ROLL TIDE

Bama here we come! By July 1st we'll be moving our little family to Birmingham, Alabama for at least six years. And even though it was one of our top choices we are still in shock. A little because for some reason we didn't expect it and for another reason it's weird that it has all finally been decided. We kind of don't know what to do with ourselves now. As long as I've known Brad every decision we've made has led up to this point. And we're in! Hooray!

Sign me up for big hair and lots of football. ROLL TIDE!

KILLING TIME UNTIL MONDAY

The past week has felt like we have been twiddling our thumbs while time goes slower and sloooower. Monday is the big day when we hear if/where/when and basically everything that will decide the next six years of our lives. EEK. So we tried to busy ourselves out of the house so we wouldn't go crazy. We tried to do a little eagle watching (did you know that the Alton area is one of the most famous places in the world to spot bald eagles in the wild?) but there weren't many out and about. We drove down the Mississippi river and looked for them nesting on the bluffs. We saw three for sure but we weren't in the right spot to pull over to view them. But no worries! The Alton visitors center has a real bald eagle that you can visit on Saturdays in January. So we made our way there and hung out for a few minutes. We learned a few fun facts! Want to hear them? I knew you would! Bald eagles aren't endangered anymore (except for in a few states), if you want to know what it feels like to have a bald eagle land on your arm just hold a gallon of milk straight out to your side, they like to eat rabbits and deer meat, AND they don't get the white head and tail until they are about four years old. Don't you feel smarter?

It didn't kill nearly as much time as we hoped, Monday still feels forever away.

Finley liked the real bald eagle but not the fake stuffed one out front.

BABY QUILT SNEAK PEAK

Here is sneak peak of the Baby Dos quilt. I meant to stay away from pink this time but I couldn't help myself. I'm kind of in love with the fabric. Way more than I was with Finley's. Which is a bummer - her sister's quilt is going to be sooo much better. Don't tell. Although when then they are old enough to appreciate quilts it will be pretty evident. I've made a lot of quilts in my day but not many baby quilts. For some reason down sizing them confuses me - style wise. This is going to have a very thin layer of batting and it will have a minky backing (I'm kind of nervous to work with minky). Finley's quilt is nice but it's not snuggly. And I'll be machine quilting this instead of hand tying it so that it can withstand multiple washings (a must for a baby blanket). Also, I made Finley's way too big. She still doesn't really use it much. I want this quilt to work as a baby blanket and then a lap blanket as they get older. My mom made us quilts when we were about in middle school with leftover fabric scraps from items she had made us as kids and I love that idea.  So I figure I'll make them another larger blanket later on. 

Soooo that was my rambling about baby blankets. Fascinating I know! Have a good weekend. I know were I'll be late into the night - at my sewing station away from little jam hands watching/listening to old episodes of Friends.

"SUMMER BREEZE" MAKES ME FEEL FINE

 

This past week it's been unseasonably warm. Nice enough for us to spend some time outdoors without having to pile on the layers. So we've taken to going on lots of walks and playing in the yard as much as possible so we can soak up these days before the inevitable big chill sets in until April. A time at which I will no longer be as much fun playing outdoors since I'll be waddling around. It's so weird to think that Finley only has a few more months of being an only child. She won't even have any memories of this time! I know her life is about to be turned upside down - a lot of big changes are coming for her little world and I'm already feeling guilty about it. Maybe that explains why I let her eat way too many conversation hearts yesterday. "Sure Tooty Buns, help yourself. You're about to hate me real soon."

*Is Tooty Buns a weird nickname to call your child? It one of our favs around here.

But I'm also really excited for her to have a sister. Like REALLY excited. But having two girls exactly two years apart is going to be quite the adventure. Those teenage years are going to be a doozy.

And it was short lived because the very next day it turned into this...

*Don't worry we were making a fashion statement with buttoning our coat one off... or sometimes some battles are better not fought at all.

AND BRAD IS OFFICIALLY OUTNUMBERED AGAIN

There is going to be a lot of females in our house! Another GIRL is on her way. We were lucky that at the last minute Brad was able to come along, so I didn't have to wait all day to find out. Baby Dos was very cooperative and the tech said she doesn't normally like to say she's 100% sure but this one was as close as it gets. The only time Dos didn't want to play along is when she tried to get a profile picture, she wouldn't stay still long enough to get a very clear picture at that point. The tech was trying to do it at the very end so I think Dos had had enough of being poked and moved around. Everything appeared fine and she looked healthy. And we are very excited. I didn't tell Brad but as soon as I went into the ultrasound I knew for sure that it was a girl. It was that moment of confirmation I had been waiting for - too bad it was about three minutes before they made it official. Oh well, it was fun to be surprised. And not only do we already have about 95% of the things we need I have all the clothes we could possibly need even for the right seasons. Hooray! Although that won't stop me from picking up a few more newborn items - they are too cute.

I promise this was not a set up. I was trying to get Finley to hold the picture facing me but as soon as I handed it to her she set it down and gave the picture a kiss. Okay I might have set it up a little because as I handed it to her I told her it was a special picture of her baby sister - and usually she gives her toy babies lots of kisses. But I'm taking the love and excitement where I can get it!

And here I am today at 19 weeks. A stranger at the grocery store actually asked me when I was due - so it's official, I must look pregnant.

FAUX-LUTIONS

Remember my problem with "resolutions?" I feel like setting "resolutions" jinxes you to automatically fail at whatever you've set out to do. So these are my initiatives. And since my year is pretty much split up into pre-baby/pre-move and post baby/post move I've set these initiatives for the first six months of the year. I feel like they are all pretty reasonable.

I actually have a much larger list of things to do and make before the baby arrives but I'm trying to set myself up for success. I'm such a cheater.

Also, #9 will be the true test of my will power. I am admittedly THE WORST at keeping track of my phone. I always leave it in the bottom of my purse on silent or in the car or on the opposite side of the house wedged between two of Finley's toys. It's a mystery. I'm just not one of those people addicted to my phone, and seriously sometimes I secretly wish I lived in pre-cell phone days. Sssshhh. Don't tell anyone I said that. I just don't like people thinking they should be able to get a hold of me at all times. Man, did my anti-social tendency just show itself or what? BUT I have come to understand that I have adult responsibilities that require me to occasionally use my cell phone for more than calling my mom and texting Kristin quotes from Felicity. Stupid adulthood.

FOUR DAYS

...until the big gender reveal! Anyone care to venture a guess?

(Since no post is complete without a picture I've included this one of Finley's awesome post nap bedhead from yesterday - I'm just grateful she has enough hair for that to happen.)

Hopefully this baby will be a bit more cooperative with the ultrasound technician. If you recall Finley did her best to curl her legs up and would not budge. So we had to wait until I was 23 weeks before we found out for sure. So fingers crossed by Thursday night we'll know! Brad and I keep going back and forth but lately I've been thinking boy and he's been thinking girl. One thing is for sure, this baby is way more mellow than Finley. I was reading my journal the other day and it talked about how much movement I felt all day long at this point in the pregnancy, but Baby Dos just gives me gentle nudges maybe twice a day. And at my last appointment the baby stayed perfectly still for my OB to get his/her heart rate, but with Finley at nearly every appointment the doc would have to chase her around my belly to get an accurate reading. People say not to compare your kids and look at me doing it already! Oh well. It's inevitable, right? (Please someone tell me I'm right.) Brad won't be able to be there because he already had a patient scheduled for the same time as my appointment so I'll be going it alone. BUT I'm not going to look during that part and I'm going to have the tech right it down in a sealed envelope and we are going to look at it together over dinner that night. Brad's lucky I don't like to ruin surprises.

In other big news, this week is our deadline to submit our rank order list for the residencies we would like to attend. It has been stresssssssssful! We are deciding how to rank seven totally different programs and places (ie: Wisconsin versus Texas) which will also dictate where we spend at least the next six years of our lives. How it works is we submit our rankings, then the programs submit the candidates that they have chosen. The highest ranked place that we've chosen that also chooses us will be where we HAVE to go. There's no decisions after this point unless we decided to not do a residency at all, which really isn't an option for us at this point. So this rank order list is kind of a big deal. It's a big week at the Carn household!

We'll find out if we get in and where on January 30th. Oh the agony of waiting! Wish us luck!

CURRENTLY LISTENING

I noticed a few years ago that I tend to listen to more male singers than female. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation but I'm too lazy to actually look it up. My 17 years of education is sad about that fact, but what can you do? Anyway, I digress. The point is lately I've noticed that the songs I've been loving are all female singers. I think it's just a nice time for the female singer/songwriter, they seem to be all over the place. So these are my latest favorites that top my current playlist - none of these are extremely new, but newish to me within the last six months. Enjoy!

Rachel Platten - 1,000 Ships

Kina Grannis - In Your Arms

(Dude - the video is amazing. The background was done entirely in jellybeans. That is some tedious work.)

Christina Perri - Arms

Ella Mae Bowen - Holding Out For Hero

(Yes this is from the new Footloose movie, don't judge. Some people love it some people think it's sacrilege, but I secretly thought the movie in general was kind of fun in an awesomely bad way.)

Mindy Gledhill - California
(Thanks to K for getting me hooked on this one while we were in - ta da - California.)

Plug In Stereo - Oh Darling

(This last one is cheating since it's actually a male/female duet, but it's the girl who makes the song)

CHRISTMAS 2011

We spent Christmas at East Canyon in the Utah mountains with my side of the family this year. It was a lot of fun to be away and surrounded by the mountain snow, which was apparently hard to come by this year. We spent a lazy week eating, eating, and more eating, oh and watching movies, doing puzzles, and playing some games.

It was fun to have Finley a little more interested and engaged in Christmas morning. The very first thing she saw when she came down stairs was a doll that Santa had put in her stocking and she flashed a huge grin, exclaimed "baby!", and hugged the doll like it was all she ever wanted (even though she already has about four other babies). It was such a cute moment. With us helping she unwrapped her giant heap of presents - it was a little embarrassing how much she was spoiled this year - and continued to be very possessive of her new toys for the rest of the trip. It was more fun than last Christmas where she was done after 30 minutes. Considering we'll be a family of four next Christmas we are considering doing it on our own. Which seems so strange. We hardly ever traveled for Christmas growing up but it seems too grown up to have my own family for the holiday. We'll probably change our tune once we come to next fall. But who knows, we could be living very far away from any family next year. It may be the only realistic option.

WARNING: The following is what you call "picture overload" of Finley frolicking in the snow. Humor me. We are wired to think she's the cutest little snow bunny ever - even if she is wearing a snow suit to make her look like she should be hitting the slopes circa 1992 with gloves and boots two sizes too big. All we're missing is the huge sweatband and puffy bangs.

Ignore me in this picture - not the best - but Brad and Finley look so cute. This was our Christmas day venture out of the house to wear off the candy for breakfast overload.

We also took two trips to temple square while we were there to see the lights. Which is a miracle considering I think I saw the temple square lights once the entire six years I lived there. It's always nice to see the Salt Lake temple considering Brad and I got married there almost five years ago! Eeek!

And did I mention that it was supposedly "balmy," while we were there. AKA Finley and I were freezing our bums off in many layers while Brad wore one hooded sweatshirt and was fine.

This is random shot of Finley looking at her teeth in the mirror. She loves pointing to her teeth and saying "teeeeee." Yep, she has a dental school dad.

This is Finley doing her new favorite thing - smoosh face. She grabs your face and turns it to the side then smooshes her cheek against yours. Usually she does it right before bed time, I'm sure she's just trying to be extra adorable to delay bedtime by a few minutes. This also shows her Christmas pjs. They made her look like such a toddler. I can't believe she's on her way to being a two year old. Think of this - next Christmas Finley will be 2.5 and we'll have an additional 6 month old crawling around. ACK!

 PS - We took the majority of the pictures with my sister's camera - and go figure I forgot to get a copy before we parted ways. So you may see a follow up post with more pictures. Get excited!

UH OH!

We survived the 21 hour drive (twice).
Our bags are unpacked.
The house is "clean" (as long as you don't count laundry).
And my morning sickness is almost gone (fingers crossed).
It's time to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging.
Coming soon... just a few more hours of dilly-dallying.

*** Don't worry those are "veggie" chips. Even though they aren't that much healthier (go figure) I've convinced myself they are fine for Finley to eat by the fistful. Straight from the bag. I know, I know. Bad mom award.