Ultrasound

I usually silence my cell phone at work but luckily I forgot to last Friday. I was in a one-on-one meeting with the bossman when I heard my phone go off not once - but three separate times within 5 minutes. Now I'm not usually that popular while I'm on the clock so I briefly excused myself to check and see who was trying to catch me.

It was my doctor's office calling to tell me that my doc had a last-minute surgery come up during my scheduled appointment in a few hours. Of course I got heated instantly because I assumed they were going to tell me I had to wait an entire week to come back in since Niels can only ditch school on Friday afternoons. Instead they said that if I could come in right then that I would be seen, or else I would have to wait the week like I assumed. So without even processing the fact I had to ask bossman permission, and without even checking if Niels could get out clinic two hours earlier than expected, I automatically told the nurse I would be there stat.

I was already down the elevator and in my car before I got Niels' voicemail 3 times. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. So I may or may not have called the school operator and told them I had a medical emergency and that Niels needed to call me. Ok, so I did do that. Is that horrible? I just did not want him to miss our first child's ultrasound because I was being selfish and couldn't stand waiting any longer. Yet, I kept on driving like a Utah mom with road rage without knowing if he was going to make it and I felt pretty sick about the whole thing. We finally connected and luckily he didn't have a patient so he was able to just drop everything and meet me.

It was a good thing we rushed there and everything. Only waited a brief 45 minutes in the lobby.

So there we sat waiting, and I was doing everything short of the potty-dance to hold my liquids in for the ultrasound. I finally asked the nurse if I could use the facilities and she looked at me funny. Is she really asking me permission? When I explained that I was holding my liquids for my ultrasound she looked at me even more confused, looked down at my chart, and said that she only had me down a standard office visit today.

I locked stares with the nurse with my onset misty eyes and explained that I hadn't been in for over 7 weeks and just wanted to know that everything was ok with our child and that the doctor said we would be looking at the development today.

Long story short - I misunderstood my doctor at my last appointment - or so he says - and no ultrasound was scheduled for another 3 weeks.

But alas, I discovered that tears and a pathetic sappy frown go a long way when your pregnant. I think my brother-in-law says it best: "Never say no to a pregnant lady." When we finally went back to a room, our doctor came in and eventually gave into my hormonal antics. He said it would be too premature to look at all the organs and all the other good stuff that day but that we could do the gender ultrasound if we wanted to. Um, yes please.

Needless to say we spent the next 20 minutes with a friendly ultrasound tech who showed us a lot more than just the gender. Our little girl appears to be growing nicely and her innards look good so far. It was crazy to see her moving around on the ultrasound screen becasue I couldn't feel it at all! I'm sure that will change in a month or two. Anyway, the body is fascinating and I am amazed everyday by what this little one doing.


We've got a little poser. Propped up on her side with her hand on her head. And that tiny bum!

Old Wives' Tales

I enjoy surprises and spontaneous events. But my other half, well more like my other three-fourths, is slightly anal and an organized planner by nauture. Thus the reason I am not one of those women that wants the gender of their baby to be a surprise.

The suspense is killing me.

We have an ultrasound tomorrow and I have had a few pep talks with the little peanut. Well to be politically correct, baby J is the size of an avacado this week, but that sounds weird. Nonetheless, I told the little avacado that there will be none of this leg-crossing shy business. We want to see spread eagle frog formation on camera tomorrow.

In the meantime I thought it would be entertaining to test a few wives' tales for kicks and giggles.

Chinese Prediciton Chart:
My best friend swears by this ancient method as it has worked on all 3 of her babies. But then again she is a little wacky. Basically you find the mother's age and then the month of conception.

Now I am a tricky grasshopper becasue my b-day is in February, and that's the month when the magic happened (TMI?) so I don't know if I was 25 or 26 which is the difference between a boy or girl.



Result: Non-conclusive.

Golden Pendent Test:
The test: Hang a gold pendant over the palm of the mother’s hand. If the pendant moves in a circular motion, it will be a girl. If it swings back and forth, a boy is on the way.

Well riddle me this old wives, what the heck does it mean if it swung in a circular motion over my left palm and a back and forth motion over my right?

Result: Non-conclusive.

Cravings:
The test: Craving sweets like chocolate? Then a sweet little girl is headed your way. However, if sour and salty things like citrus and pickles are your thing, then a boy is on the way.

I haven't had a ton of cravings but I certainly prefer saltier foods, which is soooo not usually like me. I am a usually a candy junkie and it pretty much sounds disgusting most days. The only things I have needed as a result of sudden impulse are: Taco Bell, Orange Chicken and Sonic Cherry Limeades. Super healthy.

Result: Boy

Acne:
The Test: Take a a good look in the mirror. Zitty teen complexion, girl. Soft and smooth without a blemish, boy.

Result: Boy


Baby Heart Rate:
Now this one seemed to me to be the most scientific, but it has been proven to be just a myth. But we will play along anyway. The Test: over 140 bpm its a speedy little girl, under 140 and its a low key little boy. At ten weeks Baby J was 160 bpm.

Result: Girl

Soooo basically we have no idea and the old wives are full of it. However, my maternal insticnts are telling me boy, but the father says girl. Stay tuned.

Shake it up

For all you pregnant/non pregnant people , this is a really good protein shake that I discovered while blog stalking a few weeks ago. You do it too, don't judge.

It is quite delicious and filling. When everything else sounds horrible this still hits the spot. Anyway, thought i'd share the wealth. I usually eat it with a piece of dry toast.

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 cup of nonfat milk
1 cup frozen fruit (i like the frozen mixed berry mix from Costco)
half a banana
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked oats (this makes the texture kind of gritty so if you're not into that sort of thing, nix this)

Skidattle to Seattle

I have been pondering the many lifestyle changes a child will bring. Many friends have offered varying candid advice about this very thing, and while everyone seems to have their own little "thing" that rocked their world when kids arived on the scene, every single person mentions how easy traveling was pre-kiddos.

For this reason, we have decided to "babymoon" in Seattle in July. We wanted to go somewhere besides our usual SoCal getaway and somewhere that was relatively close since we only have 4 days to jam this thing in.

I have only been to the rainy city for a quick day trip, but I have heard mostly great things all around. I am soliciting you all for any suggestions on cool things to do/places to see & eat. Let's be honest, I'm mostly concerned about the latter since I will be pleasantly plump with child by this time.

Jessica, please do not suggest driving to Forks to see where Bella and Edward met.

Mu husband has a mistress. Her name is music.

He could spend all day with her if it were up to him, but luckily he knows who # 1 is.

He is so extremely open-minded about so many different styles and genres of music, in fact he started guest blogging on this music blog. However, he will not recognize a single country artist or song as quality music. He literally despises it all. With a passion actually.

I rounded up one of my best cowgirls to go to the Ketih Urban concert with me last week since Niels can't help himself but mock this picture everytime it comes up from shuffle on my iPod. Granted the man has a better frosted weave than I do ...



Niels also hates the fact that I have kind of, sorta have a secret crush on Tim McGraw. This just made it all the more amusing when I found out recently that they share the same birthday - May 1st. Coincidence? I think not.

Sappy

I'm not usually a mushy/sappy person, but with the recent surge of hormones racing through my body I can't really help that I got choked up today ...

• Watching the Today show and saw footage of a 11 year-old girl embracing her family after being lost in an alligator ridden swamp for 4 days.


• Driving to work when I looked back over my shoulder to my typically empty back seat. I suddeny pictured a little car seat back there and got all misty-eyed. I'm riduculous.


• Thinking about my best friend's daughter turning 13 yesterday. Where did time go? I am old!


• Looking at Noelle's birth/hospital pictures of her new son.


• Looking at Jessica's new blog header with her family and her itty bitty Conner on her shoulder. So precious. I miss them so much.


• Realizing my phone has been textless and quiet all week because Shea is still in Brazil.


• And on a superficial note: I got choked up when my button popped on my favorite work pants. I guess it's time to do that silly rubber band trick.

3

This year...

1. We are celebrating our 3rd anniversary

2. Niels starts his 3rd year of school.

3. We are adding a 3rd member to our family.

They say good things happen in three's.

I'm a believer.

Dogs, snails and puppy dog tails

You have all heard about my fabulous nieces and the girly sleep overs.

After eleven years of dress-up, hair bows and lip gloss ... it looks like I am going to have to add some trucks, legos and tools to the toy box. Look who decided to rock our world.

Introducing the first nephew/grandson im my family:



Baby Aidan

Looking forward to trying to figure out this whole boy thing.

Swanky

Bob hair, feathers, lace, flapper dress, pearls, hats, vests, smokes, speakeasies & mobs.

I'm sure you have been asked at some point in your life the question of where you would go if you could time travel. I think it would be awesome to revisit the 20s; sans the whole depression part.

We went to a roaring 20s themed murder mystery party this month with Niels' dental crew gang. We were slightly skeptical since we have never been to one of these shindigs before. We thought it could either be very corny or pretty awesome depending on the spectrum of participation from all the "characters".

I'm thinking that I could pull off a platinum bob ....

"Kitty Cocktail" and "Cy Ramsey"


Needless to say there were no lame among us and it was swanky good time.

My Lucky Charms

I love being an aunt in case you didn't know.

My girls came over for a sleepover last week. We are thrilled that my sister recently started letting Avery, the hilarious and ever so micheivious 2 year-old, join her older sisters in all the fun. We made homeade pizzas, went to Yogurtland and Uncle Niels read bedtime stories.

After a late night of good times and an early start to the day at 6:15 am (for some reason they cannot sleep in at our house) I decided to go mess up my sister's kitchen and bake some St.Patty's rainbow cupcakes. Or, "nupcakes" as Avery calls them.

They were super easy and they loved them. Really you could do them for any holiday and just change up the colors.

Pre-term

While my given name is Susan, if you know me well enough hopefully you would agree that I am very much not a Susan, and a complete Susie.

I often question if Susie will become too juvenile of a name at a certain age. Something seems weird about a 70 year-old Susie. I don't know why I fuss over it so much. But I will argue that the Susie to Susan jump is far more life-changing than say Mike to Michael or Matt to Matthew. I don't know why, it just is.

I had a brief experience last week that almost forced me into pre-term Susan before I was ready to go there and age myself 20 years.

I started a new job last month and I am obviously still acclimating to the office and my colleagues. My new bossman is a little intimidating. I'm sure that will change over time, but he called me into his office last week and the following conversation occurred, or something like unto it:

Boss: (In a slightly annoyed tone) “Please call IT today and have them change your name to Susan Jensen in the system. There is another Susie Jensen in the company directory that works in our Arizona division and it is causing problems when I try to email you. It will just be easier all-around if you go by Susan ... thanks.”

Silently I stood in front of him with my compliant, “yes sir”, “ jump how high?” new employee face, completely annoyed with "Arizona Susie." I processed my options and counter-offered the big guy.

Me: “Can I have IT try and hard-code my name somehow into your Outlook so you don’t have any problems? I’d really rather not go by Susan if at all possible.”

Needless to say Susie Jensen lives happily ever after. The end.

Tell me how you really feel . . .

I knew Niels didn't enjoy the smell of my nighttime lip balm, but I didn't realize the extent . . .

Groupie Love

We defrosted in southern California for the second week of Niels's break. The main catalyst for the trip was a "Home for the Holidays" reunion show for the band he played in during college, Orange Whip Groove.

Most of the fellas (well actually all of them) are from California, but they graciously allowed a Las Vegan in their circle to tickle the keys.

It was great to see the whole crew and hear about all the changes real life has brought in a short three years. For some, a few kids are now in the mix, coupled with some real jobs, and some are still living the grad school dream.



I wasn't really expecting much in terms of a turnout, but the venue was pretty awesome and there were over 100 people there. Not too shabby! It was fun to revert to the groupie days of following the band around for all their gigs. Nice work OWG!

>

Roots

My roots run deep roots in Malad, Idaho. Having only spent the first four years of my life there, I don't remember nearly as much as my three older siblings do. But that's ok considering that I am the most normal of my kin since I lived the least amount of time there.

While the town doesn't mean a lot to many people, perhaps not even some it's residents . . . it is very symbolic to me. It is a heavy reminder of my amazing family roots, and of the wonderful times of my family before my dad passed away. Thoughts of "what if " flood my mind every time I visit . . . mostly what if we actually stayed and I grew up here?

While this is simply the only grocery store in the town to most, Thomas Market or Thomas Foodtown is the grocery store my grandfather built and operated. He passed the torch down to my uncle, and he recently sold it to his son (in the photo). It obviously has been updated over the years with all the bells and whistles. I sure hope the Walmart empire will never ruin this place.

Circa 1980s






Where else can you get "Ho-made" pie?


The legendary Malad Drive-in. It was closed the day we went and I had to forgo the iron port and cheese snack combo I had been dreaming of for weeks. Saddest. day. ever.





Our house. So crazy to me that I lived here since I obviously don't remember it at all.



My dad's resting place

Forgive the duplicity of this post me if you follow Jessica's blog.

My best friend is pretty much amazing for many reasons but mostly these three:

• She has 3 children and she is my age
• She is graduating with her masters degree in May
• She attended my wedding 7 days after giving birth AND slapped on a bridesmaid dress.

Well, I was lucky enough to go visit her and her fam last month to see her new baby boy, Conner. He is a miracle baby after spending nearly a month in the NICU with a few minor complications. He's a tiny man and I love him! I brought him a few 0-3 months outfits and I think they will fit around 9 months.

All gussied up for his blessing. So handsome.



Nothing like a frigid downtown Reno parade!







Cute lil' momma



Me and the Sadie lady


So maybe I get a little nervous when it snows really hard. Especially when I have to travel in it. And maybe I over-exaggerate a little when it comes to inclement weather. It stormed in Reno and I thought I was going to be snowed in for weeks. While I could think of worse things than being stuck with the bff, life goes on and a girls needs to get home. So when life deals me bad weather, I hire the local teenage potheads from her complex to shovel us out!

(Notice Jessica cheering them on the background.)