Rob & Reb

Preggalicious

2012-01-12T16:23:00.001-07:00

I actually have the urge to blog for once--imagine that!! I figured the first post in my official return to the blogging world should be our big announcement--we're expecting our second baby! Many of you already know this, but it's not official until you blog about it, right? :)

So here's the breakdown:
-Positive pregnancy test October 19. (And yes, it was a Dollar Tree pregnancy test again. They really do work!)
-Due date was estimated to be June 14.
-Ultrasound performed on December 2 confirmed estimated due date.Here's a shot of our little peanut v2.0 in action!

Isn't he sweet? Yes, I said "he," but that doesn't mean we know anything yet. I just claim that it HAS to be a boy because all of my siblings who have at least two kids (all six of them) have had the same gender for the first two (or more). Thus, our second child must be a boy, lest I become the black sheep.

Today I am 18 weeks along and feeling really great. The first trimester was pretty comparable to my first pregnancy; I felt gross a lot of the time, especially in the mornings and evenings, but thankfully no severe nausea or throwing up. I think I felt less tired this time around because I was really good at getting 8+ hours of sleep every night, plus the occasional nap during the day. My skin has been much clearer, which I attribute to the fact that I'm not working 40-60 hours per week at a high-stress job with an hour-long commute each way.

When I was pregnant with Gavin I continued my normal exercise routine, which meant running a 5.5-mile course twice per week, plus another day of exercising either on the elliptical or a shorter run. I kept that up my whole pregnancy, and even ran 5.5 miles the day before I went into labor. I like to joke that it was more of a shuffle than a jog, but still, I did it!

I was disappointed that I hadn't kept track of how many miles I ran while I was pregnant, so I decided that this time around I would keep a running log. I didn't start keeping track before I knew I was pregnant, so it won't be for my entire pregnancy, but that's okay. I set a goal to run at least 500 miles before the baby is born. I'm excited--it's going well so far. I've passed the 200-mile mark since October 19 and I haven't had to slow down my pace yet, which is nice. This time around I'm not running more than four miles at a time, but I am running five days per week.

I really miss running outside, but it's just too cold for me to feel okay about Gavin being in the stroller for that long--his hands get so icy! So I have started using our treadmill that we bought last spring, and I am so grateful that we have it! It is so nice to not have to go anywhere to exercise. I just turn on a movie and get some snacks for Gavin, and he's good for my whole run. He is such a sweetie!

I decided to go to a midwives clinic this time around. Last pregnancy I went to the OB who delivered me and four of my siblings, and we just didn't click. I tried to ask him a question once about episiotomies, and he acted like I was attacking his practices and judgment as a doctor when I was just asking a simple question that a lot of nervous first-time mothers have. Besides that, it seemed like the only thing he could think of to talk about with me was my mom. I love my mom and all, but I was the one who was pregnant at the time, so I kind of wanted to talk about ME! Selfish, I know.

Anyway, I decided to try a midwives clinic that my sister went to for her last two babies and really liked. I guess I just have bad luck because the day of my first appointment, I waited an hour and a half before anyone even saw me. Then, their server was down, so they couldn't take my history or do much of anything. Very frustrating. I decided to give them a second chance; every office has bad days and I figured it must have been a fluke.

At my next visit, I was told that only one midwife was in the office again, and they had a girl in labor so she might have to leave before she even saw me. Awesome!! That means that even if she does see me, she'll be in a hurry to rush me out as quickly as she can! (*sarcasm*)

Luckily she did see me before she had to rush off, but she was an idiot. Okay, she wasn't an idiot, I just thought her people skills really, really sucked. First of all, she had to have seen that I hadn't had any history taken, but didn't bother taking one or even mentioning it. I had to ask about the results from my bloodwork because she didn't bring it up.

When she tried to check the baby's heartbeat, she just wasn't pressing hard enough and I could tell. I almost even told her to just push harder because she kept getting my heartbeat instead of the baby's. Here's where things went really downhill.

Midwife: "So Sue was able to find the heartbeat at your 12-week checkup?"
Me: "Yes."
Midwife: "Because usually it's easier to find the heartbeat at 16 weeks than it is at 12 weeks. Have you felt like you are still pregnant lately?"
Me: "Yes."
Midwife: "Like you've still had nausea and the other stuff you had before?"
Me: "Well, not as much as before, but that's normal in your second trimester, right?"
Midwife: "I think we'll just check with our little ultrasound machine to make sure everything is okay. Sometimes when we can't find the heartbeat everything's okay, and sometimes there is something wrong, so let's just check so we know for sure."

I hadn't felt any dramatic changes in my pregnancy before this, so I wasn't super nervous--this is what I say after the fact, but at the time my heart was racing a little bit. But seriously--who asks a pregnant girl if she feels like she's still pregnant when they have trouble finding the heartbeat?!! You work with pregnant women EVERY DAY and this is how you handle a situation like this? Needless to say, I was pretty upset by the whole thing and I am not going back.

I found a new OB to see; my first visit is in a couple of weeks. Wish me better luck than I've had so far! I am pretty bummed because I had my 20-week ultrasound scheduled for the 24th, but now I have to wait until after I see the new doctor on the 26th to even schedule an ultrasound. Oh well, it's not worth dealing with those midwives just to find out what I'm having a week earlier.

We'll keep everyone posted on any news, and hopefully we'll know the gender before February.

Mr. Gavin goes to Washington

2011-11-01T17:12:00.001-06:00

Wow, it's been a long, long time. For shame! I have even started a couple of blog posts, but just never finished. Well, let's see if I can get this one published before life distracts me again!

In October Rob had to go to Washington, D.C. for work. We have wanted to do a vacation-on-top-of-work trip for a long while now because hey, it's really great to only have to pay one airfare. It just hasn't worked out, though, either because of scheduling problems or lack of interesting destination. But Washington, D.C.? Count me in!

Our biggest concern with the trip was the 4.5-hour plane ride both ways. Gavin had never been on an airplane before, so it seemed pretty gutsy for this to be our first flight. But I went a-shoppin' and bought more books and toys than you can imagine to keep Gavin busy and happy. We also splurged on a portable dvd player, which will be nice to have for many future trips. So how did the flight out go? It was amazing!! Gavin was so good and so happy. He made friends with the people around us and wasn't fussy or anything! We were SOOOO relieved, to say the least.

While in D.C., we tried to see as much as we could without Gavin going nuts. Basically, that meant we would walk a lot and see sites for as little time as possible before going on to the next. Official tours and solemn places were out of the question.

So what did we see? Let me show you!

First view of the Washington Monument

Here we have a series of pictures that may explain why we are so "into" self-portraits. We are in the mall, about to take a picture with the Capitol Building in the background. A friendly stranger offers to take a picture for us. Sure! What could possibly go wrong? She takes the picture and when we check it out, this is what we see:

What a beautiful picture! Was this taken anywhere in the world besides Washington, D.C.?--because it could have been!

We try to stay positive and tell her that it's great, but could she maybe take another where we are to the side of the Capitol Building? (You know, the whole point of taking the picture . . . ) She says she can do that and takes the camera back. I'm in the middle of saying who-knows-what, and she snaps the picture.

Yes, this is exactly how I wanted my face to look. Thank you, stranger!!

How is it possible that anyone takes a picture and doesn't count to three first?! In contrast to her valiant efforts, here's the shot we got by ourselves.

Love it!!

And for those of you who tend to get concerned about things like this, don't worry--our duck made it along for the trip. :)

We also went to the Lincoln Memorial. To get there, you take a nice stroll along the beautiful reflecting pool . . . unless you go after they have torn it out for some reason. Then you get to walk along a really long mud hole with lots of cool tractors and trucks parked in it. That may have been Gavin's favorite part of the trip.

And we made it! The kind stranger we encountered here seemed to understand picture-taking much better than the first one.

Seriously so cool!

While in D.C., we had dinner with Rob's buddies Casey, who he knows from high school, and Clayton, who he knows from BYU. They are roommates which is a pretty cool coincidence since they met in D.C. and not through Rob. They are both really great guys and it was a lot of fun to hang out for a bit. Casey was even nice enough to come rescue us when we were lost and couldn't catch a cab to dinner.

We ate at this really great restaurant called something. I can't remember. Have I ever mentioned that I have a really bad memory? This place had some of the best macaroni and cheese I've ever tasted, ever. Gavin had fallen asleep on the way there, and kept sleeping while we waited for our table, which was nuts because the place was so loud. When he woke up, he was not happy to be in a strange, dim, loud place, but he eventually cheered up.

Doesn't he just look old in this picture?

We also went to the Air and Space Museum. Gavin took his flying lessons very seriously.

We made it to Arlington National Cemetery, which I guess kind of breaks our rule of not going to solemn places.

JFK Gravesite

Gavin was good for the most part . . . until the part at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where they ask you to stand and be silent. Many glares were received from others, but we got the situation under control pretty quickly.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We were very grateful to find this Jimmy John's open past 8:00 on Sunday night. We were on Utah time, so dinner at 6:00 (a.k.a. 4:00 to us) just wasn't appealing.

We saw the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. So cool!

Little bit of White house action.

I swear this is the Jefferson Memorial. Man, this thing took forever to walk to!

From the Jefferson Memorial you can see the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument. It is the thing I wanted to see most while we were there (mostly because it's new), but this is as close as we got.

Way too far away for our tired feets to walk to!

Here is the view from our hotel room.

Can you see the Capitol Building next to the orb?

Our last half-day we went to the National Geographic Society something-something museum. They had an interactive thing called Grossology that had tons of facts and displays about animals. When I heard "Grossology" my first thought was "Oh, like gross anatomy" which means large-scale (like the opposite of micro). Nope, it's exactly what it sounds like--gross facts about animals. Not the greatest experience for an anal-retentive gal like me.

See the tapeworm display with a toilet behind us?

The day we came home, our flight was in the afternoon. Gavin still hadn't had a nap, and he was getting REALLY unhappy. Luckily for us and everyone else on board, he crashed as we were boarding. Yay!! He only slept about 45 minutes, but that's all he needed to be his cheery self again. :)

He was great the whole ride home, but was really done with airplanes by the time we got to SLC. The plane was at the gate and everyone was getting their baggage down, waiting for their turn to get off. Gavin just kept hitting the leg of the lady in front of us, and trying to push her out of the way. Poor kid! Overall, though, he was a total champ. We had such a great time!

"Hey--

2011-08-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

do you want me to get you anything while I'm in here?"

July is over?

2011-08-01T21:53:00.000-06:00

I just haven't been in a blogging mood in a really, really long time. I'm still not really feeling it, but I am feeling the guilt of NOT blogging, so here's a post. So what have we been up to?

The Fourth of July weekend was a lot of fun! On Friday morning we went to the hot air balloon festival. Gavin got really excited seeing all of the balloons. We got there early enough to see most of them get blown up and take off.

They had a Darth Vader balloon that was really cool, along with actors dressed as Storm Troopers, Darth Vader, etc. We thought this was a great opportunity for a really cool picture. Gavin disagreed.

Poor boy!!

"Why are you just standing there with the camera, mommy?! Save me!"

He was okay once we got him away from the mean man in white.

On Monday we went to the parade. My sister, Rachel, and her family camp out overnight to get a good spot, and they let us mooch off of their hard work and sit with them. :)

Despite our best efforts to repeatedly apply sunscreen, Gavin's cheeks were bright red by the end. I was so relieved that he turned out to just be hot, not sunburned.

Relaxin' with Rachel

For the 24th of July we went to another parade. Gavin was very pleased about all of the horses in both of these parades. When he sees them, he points and makes his sweet little look-at-that sound. I just really love the atmosphere at parades--everyone is happy and there is a sense of community and patriotism.

The thing that has driven me nuts this year is all the fireworks! Having kids definitely makes holidays more fun, but it can make holidays more stressful, too. I'm glad we're not in a drought for the first time in who-knows-how-many years, but I was not a fan of all the aerial fireworks that were allowed this year. They are so stinkin' loud!! I tried not to be a total party-pooper; I only asked my neighbors to stop one time when it was past 10:30 p.m. and it wasn't even a holiday weekend. If it's a special occasion or holiday, go for it, but be reasonable about how late you finish. And if it's not a holiday, be considerate of the multitude of babies trying to sleep and give their mommies a break, too!! Okay, I'm finished with my rant for now.

In other really, really big news (seriously, it's so huge it's going to be in all caps) GAVIN IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!! This deserves its own blog post, and it might get one at some future date. I have always loved Gavin to death, but when your baby is not a good sleeper, your love is mingled with this awful dread and frustration. Now that I am actually getting some decent sleep, I feel like a new person and a new mommy. I am so much happier (duh, right?) and completely relieved. Man, this took a long time. Please, please, please tell me that the next baby won't take 14 months! Pretty please!

Here's my favorite picture of Gavin in a while.

We went to a luau for Rob's work party last Friday night. It was fun to see Rob for once; he's been working like crazy! Gavin was a big hit at the party. People loved his onesie and couldn't believe he was keeping his sunglasses on. The food was great and I'm sure the entertainment was wonderful, but we had to leave early to get Gavin to bed.

And finally, to end this post, a list of Gavin's latest tricks.
-Says mama (used to say nana, but now it's mama), dada, banana, moo, cracker, and hiss
-Favorite books are Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs; Belly Button Book; That's Not My Tiger; Head to Toe (he claps his hands, thumps his chest, and kicks his legs); and lift-the-flap Peekaboo books
-Loves to growl and actually has a really good growl. My mom gets him to growl so often that he now starts to growl when he sees her.
-Loves giving kisses to stuffed animals and mirrors. When I say, "Give momma kisses" he shakes his head no. Sometimes he'll give me kisses anyway, and immediately shakes his head no when he's done, like he's just realized his error.
-Loves watching videos on our phones and the computer, especially videos with animals
-When you say, "Are you going to relax on the pillows?" he lovingly tackles them and buries his face in them
-Can point to his ear, hair, nose, eyes, and belly button, waves his hands, and sticks out his tongue
-He is really steady standing without holding on to anything. He'll take a few steps here and there, but prefers to crawl. Today he took the most steps ever--he went from the couch to the love seat at my mom's house, which was probably about eight steps. He was completely steady and did it so easily, but when we tried to get him to do it again, he just got mad. Later today he took some more steps on two separate occasions, but he would just rather crawl for now. He is 100% capable of walking, but only 20% interested.

Gavin loves dolphin friend

2011-06-15T20:56:00.000-06:00

When we went to Sea World, we stopped in one of the gift shops. Gavin saw a display of stuffed animal dolphins and instantly fell in love! He grabbed one by the nose and was giving it tons of kisses and was just so, so happy!

We convinced him to say good-bye to the dolphin and he was so sweet about it. He didn't cry or throw a fit; he just gave it a cute little wave and we were on our way.

After we left the gift shop, we decided that it would be too much fun to go back and buy the dolphin without Gavin seeing it, and film his reaction when we gave it to him. I think he was happy about his new friend. What do you think?

Family vacation to San Diego

2011-06-14T21:10:00.002-06:00

Like I mentioned in the previous post, we took a vacation for our anniversary. We started by driving to Las Vegas for a night.

Gavin felt right at home with pots and pans to entertain him.

The next day we headed to San Diego. After a day of taking it easy/anniversary times, we spent a day at the zoo.

We saw lots of great animals, like monkeys.

We saw lots of the standard zoo animals, like giraffes, elephants, and zebras. Gavin liked seeing all of the animals, but his favorite were the turtles.

We had a great time at the zoo, even if we didn't have time to see most of it.

I guess it must be exhausting to be so adorable, because this is how Gavin spent the last half hour or so at the zoo.

The San Diego temple was only 5-10 minutes from our hotel, so we took Gavin to see the outside.

What a spectacular building! And it's right next to the freeway; literally can't miss it.

The next day we went to Sea World. Despite my very mixed feelings (ever seen the movie The Cove?), we managed to have a great time.

Gavin seemed to enjoy most of the fish/animals. He especially liked when they would move a lot or make a lot of noise.

We saw the big whale show, Believe. It was actually the last week they did that show; definitely cool stuff. Gavin wasn't really into the shows because we tended to show up late and get seats waaaaaay in the back, so he probably couldn't really see what was going on as well.

I just love this picture of my boys!

Outside the front gate. We always thought to take pictures with the sign at the front on our way out, rather than our way in. Hopefully we don't look too worn out. :)

One day we went to the historic Gaslamp Quarter to just walk around and get some lunch. We went to the cheese shop, which was perfect for us because we really, really like great sandwiches.

Rob got the this beautiful number, featuring pork loin and avocado. Mmmmmmmm.

I got the three cheese grilled cheese. Have I ever mentioned how much I love cheese? Because I really, really do.

This grilled cheese was the best I've ever had, if for no other reason than the insane amount of cheese.

We also went to the beach, but it was much too chilly to even think about getting in the water past your ankles.

We went in the evening and it was so, so pretty.

Rob tried to show Gavin how fun the waves can be, but he wasn't really into it/looked terrified, so they didn't stay out too long.

Gavin's favorite game on this vacation was pulling my sunglasses down from the top of my head onto my nose. I would say, "Thank you" in a silly voice. Then he would put them back on top of my head and I would say, "Hi." We did this so often that he would reach for my sunglasses, even when I wasn't wearing them.

Our last full day in San Diego we went to the zoo's Safari Park.

To the left is a hot air balloon you can ride. This picture only shows a very small portion of the grounds there.

Even though everything is so spaced out and a lot of the animals are really far away, we actually got a lot closer to the elephants here than we did to the ones at the zoo. They even had two babies, and one of them got really close to us.

Finally our time in San Diego came to an end. We spent a day driving to St. George. The drive wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. At one point, we were at a dead stop on the freeway for about 45 minutes 100 miles outside of Las Vegas. People were getting out of their cars and just hanging out. Finally traffic started moving and we never figured out why it was even stopped. Annoying!

I think the wind followed us our whole trip. It was windy while we were in San Diego. It was windy everywhere we stopped on our way to St. George. (This picture was taken in Primm, Nevada.) It was windy the one day we spent in St. George, too. Oh well.

We always like to spend a day in St. George with my brother, Ryan, and his family. They are so, so fun. They said that since they don't get to be around for any of our birthdays, they wanted to throw us a birthday party. Isn't that so great/awesome/unbelievably nice?

They made a big banner for us

and had a whole bunch of balloons.

They had party hats

and gave us all presents. Here is Gavin with his orange ball

and here is Rob with his awesome hat! Not pictured: my pink "Beauty Rest" sleep mask that I love, love, love! Also not pictured: the sweet drawings made for us by Katie and Ellie. Seriously, they could not be nicer.

They even had yummy, yummy cake made by the amazing Karen. Thanks so much! What a perfect ending to such a great vacation.

Quick post: anniversary

2011-06-07T12:50:00.000-06:00

Rob and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on May 23rd.

Our wedding day was seriously perfect in every way.

We were on vacation on our anniversary. Luckily our long driving days were over, so that day we were able to just take it easy.

We asked around for an Indian food restaurant and found this dandy, Star of India. Our internal clocks were still on Utah time and we were working around a baby's schedule, so the place was EMPTY.

"Let me order for you!"

"Being married is the tops!"

"Here, here!"

Yummy appetizer stuff to dip things in


Rob enjoying the goods: naan, pineapple chicken, and chicken tikka misala

These five years have brought a lot of changes. I definitely feel older! I'm so glad to have such a great friend to spend all my days with. You make my ups worthwhile and get me through my downs. Thanks for everything, Rob. I love you!

Quick post: emo jammies!

2011-06-07T12:33:00.001-06:00

These pajamas are super, super snug on Gavin. I wouldn't say they're too small; they fit so well, it's almost like they were made for him. Rob and I were talking about how fitted they are, and Rob said that Gavin looks emo in them. That made me laugh my pants off!

Quick post: Gavin's cakesmash

2011-06-07T08:22:00.000-06:00

My family has a tradition where for a baby's first birthday, we give them their own cake and let them have at it. We had Gavin's cakesmash on Mother's Day. Even though it felt like Gavin's special day, R&G went all out for me. They got me some super pretty roses, and lots of goodies besides.

That evening we had the big event!

He wasn't sure at first

Then he seemed to get the idea

He loves Oreos!

Animé face appeared many times

The most people in our house ever, part I

The most people in our house ever, part II

Self-portrait! Surprise, Rob!!

The aftermath

We had such a good time! Thanks to everyone who made it, and thanks to such a fun and sweet baby boy!

Quick post: family pictures

2011-06-06T21:59:00.001-06:00

We got some great one-year pictures of Gavin.

We decided to get some family pictures while we were at it. I really like this one.

Once again, Gavin is still not a fan of this:

Quick post: Gavin turns one!

2011-06-06T21:49:00.000-06:00

Gavin turned one year old on May 6th! It feels like it's only been a couple months in some ways, and it feels like it's been several years in others. We didn't want to go too crazy for his birthday, so we tried to keep it simple. I'm not sure we succeeded.

I am happy to report that he truly enjoys most of his presents so far, although I think I might like playing with his ball popper more than he does. :)

Doesn't he just look too old and grown up now that he's one year old?! At his 12-month checkup he weighed in at 19 pounds (5-10 percentile) and 29 inches long.

We followed the tradition of my sister and took a picture of Gavin with the same stuffed animal every month. Here's the unbelievable progression of change that occurred in 12 short months.

Newborn

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

What a sweet boy! I can't believe how much he has changed. I love him more every day!!

Quick post: Rob's birthday

2011-06-06T21:24:00.000-06:00

Okay, I haven't blogged in over a month. There have been days when I have time to do it, I just don't feel like it. Anyone else feel like that sometimes? I think at this point the only way I am actually going to get any posts done is to make them short, a.k.a. possibly boring. I don't want to just skip anything, though, so I'm still going to do all of the posts I think I should do. Maybe these will be my greatest posts ever, because you'll see lots of pictures without all the usual annoying commentary. :)

With that said, I present Rob's birthday!! Rob turned 30 on May 1st. We had a wickedly sweet party! There was an amazing ice cream bar with about ten types of mix-ins, plus lots of awesome people who came to celebrate. Here's a picture of the party! (Our guests seemed to arrive in two distinct waves; this was the second one.)

And here's what Gavin did for Rob's birthday. What a sweet boy!

Love you, honey!

Metamorphosis: Beardsy to Smoov Cheeks

2011-04-27T21:34:00.000-06:00

Rob decided to grow a beard a while ago. I think it suits him very well, but I'm also a sucker for a clean-shaven hubsy. Please enjoy the pictures of his change from "Beardsy" to "Smoov Cheeks."

This change was done within about an hour. It started with a haircut and continued with progressively less facial hair.

Beardsy: a man's man

Short hair, longy-long beard

Phatty chops

Handlebar

Smoov Cheeks emerges!

What a darling!

We worried that Gavin would be nervous around New Daddy, but we had him watch the whole thing and he took it in stride with no problems.

Good to have you back, Smoov Cheeks, but I'm sure we'll see Beardsy again in the future. Love you!

Busy weekend

2011-04-20T15:04:00.001-06:00

Two weekends ago I took Saturday off work and we had a big day out! We started with a baby shower for an old mission companion, which was basically a mini-mission reunion. I took pictures of everyone's kiddies. Here is the guest of honor, Layton's baby Aliyah.

Man, has she got some cheeks and some hair! I think I must have made her a bit nervous; look how big her eyes are!

The shower was at Ebenard's house, and here is her girl Izzy reading books with Gavin.

We always called Ebenard "Mom" on the mission, and it's fun to see Mini-Mom helping the other kids around the house.

Alleman brought her two boys and shame on me, I can only remember one of their names and I can't remember which one is which! Her younger boy didn't want his picture taken at all.

Her older boy was much more obliging.

Marcie was there with her two little towheads, Benjamin and Maylee. I love, love, love his face in this picture!

Mayle had a great time with all of Izzy's girly things. What a sweetie!

Oh, and of course there's my sweetie!! He did really well around the crowd. For a long while in the past, he had a major case of stranger anxiety, but he was really friendly with everyone and waved hi and smiled a lot.

After the shower, we killed some time at Ikea (not hard to do), then we went to have dinner with our good friends, Tim & Jean and Weston!! For those who don't know Tim and Jean, you should be very, very jealous. I can't tell you how many times in the past I whined to Rob that they needed to move back to Utah. Well, my whining must have done some good because they're back!!

Rob and I are such fans of T&J that we got married on their anniversary. And even though it was their anniversary, they are so awesome that they came to our reception, anyway. See?!

We caught up at their place for a while, then went to dinner at Cafe Rio. Weston did not want to have his picture taken.

But I caught him anyway! hehe

Gavin seemed to have a good time, too.

He especially liked Jean and her magical peek-a-boo powers. :)

And here's a picture of ol' Beardsy, as I like to call him.

We had such a good time that day seeing so many good friends who we don't often get to see. It was seriously one of the best days I've had in a long time.

On Sunday we went to the mission farewell of my nephew, Andrew. He is headed to the St. Louis, Missouri mission. He gave a great talk and it's awesome to see how excited he is to serve.

We had a yummy lunch at his house after church. Gavin got to try his first piece of cantaloupe. I think he's a fan.

And here's Gavin with his cousin, Andrew.

What a great way to end an amazing weekend!

Animé Face Gavin

2011-04-12T17:32:00.000-06:00

For at least a month now, Gavin has been making this really sweet face which Rob and I refer to as Animé Face. If you don't already know, animé refers to Japanese animation. Usually when animé characters are happy, their eyes get super squinty, they raise their eyebrows, and they smile. These are two of the best examples I could find of a happy animé face. (Sorry, Brandon and Dustin; I don't know who these characters are.)

At first, it was hard to get a picture of him making the face. After a while, though, he started doing it so frequently that it wasn't a problem. I know this is a lot of pictures, but I just really, really love this sweet face!

Isn't he too sweet?!

I finally created a YouTube account and figured out how to upload movies! I thought about hacking into Rob's account, but I figured that would be like him using my account on some show-what-you-know-about-pharmacy website (because those exist, right?), and I figured it was best not to embarrass him like that. So please enjoy this video of Gavin's Animé face, which proves that he didn't just happen to have his eyes closed in all of those pictures. :)

Baby's first 5K

2011-03-13T21:40:00.000-06:00

It's been a few years. We're a little older and a little slower, but we thought it would be fun to do the Rex Lee Run again. It was yesterday, and we had a blast!

The race started at 9:00, which was great since I thought it started a lot earlier. Here's a picture of the three of us before it started. Notice Rob's shoes? Last fall he started barefoot running, and these are the shoes you can use for that technique when you're on a surface that is not hospitable to bare feet. The Rex Lee Run has a 5K and a 10K, and since neither of us has been training much we opted for the 5K. This is the furthest Rob has run in his Five Finger shoes, and it went pretty well.

This picture summarizes what Gavin thought of the whole thing. He LOVED it!! The whole time he was just chattering and being super sweet. I was worried that he would get bored and be fussy, but he was so chipper the whole time. This bodes well for my summertime running plans. :)

We were a part of the stroller brigade clear at the back of the pack. It was fun to start several minutes after the gun because we got to pass quite a lot of people who ran out of steam. We even passed a few people during the last stretch. I wanted to say, "Come on! You're being passed by a stroller!" but I didn't. I really, really enjoy passing people. I think Gavin does, too.

Here we are at the finish line. Our time was not stellar, but I can't remember the last time I had so much fun running.

My sweet boys in front of the football stadium. Aren't they just the greatest?!

And now, a soapbox moment with Rebecca. I've got to say that I am not at all happy with what they've done to the Rex Lee Run logo.

Here's a picture I found online of the old logo (because I'm too lazy to dig out my own t-shirt and take a picture of that). Nice and simple. Everyone recognizes it. The bars were a different color every year. I was a fan.

Here's the new logo. Why change a classic? I guess my biggest issue with it is that when I saw it, my first thought was "Jesus fish." Do you see it, too? Upon further consideration, I have decided that another reason I can hate it is that it says "On your mark, get set" which implies the beginning of a race, yet there is a runner appearing to finish the race. I know I'm really digging here, but I guess I want to justify my dislike in as many ways as possible.

Okay, I'm finished. We had such a great day (in spite of the new logo) and I'm glad we were a part of such a great cause.

I {heart} D.I.

2011-03-07T21:23:00.001-07:00

Today while I was out running errands I decided to stop by D.I. It's been a long, long while since I've had a good find, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't have a ton of time to really dig like you sometimes have to, plus I had Gavin with me which meant I only had one free hand, but behold my amazing find!

It is size 18 months, so it will be just right for Gavin to wear next fall. Brand new with the tag still on, and it only cost three bucks! Oh, how I love a bargain!

Baby's first haircut

2011-02-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

We've been meaning to get this done for weeks now. Gavin's hair was hanging over his ears and starting to get in his eyes! It seems like your baby's first haircut is by definition bittersweet. I was so glad to have someone I knew and trusted doing it; that made a big difference. A big thanks to my niece, Alyssa, for doing such a great job!

Doesn't he look so great?!

What's he up to?

2011-02-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Gavin is such a fun baby! Here are some pictures as well as some details of what he's doing right now.

He's still not crawling, and not really showing any interest. He is a champion roller and rotator, though, so he manages to get around just fine. Also, he loves his daddy! :)

I really think he's going to crawl any day now. He sometimes pulls his knees up under him while he's playing in his crib.

He has showed a renewed love of Baby Panda. He puts his face right up to the mirror on the last page (like actually touching it) and talks to himself. It is too sweet! He still loves to read books and turn the pages by himself.

He is just such a happy baby--I love his sweet face! Right now his favorite thing to do is to chase or be chased by Rob or me while one of us is holding him. He seriously screams because he gets so excited! He kicks his legs and swings his arms so fast. I'll be really sad when he isn't amused by that anymore.

He loves his Exersaucer and standing in general. If you hold him on his feet, he rocks his bum forward and backward like he is in his Exersaucer. He will play by himself for a long time in this, especially if you give him a few snacks.

He has never really been into sucking any of his fingers, but every once in a while he likes to chew his left thumb. He used to always keep his hand open, like in this picture, but now he closes it. I miss the open hand! :)

He wants whatever mom and/or dad has, including the camera. If you're holding him and he sees something he wants, he dives for it. He puts all his weight and willpower into it.

He gets excited when I bundle him up because he knows that means we're going outside to check the mail or go for a short walk.

I just love this picture!

A couple weeks ago, Rob took off a weekday and it was the best!! He normally works Monday through Friday and I work Saturdays, so it's rare that we have time to do anything together during the day (except Sunday, of course, but that rules out doing anything that isn't Sunday-appropriate). It's been a long time since we had a day to just do whatever we wanted to do all day long. It was so fun! We ran some errands and went out to dinner. We are pretty sure this is the first time we've eaten at a sit-down restaurant since Gavin was born.

Gavin normally eats like a champ. He loves his oatmeal, veggies, and fruit, as well as just about any snack I'll put in front of him. Lately, though, he has had a decreased appetite. He has had bronchiolitis AGAIN for about a month. Poor boy! I would estimate that he has thrown up on about 25 of the last 30 days. He just coughs so hard that he can't keep the food in his tummy. I hate it! He is finally sounding a little better and his appetite is picking back up, although he no longer seems interested in any sort of fruit. Weird! Hopefully his interest in fruit comes back.

I love to hear him talk. He likes to chat a lot; "Da-da-da-da! Ra-ra-ra! Ga-ga!" It's sweet. He also does this thing where he opens and closes his mouth and makes a little clicking sound with his tongue. Cutest thing ever!

This last Sunday was so nice that we couldn't not take a walk! We didn't go too far, but it was so nice to get out! (And yes, Gavin is holding a bottle of antacids. What else would you expect for a rattle for a pharmacist's baby? He loved it!)

We had a good Valentine's day. We had some great food and let Gavin chew on a pen that says "I love you" on a heart that lights up if you push in the end.

He seemed to approve.

And finally, in case you missed it on Facebook, it's Bedtime Snack Gavin. He's eating a snack called a Mum-Mum. I love that he still does his happy boy chuckle, and I especially love the face he makes just before the 1.5-minute mark. (He also does the tongue-clicking thing I talked about.)

Yay for Gavin!

Didja know?

2011-02-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the laziest blogger! Just a quick note today. Did you know that as of January 1, 2011 you can no longer buy over-the-counter medications using your flex spending account/benny card/health savings account? In order to be reimbursed for otc products such as ibuprofen, diaper rash cream, infant gas drops, laxatives, allergy medications, cough and cold products, heartburn medications, etc. you have to have a prescription from your doctor.

Can I just tell you how bummed I am about this? I think we'll be decreasing our hsa contribution amount because we would always reimburse ourselves for otc products, and now we can't without bothering a doctor first.

I have very mixed feelings about the changes being made to the health care system right now. I can tell you for sure, though, that I don't like this change one bit!

New Year's resolution

2011-01-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

I wasn't planning on making any formal New Year's resolutions. I've got a few things in my life I'm working on improving, but I don't think they're worth publishing to the world because either they're too personal, or they're ongoing mundane things. Either way, they're not in any way dependent on the time of year and in my mind don't qualify as your typical NYR. (I just made up that abbreviation, but I think it's totally awesome.)

For some reason, on New Year's Day I had this overwhelming urge to read more books. Sometimes I casually think, "It would be nice to read more." But then nothing else happens. It's just a passing thought. I have decided that this time, it's going to be different!

My first idea was to read 52 books this year--one every week. Then I thought about the logistics of that, and I think it would just become a chore rather than being enjoyable. So I have settled on reading 26 books this year. I think two weeks is a reasonable amount of time to allow myself to read each book. (I know that is pathetic to REAL readers, but cut me some slack!) Also, I can't count any books about babies--I feel like that's all I've read since Gavin was born.

Maybe this isn't a great resolution because I have already given myself permission to quit anytime it isn't fun anymore. But I'm okay with that.

So those of you who haven't already given your suggestions to me: if you have a favorite book that you think I should read, please let me know! You can track what I'm reading by the widget I just added to my blog. I'm starting with Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. Wish me luck!

What do you think?

2010-12-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

I decided that next year I want a Christmas wreath for my door. I went to Walmart and bought some supplies on clearance. Here's what I've got so far:

I don't know where to go from here! (I feel like I have zero intuition when it comes to decorating.) Should I arrange the ornaments differently? Should I add something else, like pine cones or holly and berries or some ribbon?

I haven't actually attached anything yet, so feel free to chime in and help me out!

Baby's first Christmas

2010-12-26T21:02:00.002-07:00

Despite the RSV and house arrest, we managed to have a wonderful Christmas! On the 23rd (before Gavin was really sick) we had Rob's sister Allison and her family over. Here you can see Gavin with his only cousins on Rob's side: Ellie, Vicki, and Lexi.

We ate food, played video games, and just had a lot of fun!

On Christmas Eve we had a visit from one of Santa's helpers.

Hahaha!! Isn't he too cute?!

We continued our Christmas Eve tradition of making ridiculously delicious sandwiches with whatever we can think to put on them. Here we have avocado, tomato, cheddar cheese, and cucumber.

Here we have Ciabatta rolls and sauteed onions.

Not pictured are the mustard, bacon, Provolone cheese, lettuce, honey baked deli ham, and some fancy kind of deli turkey (can't remember what kind we settled on).

And the perfect finishing touch: salt and vinegar chips on the side! Aren't they beautiful? (Can you tell that one of us is a bit more picky than the other? There's more on my sandwich than you can see; I forgot to dress it up for the picture. But still, Rob's definitely has more stuff on it than mine.)

(Also, can you tell that we take our sandwiches very seriously? :)

A tradition we each had during our childhood and picked back up is getting new pajamas for Christmas Eve. Here is Gavin on Christmas day in his new jammies.

We spent the day taking it easy and eating tons of goodies. My parents brought some dinner to us--ham, funeral potatoes (which I have been craving for months!), homemade bread, and my favorite dessert in the world, known in my family as Ice Cream Dessert. (I know, quite the fancy/original name.) I should have taken a picture of that, but it was gone too quickly because it is SO GOOD!

We video chatted with each of our families, put Gavin to bed by 7:00, and watched a movie. Definitely a different Christmas from any I've had before, but it was kind of nice just to relax and be with each other. We enjoyed our last year of being lazy on Christmas day for a long, long while.

Baby's first x-ray

2010-12-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

Gavin has this really, really awful cough that started yesterday morning or maybe Wednesday night. It wasn't getting any better and tomorrow is Christmas, which means it would be impossible to find anyplace to have him checked except the ER. So I took him to the pediatrician today even though I didn't think his case was really severe; I just figured better safe than sorry.

The doctor thought he might have RSV, but wanted to make sure. So we did an albuterol nebulizer treatment, then got an x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Have you ever had an x-ray taken of your infant? They use the strangest contraption to hold them in the position they want them in. I discovered in my Google searches that this device is called the Pigg-o-stat.

There is a hole in a tabletop with a sort of bike seat fixed over the hole. You put your baby on the seat so their feet dangle through the hole. Then they take these two clear semi-circles that are ~2.5 feet tall ("flanks") and close them around your baby while you hold his arms straight up. Finally, they buckle a strap in the back to prevent his head from flopping backward.

The technician told me that babies ALWAYS cry when they are put in this, but that's a good thing because they have more air in their lungs and they get a better picture. Gavin was all strapped in and fussed just a bit, then stayed calm the rest of the time. He was SO GOOD!! I love my baby boy!!!

So two chest x-rays, an albuterol treatment, and two hours later the diagnosis is RSV and bronchiolitis. (Translation: there's nothing you can do but wait it out. Oh, and he's probably contagious for up to three weeks, so we're not going anywhere for a long while.) I'm glad he doesn't have pneumonia, but still feel so bad for the poor thing. His coughing spells are just scary! But the instant he's done, it's as if he doesn't even realize he was coughing; he just keeps doing what he was doing with a smile on his face. What a sweet boy!

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

After Thanksgiving, we were excited to put up our Christmas decorations. First, we needed appropriate attire. That meant comfortable, lounging-about clothes for Rob and Reb, and these ridiculously cute jammies for Gavin.

Gavin is all about helping and jumped right in when it was time to put up our tree.

Good thing he was here to help; that thing is huge!

I finally get to display my Willow Tree nativity with the Creche piece I bought last year on Black Friday. (Last year we didn't even bother because most of it was in storage since we were in my parents' house.) I am enjoying my last year for a long while that I can just put this on top of our little bookshelf without worrying about anything getting broken or lost. I know a lot of people have this set, but I just love it so much!

And finally, a Christmas onesie Grandma Palmer got for Gavin because it was too perfect to pass up.

Happy holidays!

Keeping up traditions

2010-11-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! This year I have been thinking a lot about traditions. We really don't have many (which I think is normal for a couple who have been married for less than five years and only have one baby), so this year I felt it was really important to keep the few traditions we have alive. So what are those traditions?

First off, we always go jogging on Thanksgiving morning. I started doing this probably eight or nine years ago, and Rob has done it with me since we got married. This year, though, he was sick so I braved the cold alone. I haven't gone jogging in a couple of months, so it felt really great!

Our other big tradition is Black Friday. I think I talked about this last year, but we just like going for the fun of it. We make a list of things that would be nice to get, but never get our hearts set on any of them. It's just fun to get out with all the crazies and maybe score a few great deals.

The first phase of Black Friday shopping is to check all the ads on Thanksgiving. Gavin has a keen eye for bargains, so we were glad to have his help this year.

The second phase, of course, is the actual shopping. This is where we departed slightly from our tradition, because neither of us wanted to wake our baby to take him out in the freezing cold and possibly get trampled. So we did our normal morning routine and went out once we were at a good stopping place. (I think it was ~10:30 by the time we got out.) We only went to one place (KMart), but we got some great deals!

We LOVE the game Blink and didn't already own UNO--they were buy one get one free. Plus, we've been wanting a scale that doesn't underestimate your weight by at least five pounds, and we got this beauty for just ten bucks!

I'm glad we continued our traditions the best we could, and look forward to starting more as the years go on.

Sweet baby James

2010-11-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Dustin and Heidi's baby boy was born November 12th, and we finally got to meet him! He was born on a Friday evening and Rob had to work the next day, so we planned to go up on Sunday. Then Gavin got sick, so we planned to go up on Wednesday. Then Rob and I got sick, and the next chance we had to go up was this last Sunday. See how sweet he is?

He had as much hair the day he was born as Gavin has at six months old.

Gavin hung out with uncle Dustin while I loved on baby James.

I have been eagerly awaiting this baby for months! (as have D&H :) As part of his baby shower gift, I made these onesies that I was giddy about.

He even wore the "Sweet baby James" one home from the hospital!

For those of you keeping track, this is the fourth Palmer grandbaby born within one year: Aspen last December, Austin in March, Gavin in May, and now James in November. Man, these kids are going to get into a lot of trouble together! I think Gavin is excited already!

Poor us

2010-11-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Why poor us? Find out here.

Six months old!

2010-11-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

As of a week ago, Gavin is six months old! At his six-month checkup he weighed in at a whopping 13 pounds, 14 ounces (2nd percentile) at 25.75 inches long (25th percentile). He's always been a little guy. We'll see if solids help to bulk him up at all.

Thanks again to my sister, Denise, for being my go-to photographer. I'll keep the chatter light and let you get to the pictures!

Probably my favorite one. :)

I just love how expressive he is! The two pictures above were taken one right after the other.

Checking out his hand.

I love this boy!

I got my hair did

2010-11-12T12:39:00.001-07:00

Last week I had had enough and I finally decided to chop my hair. This time it was only 12 inches or so. (My last chopping episode was about 17!) You may think you know why I did it, and you are probably partially right, but not completely. My reason for chopping it was this:

. . . but not because he pulled my hair (which he often did, but I could deal with that). The real reason I cut it is that it kept getting in Gavin's face all the time. Seriously, it was becoming a problem! I would lean over him to pick him up, and he would start flinching before I even got close in anticipation of my mane whipping him in the face. I felt so bad!

When I first considered cutting my hair (months and months ago; it takes a while for me to build up to a decision this huge!), we wondered how Gavin would react. Would he freak out or not recognize me? But then on Halloween I came into his room after one of his naps wearing a bright red wig (not pictured, but think "The Fifth Element"). Gavin looked up at me and just chuckled. That's when I knew he doesn't care what my hair looks like!

So of course the day I finally got up the gumption to do it I had left our camera turned on and drained the battery completely, so no "Before and After" photo session for me. But here's a quick reminder of the length before:

And here's a picture of the after:

This was taken with the camera on our Mac (thus the weird lighting and mirror image), and it's still about the only picture of me since I cut my hair. I love it! (The hair, not the picture.) It has been so nice to have such a big change. And the lady who cut it spent so much time on it--I really like how it turned out.

This is my fourth time donating to Locks of Love. Maybe if I do this a few more times, I will have donated enough to actually make a whole wig. :)

Tricks and treats

2010-11-02T20:31:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween (finally)! We have some new tricks and treats around our place I'd like to share.

Tricks
Gavin is officially a trick-or-treater. We started out with a trunk or treat on Tuesday at my mom's church. He strapped himself in his car seat 30 minutes early because he couldn't wait! (Obviously not true, but he kind of has this impatient look in his eyes; he must have known that chocolate was at stake.)

My little dragon had a good time seeing G&G Palmer, Rachel, and his cousins.

On Friday we went trick-or-treating at Rob's work. Here is Gavin receiving his first official candy (EVER, not just trick-or-treating) from Chase.

He held it in his hand for about three seconds before he dropped it on the ground and became very interested in Chase's water bottle.

Gavin has some other new tricks we are excited about.
-He will finally sit in his Bumbo! He has resisted this for months, but for some reason he just decided one day he was okay with it and now he'll tolerate it for longer than 60 seconds.
-He is holding weight on his legs really well now, and prefers standing (supported, of course) to sitting up. We're still working on the sitting tripod.
-He has gotten really good at turning pages when we read with him.
-He plays peek-a-boo, lifting and lowering the blanket himself.

Treats
Just a week or two ago, Gavin started noticing things that Rob and I are doing and he wants to do them, too. If I'm talking on my cell phone, he wants to hold it when I'm done. If I'm drinking a glass of water, he wants one, too.

So . . . Gavin has started rice cereal! We are all thrilled about this.

Isn't he just sweet?

And here's a treat for our fellow 30 Rock lovers:

It's okay if you don't get it; Gavin doesn't seem to appreciate the humor of it, either.

Hope you all had a Halloween as great as ours!

Family Pictures

2010-10-29T21:52:00.000-06:00

My sister, Denise, is super nice and takes great pictures. She took some family pictures of us last week, exactly five months after we had our first family pics taken. I never posted those pics, so I thought it would be fun to post both sets together to see the difference in our little guy five months later.

[I LOVE his expression in every single one of these next pictures.]

Here are some pictures of Gavin, then and now.

One thing hasn't changed; he still doesn't like this:

Vacation!

2010-10-27T13:35:00.000-06:00

Okay, maybe it's been so long since I did a post that I forgot my password to login to Blogger. Oops! :)

This last weekend we took a quick vacation to southern Utah--Gavin's first vacation--check it out!

On Thursday morning we had some family photos taken (my next post, probably). We just kind of took it easy and packed here and there; we weren't in a huge rush because we were on vacation! That afternoon/evening we drove to Hurricane and checked in to our hotel. Friday morning we headed to our first real destination: Zion National Park!

I cannot even begin to tell you how good this baby boy was the whole time! We were at the park a total of about five hours, and he slept maybe 20 minutes. But he was so chipper! It helps that he loves being in his carrier. :)

We tried to keep this trip as simple as possible since we had Gavin and weren't sure how he would do with the strange napping schedule. Also, it was raining most of the day. When we started out it was coming down pretty hard, then finally let up toward the end of the day. The first spot we checked out was Weeping Rock. (The picture above is the view from Weeping Rock; the picture below is a section of the rock itself.)

Even with the rain, you could tell where the water trickles down the rock year-round; it almost looked like mini waterfalls and there were hanging plants growing in those spots.

Next we hiked to the lower Emerald Pool. My brother and his family came just a couple weeks before, and he said this waterfall has a lot more water than when they were there. I guess there are some advantages to the rain.

I absolutely loved seeing peoples' reactions to Gavin. They would just be walking along with a neutral look on their face, and then it would just light up when they saw him. What a sweetie!

His mittens were way too big, so I just slipped them over his hands and didn't worry about getting his thumbs in the right spot. They still looked stinkin' adorable!

Our last stop at Zion was The Court of the Patriarchs.

Southern Utah is so great--we really love it! What a beautiful area to spend our first official family vacation.

The second portion of our vacation was spent in St. George, where my brother and his family live. On Saturday we all went to Staheli Family Farm, one of their traditions they were kind enough to let us intrude on. Here are some of our favorite people, Ryan and Karen along with Ellie by the tire and Katie climbing the stairs. Aren't they a precious couple? :)

Ryan and Karen have three girls. Katie rode this "horse" ride, as well as a real horse later on.

Ellie is a bit shy, so I took this picture as proof that she actually interacted with one of us. (I swear, that really is Rob's hand holding the bag of popcorn.)

Aspen is one of the happiest babies in the world. Here she is with an ear infection--what a trooper!

We did all sorts of things like ride the "cow train."

Gavin just watched this time around.

They had this cute system of water pumps and tubes set up so you could send the rubber ducks from one end to the other. Ellie was quite masterful at it.

Rob did a good job, too, with Gavin's help.

Both Katie and Ellie rode a real horse, we saw a couple of pig races (including one with obstacles like tires to jump through!), heard a really loud donkey braying, saw goats and turkeys and llamas, used the rope swing, launched tennis balls with a catapult, and swung on the swings.

They had a pumpkin patch, but it had been rainy so we didn't feel like trudging through the mud.

On Sunday we hung out with the Palmers all day--what troopers to put up with us for two days straight! Here's a picture of Ellie and Gavin (she is almost 11 months old and Gavin is almost six). You've got some catching up to do, Gavin!

Look, I didn't disappear after all--it's a picture of me!

I made this onesie for our trip; Ryan is the manager of a car wash called Conrad Car Wash.

Here is Gavin's reaction the first time going through said car wash.

He looks a little scared, but he was mainly just fascinated. The blowers seemed to surprise him just a bit.

Here is our sweet ride after our sweet car wash (and before we got caught in the rain/snow junk on the way home).

I really should wash my car more often--I LOVE having a clean car.

We also stopped and saw my pharmacist friend, Lisa. I'm a lame-o and forgot to take my camera, so no picture of her looking professional in her smock. :( It was fun to catch up with her; I'm so awful at keeping in touch with old friends.

This was such a great vacation! It was so nice to spend time with Rob and Gavin and not have to worry about the everyday junk that gets in the way of having a good time. It was great to see the St. George Palmers, too. They always take such good care of us--thanks for everything you guys!

Gavin's keys

2010-10-05T20:43:00.003-06:00

Gavin likes to swing his keys around REALLY FAST. Sometimes I worry that he'll hit himself in the face, but so far so good.

Birthday!

2010-09-17T17:11:00.000-06:00

It's my birthday! I'll tell you all about it later. For now, please enjoy one of the best birthday presents I've ever received, compliments of my sweet, talented hubsy.

Someone else's pictures of our new car

2010-09-09T21:41:00.001-06:00

Remember me mentioning that we were getting a second car? Well, it's heeeeere!!

I was going to take pictures of it today, but then it rained just enough while we were at Gavin's four-month checkup to make it pretty dirty. So instead, I'm using some of the pictures that were posted online when it was listed for sale. (Not the highest quality pictures, but they'll give you the idea.)

Meet our newest family member!

This is our 2010 Subaru Outback. We love it! The original owners bought it around Christmas last year, then adopted a third child in February so they decided to move from this to a minivan. (They took a hit doing it, and we got an amazing deal!) As of today, it has about 8700 miles. This is probably as close as we'll ever get to buying a NEW car.

Some of the most exciting features of this car include:
-Cloth heated seats--yes, cloth!! I'm just not into leather seats, and I used to live a sad existence where I thought that heated seats were only available in leather. Not so, my friends!

-TONS of legroom. These newer models have four inches more legroom in the back than the older models. That means we can fit Gavin's car seat in the back (with the handle down and everything) without making it uncomfortable to sit in the front. The back seats also recline a bit, making them super comfortable for any adults stuck back there.

-All wheel drive, of course. We really wanted our second car to be good in the snow, and we have heard nothing but good from Subaru owners and their experiences driving in the snow.

-It's just a really pretty car. I know that's such a girl thing to say, but I love how it looks more like a mini-SUV than a wagon. And I've always wanted a silver car!

Some other cool features that happen to be in this car, but I would never pay extra for them include:
-Satellite radio. The previous owner paid the subscription through December, so we get a free trial for a few months.

-Electric everything. I've heard that can be a bad thing, because when something goes out, it costs a lot to replace. We'll see if we have any problems. I do like that the seats can be adjusted without having the key in the ignition (for some reason, I thought they couldn't). I also like that you can adjust the height of the seat.

-Continuously variable transmission. Apparently, this gives you better gas mileage. It's pretty strange to experience--you can tell when the car shifts gears (it's an automatic), but you can't really feel it because it switches so smoothly. I keep waiting to feel that little tug or jerk between gears, but it doesn't happen.

-Heated windshield and side-view mirrors. Those will probably come in handy! Funny story about the windshield: the day before we got the car, the owner got a crack in it! He was nice enough to replace it without asking us to help with the cost, so hey, new windshield!

We just couldn't be more excited about this car! Come on over some time and we'll give you a ride. :)

Rollin' with Gavin

2010-08-27T12:33:00.000-06:00

During tummy time today, Gavin gave me a surprise . . . and I caught it with my camera!

He looks just as surprised as I was! :)

Randomness

2010-08-19T13:25:00.000-06:00

Joining in the Random Thoughts Thursday festivities again. Seriously, you should all join in the fun! (Denise, you're off the hook since you did yours on Monday.)

Have you seen this blog yet? All I can say is wow. Okay, that's not all I can say. I'm jealous of the fun pictures she has of her baby, but I wonder how much time she spends thinking about it. It's got to be a lot of pressure once you start something like this to be able to keep it up. (See how I'm thinking of reasons this is a bad idea so I can feel better about myself for not doing something comparable? :)

Our tax credit check from the IRS arrived in the mail yesterday. Yayyyy!!!! Can you say new car? (Used, but new to us. We haven't found one yet; I'll keep you posted.)

Here are some random things I've been meaning to throw away, but thought it would be fun to scan them first.

I just love that there's a hot dog product called "Jumbo Jumbos." Not sure why this struck me as so funny, but it did. (Don't worry; I haven't been holding on to this one for more than a couple days.)

Here's a random picture of me and my companion dorking around on my mission. This was a day when we were gardening, which is why we're dressed like we are. We had this stupid dance we would do to warm up in the chilly morning, and apparently one senior elder thought it was entertaining enough to be picture-worthy. Not only did he take the picture, but he printed it out as an 8x10.

This one's my favorite. Outside the pharmacy I worked at in West Valley they had some health and wellness pamphlets, like one on nutrition in pregnancy and one on diabetes. And then this gem: "Your Crowning Glory: Beautiful Hair." Awesome title. And how about those great outfits? Classic!

I'm not sure why Blogger refuses to center my pictures. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Rob went to New York on Tuesday and comes home today. I miss him tons when he's gone, but it sure has been nice having a car every day. :) Again, can you say new car?!

Gavin's blessing

2010-08-02T21:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Gavin's baby blessing.

I am so thankful to have such a sweet, loving husband who honors the Priesthood and gave a truly beautiful blessing to our boy. Gavin was an angel the whole time, which was a relief since he missed the second half of his nap and was due to eat about ten minutes after the blessing was over. Rob said he just laid there with his eyes open the whole time.

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who shared our special day. We were surrounded by people who love us, and it felt great.

Off to work

2010-07-30T23:26:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is my first day back at work since having Gavin. I decided to clean out the bag I take with me to work. Items I found in said bag include:
-A list of MLS numbers of houses we were considering
-The February Ensign magazine
-A list of medications pregnant women shouldn't handle
-Two Nutri-Grain bars (both very flat), two FruitSource bars, a baggie of Craisins, a mint truffle, and one stick of gum
-A receipt for zinc drops
-My library card
-Two pencils and a pen
-A note that says "Send Twin Peaks"
-A paperclip
-Instructions for infant CPR
-20 bucks I forgot I had
-An empty baggie
-Five spoons
-Six hair elastics in the pocket of my smock

I think I'm ready to go. Wish me luck!

Pioneer Day weekend

2010-07-25T18:38:00.001-06:00

We celebrated the 24th of July in style this year. We started on the 23rd at Salem Pond with some canoeing. The biggest moment of the evening was when we introduced Gavin to the ducks.

I think they all got along just fine. We did back away once the bread was gone, though; we were afraid they'd go for Gavin next.

Rob got some canoeing in with the nieces and nephews; I think he had about six of them in his boat. Gavin and I stayed on the shore and offered moral support.

I love how you can see Rob's reflection in that picture. That's what you get when your wife wears the biggest sunglasses in the world, honey!

On Saturday morning we interrupted Gavin's nap to drag him to the parade in Spanish Fork--his first parade!

He was okay with the situation until the firetrucks came by with their sirens blaring. (That was about three minutes into it.) From that point mommy held him and he eventually got to finish his nap.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, which is how we like it. We saw a couple of fireworks from our house, but that was pretty much it for the day.

Pioneer Day feels especially significant to me this year. My parents just returned from serving as missionaries at Winter Quarters in Nebraska. Most of my own mission was spent in Nauvoo. It's hard for me to really consider all the early Saints went through without feeling guilty about how easy we have it (in terms of living conditions, lack of persecution, etc.). I am so happy to live in a place where I can feel secure in practicing my religion. I can't imagine experiencing the losses and sorrows that so many of those people went through. What a great holiday to celebrate and what a wonderful place to live!

Randomness

2010-07-22T23:37:00.001-06:00

I am finally participating in Random Thoughts Thursday. You should all give it a try!--next week, I guess, since I'm not really giving you any notice to do it this week. (Sorry, Allison; I've been wanting to do this for weeks. It's still Thursday for another 36 minutes, so this still counts. :)

Not much randomness to share today, but here's what I've got.

I really hate when people abbreviate the word tutorial as "tute." Seriously, just spell out the whole word; you sound like an idiot.

I have been a really lazy blogger recently. Events I still intend to blog about, but haven't gotten around to include: Adrienne's wedding, moving into our new house, my parents coming home from their mission, etc. Maybe someday.

If I live to be 100, my birthday will be on a Tuesday.

Rebecca: PharmD, SAHM

2010-07-20T22:39:00.000-06:00

Congratulations are in order. I informed my pharmacy manager and district manager that I will not be returning to work full-time. They were both totally fine with it! I expected some sort of fight or attempt to convince me otherwise, but it was smooth sailing. So now I can officially take on my most important title: stay-at-home mom.

My new full-time job involves looking at this rather than a line of angry customers. :)

Cuteness overload

2010-07-12T08:52:00.004-06:00

Pics of Gavin

2010-06-29T12:08:00.013-06:00

More pictures of Gavin, because we've got grand-mamas waiting for 'em!

I think he intentionally posed for this one.

Most of the pictures I take of him are on my lap. :)

I love his face and his little feets in this picture.

President and Vice-President of Rob's fan club. (You have no idea how hard it was to get this self-portrait of us--it took over 30 tries!)

With his doggie.

This is Gavin in his Woombie. He looks so concerned about something!

I think he looks like such a little man here!

His cheeks aren't nearly as big as they look here, but I love this picture of him sucking away on his fist.

Name that rash

2010-06-23T11:43:00.006-06:00

I'll give you a hint: it rhymes with Pringles.

That's right, Rebecca has shingles. Yuck.

FAQs:
What causes shingles?
Shingles are caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox (varicella zoster virus, to be exact). After you get chicken pox, the virus lives dormant in your body for the rest of your life. If the virus becomes reactivated and your body doesn't fight it off right away, you get shingles. So if you've ever had chicken pox, you may get shingles some time in your life. Also, if you've had chicken pox or the vaccine for it, you can't catch shingles from Rebecca because your body already has antibodies to it.

Aren't shingles really, really, REALLY painful?
Often yes, but not always. My dad had shingles a few months ago and they were agony for him. I first noticed mine four days ago, and so far they just itch a lot (knock on wood).

How do you treat shingles?
Antiviral medications help attack the virus so your body can contain the outbreak more quickly. I'm taking Valtrex, which is really funny to me.

Is it contagious?
It is very contagious and it's spread by coming in contact with the rash. Luckily, Rob has had chicken pox, so he won't be affected by it. Unfortunately, Gavin has not had chicken pox or the vaccine, and the vaccine isn't given until 12 months old.

Where is this rash?
It is on my torso, just under my right breast. And yes, I am nursing.

Please wish us luck that Gavin hasn't been exposed and won't become infected or we will have one very unhappy baby boy on our hands. (The mom wouldn't be too happy, either.)

SO glad I opened that IRA

2010-06-10T16:30:00.002-06:00

I'm turning 30 this year. Crazy, huh? What with my impending old age, I have been thinking about my future and trying to plan ahead. I opened a Roth IRA in February because it seemed like the responsible thing to do. So far it has accrued $0.02 in interest. Boy, do I feel a warm, fuzzy sense of security!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

2010-06-03T09:25:00.003-06:00

We had pictures taken of Gavin when he was two weeks old. Mindy Black was the photographer. I noticed on her website that she is affiliated with an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

I had never heard of this organization before, so I checked out their website. Basically, professional photographers volunteer their services to people who lose their babies so that they have something to remember them by. Watch the video under the "About NILMDTS" tab; it shares a really touching story.

What a wonderful concept! If I knew in advance I were losing my baby, I doubt I would think to have a photographer come. I wanted to share this information, but pray that no one I know will ever have the need for it. Today I am even more grateful for my little guy and hope I can cherish every moment we have together.

Memorial Day weekend

2010-05-31T11:38:00.000-06:00

We bought A LOT of stuff this weekend.

Some of it was small, like our favorite fresh salsa from Costco and our digital camera batteries from Walmart.

We bought a lot of baby stuff, including all of Gavin's nursery furniture & bedding and a diaper bag.

We almost bought this, but didn't simply because there wasn't enough space in our car.
Don't worry; we'll buy it soon.

We FINALLY bought pedestals for our front-loading washer and dryer (yay!!). We also got a killer deal on a new fridge.

And by the way, did I mention that we bought a house?!

We closed on this townhouse on Friday and should get our keys tomorrow. :)

His name is Gavin

2010-05-26T18:24:00.016-06:00

But we call him all sorts of things.

Wonderful, or Wonderful One (e.g. Good morning, Wonderful!)

Mister Gavin, Gav-man, or Gavs

Angel Face Baby Pants (yes, that's all one name)

Little Houdini, or Baby Houdini (he's incredible at taking off that one mitten!)

G, or G-man

(Little) Buddy, Bud, Bubs, or Little Man

'Dis Baby (that's what we called him during the pregnancy before we knew his name, e.g., 'Dis Baby has been kicking all day!)

Little Lamb (he has the sweetest little cry)

One of the greatest blessings we could ever ask for.

A birth story

2010-05-14T16:05:00.008-06:00

Wow, where to begin? It is impossible to put into words all of the experiences and emotions that I've had in the past eight days . . . so I've kind of just been putting it off. I think I'm ready to share the facts of my experience, which will never do justice to the feelings I've had. (I think anyone who has kids must understand what I'm saying.)

On Tuesday the 4th I had an appointment with my OB. They checked me and I was about 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The doctor said that I was close to where they could induce me, but they would check me again next week and see if I was any further along. I told him, "Don't worry, I'm in no hurry; I'm scheduled to work for another week and half!" I was supposed to work ten-hour shifts the rest of last week and every day this week--oops!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that when the doctor checked me, that actually started me into labor. I just felt kind of lousy the rest of that day, and the next day I was having cramps and bleeding a bit. I kept wondering if I had started into pre-labor, but wasn't really sure. It was nothing unbearable, just really uncomfortable.

Rob and I went to bed on Wednesday night and I figured if I could just get to sleep I would be fine. Around 11:30 I started having hard contractions--so hard I bolted out of bed. I was pacing around a lot and just tried to keep moving. We waited a bit and the contractions were getting harder and closer, so we decided to go to the hospital.

We got there around 12:30 and my contractions were five or six minutes apart. They decided to monitor me for a while to see if I was progressing or if they should send me home. The thought of going home while I was in so much pain was unbearable! The baby was posterior (facing my belly instead of my back), which gave me a lot of back pain. Rob would push on my knees to help relieve some of the pain with each contraction. I can't imagine going through any of this without having him there to encourage me and help me. (xox!)

Once they got the monitors on me, they saw that the baby's heart rate was dropping to an unsafe level with each contraction, so they said there was no chance I would be sent home. They asked if I wanted an epidural, and we told them they had to check my platelets first to see if I could even get one. They checked and they were over 200! (Requirement for an epidural is at least 100.) What a feeling of relief! I just have to say that I have a crazy amount of respect for any woman who's had a baby without an epidural!

The epidural was in by about 3:00 or 3:30. My water broke just a few minutes after they got it in. They also started pitocin to speed up my labor. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of using pitocin, but when your baby's heart rate is dropping, you let go of your preferences and do what you feel is best for your baby.

At first the epidural only worked on my right side, and I still felt the contractions on my left. They had me lay on my left side, but that didn't really do the trick. I finally pushed the button to get an extra dose of medication and within about 15 minutes I couldn't feel the contractions at all. At this point I was exhausted and fell asleep for a while.

The doctor came to check me around 7:00 and said that I was dilated to 10 cm, but the baby was still posterior. We decided to wait a while and see if he would turn on his own. An hour and a half later, the baby still hadn't turned. I wasn't able to move around to help him turn, so the chances of him turning weren't looking great. We discussed our options with the doctor, and we decided to use forceps.

During my pregnancy I stressed out a lot about forceps. I did lots of research to learn the risks, benefits, pros, and cons. I voiced my concerns to the doctors in my OB's practice and discussed scenarios where they might be used. While I still preferred a forceps-free delivery (of course), I was grateful to feel comfortable with the possibility of their use. Everyone I asked said that my OB is an expert when it comes to using forceps; one nurse called him a forceps god. I felt confident that he could help deliver my baby without doing him any harm.

After the baby was turned, it only took a few pushes to get him out. Rob cut the cord and the doctor finally held him up for me to see. I don't know why, but I thought I would recognize him when I saw him, and I didn't. I saw this sweet little stranger and it surprised me. They checked his breathing, cleaned him up, and weighed him all in my room, then finally handed him over. What a little miracle he is; I loved him instantly!

The room cleared out, leaving our little family to get acquainted. We sat and stared at him forever. I can't believe how much I love this baby, and how much my love for Rob has grown. He really is the sweetest daddy in the world. Any time they had to take the baby from our room, Rob would instinctively follow him. He wouldn't be separated from him for a single instant more than was necessary.

We spent the rest of the day just taking it easy and enjoying the overwhelming happiness that surrounded us. We had a few visitors here and there, but most of the time it was just the three of us hanging out and loving life. We chose a name for our little guy on Friday afternoon. We had considered a few and had it narrowed down to four, and then two names. Although we really liked all of the names we had picked, we thought that Gavin fit him best.

We stayed at the hospital until Saturday morning, and we've been home since.

This was taken the day we got home; Gavin is all bundled up because it was a bit chilly outside.

I love the look on his face in this picture! The first few days he would furrow his brow every time he opened his eyes.

This is my sweet guy just taking in everything around him.

Gavin's hair is like Rob's; it looks completely different depending on what light he's in. Sometimes it looks brown, sometimes red-ish, and sometimes blond.

I am just so happy with how everything turned out and that my little guy is here safe and sound. I am lucky to have such a great hubby who is always there for me and would do anything for our family. Thanks to all of you for your love and support during this incredible time. We appreciate every meal, phone call, prayer, and kind word. Thanks again, and stay tuned for many more memories yet to be made.

Baby Gavin!

2010-05-09T15:21:00.014-06:00

Hi All, Rob here, blowin' up the wife's blog.

Rebecca and the boy are taking a well-deserved nap. I wanted to get a post up here real quick for those of you who may be eagerly awaiting one...

Gavin Robert Youngberg was born on May 6, 2010 at 9:35 am. He's the best! Mother and baby are doing well. He seems to be pretty content with things so far, and we're having a lot of fun getting to know him.

I want to leave it to Rebecca to post the full details plus more pictures later. For now, here are two of my favorites, "in the warmer after bathtime," and "just a few hours after delivery."

Thanks for the love and support from all you family & friends out there!
-Rob

Could've done without hearing that

2010-04-29T14:17:00.005-06:00

In the last couple of weeks I've heard some interesting things from customers at my pharmacy.

-A man who was upset that I didn't do what he asked me to do (because it is against the law) said to my face, "What are you, deaf?"

-A woman on the phone was angry that I wouldn't recommend anything but talking to her doctor for her bleeding hemorrhoids.

-This same woman proceeded to tell my technician that she once had a yeast infection for several years that wouldn't go away, so she eventually started douching with bleach water. Hmm, wonder why you have bleeding hemorrhoids . . .

-Another woman was upset about us not price-matching a mail order pharmacy and not allowing her to return her prescriptions. She exclaimed, "I just feel like I have been screwed by Walmart!"

-A guy (or, more appropriately, a dude) who didn't have a prescription or anything related to the pharmacy wanted us to ring up his items, which included produce. We explained that we don't have a scale, so we can't ring up produce. He insisted that the cucumbers were priced per item and not per pound, so we should be able to ring them up. We explained that we don't have item codes for produce, so even if it doesn't have to be weighed, we can't ring it up unless it has a bar code on it. He was really miffed because all of the lines at the front of the store were really long, and he only had a few items. He asked, "Can't you just call a cashier over here to do it?" Do you mean the cashiers who are trying to help the really long lines at the front of the store? Right, I'll just page one of them right now.

-A man was mad about the price of his wife's medication. He asked the cashier if there was a pharmacist he could talk to. She said, "Yes, she's right over there." He said, "Well I don't want to talk to her. Never mind."

On the lighter side of things, I had a woman tell me last night that I have a beautiful belly. :) I'm just glad that there are nice people out there and that the majority of people aren't this crazy or rude.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T18:05:00.005-06:00

This year we only painted one Easter Egg.

I'm not sure why this seemed like so much fun to me, but once I got the idea in my head, I just KNEW we had to paint my belly like an Easter Egg!

And, of course, some bunny ears to top it all off. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Obsessed

2010-03-28T13:48:00.003-06:00

-The baby is obsessed with this spot:

He can't get enough of it. He is always pushing on this spot. What's he pushing with? I'm not sure--it could be his head or his foot or his bum . . . I have no idea. But he sure does love that spot.

-I have been obsessed with working. If an extra shift opens up and I am available to do it, then sign me up! It's just weird to think that in a couple of months I won't be working at all. Also, we're saving up for a down payment on a home, so the more I can work the better.

-Speaking of buying a home, I am obsessed with looking at real estate online. I am actually really sick of it, but at the same time I can't get enough. What if the ideal place that's a killer deal was listed in the last 24 hours? Or what if I overlooked that perfect gem the last 14 times I looked? Guess I'd better check again!

-Orange juice is one of the greatest food products in the world. We'll just leave it at that.

Guess I shouldn't have complained about the minivan

2010-03-13T17:23:00.002-07:00

We've had this beauty in front of our place the last couple of days. The minivan has moved forward 15 feet so now it's in front of the neighbor's house. Good thing they left a gap between the two vehicles for the sidewalk between our houses so none of the kids headed to the park scratch up the pristine paint job on that baby.

Preg-o update

2010-03-12T10:19:00.003-07:00

Here I am, seven months pregnant to the day:

Things are going really well with Baby Boy Youngberg. He is so, so squirmy--it's just fun!

I am still able to move around just fine and do most of the things I want to do; there's just more grunting involved with certain tasks such as standing up or bending over. I've been able to continue jogging, which feels like my greatest feat. I think it must be really comical to see a girl as pregnant as me plodding along the edge of the road all bundled up in jogging clothes that don't quite fit anymore.

I've also been able to continue working full time, which keeps me busy and I like that. I can't imagine sitting around the house with nothing to do but wait for this baby to come. I would go crazy! It's nice to have some time off, though. Today is my first day off after working eight days in a row--yuck. It will be nice to have the overtime pay, but hopefully I'll never have to do that again. Having a job where I stand all day seems like it could be really tiring, but I'm used to the standing and usually don't need to sit until about eight or nine hours into my shift. I think it's nice for the baby to have lots of room to stretch; I wonder if my ribs are annoying to him when I am sitting.

I had my platelets checked last week, and they were 122. For those of you following this dramatic saga, you will remember that they have to be over 100 for me to have an epidural without taking steriods or having a platelet transfusion. So >100 is good, but this number is less cool when you consider that my last number (taken in December) was 280. Silly body, it doesn't know what to do! They will be checking me again around 37 weeks, and that is the number that matters most.

Finally, I want to give major kudos and thanks to my sweet hubby, Rob. Words can't express my gratitude to him for all the things he does for me. When I have to work, he takes care of the house (e.g., laundry, dishes, EVERYTHING) so I can relax when I come home--and that's on top of going to his job and working all day long. If I drop something (as I seem to do with greater frequency), he won't even give me a chance to pick it up before he does. If I've had a lousy day, he'll let me complain about it while he plays with my hair. If I had a craving at 3 a.m. he would gladly go to the store for me. He never gets bored of me grabbing his hand and putting it on my belly so he can feel the baby move . . . even though my timing is usually just slow enough for him to miss the really good kicks. He is excited for this baby to come, and that is so important to me. I can't wait to see him holding our tiny son. Honey, you're too, too wonderful!

Our new ride

2010-03-02T15:50:00.004-07:00

Rob and I will be moving some time shortly before or after Baby Boy Youngberg is born since my parents will be returning from their mission in July and giving us the boot. (Only joking about giving us the boot; they said we can stay as long as we need, but we're planning on being out before they get back.)

Anyway, the timing of this move has made it tricky to decide what to buy for the baby now, and what to buy later. For instance, I don't really feel like buying a crib, setting it up, and then either moving an assembled crib or having to take it apart and put it back together.

On the other hand, there are things that we know we have to buy before the baby's born, regardless of when we move. This would include things like a car seat and diapers.

Well, we decided to really take the plunge with one purchase in particular. This is something we probably could have waited to buy, maybe even until we have a couple of kids, but we went for it anyway. Behold, our minivan!

Okay, so the minivan doesn't actually belong to us. It just feels like it does because it's parked right in front of our house every friggin' day. Sure, the house next door has a two-car garage, a driveway that would fit two additional cars, and a spot right in front of their house, but why park in any of those spaces when you can leave your vehicle in front of our place?

So far in February

2010-02-16T16:54:00.013-07:00

Six Months Pregnant
I am six months pregnant as of February 7th. Here's a picture taken that day.

Things continue to go well with Baby Boy Youngberg (still yet to be named). I have noticed a couple of changes since I last wrote about the pregnancy. First off, I am now showing enough that complete strangers will ask me about when I'm due. It kind of threw me off the first time; my first thought was "How did she know?," but then I looked down at my stomach.

I still refuse to acknowledge that I've had any true cravings. Sometimes a certain food will sound really good, but it's not like I HAVE to eat that food and I won't be satisfied until I get it. One odd thing is that I was previously anti-ham sandwiches, but now I really like them. Other than that, I think my tastes have remained pretty consistent with my pre-pregnancy self.

One major bonus of being pregnant is that I'm not freezing all the time. I had heard from multiple people that you're always hot when you're pregnant, but for me I actually feel comfortable instead of cold.

I'm not sure whether this picture does it justice, but my cheeks have permanently taken on a rosy hue. I have been enjoying such oddities as wearing a short-sleeved shirt without the necessity of a sweater on top of that. So this is what it's like to have a normal body temperature--I like it!

Puppies
Rachel's dog, Daisy, had puppies a few days ago! She's a Chiweenie and the dad's a Chihauhua.

There are five puppies; one girl and four boys. Super cute!

Happy Valentine's Day
For Valentine's Day this year we decided to save money--Rob knows how that turns me on. :) To be completely serious, we are both totally cool with just hanging out together and maybe having some good food and relaxing. It's kind of stressful to go out on V-day, in my opinion. (No offense to those who do go out; I won't judge you if you don't judge me.) We did make some pretty sweet cookies.

We took some for our primary class and I had no idea how popular sprinkles are. I figured the kids wouldn't care or maybe some of them would actually want cookies without sprinkles. Boy was I wrong; those babies were the first to go!

One of the highlights of my Valentine's Day was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Palmer: Baby Youngberg's first Valentine!

Awesome!

First cruise review

2010-01-29T11:55:00.037-07:00

Now that we're back from our big trip, we've had people ask us, "So how was your cruise?" For me, the answer to that question depends on which Rebecca you ask. Her various answers to that question follow.

Day-zero-Rebecca: "Vegas baby, Vegas!"

We left on Wednesday night after Rob got off work and drove to Las Vegas. We arrived pretty late, so we checked in to our cheap-o (but nice enough) room at Harrah's, went to see one fountain show at Bellagio, and went back to our hotel for some shut-eye.

Day-one-Rebecca: "I'm nervous, but excited!"

We got up really early to finish our drive to San Diego before noon. After having a quick bite at Subway, parking our car at a long-term lot, and finally getting a shuttle to the port (we waited about an hour for that dang thing), we were ready to check-in. I had a slight cold which had started about three days before. They asked about my symptoms and took my temperature and thankfully cleared me to board the ship. We found our room--somehow I didn't take a single picture of that. It was an interior room towards the back on the sixth level. It was great for us; we didn't care that we didn't have a window or balcony. If we wanted to see the ocean, we would just walk to the deck, no big deal.

I was nervous because we knew it might have been foolish to do an eight-day cruise our first time around because neither of us had any idea whether we would get sick. I had my trusty Sea Bands, but wasn't sure whether that would be enough.

It was a bit chilly in San Diego, but much warmer than Utah so we were happy campers. Our ship embarked around 5:00 p.m. and we had fun exploring the ship's decks, lounges, and various places to eat.

Days-two&three-Rebecca: "Cruises are a great way to travel!"

Our cruise went pretty far south, so we were at sea for two solid days to get to our first destination. We took full advantage lots of activities: trivia games, dancing lessons, lazing about the pools, the ice cream dispenser that's available 24-7, the gym, evening shows, etc.

I opted to stay dry while Rob checked out the pools and water slide; this kind of became a recurring theme throughout our trip.

We dressed up all fancy-shmancy for the evening they had a formal dinner. We had a lot of fun roaming around the ship and having our picture taken by all the photographers they have in different locations. We didn't purchase any of the pictures they took, but it was still fun.

Day-four-Rebecca: "Mexico makes me happy!"

Our first port was Zihautanejo. I had never heard of it before our cruise, but was so beautiful! We started out the day by taking a 30-minute bus ride to another beautiful spot called Ixtapa. Then we took a boat ride to a small island where they had lots of amazing beaches, great snorkeling spots (so we heard, but chose not to participate), some good hiking, a few restaurants, and live music.

These first few pictures were taken while we were on the island close to Ixtapa. We spent most of our time hiking around. It was really warm and tons of fun.

Once again, I opted to stay dry while Rob enjoyed the water.

After a few hours we went back to Zihautanejo and window shopped around a flea market. We also spent some time walking along the beach.

This was a really great place and a great start to our Mexico experience. I think it would be fun to plan a whole vacation to this area.

Day-five-Rebecca: "I'm in heaven!"

Our second port was Acapulco: the one place I had heard of before we booked our cruise. It is famous for a reason--it's amazing! We went on another excursion arranged by the cruise which was nice because we didn't have to stress about what to do. This city is so jam-packed that I would have no idea where to start without someone to give me some direction.

We started with another bus ride that took us along the coast while our tour guide told us about the history and different parts of Acapulco.

Here is photographic proof that we took the baby along for the trip. :) He didn't seem to care either way that we were on a cruise, although he was especially squirmy after our first day at sea.

There were so many beautiful spots along the way. I was glad the bus stopped a few times so we could get out and enjoy it.

We went to a lagoon where they loaded a few of us into each small boat and took us around so we could see the different birds in the area. I know, I know; birdwatching sounds like the most thrilling activity we could have chosen! It was actually pretty fun, although we probably only saw about five different kinds of birds. But we didn't choose this excursion for the birds; we chose it for one of the sweetest things I have ever seen in my whole life: baby turtles.

We went to this place (I'm not sure what to call it, maybe a sanctuary or reserve or something like that) run by a marine biologist. He goes out and finds turtle egg nests and brings the eggs back to this sanctuary so they don't get destroyed. The day they hatch, groups like ours are permitted to come and each person gets to name a turtle and release them into the ocean.

Rob and I had previously seen videos online of baby sea turtles crawling to the ocean and I flipped out--they are so adorable! When we found out this was part of the excursion, we signed up without any hesitation.

Meet Scooter McWiggins on the left and Jack on the right. We love them!

Rob got some great video of our little guys making their way into the big world. It was such a great experience!

Back at the sanctuary's main building they had this bird that was pretty friendly. It REALLY loved Rob. He picked it up and it shimmied straight up his arm to his shoulder and promptly started nibbling on his glasses. I tried to take him down and he bit me! We eventually got him down, much to the disappointment of the bird.

Back on the cruise ship we enjoyed the sun and the view.

There was a great sunset that night; the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Day-six-Rebecca: "It's nice to be lazy while you're on vacation."

Since Rob had caught my cold by this point and I was still not completely over mine, we decided to just stay on the boat at our third port, Manzanillo. The port was in a really industrial area and we would have had to do a bit of traveling to get anywhere interesting anyway, so we were both fine with just taking it easy.

Day-seven-Rebecca: "I'm not so sure about cruises anymore."

Did you hear about all of the rain in California last week? Well, there were some huge cold fronts associated with that that made the water pretty rocky for our first day headed home.

Day-eight-Rebecca: "I just want to die."

The first day of rough water was unpleasant, but bearable. The second day, however, was just miserable. Rob handled it better than I did, but neither of us were happy campers. At one point I decided to go jogging because that had made me feel better on a previous day when I had felt a touch sea-sick. After I had run about a mile and a half I had to stop my treadmill. I felt a bit better after I visited the ladies' room and threw up three times. It was just awful.

We spent a lot of that day in the main lounge, which is right in the middle of the ship. We sat for hours just chatting and that was actually really nice. It was finally time to go to sleep and I couldn't wait for the next morning when the ship wouldn't be moving anymore and I could get back on dry land.

Post-cruise-Rebecca: "Life is beautiful!"

Some people have motion sickness after they take a cruise, but not me. I couldn't have been happier to be on solid ground. The day we got back we drove to St. George and stayed with my brother, Ryan, and his family. We love visiting them!

The next day we hiked around Snow Canyon. Katie and Ellie were total pros at racing around the trails. Our first stop was this cool slot canyon called Jennie's Canyon.

It was a touch chilly, but definitely bearable and tons of fun.

Katie was the first to reach the top of this peak, with Rob coming up second. Katie was especially proud of her speed and even reached the bottom before I started back down.

Ryan and Ellie followed close behind the first two.

Karen and Aspen stayed home while the rest of us went out. I realized I didn't get a single picture of Karen; probably because she was constantly busy preparing meals for us and making sure everything was wonderful, as it always is at their place. Thanks for taking in a couple of bums like us!

Over-all-Rebecca: "Cruises are fine, but it will be a long while before I take another."

All things considered, I had a good time on my first cruise. I'm definitely willing to give it another try, but I'm not in a hurry to get on another cruise ship anytime soon.

Ahoy!

2010-01-10T19:33:00.004-07:00

Rob and I are taking a cruise to the Mexican Riviera (our first cruise ever) starting later this week. Any advice on cruises from all you cruise-savvy folks out there?

Halfway there

2010-01-01T23:04:00.009-07:00

Here's our little guy's profile. That's right--in case you hadn't already heard, we're having a boy! We are really excited.

I was 20 weeks along on Christmas Day--exactly halfway! It's amazing how quickly this little belly has popped out of nowhere. I finally did some shopping and have some maternity clothes that I really love.

Thanks a million to my sister, Denise, who had the idea for these really cute pictures. She not only gave me the idea, but provided the tag and ribbon and took the picture. She says that someday when they finally get me into scrapbooking I can do these pictures, and she's right--I love them!

Wintertime exercise can be tough

2009-12-17T11:18:00.006-07:00

I worry about gaining weight. In fact, one of my biggest concerns before serving a mission was that I would come home chunky. Those of you who have known me for less than ten years may not know that I was a bit on the thicker side in high school, so these concerns are not unwarranted; when I don't exercise regularly, I gain weight.

Let me say at this point that I am okay with gaining weight during pregnancy. I know it needs to happen and it WILL happen, and that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the possibility of gaining a lot more weight than I need to, and then having a hard time getting the weight off. And besides the weight, it's a really big pain to get in shape. If I don't go running for a few weeks, it's a lot harder to make it through my run the next time I go.

Please don't leave comments on this post telling me about all of the pounds that just melted off your body after you had your baby, because my body does not default to thin, it defaults to chunky. I have come to accept that, and so should you. I repeat: I was not a thin teenager (you know, the time in your life when you're supposed to be able to eat a trillion calories and not gain an ounce? Well, I was a good 20-25 pounds heavier than I am now) and I am only a thin adult through a lot of hard work.

I have been pretty good about exercising so far in my pregnancy. I usually go for a long run twice a week, and do some other form of exercise (elliptical, short run, Tae Bo) up to two days a week on top of that. I think it was a tender mercy that it didn't really snow until last week because I could continue my jogging without the concern of falling and splitting my head open since sidewalks are rarely cleared properly from December to May.

But I knew the snow would eventually come, and it finally did. I was talking to my BFF Sarah Salt Buffington about my snow-jogging concerns and she gave me a fabulous idea. Behold, the Kahtoola MICROspikes!

After researching various products, I decided that these babies were the ones for me. They were kind of pricey, but much less expensive (and more interesting) than a gym membership or a treadmill.

Here are some pictures after my first run with them. They are great for slick and icy spots; you can just run like you're on bare pavement. (Don't worry, mom; I put these on while sitting down and took them off before standing up on your kitchen floor! :)

I didn't need them for my whole run since I could run on the shoulder of the road sometimes and some sidewalks were actually cleared (shocker!), so I would just slip them off and carry them until I needed them again. They are very easy to put on and take off and they are pretty lightweight. I'm so glad that these exist! Now that I've got the proper gear, I just need to stay motivated and keep moving.

Blogging bonanza!

2009-12-03T11:22:00.002-07:00

It's been a long time, but I've been busy! I have a few things to blog about that don't fit into one post, so today you get multiple posts. Read what you like and skip what you like. Thanks for visiting!

ITP?

2009-12-03T11:21:00.003-07:00

I went to my first hematologist appointment yesterday and my platelets are normal. In the past five weeks they jumped from 84,000 to 280,000. He said that he has no idea why my platelets are low sometimes and normal other times. I'm confused.

A real job

2009-12-03T10:59:00.003-07:00

It's official: I have finally signed on to be a full-time employee of Walmart.* I am quite pleased about being guaranteed the number of hours I want every pay period. I am also happy that I now have vacation time and personal leave time (i.e., maternity leave).

I am less excited that I now have to work every other Sunday. Since I got my license in June, I haven't had to work a single Sunday. Now that I'm one of two pharmacists at my location (and the other pharmacist is a bishop, so I don't think he would want to work every Sunday to give me a break), I have to do my part. I am also less excited about the fact that my store is in West Valley City. Yuck. I am not offended by West Valley, I am just offended by its distance from Spanish Fork--my commute time is about an hour each way. There are about seven Walmarts between my house and the location where I work. Oh well, it's just until something closer opens up. And I can look at it as a blessing because this store isn't too busy and I'm not sure a busy store with a high-stress situation is ideal for a pregnant girl.

Overall, I am happy about my decision. Yes, it's strange to think that I got a doctorate degree to work for Walmart, but they are definitely a stable company and I don't have to worry about losing my job. Also, this will guarantee a steady source of extra income until the baby comes so we can pay off my student loans and save up a bit. I really do have a lot to be grateful for.

*In case you're confused, I have been working for Walmart this whole time, but not as a full-time employee. I have been a part-time floater, which means I picked up whatever random shifts at whatever random stores they had for me.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-03T10:07:00.013-07:00

Every year Rob and I alternate which of our families we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with. This year's rotation had us spending Thanksgiving with my parents, who are serving a mission in Omaha. We wanted to visit them some time while they are there, so we figured this would be a great chance! We also got Dustin and his fiancee, Heidi, (who my parents had not met in person) to come with us.
This picture is in my parents' apartment. I am just amazed that we got a picture with all four of us smiling simultaneously! Don't they look great with their missionary badges?

We arrived Tuesday night and spent Wednesday seeing historic sites in and around Omaha. It was great having tour guides who knew exactly where everything was and could give us tons of details about each place we visited. [Disclaimer: the details presented in this post are ridiculously brief. For further details, please contact Rob or Reb. :]

This was Hyde Park (now it's just the marker and a big field of private property). We discovered that my mom likes to take pictures without telling you she's taking them.

Next we went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the Kanesville tabernacle. After that we visited the Winter Quarters Trail Center. We watched a movie and had a nice tour from a sister missionary before we were set loose to dork around.

You better believe we were excited to try on the pioneer headgear!

There was a huge gingerbread house display in both the Kanesville Tabernacle and the Trail Center basement. My parents' masterpiece was one of many displayed. It was super fun! (You can tell by the look on my dad's face.)

It's like they knew we were coming or something--these cutouts are right up our alley!

Next we walked around the temple and cemetery (both across the street from the trail center). We went back on Friday and did initiatories--I was very happy to get inside since I had forgotten my recommend! They fixed that pretty quickly by calling my bishop and getting the go-ahead.

It was really great to see all the work my parents have done on the grounds at many of the sites, especially the cemetery where my dad has been doing a lot of work restoring the walkways and such.

Thanksgiving was really great. Rob and I started with our tradition of going for a jog, which always makes me feel better about eating so much. My parents invited the Elders from their ward to eat with us. For some reason, I didn't take a single picture that day, but the food was delicious and the company was great!

Rob and I continued another of our Thanksgiving traditions--Black Friday shopping! We carefully go through the ads on Thursday and decide which two or three stores we would most like to go to. It's just crazy and fun to go out. We don't even care if we get what we are shopping for; it's just entertaining to see so many people so passionate about getting good deals!

We got a few things we were quite pleased about, including the Willow Tree Creche for my nativity set (the last piece needed to complete my collection). I have never seen it on sale before, but we got it for 30% off! We also got a 1 TB external hard drive and some sweet deals on clothes. Good times!

We spent the rest of Friday site-seeing. This is a foot bridge that crosses the Missouri River between Nebraska and Iowa. It was really cool!

On Saturday afternoon we said goodbye and started the long drive home. It was a fun trip and I'm so glad we were able to be with my parents for Thanksgiving.

ITP

2009-11-16T10:27:00.004-07:00

Before Rob and I got married, I went to the doctor to have a physical before I lost my health insurance. Everything was fine, except that I had low platelets. They rechecked them a couple weeks later and they were still low, so they referred me to a hematologist. When we spoke to someone at the hematologist's office, he said that this may be a fluke and that I should wait a few more weeks and have it checked again before seeing a specialist. So a few weeks later they rechecked and my platelets were normal--yay!

A few weeks ago I had my first OB appointment, which included routine blood work. Everything was fine, except that I had low platelets. I was referred to a perinatologist--someone who manages high-risk pregnancies. I figured it would be no big deal, and I even told Rob that he didn't need to come with me to my appointment. We were talking about it and I said, "I'm sure all they'll do is take some blood." The instant these words had escaped my lips, I had a vision of myself being strapped into a human gyroscope.

I realized that I had no clue what they would be doing, and that there was a chance they would be giving me some very bad news. I retracted my previous dismissal of a loving supporter and asked Rob if he would come with me.

It was a stressful week from the time I found this out until I went to the perinatologist this Wednesday. They started out by doing another ultrasound. Our baby has grown a ton in the last two weeks! We saw its arms & hands and its legs & feet, all of which were just little stubs at the last ultrasound. It was great!

The perinatologist told us that I have something called ITP, idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura. [idiopathic = unknown cause, thrombocytopenia = low platelets, purpura = bruising, a common effect of having low platelets] The "I" in ITP can also stand for "immune" because your immune system attacks your platelets, which is why they're low.

Let me just say at this point that I am okay and our baby is okay--that's all I wanted to hear from the doctor! The baby will develop and grow normally and should be just fine when it is born. It may have low platelets since my antibodies can cross the placenta and attack the baby's platelets, too, but they have treatments to fix that if it happens.

The one major bummer is that I can't have an epidural unless my platelet count is over 100,000, and right now it's at 85,000. I can take steroids for a couple weeks before my due date and that should bring up my numbers enough, or in an emergency they can give me a platelet transfusion.

I feel so grateful and blessed to know that our baby is okay. For a short time I wondered if I would ever get to see this little one, to know what color its hair is, to see if it has chubby cheeks. It is such a relief to know that all my hopes and excitement haven't been for nothing. Thanks to a loving Father in Heaven for a wonderful husband, a little one on the way, and the perspective to appreciate it all.

Baby Youngberg

2009-11-01T18:08:00.003-07:00

Rob and I are having a baby! In this ultrasound picture you can see its head toward the left, the body toward the right, and a little hand making an appearance above the body. We are so excited! We are especially happy to FINALLY be telling people; we have known for certain for five weeks and suspected for at least two weeks before that. We had our first doctor appointment this past Wednesday and I am 12 weeks along.

Answers to FAQs:
-I am due on May 15th. My due date was predicted at May 14th before they measured the baby, and they said I'm measuring just right to deliver on the 15th.

-I haven't been too sick, thankfully. By that I mean that I haven't had to throw up at all. I have definitely felt blah and there are times when I am absolutely starving, but can't think of a single food on the face of the planet that I'd like to eat. Thank heavens for unsalted top Premium brand saltine crackers!

-I have definitely been more tired than usual. We're talking a minimum requirement of nine or ten hours of sleep every night. It used to be rare for me to go to bed before 11:00, but now it's not unheard of for me to check in around 9:30 p.m. or to not get up until 9:30 a.m. on days I don't have to work. Rob has captured photographic evidence of my sleepiness on more than one occasion.

-I am still working as much as I can and plan on working until I have the baby. I'm not showing yet and don't plan on telling anyone at work until after I have a full-time position secured, if possible. I wouldn't be surprised if the district manager over Utah County chose another pharmacist over me because I am expecting. (Yes, I know that is illegal, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.)

-We are planning on finding out the gender, but probably won't know until some time around New Year's. We have a few names in mind that we have always liked (both boys' and girls' names), but we aren't committed to any of them completely. I am sure there will be much baby name discussing going on between now and May at the Youngberg home.

Overall, we are just so excited. During the first ultrasound on Wednesday we saw the baby moving all around and it was the best thing in the world! Thanks to everyone we've already told for your love and support and for sharing in our excitement.

Halloween

2009-10-31T21:51:00.005-06:00

Alien scientist genius from the 70's from the future

Judge Judy

Shoulder update

2009-10-21T16:38:00.002-06:00

I went to the physical therapist on Monday and learned that I have very weak shoulder muscles. Those muscles (the ones that comprise the rotator cuff) are supposed to support the head of the humerus in its socket. When they're not strong enough, this puts strain on the tendon, which can result in inflammation, or rotator cuff tendonitis--voila!

They're still not sure why I had this awful experience since I didn't have some sort of instigating injury or event. They gave me a therapy band to work out with and taught me some exercises to strengthen my shoulder muscles. I have a follow-up appointment on Friday.

Maybe after I do these exercises for a while I'll be able to do a REAL push-up, and not just attempt a push-up for the amusement of others. :)

Bupivacaine and cortisone: nectar of the gods

2009-10-19T13:23:00.003-06:00

*Note to self: do not create a blog post titled "Not much going on," lest you tempt the blogging gods to give you something to blog about.

On Monday, October 5th I got my seasonal flu shot. I was very diligent about taking Snoopy for a ride--do any of you know what that means? I made certain to move my arm around A LOT so it wouldn't get sore from the shot. My arm was pretty sore the next day, but by Wednesday it was fine.

Some time around the 11th my arm started feeling a little bit sore again. It wasn't anything too bothersome; just a bit painful, especially when I raised it above my head to wash my hair, etc. Throughout last week, it progressively got more and more sore. On Thursday it was the worst it had been and by that night I couldn't move my right arm at all without pure agony. I thought maybe if I got a good night's sleep that would do the trick. I tried laying on my back, my stomach, even on the arm that was bothering me, but nothing was comfortable and/or less than excruciating.

On Friday morning my sweet hubby Rob took the day off to take care of me. The major hitch in our plan was that I was scheduled to work from 9 am to 9 pm in Saratoga Springs. I called my boss and asked him to find someone as quickly as possible and that I would work until a replacement came in.

Rob drove me to the Instacare in Saratoga Springs (which opens at 8 am) and the doctor told me that I have rotator cuff tendonitis; something typically seen in someone 20 years older than me. I asked what causes that and he said that in most cases, it is unknown. He told me about my treatment options and we decided to go with a shot of bupivacaine (to numb it) and cortisone (for the inflammation).

The first shot was the bupivacaine, and he injected that directly into the spot that had been hurting the most. I could not believe the pain!! I started seeing white spots, getting light-headed, and sweating profusely. Next he injected the cortisone, but I had checked out mentally by that point. When he was finished he had me lay down until I felt better.

My arm felt better and better throughout the rest of the day. Another pharmacist came in to relieve me around 11:30, at which point Rob drove me home and I took a 2.5 hour nap. My arm has felt fine since then, but I'm still going to do the physical therapy prescribed just in case.

I need to make it clear that I do NOT think that it was my flu shot that did this; I think it was myself being too much of a spaz about making sure it didn't get sore. So what's the moral of the story? Make sure you get your flu shot, but don't be so worried about it getting sore that you end up hurting yourself!

Not much going on

2009-10-15T14:23:00.003-06:00

Why do I feel obligated to do a post when I have nothing to say? Oh well, here it is.

Not only do I feel guilty for not posting, but I feel guilty for doing a post without a picture, so here's this oldy I dug up. Aren't we just gorgeous when we are tortured with our own coolness?

Anyway, here are a few things that have been happening in our lives:
-I got my seasonal flu shot last week before people started freaking out. (Rob is getting his today at work.) I have had lots of panicked mothers telling me that their pediatrician's office is out of the vaccine. Don't worry, they'll get more. And what do I think of the H1N1 vaccine? I think I'll probably get it . . . if I can find it anywhere in the state of Utah.

-Last weekend we went shopping for clothing and totally cashed in! We got six shirts for Rob (two long-sleeve tee types, two button-down collared short sleeve types, and two polos) for less than $55 after tax! I just love bargains. Nothing thrills me more than finding a really great shirt that we would spend $15 or even $20 on, but don't have to because it's on clearance for $5! HOT!!

-It is colder than I'd like it to be. Okay, that last sentence is true for me about eight months out of the year, but that doesn't mean I ever get used to the cold! It has been nice weather for jogging, though. A couple days each week I have been doing this really great five-mile loop that runs along open fields between Spanish Fork and Mapleton and goes past the new Maple Mountain High School. Have I mentioned how nice it is to only work an average of three days per week?

-As was mentioned on Rob's blog, 30 Rock starts back up tonight. I'll be honest, when we first started watching this show I stuck with it for Rob--it wasn't my favorite. But now I love it! I have been pretty unimpressed with a lot of the new shows that are supposed to be amazing this season. I would mention specifics, but I don't want to tick off any of my friends who enjoy these shows--that's fine for them. All I'm saying is that it's nice to have my favorites come back.

-I'm not sure what I should be for Halloween . . . or if I even have the energy to care. I am excited to live in a real neighborhood where we might get trick-or-treaters. I am definitely going to use this slim possibility as an excuse to buy some really good candy!

Dustin and Heidi

2009-10-05T15:06:00.008-06:00

I am the youngest of eight children. All eight of us have been married except my brother, Dustin. Well guess what?

Dustin and Heidi started dating a LONG time ago . . . like way back in September. They were in the same MTC district and recently bumped into each other on that ultimate of matchmakers, Facebook. They decided to hang out and a few weeks later decided that they are meant for each other. I couldn't agree more!

My parents, who are serving a mission in Omaha, didn't even know that Dustin was seeing anyone. One night he asked them to video chat with him and gave them quite a surprise!

This picture was taken while they broke the news to my folks last Wednesday.

We Palmers are always looking for an excuse to eat ice cream, so yesterday we had a congratulations party for the happy couple.

I almost caught Shayla with a smile on her face--almost! She definitely enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

The nieces and nephews had a great time tearing apart the basement, just like old times. Their parents were nice enough to make them clean up before they left. :)

Everyone packed in to our computer room to watch a replay of the video chat between Dustin and my parents. We decided that it might be fun to count how many times total my parents said "What?!" Don't worry, though; they were very excited once the shock wore off.

And here is the obligatory self-portrait of Rob and Reb! The party was a ton of fun and we are all so happy for Dustin and Heidi. Congratulations!

Who do these socks belong to?

2009-09-24T09:57:00.002-06:00

I CRAVE YOUR INDULGENCE

2009-09-21T17:48:00.002-06:00

From: Mrs. Helena Williams (harold.jr1097@sbcglobal.net)

Goodday My Beloved,

Compliment of the day to you, i'm Mrs Helena Williams by name, and i'm 47 years of age but i'm currently ill with Cancern.

My Husband died in the plane crash years ago, and i'm looking for a God fearing person to help me invest our funds ($10 Million Dollars) for charity purpose as my doctor have indicated that i have a short time to spend in life.

Should you be interested, please get back to me ASAP for i can not really tell what my tomorrow might look like because of my health reason.

Regards,

Mrs Helena Williams

Birthday, birthday!

2009-09-18T22:21:00.014-06:00

For those who don't know me well, let me just get this out in the open: when it comes to my birthday, I am a total spaz. I love my birthday; it is the best day of the year. With that off my chest, allow me to take you on a journey through my wonderful day!

In the morning I was greeted by these goodies on the kitchen counter:

You see, Cracklin' Oat Bran is one of my favorite cereals, but we RARELY buy it because it's ridiculously overpriced and doesn't seem to go on sale more often than once every two years. And all that other stuff? Those are the ingredients to make the homemade trail mix I am addicted to. Mmmm . . .

The photographic documentation of my day has a big gap after breakfast. Imagine a nice, long jog along country roads lined with open fields. Then imagine lots of sitting around, reading a book, playing on them internets, watching my stories, eating delicious foods, and having a delicious nap. (You wouldn't want a picture of that last part; I tend to drool a bit when I nap.)

My sister Rachel and her girls made and delivered some chocolate chip cookies on a Dora the Explorer plate. Sweet!

This is my birthday self-portrait with way too much headroom that I was too lazy to crop out.

And here it is, a picture of Rob and me with the ultimate birthday present!

We saw this picture over two years ago and I LOVED it. At first glance it just looks like a landscape painting, but on closer inspection you will notice that much of the detail in the picture is actually sewn on. Seriously, take a look:

(If you didn't already, click on it to make it all big so you can see the detail.) Isn't that just really cool? Anyway, Rob (xox) remembered this picture and how much I loved it, found it again, and bought it for me! Take notes, husbands, Rob has earned mega bonus points.

We had dinner at Red Robin, one of my favorites. I had a super fatty cheeseburger and ate a gazillion french fries. We had the best waiter we've had in a really long time, so that was nice.

I thought it very considerate of Mother Nature to produce a rainbow in honor of my birthday.

After coming home we watched the season premier of The Office, which was fun. We also played Rock Band with my brother Dustin.

Okay, so we're not actually playing in this picture, but you don't want to see the ones where we are; we basically look really tired and/or bored. Strange. Anyway, Dustin always lets me choose what I want from him for my birthday, and this year I chose a bunch of songs I wanted to download for Rock Band. (Rob and I are kind of obsessed with that game right now. :)

I think some of the things that made my birthday especially great are the things I DIDN'T DO on my birthday:

-Go to work
-Do any dishes or housework
-Go to school/do homework (I realized that this is the first year--beside my mission--that I wasn't in school on my birthday since I turned five!!! Yuck.)

In summary: I had one of the best birthdays ever! Thanks to all who commented on the blog, called, sent emails, and posted on Facebook. And special thanks to Rob for making my day great every day, and especially on my birthday!

9:17

2009-09-17T14:15:00.004-06:00

Hi, this is Rob. This is pretty much just Rebecca's blog, but I have access to it whenever I want (suckas!), which means it's time for me to say...

It's Rebecca's Birthday today! Everyone wish her a Happy Birthday. Show the love, don't be shy!

We're so excited to celebrate her Birthday--Birthday Style! What is Birthday Style? I don't know, I kind of wrote myself into a corner there.

I bought her some presents (I've had one stashed in the basement for almost 2 months), she's getting them after I come home from work. She has no flippin idea!

Love you, Sweets.
-Rob

Pharmacy nerd bliss

2009-09-15T08:42:00.007-06:00

I've been telling people for MONTHS now that I'm not sure why Walmart's prices on zolpidem (the generic for Ambien) and simvastatin (Zocor) are still so high. The last time I checked, zolpidem was about $43 for 30, and simvastatin was ~$26. So FINALLY last week a small miracle occurred for me, a girl who loves deals even more than she loves pills; check out our current prices: zolpidem is $5.69 and simvastatin is $5.90! If you get 90 days' worth, the prices are $11.88 and $12.92!! Now if sertraline (Zoloft) would just come down already . . .

While I'm doing a pharmacy nerd post, allow me to share this series of amusing pharmacy stock photos I found (hopefully they're amusing to more than just pharmacy nerds . . . or nerds in general).

Pills are confusing!--No, they're frightening!--No, they're downright maddening!! I think my favorite is the center one, which I am affectionately calling "Pills Nightmare." I think these have really captured the general public's feelings towards pharmacies and pharmacists in general. :)

I helped make sure her hair didn't look messy on her neck

2009-09-11T22:11:00.003-06:00

The other day I tagged along with my sisters Denise and Rachel to take bridal pictures of my niece, Alyssa, who is getting married tomorrow. It was a lot of fun (despite the oppressive heat). Denise took some awesome pictures with her stellar camera, some of which are posted on her blog.

I wasn't really an integral player in the shoot, but I had a good time and I like to think that I contributed something (see post title). I took a few shots with our (relatively) cheap-o camera, and I really like how this one turned out:

Congratulations, Alyssa and Jace!

Suprisingly eventful week

2009-09-07T13:45:00.004-06:00

Last week there weren't ANY hours for me to work, so I was afraid I'd go crazy being at home with nothing to do for a whole week. Luckily, we had a few things pop up that made life interesting.

On Tuesday Rob and I went to the Modest Mouse concert--awesome!! This is the first concert I've gone to since I saw Sugar Ray and Matchbox 20 before my mission. Rob and I have never gone to a concert together before and Modest Mouse is one of the few bands that we both REALLY like, so as soon as we heard they were coming we bought our tickets. I won't go into detail about the concert because I don't think I have anything to add to Rob's post about it.

This is our only picture, taken on Rob's phone.
On Thursday a pharmacist got sick midway through the day, so I drove to Saratoga Springs to cover the rest of her shift. Yay for working and earning money! (I really do feel bad that she was sick, but that didn't keep me from feeling glad I got to work. :) On Friday morning another pharmacist asked if I could cover his shift for that day. Yay again!

On Saturday we went to a wedding reception BBQ for Rob's cousin, Jen, and her new hubby, Josh. It was fun to see and chat with lots of Rob's cousins. Embarrassing as it is, I feel like I am just now remembering most peoples' names and which Youngberg uncle they belong to. Even with my frequent blog-stalking, the names don't seem to stick until I've talked to that person face-to-face. When we left I wanted to take home all of the babies--they were so stinkin' cute! (Sorry, no pictures.)

So, nothing too exciting going on our way, but enough to keep me sane while I wait to hear whether I will get a more regular position closer to home.

WHAT?!!

2009-08-25T20:58:00.008-06:00

Last night I worked with my least favorite coworker; I refer to him as 'Stachey Tech. (Picture a pudgy 30-something man with an unkempt mustache.) The reason he is my least favorite is twofold: first, he always has to be right about things. Even when there's nothing to disagree about, he will create a debate which he is determined to win. Second, he sometimes says things that are really strange and uncomfortable. Example: once he said that people who buy baby slings or carriers are lazy for not carrying their babies. Right. Come talk to me when your baby is more than a week old and we'll see if you (or your wife) have changed your story.

At one point in the evening it was pretty slow so I called Rob to chat and ask him about my dad's Jeep, which we had gotten inspected for registration. I think we talked about something else then wrapped up the conversation. When I hung up the phone, 'Stachey Tech said something like, "Oh, don't lie to him like that."

Reb: "Lie to him like what?"
S.T.: "You shouldn't tell him lies like that."
Reb: "Lies like what?"

In my mind I'm trying to figure out what I could have possibly said that would fit in to this strange joke S.T. was trying to pull off. The last thing I had said was "love you," so I knew he couldn't be talking about that because he's hard to get along with, but he's not psycho . . . or so I thought.

S.T.: "You said that you love him."

Wow. Absolutely incredible. How does anyone think that is something that you lightheartedly joke about to a coworker you barely know? Anyone who knows anything--ANYthing--about me knows that I adore Rob. I was completely stunned and all I could say was, "Wow, that's a really nasty thing to say." I said this as flatly as I could so he wouldn't think I was trying to go along with his twisted joke. He gave a chuckle, completely oblivious that he had insulted the one thing in my life I know I can always count on: my love for and from my husband.

Kissy kissy on your face!

It's probably a good thing I didn't have more time to think before I responded because things could have gotten even more unpleasant--I'm not very nice when people insult me or make me angry. The other technician working seemed as surprised and confused as I was. He said, "I believe her when she says she loves him!" and the conversation just kind of came to an awkward end. It was unbelievable.

Hey weirdo, mind your own business. And go trim your moustache.

Demolition derby!!

2009-08-18T09:50:00.011-06:00

This past weekend was the Utah County Fair and (hopefully) the birth of a new tradition for Rob and Reb: the demolition derby! I have been excited about this for weeks and weeks!

I think the woman behind us is pretty concerned about what's going on in the arena . . . or maybe this is her natural expression since this picture was taken between rounds when nothing notable was happening.

We were really rooting for car 01. My friend Summer's brother, Todd, was driving that car, as evidenced by the Skiba logo on the back. He didn't win the grand prize, but was named the most aggressive driver of the event.

Here's our crew--we took up a whole bench! My sisters Denise and Rachel both came with their families (and lots of goodies to share! :)

This is probably my favorite shot of the evening. The demolition derby is so cool!

This shot and the next are the fruits of my search for Big Hair. I had hoped to see more than I did, but what'll ya do? This picture illustrates The Bump . . .

while this picture shows a classic example of Big Bangs. Nice work, ladies!

This is the winning car, number 44. He was a maniac!

I quickly learned and was intrigued by the strategy involved in this sport. If you have never been to a demolition derby and you get the chance, take it--it was unbelievably fun!

How does Facebook know me so well?

2009-08-13T10:54:00.019-06:00

As many of you are aware, Facebook is a nice/convenient social network for keeping in contact with friends and family, playing games, voicing your opinions, showing off pics from vacations, and lots of other things. Another thing that Facebook does (and the whole reason it can exist) is advertising.

Usually I just ignore these advertisements; they are on the sidebar and don't get in my way at all. When I logged on to my profile today these were some of the ads that appeared on the page:

No big deal, right?

There is one particular ad that started to catch my eye; it is an ad for breast augmentation. Don't get the wrong idea; I'm not letting you in on any big secret wish I have. The reason this ad caught my attention is the picture they attached to the ad:

Really? This is the image you've selected to convince me that your practice is knowledgeable, professional, and trustworthy enough to perform a medical procedure on me? REALLY?

Creepy Facebook Doctor, as I have named him, seemed to appear every time I logged on to Facebook and it just made me laugh. I'm glad I saved this image to my desktop when I did, because now they have changed the image attached to this advertisement to this guy:

I guess at least this time they have an actual person, but I'm still getting the creepy vibe from this guy. Oh wait, the text under his picture has put my mind at ease:

Finally, I can have super confidence, and it will only cost me $2795. Thanks, Facebook!

Pros and Cons

2009-08-08T09:04:00.004-06:00

As we have made abundantly clear, Rob and I moved two weeks ago. I decided that it would be therapeutic to make a list of reasons I am both happy and sad about the move. (Sorry, it's just lots of words and no pictures. I totally understand if you don't have the patience to endure this post.)

Yay Apartment, Boo House
-It was always nice to never have to fix any appliances or do general maintenance work. We haven't had to mow a lawn, rake leaves, or shovel a snow-covered sidewalk since we got married.

-I will definitely miss the fitness center with its treadmills, stationary bikes, stair machines, ellipticals, weights, and racquetball court. We rarely if ever used the pool, hot tub, sauna, or volleyball court, but it was nice to know they were there if we wanted them.

Yay House, Boo Apartment
-Living both above and below strangers was miserable at times. This was most inconvenient when they wanted to make noise and we wanted it quiet or vice versa. I just got really frustrated toward the end with our neighbors downstairs who wouldn't simply knock on our door and ask us to be quiet; instead, they would call security and we would have an officer show up at our apartment. Okay, that only happened once, but I was home alone and not making much noise--but we've all heard that story before!

-The aforementioned volleyball court. It was right outside our apartment, but we didn't play volleyball once the entire three years we lived in our apartment. So why am I glad to leave it behind? It seemed to attract all the drunk tools who were all too eager to take off their shirts and show off their tats. All I can figure is that none of them had jobs because they would be playing by about 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. and would play until 10:00 or 11:00 some nights. On the weekends they would start as early as 8:00 a.m. There's nothing like a bunch of angry swears to wake you up and get your weekend going! In addition to all of this, our bedroom window was broken all the way across by an errant volleyball. We didn't notice until right before we moved, so I won't be surprised if we get charged to replace it.

Boo for Moving in General
-It's hard to find places to put all your stuff. This has been especially challenging this time around because some of the things we need ended up in storage and some of the stuff we won't be using is still in the house. Also, my parents left behind anything they won't need for the next year, so I have to either fit our stuff in with theirs or pack it for storage. Tricky!

-I now have to commute to Salt Lake for work. Hopefully this is just a temporary "Boo," but I'm not sure when they will be transferring me to Utah County. Once they do transfer me, I'll have to get used to new coworkers, doctors' offices, and customers, which can be kind of tough.

Yay for Moving in General
-It's good to go through all your junk and reevaluate what's important and what's not. DI tends to benefit a great deal from our moves.

-It's nice to get a fresh start with neighbors and ward members. You can be whatever you want to be. I guess that may sound strange, but I feel like I was kind of a slacker in my last ward (I like to blame it on being a student and regularly working 50-60 hours per week), but no one here knows that. I can start new here and it feels good.

What we've been up to

2009-08-02T21:54:00.002-06:00

Just 4 Things

2009-07-29T22:26:00.005-06:00

-I've been working a lot lately. Like A LOT a lot. So far this week I've worked 40.8 hours . . . and it's only Wednesday. Just remember the paycheck, Rebecca.

-Rob and I have moved into my parents' house while they are serving a 12-month mission. The move went okay, but I haven't really had a chance to get settled in at all--even my unmentionables remain in a box waiting to be unpacked.

-Today I had an elderly gentleman request that I ask the pharmacist about an over-the-counter remedy for leg cramps. After I talked with him about it for a bit he requested again that I just ask the pharmacist. It gave me a simultaneous sensation of irritation and a sort of sick satisfaction to inform him that he was already talking to the pharmacist.

-My husband is a saint. He has been making lunches and dinners, unpacking, grocery shopping, running errands, etc., etc., etc. (xox, Rob!)

Dream

2009-07-22T21:44:00.003-06:00

I had a dream the other night that I was at work and the customer I was helping was a missionary. I was ringing up his items at the cash register and after he swiped his card I asked, "Credit or debit?" To this he replied, "Louis" (pronounced Lewis; I guess the dreaming part of my brain doesn't know how to spell very well). When he said this I somehow knew that Louis was his first name. Anyway, he says "Louis" and I look down at the register to discover that there is actually a button labeled "LOUIS." I push the button and the charge goes through completing the transaction.

I've been working too much.

Hiking fun times

2009-07-18T22:40:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we decided to hike Ferguson Canyon which was supposed to take us to a really nice overlook of Salt Lake City. I'm sure if you follow the trail all the way to the top the view is great, but I am not what you'd call an advanced hiker, or even a moderate hiker (as I learned that day), so we didn't make it all the way up. I don't mind getting tired and dirty; I just never realized what a scaredy-pants I am when it comes to really steep and slippery trails with lots of rocks and a creek at the bottom. After hiking up for about 1.5 hours, we decided to just head back down because I was practically having a panic attack trying to bring myself to approach the next part of the trail.

Even though we didn't make it to the top, we still got a couple of nice photos.

Here's a little peek of the view we would have seen from the top.

We found this nice little waterfall; it was a great spot.

The traveling duck needed to get some fresh air; I think this hike was just what the doctor ordered!

Subject to Change Without Prior Notice, Suckas

2009-07-10T10:39:00.005-06:00

Did you all know that Rob has his own blog? I am not certain that you do know this, so I've decided that I must spread the word. I feel strongly about this because I am upset, even angry, that you have been missing out on the entertainment that is Rob's sense of humor. How can I allow you all to continue living this way?

Here's what you can expect when you visit Rob's blog:

-Sketchbook drawings. This is my favorite one to date.

-Funny videos. The second one in this post is especially hilarious (although it is hard to believe from the first part of the video that it will be anything but very grim).

-Useful information. When Rob discovers something that was kind of a pain in the butt to figure out, he will create a post that explains the process so other people don't have to go through the same annoying process. For instance, when he figured out this, he explained it on his blog. Sure this information may not apply to you, but there are A LOT of people who find his blog posts through Google searches. In fact, the blogging program Rob uses (Wordpress) has a really handy application that shows how many people have looked at your blog and which posts they looked at, and the most viewed posts are generally the useful information ones.

-Just really funny stuff, like this.

So stop by Rob's blog any old time and enjoy! Tell him Rebecca sent you and you will receive 10% off your total purchase!

Fourth of July

2009-07-05T15:19:00.005-06:00

Just a quick report on our holiday:

-Rob got up around 5:15 a.m. to help the scouts put flags up around our ward. I slept in quite peacefully and contentedly.

-Rob came home only to leave again at 7:15 to help set up tables and chairs for our ward's neighborhood breakfast. I continued to sleep, unaware that he had even come home until he informed me that he was headed out again.

-We went to said breakfast around 8:30, chatted with a few folks, and watched the bike parade for the kiddies. The entertainment level of this parade was inversely proportional to its length: very short, but a ton of fun to watch. I love seeing the thrilled look on kids' faces when they realize a bunch of adults are cheering for them.

-We hung out at our place most of the day, ate food, and watched movies.

-We went up Little Cottonwood Canyon and hiked around for about 2.5 hours. It was beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery.

-You will be pleased to hear that the replacement bladder for Rob's hydration pack (sent to us for free from The North Face) does not leak like the original did. Thank you, lifetime warranty!

-After our hike we went grocery shopping (yes, I know; we are TOO exciting), then came home to eat dinner, shower, and sit around our place. We had planned to watch fireworks, but we were so tuckered out that we just spent the evening at home relaxing.

For me, the best part of celebrating holidays is spending time with Rob doing whatever we want, even if that means we do nothing. We had a great holiday, even though it did not contain the typical elements of an Independence Day celebration.