ItsSarah Wehadababy Eeetsaboi

(So... I started this about 23 days ago...Sorry it took me so long to finish it!)

Oh man.
I'm warning you, this may quickly turn into a very long post!
What is included:
PICTURES! I was supposed to be napping today (my mom got mad at me when she came in and found out I wasn't) but instead I snuggled my baby and took about a zillion pictures of him...I CAN'T HELP MYSELF!!
Birth story!
How I feel about becoming a mom!
And I think that's it, but we'll see how it goes.



So, we'll start with the story of how our little one was born.
Monday December 23rd I had a doctor appointment but my regular doctor was out so I saw someone else in the office. It turned out that my blood pressure was a little high and there was some cause for concern so the doctor decided to send me over to the hospital so they could run some tests and make sure everything was ok.
Seeing as this was my third time going to the hospital to "get checked" (I'd been having pretty much ongoing, regular contractions for about a week and a half at that point) I figured third time was a charm and maybe, just MAYBE, I'd be walking out of the hospital with a baby!
So they took my blood, ran some other tests on me and the baby, and we had a quick ultrasound. The last time we had an ultrasound, the tech was pretty surprised about the amount of amniotic fluid I had. I had about as much fluid as I did baby which is fairly unusual for that stage of pregnancy. But no one said anything and we figured everything was fine.
During the ultrasound on Monday, the tech mentioned the amniotic fluid again but no one told us anything or mentioned anything and we were sent home AGAIN. When we voiced our frustration to the nurse, she understood and was very kind in validating our concerns.
I am so grateful for what she did next.
She told us that there was some need to be careful about when my water broke because of the amount of amniotic fluid I had. When we asked her what she meant she just told us that when it broke it would be best to either drive to the hospital with me laying down or, really, to call 911 and get an ambulance to pick me up since we live so far away from the hospital.

So when I got home, I looked up what she was talking about.
Apparently I had what is called polyhydramnios. It's when you have an excessive amount of amniotic fluid and it can cause a number of complications should your water break, especially if it breaks at home.
The two largest complications are a prolapsed cord where the umbilical cord comes out with the fluid and the baby's head descends on top of the cord, cutting off the blood supply to the baby, and placental abruption where the placenta detaches from the wall of the uterus depriving the baby of oxygen.
Pretty scary stuff!
And the most concerning part of it was that NO ONE had said a word to us about any of it. Thank heavens that nurse did because if she hadn't, we never would have known we needed to be concerned and (I learned after some research) had my water broken at home we most likely would have lost the baby since we live an hour and a half away from the hospital.
So when we left the hospital on Monday they said they wanted me to come back in to recheck my blood pressure in a few days.
I found all of the information Christmas Eve so Christmas wasn't exactly the most relaxing this year!
We decided that I'd go back to the hospital to get my blood pressure checked and that we'd insist on talking to the doctor about our concerns.
When we got to the hospital, I ended up with a fun nurse...sarcasm implied...who was very confident in her 33 years of experience. When we talked to her about the due date confusion she put up a pretty big fight that I was only 39 weeks and absolutely NOT 42. I believe my favorite part was when she said something about she'd been nursing for 33 years and this was only my first baby. Oh and that there was NO WAY that I could be 42 weeks because my body would have already naturally had the baby because NO ONE goes to 42 weeks.
After the baby was born the doctor told us that my body would never have gone into labor on its own because the baby couldn't get into position to put pressure on the cervix to get everything dilating and moving, it took everything I had not to go back to triage and rub that in her face...
Anyway, we put up enough of a stink that they finally called the doctor on call and brought her in to talk to us. And she completely agreed that it wasn't safe for me to go home and wait for my water to break. She said the only way I was driving another hour and a half was with a baby when I was taking him home.
So they admitted me!
Then we waited for a long time. We waited for them to bring in another ultrasound technician to check the amount of amniotic fluid I had. On Monday, my amniotic fluid was at about 27. On Thursday, it was 37. The doctor came in and told me the game plan was to give me an epidural (AMAZING btw), break my water slowly, start me on pitocin, and have a baby!
So that's what happened.
And around 9 AM Friday morning they had me begin pushing.

So I pushed.
And I pushed.
And I pushed some more.

And then I felt the baby move.
And when they checked the baby to see if he was still descending, they found that he hadn't budged since they checked him the last time. The doctor came in again and, come to find out, the little bugger had rotated so his body was facing up and to the right and he couldn't go down any more.
So they decided that it would be best if I kept pushing and see if he would move again and be able to descend again.
So we kept going.
Till I had been pushing for three hours.
The doctor came in again, said that she felt the best decision would be to take him C-Section. She said that I had been pushing for so long my body was tired and she didn't want to put it through trying to turn the baby, and pushing more.

I've had this attitude about the whole birth thing, that it's birth. I can't control it, so I might as well roll with the punches. I educated myself the best I could about the process and had an idea of how I would like for it to go, but my heart wasn't set on it. I knew things could potentially come up that would prevent me from having the most ideal delivery. So when the doctor suggested a C-Section, I didn't worry too much about it. I mean it made me a little nervous, I've never had real surgery and there's a lot that's kinda scary about it. But I trusted the doctor and I felt that was what needed to happen, so I had no problems with that outcome.

So they took me in to the operating room to get me prepped.
I must say I was so grateful for the anesthesiologist. I could tell the nurses didn't really love him, but he really became an advocate for me while Larry was waiting to be allowed in the room. He noticed when I wasn't comfortable and took measures to make me more comfortable. I ended up still being able to feel so they had to completely knock me out, honestly I was grateful for that.

It was a little strange to go to sleep pregnant and wake up not pregnant and have my baby wheeled in the room.
I don't remember a ton from when I first woke up, I remember asking if the baby was ok and being told that he and my husband would be coming in shortly. I also remember seeing James for the first time and my thoughts.
My first thought was "He's so little!"
The doctors had been telling me for weeks that we were going to be having a big baby. But he was so little! I wasn't expecting it! He was 8 lbs and 2 oz when he was born, but he still looked so so tiny! He ended up losing a lot of that and at his smallest in the hospital was 7 lbs flat.
My second thought was "He's so perfect."
And he is.
He is so incredibly perfect.








(That's one of my favorite pictures of Larry and James so far)


We were in the hospital for longer than normal due to two things, the doctor told me that I had basically done both - I had almost had a vaginal birth and I had a cesarean so my body is going to take longer to recover since it was so tired by the time they decided to just go in and take him. The second was he was a little jaundiced so he spent a night under the uv lamp and was better by the morning when they finally let us leave.
So we brought our baby home on New Year's Eve.
And I got to have the best start to my 2014, just hanging out with my baby and Larry.

Larry is loving being a dad. He gets nap times with the baby sleeping on his chest and I swear I have NEVER seen anyone so excited to change a poopy diaper. He's an amazing dad!

A lot has happened in the month since he has been born (well, a month on Monday but close enough)
He is finally fitting into his newborn clothes (we didn't buy many since we were going to be having such a "big baby")
From the day he was born he has been lifting his head like a pro. He can basically lift half his body up...it just depends which end he wants to lift up during tummy time and it's hilarious to see him sticking his butt and legs in the air!
He has already figured out rolling over!
It has certainly been the most difficult thing I've ever done, and we're still getting used to it. But I have the most beautiful baby boy and I wouldn't trade that for the world.






My favorite picture thus far!


It's so strange to think that James is a little person who will walk and talk one day. That he'll grow up. I'm trying to enjoy the fact that he's just little right now, and I'm trying to appreciate these first few days and weeks because he won't be a baby forever.
This stage of our lives together is fleeting and it will be over before I know it.
I'm also cataloging the things I can give him heck about for the rest of his life and all the ways I look forward to making him feel awkward. (Because, as we've all learned, I excel at awkward)

So that's all for now. Keep watch for some new announcements coming soon about some changes we are hoping to make this year! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year and that your January has been excellent so far!

Here's to an incredible 2014!

Less Than Three,

Sarah, Larry, and James

And now for a few extra pictures




(Hope you don't mind me putting this picture up mom! Love you!)

Have Yourself a Merry Little Baby... wait...CHRISTMAS!!...I mean Christmas...

Sooooo it's been a while...sorry about that! I had every intention of writing more frequently, I even have three drafts saved on here that I just never posted!
My other excuse is that I've had baby on the brain...if you couldn't already tell!
So, are you ready for my long story?
I haven't written too much about what exactly has been going on with the whole baby situation for a multitude of reasons. One, I wasn't sure anyone would really be interested in all the nitty gritty details. Two, I'm a pretty shy and private person. (Even though if you catch me in the right mood, I can be queen of the over share...not sure how that works!)
And I just don't like to complain! I've felt like the important part was that we were having a baby, and I needed to be grateful for that and find the humor in all of the insanity that has surrounded our lives since we found out we were expecting! (I've found pregnancy to be a pretty funny thing, it's one of those "if you don't laugh about it, you'll loose your mind" kind of things. At least that's what my personal experience has been!)
So here's at least part of the whole story.


Mother's Day! We had just found out we were pregnant the day before and surprised Larry's Grandma with the news!
Happy Grandma's day indeed!

I'll spare you the excess details of how severe morning sickness kicked in basically the day we found out we were pregnant and has never really fully gone away, mingled with all of the other health issues I've had with this pregnancy and we'll skip to the part when we got to see our baby for the first time and find out what we were having, because that's really when all the insanity set in. (If not being able to really eat or move wasn't insane enough!)

So we went to have our first ultrasound and we could see the baby perfectly! We loved our ultrasound tech, she let us know everything she was doing, step by step, so that we didn't have to wonder what on earth we were looking at! We also loved that there was a huge tv screen in front of us we could see the baby on so we didn't have to crane our necks to stare at a tiny computer screen.

As she was measuring all of his limbs, she was measuring VASTLY inside where we thought his limbs began and ended which resulted in calculating his due date as January 2nd instead of the original date we had of December 12th. When she measured his limbs a little closer to where we were seeing them, they were consistent with the original date. So we began to be confused! As she scanned his head, we saw a few cysts. The ultrasound tech said that they could be totally normal, but that she wanted to make sure the doctor saw them and told us that he would probably want to talk to us about it. The worry became that the baby was so much smaller than he was supposed to be and that these cysts could be causing the problem and could be a sign of a disability. So they ordered another ultrasound for a few weeks later to make sure the baby was growing the way he was supposed to.
I don't know why, but I wasn't too worried about it, I knew it was going to be ok. No, I do know why, the Lord had already given me the assurance that everything would be alright.
So we didn't tell anyone because we didn't want to cause unneeded concern or stress, and because it DID end up being ok.
But for a few weeks we waited to find out what was going on with our little one. We went to California wondering and tried to put it out of our minds as we enjoyed celebrating our friend's wedding and our own first anniversary.
We went back to get the ultrasound and the cysts had shrunk and the baby had grown and all was well.


Our one year anniversary! (We won't be doing that again while I'm pregnant...It was fun! But EXHAUSTING!)


The first sonogram! Cute little thing!

Like I said, the cysts were totally normal, they're gone now and there's nothing wrong with the baby.
He is completely healthy!
(Yes, we're sure :P)

But that was certainly a fun roller coaster! So, then we had the battle of the dueling due dates!
Here's my issue with them changing the due date: usually they won't change your due date after you are 12 weeks because eating habits and genetics begin to play a part in the size of your baby after that point. Not to mention I was barely coming out of being able to control my nausea, so I hadn't been able to really eat up to that point. AND we found out a few months later that I have been anemic! Apparently pregnancy related anemia has been known to cause low birth weight. All of those things could have played a part in our baby being a little smaller, and we've felt all along that the December due date was correct.

But the doctor has been adamant that the second due date is the true due date. So my weekly appointments didn't start till last week when, according to them, I was 37 weeks.
As the doctor was checking everything, she seemed confused that my stomach was measuring full term and that the baby was estimating to be about seven pounds! (Perish the thought!) And she seemed a little surprised that I was dilated three centimeters (for those who don't know, heck I never did till now, you are considered in labor when you are dilated to four centimeters and experiencing contractions) and that I was about 50% effaced.
She was concerned that now the baby could be getting too big so she ordered another ultrasound. So Thursday, my original due date, we went in for another ultrasound. And guess what? The baby was all of a sudden measuring that he was 40 weeks and fully grown! (Funny what being able to eat and getting some much needed iron will do for you...)
The fun part about that particular experience was that we had a much less kind ultrasound tech, and she kept telling me the baby was huge and giant...which, by the way, are NOT the things you want to hear when this is your first kid and you're already scared to death that you're going to have a huge baby and your delivery is going to be a nightmare! The baby isn't even big!! He's right on target with where he should be! Is he big for 37 weeks? Yes, because he's not 37 weeks, he's 40!!!!
Anyway, so that was fun!


Us on the baby's due date! We were hoping we would be able to say this was taken days before the baby was born... No such luck! I guess we'll just take another picture!


Baby's last picture before he comes! Let's just hope it's soon!!

I've been having a few contractions every day for probably a month now, but Friday night I had more than I was used to having. They continued all night and all day Saturday (we cancelled our tickets to go see the new Hobbit movie, on the off chance we'd need to go to the hospital, because the movie theater is almost an hour in the opposite direction of the hospital and the hospital is an hour away from where we live! A two hour drive while in labor just didn't sound like a good idea.) So Saturday night they finally increased in intensity and we decided it was better to be safe than sorry and to just go to the hospital and get checked out. Not a pleasant experience. I was having pretty intense contractions, but they weren't doing anything. So they made sure the baby was doing ok and sent me home. The contractions continued most of the day Sunday and Monday I had my next appointment.
This time, the doctor was much more willing to admit that I could be hatching sooner rather than later! Progress!
She checked me and told me I was ALMOST at four centimeters dilated, that I was a few millimeters away and that the water sack was prime and ready to go and that I was about 70% effaced. She had thought about stripping my membranes but that would very likely have broken my water so she didn't do it. She said it could be hours or a few days but that it wouldn't be long! That there was MAYBE a 50/50 chance that I'd be making it to my next appointment next Monday.
So we went home and I had lots of contractions, lots of intense contractions! But they weren't regular so we went to bed and waited.
Tuesday the contractions almost stopped entirely. Wednesday night they picked up again and lasted all night long! So, being cautiously optimistic we went into the hospital yesterday morning to get checked.

Apparently my body has done the impossible.

I've digressed.
The nurse said I was dilated to a two, maybe a three, that the baby wasn't anywhere near being in the right spot and had actually moved up from where he had dropped down, and that I wasn't even 70% effaced. She gave me a shot of a pain med that is supposed to take the edge off of real contractions and chase fake contractions completely away to help let my body relax from being in constant pain and hopefully dilate like it's supposed to. So we waited an hour and the contractions got less intense and you could see on the monitor my body finally starting to relax just a little. But the contractions were still there, so they are real contractions, but when the nurse came back to check me, nothing had changed. I was still about three centimeters dilated. Real contractions do something to your body, they help you dilate, so apparently I'm having real contractions that are also fake!
So after the better part of the day was spent in the hospital, they sent me home and the nurse seemed to think I wouldn't be back any time soon.
The pain medicine wore off and the contractions came back and have been going all night and, so far, all day today. Yet, I'm STILL not in labor. I'm not sure if it's my body being stubborn, or the baby being stubborn, but I sure wish one of them would make up their mind and kick me into gear!!

The doctor doesn't want to induce me because that would potentially heighten my risk of needing a c-section, but my thought is that the longer he is in there, the bigger he is going to get, which is going to increase the risk of a c-section. So, that doesn't make a whole ton of sense to me, but oh well! I'm about two inches from going in there Monday and just begging them to induce me!

In the mean time, Aphrodite apparently got into something, we're not sure what or how, and has had...well, we'll just say she's been sick for the past two days. Thankfully she's feeling better today, but that is only thanks to the fact that we made a frantic call to the vet last night because we were pretty worried about her! For some reason, that just seemed like the cherry on the top of, what has felt a little like everything falling apart. (Which you would think would be the EXACT moment the baby would decide to come, but no amount of chaos or stress can get this bugger to make an appearance!)

So, I'm trying not to worry about it.
If I go into labor, great! If I don't, no big deal!
(Easier said than done since I've been so over being pregnant since the first time I lost my cookies in May!)
I'm hoping he comes sooner than later, for a plethora of reasons, mostly because I want to get to have Christmas at home with my new baby and enjoy it with the family around instead of at the hospital.
We'll see what happens! I'm working on that whole having faith in the Lord's timing thing...apparently I haven't learned that yet!
Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week before Christmas and that everyone has a fantastic one!
Here's hoping that the next time I write, I have a baby to show you and tell you about!
Oh, and if anyone who has snow would like to send me some...
I'LL TAKE IT OFF YOUR HANDS!!
Gladly!!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

P.S. If I have forgotten to respond to any messages anyone has sent me (facebook, texts, emails, etc.) in the last week or so, I appologize! Traveling back and forth to the hospital, religiously timing contractions, and frantically wrapping the last of the presents (just in case I don't get a chance to later) has taken up every ounce of sanity and ability for thought I have left! Sorry about that!

Jesus Wept

(I wrote this on Monday, but I felt like I should wait to post it. So I'm posting it now instead)



Today has been harder than most.
There has been so much going through my mind.
So much I've wanted to say, to somehow express my feelings about the tragic death of a dear friend of mine and my family's.
I can't stop thinking about his mother and I am praying that she is being blessed with the comfort she needs.
I could talk about how he was a wonderful person, how we all thought he was headed for great things, how he's in a better place.
But we all know that.
We all feel the loss of such an incredible person.

There seems to be so much sadness right now, I can't even tell you how many stories I've seen lately about babies lost, or missionaries passing.
The Lord seems to be calling so many angels home.
As I've been thinking about all of these things, I keep thinking about the end of the movie Charlie when Sam is talking about how Jesus wept when he came to Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus had died. It has been a long time since I saw the movie but, as I remember he points out the significance of the fact that Christ knew that it was going to be ok, that it was going to turn out alright. But he took that moment to cry with the grieving sisters, to comfort them when they needed it.
He knew they had knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. He knew that they had faith in it, that they knew they would see their beloved brother again. Yet he didn't scold them for crying and being sad.
Instead he wept with them.

It's ok to be sad. It's ok to mourn the loss of someone so close to us.
When these things happen we tend to hear so much about how we shouldn't be sad. How that person wouldn't want us to be. We almost start to feel guilty about feeling, keenly, our loss. But I think the Lord and our loved ones know that we need to mourn, we need to weep sometimes. Yes, it's ultimately going to be ok. Yes, this is when the incredible Plan of Salvation should be a comfort to us. This is the time when we can really experience and appreciate the atonement and its ability to heal some of the deepest wounds.
Those are important things.
But it's also important to allow time to grieve.

Sometimes our strongest moments are born from the tears we have shed and the sorrows we have felt.

I hope to raise strong children and I hope that I also raise them to understand that it is ok to be sad, it is ok to cry, it is ok to mourn. Because, to me, that is also strength.

There is so much that I would like to say about my friend. Right now, it's hard to find the words.
So instead I'll just say that I hope we all continue to keep Peter and his mom in our prayers and be sensitive to the family's needs and requests at this time.

A quote and a song keep coming to mind when I think about Peter passing. The quote is by Jeffrey R. Holland from my favorite talk. The talk is titled "For Times of Trouble" and it has been a great help and support to me for many many years. The quote goes:

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike - and they will - you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed."
The song is Nearer My God to Thee. It became one of my favorite hymns when I was on my mission. But I keep thinking about the last verse. It goes:

"Or if, on joyful wing
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upward I fly,
Still all my song shall be
Nearer my God, to thee,
Nearer my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!"
I hope you all know that I know the gospel is true. That we have a loving Heavenly Father. That I believe, firmly, in the blessings of the temple.
And I am so grateful for that knowledge.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of those I know who have recently sent angels to be with their Heavenly Father. I hope the knowledge that they are now part of those armies of heaven and that they are now nearer to Him is some comfort in such difficult times.

Less Than Three,
Sarah

For more information about the Plan of Salvation, go here
http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36950_eng.pdf?lang=eng

For the talk by Jeffrey R. Holand, go here
http://www.lds.org/new-era/1980/10/for-times-of-trouble?lang=eng

And to listen to a great version of Nearer My God to Thee, go here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKsr49csFYk

Sonograms, Names, and Registries! OH MY!

Since I know most of you probably clicked on the link to see the sonogram pictures, we'll do those first!

These are from the ultrasound we had over a month ago, so he has probably grown quite a bit!



This one may be one of my favorites. Such little toes!



And this one is just dang cute!



Now, for those of you who don't know already, we have decided to name him James Alan Dewey!
James is Larry's and my father's middle name and Alan is Larry's father's name. We both really prefer family names and names that mean something, so it works well!

They have "officially" changed my due date from December 12th to January 2nd because he's measuring a few weeks smaller than they expected. However, Larry and I were both small babies and we were both born early, so...I have a feeling that we might just have a small baby and he could still be born in December. We were also kinda surprised that they measured him very conservatively, they drew the lines to measure very tightly. When they didn't draw them so tight, the due date was pretty much spot on.
We'll see what happens! He'll come out when he's good and ready!

Also, I finally got around to putting together a baby registry! We are registered at diapers.com and Babies R Us! For diapers.com, you just need to search for my first and last name and it should pull it up! For Babies R Us, you can search by my first and last name (married or maiden), by my husband's name, or by the grandparent's names (Terry and Cindy Hess, or Nancy Dewey)! I must say, I kinda like that the registry is searchable that way! I have to admit, it was SO MUCH nicer to register for baby things than it was to register for our wedding! I can't even begin to tell you how many hours upon hours we spent on Bed Bath and Beyond's website trying to register when we got married!
Creating a baby registry however, was fun! There are so many cute things and it was a blast to go through them all.

It's starting to sink in more and more that this is actually happening! Its taken a little while! I'd ask Larry why I was so tired or why my pants weren't fitting any more and he'd say, "You're pregnant!" or just point to my stomach to which I would respond "Noooo that's false. Lies and slander." But I'm actually feeling the baby move now (which, by the way, if seeing a little person in my stomach on a computer screen wasn't weird enough, feeling something moving around in there is down right freaky! Cool, but freaky!) and I think that helps make it feel all the more real.

Ok, so in non-baby related news! We should be hearing about the Air Force any day now...really...any day...(Waiting is such fun)
We are about 95% sure that Larry will be put in a job this month which means we will finally find out when he will go into basic training. With all of the Air Force drama last month, we ended up needing to talk to the recruiter's superior and when Larry discussed the situation and that one of the issues we had was that he would go into basic training pretty much two days before the baby was due, the officer told him that when one of his jobs does drop down, if it interferes with Larry being there for our baby's birth, to let them know and they would work around it so that he can definitely be here for the baby being born.

We also have my parents coming down to live with us for a little while as they search for jobs etc. It will be very nice to have them around and I'm looking forward to it!

I started to write a post about our California adventures, but there is just so much to say and tell that I think I can just sum it up by stating that we had a good time, Jen was a gorgeous bride, I'm very grateful for my husband and how willing he is to help anyone and everyone in any way he can, and Disneyland was excellent! We probably won't go back to Disneyland when I'm pregnant ever again, but it wasn't all that bad! Our anniversary was wonderful! In some ways this has been the slowest and the fastest year ever, all at the same time! We are looking forward to celebrating our anniversary next year!

Anyway, that's about all I have for now! I hope you are all doing well, and are looking forward to fall and the holidays as much as we are!!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

The Humor I Find in Pregnancy

First things first! Baby bump picture:



And, in case you didn't catch it on facebook, we're having a boy!
Very exciting!
So, I've noticed a few things about pregnancy that I find pretty entertaining.
I've already written a post kind of to that extent before, but I have a few more observations.

1. First of all, I'm fairly certain that there is no such thing as a non-awkward maternity shoot...
For instance...







It just gets uglier from there. And it doesn't matter if there are other kids involved, clothing, spouse, no spouse, indoors, outdoors, it's just ALL a little scarring! There are plenty of really nice after-baby-is-born-mom-and-dad-holding-their-child photos...but maternity shots are just frightening!

2. I can't look at cute clothes on Pinterest any more. Or at fashion posts by some of my favorite bloggers...
Because all I can think is: I can't wear that right now...in fact I won't be able to wear anything like that for about six months! (And that's the optimistic timeline!) Now, before I was pregnant I would look at outfit posts and appreciate the great fashion and look at pinterest outfits and be just fine. I wasn't ever going to purchase those outfits, are you kidding? I'm waaay too cheap for that. Not to mention, I'm newly married (almost a year!! Next Sunday!) and we have far better things to spend our money on.
Like...I don't know...food
But for some reason, now that I'm pregnant, I'm mourning the loss of the potential ability to dress super cute. And no. Cute maternity clothes are NOT in fact easy to find. I guess I should amend that, cute CHEAP maternity clothes are NOT, in fact, easy to find. I'm still just as cheap. Hey, we've got a kid on the way here!

3. Ahhhh Maternity Clothes...
On that note, none of the things you can find actually look good ON. Unless you were a negative size before you got pregnant, the chances are that you are going to look like you have a beer gut for a while after you start showing. Or at least feel that way. So most maternity outfits that look so cute in the pictures? Ya, they're going to do BAD things to how your body looks. And no matter if you find something that you actually look somewhat presentable in, you're going to see yourself in the mirror and your first thought is going to be "I look like a house". You might not look like you're huge, you might not even look like you're pregnant yet, and still you will feel like you are the size of a baby beluga whale! Your hope is that on a scale from Kate Middleton to Kim Kardashian you aren't too far on the wrong side of pregnancy fashion.

4. There's something about a pregnant belly that apparently says "I have no feelings right now, so please go ahead and say whatever you would like about how I look, act, eat, etc. etc. Don't worry, your insensitive words won't hurt. You have a free pass because I'm pregnant."
Thankfully, I haven't personally experienced that yet. But I have been hearing plenty of horror stories!
Seriously? This one I have a hard time understanding. I don't know about most other pregnant women, but I'm personally a little over sensitive at the moment! I take things MUCH more personally than I normally would and I overreact like no one's business! Seriously...I let Larry's recruiter HAVE IT the other day. My judgment is also a little off...if you couldn't tell... (Thankfully everything got worked out and we all left the meeting on good terms but I was TICKED. Probably a little justified, but that's another story for another time.)
My point is, you're much more emotional while you're pregnant and more sensitive and I feel like that should be a no brainer! So why all the crazy people who think it's ok to try and tell you you're fat? And the funny thing is, it's usually not the people who are super skinny who tell the pregnant women they're fat. It's people who are not exactly in the best shape themselves! Projecting much, are we?

5. While we're on things I don't understand...How about pregnant women who think that everyone's experience is going to be exactly like their own?
I feel like you basically hear the equivalent of "I plowed the fields my entire pregnancy, in the snow, up hill both ways, had my baby right there on the field. Had her daddy catch her, and then I kept on plowin!" Apparently, you're a pansy if you have any difficulty at all.
Now, I'm down with the "suck it up and rub some dirt in it" mentality. I'm fairly certain that's what's going to either make me a terrible or a great mom, and I've tried not to complain too much about my circumstances. But come on. I'm almost certain that pregnancy is not easy for most women, can't we cut each other just a little slack? See, it's tricky because pregnancy is one of those things where "every woman is different" sincerely applies. For some women, I'm sure it's easy as pie! For others, it's crazy difficult. Is it really so hard to be a little understanding?

6. There really are things that happen to your body that NO ONE told you about previously.
For instance: the blood flow increases to YOUR ENTIRE BODY. This also can mean your sinuses which generally results in bloody noses, but sometimes it just means that if you have any kind of allergy to ANYTHING good luck breathing for the next few months of your life.
I went in for my first ultrasound to see the baby and find out what we were having and the poor technician was seriously freaked out because I kept snorting. Now, before you think how incredibly gross I am, the reason I was doing that is because it has become a habit because I'M TRYING TO BREATHE! Nothing is coming out and I would like to not have all that lovely sinus pressure anymore. She started rushing the appointment along as much as she could and kept saying that she just felt so bad for me. When honestly, she was probably just trying to get out of that room a little faster! I can't say I blame her!
Apparently I'm slightly allergic to dust. Which, you know, makes sense seeing as we live in Arizona where if I don't dust every day there's a not so thin veil of dirt coating every surface. It's only fair I guess.

Again, there really are a few pros to this whole process. Your hair grows thick and long like you poured fertilizer on it and becomes nice and shiny, your fingernails grow just as well, all those baby things really are kinda cute, and of course you get a baby at the end. It's really kinda cool to see a baby on an ultrasound screen moving around in you. It's also a little creepy, but mostly cool. And, most of the time, people are nicer to you when they find out you've got a bun in the oven.
I'm really not one to complain. Which is kinda why I haven't written in so long, because anything I wrote was going to be a little moody (thanks pregnancy hormones) and I'm just not that kind of person. Hopefully I'm coming out of being so sick and I'm excited to get to post about our upcoming anniversary and all the plans we have and things we're doing for baby to be. So stay tuned for that!
Anyway, I'm out for now!
I hope you are all doing well!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

169 Years Ago Today

Today is the 169th anniversary of Joseph Smith's death.
I couldn't help but think back to the talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland about The Book of Mormon and the incredible testimony he bore of the truth and divinity of The Book of Mormon.
He talks about as the small group was headed to Carthage Jail, where they knew they would lose their lives, Joseph and Hyrum Smith read passages from The Book of Mormon.
He continues:

" In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. "

At the time that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon, Emma Smith said of him that he couldn't dictate a well-worded letter let alone a book of such epic proportions.
I've seen a list of challenges to write a book similar to The Book of Mormon. When you read through them, you realize the impossibility and improbability of this book coming from any other means than by divine help and guide.
They are as follows:

1. Write a history of ancient Tibet covering a period of 2200 B.C. to 400 A.D. Why ancient Tibet? Because you know no more about Tibet than Joseph Smith (or anyone else) knew about ancient America.
2. You must be 23 years of age.
3. You must have no more than three years of formal education and must have spent your life in a backwoods farming community
4. Your book must be 522 pages, and over 300,000 words in length.
5. Your history must be written on the basis of what you know. There was no library, and no published works on Ancient America for Joseph Smith to reference, so you must use none. There is to be no research of any kind.
6. Other than a few minor grammatical errors and corrections, you must make no changes in the text. The first edition you dictate to your secretary must stand forever.
7. As you dictate to your secretary you may not make corrections to your text. You may not ask to have the last sentence or paragraph reread. When you stop for a break, even for days, you may not reread your manuscript to pick up where you left off.
8. This book is to contain the history of two distinct and separate nations, along with histories of different contemporary nations or groups of people.
9. You must describe their religious, economic, political, and social cultures and institutions. You must cover every phase of their society, including the names of their coins, weights and measures.
10. You must change your style of writing many times to make the book appear to have been written by many authors since you will claim many ancient authors contributed to the book, each with his own style.
11. You will weave into your history the religion of Jesus Christ, and the pattern of Christian living, and the Mosaic law.
12. You must claim that your narrative is not fiction at all, but a true and sacred history.
13. You must include in your book 54 chapters dealing with wars, 21 historical chapters, 55 chapters on prophecy and visions, and remember when you begin to write on visions and prophecies you must have your record agree meticulously with the bible without being able to reference it. You must write 71 chapters on doctrine and exhortation, and here again, you must check every statement against a flawless memory of the Bible (since you can have no resource documents,) or you will be proven a fraud. You must write 21 chapters on the ministry of Christ, and everything that you claim He said and did and every testimony you write in your book must agree absolutely with the New Testament even though you may not reference it.
14. Many of the facts, claims and ideas and statements given as truth in your writings must be entirely inconsistent with the prevailing beliefs of the world. Some of your claims must prove to be the direct opposite of the prevailing worldly beliefs of the time.
15. Included in your narration will be authentic modes of travel; whether or not those ancient people used fire; descriptions of their clothing, crops, animals, roads, war strategies, mourning customs, and types of government. You must invent about 280 new names that will stand up under scrutiny through the years as to their historical roots and derivations.
16. You will have to use properly, figures of speech, similes, metaphors, narrations, expositions, descriptions, oratory, epic, lyric, logic, and parables.
17. You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to scrutinize your text with care, and you must strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of those eager to prove it a forgery, and those who are most competent to expose every flaw in it.
18. Through investigation, scientific and historical evidence, and archeological discovery for the next 175 years, your critics must verify your claims and prove detail after detail to be true; for many of the details you put into your book are still buried beneath the soil of Tibet and won’t be discovered until after your death.
19. You must publish it to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, declaring it o be the word of God, and another witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
20. The book must not contain any absurd, impossible or contradictory statements. Your history must not contain any statement that will contradict any other statement elsewhere in the volume.
21. Many theories and ideas as to your book’s origin must arise, and after examining all the facts, they must all fall. You have claimed that your knowledge has come from a divine origin, and this claim continues to stand as the only possible origin and explanation. The strength of this explanation must not decrease as time passes, but actually increase to the point to where it becomes the only logical explanation.
22. Your record is to fulfill many Bible prophecies, even the exact manner in which it shall come forth, to whom delivered, its purpose and its accomplishments.
23. You must call down from heaven an angel in the middle of the day and have him bear witness to four honest, dignified citizens of your community and the world. They must remain steadfast in their testimony, not for profit, or gain, but under the great sacrifice and severe persecution, even to their death beds. You shall put their testimony to the test by becoming enemies to these men, and yet have them never recant their words.
24. Thousands of great men, intellectual giants, national and international personalities, and scholars for the next 175 years must accept your history and its teachings even to the point of laying down their lives rather than deny their testimony of it.
25. You must include in your record this promise, “And when ye shall receive these things I would exhort you, that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask, with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
26. Millions must bear record to the world for the next 175 years that they know the record to be true because they put your promise to the test and found it to be true. The truth of it was manifested unto them by the power of the Holy Ghost.
27. Over 80,000 competent men must be so convinced of the truth of your book that they gladly give up two or more years of their lives to take it to all parts of the world for distribution. They not only pay their own way during these two years, but return bearing their testimonies that their time spent will remain as one of the highlights of their lives. They receive nothing for their journey and efforts but the joy of having shared your book with others.
28. Your book is not only to raise the standards of millions of people, but do it in such a way that those people may become one of the great moral, ethical and dynamic marvels of the day. They must become known and receive world renown for this.
29. To substantiate your claims you must for the next 20 years watch those that follow you, your family, and dearest of your loved ones be persecuted, driven time after time from their homes, beaten, tortured, starved, frozen and killed. Tens of thousands must undergo the most extreme hardships in your presence just because they believe your claims concerning the origin and content of what your have written to be true.
30. You must gain no wealth from your work but many times lose all that you have. Like those that believe you, you must submit yourself to the most vile persecutions. And after 20 years of this, give your own life in a very savage and brutal manner for your testimony concerning your book. All this you must do willingly and without remorse.
31. Start right now and produce this record, which covers 2700 years of history, doing it, not in the peaceful atmosphere of your community, but under the most trying of circumstances, which includes being driven from your home several times, and receiving constant threats upon your life. Please have your book completed; talk a friend into mortgaging his farm to raise the money to have it printed, and do it all in under 60 working days
(source of the list here I tried to find the actual talk it was taken from, but I was unable to)
Fairly impressive isn't it?
I wish that I could write to do justice to the strength of my feelings on this subject.
I will leave you with the end of the talk by Jeffrey R. Holland because the witness he bears is so strong and so powerful.
I know it to be true.
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet.
I know that he translated The Book of Mormon and that it is the word of God.



I ask you to find out for yourself. Search lds.org and mormon.org and if you have more questions, get in touch with missionaries in your area.
It is worth finding out for yourself.


Less Than Three,
Sarah

(Read or watch the full talk here)

Pet Peeves

I find that most of my pet peeves have to do with grammar.
So it's time for a quick grammar lesson.

1. Me vs. I

This seems to be an ongoing battle that very few people understand.
I don't know when the misconception began that using "I" was always more proper than using "me".
But it's false!
So, how can you tell when it's better to use one or the other?
Here's a simple rule of thumb:
When listing yourself with other people, for instance when labeling a picture, take the other people out of the sentence.
Usually you'll see "This is so-and-so and I at the zoo!" but take the other person out of the sentence and what do you have left? "This is I at the zoo!" Awkward and incorrect! So the proper way to phrase it would be "This is so-and-so and me at the zoo!"
A good time to use "I" would be in the following example. "So-and-so and I went to the mall." Take the other person out and you're left with "I went to the mall." Proper usage of "I"!
This is probably my number one pet peeve.
I cringe every time and my soul cries.

2. Your & You're

This one boggles my mind.
I thought we all learned this in first grade! "You're" is a contraction. Remember those? Where you put two words together and add an apostrophe? It means "you are" and is NOT the same as "your"! "Your", at its simplest level, is used when discussing possessions. "That is YOUR hat!" "There goes YOUR car!" SO! When you are trying to tell someone that they are something, please stop using "your" and use "you're".
For example, when you go to comment on this and tell me that I am a grammar crazy English freak, please use the correct:
"You're a grammar crazy English freak!"
Thank you.

3. A & An

Another quick and easy trick to know when you should use one or the other:
Always put "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel.
For instance:
"I bought A Vase at the store today!"
vs.
"I'm going to see AN Opera tonight!"
Easypeasy!

I think I'll leave it at that for now.
I could go on and on, but from there it gets into spelling and, well, I feel a little hypocritical getting on people about spelling because I am actually pretty terrible at it! As many of you can attest!
I also tend to overuse commas and under use semicolons.
So I'm not perfect when it comes to spelling and grammar and I'll admit it!
But, when it comes to these few things, I'm a little bit of a stickler and it drives me nuts!!
Anyway, that's all for now.
Happy times with grammar!

Less Than Three,
Sarah


OH! Wait! I thought of one last thing!
I only ever run into this with fellow Mormons.
Ever since the movie "The Best Two Years", everyone thinks that the proper grammar when referring to multiple copies of The Book of Mormon is "Books of Mormon". I hate to break it to you, but IT IS NOT!
For this reason:
The proper title is "The Book of Mormon" so REALLY we should be saying "The Book of Mormons" because you place the plural indicator at the end of the title, not in the middle of it. But, I'm willing to overlook "The" and just add the "s" to the end, thus "Book of Mormons". So stop thinking you're being grammatically correct when you say "Books of Mormon" and just say "Book of Mormons".
Let's put it another way.
War and Peace, if you had multiple copies of War and Peace you wouldn't say "Wars and Peace" you would say "War and Peaces".
Granted I don't think you have to actually make it plural, I think it's better to indicate multiples in other ways when referring to books of the same title. BUT! It's another pet peeve!
And it drives me insane!


(Picture found here)