Nursery Pics

Werty putting together the crib.

The finished nursery.


Closeup of the pretty combo dresser. The crib and dresser are cherry finish, even though it's hard to tell in these pics.

The new recliner/rocker. It's dark brown - but it looks almost black. It comes in two colors, black and brown, but the swatches looked almost identical.

The nursery is assembled!

We were originally supposed to buy the furniture for the nursery on Saturday, but then my FIL offered us the old crib that all of the kids from Ged on down, minus the youngest, used. It was top of the line in 1976, so it survived 8-9 kids. However, the rails were now warped, and it was missing some hardware, and would require some work to substitute some of it. But it was free. So we thought about it over the weekend. Even though we decided to buy a new crib, one that will last through all of our children, I think it was providencial that we waited until Monday to buy it because on Sunday I had a realization. We had planned to buy the crib at one store, and the dresser at another. But the first store was offering 25% off additional nursery furniture with the purchase of a crib. I realized that 25% off of a more expensive, better quality dresser at the first store might be cheaper than paying full price at the second store. So we bought the Savannah crib and then a BabyEuropa combo dresser that is probably the nicest piece of furniture we own - solid wood, matches the crib beautifully, and spent $75 less than we would have on Saturday. I took pics, but I will have to post them tomorrow.

On Tuesday Werty put everything together and managed to get the dresser to fit inside the doorway. (It took three people to move the dresser from the van into our condo - and then he moved it into the room by himself - my big strong man!). The furniture is all in place and it looks wonderful! It is a relief for me to have that done, since I return to work tomorrow morning. I really needed to have the nursery ready before I could concentrate on work. I am sad that my summer is over - it was nice for Werty and I to have this time together before the baby comes. Werty came to every doctor appointment and most of the NSTs, and who knows if he will be able to do that for our future pregnancies. It was great that I was able to have the summer off so I could go to doctor appointments and follow my diet without a bell schedule screwing it up.

Update from the NST today: my fluid level was good and the nurse took some extra time on the ultrasound so Werty could see. His bum is more in the middle now, and the solid bump off on the right side is where he has his ankles crossed. This makes sense, since I can tell when he uncrosses his feet because he sticks his foot up into my rib at that spot. Some nurses just measure the fluid and take only a minute, but this nurse actually shows you stuff in between taking measurements, which we really enjoyed. My blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat continue to be great. I am carrying the weight more up and down lengthwise than sticking out like a watermelon - so people keep commenting to me and telling me that I look good for being 9 months.

Angel's Landing

When I was checking the news, I was shocked to see that a hiker died this weekend from falling off Angel's Landing. Angel's Landing is one of my favorite hikes, but is also the scariest. (It was scarier than the Girl Scouts trip to Mt Rainier when our leader got lost and we wandered all day because she couldn't find the trail - the park was blasting and had covered the trail in boulders.) You see, the last half mile of the hike is along a narrow ledge with drop offs on both sides. You have to walk single file and be careful. I remember thinking that if my mother knew I was on this trail, she would be SO mad because it was so dangerous. Then I thought about how I am not the type of person who does dangerous things, so logically, I must not really be there on that trail...so that meant I was safe because I wasn't really there - my mind protected itself from fear for a few moments by trying to convince itself it was having an out of body experience. My mind was there, but my body was safe down in the parking lot. (What does that mean, Rena?) The best part of the hike is when you get to the top and you are rewarded with a beautiful view from a large flat area at the top of the mountain. Angel's Landing is one of the highest elevations in the park, so you can see the whole valley around you. This news story got me thinking about how grateful I am for my college roommate who loved the outdoors and planned these trips to the national parks, so that I could experience places like Angel's Landing before I became too busy or too scared. (Rena would say it was before I had a fully developed frontal lobe.) I had always planned to hike Angel's Landing again, and maybe it's because I am waddling around in my 9th month of pregnancy right now, but I wonder if that will ever happen. And maybe someday I will be telling my kids that if they want to hike Angel's Landing, they shouldn't tell me about it ahead of time, but tell me after they get back and I know they are safe. :P

Personal Mottos

While cleaning and organizing, I ran across this inspirational poem that I used to keep up on my wall in high school and college. It has meant a lot to me, so I thought I would share.

"The Choice Is Mine"

I choose to live by choice,
not by chance.
I choose to make changes,
not excuses.
I choose to be motivated,
not manipulated.
I choose to be useful,
not used.
I choose self-esteem,
not self-pity.
I choose to excel,
not compete.
I choose to listen to the Inner Voice,
not the random opinions of crowds.

- by A. Starr

Another motto I adopted when I was a teen was:
"Give the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you."

Do you have a personal motto, and what is it?

NST, Purging, Potpourri

Fluid level was back up to 21, now that I am over my cold. Fetal heartbeat was good, blood pressure still good. We filled the nursery closet already - not with baby stuff, just stuff. Except it's less dangerous stuff now, like our Christmas tree and decorations, instead of saws and tools. I had such high hopes for putting baby stuff in there, but oh well. Werty still has a few bins that didn't fit in the office, so they will be stacked in the corner or something ugly like that. I pulled out four boxes that I identified as my stuff that I haven't sorted since the move - one of which had my lesson materials from when I taught ESL English two summers ago - which I had been looking for. Also found all the thank you notes from our wedding that we couldn't find the addresses for. Some of them even had stamps on them. I wrote thank you notes for everything, people just never received some of them. Oops. Speaking of which, I still have a few thank notes that I need to mail from the baby shower...and my dad's father's day card. Yeah. I don't actually know where the outgoing mail slot is for our condos, so we usually just drop them by the post office. How pathetic is that? Anyway, we are throwing away the wedding thank you notes and ridding ourselves of feeling guilty about them ever again.

So, on a side note, I spent time today using familysearch.org and ancestral file to figure out that Werty and ElCid do have a common ancestor - the ancestors that originally joined the church. Werty and ElCid are descended from two different sons of that family. ElCid and Werty are 5th cousins once removed, and as Ddonn pointed out, that means that my children will be her kids' 6th cousins once removed. Coolness.

As of tomorrow, we will finally have unlimited long distance, so we can call people and tell them happy news, like when the baby comes. We will also have call waiting and voice mail - we don't have cell phones, but we have at least caught up to the 90's...yes, we know how pathetic we are.

And a side note to Nan - he may be single, but he's also middle-aged, so no. One of the ESL Aides at work, on the other hand, is single, my age, nice-looking, and has two BA degrees...but now that I am going to be his supervisor, I don't know if it appropriate to try to set him up anymore. Last year, I tried to set him up with Klari's sister, but her sister ran off to work in Germany before I had the chance to arrange anything. Speaking of set ups - my brother Ovaltine is attending a Singles Conference in Fresno this weekend with one of his mission companions. I think a trip will be good for him, something different to do. Ever think of attending one of those Nan?

Sub

I got a call this morning (early this morning - again, I did not choose a good profession for night owls) confirming that the school had received confirmation of a sub for my maternity leave. I have met this person before. He subbed for the teacher I team taught SpEd Modern History with last year. I remember that he got involved with the class discussion that day and that he said he loves to watch the History channel. He is also bilingual and a certified teacher. I think I saw him once at the church - so I think he is in another ward in the stake. The school admin was also pleased with the choice, so yay! I am down to my last week before I have to report back to work for contracted time. Maybe I could get out of it, but that would mean that my maternity leave would start before the baby is actually here, and somehow I think I will need that time more after the baby comes. Now if the baby actually comes next week, then that's that. But if not, I better be there so they don't cut my maternity leave short. It's like in Better Off Dead, but instead of "I want my $2," it's "I want my 6 weeks!"

Crib Update

Thanks for all the input. We went to the store - and they have extended the sale until the end of the month, so we didn't have to make a rush purchase today. (Today was the original end date - if you buy a crib, you get 25% additional furniture pieces) We went to Babies R Us also, and found an option or two to get a combo dresser that would match the Savannah crib, like Julie suggested. The Savannah crib is back to our number one choice. Thanks for the suggestions of using the changer for toys later - gives me something to think about since the changer will be used for changing mostly when the baby is still small. We also have a bookcase that is going in the baby's closet for organizing stuff (the tall one from the living room - we are moving the two dark bookcases from the office in to the living room instead). That will help divide the very wide closet into one side for the baby stuff and one side where Werty can keep the stuff he can't fit anywhere else (stuff that isn't sharp or dangerous). This weekend I did pick up a baby bath for the sink (the fold up kind like Ddonn suggested), bottle cooler for pumping at work (won't that be strange?), and nursing foundation wear (from the shopping trip with Sue and Soyjoy - my new nickname for GLump's wife). Meanwhile, I am reporting back to work in a week and a half, and I received my summons today in the mail telling we when and where we are having our training meetings. (When I decided to become a teacher, I didn't think about the fact that they do everything at 7am instead of 8am like the rest of the professional world). Let me tell you how much I am looking forward to walking across the UVU campus in the August heat in order to attend a full day of meetings when I'm 9 months pregnant. I don't know why, but none of the meetings are actually being held at the school, like last year. Unless, of course, I have already gone into labor...which is worse? Childbirth or boring meetings? Meanwhile, this head cold exploded today. I'm trying to avoid taking sudafed by using saline nasal spray to ease the pressure in my sinuses. I better not be sick going in to labor, that's all I have to say. I want to have enough energy to go the natural route. (Then again, I have been sick for a lot of important events - entering the MTC, attending the Nauvoo cornerstone ceremony...but I don't want to add becoming a mother to that list :P)