random stuff

• Went to my weekly dr visit yesterday and I'm not having this baby anytime soon...bummer huh? I haven't made any progress (not dilated or anything) and then I found out that my doctor will be out of town ALL of next week. Lovely huh? So any of those "tried and true" home remedies for inducing labor myself will have to wait because I really don't want to deliver with anyone else. We'll see. He did offer to set an induction date for when he gets back - so we'll see how next week goes. I'd like to deliver on my own...but I also don't want to be pregnant until this little guy can just walk out (and based on how big he feels right now, and how strong he feels from his kicks and jabs - I have a feeling he'll be doing that soon...)

• Last night we were eating Ceasar Salad for dinner. Gabe was having a tough time eating the lettuce, and at one point started to kind of choke on it. We made sure he was ok - but the episode scared him. Cory said, "Are you ok Gabe?" Gabe said, "No, go doctor". We thought that was funny because Gabe never goes to the doctor - except for well-baby visits. It was interesting that his throat hurt and he thought he needed the doctor.

• My house STINKS right now. I had bought some stew meat to make beef strogonauff for dinner this week, and keep putting it off (I hate cooking and heating up my house/kitchen in the hot summer weather - we've been eating things like salads, carryout, sandwhiches, and milkshakes for dinner lately). But today I realized I really needed to get the meat cooked. So I put it in the crockpot to let it get going. BLECH! Now my house smells like meat. Cory came in a while ago and looked at me and said, "are you ok?" Not really....I'm not sure I'll even be able to eat it when we get it all made into dinner. Bummer huh?

• This morning I was showing Gabe a website of the place we're going to stay when we go to Mexico as a family in a couple of months. (Yeah, we're nuts - Cory earned a trip to Mexico and to Hawaii a couple of days apart. We'll all go together to Mexico, and then Gabe will stay home with Gramma Rhien when we go to Hawaii with our friends the Cheneys. We took Gabe to Hawaii last time when he was about 3 months old, and it looks like Hunter will be about that same age. We just can't pass up a trip to Hawaii - even if it does involve taking a newborn!) I was showing him how pretty the pools and ocean are. I asked him if he was going to swim in the ocean. He got really concerned and said, "No swim - SHARKS!" I hope we can get over his fear of sharks before we go on our vacation!

• My family is coming this weekend! YAY! My mom, dad, and Julia will be coming to visit us this weekend on their way home to New Mexico. They've been in Idaho to see Paul, Nicole, and Taylor - and for Paul and Nicole's commencement exercises (Nicole finished school in December 06, and Paul will be finished December 07 - so they walked together last night in summer graduation). Gabe hasn't seen Julia or my dad since Christmas time, and we've only seen my mom once since then - so we're really excited for all of them to get to see each other for a day or so (quick trip). I keep saying, "Gabe - Gramma and Grampa are coming this weekend!" And he says, "And Julia!" - making sure I don't forget her. He's excited to see them all. I think they will be blown away at how much he's grown up in 7 months! I sure am.

• Speaking of Gabe - he's obsessed with the computer and looking at blogs. He constantly wants me to pull up Coby (and Grandma and Grandpa Ellis)'s blog, Paul's blog, Ashley's blog and to look at any babies I can pull up from miscellaneous blogs. And then today when he was eating lunch he asked me to look up "kitty's".... So everyone - keep putting pictures on your blogs - Gabe checks them several times a day :)

• Gabe loves music lately. We've downloaded some fun stuff for him from itunes (theme from Bob the Builder, Rubber Ducky with Ernie, C is for Cookie - by Cookie Monster, songs about tickles, Mickey Mouse...and the list goes on and on), and he loves listening to them and dancing around the house. He does the funniest thing when he wants to twirl. He holds his arms up and whips his body around by swinging his arms fast in one direction - giving him lots of momentum and almost knocks him over. Hard to explain, but funny to watch! and he loves me to dance with him - in fact, insists on it. Last night he wanted "baby Hunter" to dance too. So I got on my knees and Gabe danced with my tummy. I guess these are the times I should be getting out the video recorder huh....?

• Gabe loves music, but at the same time - I guess he doesn't always want me to sing to him. Last night I was singing silly songs while we were getting ready for bed. He looked at me with the most serious face, pointed at me and said, "STOP! No songs mom!" I kept singing and he'd get madder and madder and telling me to stop. Apparently I am not as good as listening to the songs on the "pod" (our ipod).

• I'm so sad I'm going to miss my 10 year high school reunion. It is August 11th, and even if I have the baby today - I'm not going to have the one time I see these people in 10 years be right after delivering a baby...with all this baby weight. Plus that is just kind of soon to pack everyone up and head up to Orem. I wish I could plan a seperate reunion with the people I'd like to see - a lot from other high schools, working at Wendy's in high school, those who were a year younger than me...oh well. I think that since my family doesn't live in Orem anymore (and haven't for 9 years) that I feel a little more disconnected with Orem, and the idea of going "home" still. I don't know what's going on in anyone's lives in Orem really...kind of sad that we have to grow up and have this happen huh?

• I am really nervous about being a mother of 2 little boys. Terrified really....Gabe has so much energy, and wants "Hep Mommy" so much (basically says he wants my help - but it means that he wants me to be doign whatever he's doing with him) - that it will be interesting to see how he and I adjust to this new little guy. I think he'll do great - he loves babies, and wants to hold every one he sees. (I let him hold my friend's little 5 month old the other night on my lap and he LOVED it. He kept saying, "Ohhhh, Baby....") I'm nervous about sleep schedules, jealousy, being able to spend enough time with both of them and having the energy needed for all of it. I know I can do it (I keep telling myself, "I can do hard things") - and I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have more than 1 kid and do just fine - but I'm just nervous. Any advice anyone has - I'd love it!

• One of the things I'm really nervous about is how much love I'll have for this little guy. That sounds weird I'm sure. But when I was pregnant with Gabe there was so much that was "unknown". I didn't know how it would feel to be a parent, how it would feel to love someone so much - I thought I knew - but I had NO idea. And I remember holding Gabe in the hospital even - and it feeling surreal, not really sure how I felt, and how I was going to feel - it was weird. And when it sunk in (and has continued to do so over the last 2 years) I have been totally overwhelmed by it. So when we welcome Hunter into the world, and our family - I think it will be VERY emotional from the get-go. I'll have a different idea of what being a mommy means, and I think that will make me pretty teary-eyed right away. It's weird how I already feel differently about him. Not because I love him more than I did Gabe - but because I understand it a bit differently now. Does that make any sense...?

• Well this random list has gotten too long - sorry....hope you are surviving summer in an airconditioned place, and that you have a wonderful glass of ice-water to enjoy. :)