Dear Mom ~

Dear Mom,

So I wanted to let you know that I love you. That you are the best. I miss you all the time. I think about you often. I am writing this to tell you just how wonderful you are. It is important for you to know why you are the very best mother.

I have this very cute mother's day card sitting on my table right next to me. I bought it a while ago but I never got around to writing in it and sending it. I picked this particular card because of what it meant to me. On the cover is a little girl wearing her mommy's shoes and necklaces. Inside the card it says "It was from you that I learned to be me." Now this struck home because of how very real it has been to me lately. I have watched Delaney grow and develop. I have loved every minute of it. One thing that has really amazed me is her connection to me. She mimics things that I do. She tries to carry my purse, wear my necklace, wear my shoes, and just wants to be around me all the time. I love it. I realized that when I was her age I was doing the very same thing. She watches me get dressed and put on make up in the mornings. She has developed a new favorite game of reaching into my make up drawer and blindly pulling out whatever she can get her hands on. She loves it. It is from me that she is learning to be herself. 

So with that said, you have helped create me in the womb, and then shape me in the world. I have been so sincerely blessed to have you as a mother. You have taught me charity. You ability to reach out to people around you is something that sets you apart. You need to help people, and you want to help people. You have taught me the value of helping someone when they are down and how to reach out to them. I have never been a big fan of visiting teaching, but I watched you do it faithfully each month as you visited Sister Johnson.

You love children, I may have resented this when I was in high school but I have a better understanding now. It is something that I have only recently discovered but I love teaching them and interacting with my students. Just like you love your students and the YM/YW you led as the Young Women's president. I will never forget how hard I cried when you were released from YW's. I loved every minute you were with me. 

You taught me the importance of a clean home, but also that a clean home isn't always the most important thing. I learned how great a grandma is because of your love for your mom. I learned that it is OK to be a perfectionist but that I also need to be willing to step back and let go when it is time. Bill Cosby said that kids make parents become mentally insane. I am pretty sure that I have greatly contributed to your level of sanity. (Not saying that you are insane ;)) I know that I wasn't always the easiest teenager, my ability to not care about certain things drove you nuts, but you loved me anyway. 

I never understood you until I had Delaney. Until I realized just how much more I love her than she probably loves me. I created her. I see her greatness. I know that you see this same greatness in me. I know that you love me on a whole different level than I love you. Which is OK. A mom needs to love on a whole different level to endure the challenges that their children bring. I am so grateful for every sacrifice that you have made to stay home and teach me in my younger years, and the sacrifices you made to help support our family while I was a teenager. I am grateful for the effort you put into bringing the family together, and coming to visit us. I love how much you adore and love Delaney. I wish we lived closer to you so that she can experience the same relationship that I have with Grandma Smith. 

I know this is late but I wanted you to know why you are the best mother. So accept it and believe it. You are the best. You are amazing. You are a woman of God. You are my mother. My spiritual sister. My best friend. 

I love you.

Emily

 

All done!!!

Well, it is official. I have completed my student teaching. 16 weeks of teaching complete. It flew by. I honestly do not remember what it is like to be home all day with Delaney, but I am looking forward to being home with her. I have changed so much. I loved teaching. I remember being so nervous to teach because I hated my practicums but I ended up loving every minute of it. My favorite part was the students and my co-workers. Madison High School is an amazing school. It is my ideal school, and I hope that my own children will be able to attend a school like Madison. What really sets this school apart is the staff and students. Every single teacher is dedicated to their students and they love what they do. Collaboration is a huge deal at Madison. I knew that I could go to any member of the English department and they would help me. It was bittersweet to leave but when the end came, I realized that it was time. I will miss my little students(even though 60% of them are taller than me) and I loved all of them. They made this experience so worth it.

Today is my first day of no school. I am sick. I took a nap and I have been working on job applications. There are some big changes in this Garrard family's future. We are nervous but so excited about where we will be going next. Hopefully next to family. We will see. Pray for us. We need all the prayers we can get.

Here are my students. 

 10A: My first period class

 10B honors: 3rd period

 10B 4th period

My seniors. 5th period.

Three-ish days

So I completed the first three-ish days of student teaching. So far it is a lot of fun. I have the best mentor teachers I could possibly have. I am working with Steve Barrus and Ryan Snelgrove. They are both loved by their students. The other faculty members kept telling me what great teachers they are and how lucky I am to teach with them. They like to have fun while they are teaching and that is good because it reminds me to have fun. I am worried that I will take student teaching too seriously and forget that teaching is a creative and fun process. I am teaching 10th and 12th grade. I wear a name tag every day to school that says "Mrs. Garrard - Teacher Candidate". I am very official. I realized on Wednesday, the first day of student teaching, that this is going to be the longest "job interview" I will ever have.

On the second day of teaching, January 3rd, there was a power outage. The power went out during zero period. Outside it was -10. It was about an hour later when they decided to send the students home because of how cold it was and there was no power. Snow days are so much better when you are a teacher. I got to come home and cuddle my sick baby girl who has bronchiolitis. I went to DI and found 101 Dalmatians on VHS, as well as, The Sword in the Stone and Hercules. I love DI.

We have 1:30 church now. I actually enjoyed all the morning time I had to prep, especially because Delaney was taking a nap and I had the house all to myself. My back is really hurting because I did some bridges to strengthen my core/back. That's what I get for working out. Boo.

On my first day of student teaching Delaney woke up at 6:15 am. The same time I woke up. She followed me around as I got ready. She was really supportive during breakfast. She was so happy, but that is because she didn't realize that her world was about to be rocked. We have some amazing friends who are volunteering to take care of Delaney while Mike is in class and I am teaching. I miss my little girl so much but it is fun to see how excited she is when I come home. Tomorrow Mike starts classes. He is excited to start his final semester of classes. I can't believe that college graduation is this year! We will both walk in graduation in July. Crazy. Time has flown by. This is going to be a crazy semester but a very rewarding one.

Also I received a phone call from Denise Bekkedahl. She was my English teacher in high school for a couple different classes. She is the teacher that inspired me to become an English teacher. I loved talking to her and receiving tips on classroom management. It feels great to know that she is in my corner and that I have her as a resource.

To Create

I am starting a goal this year of 365 days of journal writing. Each day there is a new question to answer. The first question was "What is your number one goal for the year?" which is very fitting for the first day of a new year. My goal is to create a life I love. This goal was inspired by my Aunt Tammy's recently released blog, http://www.creatingalifeyoulove.net/ and I love it. My aunt is an incredibly talented writer. She has always been very supportive of my love of creative writing. Reading her blog reminded me of the joy I feel when I am creating something. I had a pottery class in high school that I loved. It was very therapeutic to shape the clay on a wheel and watch all my hard work become a beautiful piece of art. I love writing but often I am too lazy to do it. I will explain it like this: I have great desires and ideas but it is just a lot of work to make them the way that I want.

Creating brings such great happiness to my life. I understand Heavenly Father's love for His children because we are His creations. Just like Mike and I created Delaney. Delaney is our greatest joy. I never imagined that anyone could make me this happy. I am in constant awe of her. I am always amazed at how perfect she is. It is an obsession.

Another example of creating is cooking. I love baking and cooking. I love putting together food to feed my family. It brings me a lot of satisfaction. I believe that creating is the key to happiness in the life. So that is my goal this year. To create. To love my life by striving to concoct, devise, formulate, invent, invest, produce, start, design, and discover.

Today I began my student teaching. It is an opportunity for me to begin my goal of creating. I will be teaching and it is one of the best ways to create. I will learn so much. I will become a better mother from this experience. A better wife. A better person. It is an exciting time for our little family. It will be hard and challenging especially with Mike taking 15 credits and me doing my student teaching but we have already been so very blessed in our righteous desire to complete our degrees. We have amazing friends who have stepped up and volunteered their time to take care of Delaney. We are very excited for the new year and all the new joys and challenges it will bring.

Some days you just have to call your losses

I know I am a pretty good mom. I love playing with Delaney. I make the weirdest faces and noises just to get her to laugh and smile. I make sure that she has the food she needs (even though I hate breastfeeding). I make sure she gets her naps in, even if she refuses to believe she is tired and she cries and fights it. It is for her own good. It is also for mommy's sanity. Delaney and I have a great relationship. We adore each other and we adore Mike. Our little family has been extremely blessed.

Even with all our blessings and joys there are some hard days. I don't claim that these hard days are the equivalent of the many trials we read about in the Bible or Book of Mormon. For whatever reason, my ability to be patient thins and disappears. Or tiredness beats me down. Or the day feels way too long. Sometimes all I can do to console my upset baby is to set her in her pack n play and close the door. I have to let her cry it out. I have to accept that I can't always make everything better. I can try to help but I can't fix it. Some days the house is a disaster because I need to give all my energy to caring for my family. I have learned that a messy house is more often a sign of being busy rather than laziness. Even though there are days when I am lazy rather than busy. It is funny to see how priorities change and needs transform.

Last night my greatest need was a good night sleep. My sweet husband saw that need and offered to care for Delaney during the night. I was able to get a good nights rest. A night of rest that I desperately needed to take on Delaney today. Sometimes I just need a moment of quiet. I rarely listen to music anymore. Mostly because the music of a baby is enough for me. I enjoy the silent more than I ever thought I would.

I don't want to seem like I am complaining. I am incredibly grateful for my baby girl who brings me more smiles, laughter, and joy than I ever imagined possible. I am greatly blessed by my husband who is always working hard to study and get good grades so that he can be the best possible provider for our family. I am grateful for our old apartment which houses us and protects us even if I may be scared by a spider every other day. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that it is OK to call my losses, just as long as I try again tomorrow. I am always striving to be a little better and sometimes I falter. I am human and it happens. But I have a kind Heavenly Father who knows my weaknesses and helps me turn those weaknesses into strengths. It is an everyday process but I am doing it. 

For Brooke

Being a Mom

One thing that was said repeatedly when I was pregnant was that you can never really prepare for a child coming into your life. Which I would say is true but at the same time I feel that there is some advantage in a mother's intuition. Having Delaney in our lives for the past four months has been a roller coaster of adventure. I have loved almost every minute of it.
Some things that I did not expect after Delaney was born:

• Living in bed for the first six weeks of her life
• How hard it was to sleep on command
• Mostly figuring out her sleep habits (I wish that I had read more about baby sleep habits before she was born)
• Breastfeeding - I have a love/hate relationship. Great calorie burner but I feel like I am feeding her constantly. Thankfully she takes formula and breast-milk. 
• That is wouldn't be cuddly. This girl is a mover. She is always squirming around.
• Church is a battle. (9am church is at the tail end of her sleeping. She doesn't usually wake up until 9:30 or 10. So she is extra tired at church and refuses to sleep for very long at church. I often wonder if going to relief society is worth an extra tired baby. I still go though.

Things that I have loved:

• making her laugh and smile
• taking naps with her
•  going on walks
• I love feeding her. ( Remember it is a love/hate thing. Sometimes my butt gets sore from sitting and feeding her so much)
• When she looks at me. She looks like she just adores me. Love it. 
• That she sleeps at least 8 hours straight at night

Talking with Daddy

Delaney is loves talking and laughing. She is always really in to screaming. Not upset screaming, just telling everyone how she feels about things. It is kind of funny sometimes. Other times it is just loud. This girl definitely has some good lungs.

Three Months Old!

 Delaney Jean is three months old! It amazes me to see how much a difference a week can make in a baby's life. She hasn't really grown in size since she was two months. She is still developing many adorable talents.

This month Delaney:

• loves standing up on mom or dad's lap
• loves sitting on mom's lap and rocking in the rocking chair
• is getting better about taking long naps during the day. No more little cat naps. Or at least not as many cat naps.
• likes staring at lights. 
• is learning to laugh
• She is happiest when she is about to go to bed for the night. I believe it is her strategy to keep us from putting her to bed.
• She is sleeping 8-10 hours at night. I love getting a full night's rest. 
• She use to be really good about taking bottles but now refuses taking one unless she is starving.
•  She is getting better about holding her head up. We have started using her Bumbo more.
• She still hates tummy time. 
• She loves laying on a blanket outside in the shade. 

This is Delaney laughing. Sorry for the weird angle. Mike wasn't home to video tape it.

The Bumbo is serious business. lol

Two Months Old

Delaney Jean turned two months on May 25! She is growing so fast. I can hardly believe how fast time has flown. This was just before we went to the doctor for her two months shots. She was so sick afterwards!

At two months old Delaney:

Weighs: 10 lbs 15 oz.
Height: 22. 8 inches

• Loves smiling
• Rolls over from her tummy to her back
• Still loves partying till midnight
• Sleeps 6 to 8 hours at night
• Loves sucking on her fists
• Coos and talks tons
• Swinging is one of her favorite activities
• Loves standing up and jumping
• Her best color to wear is purple
• Can scoot herself backwards with her legs

This is the after shot from the shots. It is from my camera. The poor girl was so miserable afterwards. Thank goodness for baby Tylenol.

 She was exhausted after the shots. She is not a cuddly baby but she just wanted to be held all day after her shots.

Our New Home

In the last two months our little family has moved twice. We moved from University Courtyard apartments to an even smaller studio apartment. We lived in the studio apartment for a month, and then moved into our great and spacious apartment (not to be confused with the great and spacious building) on May 4th which happened to be the weekend of Delaney's baby blessing. Mike hated the studio apartment because it was a rip off. We paid over 500 for a one room apartment that didn't even have a full kitchen. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. It was the perfect size for the month we were there because it was less cleaning. Taking care of a brand new baby took away my desire to clean. So the studio was perfect for that time period.

We now live in a two bedroom apartment. I LOVE IT! It is an older apartment but I can live with that. We are pretty much moved in. There are just some random things to unpack and pictures to hang. It is hard to consider everything unpacked when my pictures are not hung up yet.

The things I love about our new apartment:

• It has two bedrooms! Love that the baby has her own room. 
• It was a washer and a dryer. No more coin operated laundromats. 
• TONS of storage. In the family room we have two massive closets for storage plus closets  in both bedrooms. 
• We have a pantry.
• Our family room is probably the same size as our apartment at University Courtyard. Our apartment is almost three times bigger!
• We have great neighbors.
• We have a grassy front yard and trees outside our window. Love that.
• In the summer is should be pretty cool inside because we have a day light basement.
• It is only a couple blocks from campus. It makes it really easy for Mike to come home during the day which means we get to see him more. 
• In our front yard we have a bleeding heart flower bush. Grandma will appreciate that. I love the pretty pink flowers.
• Really cheap rent. We are paying 500 for a two bedroom apartment.

There are lots of great things about our apartment.  We are really blessed to have such a great place to call home. I will post pictures as soon as everything is put together.

D-Day Approaches

So I figured I should blog real quick. It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. We have been busy for the month of March which is understandable considering Baby G is due to arrive pretty much any day.

The first weekend of March my little sister Brooke arrived in the town of Rexburg. She came to celebrate my baby shower with me. It made it even better with her there. We ate yummy food, and went shopping. We also did a lot of sleeping which is understandable for a pregnant woman. Brooke slept tons too because she was exhausted from starting her new job that week.

 Daniella, Brooke, Me, Heather, and Gaby - I was so glad that these girls came to my shower. We had so much fun!

 Brooke and I at the baby shower. She curled my hair for me because I am incapable of doing it myself.

Sister picture before she departed for Provo.

At the baby shower there was this DELICIOUS fruit salad. I thought it was healthy and that the dressing was a yogurt or something. It wasn't which I am totally OK with that. It had cut up apples, green and purple grapes, and walnuts in it. The dressing was cream cheese, sweeten condensed milk, and the caramel ice cream topping. I inhaled it. LOVED it. Brooke was excited for the girl food at the baby shower. It was all delicious. I am so grateful for the girls in my ward who threw the shower for me. I am also grateful that Brooke made the effort to come up here for the baby shower. It was nice having time with just the two of us before the baby is born.

Mike and I have slowly but surely been prepping for this baby. This weekend we stayed home a lot. We set up the pack 'n play she will be sleeping in. We put the stroller together and also set up the car seat in the car. At this point we are good to go. It is a little crazy to think that she will more than likely be arriving this week.The wait time is almost over and reality is about to begin. 

All her gear set up and ready to use.

Pack 'n Play with bassinet and changing table set up and ready to go.

At my doctor's appoint this week they said that I was starting to thin out and that the baby's head was really low. So progress. The due date is March 22 which is this upcoming Thursday. My next appointment for the doctor is this upcoming Friday. They said that if she hasn't arrived by my next appointment we will schedule an  inducement day. So things are definitely progressing. 

At first I wanted her to be late because of school and finals that I need to take care of but the closer I get to the due date the less I care. I know that everything will work out and my classes will get taken care of. The closer I get to the end the more I want to hibernate. I like being home because then people can't ask me how I am feeling which is a legitimate question. I just get tired of answering it. Also, we still have no idea what her name is going to be. Hopefully she will just tell us when she is born.

So at this point in time I have had no contractions and her head is really low in my pelvis which makes it feel like I have a softball in there and it is really uncomfortable sometimes. I am officially the slowest walker in the world. I have had a great third trimester. I haven't gotten sick or anything. I haven't missed any classes. I have had a ton of energy. I have been able to continue working out regularly which I think is the key to why I have been feeling so good. I have loved being pregnant for this trimester. 

Mike and I have lived in apartment 507 for just over a year now. We are moving on April 10th to a temporary studio apartment for a month. We then move from the studio apartment to a two bedroom apartment on May 8th. We are going to love cleaning, and moving in the months after the baby is born.

So here is to more studying and waiting this week! There are so many fun things to look forward too.

Date Extravaganza and Shopping

It's been a busy few weeks. School has been chaotic with midterms and now prep for finals. Mike has been doing really well in his classes. He is dominating on all his tests in exercise physiology, chemistry 106, and physics 105. He has been attending the Pre-Med Society. Last week they went to Idaho Falls to visit the office of a gastroenterologist. He is getting lots of volunteer hours at the chemistry lab. He is also in the process of filling out paper work to volunteer at the hospital. We are trying to collect lots of volunteer hours in preparation for medical school applications.

I finished teaching for the semester. I am glad to be done. I taught two units. The first was on graphic novels and comic books. The second unit was on Dr. Seuss. I also completed my volunteer hours in the extended resource room at Madison Junior High. I was a teaching assistant for two boys in a 7th grade science room.

I have had two doctor appointments since my last post. At one appointment we had an ultrasound because I was measuring small. Turns out everything is good. Baby G was measuring in at 6 lbs and 3 oz. We are now at 37 weeks. Only 3 more weeks until the due date. We are getting excited and anxious to know when she is going to make her appearance. We have received a few things in anticipation of her arrival. Beth and Howard gave us a travel set, stroller and car seat, for the baby which we were really excited to get. I also bought the diaper bag. It's exciting to be buying stuff for the baby. I also went to a baby shower last weekend and she is having a girl also. I couldn't resist buying a few things for our baby as well when we went shopping for my friends present. I have been really good about not going crazy about buying stuff for the baby other then the basic needs. It's hard though. All I want to do is shop for the baby sometimes.

 This is the stroller/car seat.

 This is my very cute diaper bag. It has attachments to hang from the stroller handle. Love it.

These are the skirts, romper, and dresses I bought for the baby for the summer time. Target has some really cute clothes for baby girls!

About two weeks ago Mike and I went on a date extravaganza. Friday night we went to see The Vow, had pizza and soda. Our doctors office gave us a coupon for two movie tickets, a pizza and two medium drinks. All for free. We liked The Vow. I can't say that I loved it but it was good. I found the mothers comment on her husbands affair to be pretty profound. She basically said that she chose to forgive him for the one wrong thing he did, instead of forgetting all the good things that he did. (Or something along those lines). 

Saturday night was full too. We went to Red Robin to celebrate Valentine's day. It was sooooo yummy! I had a guacamole bacon burger and strawberry lemonade(my favorite thing on their menu). Mike some kind of Hawaiian burger. It was all so good and hit the spot perfectly. We also did some shopping for the baby. Pretty much my ideal night of food and shopping. Mike loved the food. It snowed that night. We love the snow and have been pretty bummed by the lame winter we have been having.

 We love snow!

I love shopping at Target!

This weekend we have big plans. Brooke is coming into town for the weekend. I have my baby shower on Saturday which I am very excited about. We are going to Extravadance on campus with Brooke which is a dance show. We will probably be going shopping in Idaho Falls as well. So many exciting activities.

 

Bullet Points of the Week

This week:

• Mike and I attended a Valentine's day party that our friends, Kyle and Alyssa, put together. It was really fun. We played the Newlywed game. We didn't do as well this time but it was a lot of fun to hear the other couple's answers. 
• I went to a baby shower for our neighbor Rachel Leonard. They are having a boy. She is due 10 days before me. It was very exciting. I loved being able to spend time with the other girls in my ward. Socializing at church is always a challenge and Relief Society activities aren't much easier either. 
• I was able to be approved for WIC. So we are pretty pumped about that. 
• Mike was able to play volleyball twice this week. He always welcomes a chance to play volleyball but it is hard with school sometimes. 
• I made it to the gym 4 times this week. I have been really good about working out during the pregnancy. I usually go 3-4 times a week. Working out makes the pregnancy a lot easier. I do cardio work outs and weightlifting. It is kind of funny to see the faces of the older woman when I lift weights. I guess they are worried I might hurt the baby but the doctor's gave the OK to keep going. Weightlifting has really helped with my back problems.
• The Relief Society from our ward has offered to throw a baby shower for me. I am really excited about it. It will be on March 3, 2012. Just another exciting event on the way to the due date. 
• At my doctor's appointment this week they measured my stomach. They said I was small for 34 weeks so they scheduled an ultra sound for my next appointment just to see how big the baby will be when she is born.We didn't think that we were going to have another ultra sound because they said they only do two, one at the first appointment and then another at 20 weeks. I am excited to see what the baby will look like. It will be 36 weeks when the ultra sound occurs. So I am counting down the days til February 23. 
• I also put together a baby registry on Target.com. Just go type in Emily Garrard if you want to see it. 

That is our week in a nutshell. Nothing too exciting. This week will be a little bit more stressful, but that's OK. My motto this semester is "One day at a time." It has been working so far.

We are WINNERS!

So great news this week, we are officially done with our birth classes. This past Tuesday was our last class and I will say that I was glad that we went to the whole sequence. I didn't learn a whole lot that I didn't already know but I did learn enough to justify the class. This week was talk about postpartum and lactation. The woman who taught about lactation really loved saying "You know." After every sentence. Sometimes I just wanted to say "No, I don't know" every time she said it. Anyways, I haven't decided on the whole breastfeeding subject yet. I don't feel obligated to do it but I do want to try it. I will probably try and just see how it goes. We learned about a few basics about baby care after she is born. So good class but the best part is that we were winners. At the end of the class sequence they do a raffle for a few baby items. We lost the first two items which were a thermometer(I would have liked to have that) and a baby blanket that was blue and stripped. We were lucky winners on round three. We won a flannel baby blanket that had white crocheted edges. This was the item I wanted the most of all three prizes. 

This is Mike fashioning the blanket we won. It has zoo animals and letters on the front and a blue mineral wash backing. It is pretty cute. I just like winning. It is the best. I always feel extra special when I win.

This week was pretty uneventful otherwise. Classes were the same and homework never ends. I did finish with classes this week on Thursday morning at 9:30. So I pretty much had a four day weekend. I had big plans for this weekend and it all included homework. I accomplished all desired homework. Go me. Mike had a couple tests this week which he dominated.

Friday night we went to a high school basketball class for Mike's coaching class and then went to Cold Stone for ice cream. We love Cold Stone so it was a special treat because it is a spendy place. We have started watching the show Alcatraz. It is pretty good. It is a combination of Lost and CSI. I recommend it.

On the baby, there is no new news. She is as active as ever and loves kicking my ribs. We do not have a name yet. She will probably have to name herself when she is born. 

Well, that is all.

Wheeling and Dealing

Well, this week has been fun. Mike and I are becoming quite the socialites. This is mostly due to my need to make sweets and then we have to invite people over to eat them because we shouldn't eat all of it ourselves. We could eat it all, but for our long term health we shouldn't. Last Sunday we had friends over to play Monopoly Deal which is one of my favorite games to play right now. It is monopoly on speed. Much faster and much more aggressive because you can steal properties from other players.

Mike had two tests this week. One for chemistry and the other for physics. He also tutored in the chemistry lab again. I attended classes and took naps. It is becoming necessary that I take a nap everyday. I took two naps on Thursday! Not a normal occurrence for me. I finished teaching my 5 day unit, which was probably one of the highlights of the week. Only one more 5 day unit to teach and then I am done teaching until I do my student teaching. (I have no idea when that is occurring) I also had a special experience this week. I am taking special education this semester and for one of my projects I am required to spend 4 hours in a wheelchair. I am not allowed to tell people why I am chair bound. Well, I showed up to my first class late because I had to go down the hill from the Hinckley building to the Smith building. It is only about a third of a mile, if that, but going down on wheels is a whole other story. Luckily, someone took pity on me and wheeled me down.

Now, I think I was more of a novelty to others because I was in a wheelchair and I am pregnant. Someone asked me why I was pregnant and I told that I was temporarily paralyzed. (It's lying! I know! I felt terrible) I thought he heard the sarcasm when I said it but apparently not because I surprised him when I crossed my legs in the middle of class. He thought I was paralyzed because of the baby.  After classes, Mike graciously wheeled me around until my four hours were up. Wheeling myself around was a pain because it hurt my thumbs and my forearms. It was quite the experience. I tried to use the bathroom in the Smith building which is nearly impossible. Those bathrooms are 3 feet by 3 feet! I am glad I am not really wheel chair bound.

Friday night was Catan night! We had Heather, CJ, Brice, and Shannon over to play Catan.
 We had left over cake from Brice and Shannon's wedding along with jello cake that I made. Yummy!! I am loving cake a lot more right now because of the pregnancy. Mike won the game. It was a lot of fun having our friends over for the night. It was a good break from school.

Friday morning I was supposed to volunteer at the Upper Valley Industries. It is a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities. I leave and try to get in my car. My doors were frozen! I couldn't get them to open! I had to be there in 10 minutes. My neighbor saw me struggling and offered to give me a ride. We defrosted her car and she dropped me off. Well I rush into the building and discovered that it was empty! I went to the wrong location. My neighbor had already left and I didn't have her number, so I walked home. My toes where frozen which wasn't fun because it was the burning and itching kind of frozen.

We had birth class number 2 this week. Nothing exciting. Just talk about c-sections and epidurals. We did find out that after the doctor rushed out last time, he had to do a delivery with the forceps and the baby was OK. So that was cool to find out the ending. We are officially 32 weeks along as off this last Thursday. Only 8 more weeks. Give or take. I can hardly believe that we are in the final stretch. It is flying by. Baby G is strong and kicking. Feeling her kick is probably one of my greatest joys right now. Especially since I don't really enjoy any of my classes. It is a combination of senior-itis and baby-itis. I don't recommend having your last semester of college occur during your last trimester of pregnancy. School just isn't the same anymore. I love learning, but I just wish that I didn't have to do a bunch of busy work.

Birth Class and the Newlywed Game

This week was good and long. Weird combination, I know. I started teaching my first 5 day unit for the semester. We are teaching reading comprehension with comic books. It has been fun. Our class is really small. We only have 4 students. This week one of them has been out of town, so that leaves us with 3. One day we only had 2 of the 3. It was a little crazy to teach such a small class. Mike has been busy with school and volunteering this week. He is starting to collect volunteer hours for his medical school application. He tutors Chemistry 105 and 101 in the Chemistry lab on Wednesday nights. He also has started to participate in the Pre-Med society on campus. This week they talked about writing his personal statement for his med school application. Lots of preparing for med school is going on even though it is at least 2 years before we start med school.

I have been busy prepping lessons, writing papers, and trying to stay awake. At about 4pm everyday I am hit with exhaustion. Not the best but it could be worse. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Low key. urine sample, weight check, blood pressure, and any questions. Pretty easy. Doctor doesn't seem to be worried about me at all. That is a good sign. Milk is my new favorite craving. I have never been big on drinking milk other than with my cereal but now I crave it all the time. We use to buy just a gallon a week but now we go through 2 gallons a week.

Baby G has been busy growing and bulking up for her debut in two months. (Exactly two months from today is the due date!) She loves kicking me in my ribs on the right side and playing hide and seek when my friend Heather comes over. Whenever Heather is with me she stops kicking and as soon as Heather leaves she starts kicking. She thinks shes funny I guess. 

Friday night we went to our friend Kyle Redfearn's birthday party. Good food and friends is always the best way to end the school week. Good news: #1 BYU Men's volleyball won their game against #5 USC. It was fun to watch them play for a little while before the party.

Mike also played in a volleyball tournament on Monday, 4 player coed teams. They won the whole tournament! It was fun to watch him for a little bit. That has been one of my favorite things Mike has introduced me to since we met. Volleyball is one of my favorite sports now.

Saturday was full of studying, donating plasma (Mike does that), grocery shopping, and cleaning. It is always a busy day. We ended the night by going to the ward social, the newlywed game. It was a lot of fun and I am really glad that we went. There were three teams and every couple took a turn answering questions. Mike and I both answered our questions correctly. We pretty much won the game for our team. lol Our questions were: If your wife is at the doctor's office which magazine is she likely to be reading? a) the Ensign b) Good Housekeeping c) People d) Glamour.  The correct answer was People. We were the only couple to get that one right. The second question was: It must be true that opposites attract because we disagree on...fill in the blank. Our correct answer: baby names. So we are pretty much the best couple ever. We were one of the few couples to get all our answers right.

Tuesday night was the highlight of the week. We attended out first birth class. It is nothing like how they show in the movies. The doctor went over labor signs and other things but the best part was the end. He was just about to show us the forceps and how they work. Huge, silver salad tongs. Well his phone had gone off a few times during the class but he would look and then turn it off. Just when he was about to show us how the forceps work on the pelvis made of hands, (he selected on of the dads to recreate a pelvis with his hands, and plastic doll as the baby) his phone rang. He looks and says: "Labor and delivery?" and answers the phone. 30 seconds later he says: "I am on my way." Hangs up the phone and looks torn about what to do with the class. Mike and I were thinking it was a no brain-er. Go help! He says "I have to go. There's a doctor in trouble." Leaves the room. Comes back two seconds later and grabs the huge, silver salad tongs (Forceps) and leaves again. Needless to say, it was quite the ending.

Those are the highlights of our week. On the menu/schedule this week is more studying, another birth class, teaching, and trying to find a new place to live. We are looking at moving into Cougar Court (Where Chris and Melissa lived when they were first married).

Baby Preparations

 One of the things that I worked on in Vancouver is the baby quilt for baby G. I think that it turned out really well. It is coral, tangerine, brown, blue, and cream. I love it. I put a coral minky on the back which the baby will love because it is so soft and warm. It is so soft, I am tempted to use the blanket until she is born. We did a lot of baby prep while in Washington. We already have a baby swing that my mom's friend gave us. We bought a really nice pack and play for 60 bucks! It is practically brand new and in perfect condition. It will be great for the baby when she is sleeping in our room. We also were able to get clothes and a couple other needs for the baby. 

We signed up for birth classes which start next week on January 17th. The due date is getting closer. Only 10 more weeks! I can hardly wait. This baby is quite active. Her favorite activity is kicking my ribs. It is fun to watch my belly move when she is kicking.

This is the rocking chair that my mom gave me. She bought it when she was pregnant with me. She had Grandpa Smith refinish it. She gave it to me for the baby. I love it. It is my new favorite seat. It looks really good in our apartment. We still have no idea on what the name is going to be for baby G. I am OK with that though. I figure that when we see her we will just know what the name should be.

Christmas, New Years, and New Semester

Well, I am finally blogging. Mostly because school work sounds daunting right now. So we will start with Christmas break.

Mike and I went to Vancouver for the Christmas this year. It was perfect timing because of Mom's surgery that occurred a week before we got there. She was still down and out because they nicked her ureter during surgery. So Brooke and I were able to help prepare for the festivities when we got there. We did a lot of cooking and eating. Also a lot of shopping. School had been so busy for finals that Christmas shopping almost didn't happen. It didn't help that during finals I got really sick and had to go into the doctor's office and get IV fluid to revive me. lol  

We stayed at my Grandma and Grandpa's house while we were in Washington which turned out perfectly. We were able to see them a lot more than we would have otherwise, and we were able to have more space staying there. We watched Hunter and Garrett play basketball. They are quite the studs on the basketball court and made me very proud. We received movie tickets from Grandma and Grandpa Davies for Christmas. We all went to see Mission Impossible 4 and the new Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes movie was a bit of a disappointment. I did gain a new love for Mission Impossible. Did you know that Tom Cruise had severe dyslexia and he use to learn his scripts by having someone reading the lines and memorizing them? Cool side note.

 Mike and I at Hunter's basketball game.

 Annual sugar cookie tradition. Not our best batch of cookies but still we had tons of fun doing it.

 Garrett kept trying to go crazy with the frosting and cutting of the cookies.

One of the gifts that Mike received for Christmas was tickets to Body Worlds. So Mike and I went on a day long date. Body World's was the coolest museum exhibit I have ever seen. It is so amazing that we were were looking at real human bodies. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit which was a bummer. Mike loved it and it was really fun to hear him explain certain things that he knew from taking classes like anatomy and physiology. It made me jealous that he gets to take those kinds of classes. It was also cool to learn about the brain because of Nate's brain aneurysm. We also saw a knee replacement which my Grandpa just had done to his knee.

After Body Worlds, Mike and I headed over to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We had a gift card from our wedding that we still hadn't been able to use. I can finally say that I like cheesecake. Their cheesecake was delicious. I wish I had some right now as I write this. It was a fun date and we really enjoyed the time together.

 It was windy and rainy that day. It's Washington. It wouldn't be home if it didn't rain.

 The family at Garrett's basketball game. That boy never gave up no matter what.

Another thing that we did in Washington was attend the temple as a family. We did baptisms for the dead. I hadn't been to the temple with my brothers, which is sad because Hunter is almost 16. Mike was able to baptize and my dad confirmed. It was neat being able to be all together in the temple. Grandma and Grandpa were there too because it was their temple day that they worked.

 One last family picture together before leaving for Boise.

Honestly, I didn't want to go back to Idaho. This mostly had to do with the fact that I was dreading school. We finally left for Idaho on Sunday after sacrament meeting and drove to Boise. We stayed with the Moorhouses. We love being able to see them. We made a final stop in The Dalles on the way to Boise for one final Burgerville treat. Mike was finally able to have a chocolate hazelnut milkshake from Burgerville. It is my favorite milkshake, unfortunately, it is seasonal and only available after Christmas.

We love Burgerville milkshakes! Yummy!

For New Year's Eve, Mike and I went to Uncle Bear's annual New Year's Eve party. We had a ton of fun and ate lots of food. After that we went my parent's house and watched Mission Impossible 3. Good movie. We really loved being close to family and having a break from school. Mike was so ready for school to start though. He was getting anxious to get the show on the road. 

My belly became a new attraction. I have never had so many people touch my belly! I am not a big fan of it but I tried to be a good sport for my younger siblings. It is just weird though when people touch your belly. It's not normal!

School is well underway. I am taking 16 credits and I believe Mike is taking 15 credits. This is my final semester of classes. I can't believe it. Last semester of classes and also my last trimester of pregnancy. I am so extremely tired all the time. Pregnancy is draining and so is school. I am taking Senior Writing, Rhetorical Writing, Education 461 Reading Comprehension, Special Education, Old Testament, and American Literature. Mike is taking Physics 105, Chemistry 106, Exercise Physiology, Coaching, and Old Testament. We are taking Old Testament together. I am gaining a whole new appreciation for the Old Testament. There are so many amazing things to learn from it. I am worried about my two writing classes because they are senior capstone classes that require a ton of writing which is not good with carpal tunnel that I now have because of the pregnancy.

Mike seems to really love his classes. I don't hate my classes but I don't love them. I am sure it has to do with being a senior and also just wanting to get the show on the road and be a mom.  We both are spending a ton of time studying. We both quit our jobs because of the heavy work load for the semester. It is critical that Mike get the best grades possible to get into a good med school. I need good grades to teach. I also need to survive the pregnancy. So we are unemployed students but thanks to pell grants we will live. So that is about all in the Garrard household. Hope all is well with you and yours.