New Church Calling

I got a new calling today! I am the new Beehive Advisor in our ward. I don't know yet whether I am totally siked about it, or completely terrified! Maybe a little of both. I am super excited for the new experiences. I don't know what I am required to do yet, besides teach every other week and go to the activties. When Brother Westover asked me he said that Gabe and I will probably be one of the busiest couples in the ward now. That is the part that kind of scares me I think. I will be gone every Wednesday night to mutual, and whatever other activities they plan. I will be teaching two Sundays out of the month and therefore Gabe will have to take Sophie. But then Gabe has his meetings on Sunday afternoons for his calling, Ward Mission Leader. And then he sometimes is out with the missionaries during the week or I am cookind dinner for the missionaries to come pick up, cuz Gabe isn't home from work yet and no one else signed up to feed them, or Gabe is visiting a family during the week, or I am out seeing one of  my visiting teachies, or Gabe is at Basketball, or I am at Girl's Night. But somehow, we actually find a night or two that we get to be at home at the same time and it seems like it will all work out just fine! And then on top of all of that, the choir is constantly asking us, one of us, to sing in the choir.

The next year I think is going to be a super busy one, but on the other hand, it will probably be super fun too!!

Rearranging

I think I rearrange something in the house at least once or twice a month. I rearranged our room, and the kitchen dining area in the last two weeks. I just can't help but think that there has to be a better way to have things situated to make more space... call me what you like, but its something I can't let go when I see how things could be arranged differently for the better. I don't like feeling cluttered and cramped.

Gabe said last night that its amazing we are going to have another little baby sleeping in our room with us in a few short weeks. I couldn't agree more. No sleep, here we come. Its getting closer to the end and I find myself wishing it was already here, but also wishing it was farther away. I guess when you have your first you have those initial excitements that completely outweigh any anxiety you might have about having a child. But now that we are going to have two kids in the house, one that will hardly stay still and out of the things she shouldn't be in, and then another that will just be staring off into space for the first month or two, crying, pooping, eating, and sleeping, I have to admit that I am a little frightened and apprehensive. But that is to be expected when you are walking into the unknown, right? I can only imagine how Sydney will react to having an actual baby in the house.

She loves babies. She sees a baby or a picture of a baby and she will be saying baby for 10 minutes straight. She has her own little "baby" doll, which was my doll when I was little, and she knows how to hold it on her shoulder and cuddle with it. Its super cute. But she of course throws it on the floor when she is done playing with it. I guess I need to teach her how to put her baby to bed and tuck it in for a nap.

I had dad help me rearrange the master bedroom so we could fit the portacrib and small dresser in for Sophie. We have both our desks, the filing cabinet, bed and now the crib and small dresser in our room, while our dressers are in the closet and nothing hung up in there hangs straight because there is hardly any room anymore. I had to move our shoe wrack out to the hallway leading to the garage and I still don't know where we are going to put the box spring from the Full mattress that is in Sydney's room. I took it out so that the mattress would be the only thing in there for her to sleep on when she eventually moves out of the crib to a big girl bed. And that needs to happen within the next 4 months or so. I don't know how I am going to get her to transition out of the crib.... just another thing I need to read up on. And also get her off her pacifier, which really hasn't bothered me that she still has it. She only has it when she sleeps and it has been nice when she has those tough nights. But still...

Gabe has been working hard to make sure we have enough things ready for the three weeks he has off school for the Holidays by working extra hours at the nursing facilities. It seems to be their slow season so this past week he hasn't had to work any extra hours. But hopefully during Thanksgiving break they will have something for him to do. As much as I would LOVE to have him home for a full week, working is necessary.

I hope that Sophie will come 2 weeks early. That could be as early as the 13th of December! Crazy!!! Sydney was a week early and since I am told by my OB that I carry babies really low, and that Sophie has been head down since 26 weeks, that we might just get our wish. I sang for our Stake Conference Adult sessions this past Saturday night and did have consistant contractions that would not go away unless I was lying down. So we had to leave the meeting a little early. I was sitting there watching the clock, counting the contractions and I had 5 within an hour, so I was periodically getting up, walking around, because there really isn't a place to go lay down at the church, in a skirt. So we left halfway through the meeting after I had called my OB's office and talked to a Dr. So now I am sort of on a lighter schedule. Can't be working too hard or standing up soo long. Its not bedrest but I'm limited again til 37 weeks. I am just glad that its not full bedrest like it was with Sydney. That would be extremely tough trying to take care of Sydney and try to be sitting and laying down all day.

I was going to sing with my singing group til the baby came and do Christmas programs and parties, but Gabe and I both decided that it would be best if I just sit out for the rest of the year and start singing again with them next year.

I am 33 weeks along as of yesterday! so just 4 weeks of taking it easy and then I'll probably be going crazy trying to get things ready. I really want to get the dirt in the backyard all cleared of rocks and throw some grass seeds out before the baby but the rain has made that a little difficult to sift through. I still need to see how Sydney's car seat and the infant car seat will fit together in the backseat and still leave room for me somewhere. My OB said my bulging bump was measuring small....

...yeah, I don't think so. The only bulging bump I wish was small is the one in the back.

But, I get to have another ultrasound. So whatever.

We pay off the Honda next month! I am soo excited! I really want to see how long we can go with just one car and save up what we would have been spending on a car payment until we have a good down payment for a family car. Gabe doesn't mind Mini Vans and I would definitely go with a nice used Honda Odyssey, but I also like a good GMC Suburban because those things last FOREVER! The one my parents had lasted almost 20 years, until I unfortunately wrecked it. But I'm sure it would have gone for at least another 5 or 6 years. That thing was a beast, but fit all of us 6 kids, mom and dad, AND grandma in it. If we chose to get another sedan, I am pretty sure we would look at a Civic or another used Accord. Maybe a Camry.

This past week has been exceptionally stressful due to one little 6 legged thing that needs to be eradicated from under our house. I. hate. ants. First they were all over in this cupboard where I keep the dehydrator, crock pot, ice cream maker... bla bla bla.... and there was nothing obvious that they were going after. Then I noticed them in the bathroom around the shower head. Then they were all over the washer in the garage. Then this last week I saw them all over the counter and dish washer, so I cleaned the kitchen really well. I think they are thirsty, but hello!? it just rained. stay outside you little itty bitty bits of stress! Then today I found them back in that first cupboard. Argh!! I feel like I am itchy all over all the time because I sometimes feel like one is crawling on me. Dad sprayed the bug killer outside and around the inside of the house. I have even sprayed a little here and there. And supposedly the property owner has a pest control and bug guy come once a month to spray around the house too. But, like dad said, the earth is one big ant pile and there is no way to get rid of them all. Maybe if all of you would just try to step on 1,000 of them within the next week, we might be able to do some serious damage to their population, k? Ready? GO!

Movies...

So this year has been a lucky year for movie tickets. At one point I had 6 movie tickets in my wallet, some rainchecks, some we bought from Costco, and then some I had stashed away online from some fandango deals.
We gave several away for little gifts for birthdays and we used several ourselves. Then yesterday we went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. We had bought 3D tickets for the 10:40am showing at the Century Theatre here Pleasant Hill, and it was also XD. We knew it was going to be amazing. I had a fandango deal online that I bought for $9 bucks that gave us two tickets worth $29ish bucks. So we decided to get the 3D. I only paid another dollar so we got some great tickets for $10.
We got to the theater around 9:45am expecting a long line for the first showing of the morning, but surprisingly to us, there was nobody in line. We walked right up to the podium and into the theatre. There were only about 15 or so people seated. I honestly thought there was going to be a huge long line.  I noticed that we hadn't been given any 3D glasses and saw that the people behind us had some. I want out the way we came in and asked the young man at the podium for some glasses.

"The 3D showing isn't until 1:25 this afternoon."

I replied, "Well that fandango ticket I just gave you said,' XD 3D on it. This is a 3D showing. I need two pairs of glasses."

"Its not a 3D showing."

"Pretty sure it is. I paid for 3D and it said 3D on the tickets. See the ones you just gave us. They say 3D. Give me two pairs of glasses, please."
And he did without further argument.

So I go back inside and ask the people behind me, "this is 3D isn't it?"
"Yes"
"Well the guy out there said it isn't."

Then I notice in the back of the theater some guys who had come in behind us didn't have glasses either and it seemed like all 15 people were jumping in on the conversation.

"The guy on the other podium is giving out glasses. I guess the guy on that side, (pointing to the side we came in) isn't," one lady said.
I went out to the other podium and told the guy that the young man on the north podium wasn't giving out glasses. He looked panicked and radioed someone on his walkie talkie. I excused myself to the rest room and on my way back to my seat, the man stopped me and said, "Ma'am, this showing actually isn't 3D. They moved it to 1:25 this afternoon."

I walked back to my seat and told everyone that the showing wasn't actually 3D and it had been moved to 1:25pm.
Right then the manager walked in and got everyones attention.

"Folks, I'm sorry but our bookers changed this showing from 3D to 2D at the very last minute so this will be a regular showing, but still in XD. We will refund your tickets with raincheck tickets for you to come and see another showing of equal value, and you are welcome to stay and watch this movie in regular viewing."

I actually had no problem with that. A free show and we get raincheck tickets that won't expire. woohoo! (3D sometimes gives me a headache anyway.)

This lady obviously didnt understand what the man had said and complained. "I can't come back at 1:25. I have a Dr's appointment that I can't change. I think you need to give free tickets to every single person here and let us stay and watch this movie!!"

Uhhh......

She continued. "How come you guys changed it at the last minute? That is really inconvenient."

"I'm sorry ma'am but our bookers changed it. They bring the films. We have no control over it."

She said something else along the lines of, "well I think we all shouldn't have to pay for this at all."

I'm thinking to myself, "We aren't! He's letting us stay AND giving us refund tickets. lol"

Anyway, the manager says that everyone should bring their ticket stubs to the customer service desk and get their rainchecks and they can come watch the show. I was the first one up. Got my tickets and want back to sit with Gabe. There was about 15 minutes until the movie started. Well, at least that killed a lot of time of waiting for the movie to start. I guess being there an hour early paid off afterall.

Now we have free 6 tickets, all rainchecks to go see what ever 3 movies we want, or 1 regular movie with 1 3D or opera showing. Thats nice to know that dates are "paid" for for the next three times we go out. lol The other set of raincheck tickets we had were from Thor. The film had this bluish hue all the way through the film so they gave us refund tickets.

The movie was awesome anyway. I laughed, cried, and cried some more and I think I need to see it again. It was that good.

And I have to agree with my sister Brigitte, and no offense to anyone who has said this but its not HP 7.2. If you want to fugure it mathematically it would be HP 7.5

Just thought that was important. :)