Sunday, January 18, 2009

Quiz . . .NO wrong answers!

I don't care if you have kids or not . . .take my quiz!

Question #1:
Were YOU born early, on time or late?

Question #2:
If you have kids, were they born early, on time or late?

Question #3:
Which of these items (which I don't have yet but am planning on obtaining) are ESSENTIAL to get BEFORE the arrival of a newborn.
- Diaper Pail (brand recommendations?)
- Baby Bjorn (gently used ok? or no way)
- Bouncer (swing may take up too much space)
- Crib Mattress (gently used ok? or no way. I do have a cradle to use for the first while)
- WTE the First Year Book
- Nursing Bras (ok WHERE to you find a good one? I've looked!)
- Nail Clippers/Baby Grooming Kit

Question #4:
What are you doing for fun on MLK Jr.'s Birthday?

Question #5:

Am I entirely lame-o for not posting any holiday pics until now? (**For more details on our Holiday see bottom of post entitled "Seven" below**)

Christmas Eve

Christmas MorningNew Years
This past week - 34 weeksCradle my dad made for me, now awaiting my little one.

Monday, January 12, 2009

My first video attempt

My attempt at uploading video, enjoy the small tour of our place! Lisa B. mentioned it was easier through YouTube, any tips on how to do that and then upload to blogger? We had to do this in small chunks b/c the original video was too big for blogger to upload all together, kind of tedious. I'm looking for easier options, would love any suggestions. love all ya'll

#1



#2


#3

Sorry, I cut this out b/c i felt like I gave a little too much info for a non-private blog. It was more of the balcony, the stairs and the bathroom. . .

#4



#5

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Bad, The Good, and The Loco. . .

THE BAD . . .
Well, I was SO excited to post my first video today. We received a great video camera for Christmas from Jared's family and were able to purchase an external hard drive with some money my Grandma gave us for Christmas which would allow our computer to have enough memory for the videos. Mostly I was excited to be able to share video with friends and family across the country via the blog when the baby arrives but I thought I'd do a practice run today. I did a little video tour of our apartment and went about taking the steps to post it. I installed all the software that came with the camera, inserted the disc, the video came up on a menu . . .and then my computer crashed. This happened two more times. I was so proud up until this point for having figured it all out myself, but when the computer kept crashing I turned to Jared. He then reminded me that this computer crashes every time we try and play video with Windows Media Player, which is what the camera software is linked to. We've never had issues with Flash and Quicktime, and everything on You Tube works, just not Media Player. In order to fix the problem it would cost money and we'd risk losing a bunch of saved stuff (unless YOU dear reader, have any ideas??)

THE GOOD . . .
Jared took our new external hard drive and connected it to his lap top, we're going to try and install the Camera software to his laptop and save videos through that to the external hard drive and hopefully be able to post them through his laptop, which doesn't crash when we've played videos on media player in the past. (**Note, no pics b/c they're all on the external hard drive which is down stairs with Jared, sorry, boring i know . . .)

THE LOCO . . .
Totally unrelated to all this but not unrelated to what the blog has been about lately . . .I've had pretty normal and common pregnancy symptoms up until now (I'm in my 8th month!). Nothing really worth mentioning. You know, tired, slight nausea, dry skin, head ache, finger nails grow really fast . . .the usual that can all be looked up in the pregnancy books. One thing that I've heard is quite common that I haven't had yet is swelling of the hands and feet. The nurse asks me if I've had any of this as a routine question every time I go in. Last Saturday we came home from an evening at the beach and my feet and ankles really hurt. I thought, well, here we go, swelled up ankles. But they looked normal, I went to bed thinking it would just go away in the morning. I woke up and they still hurt but no swelling. Went to they gym, to work and to Costco and could barely walk, I've never broken my foot but they really felt like the bones were broken. This continued all week! I didn't want to call the doctor, they'd just say rest and that Tylenol was ok. Jared suggested that I wear some real shoes to work. I've been wearing my Rainbow flip flops and Ugg boots and absolutely nothing else. I just feel so constricted in shoes and socks. But it did ease the pain a little. Wednesday came around and it was my first day teaching the Dance Club after school. I hadn't taught a class since June and I was SO excited to be back in my niche. I wasn't at all concerned about this 8 month preggo belly, just my broken feet! Well, I put on shoes with socks, took Tylenol for the 3rd time in my pregnancy, said a prayer and made it through somehow. The class actually was a blast. On Friday at the gym I KNOW I looked funny as I limped home. I already feel like everyone is looking at me anyway, I haven't seen a single other pregnant person at this gym. It's filled with UCI students and the OC Firemen from the station down the street. Finally last night my "broken feet" have begun to feel normal again, so weird. BUT I can't complain. Please please don't think I'm whining. I like being pregnant, I have had it SO easy comparatively . . .and I count my blessings for that. Thanks for reading if you got this far! Hopefully we'll have some video, or at least some pictures soon!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Seven

I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters on my side of the family, 7 of us all together! 12 if you count the spouses of those who are married. The last time we were all in the same place at the same time was at my wedding I believe, nearly 4 1/2 years ago! This past weekend 6 out of 7 were all together in Utah with their spouses and all 10 of my nieces and nephews. My Dr. told me it was best not to travel this far along and we're on a tight budget so we decided not to make the trip for New Years. I just wanted to give a shout out to my siblings and tell them that I miss them and love them. My oldest brother Joel got married to his wife Marisa when I was 12, I've known her over half my life! She called me the other night and told me it wasn't the same having everyone together without me, it was so sweet of her! We are all very different people, we've seen each other grow up and go through different stages in life, but we still love each other and are there for each other. I'm very thankful for each of them and the example they are to me.

On the other side of things, we've had a wonderful Christmas Break and ALL of Jared's siblings were together! They are quite spread apart these days with two in Utah, Jared here, and one in New York. I love you guys and am so happy and blessed to be a part of the White family. It's been so nice living close to Jared's parents the past few months. Can't wait until we're all together again!

If you'd like to keep reading, here is an update on Jared and I (and pregnancy stuff) for the month of December that I sent to my Aunt tonight for the SAVAGE FAMILY NEWSLETTER (my mom's side of the family):

December was a busy month for us (I'm sure it was for everyone!). I'm now in my third trimester and have been seeing the Dr. every two weeks now, three total visits for December because I also received my Rhogam shot. I've gone all my life thinking my blood was A+ because thats what it says on the hospital certificate in my baby book, but then at my first prenatal appointment I was told I was A-, they double checked when I moved and switched Dr.'s in California as well, still A-. Jared is for sure A+. But now I have the shot so we're good until the baby is born. I've also still been working with the 5th and 6th graders part-time and it is keeping me busy. The kids are pretty sweet about my baby and me being pregnant. They make funny comments sometimes and are so worried I'll get hit by the ball or something when we're out for recess. But don't worry, I am careful. For the month of January I've agreed to teach a 1 hour dance class every Wednesday to a mix of kids from the same elementary school. I will be 8 months pregnant, but I think I can do it. It will be pretty simple, not a big technical class like I would teach to older kids.

Jared finished up his first quarter at UC Irvine, he wrote three big papers for his finals which kept him up late there at the end but he did really well on all of them and in his classes. We spent Christmas Break down here in California. I love hearing about the snow in Utah and I am missing it, but I'm trying to enjoy the warm weather out here while we're living here. In order to not miss the snow so much I remind myself that I never have to scrape my car (they don't even sell those things here), or commute in a blizzard. We went to the beach twice this weekend, our favorite little beach that is close by called "Corona del Mar". You still want to have a sweatshirt this time of year and many people do bonfires at night, the ocean is quite beautiful in the dark.

For Christmas we went to Jared's parents house in San Juan Capistrano, about 30 minutes away. All of his siblings were in town and they have befriended a young man who works at the horse stables near their home who came over for Christmas Eve. It was nice to spend some time with them. We played lots of rock band, ate great food, and just had fun hanging out. Over the break I've spent a lot of time "nesting" as well. I made a mattress for the cradle that my dad made for me when I was born and we put together a crib that we got for free from some people in the ward, I'm feeling more ready!

We wish you all a Happy New Year! We love you and you are in our thoughts and prayers. Give all the kids a hug from Uncle Jared and a kiss from Auntie Em!