waiting.

I've always been bad at waiting, and I appear to be regressing.

As Scott and I say, sometimes it's hard to be a person. Although I should probably try a little harder to be one right now, since I've basically spent the day messing around on the internet and reading horror stories about inductions, C-sections, and macrosomic babies. Not the best waiting material for this mother of a macrosomic baby.

I don't even feel like reading my book, which clearly shows something is wrong. :-P

Trials, blessings, and random pictures

It's been an interesting couple of weeks for us, with some difficult things happening but also some amazing things happening. So to break it down for you:

Trials
:: Scott is in the middle of his first batch of midterms. He has been feeling stressed about them, but so far has done well. His hardest one, anatomy, is on Tuesday.
:: My great-grandma Lucille passed away about two weeks ago. She was almost 91 and lived an amazing life of influencing and blessing so many people. She has been without my Grandpa Ross for almost twenty years and one of the last things I ever heard her say was that she really missed him, so I am so glad that they are finally getting to spend time together again. My mom also said that if Cal is born late, it is because my grandma isn't done playing with him. Grandma Lucille was known for loving babies and always wanting to hold babies, so I'm sure she is excited to be one of the first to get to play with her great-great-grandson.

5 generation photo when I was a baby -- Grandma Lucille is standing in the back on the right. 

:: At my doctor's appointment on Monday, I found out that my son has some blockage in his kidney and has two ureters on that side instead of the usual one. Apparently this is a very common birth defect and sometimes goes away on its own. If it doesn't, it is usually corrected by surgery when the baby is about one year old. I had a hard time with this this week, I think mainly because I don't know exactly what to expect or what will happen. It seems like this isn't a life-threatening problem, so I am grateful that if he has to have a problem, it is this one that is usually not a big deal. However, I am kind of stressed about how things will turn out, so if you want to keep Baby Cal in your prayers I'm sure it will help. :)

Blessings

:: I am officially an RN! It feels great to be able to say "I'm a nurse." Now I just need a job.

:: The Giants are winning the World Series! They need to win one more game to win the series. Right now they are behind one run, so it might be a couple of games before they win, but we are feeling pretty hopeful and confident that it will go well. The Giants won the World Series for the first time in many years the year we got married, so it seems fitting that they are probably going to win the year our first baby is born.

:: We are still loving LA and the friends we are making here!

Pictures

:: Last weekend, Scott took me on a romantic date to see the sunset on the ocean and eat at a delicious Italian restaurant called Pomodoro (highly recommended, but make sure you make a reservation, because it is a very small restaurant). 

Beautiful sunset

Handsome bearded boy. :) 

:: This weekend we went to a Harry Potter party as Tonks and Lupin (Tonks was the only Harry Potter character I could think of that was pregnant in any of the books)

:: According to ultrasound, this baby is going to weigh over nine pounds. It's looking like that is a correct assessment. We're full term now so he could come at any time!

Giants! and other news.

I don't have any pictures for you this week, but here's what we've been up to...

:: I took the NCLEX on Tuesday. I won't find out if I passed for several weeks, but I think I did well. It is great to be done. I celebrated by going out to Indian food with my grandma and picking out a cute outfit for the baby to come home from the hospital in.
:: Scott made an almost perfect veneer in his waxing class on Wednesday. It is really fun to see him already developing new skills that he will be using in his work as a dentist.
:: Pregnancy hit me full-body with a 2X4 this week. I've been feeling pretty great although having some symptoms off and on, but this week I have basically been as sore and uncomfortable as can be. The good news is this kid will hopefully be here sometime in the next 33 days. :)
:: Scott got to play tennis with some dental school/church friends.
:: The Giants beat the Reds after a stunning 3 game streak that almost sent me into early labor. They are playing the Cardinals in the next round of the playoffs as we speak, and I am excited to see how everything turns out. I really want them to go to the World Series so I can have a party. :)
:: We *almost* saw the space shuttle. Unfortunately it was running 3 hours late and we took public transportation and became stranded in downtown LA. Fortunately we were with friends who helped us make the most of the situation and had other friends who saved us by picking us up.
:: I went with my grandparents to the textile district in LA and got to see my grandma's insane skills at picking out cute fabrics. We have some owl patterns picked out to make some things for the baby. We also went to Phillippe's, which is one of my favorite places to eat in LA.
:: Scott's sisters and some of our nieces and nephews came to town to go to the American Girl store at the Grove. I have always wanted to go there and never had the chance, so it was really exciting for me as well as the little girls. Camille got a new doll (Caroline) and the other girls picked out some cute outfits. We also ate a "fancy" 4-course meal in the cafe, complete with chairs and dishes for the dolls as well. The dolls got their ears pierced and their hair styled, too. It was a delayed dream come true for me. :) I hope one day I have a little girl that I can take there, because I don't think Cal is going to quite appreciate the store. :)

So, all in all, a pretty good week. This week we are looking forward to buying some things for the baby, going out to eat, studying hard (for Scott), reading a lot (for me), and watching the Giants win the next round of playoffs!!

The apartment.

We are loving living in our new apartment in Los Angeles. It is a serious upgrade from our little apartment in Wymount (and we are paying for it...) with two bedrooms, a dishwasher, and air conditioning (my personal favorite in my huge, pregnant state). It is in a nice neighborhood and within walking distance of several grocery stores (and a Rite Aid... for Thrifty's... and a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf... and the library... basically all we need!). We have really been enjoying getting to know this area and making friends with the people that live in University Village.

Our bedroom, dominated by my huge body pillow.

And the dresser. 

And the wall of Paris pictures. :) 

The baby's room... not quite finished, but getting there! We both love going inside and just looking at it. 

Wall decals. Scott loved putting these up. :) 

Baby's bookshelf... the lighting is horrible, but I was too lazy t o wait and redo it. 

Our front room. It's nice to finally have a big couch. :) 

TV land plus my To-Be-Read bookshelf.

THE LIBRARY! I love that we have on in our little house, even though right now it is tiny.

Dining area... again, horrible lighting but I am too lazy to do anything about it. We love our bay window.

Kitchen... much bigger than our last place and with a dishwasher, HOORAY!

This ugly blank wall (with some boxes of things to donate... awkward...) is going to be a huge collage of picture frames and photos once I actually get around to putting it together.

Now that we've been living in LA for 3 weeks...

Here is what we've been up to.

First of all, a long, grueling day of moving. We are glad that is over, and that we are settled in our new apartment. We really love it and need to take/post pictures soon. Other adventures --

We went to the Santa Monica Promenade and window-shopped. We also got Pinkberry, which is one of THE perks of living in Southern California.

Another perk of living in SoCal is The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. No, I do not actually partake of coffee beans or tea leaves, but they also have really really amazing herbal tea and blended drinks. And pumpkin is back in season. We have one within walking distance of our house, but so far I've been pretty good about not going there every day.

We went to the Santa Monica farmer's market and got some delicious fruit and veggies.

We also live only ten minutes away from the LA temple! I'm already in love with this temple. It is huge and so beautiful!

We spent a day at the beach and Scott found some sand crabs, which kept him entertained for a long time. :) I think I could definitely get used to living ten minutes away from the beach, and I am especially excited to take Baby Cal there.

Scott is SO EXCITED for his first day of orientation! (School officially starts tomorrow, but he just finished his three days of orientation).

Scott getting his white coat.

After the white coat ceremony. As you can see, I am ENORMOUS. Eight weeks still sounds so far away... I am ready for this baby to come!

Date night of Thrifty's ice cream at Rite Aid, which is quickly becoming a standard. We are addicted! And we can walk there!

Here's a sneak peek of our "library" -- I'll post more pictures of our apartment soon. This is the only picture we've taken of our apartment so far and it happens to be my "30 weeks" pregnant picture.

We're also getting the baby nursery put together and I am so excited. I'm starting to see cute baby boys everywhere and really want to hold mine, although I guess I need to be patient because he's not quite big enough to come out yet. Hopefully we'll have some pictures taken in the next couple of weeks. :)

Our August traveling.

It has been a busy few weeks for us! After moving from Provo, we spent about a week and a half in Idaho with my family. Highlights of the trip included a baby shower held by my mom, a trip out to my dad's shack and Silver City, and a trip to the cabin (and huckleberry picking, hooray!).

Dad and Scott shooting Scott's new pistol at the shack.

Scott and I at the rodeo in Cascade. 

We then made a two-day drive to Modesto. We stopped in Reno after the first half and stayed overnight. The next day we had lunch at an Italian place called La Vecchia which was the most delicious Italian food ever, so GO THERE if you are ever in Reno. Then we drove the rest of the way to Modesto.

In Modesto, we ate a lot of delicious California produce from the fruit stands. We also visited Fresno for Jenna's open house, which was on our 2-year anniversary.

My mom and I.

Not sure why I look so much worse in this picture than the one above it. But yay for two years of marriage!

We returned to Modesto after the open house but traveled up to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary later that week. We did a lot of the things we did the day we got engaged, including eating at Chowder's for lunch, buying another seashell decoration for our seashell bathroom on Fisherman's Wharf, watching the sea lions, and visiting Ghirardelli Square. The highlight of the day was going to see Les Miserables, which was a surprise for me. To finish the night, we went to another delicious Italian restaurant called Specchio, which is now Scott's favorite of all time.

Hooray for being back in San Francisco!

Cable car.

Psych ward chocolate for the Prego.

Kind of in front of the Les Mis movie poster.

 That week, we also had a garage sale with Scott's dad, went to a talent show, and became thoroughly addicted to Thrifty's ice cream. In fact, we jokingly said we needed a Rite Aid near our new place so we could go to Thrifty's... turns out there is one within walking distance. We've already gone through almost four boxes of ice cream. Whoops. I guess at least we have to walk to get to it, right?

On August 31st, we headed to Los Angeles to move into our apartment. But... I need to clean the kitchen and spend time with Scott, so we'll continue our updates next week. :)

A few observations on pregnancy.

* You are cute for about a two-month window - 4 months to 6 months. During the first trimester, you are so tired and nauseated that you don't have the energy to make an effort. And once you hit six months, in my case at least, you just became huge. I think that's when the "You're such a cute pregnant lady!" comments stop.
* Half the people you see will tell you that you aren't sticking out very much yet. The other half will ask if you are having twins, or if you are due tomorrow, or if you have been overeating.
* You should wear your non-maternity clothes for as long as possible, because the novelty of wearing maternity clothes only lasts so long.
* Being pregnant makes you automatic friends in lines and grocery stores. Everyone wants to talk to you about your pregnancy.
* There is some instinct in women to terrify pregnant women about their impending discomforts, whether that is the third trimester or labor. It's some kind of badge of courage or something.
* Feeling the baby kick never grows old.
* For me at least, I have stopped looking for things for myself when I go shopping. (Nothing fits anyway, and I've long since exhausted all the stores I frequent of cute maternity clothes). Now I am always looking for cute little boys' clothes. Which is nice, because I feel justified in spending the money, because it isn't for me.
* People feel justified in openly staring at you.

That's all for now. More of these will probably resurface over the next few months. I feel like it is already impossible for me to get any larger, but people tell me it is only the beginning. :)

This summer.

I can't believe that it is already August, and that so much has happened this summer. It has been one of the hardest, but also most rewarding, summers of my life.

Nursing


I finished my capstone on the immunocompromised (cancer and transplant) floor at Primary Children's. Learning to be a nurse (especially on night shifts) was demanding both physically and emotionally. There have been kids that have broken my heart and kids that have tried my patience, but all in all working on ICS has reaffirmed to me that I want to work with kids who have cancer.

I also finished nursing school!! This means that I am finally, finally done with college. Six years later. I'm still getting used to the idea that I don't have homework or obligations related to school. I still have to take the NCLEX to become licensed, so for the next month or so I will be studying for that, but I'm not super worried about the test because I did well on my predictor test. I guess it will ease me out of student status gradually. I feel like so much of my identity has focused around being a student for the last 21 years of my life, but I feel really free and excited to pursue some of my own interests now that I am done.

Boot Camp

Scott spent six weeks at the Basic Officer Leadership Course for medical professionals. He watched a lot of powerpoints about how the military worked, passed his fitness test with flying colors, learned to survive on MREs, and spent two weeks in field training, learning how to navigate and shoot M16s. I went over on my cell phone minutes for the first time in my life. It was a really hard few weeks without him, but my friends, family, and ward were very supportive and helpful. And we are really grateful to be able to go through dental school with the Army. We have a goal to have as little debt as possible through dental school and the Army is making that possible. We also have a great deal of respect for those who serve our country and I am proud of Scott for being a part of that. :)

Baby Lemmons


Things are continuing to go well with Baby Lemmons. If you haven't heard, he is a boy. He is kicking hard every day, and I still get excited every time I have a book on my stomach or something and it bounces up. Scott was very excited to feel the baby kick for the first time once he returned from boot camp (and very surprised to see how much bigger I was from when he left). We had a scary moment a few weeks ago where I had to go to the hospital, but after the doctor checked me out it appears that nothing is wrong. I've concluded the baby wasn't happy with his first set of ultrasound pictures and decided he just needed a second photoshoot. Nothing has been wrong since then, and aside from fat fingers and being really, really tired, everything is going smoothly. My biggest pregnancy woe was not being able to eat sushi, and my brother-in-law introduced me to tempura shrimp, so now that issue is taken care of. Speaking of which...

Wedding

My sister and brother in law were married in the Salt Lake Temple. 

Moving


Finally, we have moved from Provo. Yesterday we packed up three U-Boxes and dropped them off, to be delivered to our apartment in Los Angeles in about a month. I still can't believe that I won't be seeing Provo for a long time. It was my home for six years, and while I am happy to be moving on to new things, I will miss the beautiful mountains and the friends and family that we are leaving behind. Right now, Scott and I are in Eagle, Idaho with my family. After that, we will travel to central California to see Scott's family in Modesto and Visalia. Then, at the beginning of September, we will be off to Los Angeles. It should be an adventure!

Plus 1.

2012 has been a crazy year for us so far. Many exciting things have happened...

Scott was accepted to UCLA dental school.

Scott was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army.

We got a new little niece.

We went to Ingrid Michaelson for my birthday.

Scott graduated.

In addition, we have some exciting things coming up this summer...

Scott will be going to Officer Basic Training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas (this is mostly good news. I'm still not exactly sure how I'm going to survive six weeks without him).

I will be starting -- and finishing -- my capstone at Primary Children's on the cancer and transplant floor.

My little sister will get married on June 16 to the handsome Alan Reintjes.

I will be graduating from nursing school and taking the NCLEX to become an registered nurse.

We will be moving from Provo after six long years (minus two for Scott because of his mission to Italy) to California! Because I will be working so hard this summer, I am excited about living in a place that feels like summer as a reward when I am done.

Scott will be starting dental school.

But the most exciting thing of all is coming in the fall...

Our little family of two will become a family of three.

Baby Lemmons is currently the size of a lemon, and should be coming along on or around November 16, 2012.

:)