Not recommended reading

Pregnancy breakdown No. 1 has come and gone and I blame a book. Truthfully, the most surprising thing about my little episode on Tuesday was that it hasn't happened sooner. I can't tell you how afraid we have always been of Pregnant Erin and how excited we were to find that she's actually a pretty nice person (who just likes to sleep a lot). Who knew?

Trouble came, however, when I started reading this book:

If I could sum up what I got out of the first couple of chapters, it would be this:

1. Having a baby is like throwing a grenade into your once-happy marriage.
2. Nic and I will never understand each other's needs.
3. Happiness as we know it is about to come to an end.
4. Nic is going to act like a giant douche.

As I read scenarios about couple after couple hating their new lives as parents, I could literally feel my heart pounding out of my chest. That's why when Nic came home an hour or so later than he said, it was all over: This was the start of us never being happy again. He didn't want to come home because we're having a baby and men don't understand babies and he's never going to understand me. Who would want to come home to a tired, pregnant wife anyway? Men don't really want babies. And so on and so forth.

Are you starting to see why Nic confiscated this book? He came home to me sitting on the floor in tears informing him that I was freaking out and can't have a baby. And that's when he calmly reminded me how undouche-like he is and that he was taking my book. It was one of the shortest crises I've ever had.

When I told Nic I was writing about this, his declaration again was: "I'm not like the guys in that book, dammit!" Totally true. I'm lucky to have someone who can find me crying on the floor and make it okay. He'll still laugh about it though, which is one of the reasons I like him so much.

Oh, and if anyone wants a good alternative to Babyproofing Your Marriage, read Heather Armstrong's It Sucked, and Then I Cried. Or watch "Away We Go." Both address the same sort of issues; neither make you want to rethink any important life decisions.

Folk Dance Quilt: Completed

A few months back, Alissa somehow lead me to discover this quilt pattern. Mostly, I just loved the fabrics of the original, but then opted to not spend the money to buy the quilt kit. Luckily, my mother-in-law has an entire room of fabric (seriously, it's a whole bedroom) that for some lovely reason she keeps stocked with material and lets me pillage whenever I please. So this is my version:

I must be liking quilting more because I have now finished two entire quilts--without making Nic contribute at all.

If baby is a girl, then this is going in the nursery. If baby is a boy, I'll have to raid the fabric room for some less-flowery material. We'll hopefully know soon: Feb. 1 is my next ultrasound.

Bitchin' Camero

It's amazing how fast a car can be restored when you're not the one paying for it. It took Nic about a year to get the body work and paint done on his Coronet; for a client's Camero it took him roughly a month. Here's some before and after pictures that had me oohing and awwing.

I don't know how he has the patience, vision, and skill to turn this:

Into this:

How fantastic are those stripes? He did SUCH an amazing job. I mean, he cut out and replaced entire sections of metal. Who does that?

I like him so much.

Christmas and some additional info

We spent Christmas Eve and the next morning in Provo with my family and then made our way up to the Stewart's for Christmas dinner. At our various family Christmas parties we told our news to anyone who didn't know. Apparently I had a lot of people convinced that I never wanted kids. It's not that I never wanted them, just not until recently.

Alissa sent baby a Christmas present, and while the dogs think they look delicious, I cannot get over the fact that I have baby toys. For a real live baby to play with. I don't know if I can sufficiently say how crazy that seems to me. I mean, besides my pants getting tighter and feeling yucky all the time, there is so far no tangible evidence to suggest that we are really going to be parents in June. But there are occasionally little things, like these toys, where I think ho-lee-crap, we're having a baby! We seriously couldn't be happier.

And since I've been pretty scarce with any details, here's a little recap of the past few months for those who are interested:

• I found out I was pregnant in October when I went in to have surgery on my wrist. They sent me home after my prego test came back positive.
  
• I didn't break the news to Nic in any sort of creative way. I called him in the hospital parking lot and told him I didn't have the surgery because of the pregnancy test. His response: "Are you shitting me?" To which I answered: "No, I'm not shitting you!!!" This is possibly one of my favorite conversations that we've ever had; you just have to imagine the two of us ecstatically cursing during one of the most life-changing exchanges we've ever had.
• My mom was supposed to pick me up after my surgery, so I called her at work to let her know there was no need. That's when I told her the news over the phone while she was at work. I'm really not good at telling people about this.
• Josh and Jess were in town right after I found out, but we were still too nervous to tell anyone. Sorry guys, I told you I'm not good at this.
• I told Alissa after she picked me up from the airport in California. And if anyone needs someone who knows how to treat a pregnant lady, Alissa is your woman.
  
• Nic eventually told some of his family members, but the majority of people didn't know until December after we had an ultrasound and saw that everything was going well.

I just started my second trimester and I think I'm starting to feel better. For a while there I was super nauseous all the time. I managed to only actually throw up twice: once at my desk at work and once at home. Now the main thing is that I'm just tired all the time. If you didn't know I was pregnant, you wouldn't be able to tell--but that doesn't stop me from feeling rotund all of the time.

Nic has been amazing and has taken good care of me. I think he's worried that I'm going to be disappointed if baby turns out to be a boy...right now I refer to baby as Baby Norah, because, well, I want a little Norah. But we also have a boy name, so I promise I'm happy either way. Shopping for girl stuff if just so much more fun.

All of this is to say that we really truly are thrilled and excited. I could do without this whole pregnancy thing, but we're looking forward to the baby part. So hopefully my lack of enthusiasm about this part hasn't given anybody the wrong idea about how happy we are overall. The end.

Sup's got his snow boots on

I wish I could get this excited about going outside.


The only problem is coming home and removing the snowballs.

Wherein I spill the beans:

I'm pregnant. With a baby.

Due June 29, 2010.

Remember Thanksgiving?

Yes, we did celebrate Thanksgiving, I've just been in slow motion lately. But I wanted to make sure to give a big thank you to Mike and Emily for letting us and the dogs come stay with them in Cedar City.

I made pies, Nic fried a turkey, and Mike and Emily supplied the rest of our amazing dinner. And I'm not trying to offend anyone when I say that it was the most stress-free holiday ever.

We also went riding at Three Peaks and I got to ride Mike's four-stroke dirt bike, which was SO much fun that it inspired me to trade my bike for one that's easier to ride. Now we cannot wait to get down there again!