MacAttack

One of the things that I find weird is when total strangers ask me what I am naming my baby. It seems a little pointless– I will likely never see this person again and it feels a little like an invasion of my privacy (maybe I’m weird). I always reply with “we are still trying to narrow it down.”

On the name topic- from strangers and neighbors to friends and family people think that giving their opinion on why they don’t like the name you have decided on is welcome. If I need help with naming my child I promise I will ask.

Just needed to vent- thanks.

I just noticed that my last post was when I was 25 weeks pregnant, that was 10 weeks ago! I am now 35 weeks pregnant and relize that I need to do a better job of keeping up this blog. I can’t believe that I am due in 5 weeks. So, somewhere between 3-7 weeks I will have a baby and try my luck at parenting.

I have had a really smooth pregnancy, and honestly I have really enjoyed being pregnant. When I am around other pregnant women who are having a much harder pregnancy I feel like I need to make up things to complain about just so I don’t seem like I’m rubbing it in that I feel so good. I do feel more tired, my back hurts and my ankles just started to get swollen after a long day, but all in all pregnancy has been fascinating to me and really exciting.

Here is a picture of me and my growing belly last week in San Diego when Stephe and I went out to California for his cousin’s wedding.

Last week was all about babies for me (to be honest every week is all about babies for me lately, but this week was extra baby filled). Lani, one of my best friends had her baby boy on Wednesday. Lani and I have been friends literally since birth and were roommates in college for over 4 years– we are as close to being sisters as you can be with someone unrelated. I am so proud of her getting through a long labor and C-section. My new little “nephew” Connor is darling. I am pretty sure he and my baby will be best friends.

Then over the weekend we took off to Denver to see Stephe’s god-daughter Izebelle and be there for her blessing. She is a doll! It was great to see Marty and Jill again too. Also thanks to the Garfield family for letting stay at there house and for taking care of us.

Here is a picture of my belly at 25 weeks. I have been feeling the baby move a lot more and sometimes can even see him movinng in there. I have really enjoyed pregnancy and have felt great, but it seems like it’s going to last forever!

Last Friday we had our 20 week Ultrasound. We went back and forth on if we would find out the gender of our baby or not, but in the end I decided to find out. The one twist we put on it was to not find out during the Ultrasound, but to have the doctor put the results in an envelope. Then we invited our families and friends to a party where we opened it.

First of all I have to say that the Ultrasound was an incredible experience. The baby was moving like crazy and I couldn’t feel a thing! They had a hard time getting the gender because of how much it was squirming! The baby looks good and healthy. I was amazed by the whole experience.

Sam, Mindy, Dan, and Robin

Stephe showing the Ultrasound pictures to my niece and nephews

My sister Hailey (14 weeks pregnant!) and my nephew

Watching the dvd of our Ultrasound

Stephe’s family

Looking at the pictures with my mom and Sister-In-Law Abi (20 weeks pregnant!)

And now for the big news!

It’s a boy!!

We are thrilled about having a boy in July!

Thanks to Dean and Stephe for sharing this gem with me courtesy of  graphjam.com.

This is why Steve will never make it on the basketball team! This is a picture of Steve in the middle of one of his brilliant computer projects (making a home media server… I think). Can you find the 6 computers and the 3 portable hard drives? How many monitors do you see? Look carefully. Hint: the iPod touch and the iphone count as computers. I love my computer nerd husband!

Inspired by Shanna’s post showing Gregg’s beard creations, I thought I’d document some of the different looks Stephe has had playing with his facial hair. As I was looking at all my pictures from March 07- January 09 I could not find one single picture of him clean shaven! Here are some of the looks that Stephe has sported:

The Stripe

The Patch

Chops

The Goatee

I don’t even know what to call this one…

Don’t worry, I didn’t let him leave the house looking like this.

The Fu Manchu (for Cinco de Mustache)

Yikes! Again, no words to describe this one.

The beard with the Mohawk- classic.

The Full Beard

And last, the look that I call “The Professor,” beard 2.0.

A few weeks ago while I was at my in-laws house, I brought up the topic of circumcision. Everyone seemed pretty set on how they felt about it (other than Steve’s 15 year old brother who begged us to stop talking about it while he was eating). I still have very mixed feelings about it and want to get feed back from people out there on what they did, or planned to do, with their boys and why.

Here are some of the facts that I found while researching the topic in hopes for some guidance on a scary decision I will have to make someday (crossing my fingers that I will have a baby boy at some point). There are also a lot of myths about both sides of the debate so it is hard to know what is credible and good information.

Arguments FOR circumcision:

• Uncircumcised boys are more likely to get serious kidney infections in the first year of life.

• Circumcision eliminates the chance that the boy will have phimosis (a condition where the foreskin won’t retract fully).

• Decreased risk of urinary tract infections (1% of boys with normal urinary tracts get UTI’s).

• It is more sanitary and easier to clean a circumcised penis ( However, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated in 1999 that there not sufficient evidence to claim that this is true).

• A study showed that circumcision offers a 60-70% protection against acquiring HIV along with protection from other STDS (this argument doesn’t sway me much, I would hope my child would not be in a category where there is a risk of contracting HIV/AIDS or STDS).

• Circumcised men almost never get invasive penile cancer (1400 men diagnosed in the US every year).

• If the dad is circumcised, it is better for little boys self esteem for them to look the same “down there”  as their dads. (You don’t want your kid to think “one of these things is not like the other…”).

• It is better to do it while the boy is a baby so he can’t remember the pain of it (assuming that the boy may want to be circumcised when he grows up and it is much harder to do it later.)

• Many people I talked to said that the main reason they would circumcise is so the kid wouldn’t get made fun of by their friends for being different. While efforts from the American Pediatric Association and the American Medical Association are influencing more and more parents to not circumcise their boys, the circumcision rate in the U.S. is still around 75%.

Arguments AGAINST circumcision:

• The skin isn’t there on accident- it serves a purpose so leave it alone ( I once saw a bumper sticker that said “A foreskin is not a birth defect” weird to put on a car, but true).

• It is a human rights violation because the child can not give consent for the optional procedure.

• It actually IS very painful for the little guy. The American Academy of Pediatrics‘ says “There is considerable evidence that newborns who are circumcised without analgesia experience pain and psychologic stress.”

• The removal of the foreskin contains thousands of nerve endings and when removed men have less sexual satisfaction (some sources claim this as fact, while others say there is not enough evidence). The removal may also contribute in impotence for adult men (normally after age 40).

• Complications can happen, the most common being hemmorage and infection (between 2-10% of all circumcisions).

• To contradict the hygienic claims for circumcision, there are reports that say the foreskin protects the glans from irritation and from fecal matter.

Some people point out that female circumcision is considered genital mutilation and is not tolerated in our country, so why should male circumcision be tolerated?

So, that is the basics of everything I have read on the topic. Pretty interesting and pretty compelling arguments on both sides. What do you think?

On Saturday morning I got a phone call from my dad telling me that my grandpa had just died. I’ll spare you all the detail and emotions, but I would like to list some of the things that I admired most about him and will remember. Also, thanks to my cousin Ryan, I’ve posted two of my favorite pictures that he scanned from old slides.

Ryan e-mailed me this picture about 6 months ago and it was the wallpaper on my work computer for months afterward. I love this picture because you can tell how much my grandpa adores my grandma. One thing that I love about my grandpa is that he was such an affectionate person. He always greeted us with hugs and no one left without being hugged. He and my grandma have been glued at the hip and have always been loving and supportive through the hard times they went through together. Their marriage is one that as a teenager I would roll my eyes at and be embarrassed by how cheesy they would be with each other, but now that I am married I hope Steve and I are that way at their age.

This picture is of Grandpa Joe and my dad. One thing that is strongly genetic in my family that my grandpa passed to my dad, and my dad passed to me is being quick to tear up over the smallest of things. It was always the joke the my grandpa (and I think his dad too) would cry at the opening of a supermarket. At times it has been very embarrassing to find myself crying at a commercial but this tender-heartedness has also been something that has helped me know and understand my values better.

My grandpa was a very talented, spiritual, and loving man. I wish I would have spent more time with him because I know there was a lot more that I could have learned from him.

http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=119006063

Last Saturday Stephe and I got back from a cruise down to Mexico. We went with some of our best friends, Rex and Shalee and had a blast! For those of you that haven’t been on a cruise let me give you some pros and cons to help you decide if a cruise is right for you.

Pros:

The boat rocks you to sleep every night– I’ve never slept better than on the boat.

You meet and hangout with really cool people from all over the world.

Delicious food 24/7.

Entertainment- stand-up comedy, hypnotist, eating, karaoke, dancing, eating, musicians, mini golf, eating, performances, swimming, and did I mention eating?

Towel animals waiting in your room when you get back from dinner.

The ocean is beautiful and the weather was amazing.

Getting off the boat in cool places (note: Cabo San Lucus is awesome, Ensenada is scary, don’t go there).

Cons:

Delicious food 24/7

Coming back to reality

Travel buddies: Stephe, me, Shalee, Rex

Hanging out in California before getting on the ship.

Girls in California

Thank you, thank you, to Lauren and Bridger for letting stay at their house in Cali 2 nights. I didn’t want to leave to go on the cruise because I was having so much fun spending time with them again. I love you guys!

New York style piano bar

Formal dinner night

Cabo

Ensenada