair that I won and I wear them all the time. They are so comfy and cute and they've helped keep me comfortable during my sick weeks of pregnancy. I just wanted to thank Daisy so much for thinking of us and for making our day! I am so excited for all of us to be able to wear our matching PJ's together! Thanks Daisy!!!!