October Recaps

Yet another month has come and gone. Did you live it well? October was a fairly busy month in the house of Olsen. Here's a recap of the month's happenings:

Jamie finished his ER rotation and is now onto Internal Medicine. His poor little heart was torn in 2 when it was announced that NBA negotiations failed and there wouldn't most likely be a full season this year. Seriously, I think he was depressed after hearing the news. Said he, with tears welling up in his eyes and a quivering bottom lip, "The one year we actually have cable and I have some time to watch the games, the season gets delayed..." His sorrow was tangible. On the bright side, with all the extra time he'll have he can help me sort through old papers, organize closets, and re-arrange furniture. Oh joy!

October 12th I turned the big 2-5! Jamie made me breakfast and cooked me the most delicious sweet and sour chicken EVER for dinner! I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Nom nom nom

He also got me TWO birthday desserts! He sure knows that the way to this girl's heart is through her stomach!

The weekend after my birthday, Jamie and I headed to Des Moines to visit our friends we missed dearly. While in DSM we went to a pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, did a little shopping, visited our old ward, ate some delicious food, and stayed up too late visiting.  A good time was had by all.

Jamie's ghost pumpkin on the left and my "Halloween Bug" (aka-botched spider) to the right

The weekend after our Des Moines trip we headed to Sioux City, IA for stake conference. After the Saturday evening session they had an adult dance (and by adult dance I mean the Church's definition of an adult dance, not the world's....) Now, I remember going to stake dances as a youth, but this wasn't just your typical awkward Mormon dance. The awkwardness factor was taken up by about 10 notches because instead of a bunch of floundering teens moving about there were a bunch of skittish adults getting down to classics such as the "YMCA". Truly entertaining indeed.

The person on the right was certainly the "Belle of the Ball"... I was just his arm candy

Jamie and I also started playing racquetball at the YMCA on our date nights last month. I'm just learning, so I'm pretty much horrible at it, but it's a lot of fun and it's free so it fits right in with our budget. Plus, I love that my opponent lets me wink at him and give him an occasional pat on the tush:) And since no post is complete without mention of Marlee, I had to snap a picture of her on Halloween.

Yet, Even More Marlee......

I know I wrote a blubbery post before on how Marlee's growing so quickly, but my goodness, every time I blink this girl changes. Two Mondays ago she "turned" 7 months old. 7 months really isn't old at all, in fact, I probably have leftovers in the fridge at least that old (jk...I hope). But my oh my, it goes quickly. In celebration of reaching 7 months, Marlee decided to start crawling. Here's footage of one of her first crawls. Tear.

Yes, I know what you're thinking, and it's true: I am a bad mother. Not only do I whistle for my child's attention, I also let her get harmed in the making of the video. Don't worry though, she only suffered minor injuries and came out a much more skilled crawler because of it. Win-win. I suppose it's time to baby-proof the house now. Some of Marlee's favorite toys are the electrical cords you can see in the background.

Addendum to my Addendum

Apparently the use of the word beef stick can be misconstrued by some... so I guess I should have said beef cake. My bad. It's late, I'm starting to feel goofy.

Addendum

Jamie thinks I post too much about Marlee, which is true. So I asked him what I should write about and he replied, "about how muscular I am." So here I am, writing about my beef stick husband. All 160 pounds of him....

Proof

That Marlee's growing much too quickly....

She just looks so big in this picture.

Anyway, not too much is happening lately. I've been training a lot at my new job which means we got to enjoy the "spoils" of daycare last week when Marlee acquired her first daycare illness. Seriously, when I picked her up there were snot-nosed, hacking babies slobbering on everything, talk about a cesspot (sp?) of germs! Jamie has been working a LONG couple weeks in the ER. He works from 11am-11pm so Marlee and I have definitely been missing him. With Jamie gone in the evenings, I've pretty much stopped cooking, which is BAD. When left unsupervised I tend to eat like a 4 year-old. It may be possible that I've eaten cereal for dinner multiple nights, and maybe I ate flaming-hot Cheetos and mint bon-bon ice-cream for lunch one day. Who knows, my memory is a little fuzzy (probably from all the Diet Pepsi I've been drinking).
Yes, I drink DP. Go ahead and judge.

And to end this random post here's a picture that I took from our deck the other day. Our apartment building was basically built in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. It's weird. But pretty.

Just a few ramblings

Why, oh why, must babies grow so fast? I can't believe my sweet pea is already 6 months old! Ok, I may be slightly emotional right now because I just finished looking at Marlee's newborn pictures, so please forgive me. This is what happens when I'm home alone while my husband is off working in the ER and my baby is asleep in the other room. I look at pictures, and then I get happy/sad/emotional as I think about life and wonder where time has gone. Sometimes, when I'm holding my sweet little girl I just wish time would stop, or at least pause for a moment. My favorite thing of like, forever, is when she lies her head on my shoulder and breathes her hot breath on my neck. My heart melts each time it happens, although it usually never lasts for more than 2 seconds because she's a wiggly little baby. I know it's totally cliche to say, but I never knew how much I could love until I became a mother. After having Marlee I literally felt like the Grinch, and that my heart suddenly grew 3x larger. Being a mother has also deepened my love for my husband, my family, and my Savior. I just feel so completely blessed and humbled to be given such an awesome and sacred responsibility. I truly wish that every woman could experience the deep joy and reverence that having a child can bring, and my heart aches for those who so very badly want a child but for one reason or another are not able to have one. I feel that being a parent has given me a glimpse, as slight as it may be, as to how much we are loved by our Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ. Speaking of love, I absolutely LOVED the talk given by President Uchtdorf at Women's Conference this weekend. (To see it go here: http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/10&vid=1180453706001&cid=7?lang=eng )There's no way you could have listened to his message and not felt more encouraged, more loved, and more important. Here's one of my favorite quotes:

“No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love…..Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time.”

Such powerful and true words!

Ok, I'll stop blubbering now. Today was a big day for Miss Marlee. She had her 6-month checkup (with vaccinations) and went to daycare for the first time. Both events went quite smoothly, and I managed to get through work with only calling the sitter once to check in. Here are Marlee's "stats" as it seems to be the popular thing to post them, and of course I want to be popular....
Weight: 17.1 lbs (72%)
Height: 27.5 inches (96%)
Head: 17 inches (72%)
So apparently Marlee's head is a little more proportional to the rest of her now and probably won't make the Guinness Book of World Records anytime soon. And of course, a post wouldn't be complete without a picture.

My sweet baby

Goodbye Summer

Seriously, where has September gone? It seems to be flying by! During Labor Day weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Jamie's family here in Norfolk. It was a short visit, but it was fun to watch football, play games, and eat too many treats together. Marlee also got to "play" with her older cousin Addy, so it was fun to watch those two cuties interact/poke eyeballs.

Jamie and I both spent most of the month sick. I got sick for a week, then he got sick for 2 weeks, then Marlee got sick, and then I got sick again. We're really good about sharing in this family. We all got loaded up on antibiotics, inhalers, syrups....you know, The Works, and now we're all doing much better. I also caught a horrendous fever in the beginning of the month: The crafting fever. This came as quite a surprise to me and those who know me well as crafting has always been as appealing to me as the Bubonic Plague. I read something on MSN one day about an easy, cheap DIY home decoration and figured "What the heck, eh?" So I hauled my little crafty self down to the dollar store to buy a hot glue gun, borrowed a staple gun from someone, and got my craft on like Donkey Kong. All of my creations required little to no skill and therefore are nothing spectacular, but I must say, (being the humble being I am), I was slightly impressed with myself. Here's a few pictures of my products:

Fabric "art" hanging in the dining area

Bow hanger for Marlee

Mirror for Marlee's room

Another fabric "wall art" and wooden letter

The lamp base used to be brown with ugly Asian-inspired paintings on it.
Just a little spray paint and ribbon made it more girly

Like a flash in the pan, as quickly as the crafting fever came on, it left. Who knows if it will ever come back in full force again. Now I will digress as I tell of other random news from the month. I finally found myself a little part-time nursing job that is perfect for me. I think it will keep me a little more sane as I'll get outta the house and around other adults at least 2 days a week. Speaking of being a mother, it's kinda hard work. But then again, anything that is worth something usually is. Just when I think I've got a good routine and everything figured out, things change. For example, Marlee used to be a great sleeper. There I was, relishing in my dream-filled nights, and just like that, Marlee starting waking at night again right around 5 months old. I guess the good thing is, when she'd wake all I'd have to do is re-swaddle her and/or stick her binky in and she'd go right back to sleep, but I'd still wake feeling like a zombie in the morning because of my interrupted sleep. So I got out my arsenal of parenting books (did I mention that I devour parenting books, The Baby Whisperer is a personal fav) and began trouble-shooting without much success. Well, a few nights ago Jamie and I decided to take a giant leap of faith and stopped swaddling her at night. Presto! She's slept through the night ever since. However, now we're paranoid she'll be a SIDS baby. This is how I often find her in her crib: lying on her belly face down almost FLAT on the mattress!

There's nothing quite like a good ol' mattress face plant!

Other than scaring us with her sleeping position preference, Marlee continues to be the loveable, chubby, happy little baby that she is.

Unfortunately, she's inherited her mother's thighs:)

I also started Marlee on solids this week as she'll be 6 months old in a couple days. It's a pretty messy process, especially when she decided to blow raspberries with a mouth full of sweet potato.

Finally, Jamie has had a busy busy month with his Urology rotation. It was just kinda happenstance that he ended up rotating in Urology but he really seems to enjoy it. Dinner time conversation is never dull as he has now collected a slew of stories involving DRE's (digital rectal exams), incontinence, ED (think Bob Dole), and the like. Next week he starts ER rotations, so I'm sure he'll gather more stories to add to his repertoire:)

Favorite Things

Not much is happening here in Norfolk, so instead of boring you with details of our mundane lives I'll post about a few of my favorite things right now. Warning, a lot have to do with Marlee, I'm one of those obsessive mothers.

#1-The size of Marlee's head. Maybe it's the angle of this picture (well, at least I'm hoping it is because of the size of my Pop Eye arm minus the Pop Eye muscles), but our little girl has got one good noggin on her shoulders. At her 4 month appointment her head circumference was in the 95th percentile. Her head looks about the same size as mine in this picture, which makes me smile.

#2-A baby's fascination with their body. Marlee loves to wave her arms, kick her legs, suck on her toes, etc...and in this picture I happened to capture her when she was experimenting with her lips.

#3-Seeing old friends. One of my good friends from high school got married yesterday and it was fun to catch up with some old buddies.

#4-Kemps fat free, no sugar added frozen yogurt. I've only seen this variety in Vanilla, but let me tell ya, you can't beat the 70 calories per serving (regular ice cream is usually 130-160 calories). Of course, I never stop at just one serving, and I'm sure the fountain of chocolate syrup and mound of peanuts I add boosts the calorie count, but at least I feel a little less guilty eating it. Oh, and for those Midwestern-ers who shop at Hy-Vee, it has a Nu-Val score above 90.

#5-Football season is starting. Nebraska is famous for 2 things: corn and football. If you live in this state and don't have a room in your home with red and white walls and Husker memorabilia everywhere you're pretty much shunned. I'll admit, I'm not a die-hard, but there's just something nostalgic about watching a game on a brisk fall day with friends while chowing down on greasy/salty/sugary grub.

#6-Jamie, of course.

Redneck Livin'

    Jamie and I found a new form of entertainment. It involves danger, thrill, loud noise and thick smoke. Yep, we've turned into demolition derby junkies. Since we're living in rural country, we figured we might as well try to fit in. When in Rome........

For those who have never been to a wreck em' derby it basically involves cars
running into each other until they can run no more

    Last weekend we went to our first derby and didn't even think twice about bringing Marlee with. We definitely earned the worst parents of the year award. Immediately when the cars starting revving their ROARING engines, Marlee began to scream. Imagine a rock concert, make your ears bleed type of loud. I sat with my hands sealed tightly over Marlee's ears, which seamed to help, until it started to rain. Not just your average rain either. It was the fat, heavy, burr-cold, they hurt-when-they-hit-you type of drops. And then came the mud. All of the spinning tires sent mud clods soaring through the air into the stands. It was more than our little one could bear.
    Therefore, this weekend when we went to another derby with some friends, (yay, new friends!) we used a little more judgement and left Marlee with grandma. Derbies really are surprisingly entertaining. Even if one does not enjoy watching vehicles crash into each other, much pleasure can be found from people watching. Derbies attract quite an array of people. Think of 40+ year-old barefooted men with no shirts on, strutting around in khaki shorts scantily rolled up to mid-thigh, or young women in mini-skirts and corsets wearing knee-high 4 in. platform boots. There's truly something for everyone.

Jewel Eye

The month of July was like a big breath of fresh air for us. It was jam-packed with family, festivities, and general laziness. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's being lazy. We started the month by moving to Norfolk, Nebraska (my hometown) Friday, July 1st. Saturday the 2nd we unpacked and headed to the lake in the evening to watch the "Big Bang Boom," the local fireworks show. The fireworks this year were AMAZING, it was visual overload. I'm proud that my small hometown can put on a show that rivals MUCH larger cities (Jamie had his doubts, but is now a believer). In fact, during the overstimulating grand finale, the people around me were so overcome with awe that they spontaneously started chanting, "U-S-A! U-S-A!"....although maybe I should clarify that the people around me=Jamie. Sunday we headed up to Jamie's parents house in Estherville to spend the week with them and have a second 4th celebration. The fourth of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays. What's not to like about a holiday where food, sun, games, and pyromania are mixed together? Anyways, Monday the 4th we went to the local flight breakfast, watched a parade, had a barbeque, and headed over to lake Okoboji to watch fireworks.


Family photo in front of lake Okoboji. It was fun to watch the hundreds of boats on the water.




 The rest of our week in Estherville we ate too much food, went bowling, watched Transformers 3 (big boo to that movie), played horseshoes, visited, and did a lot of relaxing. Also, my mother-in-law Angie and I attempted to take a few pictures of Marlee. Here's some for your viewing pleasure:

After our Estherville adventures, we returned to our mostly un-packed apartment for a day and a half before heading to Omaha to catch a plane to California for a family reunion. Note to self: never schedule a 6 a.m. flight again. We didn't get to bed until midnight the night before our trip and then awoke at 2 a.m. to drive to Omaha. Not fun.Our California trip was jam-packed with activities.We arrived in California about 10.am. and then headed straight to Newport Beach. It was co-old (temp in the 60s) so Marlee and I opted to stay out of the water that morning. The next night Jamie helped clean up the streets of Moreno Valley when he went on a "ride-along" with his cousin Scott, a cop. 

We did plenty of lounging in the pool. Don't let this picture fool you, Marlee was a natural pool rat. She was perfectly content floating in her tube while sucking her fist.

Here's a picture of us hanging on the beach in our sweet tie-dye threads.

Unfortunately, our dear Marlee got a little too much sun. We tried hard to keep her out of the sun at the beach by keeping her under a shade tent, but I think the sun's rays must have reflected off the water giving her a "binky burn". I felt like a HORRIBLE mother, but looking back on the picture now, her binky tan lines make me smile a little.

We left Marlee with Grandma Angie one morning and went on a deep-sea fishing trip. It was a fun, but hot and exhausting adventure.

Some of the other activities we did included going to an Anaheim Angels game, having a luau (I took 2nd in the hula-hooping contest-lost to a 9 year-old), and lots of visiting. The most special part of the trip however, was when Jamie blessed Marlee. Here's a picture the morning of her blessing, unfortunately I won't have any of her in her blessing dress until later.

 

When the end of our trip came, we were exhausted. However, our adventures were not quite over as our flight from Santa Ana got cancelled which led us on a wild fiasco of catching a cab during major rush hour to the Long Beach airport, boarding a plane 2 minutes before scheduled take-off, an overnight stay in Phoenix, and arriving in Omaha 1 day later then planned. After a little effort we did get some flight vouchers for our troubles however, so it wasn't all bad. When we got home we felt as though we needed a vacation from our vacation. So we did just that:) I shouldn't admit to our laziness, but we took advantage of the free cable our apartment offers and spent a few days recovering in front of the TV. Now if only our remaining boxes could unpack themselves.....

Man of the hour

Since birthing Marlee most of my (sparse) updates have been about her, so I figured it was time to write a little about what my baby daddy has been up to. School got out for Jamie in the middle of May, so that meant it was time to kick back, relax, and enjoy summer right!? Not so much for this boy! After medical students complete their first 2 years of school they get the pleasure of putting their classroom knowledge to the test by taking the first step of boards. Jamie signed up to take the COMLEX (DO boards) June 27th and the USMLE (MD boards) June 30th. Needless to say, he spent about a month and a half holed up in the library intensely studying, some days from sun-up to sun-down. I'm not gonna lie, those were some rough days for both of us. Good thing we had some great friends in Des Moines to keep me busy and Jamie sane! Thankfully, our prayers were answered and Jamie was blessed for his hard work and was able to meet his goals on both sets of boards. Right after taking the USMLE (a draining 8-hour test) Jamie had to race home to help load all of our belongings into the back of a UHAUL truck because we were moving to Nebraska the next day. June was certainly a BUSY month! The month of July provided a much needed break from studies, and now Jamie is on to the (....fun?) part of med school: clinical rotations. His first rotation is with a family practice physician, so he is looking forward to putting his knowledge to use and I'm looking forward to having him around a little more. The past two years have probably been some of the most challenging of our life. Whoever said medical school is not for the faint of heart was right! However, if there's anyone that can face a good challenge, it's Jamie. Because underneath that white jacket is my knight in shining armor-corny, yes....but the truth don't lie so deal with it:)

Looking like a 'stunna on his first day of rotations!
 (for those that don't know what a stunna is, Urban Dictionary defines it as:
Someone that is smooth, and that got game.)

Caught in the act

I can't believe our little Marlee is 4 months old already! Our little princess is learning to do so many new things each day. We happened to have the camera close by the other night and captured one of her first "chuckles" Sorry the video is sideways...anyone know how to flip it?

Call Me a Tiger Mom

Minus the whole Asian part..... Ok, so a few days ago I saw a video of one of my facebook "friend's" child who was born a little before Marlee. Their 3-month old baby rolled from their stomach to their back with ease. Now, I'll admit, I've not been the best at giving Marlee tummy time. It's usually the longest 2 minutes of my life as I listen to Marlee protest laying on her tum tum and I eventually give in and flip her over. But of course, the competitive, Tiger Mom side of me thought, "Well, if their baby can roll over, so can Marlee. Infact, she is going to kick butt at rolling over." So like the good little mother I am, I placed Marlee on her tummy and waited for her to shine. The result: Marlee put her face down on the floor and cried for 30 seconds. I tried to upload a video of it, but for some reason the video disapeered after I spent 5 mins waiting for it to upload, and blogger won't let me upload any pics either. Oh well, use your imagination. Who cares about rolling over anyway? I've decided I'm going to teach Marlee a much more useful skill, like how to change her own diaper. So look for us on "America's Got Talent" in the next 3 months. We'll be the headliner.

The best 4 years

Yesterday Jamie and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. It's kinda crazy to think we've been married that long already. Boy, time flies when you're having fun! It seems like not long ago we were poor newlyweds in Provo eating Betos (now Rancheritos) on a weekly basis, going to midnight dollar movies, and living in a tiny basement apartment. It's amazing how far we've come since those days. We now have a little one, a big fancy house....err I mean an 880 sq. foot "garden level" apartment,  lots of money (owed, not earned),  and a late night to us is staying up past 10:30. I'm so lucky to be married to my BFF. We both feel as though the other person got the raw end of the deal:)

Lovers

We had a pretty low-key night since Jamie's busy studying for boards and we generally fail to plan things for "big" occasions. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant, did a little browsing at Old Navy (I got a $0.77 sweater-score!), picked up some Edy's strawberry fruit bars for dessert (yummy), watched a little "Everybody Loves Raymond",  and called it a night. Pretty exciting, I know, but I just enjoyed spending a little time with my boyfriend.

Morning Shenanigans

Catching up

Ok, I know I have not been diligent on posting. The little miss is quite distracting (as evidenced by her cuteness and my constant desire to shower her in kisses and/or eat her cheeks). I had good intentions to blog more because I think it's a fun family record, but my good intentions have obviously fallen by the wayside.
So here's a little bit about our sweetums...
She has a rather large head-which is normal for babies, I know, but her's is quite impressively round. It must be jam packed with brains. For the first month of her life she had an almost unhealthy obsession with her pacifier (yes, I went against the advice of all the breast-feeding czars and gave her a binkie in the hospital, shame on me). As soon as that thing hits her mouth she does this lazy eye-roll thing and is instantly content. However, I swear some of my days have been spent playing fetch with a pacifier. She's a good little eater and is growing much too fast! She starting sleeping 6-7 hour stretches at night before waking up for a feeding when she was 5 weeks old. I must admit I was incredibly paranoid the first time she slept 7 hours straight as most of the parenting/development books I read told me she was too little to sleep that long, I'd lose my milk supply, she'd starve to death, etc.... but I've learned that as long as she's developing well and gaining weight, to just thank my lucky stars. Now at 7 weeks old she's starting to sleep even longer. Last night I put her to bed at 10 and finally I woke her up at 6:30 for a feeding because of my paranoia. When she wakes in the morning she's just the smiliest thing ever (is that even a word?) Marlee really is such a good baby and brings us so much joy. Jamie and I love her to pieces! Here are some obligatory photos of course...

A few pics

Just because I'm currently awake I thought I'd post a few pictures. Sometime I'll write our birth story, but that's waaay too much effort for this sleepy mommy now.

Marlee Jo Olsen

One of the few times she's slept:)

My little cutie

Another Pregnancy Update....

Well, since I'm sitting here in the hospital waiting for labor to progress, I thought I'd write an update. Unfortunately,  much to our dismay, Jamie and I made the decision to go ahead with an induction since I don't seem to be making much progress on my own. I'm currently 41 weeks and 4 days pregnant (11 days past my due date), so my physician thought it would be best to give my body a boost to get labor started. I REALLY wanted to avoid inductions, interventions, and basically anything  "unnatural", but it is what it is. I guess our little girl just needs some motivation to come out! So now I'm sitting here hooked up to Pitocin waiting for the real fun to begin:) Wish us luck!

Here's me this morning in all my 41+ week pregnancy glory!

Quick Pregnancy Update

Well, my due date came and went and still no baby. As Jamie says, "The womb service must be good," so we think our little girl is perfectly happy and content in her current home which is why she's ignored her eviction notice. I however, feel as big as a house and as though my abdomen may just spontaneously explode, so I'm getting ever-so-slightly tired of being pregnant. Like many other women who go past their due dates, I've been researching/trying different at home techniques to induce labor, but so far no luck. I've walked miles everyday, ate spicy foods, tried "acupressure", yada, yada, ya....I swear most of the techniques are just wives' tales and that babies come when they darn well please. In fact, some of the things I read on the internet could be kinda dangerous, so I've definitely tried to use my medical judgement before trying anything. One thing I've decided I would never try is castor oil (why would I want to voluntarily give myself diarrhea!?). I'm pretty convinced this technique does not work and here's why: Earlier this week both Jamie and I had a NASTY bout of food poisoning that actually landed me in the hospital for severe dehydration. Basically, I got 8 straight hours of ahem, "cleansing", and a good abdominal workout, but it still did nothing to induce labor. Therefore, it's my opinion that if food poisoning won't induce labor (it did give me a few Braxton-Hicks contractions) castor oil won't either because it causes the same symptoms as food poisoning. So if there's any pregnant women out there reading this, don't mess with the castor oil....it will just cause you misery. Anyway, there's my plug for the day.

Just say "no"

Well, I know that soon enough pregnancy will just be a fleeting thought as I'll be holding my little bundle of joy sometime within the next week (my doctors won't let me go more than 2 weeks overdue), so hopefully my next blog post will be featuring our new addition!

Late night antics

This has got to be a record for me. Three posts in one month...phew. Well since I'm a regular ol' insomniac nowadays I decided it was time to switch up my routine. I used to lie in bed tossing and turning for hours hoping to fall back asleep, but then neither me nor Jamie got any rest so I've started trying to do at least slightly productive things with my time while I'm up at night. I think I'm going to be totally prepared for sleepless nights as a mother because so far, pregnancy has been training me well.
For dinner tonight I decided to cook waffles. I'm really not a huge waffle fan, but I decided since I was going through the effort anyways, I'd double my recipe and freeze the leftovers for an easy meal. So away I went mixing and fryin' and before I knew it, this is what my stack of waffles looked like (I still ended up with a couple more than pictured....)

Ok, please ignore the woman in the green shirt pictured at an awful angle and look only at the waffles. Today was one of those I'm wearing my husband's shirt, I'm not leaving the house, wearing any make-up, or even showering for that manner sort-of-days (although I did end up showering). And yes, since you asked, I AM resting the plate on my belly....might as well make it useful:)


So anyways, I'm frying up waffles like crazy and in walks Jamie from a long day at school. I believe the one first things he said was, "Wow, are all of those for you? You must really be craving waffles tonight." Glad I can still 'wow' him after over 4 years together.

Oh, I also received some good news about 30 minutes ago, and since no sane person I know is awake other than me right now I guess the only one I can share my news with is Blogger....lame. I now have two new initials behind my name: Amber Olsen, RN. I just checked the Iowa Board of Nursing website and saw my name on the list. Wahoo! Feels good to know I passed my national boards. Alright, well I think I may try to head back to bed now. I ate a little snack, went to the bathroom (TMI?), and popped some Tums so I think I should be good to go for a couple of hours. Goodnight! (or morning.......)

My Valentine

Ok, I generally try to avoid getting too mushy/gushy, but heck, it Valentine's Day, and not to brag or anything, but I have a pretty good Valentine. This lovely specimen of a man makes my life better each day. He is My Precious...(imagine those last two words being muttered in the voice of Golom from Lord of The Rings). So, in the spirit of love, and definitely a little boastfulness, here are a few reasons why I'm so fond of this man.

Blue Steel

 1) There's no use trying to get around it. I'm going to go ahead and point out the elephant in the middle of the room and state the obvious: I married a looker. I, Amber Elizabeth Wilson Olsen snagged me a hottie and I'm not one bit ashamed.


2) He tickles my funny bone. Yes, many of his stories may require censorship and usually deal with some sort of bodily function, but not a day goes by that he doesn't make me laugh.

3) He knows what he wants and will work to get it.  Success is attractive, and when I was studying at BYU just about every boy I knew stated they wanted to go to law school, medical school, get their PhD, etc.....but talk is cheap.One of the first things I noticed about Jamie was how driven he was. Not only did he talk of big goals, he actually had a plan to accomplish them. Now as a medical student, I see him work hard everyday to obtain his goal of receiving a solid education so he can one day support his family.

4) He's the jack of all trades. I'm amazed by Jamie's many talents and skills. He plays the drums, the piano, the guitar, and even the bagpipes. When we first started dating I remember thinking how neat it was that he was involved in so many things. He loved sports (which was a def. must for me), he danced on the BYU Folk Dance team (which I thought was kinda funny, but cool), he had sang on the BYU Choir, and he could even knit.

5) He makes me want to be a better person. We try to not let complacency exist in our marriage. I love talking with him about my hopes, my goals, and how we can be better people. He is such a caring, genuine, and honest man. When I think about him as a future father to our little girl I get all giddy inside.

Alright, I could keep going, but this is becoming a little too self-indulgent. The bottom line is I married an amazing man and I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with him. How can a girl get so lucky?

Together Forever

Bellies and Dragons

      Well I suppose it's that time again where I dust off the ol' keyboard and update the blog. Life is life as usual. I graduated nursing school in December, the holidays came and went (much too quickly), Jamie is back to the grind, and I'm just working and cooking a baby. Speaking of babies, pregnancy is such a weird thing. I mean think about it. Two microscopic cells come together and over the span of 9+ months evolve into a 6-10lb lovely little creature that completely changes a woman's body and her life. Now don't get me wrong, I am completely elated to be growing a little creature of my own. It's just that there's a few things about pregnancy that aren't the most fun. Warning! I'm about to get personal. You may read TMI, but its my blog so I'll say what I want to.

     Numero Uno: Belly buttons. I've tried to push it back in, really I have. Sometimes as I sit on the couch watching a show I'll apply firm pressure to my button, but of course, as soon as I take my finger off....POP GOES THE WEASEL! I've read online that some pregnant women put bandaids over their belly buttons to keep them "under control". Been there, done that, doesn't really work for me. My whole life I've been taught to be modest. But now, as a pregnant woman, I feel as though I've lost my modesty. When I wear a shirt that is tight snug over my midsection (which is often b/c I'm too cheap to buy maternity clothes) I feel as though I'm exposing my navel to the world. I swear you can see the outline of my belly button through just about any top I wear. Today while I was trying on an outfit for church, Jamie said, "Hey there belly button!" Thanks babe. IT now has an identity of its own. Oh well, I can honestly say that I probably have one of the cleanest belly buttons around. I guarantee you won't find an spec of lint trapped in MY button!

This is not my belly by the way.....I just wanted to illustrate what the "popping of the button" looks like
Mine's not quite to this level......yet anyways:)

    Number Two: Acid reflux. I feel like I literally have a slumbering fire-breathing dragon inside of my stomach. As soon as I lay down for a nap or eat a meal, the dragon wakes up, and it does so with a vengeance. Earlier in my pregnancy, I considered TUMS to be my trusty friend that I could rely on in times of need. I now, however, feel betrayed. In the last few weeks I've popped TUMS like tic-tacs and it still doesn't calm the dragon. So, I've done what any logical woman would do and have increased my intake of "base" (as in pH) foods such as milk or dairy......  

Ok so maybe the ice cream doesn't really help with stomach acid, but it sure makes me feel better -until later when I look at the empty bucket and realize Jamie only ate one bowl....
  
     And finally....insomnia. I blame it mostly on #2. However, if on the rare occasion the dragon I swallowed is asleep, I usually still toss and turn all night because of hip or back discomfort. Alright, I'm done complaining now.I will take all the acid reflux, strange body transformations, and insomnia that can be thrown at me if it means that I get a precious baby in the end. I've been blessed with a relatively healthy, complication-free pregnancy thus far and am incredibly grateful for it. So bring it on belly button! You've got 5 weeks of poppage left!