Updates/Observations from February and March

Events from February
My grandma, Norma Jeanne Whitney, passed away. Flew out for the funeral and honestly I don't think it could've gone better.  She was an elect lady and a "prairie woman."  I know I will see her again.  I was happy to spend a few days with my grandpa Clayton as well.  He is such a wonderful person and I feel so glad to know him.  What incredible heritage is mine because of the the people in my life!

It's a boy!  My jaw dropped.  I couldn't believe that my little Julia (the name for my first daughter whenever she arrives) turned out to be a dude and you know what?  I'm thrilled.  Not sure about names yet.  I'm thinking Jim, Leo, or Spencer.  Jim is currently in the lead.  Appropriate nicknames would be:  Jimothy, JimmyDeanSausage, James and the Giant Poop (for full diapers), and Jimbo.  I would prefer to avoid calling him just "James" or "Jimmy."  I don't know why I like the name Jim so much.  Probably because of Jim Croce. "You don't tug on superman's cape.  You don't spit in the wind.  You don't pull the make of the ole lone ranger and you don't mess around with Jim."  He kicks a lot and apparently has a huge head.  Cool.  Coolcoolcool.  

We bought our tickets for our San Francisco apartment hunting trip.  I admit my feelings about this move have been mixed.  I had hoped to end up somewhere closer to family and not the most expensive place to live in the country.  On the other hand, it's California and California is a beautiful place.  If you've never heard Joni Mitchell's "California," you should check that out right this second.

For those of you who don't know, I am not currently working.  I signed up with a temp agency and it has been a long time since I've had a temp job.  I can't say that I hate not working.  I actually enjoy not working, but the boredom at home is starting to get to me. There's only so many ways to clean the apartment.  I've tried to force myself to like cooking and get experimental, but it's just not happening.  I will never see cooking as anything more than a chore.  Quite sad, for I dearly love to eat.  I spend a large portion of the day on the interwebs goofing off and watching the Andy Griffith show.  (Thanks Grandpa)  It's a delightful program if you can stomach your Fife.  I've just trained myself to not see him whenever he's on screen.

My interstitial cystitis flare has gotten way better. Miracle! Thank you all for your prayers. I still feel some pain and frequent urination, but it's really only bad at night and first thing in the morning, which is still frustrating but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.  I usually only get up about 3 or 4 times a night, sometimes more. I've actually been really bad about the diet and have been doing crazy things like drinking orange juice and eating ketchup. It does make a difference in the symptoms, but after a few hours things pretty much return to "normal." I feel greatly blessed by the Lord to be "out of the woods" as far as the very worst symptoms go. He has definitely answered my prayers.  I'm also grateful to be eating all sorts of food. Eating is my favorite thing. I've been keeping Hobbit meals (breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, and so on)

Nathan's school schedule is kind of the pits. I am so isolated during the day that when he comes home I want to socialize and he is often needing to keep studying. I am grateful he works so hard for our family but I miss the time we so enjoy spending goofing off and having fun. Things will still be fun with baby, but different, and I want to take advantage of all this "just us" time.  I'm grateful that after graduation (which is in a month!) we'll have a month before the new job starts. It will be our "babymoon" I suppose.  

Pregnancy is bizarre.  It's so weird that just a few months ago food made me physically ill several times a day.  I threw up my Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Now it's a habit I can't break. I want all the foods!  Feed me!  Me want food!  Seriously, it's the first thing I think about when I wake up and often the last thing I think of before I go to bed. I would say that I'm trying to be careful about weight gain, but it's just really not true.  While I am not a "skinny preggers" I haven't gained more than I am supposed to so I see this as a special gift.  The gestational diabetes screening is coming up so hopefully that's all well and good.

Well, I think that sums it up for updates.  God is good.