... When No One Else is Watching

We've only just begun

Rob and I celebrated our four year anniversary on Saturday and it was much like our wedding day - I was sick. But after not being able to enjoy a nice Valentine's Day dinner with the hubby due to insane nausea, I wasn't going to let a little thing like a hacking cough keep me from a date with the hubby. Rob treated me to a romantic dinner and it was definitely a much needed evening off from being 'mommy.' And just to remind us of our aging, here are a couple 'then and now' pictures. Oh, and yes, I'm completely aware that I'm in severe need of a tan. It's been a looooong winter people!

And just for fun, here is what Avery think's about us being her parents. You can see she's just thrilled!

 

Spelling

I've never been a big fan of people who will name their child a fairly common name and then decide they need to do some funky spelling to be different. I figure life is hard enoughalready , do you really want to torture your child by spelling Jennifer as Genniffer? And yes,,, I've seen that spelling and every time I would see her I would say "hey Gennif-fer... with a G" because I'm mean like that, and because the girl was nice enough to be able to take a joke, although I'm sure she wanted to punch me in the face every time she saw me. And that would have been okay.

So, with that all said, I'm trying to figure out which spelling I like for my unborn daughter's name better. Do I want to go with the common spelling, the spelling that most people would automatically think of? Or do I want to go for the old English way of spelling? I never thought such a simple decision would make me think so much. Oh,,, what's the name, you ask? The name is Hadley or Hadleigh. The middle name will be Evelyn after my grandmother. So do you like Hadley Evelyn or Hadleigh Evelyn? Decisions, decisions.

I reserved my right to change my mind

So you know how I said I wasn't going to find out the gender of this baby I'm carrying? Something happened that didn't happen during my pregnancy with Avery - my willpower gave out! We were in the ultrasound yesterday and I told Rob I was thinking I wanted to find out the gender. He, being the good man that he is, tells me that it is my decision and we will do whatever I choose - because he already knows that the baby is a girl! On a sidenote Rob thinks that the women on my side of the family are unable to produce boys because the majority of the babies born to my mom's side have been female. He says it's not really the men at all that decide what the gender will be, simply, when the male sperm meet our eggs we won't allow them to trespass and we spit them back out. Meet the reincarnation of Henry VIII everyone! That's the logic I live with every day ladies and gentleman. I have no hair left.

Continuing, because Rob said he knew it was a girl I was very much adamant that I would prove him wrong because again, just like with Avery, I was sure this little one is a boy. I tell the ultrasound tech that we would love to know the sex. Well, right away when she moves the wand to "the area" I can see exactly what our child is......... it's a girl!!!!

We're thrilled and very excited. Except about the fact that Rob was right, on that point I'm a bit annoyed. And Rob? The poor guy can't win, he'll be surrounded by females for the rest of his life, even our dog is a female, but secretly I think he loves it! There's a whole lotta estrogen up in this joint!

Inspired

I went to watch the Salt Lake City Marathon yesterday and all I can say is WOW! My friend Lisa ran her second, yes SECOND, marathon and a friend and I went out to support her. We brought both our children and Avery and her little friend were so well behaved. Avery had a ball and at one point she wanted to start running with all the people that she saw and I had to hold her back... ridiculously cute, I think she's going to be a runner!

It is so inspiring to see people of all different ages, races, height, weight and so on wanting to run 26.2 miles. My friend Lisa was recruited to run for Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and she raised over $2,100! That's incredible! I should also mention that it's not surprising she did this because she is someone who really just wants to save the world one day at a time. Our group of friends have started calling her "the Superhero" and we even wrote that on our sign that we took with us to embarrass her along the route of the marathon (don't feel too bad for her, she loved it,,,, she even asked for glitter!) I'm happy to report that she finished the race and is now home being pampered by the hubby! Well done, LIsa!

There was also a funny little story that came out of our trip to watch all the fabulous runners. When I got to my first viewing point of the race I had arrived early enough to see the early starters as well as the crank wheelchair competitors - now THAT is inspiring, I can't imagine running a marathon but to see these men and women using their arm muscles to power their way through 26 miles is incredible. I also had the opportunity to see the very first elite runners come through (I hope you all know how big this was for me, I live 40 mnutes away from the starting point of the race and it started at 7am, I got there at 6:50,,, do you realize how early I had Avery and I up at!?) I had my camera with me and decided to take a few shots of the beginning of the race and was able to take a photo of the first runner. When I got home I showed Rob the pictures I took and when he saw the picture of the first runner to come through he said, "I think I know that guy, he works with me." I told him I was sure he was mistaken, he did not work with a man who is an elite runner, especialy the first man out of the gate! He was positive he knew him but I just blew him off because the picture was somewhat blurry and I figured he was just imagining things. Well, imagine my surprise when I look up the results this morning and his co-worker's name is listed as the man who won the half marathon! My husband pretty much just said, "told you so, he is an amazing runner, he is sponsored and everything!" Alrighty then. I also looked at the 5k results and it showed that Rob's friend's wife won the female division of that race! I wish I would have known Rob worked with world-class runners when I was running my 5k back in September so I could have mooched off of them for some advice!

All in all, it was a fun day and I was so inspired watching all the runners get out on the road and accomplish an amazing goal. I was so inspired I told myself I would train for the 5k again next year figuring it will give me a goal to look forward to after I have the baby. It will also get my backside moving! But now I'm re-thinking it. No, I'm not deciding not to run next year, I'm just thinking I might run the half marathon instead! Three miles or thirteen miles... potato, po-tah-to. 

Suggestion

The movie 'Juno' just came out at the video store yesterday and I promptly went to rent it. I wanted to see this movie while it was in the theaters but the opportunity never presented itself for a date night for Rob and I. Rob has been out of town this week so I've been a lazy wife and mother and Avery and I spent most of our day yesterday lounging around in our PJs. I had planned to have it be an entire day of lounging because I haven't had one of those days since before Avery was born but when I realized 'Juno' had been released I showered and got myself ready for the trip to the video store. I remember thinking, "this movie better be as good as everyone says it is because I don't want to have showered for nothing." Sad, right? Yeah, but that's okay, sometimes you just have those thoughts when nothing but laying around your house, eating chips and salsa sounds appealing. I am happy to say that this movie was soooo good. It's quirky and sweet and an alternative outlook on how to make "a garbage dump of a situation"  a situation that isn't all bad. Rent it.

This talking thing is fun!

Avery is in that stage of her life. The stage where everything you say is repeated; I like to call her a parrot. I am happy to say she has not said any curse words yet, thank goodness (let's all give props to the parents for making sure they don't "slip.") It's fun for Rob and I, and our entire family for that matter, to try to get Avery to say new words and see which ones she annunciates best. It's sad that we are pretty much entertained just by having a two year old talk but I don't care who you are, listening to a toddler try to wrap their head around the english language is some funny stuff.

I'm proud to say Avery has quite a little vocabulary now and is starting to use it in the correct manner. She can count to twenty, sing her ABC's (kind of) and she has officially learned her mother's favorite word. What's the word? No, it's not "dude," which I really need to stop saying because yes, she does say that. The word is "Starbucks!" And she says it just that way, "STARBUCKS!', very loudly and many times she'll throw her hands in the air in celebration, because who wouldn't? It's caffeine, people!

Material

Who cares about writer's block when I have a two year old always willing to provide material for me! I hope this video thing works,,, this is the first video I've ever uploaded!

Avery at her best!

Toilet Paper Obsesssion from Jennifer on Vimeo.

Working on it

Really! I'm working on a new post. I had so many really great things to post yesterday and might I say, I thought all of them were ridiculously funny - although you may not have but that's okay, Rob always likes to say that I'm my own best audience, no one is even able to start laughing without me laughing at my own jokes first. Sad people, very, very sad. BUT, now I'm having some serious writer's block and can't remember one thing I wanted to write about - except for the sad one, and I'll save that for a later date because I'm pregnant and hormonal and can't even think about that one without tearing up. Oh. My. Gosh. I hear Avery rolling all the toilet paper off the role onto the ground. I will be back.

Back from hiatus

We've had my in-laws staying with us for the past couple of weeks and I took a sabatical from my blog. I promise there will be blogging activity going on tonight! I've missed you.