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.

Facebook, Baby, and Finals

So we had doctor appointment number 4 this week. It was not too eventful. The doctor said everything looked great and that I am right on track. I heard the baby's heart beat. I was a little flustered because I felt rushed during the whole appointment. The doctor's phone kept ringing and he hardly even asked me how I was feeling or if there were any new symptoms. He was standing up to leave after about two minutes into the appointment and it was only then that he asked if I had any questions. Needless to say, this kind of upset me. I felt so rushed that I forgot to ask about my hand. I think I am getting carpal tunnel in my right hand. It is really tender and weak. It also has nice shooting pains in my fingers. Not so fun especially as I have essays and tests to write this upcoming week. 

On Thursday I was feeling really cute so I had Mike take pictures of me. 

Nothing special but still I felt cute. So we had to document it.

Here is a baby bump picture:

I have decided that I need to learn how to properly use my camera and take good pictures. Pictures of little baby G are sure to be in high demand when she is born. 

Well this last week I deactivated my Facebook page. Now some people might think this is a heresy. I have been working on a paper for my literary theories class and I decided to use Facebook as my text. I was suppose to apply a literary theory to a text and write a paper on it for my final. I won't bore you with the details but I decided to write about the unrealistic depiction on Facebook. I have loved writing this paper but it has severely affected my outlook on Facebook. Not to mention all the free time I have now. I didn't realize how much time I spent on this social media. I read an article that said the average person spends about 7 hours a month on Facebook. So much time! I am pretty sure that I was near that total too. 

We leave this Friday for Vancouver! I am so excited. I can't wait to go home and start celebrating Christmas. It is going to be great. Hope everyone has a great week!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Las Vegas this year. We almost didn't make it because of our Buick. We took the car into the shop before we left because the light for low coolant was on. Turns out, we had a cracked head gasket. To fix that cracked head gasket would cost us a cool  $2000.00 which made me cry(That is a regular occurrence now). We decided to buy a new car down in Vegas. So we left for Vegas and made it there in one piece. One of the first things we did was go see Mike's brother Nate, who happened to be in the hospital again due to blood clots in his leg.

These are the beautiful isolation gowns and mask we wore. They made us look like ducks. Nate is doing good and is home now. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get out in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was yummy and delicious. I like Thanksgiving the best of the holidays because it involves food and family and you do not have to worry about presents. I made pomegranate salad and apple bars. I also made pumpkin cookies with brown butter frosting. Yummy!

Saying goodbye to the Buick. (Notice the baby bump. It is there.I promise.)

We spent most of our free time figuring out our car situation. We ended up buying an Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera 1994. It's a hot ride. White paint, with red velvet interior. It only had 75,000 miles on the car, and one owner in its lifetime. So we like the car. The doors are very heavy but that's all good. It did smell like old people at first but I bought an air freshener.

(This is our new car. Sorry for the picture quality. It was taken with my cellphone.)

We loved spending time with Mike's family. One of the best Garrard traditions for Thanksgiving involves camping. After Thanksgiving dinner the dads take the kids camping for the weekend. They leave as soon as dinner is over. It was really nice because then we were able to spend a lot of time with Mike's sisters. Sarah and Erin are very into the black Friday shopping. They map out their plan of attack by looking at the ads and organizing their route for the night. I decided to not go. Staying out that late is rough on me, and we didn't have money to spend anyway. They had some good stories to tell the next day, though.

We left Vegas on Sunday morning. The drive home is always the worst. Our Oldsmobile actually had better gas mileage than the Buick. 25 mpg on highway. We felt pretty good about that. Now it is back to school which I hate. Two more weeks and I feel like it is never going to end. I love school but I am finding that I hate my teaching classes. Not a good sign.

We also had our anniversary a couple weeks ago. One year of marriage down, and eternity to go. I managed to fit in the red dress that I wore on our wedding day. That was pretty awesome considering the fact that I was 22 weeks pregnant at that point. It was a little snug but I managed.  I gave Mike a volleyball he has been dying to have and some new ties. 

Don't you love his forced smile? We went to the temple and Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Simple and complete. It's crazy to think how different life is a year later. We have loved every minute of our first year. A lot of people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest but honestly we would have to disagree. If anything, life has been easier. Maybe it's because we are so awesome. Anyway, we are excited for this upcoming year because of our new baby. If you have baby name ideas for a girl send them our way. Food for thought is good.

Here is a picture of us on our first camping trip. We were only a couple weeks pregnant at this point and didn't even know about it yet!

Baby G is a girl!!!

So Wednesday was the day. November 9th took way too long to get here. Mike and I were both excited. People asked us if we were nervous. That question stumped us, mostly because there was nothing to worry about. We were just ready. The ultrasound technician showed us all her little body parts and organs. It was cool to see the heart beating. We also got to see the separate chambers of the heart. We saw the brain and the separate lobes of the brain. The whole time we were just wondering what the gender was. It was great seeing everything else, but we just wanted to know. Finally she told us, and Mike and I just smiled big and were so excited. It feels good to know the gender of our baby. She had the hiccups during the ultrasound and wouldn't stop moving her legs around. She also had her hands tucked underneath her chin. Already posing for pics before she is even born. Baby G weighs 13 ounces and is 21 weeks. It is crazy to think that we are halfway done.

It is kind of crazy to think that the baby is alive and moving around inside of me right now as I type. I feel her moving around a lot during the mid morning hours which is a fun experience. No one else has been able to feel her yet. Still small and hiding. This whole experience is kind of surreal. I am still only somewhat showing. When I tell people I am pregnant, they always comment on how I hardly look pregnant. So, still small and only looking thick.

Mike and I had a pact that we wouldn't talk about names until we knew the gender, because it caused strife between us. Now we know and let the talking begin. We have decided to keep whatever name we decide on a secret until she is born.

Mike and I both registered for classes this week. I am probably going to be taking 13 credits next semester and working as a teacher's assistant for Brother Bennion, an English professor on campus. I won't be working at the call center next semester. Mike is taking 13 credits. (I think. I can't entirely remember) Either way, it is going to be an incredibly busy semester. Baby G is due on March 22 which is two weeks before the semester is over. Let's hope she decides to arrive late.

My senior year of college has been rough. This is mostly due to the pregnancy. Sometimes I feel like I am becoming dumber rather than smarter. The pregnancy hormones kill my thinking power. Not to mention I have pregnancy induced ADD. (At least that's what I have decided) So sometimes I get distracted and forget that I am supposed to be studying. No worries though; I still have good grades. One more semester of classes and then student teaching is all I have left. I can't believe I am almost done. It makes me sad. I really do love being a student.

My major is English Education. I will be teaching secondary education. I am excited, but something I have realized this semester is that I want to go to law school. It is something that I realized too late. I have been talking to a lot of people about law school. I also talked to a Garrard family friend who went to law school. It just makes me excited and jealous all at the same time.  I like teaching, but I don't love it. I know that law school is not a possibility right now but one day I will go. It is on my bucket list. It is going to happen!

So that is all for now, but I will post again soon. We have our one year anniversary, Thanksgiving, and Christmas coming up. Lots of fun events to come.

This is our baby. You can really see a resemblance.