Patience!

Well, it's official. My patience with this bed rest business is nearly all used up. I want to eat sitting up. If I could eat sitting up, so many of my problems would be solved. And I want to move around enough to tire myself out so I have a reason to sleep at night. That would be awesome. And I want to be off this horrible medication so I can take a warm shower whenever I want without my heart racing and beating out of my chest. Oh yeah, and I want to cook dinner for my husband AND do the dishes so I don't have to listen to him doing all these wonderful things for me when I know he's exhausted.

It's amazing my patience has held out this long. I know it's because of the encouragement and prayers of dear friends and family who have taken time to visit, call, bring over food, and empty the dishwasher. Soon, I will be able to get up and actively wait for this baby boy to come!

Housing crisis affects everyone

Poor Micah got an eviction notice from my uterus last night. Well, we have news for my uterus...you don't hold the lein on that space!

We spent a few hours in the hospital last night because I was having contractions. By the time we got there they were 2 minutes apart. Thank goodness they were painless contractions! Apparently the painless ones can be a sign of preterm labor (just one more to add to the list of preterm labor signs that have had me on bed rest for a month), but much less harmful in terms of progressing to labor than painful contractions. So, a few shots later, an IV of fluids to bring down my temperature, and some tests for infection, we were sent home. The contractions have come back, so we'll have to see what the doc says today. Please pray that Micah would remain healthy and active as he gets squeezed a bit...it looks like we're both going to have to put up with it for several more weeks.

Why pregnancy will be bad for my teeth

So I had a strong gag reflex before pregnancy, but this is ridiculous. Behold, the enemy.

I can no longer use my electric toothbrush for fear of a repeat performance of Tuesday morning when I threw up all over the bathroom right before I left for work. I did not see that coming. So now I have resorted to the regular old toothbrush. You'd think that would do the trick, right? No. It's better, but man, that gag reflex has taken on a life of its own. TMI? Sorry.

Blog abandonment

So I think I have been subtly accused of blog abandonment. It's true. I haven't posted since March. It's not that I haven't thought about it. It just seems like I am never willing to sit at the computer long enough for the pictures to upload. How rude of me. I check everybody else's blogs regularly for updates and am sorely disappointed when I only get to see last week's adventure and not this week's adventure.
It's true, I really have thought about posting. Like the time my niece Gracynn entertained herself for half an hour on the table in the airport tossing around napkins. Have you noticed how cut her biceps are? No wonder, she works out!
Then I thought I might write about our traveling gnome. We picked him up in "Norway" in Epcot Center on vacation and I entertained myself the rest of the trip getting him in all of our scenery shots.
Then I could have written about the Lake Superior leg of our trip. We thought there wouldn't be much to do around Lake Superior, so we only scheduled one night at this great lodge north of Duluth. Dude, next time I'm spending a week there. Doing nothing.

Then I could have written about how funny baby shower games are. Here in my family room, women are trying to draw a baby on a paper plate on their head. Lisa (my sister in law) got to choose the best ones for a prize. Lisa is on baby watch now...due any day with our next niece, Rebekah Michelle.













Then I could have written about how good a sport my husband is when I ask him to pose for stupid pictures. Here he is waiting for "A Bug's Life" in the Animal Kingdom park, our favorite.














Instead of all those topics, I think I will write about the most recent news. I'm 5 weeks pregnant! I can hardly believe it's true. It's about time we get in the game!

Wonder Valley is a great place

Have you ever been to Wonder Valley? You should go. If not for the ranch resort itself, at least for the drive. I was there this weekend for a retreat for directors of Early Childhood Education programs. I love coming around the bend on Elwood Drive to see the valley before me.

A bountiful harvest...I hope

After visiting Death Valley, I took on projects around the house to finish out my spring break. I painted the office a nice taupe color and did a LOT of work in the yard. It's amazing how a lot of work in the yard can look like not very much in the end, but then it all grows and you see the results of your efforts. In our vegetable garden, I planted two kinds of tomatoes, green peppers, purple peppers, green beans, tomatillos, yellow neck squash, zucchini, cantaloupe seeds, spinach seeds, and green onion seeds. Whew! On top of all that, our cherry, plum, aprium, apricot, orange trees are blooming and the poimegranate should not be too far behind. Who knew I would someday be a farmer!

The next morning I sat on the back patio to eat my breakfast and watched a squirrel go crazy over the seed that dropped when my homemade birdfeeder broke. He even stood on top of the feeder at one time and ate off the bird stoop from the roof. I love having a yard full of life.

Death Valley vacation warms us up during spring break

I always say I hate the desert. Darrel loves the desert. It's not so much that I hate the desert, but I hate the way I feel in the desert. Bloated, dry and itchy eyes, dry and cracked skin, chapped lips. That's how I feel in the desert. We decided to go to Death Valley anyway because it's the right time of the year (weather in the 70s and lots of wildflowers) and Darrel has really wanted to go there with me. He thought he might convert me to a desert-lover. I still didn't love the way I felt, but it was a beautiful, interesting place to see. Everybody asks what there is to see and do in Death Valley...

You can hike in canyons that were formed by shifting earth and

water and material rushing down the hill.

You can drive by and hike in the "Artist's Palette" where oxidation of different minerals has turned the hillsides purple, blue, green, and pink. I tried to make a "snow angel" on the purple hill where it was fine gravel, but it didn't really work. All that happened was my clothes got really dusty. I had to try it though and it satisfied my curiosity.

You can check out the formations of the salt pan. I liked hearing the crunch of the salt under my boot. Darrel liked taking pictures when I wasn't looking.

You can go take a tour at Scotty's Castle.

You can take super zoomed pictures of your spouse when she's not looking and she is squinting into the sun while she waits for the tour to start.

You can hide behind forts in the rock formations when you hike in Mosaic Canyon.

You can visit the sand dunes at sunrise...my favorite.

You can have a contest with your spouse. Whoever ends up with the most sand in their shoes gets to choose when and where to eat breakfast. My boot is the one on the left. I chose the closest of two places to eat in the park. Darrel would have chosen the same thing, but I like to have opportunities to win.

You can visit a giant crater where it is REALLY windy.

You can walk out on the salt bed of the lowest point in the western hemisphere at Badwater...named for the bad tasting water.

You can take pictures at the signs like all good tourists. You can do many more things like see where giant boulders move on their own, visit ghost towns, see the 20 mule team borax mines, and lots more. Go visit Death Valley, but remember to drink plenty of water, take chapstick, sunblock, and slather every inch of your body in lotion.