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.