On the subject of Harriet...

Yesterday, I went in for my 3rd ultrasound on Harriet. We found out lots of things about her. Some we already knew. She's stubborn for one. She also moves around a lot and her head is very low and ready to go. She's a big baby apparently. They estimated her weight at 3 pounds which is the 92nd percentile for her gestational age (at 28 weeks the average weight is a little over 2 pounds.) I'm thinking this could be good or bad. If she ends up delivering early, she will have enough weight on her that she'll probably be healthy. If I carry her to term and she keeps growing at this rate, I'm going to have a very large newborn to deliver! I'm just glad she's ok and she's going to stay in for the time being - I'm not in pre-term labor at this point. Yea!

Our lives are currently shaped and focused on Harriet's arrival. Even Grace is starting to realize that it's all about the baby - especially now that I've been pretty "disabled" and can't do the things she would like me to as much. She is getting nicer when we talk about it and even asked if she could go to the doctor with me to "listen to Harriet." However, she maintains a certain level of being spoiled and is sticking to her guns as the current only child. We've been setting up bedroom #3 for Grace so that Harriet can move into the nursery. Grace is reluctant to share with Harriet, but she is excited about her new room and especially her new big-girl bed. We don't have anything else done in the room, but her bed has been set up for 4 days now and she has slept in it every night without complaint.

Having no one conveniently around who can help move furniture, David boldly took on the task of doing a lot of it himself. We will get some help with a couple of big heavy dressers, but he single-handedly moved the queen bed out of the room and downstairs to the den. (we'll leave it there for the summer until the Harriet visitors have come and gone.) He also moved the big couch from the den to the basement by himself. Then, for dessert, he got underneath our over-sized computer desk like a turtle and moved it down the wall for the new arrangement. He's also been tasked with painting and putting new hardware on the bedroom set I've had since I was 4 years old for Grace. It actually looks really good and I'm so excited to get it moved into her room. Usually, painting, moving furniture, and the likes can cause lots of marital stress - especially when one spouse isn't doing what the other wishes they would do. But, since I'm totally worthless to help paint or move anything, we have been fight free!

So, for our friends and family out there, we thought we should start taking a little poll. If you want to log in and comment with your answer, that would be great!
1- what do you think will be Harriet's day of arrival?
2- how much will she weigh?
3- what do you like better as a middle name?
Our options so far are: Anne, Ann, Marie, and May (assuming she's born in May!)

We'll figure out a prize for the winner of the predictions.

Buhler??? Buhler???

Elder Buhler and Elder Peterson were our friendly local missionaries for the past several months until Elder Peterson made his last transfer to go home to a small rural town in southern Utah. Mission well served! Elder Buhler who is still here has a connection with us here in Massachusetts. He actually was in Mr. Covili's English class at Hunter High. Does he look familiar Jared? He claims that Mr. Covili was a great teacher. Too bad no one else will ever find that out. Now Mr. Covili gets paid to geocache (and do a few other things I'm sure).

Grace loves having the missionaries over (and just about anyone for that matter) and one of the advantages of living in Massachusetts is the fact that Mormons are few in number so you get to interact with the missionaries quite a bit. While neither Michelle nor I are great reference machines we at least do our part to put weight on our missionaries with some good food.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Well after several days of enjoyment it is finally time to post about the Super Bowl. I have waited 26 years for this to happen and all I can say is let's get going on the second hand. I know that some people have been saying the Super Bowl was rather boring this year, but I actually thought it was a good game. Neither team was dominant and it was a hard fought close game with the game not decided until the fourth quarter. You have to like that. It will be interesting to see how this team responds next year. They will have a few things to work on like pass defense and while Willie Parker had a nice year I don't know that he is the answer for the running game in the long term. I just can't believe that there will be no football for 7 months. Is that legal?

BTW--Pittsburgh 5 rings, Cleveland?

Happy Ground Hog Day!

Well, ground hog day is just as exciting a holiday for me to celebrate as any. I was talking to Jared about why I don't do blog entries as often as he does. I told him that most days are very much the same for me and who wants to hear about our same boring routine? He said "your life is ground-hog day!" He's totally right. You could just put a looping video tape in for what we do most of the time. Since I have been really pregnant, Grace and I are late late risers. We get out of bed around 9 or 10. Grace watches some morning PBS shows while I check e-mail and shower. Then we have lunch (usually consisting of Grace's favorite - Ramen "doodles") and play for a bit before she takes her afternoon nap. I cook dinner while she is asleep and we wait for David to come home. Rita keeps telling me that if I don't feel up to it, I don't have to feel obligated to work for her. I told her that I wasn't quitting until a doctor tells me I have to. My Tuesday/Thursday afternoon job at her barn is the only reason I put on shoes and start my car twice a week! That's not entirely true, but very very close.

So what if every day is ground-hog day around here. Grace and I are pretty happy with it. We have lots of time to spend together which is exactly what I wanted to do when I quit my full-time job teaching. I love being able to mold my day around what she wants to do (most of the time) and letting her learn about how to do things from watching me do them.

So, now that we're home from Utah and we'll be here for many months... Happy Ground-Hog Day to us!

More Family Time

Like I said, the last half of our trip was really spent with family. We did visit a few friends from our old ward as well as Jared and Tara and Kennedy. I have a hard time choosing who to see when I go back. There are scores of people who I miss and who I'd love to stay in touch with, but it is really hard to keep close connections with lots and lots of people. I do my very best to stay in touch and I hope that no one gets offended when I don't visit them. There's only so much you can do in 2 weeks and I did all I could...

Anyway, we really did have a great time with our family. Here are a few more pics of the family fun:

walking to church with mo'Debbie... having a bath with baby Sean... hanging out with Grandpa Lyle... reading a story with Grandma and Grandpa Chapman and Aunt Christine...

We'll see you all again this spring or summer! Thanks so much to everyone for everything you did for us to help us visit and have fun. We love you!!!! We had a really hard time leaving this time. Usually, Grace helps me when I start crying about it and tells me that everything is going to be ok and "don't worry mom." This time, she was just as sad as I was which made it even harder for me and everyone else to say good-bye. Is there any way we can visit next time without having to do the good-bye part? Can we some how skip over that last day and instantly arrive on the plane? Well, it's still worth it to visit even if the end is sad and it is good that everyone cares so much that we all cry when it is over.

Gracie's first Dentist Apppointment

Grace got to go see her Uncle Randy for her first trip to the Dentist. She wasn't too sure at first, but the hygenist was very cute with her and made her feel very comfortable and secure. By the time she left, she was more than happy to be there. Her Uncle Randy counted her teeth (10 on top and 10 on bottom.) She reports that she has 50 teeth. She is also, thankfully, cavity free. Now she really thinks that Uncle Rand is cool and is so excited about the new fun toothbrush she got and the prize they gave her. I hope she has her Daddy's teeth and won't need lots of fillings or braces like her Mommy has had.

No photos, please...

Thankfully, we didn't document this part of our trip with a photo. Apparently, I have made a habit out of checking myself into the hospital when I travel. 2 trips ago, I thought I had a blood clot in my leg from flying, so I went to the emergency room in the middle of the night for an ultrasound. It turned out to be just a really bad broken blood vessel that had gotten all knotted up, but it did happen on the plane. Now, I'm paranoid about it when I fly. This trip, I ended up checking myself into the Labor and Delivery unit of the hospital. After being in Utah for about 8 days, I started getting very tired - more than normal and my pulse just kept going up. After 3 days of it with a pulse of 133 and a very limited ability to breathe, I called several health-care people for advice. They all told me to go straight to the hospital, which I did. I spent most of a day hooked up to the monitors and getting blood work done. It turns out, I had some sort of altitude sickness as well as anemia. After living at sea level for almost a year, I've apparently got fewer red blood cells than I need to supply me and a second person inside with oxygen. After being on bed-rest and an iron treatment for the week-end, I started to feel better. However, I'm still on "watch." I followed up with my doctor when I got back to Massachusetts and they are putting me on a lay-low system for a couple of weeks. I'm hoping I can go back to normal soon and that I can keep working at the barn a little longer. But, I'll do whatever it takes to avoid having a preemie in the NICU. I stink at being pregnant! I'm just glad that I got to do most of what I wanted on my trip before it all happened because the rest of the trip was pretty low-key...

Grandpa Earl's Birthday

We got to help Grandpa Earl celebrate his birthday on our trip. It was actually on February 1st, but we had an early birthday party on January 27th for him. Grace absolutely loves birthday parties - especially the "happy cake" that gets served. She is anxiously planning her own 3rd birthday party coming up soon. We really love Grandpa Earl and we were so glad to get to spend some time with him and bring him a birthday present. Grandma Barbara, of course, fixed us a great dinner too. We really miss being able to eat dinner with our families on a regular basis. We miss them so much and we miss the night off from cooking too!

Riding at Shupe Acres

After a few days spent with family and getting to know everyone again, Grace and I made our quarterly visit to Shupe Acres. My friend Jaimy owns and runs the barn there. She and I rode together when we were teen-agers and got hooked up again about 5 or 6 years ago when she came to look at my horse to buy for a student. I ended up not selling my horse, but just moving him to her barn and we picked up right where we left off as riding buddies. Only, this time, we were both on the verge of becoming mommies. Her little girl, Reese, is a year younger than Grace and they are becoming riding buddies as well. Jaimy and Reese are always so nice to let us keep coming to Shupe Acres to ride when we're in Utah and Reese is usually a gracious host to Grace in sharing her pony, Tucker. She wasn't as happy this time to share as most 2-year-olds don't like sharing at all. Still, she was very nice and let Grace ride her pony and they had many turns together. I did bring Grace's own helmet from Massachusetts with us this time. Everyone thought I was nuts to cart it all the way to Utah for just one pony ride, but it was a very good thing that each girl had her own helmet - sharing the pony was quite enough! Jaimy and I only wish that we could ride together more often than every 3 or 4 months and that Grace and Reese could grow up together a little more closely. Maybe Grace and Reese can go to Hybid Farm's summer pony camp together when they are a little older.

Winter Vacation

I was going to try to blog things as I was on my trip to Utah, but never got around to it. So, now I'll catch up...

Grace and I started our trip on January 17th to Salt Lake. We decided to take a trip after the holidays to avoid all of the confusion and stress that occurs with holiday travel. Being pregnant and traveling with an almost 3-year-old, we didn't make huge plans for activities, but just wanted to spend lots of time with the people we miss and do some shopping that seems to be hard for me to do as I live in Massachusetts.

Our big goal was to get to know my sister's baby, Sean, better and to have Grace spend as much time with grandparents and aunts as possible. We couldn't believe that Sean, a once fragile and tiny little infant with lots of health issues has grown into a very plump and healthy baby who even laughs and smiles and will now let you take him out of the house for more than 20 minutes. He is 5 months old and weighs more than Grace did when she turned one. They are definitely different, but you can tell that they're from the same stock of stubborn and Mitchell blood, both being equally spoiled. Melissa and I debated a lot on whose kid was more demanding of us.

Grace started the trip as she ended the last one, very jealous of Sean and not wanting a thing to do with him. She has never liked babies or dolls and we have been getting worried about how she will react to her quickly arriving little sister.