Why I love Boys

#1. Boys have very high energy. I love watching them run and play. They are always up for a good time.
#2. is an extension of #1. Little boys bring out Kyle's inner child.
#3. Boys love their mommies and tell them they are beautiful.
#4. applies only to second and third children: I don't have to buy whole wardrobes of new clothes.
#5. I love fat boy baby legs in shorts. Girls just don't even come close to the edibleness of boy legs.
#6. Boy names are way easier to pick out.
#7. Boys need only 2 pairs of shoes. 1 for church, 1 for play.

I made this list in keeping with my resolutions. Yes, I had my ultrasound today and found out we are having another boy. I am happy he is a healthy sucker, but I am working a little bit on the being happy he is a "he" part.

REASONS I WANTED A GIRL
See above numbers 1, 2, 4, & 7.

On a slightly more upbeat note, how cool are ultrasounds?! Today I learned that my baby doesn't have Down Syndrome, doesn't have a cleft lip, and doesn't have a club foot. No ultrasound technician before has explained all the cool things they are looking for. They did move my due date back though. I think he's just small, like Adam, but my new due date is July 28th. Way out at the hottest fricken time of year. Hooray for babyhood.

Options

I got my Anthropology Lab test back today. If you read farther down, you know all about the struggle I had with it. Well, I got a 50 out of 50. YAY! Perfect score right? Well, not quite. See, there were 55 points possible, 5 of which were extra credit points. So, am I happy that I got 100%? I'm not really sure.
I have two options. Be happy that I got a perfect score, (Which I would say is the one most people are hardwired to accept) or be unhappy that I missed 5 questions and would barely have gotten an A (as I am slightly inclined to do.). I think I'm inclined to be unhappy because of my genius, overachieving mom. If you read past posts you know all about her. She recently got a test back with 73 out of 75 right. She was mad that she missed 2. I laughed so hard at her. What a silly thing to be mad about. And here I go... Like mother, like daughter.
DANG IT! HOW IN THE FRICKEN WORLD OF DNA MRNA AND TRNA DID I MISS 5 POINTS?!?! I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN EVERY SINGLE QUESTION RIGHT! I KNEW THE ANSWERS! I SHOULD HAVE STUDIED HARDER!
Ugh. Well that's out of my system. Now I will have to accept that I'm not a perfect student. Maybe it will help to look at my email from my English teacher. He sent it out to everyone in the class. He put exerpts of essays he liked. There were only two. Mine was the first one. You win some, you slightly less win some, and then you lose.

Taxes

Wow, do taxes blow or what?! I spent most of my Monday morning figuring out forms and credits and other tax crap. I'm still glad I do my taxes myself cause it saves me a lot of money, but really.... it is worth it? The headache I get every year courtesy of the IRS can hardly be worth the few bucks it would be to have a pro take on my paperwork. On the other hand... I do love watching that refund number go up or down as I enter things. I love the excited feeling of "OOOH What am I gonna do with that money!?" or "Oh crap, do I really have to enter that?" haha. Don't worry. I always do. I never lie on my taxes.
Well, the boys are up from their nap. Guess I can procrastinate finishing taxes for a while. (I have been desperately looking for some excuse, you know!)

Fat pants.

UGH. Today I wore my biggest fat pants. It was the last time. It's time to tuck them away till July. I'm depressed.
Old Navy delivered with a pair of maternity jeans for $20. They aren't too bad. No giant blue panel, just a scrunched top. Like something your grandmother would wear. If I wear a long shirt you can't tell, except of course for when I sit down and they just don't stay up. Such is the curse of baby-making.
Even though you can't tell from the outside, I know. I know I'm wearing the pants of a fat girl. Not just because my belly is big, but because the first 8 or so pounds that I gain are subjected to gravity in a pretty terrible way. Those first 8 land right on my hips and gigantic butt. *sigh*
I know it will be worth it. I love my little babies and I wouldn't trade all the stretchmarks or skinny jeans in the world for them. But for now, while I can't see her (this is what I'm assuming until Wednesday, when hopefully I will find out) it's tough being happy cause all I can see is that I'm getting chubby!!! Maybe if she would move a little and let me know she's in there I could be a little happier about this whole thing.

Hello Hubs!

Kyle has been out of town since Tuesday morning. (And I mean morning. I helped get him out the door at 2 AM after a 2 hour nap. Poor thing) He has been in Texas at a conference for work. He was excited to go because he got an award and got to stand up on stage and have everyone ooh and ahhh at how awesome he is. It's true, he's awesome. He is great at selling insurance. He gets people good deals and everyone that has him is happy with him. Especially me!
So, I think he's had a fun time. Me not so much. I say "I think" because Kyle is not much of a phone person. When he is here and he gets home from work I get a good rundown of his day. He tells me all about the interesting, cool, disappointing, even the boring things. And then we get in bed and cuddle most of the night. We sleep like two halves of a pretzel.
Well, apparently, my husband is not much of a phone talker. He could have fooled me, since we dated long distance for about five months, the phone being our main communication. Anyway, on this trip he has called me twice a day, at the most, and had 5 minute conversations, at the longest. UGH. It's like he's been gone off the face of the planet!
I have been missing him and am excited for him to come home tonight! I woke up and even with a headache I still managed to clean the whole house. Then out of pure faith I moved a mountain. Laundry, of course. I'm still working on the real mountains, though I think I've seen some movement on the hill outside. Point is, there is little that is better than coming home to a clean house. The one thing that is better is coming home to a clean house with clean sheets and a hot wife (still working on the last part, but I got the rest down.)
The boys are excited for him to come home too. Poor things have been trying to wrestle me all week. Caleb came in this morning looking for him cause he wanted to "Play with Daddy." By the way, "Play" is spelled "phlegm-w-a-y". Adam just reminds me "Daddy's out of town." As if I could forget!
He needs to get home quick cause I miss him and I'm just no Daddy!

My mommy!

I don't really call her mommy. I don't remember calling her that ever. Maybe when I was super young and it was mami. I have to say, my mom is the most amazing person I know and I'm so grateful for her every single day. If you read my last post you know that she saved my butt on my anthropology test because she is a smarty pants. I'm not sure I know anyone smarter than her. That's not just child-parent worship. I'm realistic. I can see flaws. My dad for instance (another super smart person) has the biggest vocabulary of anyone I know and yet can't spell worth poo. I think it's cute. My mom is a terrible essay writer. We all have our weeknesses. Still, my mom seems to know everything there is to know about everything. If she doesn't know it, she can read it and understand it automatically. She's one of those people you have to envy. They just get brains.
But the point of this post wasn't actually to worship my ma. It was to be grateful for her. She's there when I need her to read my homework (even though I am a grown woman who hasn't lived in her house for years), she's there when I need a babysitter, she's there when I need someone to vent to. She's there whenever I need my mommy. And how she does it all I just will never know. She's one of the least selfish people I know. She hardly has time during the week to catch her breath and yet she takes time off work to watch my kids. She goes to school full time, babysits full time, works part time... Where does she find the time?! Honestly, I"m tired just writing about it. My mom is my hero. She is superwoman. I love her.

School

This semester has been so overwhelming for me. I'm only about 6 weeks in (optimistically) but I'm already reaching my emotional breaking point. I am not sure what it is. Maybe it has to do with the classes I'm taking, maybe it has to do with being pregnant, maybe it even has to do with getting fat. I know that's a silly thing to blame a rough semester on, but anyone who has been pregnant can tell you it's a struggle every single morning to get dressed. I often wind up in sweats because I know no matter what I wear I just won't look good, or jeans that when buttoned leave a major indent in my ever expanding belly and make me uncomfortable all day. Either way I am uncomfortable or ugly all day long. I digress..
So, a few nights ago I had a major meltdown. The kind where you cry and your husband worries that you're losing your mind. My sweet hubs told me maybe I should pray for a little motivation and comfort. I told him I wasn't ready to end my pity party. I got a good laugh at myself for that. If there is anything more pathetic than having a way to fix a problem and not taking it because you enjoy your misery, I just don't know it.
Then Monday night I had another meltdown. Stupid Anthopology is trying to kill me. I like school, but I'm not a sciences person. I don't speak math and chemicals and such. UGH. I was being tested on the subject the next day and was trying desperately to figure out what the %&$#* was going on. I cried. No subject has ever made me cry. It's the first time a concept has defeated me ever. (In school I mean) I felt stupid. I HATE feeling stupid! I went to bed angry and depressed and hopeless.
Tuesday morning I wake up and decide to give it another try. I skip my first class of the day to have my mom take a stab at understanding what I am trying to do. She points out the major part I was missing and it all clicked into place. I went to school, took the test... I'm pretty sure I aced it by the way. I will tell you tomorrow if she hands the test back. Then I got feedback on my essay for an online English class. My teacher said something to the effect of "You didn't follow the instructions for the essay, but it was so well written that I didn't care." I got an A. HALLE-FREAKIN'-LUJAH! Those two things had me walking on air.
Went to math class. Learned a new concept. Figured out the problem first in the class. Had the teacher check it. Got it wrong. Crap. Couldn't figure out where I screwed up. Teacher comes back and told me I did it right. I rock again. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm border-line genius. You know, the kind that cries when they don't get something.
And now you're wondering what the point of this post is. Right? Well, so am I! I guess the point is that I'm always amazed how life seems to have perfect symmetry. One day I hate school and never want to go back because it's stupid and I'm tired. The next day I love it and can't wait to learn more.
I really do love learning. There was a good article about life long learning in the Ensign this month. Side note.
I'm rambling. Goodnight

Resolutions

I know it's a little late to be making New Year's resolutions. Maybe if I call them something different though they won't offend tradition. How about the I'm-already-behind-so-here-come-February-resolutions? I like it. I think it has a nice ring of truth about it. And if you can't make resolutions late what CAN you procrastinate. Speaking of procrastinating, I am a huge fan. If there was a fan club for procrastinating... I probably wouldn't have signed up in time to be president... but I would have PLANNED on doing it. Or maybe the last person to sign up would have gotten the job as they are obviously the most dedicated to their craft. IF that was the case I would be a shoo-in. So,
#1 Lay off procrastinating! Especially in school. It seems I can't write essays till 2 hours before they are due. I don't know why. Something to do with my brain liking pressure. It is very strange. I got pretty good grades last year and I was really proud of myself. Still, the two B's I got could have easily been A's if there was just a tiny bit more dedication to doing things on time.
#2 Take my boys to the park more often. I know that goals are supposed to be more specific than this so you are more accountable. I hope my wishy-washy-ness doesn't fail to get them more exercise, but the truth is things come up! (Plus since I can't procrastinate my homework it will depend on my teachers' workloads.)
#3 Do more with my kids learning wise. I have some great preschool books where they trace the letters in pen that wipes off the page.... They look great on the bookshelf collecting dust.... So this year I will try to get them a little bit ready for school (Adam might start preschool in the fall. WAHHHHH. I don't want my babies to grow up!)
#4 Make the bed at least 3 times a week. Do you like the specific-ness of this goal? I figured just make the bed more often wouldn't cut it. My real goal is to do it everyday, but since I hardly ever do now I figure I should start slow.
#5 Read a few inspirational/uplifting books. I read so much vampire and fantasy junk, I figure a little balance never hurt anyone.
#6 Get good grades. I would settle for 3 A's and 2 B's. This is what I got last semester and as long as I don't do worse than that I figure I'm okay. We'll see though... already Anthropology lab with all it's Biology crap is trying to kill me.
#7 I know it's a little bit early to make this one. It doesn't kick in till the middle of the year, but here goes anyway. I'm gonna put it out there, so if any of you see me looking a fatty once I've had my baby you can get on my case. The goal is to lose my baby fat within 5 months of having the baby. That means... very specifically, I want to weigh 125 again by Christmas. (ahhh 125, how I miss your bony hips, your love handle-less waist, your ankles.)
#8 Be happy if "she" turns out to be another boy.
#9 This is a two-fer. Maybe a three-fer. Family prayer. Every night. Not every other night. Not every night that I'm not tired. EVERY night. I should tattoo this on my hand so I remember... In fact... THERE. It's sharpie-d on. That should last a few days to get me started. Part B of this is FHE. We do okay on this. Need to do better... but I'm not terribly ashamed yet. C. Scripture time. DA NA NA NA NA NA-NA NA-NA Scripture time! I don't think I'm ready to read every day, but I could certainly be more consistent. I could try for 3 times a week. It's about as hard as making the bed, so that makes sense.
#10.... I don't have anymore. I just thought I should reach a nice round number. Good luck to all you folks and your resolutions. If you see me failing, elbow me in the ribs. Just not too hard, there's a baby in there!