CRAZINESS!

Well, I'm starting this post all over again because for some reason it decided not to show any of the text...

I suppose that is probably good, seeing that I wrote it while high on adrenaline and a little bit worried. But, I am annoyed that I have to tell you about it all over again. (And, I'm sorry Laura, that I worried you by having a nuts title, and no information to go along with it!)

Today (Friday) was full of drama, suspense and frustration. I'm still a little bit angry at the situation and how badly it was handled...

At about 10:30 am this morning one of my supervisors came in and said, "Have you heard anything about the situation over in architecture?" The two of us present here in the office said no, puzzled. She went on to tell us that that Architecture Department was in lock-down and had been since sometime yesterday afternoon because there had been a student with 3 guns over there, threatening to shoot a professor. We were, of course, shocked, but more than that, confused that our department would not have been sooner notified. Where were the emails? Phone calls?

Now, here's the thing: the Architecture department and the Art department are in the SAME building! How is it possible for them to be on lock-down and we don't even know there is a "situation?"

About 15 minutes later, the same supervisor came in again and said, "Okay, here's the real story..." She said, sometime yesterday afternoon, the police pulled over a man driving erratically on the freeway. During this traffic stop they learned four key things: the man was an architecture student here at the U, he was drunk and angry, he was threatening to shoot an architecture professor and he had a gun. (Later, 3 guns were mentioned.) She also said he had been present on campus yesterday afternoon, so the Architecture department had been locked down and everyone sent home. (Again, we're in the SAME building... why didn't we know??) As of the morning, they didn't know where the guy was, but Architecture was still in lock-down.

So, here we are, sitting in front of two sets of windows that look out on the courtyard between us and the Architecture office. Bridgett and I were trying not to feel too freaked out, were relieved to know the guy probably wasn't on campus at the moment, but were still asking thinks like, "Why hasn't there been a larger email sent out? Why are we just learning of all this now? Is there something we should be doing?" Other staff members began to trickle into the office then asking if we'd heard about what's going on... saying things like, "Why don't we have a description of this guy? Why hasn't a picture been sent out? Where are the emails from campus security? Didn't anyone around here about Virginia Tech?"

The day moved on in this manner for a couple of hours. Many staff members felt like they were, "Living in the twilight zone." We continued to deal with disgruntled faculty members, our worried selves, and the questions, "Should we be locking up and going home or is this really just a scare?" I kept thinking, "Gosh, if Architecture is in lock-down and the guy is out to kill someone, won't he just come over here once he finds out that person he's looking for isn't around?" (Not helpful thinking, I know).

Around 12:15 pm I got a phone call from the Dean's office. The receptionist said, "Hi. We just wanted you to know that the suspect has been apprehended. He is currently in custody. Please carry on as normal unless you hear anything differently from us." Okay. Great. Situation resolved, right?

Then in marches a group of faculty members who were having a meeting up on the 2nd floor. Out the window, a couple of them saw the police out in our courtyard (yes, the beautiful view from my office) chasing this guy around the building. They watched the whole chase and say the police catch the guy and arrest him. Now here's the thing: HE WAS REALLY HERE, ON CAMPUS, IN OUR BUILDING THE WHOLE TIME! And, again, why did we not get this message?

Luckily, the situation was taken care of, no one was hurt and we all went home happily at 5 pm. We'll see if I get any more information about the actual events today (Monday).

Needless to say, this past weekend was one where I did a lot of relaxing, a lot of house cleaning and not a lot else. It did snow 10 inches Saturday morning, though, and it was nice to usher in December with a fresh blanket of white. Hopefully I'll get to post the pictures we took sometime tonight (the camera is a t home).

Blessings to you all. Hopefully today will be much less "exciting."

A Winter Wonderland and More Movement

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing. We've been waiting for it - the ski resorts were moaning about not getting snow for their usual Thanksgiving traffic, people in the office where I work were quizzical about the lack of precipitation, the city water supply was concerned with the warm fall and slow start of winter, Seth and I were hoping for a couple short walks in the snow during our little break...

But now it has come! And there is no sign of it really stopping. When I looked out the window this morning at 4:30 am, just before I let the cat out, the backyard was beautiful! There is a pear tree right outside our back door that I've loved through the summer and early fall, but was looking weird and stark since it's lost all its leaves. It turned into a beautiful silver spirit last night. Happy happy. We got somewhere between 2 and 4 inches. It's supposed to keep snowing on and off for the next couple of days and then dump again over the weekend. Most predictions said we wouldn't get any snow here in town, it'd just be in the mountains, but we're glad they were wrong.

I just loved looking at all the frosted trees on the way to work...

And the other excitement last night was that Seth got to feel our baby move for the first time! I've been feeling little flutterings and bumps for the last couple of days, but it was moving quite a lot last night. I mentioned it and Seth said, "I wonder if I could feel it." I doubted it, because they've been pretty faint little movements, but he waited a little while and I pointed to where I was feeling things... and then all of a sudden there was a huge kick (or backflip or something)! We both kind of jumped in surprise and then dissolved into giggles. He felt some smaller rumblings after that, too and then convinced me I should feel it from the outside. Now, it's kind of weird to realize there is something quite independent of you, moving inside you... and somehow even stranger to feel your abdomen involuntarily move from the outside. It is all very special, too, and my mom is right, I'm sure I'll remember feeling this little one move for the first time for the rest of my life.

Slowly, slowly I'm getting rounder. I guess I still don't look "pregnant," but I'll try to post a picture or two here soon. I'm definitely bigger in the belly than I've ever been before.

Hey! It's snowing outside again! Have a great day.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I’ve enjoyed reading about folks’ Thanksgivings over the last couple of days – everything from joyful family-filled get-togethers to small trips away for the long weekend to couples in other countries who are thankful but missing their families.

Our Thanksgiving was both traditional and completely different from anything we’ve ever done before. Seth had to work at the VA on Friday, so we settled in for a cozy Thursday in Utah. I got up early, was grateful for morning energy, and began cleaning and baking. I just adore pumpkin pie, so making the house smell like it at 9:00 am was bliss. ☺ We spent the rest of the day enjoying a day to rest, a warm cozy house with the oven going, good food and time to spend together.

I found myself most thankful for:
1. a loving husband and wonderful marriage
2. a warm house
3. yummy food (turkey, cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and pumpkin pie)
4. naps
5. cell phones (so we were able to converse with our far-away families in Oregon and Iowa)
6. the joy and anticipation of our growing family

I must admit, the rest of the long weekend continued on our Thursday’s lazy trend. There was lots of football, reading (Bethany) and playing computer games (Seth). We braved the stores Friday evening and were pleasantly surprised to find the crowds gone, but some sale items still available. (I’m very excited because I was able to purchase Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land and Memory for $4 each!)

Towards the end of our weekend, however, things took an exciting turn (in comparison). I was able to purchase a darling, simple, oak rocking chair off Craigslist for $40. It is lightweight (and thus movable from room to room), small (and thus fits in our tiny home) and comfortable. I am very excited about it – our first baby-related purchase.

Ski season opened in Utah this weekend – even though we don’t have any snow. So, Seth and I took a fun drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton Ski Resort where Seth has an unlimited season pass. He is super excited! I am super jealous! The resorts are currently blowing “snow” onto their main runs. We were surprised to see how many people were actually up there skiing and snowboarding. It was really weird because it’s cold, but not cold enough to really need all your gear, so people were skiing in t-shirts and stuff! Plus, a lot of the ground is still brown and all the trees are green. Anyway, Seth finished up all the official paperwork, got his picture taken and was issued his pass. It is supposed to start snowing here this week, so he’s hoping to make it up to the mountain with his snowboard next weekend.

On the way up the canyon I think I felt our baby moving for the first time! The feeling came and went throughout the day after that. Very strange, but really exciting, too.

I was also able to muster up enough energy and motivation to actually clean up our living room and pull out my sewing things again. Thus, Seth is happy because I finally finished some curtains for his office that he’s been waiting for since August ☺. Plus I finished up some really easy mending and worked for a while on a cute top I started back in August, too. I’m excited for the top because I think it is big enough I’ll actually be able to wear it for a while longer. It’s really close to being finished. Unfortunately, however, the most “exciting” part of the weekend happened just as I was beginning to attach the left sleeve…

Our computer monitor blew up. Seth was printing some important papers for work, getting ready to write a bunch of reports, and the monitor just turned off. After a short period of him messing with it and me getting anxious, he started making phone calls regarding it’s warranty and if it was something that could possibly be repaired. It turned into me melting into a pile of tears (even though I wasn’t really all that concerned about the computer – thank you hormones) and him beginning to tear our newly cleaned office apart – looking for computer parts and accessories we haven’t used since we moved.

The good news is, the computer itself is fine, so we were able to hook it up to our desktop’s monitor. The bad news is, we have to decide if it is worth fixing or if we should just buy a new laptop. Seth spent the entire evening pulling all his files off the laptop and backing them up. I decided more cleaning, a trip to the library and sitting and reading a brainless book was in order. Meanwhile, we watched the Eagles/Patriots game.

The most frustrating elements of the evening were 1. Our laptop is having problems AGAIN, 2. My newly cleaned house will no longer be clean for Monday, 3. My crying escapade left me with a pounding headache and 4. I feel as though I will never know where everything is since moving… before we have to move yet again.


But, on a cheerful note, I woke up this morning ready to get back into a routine. I’m fairly happy to be at work – there’s actually some stuff to do. My headache is gone, it is still sunny outside and Jenni has pleasant Christmas music playing at her desk behind me.

Blessings upon all your weeks.

In your opinion...

Well, we had another appointment with our midwife on Friday. It looks as though everything is going well. Our little alien really likes to hide him/herself though, so getting Doppler heartbeat readings continues to be a bit of a challenge.

I’m supposed to schedule my “fetal anatomy” ultrasound today – for sometime during the 1st week of December. Seth and I are still really undecided about whether or not we want to know the gender right away or if we want to wait until birth. We’ve always said we’d like to wait, and I think in theory we still do, but it’s pretty hard to wait when we know we could find out in a couple of weeks if we choose.

So, I’m wondering, all you readers out there… both those who have previous experience having little ones and those who are still just thinking about it… would you find out or would you wait? Why? If you are one who waited – are you glad you did? Would you do it differently next time? Does it really make that much of a difference from a planning and preparing standpoint? If you found out, did you feel you were better able to bond with your unborn child?

Baby Facts

Well, by all accounts, I’m now officially into my 2nd trimester! Hopefully, just like the books say, I’ll be regaining some of my lost energy and starting to feel less queasy. I’ve put off writing here because Seth and I have had several slow, uneventful weeks. The last two weekends we’ve seriously just lounged around the house – lazy bums! Our weeks are full of work, occasional social encounters, food and lots of sleep.

The other reason I’ve held off on writing, is because I keep thinking I’ll soon have pictures to post of my pleasantly rounding tummy. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) we’re still waiting for the roundness to make itself known. Some days I think I can see the progress, but everyone else around me still thinks I look “normal” and very un-pregnant. I’m definitely wearing all the same clothes I always have.

So, instead of fun pictures, I’ll just have to give you all some fun facts. Our little one is around 4 inches long this week and weighs about 2 ½ ounces. All the baby development books we read like to compare our “alien’s” size to fruit. This week he/she is the size of an apple. He is also sensitive to light now, so technically if we shone a flashlight at my belly, baby would move away from it. She also has the capacity to suck her thumb by now. All baby’s features and organs are now formed, they will just continue to develop in size and function from here on out.

It’s still pretty strange and amazing to me that a little human is living inside me and soon I’ll be able to feel it. In some ways, I’ve felt very pregnant over the last few months, but in some ways I’ve had trouble believing it’s totally real, too. Some day relatively soon I guess I’ll be able to feel the little one moving around and my belly will start to protrude – then I won’t be able to ignore it!

Pictures!

Hey all! Like I've said before, Seth and I get pretty lazy about taking pictures. Luckily for us, Amanda took some good pics of our last trip up to Jackson, WY a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy.


The beautiful Teton Mountains.



The largest Elk Horn Arch in America!



Birthday presents!



And more birthday presents!



Snuggling. It seems I'm still tired ALL THE TIME...



Cute kids.



More cute kids.

Relax, Refresh, Rejuvenate

This past weekend was incredible. Nothing exciting happened. We didn’t travel anywhere. We didn’t have friends over or company in town. We just stayed home. Well, I did. Seth went fly fishing all day on Saturday.

I decided, sometime around 4:30 am Saturday morning, that I would treat my Saturday as though I was at one of those spa retreat centers. I slept in, took a long, warm bath in the morning, made sure I ate healthy, yummy food, did an hour or so of yoga, went for a walk, watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, did a prenatal Salsa workout video (super funny, but really fun) and took a nap. Amazingly, in the evening, I even had enough energy left to make muffins.

Every once in a while, one gets the chance to look back at a day and say, “I spent that day just exactly as I should have.” Saturday was one of those glorious days. (And, I must give my wonderful husband credit – it was possible because he spent Friday evening, after I’d gone to bed, cleaning the house! I woke to everything straightened, dusted and cleaned!)

Sunday, Seth and I spent a lot of time together, going to church, getting groceries and shopping for fingerless gloves for his next fly-fishing adventure. He even watched part of Pride and Prejudice with me! Later, I watched the Boston/Cleveland game with him. It, too, was a fun, relaxing day. For the first time in quite a while, I feel like I was ready for Monday.