Kirsten and Mark

It’s been an exciting and crazy week here in So Cal.  First, it rained for seven straight days. That caused a lot of trouble because drainage is a major problem here. Water will be gushing into storm drains with no blockages, but because of how the streets are (or aren’t) slanted, water piles up anyway. In some places cars were nearly submerged! And, since people here are slow, inconsiderate and dangerous drivers in good weather, bad weather really makes you want to stay off the road.

But, that wasn’t possible on Thursday night, because we had a baby to see! That’s right, our friends Paige and Cliff finally welcomed their son Maverick into the world. He’d been playing like he was going to come any minute for a couple of weeks, but when he decided the time was right he didn’t waste any time! I’m hoping Britton aspires to be like Mav and give me an equally easy time.

Mav is such a cute baby, and the first I’ve ever seen with actual blond hair–none of that peach fuzz–real stuff. It was great seeing him so soon after he was born. We’re even more excited for Britt to get here, and then Hudson in April.

On Sunday we got to visit them at home, because I finally made the caramel popcorn I’d been craving for weeks and didn’t need to keep it all to ourselves. I think that when I’m on maternity leave in 4 more weeks (17 work days, but who’s counting?) I’ll be over there a lot since I don’t know what else to do with myself for 3 weeks till Britt is due, and Paige will likely be getting stir crazy by then too since she’s not a fan of just sitting around.

And, we’ve finally gotten Britton’s car seat! They tried to deliver it yesterday, but a signature was apparently required, so they didn’t leave it. Luckily we have a wonderful neighbor who is home all day who we asked to sign for it. (Apparently she did, because the tracking says it was delivered.) After all of this trouble we’re really hoping we like it!

In other news, Britt has started getting hiccups. I was unsure what they’d feel like, but people told me I’d know, and it’s true. They’re low in my stomach, so I think he’s moved head down already. Yay! He also has periods when he moves a ton! It’s funny to feel because there are hard parts trying to push through.

By this week, he’s pretty much just growing. All of his organs are developed–except those lungs that keep maturing.

Photos are getting hard to come by, but imagine the cutest newborn all scrunched up and that’s probably what he looks like.

Hey everyone, there are some exciting new developments that happened this week.

Most importantly, as you can see from the title, I’m 7 months–in my 8th month now–and we only have 8 weeks to go. I’m really excited because, well, I’m getting a little impatient. I know, it’s a shocker to most of you to think of me as being impatient, but it does happen on occasion. I guess that patience is one of the most important qualities I could have as a mother, so I might as well practice now. At our appointment on Tuesday, I told the doctor I was getting anxious for him to arrive and she said “Well, you’ll be parents for the rest of your lives, so enjoy this time now.” I’m going to try to remember that.

The second development is that we finally painted Britt’s room, and got his crib put together. We still have a lot of organization and accessories to put together, but his room is coming together.

In the past month, I have gotten a lot bigger. Mark and I agree the jump from one week to the next has gotten more pronounced.

Here is last, and then this week:

Britt’s been moving around a lot lately, and Mark enjoys putting his head on my stomach and feeling our little one as he tries to get comfortable in his cramped surroundings. We also enjoy reading him bedtime stories–though, we’re not sure if his lack of movement then means he’s raptly paying attention, or doesn’t really care.

He may not be an early riser though, at my appointment, the doctor was surprised to find him asleep. Even after I’d eaten breakfast and been active for a while. There aren’t really good pictures of him this week. He basically looks like a newborn but smaller, just nearing 4 pounds.

I have great friends. I’m not sure how I managed it, but throughout my life I’ve always been blessed to have who are a positive influence, fun to be around and good people I can depend on. This manifest itself last week at my baby shower in Los Angeles.

Fellow preggers and friends Ashley and Paige (with some help by awesome Erin) threw an amazing bash in honor of Britton’s coming arrival. They put so much time and work into making everything perfect, and it showed. I also had so many great friends come and show their love and support, It was amazing.

Long before we knew Britt was a boy, I picked a star theme, and “A Star Is Born” became the theme. Following are some pictures from the event. I had a REALLY hard time choosing, because I have more than 150 shots from various cameras. So, check out the rest at our photo site, because I can’t do it justice here.

Here are a few shots of the decorations:

And my lovely guests chatting, playing a game and getting their picture taken:

Then, it was gift time…and boy did Britt make out! He’s going to be one stylish baby with lots of cool toys and things to help make my job easier too!

And, more friends…

Other than the shower, the rest of this week has been anti-climatic. Mark and I are still getting over minor colds and sorting through the things we do have to Britt, so we know what we still need.

He’s about 3 pounds now, and possibly 16 inches long. I’m feeling him move more than ever and it’s fun. I swear that he can tell that Mark’s looking though, because he’ll me going crazy, but then as soon as dad looks, it stops. Oh well. He’s just continuing to get fatter, practicing breathing and moving his muscles. Oh, and developing those important lungs! 9 weeks to go…

So, after the marathon post last week, I’m thinking this one might be a lot shorter. Truthfully, there wasn’t as much going on. We got back into our regular routine and “prepared” for the torrential downpour of rain the weather people were leading the news with.

Our New Year’s Eve was a lot of fun. We went to a party thrown by some of our favorite people! Renee was back in town, and it was a holiday. Great combination. It was fun catching up with so many people that we haven’t had a chance to talk to in so long. Two of our friends are engaged, others are now dating, and those not in that group are having fun adventures of their own. Here are some pictures of our fun evening!

Some might not like this photo, but it’s the only one I got of the crowd…there were a lot of people crammed in that living room.

New Year’s is fun because you get to play with childish toys like noise makers.

Mark with long-time friend Jessica. Apparently black was the color of the evening.

New Year’s Day was clean up the house day. We took down the Christmas decorations and even further cleaned up the mess in Brit’s room. (I know, I’m inconsistent. We can’t decide on 1 t or 2. More on that later.)

Friday I visited the doctor. The wait wasn’t extreme today, thankfully. She said I’m the right size and he’s growing well. I gained more weight than I thought, so that wasn’t happy. She said it was probably all the sugar I’d eaten over the holidays. Apparently I’m anxious to get things done and settled, because I asked questions about things that they don’t usually address for a few more weeks–like a pediatrician and maternity leave paperwork. Oh well. I also need to eat more leafy greens. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, but working them in is hard for me. Now I have to think about it.

Another positive on the food front: I can have peanut butter! I’d had some early on, but really tried giving up on eating it and peanuts because of the possibility of Brit being allergic since Mark is. But, new studies have shown that there isn’t an increased risk if eaten during pregnancy. YAY!

And the rain came down…Friday heavy rains began pelting SoCal. It’s always interesting when it rains because people are worse drivers than normal–and that’s scary. So, when we went out to eat with some friends we were happy there weren’t too many people on the roads. Dinner was lots of fun and afterward Kristie and I enjoyed chatting to ourselves while our husbands rocked out with Guitar Hero.

Back to the name thing…Brit or Britt. We saw a name book that actually had the name Britton in it. When it showed variations, Brit was the boy version and Britt was under the girl section. But, it did say Britton was a boys name more than girl (thankfully). So, your comments and feedback will be appreciated.

This week he’s been a little mover. I sit at work and just watch my stomach move and rumble. It’s pretty entertaining. He’s coming up on 3 pounds, and nearly 15 inches in length. Since he can open his eyes he’s able to see light through my stomach! His bone marrow is also making red blood cells and taking over transporting oxygen and wastes.

Here’s a picture of a baby at 30 weeks (Not ours). But, this one does happen to be a boy too, so that’s convenient.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s 2008 already. Each year sure does go by so quickly. And, apparently the holidays do too, since it’s been 2 weeks since the last post.

I guess I’ll start with our Christmas vacation to Maryland, and see how long that goes before committing to New Year’s in this post…

Virgin America is great. We had no problems at the airport, and loved the deep purple “mood lighting” as we boarded the plane. The power ports at each seat allowed Mark to work on his lap top most of the time, and I read a magazine and played a couple of games. The flight went pretty quickly and we weren’t too uncomfortable either. Mark’s mom picked us up and it was great to see her. It’s been almost a year!

Friday night was very fun and culturally stimulating. We went to dinner with Mark’s sister Sara and her boyfriend Andrew who knows all of the great spots in DC. Our Pre-Theater dinner at 1789. http://www.1789restaurant.com/main/index.shtml. It was all delicious and I was a bit annoyed with my diminished stomach capacity. After dinner we saw the National Symphony Orchestra perform Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at the Kennedy Center. It was the first time I’d been to a performance there, and our seats were close to the stage. It was nice to attend a holiday-themed event to get more into the spirit of Christmas too.

Saturday was “friend” day. We had lunch with my friends Teresa and Amanda at an Italian place. Our waiter was hilarious–but not on purpose. He just seemed like a nervous little guy and then when pouring Mark’s water, he didn’t notice he was pouring as much on the table as in the glass…so we cleaned up the puddle of water, and the waiter looked at me funny when I asked for another napkin. It was great to see them. It’s been a very long time. We got to catch up on each others lives and have a good time.

Then, later that day one of my best friends, Charlene, came with her adorable family to visit too! It was the first time I got to meet her baby–who is 7 months old now. And, her other 2 boys are so grown up and cute too! We had a nice visit, but of course it was too short. I was really happy we got to see her though.

Sunday was nice and relaxing. We had a nice breakfast and the program at church was nice. It was funny/interesting in Relief Society because there are a lot of pregnant women in the ward–which is apparently rare for them.

Monday we finished shopping and had our Christmas Eve dinner. Everything was really good. Then, on to another fun tradition in Mark’s family–decorating gingerbread houses. We’d been preparing them for a couple of days, and now we got to assemble and decorate. There was the girls team (Sara, Mom and Me), and the boys team (Mark and Andrew). Right away we could tell there would be a big difference in the houses. They started by putting a gummy shark on the roof and giant Coke bottle candies near the door. We girls had a more systematic and “aesthetically pleasing” approach.

There was definitely a lot of candy eaten and applied to both houses! We had a lot of fun too. You can look at our smugmug.com pictures to see further details of each house.  Highlights include: Gummy Bear Car Crash, Peeping Tom Gummy and War-like explosions.

We opened presents Christmas Eve so Sara and Andrew would both be there. It was fun seeing the massive pile diminish.

We were very blessed this year and everyone was very generous. Mark was overwhelmed with Wii games–we almost tripled our collection. And, I was pampered by my adorable husband with ultra soft slippers, a robe and a foot massager. (I’m also thrilled with my air popper and new hand mixer that are on their way) Mark’s mom was so wonderful and gave me a pregnancy massage at the Red Door Spa. There are more pictures on Smug Mug…but here’s one of the favorites–Andrew as a present.

Christmas was a wonderful day. We had breakfast as a family and Mark enjoyed his new games. We saw “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and visited the Washington D.C. temple to look at the lights. They’re not as numerous at Salt Lake’s Temple Square, but just as beautiful. We enjoyed looking at the Christmas trees decorated by surrounding stakes and enjoying the spirit that is easily felt there.

On Wednesday I had my massage, and it was so relaxing. That night, we all went to a Capitals hockey game. It was fun riding the metro again and going into the city. It was a close game–the Caps trailed by 1 goal most of the game, but they came up with one more at the end to win it. That was a lot of fun. Some people are serious fans, so they’re entertaining to watch too.

Thursday was busy since we saw more family–mine this time–and I got to meet a new cousin, Lizzie. She’s really cute. And, my other little cousins are getting so big too! We had fun with them.

We had lunch with my friend Mike–always good times–before rushing off to the airport for our flight home.

Britt was not forgotten this Christmas and he got lots of great gifts too! Thank everyone! I definitely got bigger this week, and so things were suddenly harder–like bending over and walking up stairs.

New Years will be in another post…I’m pretty sure this one is long enough!