My Year

So, normally I'm part of the group that finds itself on December 31st saying, "Where did the last year go?" Time always seems to fly by at an alarming pace and I am left scrambling and trying to figure out where my life has gone...

Well, it's been a funny year for me in that, I feel like an 7 year old waiting for my next birthday...The days feel like an eternity. Since April that's how my life has been.

This pregnancy has slowed life down for me. I have lived all 366 (it was a leap year) days of this year and I FEEL like I've lived them. They aren't a blur for me like most days in other years have been. I don't know if it was the pain I've gone through with this pregnancy, the anticipation of becoming a mom, or just the excitement of the experience, but this year has seemed to drag on for me.

It's a bittersweet feeling to end another year. I'm happy because 2009 means a whole new adventure/chapter of my life (I'll probably NEVER feel like time is dragging EVER again) with the birth of Benson. I'm excited because it means a new adventure with our family moving to Chicago to start work in the Spring. I'm happy because everyday I feel blessed to be where I am and doing what I'm doing (I know that is totally cliche, but I've always loved life and I feel so lucky everyday. I feel very blessed for my past experiences--even the hard ones-- and am excited for the future adventures I will have).

I'm sad because 2008 was a year of school ending (both Josh and I graudated from BYU). I'm sad to see 2008 go because it was also a time to experience pregnancy--which has had its ups and downs, but I've really enjoyed it on the whole. And I'm sad to see 2008 go because it was a time for Josh and I to spend together and grow together as a couple. PLUS it ending 2008 means I'm getting older which is always a strange feeling. I know I'm still young, but I know that every day I grow less young. haha! Oh well!

Okay, well sorry for the rant...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Good luck to everyone in 2009!!

"Ode to Bed Rest"

Oh bed rest, how fun you were this morning at 10 am when I was sleeping in because I couldn't get out of bed...

But now that it's noon, I'm over you! Please go away and let me have my life back.

Doctor's Appointment

Well, I'm 90% effaced and 1 cm. dilated...He's dropped and is in the right position...So, we're on our way!

My blood pressure was high this week and I'm as swollen as a balloon (which could mean preclampsia), so the doctor is going to monitor it and if it's still high next week, I might be getting induced...which is fine by me because she said Benson is totally healthy and could come whenever. In the meantime, she has put me on partial/mostly bed rest--oh man! We'll see how I do with that!

Also, being induced means I don't have to worry about counting contractions, checking if my water is broken, etc...I'm pretty much okay with it as long as the pitocin (spelling?) isn't too painful (which I hear it is for some people).

So, that's the update...Check the post below to help give us tips on how to get ready for Benson!! And thank you to the people who have already given us some tips/advice! They have been helpful!

Getting ready...

So, I don't know if any of you out there have any tips for getting a house ready for a baby to come...We're in the home stretch, he really could come anytime--although I think he'll come closer to his due date which is 2-3 weeks away...So, here's what Josh and I have started doing--please tell us if we're missing stuff or if we're over doing it....

• Making freezer meals--I started making them today. I thought they'd be good to have to just pull out and heat up when we don't feel like cooking...
• Packing--We've started packing away things we know we won't need in the next 4 months and that way it's already done so when we move in May it's less stuff to pack.
• Deep cleaning--we have made a list of one major task to do everyday for this whole week: disinfecting everything, dusting, vacuuming, etc., and then we'll do it again (hopefully it won't take as long) in another week or so...
• Catching up on the pregnancy journal--I've been keeping a pregnancy journal this whole time, but I'm about two months behind--haha...So, I'm getting caught up on it this week.
• Getting car seat properly installed--we're setting up an appointment with a car seat person who is going to install the car seat for us so we know it's done correctly.
• Finishing the nursery--pretty much everything is set up and ready to go for that...
• Packing my hospital bag--I need help knowing what to put in here, otherwise I'll over pack!!!
• Packing a hospital bag for J0sh--what are some things that the husbands wished they had with them?? Money, books, games, study materials, camera, blanket, change of clothes, etc????
• Car check-up-- we were thinking of getting an oil change, car vacuumed, wiped out, plus get the car checked on to make sure everything is safe and in good condition. Is that too much???
• Date nights--We have a few date nights set up over the next few weeks just in case we don't ever get any again :)
• Scrapbook--I got a scrapbook for Christmas (thank you Mara!) so I was thinking that I would set up the pages now so when I get pictures developed of Benson I can just glue them in...dumb idea???
• De-cluttering--We're getting a bunch of stuff together that have been cluttering our home and giving them to D.I. ... I just know that baby stuff is going to be taking over our home so I don't want a bunch of other thing that we don't need (or want) filling up our home.
• Washing baby clothes--I'm going to wash all of the baby clothes we have. I got special laundry detergent that doesn't have any fragrance and it says it's hypoallergenic, so hopefully that will be good.
• Thank-you notes--I'm getting all of my thank you notes out this week for the baby shower I had about a month ago.
• Carbon monoxide detector--we put in a carbon monoxide detector (thanks Cathy) in our bedroom because that's where Benson's going to be sleeping for the first few weeks...Should we get more for other rooms?

Okay, so WHAT ELSE?!?!? What else should we be doing to get ready? I'm probably missing some pretty obvious stuff that I just don't know I'm supposed to be doing, or it's just totally slipped my mind...If anyone has any suggestions/recommendations please let us know!

Random Nevada/California Pictures

The hotel we stayed at in Las Vegas when we got stuck there for the night...

Hoover Dam, and the crazy bridge they are building over it...I would be terrified to drive over that thing!

Little Corona, in Corona Del Mar, CA.

This was down at Laguna Main Beach

My cute husband at Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar
More of the baby pictures that we took down at the beach...

I love wrapping Christmas presents!! I think it is so fun!! It really gets me excited about Christmas!

Josh took this picture of the moon right before sunrise one morning- I thought the tree was fake, it looked so cool in the picture!

This was a hilarious sign at a restaurant: "Eat here or we both may starve" such are the times :)

home safe

Well, we made it home without any problems last night. We had a great time in California and now we're just looking forward to getting all the loose ends tied up so everything is ready for when Benson arrives. It's just a few more weeks until he's here!!!! We are so excited!!

Anyways, we're off to my grandma's for a couple of days so I won't be able to update for a bit, but have a fun weekend all!!!

PS-Happy birthday to Grandma Inez today! We love you!

Fun Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas here in California--we were going to leave on Tuesday to head back to Utah, but we decided to wait until after Christmas because of storms that were going through the area on Tuesday. We had a great time!!

However, the time has come for us to head on home...wish us luck! Hopefully it won't take 36 hours to get home, but knowing our luck and knowing what they weather is supposed to be like...it just might take that long again...oh well!!!

Christmas Pictures

Beach pictures for Christmas...

Merry Christmas EVE!!!

So, I don't know if many of you know the German Christmas tradition, but it basically means you get to celebrate Christmas TWO DAYS IN A ROW! Basically, you spend Christmas Eve as you would Christmas Day, you cook all day, do crafts, listen to Christmas music, and then have a huge Christmas feast. Afterwards, you do a little Christmas program and then you open the presents that are under the tree. These presents are the main presents, but they are from family members to each other. THEN, the next morning you get your presents from Santa and your stocking full of presents too...These are generally smaller gifts: DVDs, make-up, scarfs, mittens, candy, fruit, etc...
Since Josh and I have been married we've been trying to figure out the best way to incorporate both family traditions. My mom is from Germany and so we have always done the Christmas Eve tradition (it's twice the gifts and twice the Christmas fun!) but Josh's family always does the Christmas morning tradition. I know some families open one or two gifts on Christmas Eve and then save the rest for Christmas, but I still just love the idea of having all Christmas Eve to spend together and then doing a fun program that night--it just has a wonderful Spirit about it. So we'll see, but I think I'm going to win out in the end :)...The one Christmas Josh spent out in Illinois with my family he really liked the Christmas Eve celebration.

Christmas Time

On sunday night, our family, along with family friends, the Cornwell's and the Rieck's went and delivered some meals to the homeless in San Diego. It's been a regular Christmas tradition for the McLane's and Cornwell's for years and this was my third time participating in it. It always makes me reflect on how lucky I truly am in life. I have a home and a bed to sleep in. I have plenty of food to eat, I have a large family that loves me, and I know that if Josh and I were ever in trouble we would have a million different people we could turn to for help. We would never be alone.

Seeing the homeless people run up to the car as we handed out the meals made my heart break. They truly were alone this holiday season, they were sleeping on the streets (the temperature was in the 40's last night in San Diego--so it was a cold night for them) and they really had no one to turn to for help.

I'm so grateful for my family (who are spread out all over the place) and I am so glad that we all have each other and the Savior to rely on when times get tough.

Merry Christmas!

These pictures are from the dinner we had at the Cornwell's before we delivered the meals to the homeless.

Miss Piggy's Feet

So, I don't know if I have done a pregnancy update in a little while, so I'll give one now...I am 36+ weeks now, my ticker countdown on the top is wrong so it shows I'm not as far as I really am, but that's all right. we're under the month mark so it's coming up! We are getting really excited but also really nervous.

I have only had two dreams this whole pregnancy relating to the pregnancy and I had one a week or so ago that FREAKED me out...I kept sleeping through the night and not getting up to feed Benson because I was too tired...I would finally wake up and he would be screaming and then he wouldn't eat very well....NOT a good dream!!!! I woke up and for the first time I was genuinely scared of becoming a mom. I was anxious all day and the next day and the next. Nothing I did was shaking the scary feeling I was having. I was so thankful that I had almost 5 weeks to prepare.

Well, now I am back to wanting him to come now!!! I haven't gained any additional weight in the last few weeks but the weight I have gained has decided to settle in my ankles...holy cow! They are HUGE!! I have never seen feet like this before. These last couple of weeks I have seen them get bigger and then smaller and then bigger again, but I think the BIG is here to stay now...They are HUGE! I have tried ice packs, massages, soaking them in cold water, elevating, walking, sitting, drinking a lot of water, etc. to get the swelling to go down, but to no avail. It's pretty hilarious! Every time I look down I really am shocked to see that those HUGE "cankles" belong to me! All I can do is laugh because I know the swelling will go away as soon as I have the baby and I am just grateful its not related to preclampsia or gestational diabetes, both of which cause excessive swelling, but neither of which I have....So, I'll just deal with them for a few more weeks.

It's okay to laugh or shriek in horror at the picture of them...It really doesn't bother me because there is just nothing I can do about it. At this point I'm just glad I haven't gained any more weight in the last few weeks. I'm up to 30 lbs total now...Oh well, it bothered me for a while, but now I'm just over it...I'm ready for our cute little boy to come and this is just all part of it.

However, if you would have talked to me a few days ago, I would have been bawling and telling you that my life was over and that I was the biggest pregnant person on the planet. It's amazing how a few days can change one's perspective....Hopefully tomorrow I'm not back to the crying phase:)

So very late...

We drove the Alpine Loop a while back when it was free...It was fun! Here are some raondom pictures from that day...

Also, back in September we went hiking in Rock Canyon Park....Here are those pictures...

California or bust

So, a week ago Josh and I decided that we were going to make a surprise trip to California after we finished all of our finals and stuff. I spent a week planning everything...I looked up flights versus gas prices, checked weather reports, packed, cleaned the house, etc. to get everything ready so we could pick up and go whenever we decided to head out....Well, we picked Wednesday to leave...and we decided to drive.

I checked a bunch of different weather reports and coordinated everything so that if we left at 5am (or basically anytime before 6am) we would miss all snow/rain that was supposed to hit Utah, Nevada, and California that day. Well, we did great. We left a little late at 6am, but we made REALLY good time and were missing all of the crummy weather by 30-45 minutes.

We made it to Primm, NV (a 5-5 1/2 hour drive) in 4 hours and 45 minutes--about 45 minutes AFTER they shut down I-15 South for construction. Apparently, starting last Wednesday, Nevada and California started road construction/blasting on I-15 and for 4 hours (10am-2pm) EVERY WEDNESDAY UNTIL APRIL they shut down I 15 SOUTH for that time. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! How the heck can you shut down an entire highway for 4 hours in the middle of the week every week?!!? Well, Nevada and California apparently can.

So, we along with 5 billion other cars all piled into the parking lots in Primm, NV (totally taking over this weird desert town). They offered free movies and popcorn at the movie theater and they assured us that at 2 pm--3 hours and 15 minutes from then, we would be allowed back on I 15 South.

What the construction people didn't realize was a huge SNOW STORM was going to hit the area at 12:30pm and so shutting the road down for construction was basically going to leave a million people stranded...The road NEVER reopened and we were left to randomly drive around Las Vegas trying to find an open road to get out of the area.... 7 HOURS later....4 of which were driving down roads that would close on us as we were on them, we were told there was absolutely NO WAY out of Las Vegas--in any direction-- so we would have to stay the night. We found the cheapest, closest hotel we could (the Fiesta in Henderson for $30 :) ) and hunkered down there for the night....

The next morning we found a road that opened!!! YAHOO!!! It was going to be out of the way and add a couple of hours to our trip but it was the only open road! So, we got on the 93 and headed out...ONE HOUR AFTER WE GOT ON THAT ROAD EVERY OTHER ROAD OPENED!!! GRRRRRRRR.......oh well, it was an adventure...

We finally made it around to Josh's parent's house around 5 pm-and boy were they surprised! We just walked in said hello and they just kind-of stared at us like they couldn't figure out what was going on ...It was fun :)

So, now we're here and safe--36 hours later--26 hours longer then it should have taken us :)....HAHA! oh well, it was all part of the adventure....Now, we just have to get up the courage/patience to drive home again next week sometime...

Oh the places they've been...

So, as I posted a few days ago, Josh got new dress shoes from me for his birthday...That may not sound like a big deal until you see the condition of his old shoes...I didn't even get a good picture of them, but those shoes have been through A LOT the last three years...It was time to retire them! The bummer part is that these pictures don't do justice to the true destruction of these shoes...Josh's pinky toe would stick out of one of the shoes because of a hole. When you looked at the bottom of the shoes you could see all the way to his socks because of a hole...It was incredible.

These shoes have been a lot of places in three years...

• They were with Josh his entire time working as an accountant.
• They were with him for the first day of law school.
• He wore them every Sunday to church.
• Josh walked everyday to work in these while he was doing his internship at the law firm in Rome Oxford.
• He wore them to a million interviews with different law firms.
• He walked everyday in Chicago with them this last summer while he did his internship with K & E.

Haha...oh the places they've been... And now they are at the landfill somewhere in Happy Valley enjoying retirement...

Seattle Pictures

We had a great time in Seattle back in November. Our nephew Jordan was baptized! Congrats Jordan! Also, our other nephew, and Jordan's little brother, Eric, was blessed. It was such a fun time and it was so great to see family and spend a few fun days up in beautiful Seattle!!!

My brother Aaron, with his son Jordan on Jordan's Baptism day. It was such a wonderful experience to be there for that! Thanks to the Blonquist's for letting us come and invade your home!

My adorable niece, Maya!


My super cute nephew, Ryan...He's so fun!
My incredibly cute nephew, Eric, who was blessed while we were there visiting too.

Jordan being silly

Another one of Eric, isn't he a doll!

Jordan, Maya, and Ryan right before the baptism...

Maya and Ryan being cute :)

Sorry it took so long to post these pictures, but that's the story of my life these days!

baby's heartbeat

Josh here again-

145 bpm strong (from our doctor's appointment on December 16th)

oh boy...

So, I've decided since I'm almost 9 months (36 weeks), I'll show the progression of the belly from the beginning...

This is the very beginning of the pregnancy (gross shot but the only one I could find)...April

Here is the end of May-- I am 6 weeks here....

This pretty much sums up week 6-17...I was so sick I hardly made it out of bed everyday...No belly shots this month--June because I was so out of it....

Here's month 4--July. I am 14 or 15 weeks here. The belly is just starting to show!

Here is August I was 19 weeks in this picture....

Here is September. I was 23 or 24 weeks here-- can't remember.

Here is October. I was 27 1/2 weeks...

Here is sometime in November where I started popping out...29 weeks here...


Here I am currently at 35 weeks...December.... Swollen..Ignore the face--I didn't realize he was taking the picture--plus it was like midnight...haha oh well!

It's TOTALLY all worth it for this little guy! We are sooooo excited to meet him!!!