anamateureverything.blogspot.com

New Blog! Figures. 

BOY, OH BOY!!!!

HURRAY! WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!


caution: graphic ultrasound pictures posted below
We had our 20 week ultrasound today and got to see our healthy baby boy. He is measuring about 21 weeks, all except his arms, which are measuring 23 weeks. That comes from my side of the family :D. He is 15 oz! Did I mention that we're excited?!

FEET!

PROOF!

LOVE!

LOVE!!

LOVE!!!


Brad was so convinced from the beginning that it was a girl. I always thought it was a boy. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm glad I get to say I was right! :) We had a surprise visit to the hospital on Thursday because of some complications that had me worried, and we got to see the baby then as well, but the Dr. checking me was scared to say what she thought the sex was in case she was wrong. Brad then said that he thought he saw "something" and thought then that it was a boy, yet he still continued to call the baby "her/she". Then after we found out today that he was a boy we were talking about some crib bedding that had been given to us that was really too girly, and he said, "Well, it's great that that's okay then!" (He still thought the baby was a girl!!! At least for that second, haha).

GIRLY CRIB BEDDING


Baby boy is moving A LOT, and I know I will only start feeling it even more, and it's wonderful! Brad has finally been able to feel him move too. That is something that was making him very jealous of me. I told him he should have been jealous of the nausea, insomnia, headaches, backaches, bloating, mood swings, and all those other lovely things. ;)

Now the search begins for the cute baby boy clothing etc. I'm pretty picky when it comes to what I would want to see him in, but I'm sure that will change. I like the nerdy look, like the onsie I found with a bow tie and suspenders... more than the cars, trains, planes, and animals etc. BUT, there's enough time for him to look like a nerd when he's older, I'm sure :) So I better stick with all those other things while I have the chance.

SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT I LIKE FOUND ON ETSY

big and bold


nerd


awesomeness


retro


cute&modern



I LOVE OWLS

newborn earflap cap


pillow



We are so blessed to have been able to see our baby and have him be healthy and right on track. I can't believe I'm already halfway there!!! I'm sure the time will continue to pass quickly, and I sure hope so, I'M SO ANXIOUS!!!! I'm the first of my siblings to have the boy be the oldest and I'm proud of it!

Life is going great for the both of us. We're both busy working - I have taken up more shifts at work believe it or not, and I am looking forward to the extra income from it. Brad is going to L.A. starting tomorrow until July 1st or so, then he leaves again on the 5-7 for a commercial shoot. It will be a very lonesome time without him, but 'NINA!!' my SIL is coming down this weekend which will help the time go more quickly, AND JUST BE FUN! YAY FOR NINA! (I love her). So we'll party it up and I'll spend the rest of my time roaming Chicago for some cute nursery ideas or baby clothes! Oh and organizing our apt. My wonderful mother-in-law sent me a book called organized mom, which has a ton of great tips/steps to organizing room by room and prepping for baby. So that will definitely help keep me busy! (Not to mention our extremely needy dog. She keeps whining and talking to me as I write this post BEGGING for my attention!!)

Well, I'm hungry and tired, so I'm off to eat and sleep! Let me know if you find any cute baby boy stuff!

All the things I haven't told you...

SOOO much has happened since my last post, and I honestly don't know where to begin. My plan is to just type what comes to my mind first. We'll see how that turns out...

As of tomorrow I will be 16 weeks, or 4 months pregnant! I cannot believe how fast it is all going. I guess it helps that I did not find out I was pregnant until I was a couple days over 7 weeks along. Everything seems to be going well with the pregnancy so far! The constant nausea is now gone, and I was fortunate to not vomit at all (expect for when I got food poisoning in UT). In it's place are the consistent headaches and sore body, but I LOVE IT! Okay, I don't love the headaches, but I love the reason they are coming. I am finally showing now, to where hopefully people can guess I might be pregnant versus me just being fat. HA. Although I have had many comment on the fact that I don't even look pregnant.... I don't think I like that. But Brad and a few friends have noticed my growing belly, and they make me feel much better :). I guess I will soon have to post the story of how I told everyone I was pregnant, inc. Brad. As of my last appt. I have still been losing weight, but I'm sure that has changed by now. The heartbeat was 150-152 beats per minute! It was an amazing experience and I was glad Brad got to be there for it. November 4th will be here before I know it! (That is still the due date) :)

That's enough baby talk for now.

A few weeks ago we made the drive out to UT to visit our families. We brought Nikita along for the 25 hour drive. We split the drive into 2 days and that seemed to help. We had heard horror stories about dogs on road trips, but Nikita could not have been more of a dream! She slept, and snuggled the entire way. What a good dog.

The trip was great! It was good to be able to spend time with both of our families and just relax. I'm getting tired just thinking about all the things we did and trying to tell them all, so for now just suffice it to say that we had the most glorious time... Fine, I'll at least try to make a list of some of the highlights....

1. Seeing Grandma and Grandpa Western, telling them our news, and watching our dogs try to play.
2. Spending some time w/ just Brad and my parents, staying up late with Mom looking at cute embroidery ideas
3. Seeing my friend and past roommate Chesney at her Mission Farewell talk
4. Spending Easter with Brad's family! Fun Easter egg hunt where even Nikita was helping collect eggs :D
5. Spending our 2 year anniversary at the Hall cabin
6. Decorating eggs with Mom Hall and Brad
7. Letting Nikita run around the yard without her harness on
8. Spending time with Brandon, Elena and their wonderful kids!! Thank you!
9. Time with Brad's siblings Jordan and Caiti in Provo
10. Seeing my friends who I hadn't seen in forever - Sarah Connors, Erin Peterson! Much needed fun!
11. Playing games at my Uncle Brad's house with my brothers, uncle, dad and Brad.
12. Visiting Brad's Aunt, Uncle and cousin's house eating delicious food and playing apples to apples
13. Talking with Grandma and Grandpa Camp, and playing Phase 10 with Grandma
14. Going out to dinner with my dad's parent's and brother's families!
15. Getting to go shopping at ROSS with my mom and Elena, then scoring a ton of maternity clothes from my cousin's Brielle and Kiara!!
16. Seeing and talking, though not long enough, with my cousin Talyn, whom I love so dearly!! (Go ahead and edit that sentence in your head Tal. I can take it.)

Such amazing things happened and of course there are larger stories to go along with all of those.

I love my husband and seeing how excited he is to be a daddy. I'm so lucky to have him!!!

Oh and I cut all my hair off. I always promised myself I would try it at least once in life, so what better time than when my hair is growing so quickly from all of the pregnancy hormones. That way, if I hated it, at least it would grow back in a couple of months :) I was just so tired of putting it in a ponytail or having to make a huge effort to get it to look decent. I am loving it and still figuring it out. Brad loves it too. Success!

And just to drive some of you crazy with wonder - I have 3 great friends that are all due within a month of me!!! HOW EXCITING. I'm not spilling names. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. Life is wonderful. I'm so blessed.

Until next time!!!

I'll try to get some good pics of my hair and post them soon. :)

What's in a name?

I realized that most people do not understand what "A Little Pixed Um" even means. Well I'm going to tell you. It actually means, "A Little Mixed Up", but the letters are a little mixed up...

Um is not secretly a supernatural animal or being.
Pixed does not describe this Um in any way. It does not mean "fairy dusted" and does not categorize any specific breed of the Um.
The "Pixed Um" is not even "little", despite the fact that it is blatantly stated right in the title...

I hope I did not dash your dreams of what little wonders my blog's name had secretly stood for. True, there are many possibilities, so who am I to say my way of seeing it is the one and only way? If you feel like you have a better idea of what it means, or if it has a special meaning just to you, leave me a comment. The crazier the better. You just might be able to change my mind. Just maybe.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

This will be a long post. But it's worth the read.

I had been needing to get my license renewed for, oh about 2 years. No, no, no, it hadn't expired per se, but it did have my maiden name on it. Besides that, technically, I was supposed to have it renewed no more than 90 days after I arrived in Chicago.... Needless to say, it was time.

Brad got his renewed a couple of months ago and was raving about how awesome the DMV downtown was; fasted line EVER. I thought, "COUNT ME IN!" So one Friday morning we decided it was time, and I got ready in 33 minutes flat (give or take 10 minutes ;) ) and headed downtown with Brad. I then got my license renewed within 5 minutes of being down there, went home, celebrated, and called it a day! Wait.... no that isn't what happened, how silly of me. Here's what really happened.

DAY ONE

PART ONE - IN TRANSIT

So Brad has this nifty CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) pass that lets up to six people ride on the same card! Amazing right? So we get on the bus together, and the crazy bus scanner doesn't like the idea, but the bus driver is okay with it. First leg of the journey down. Next comes getting onto the subway platform. Easy, right? Sure, for me. Brad scanned his card and through the revolving thing I went. As for Brad, no such luck. He tried sneaking in behind some of the other travelers, but the city was too smart for that. One person at a time, ya know? Yay. He called the number on the pass and they explained to him that you had to start the "journey" together, otherwise it wouldn't work. So since it didn't like the bus scanner, and only registered one person, Brad could not get onto the platform. They then told him to ring the customer assistance buzzer, which he did, and they told him to walk all the way around to the other entrance. GAH! Finally we met up on the platform and ate some candy that was in his backpack. It was good.

PART TWO - THE WAIT BEFORE THE WAITING AND AFTER.

We arrived downtown at approximately 10:30, at which time Brad was supposed to be in a meeting at work. So he ran off to his office while I went and found the DMV, which was in a food court in the basement of a building. No worries it wasn't scary looking. Brad had said he wanted to be there when I went to the DMV, so I was to wait for him in the food court. Luckily, I had my laptop with me, so I studied the Driver's Handbook, for 1.5 hours.

Brad arrived right around 12 and off we went. I had a bright yellow folder with all of my identification in it: Old driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, 2 pieces of mail. I was ready to go!.... PSYCH. "Ma'am, you need your marriage license to change your name". "Seriously, the social security card that has my married name on it isn't enough??" "No, come back Monday thru Friday 8AM-4PM to take your written exam, NEXT!"

GREAT! Got ready as fast as I could, took forever to get downtown, sat in a food court all morning by myself, and was told it was all for nothing. At this point, Brad had only about 4-5 hrs of work left, over lunch (from Arby's), I decided to make it a positive experience and stay downtown that day and explore, or just sit at a bookstore and read some books then travel home with Brad. It wasn't often that I went downtown and the sun was shining that day. It was a perfect opportunity!

So Brad went back to work (he took my laptop for me since it was just too heavy to carry around in my purse for the whole day). I went off to find a Barnes & Noble! Let me tell you how I was physically feeling at this point. I had had to use the restroom since that morning, but the bathroom in that food court place was wayyyy less than desirable. I could hold it a while longer. I was also quite chilled because, although the sun was shining, the buildings were blocking it and letting the wind do its work. I had a measly jacket on. But all was well, because life was good, and it was time to enjoy it! Oh another little note, my phone had one bar of battery left, but that was okay!

It was only .6 miles away, but lemme tell ya, it felt like way more than that. When I finally got there, I was feeling pretty excited about finding a book, hoping I wouldn't need to purchase it in order to read one, I searched in the mystery section. I saw a bunch of Agatha Christie novels, none of which I had read before, and found the least expensive one (in case I did need to purchase it) and started reading.

I situated myself in the back at a table next to a large window. Through the window and across the way was a candy shop. Oh my how that candy looked delightful. But I did not need candy, I was fine just reading my book.

A couple hours later- I really needed to find a bathroom, I had been drinking WAY too much water. But on the other hand I didn't want to lose my spot at the table, or my book for that matter. What a pain it would be to put the book back, go to the bathroom, just to come back and find them gone. Nah, I'd just wait it out till I finished the book. My that candy looked good. I got a text from my cousin, oh, and one from a good friend, plus my mom called. All of these things would have been great had I had more than one bar of battery left on my phone. I had to ignore all of these and save up the battery for when Brad would let me know he was ready to go home.

A couple of more hours later, the book was finished! It was a good read! AND I COULD FINALLY FIND A BATHROOM. Or could I? Sure I found two, but the one labeled "public bathroom" on the "You are here" map, had a sign on it saying for employees only. Hmm... That made sense. Okay, it was time to look for another one. Found it! But you have to have a DePaul Student ID card to get in. Seriously, who does that? Oh my goodness I was going to die. Well, I decided to take a peek in that candy shop I had been tortured by for 4 - 5 hours of my life. It was lame. Off to the streets to find a bathroom.

Macy's there has to be a bathroom available in there just for me. After about 15 minutes running around the store, I found one! Success. Now I was just waiting for that text from Brad. I waited and waited..... and waited. I got a frozen yogurt in the meantime. Fresh strawberry with toasted coconut. Yummy. Then it came!! A text from Brad that is! And it said, "hey stuck in a meeting. Don't know when I'll be done." Awesome. Too bad Brad had my laptop. I could have thought of a million things to do with it. Physically feeling, exhausted, freezing, headachy and hungry. I felt bad for Brad too. He'd had a crazy day and was stuck in a mtg he didn't want to be in. Finally a text came saying "You should just go home". Yikes. I didn't have a pass to go home. What to do??.... Wait. That's what I did.

A while later, he was done, and we started our journey home. We were both less than happy and needed some cheering up. We tried to cheer each other up and it was working until, when we were on the train, I asked, "So did you bring my laptop?". Dead silence and panic on his face. Oh this was not our day. We get home and decide we need to treat ourselves to something nice. We go to Corner Bakery Cafe and the night ends wonderfully! DMV would have to wait till the next week, and we'd be going to the one closer to our house.

DAY TWO

Well, Friday came again and this time I was up and ready for us to head to the DMV by 7:45. It didn't open till 8:30 though so we left at 8. There was already a line forming outside once we got there and it was FREEZING cold. (With the wind at least). This time we had all the identification we needed, including our marriage license. By the way, Brad had the hardest time finding the marriage license that morning, but me looking, where he had previously looked, for oh 2 minutes led me to find it in perfect condition. :) The door to the building was finally opened and in we went.

There were 2 people checking everyone's IDs and asking what they needed. One was nice and quiet. The other, the exact opposite. We got that one. I explained I needed a name change and new license. She said, too bad, your mail isn't good enough. She said she needed a bill in my name or a lease. Too bad the guy at the other DMV hadn't let me know that. At this point both Brad and I were extremely angry. I was crying my angry tears and he was meaner than I'd ever seen him. He explained that he had his license and she said that would work for one of my mail identification thingys, but that I still needed one in my name. Too bad I don't get bills or anything.

We go back to the car and he calls to see what we should do since none of the bills or the lease are in my name. He gets transfered to another line, explains, gets transfered, explains, gets transfered, and then sent right back to where he started. Great phone tree system there. He was told he could vouch for both of my needed address verifications. So we went back home, he brought his whole life with him (all his personal documents) and found my name was kind of on the lease. Otherwise he had plenty of bills in his name that should do the trick. We got back and Brad was still fuming, and amazingly enough I was feeling pretty chipper. I told him I didn't like this version of him and he should start being happy again. The lady in front of us sneezed I blessed her, and then she told me she was back in the same boat we were. We laughed. Luckily we got a nice lady that time.

Now we just sat waiting to get called up to the desk and start this process. about 30 minutes later that happens and it was pretty darn smooth. The guy behind the counter was very nice and friendly and I was off taking my written exam before I knew it. It was a little scary to take this exam just because as the people in front of me were having their tests graded, it seemed they missed quite a lot. One guy missed 8, another lady missed 6, and everyone of them was trying to plead their case saying that their letter "a" was really a "c". I sat down and finished entirely too quickly. Not to mention the 7 A's in a row that were on my answer sheet.... Oh well. So I wait for it to be graded and find out, I got everything right. Yay for me. I was a little happy about this since Brad had missed a few himself. :D Picture was taken and then we were finally done. The guy taking the picture could have told me my hair was a bit messy, but at that point I just didn't care anymore. Brad was only a few hours late to work that day too. My license doesn't need to be renewed for 5 years. Thank goodness.

THE END

Next Post: I have no idea, I'll let you know then.

St. Patty's 2011

At the end of my last blog post, I promised a post on my first experience in a pub. Don't get too excited now!!

It all started with a text I got from a friend (Nichole Mora) in our ward (at church). She asked if we had plans for St. Patty's Day, which we didn't, so plans began forming. Nichole said she knew of an Irish pub called the Abbey Pub, that she thought it would be fun to go to. Yay for Irish Pubs!

Well, that night we get to the pub around 7:30 or so and they ask to see our ID... this is where I think, "Awesome, I still have my 'Under 21' ID, how embarrassing." Of course the guy checking does a double take and then says "Oh happy birthday (completely monotone)." He didn't sound too happy for me at all. Must be a great place. HA! So we walk into the back and find Nichole and Ian sitting at a table, and we take a peek at the menu.

I have to admit that I'm not the most adventurous with food, but that's something I'm working on. So I got the hamburger. Brad wanted the Shepherd's Pie, but they were all out, so he stuck with "Corned Beef and Cabbage" (woof), Nichole got the Corned Beef Sandwich, and Ian got the hamburger, with cheese (yes, that is a cheeseburger). Let me mention that both Ian and I ordered the hamburgers "medium-well". As we wait for the food, there was an order of Irish Eggrolls delivered (cornbeef, cabbage, & mozzarella), and of course the beverages, of which Ian's was seriously lacking in flavor.

When the food does finally arrive, Ian takes one look at his burger and sighs; the bottom of the burger is definitely more than "medium-well" done, well done Abbey Pub, a little too well. By the time Ian gets his order fixed the rest of us are about done with our meal. They tried to make him happier by giving him special fries, which he did not like.

Brad and I had to admit that we did not think our meal was worth 15 dollars combined, let alone the 30 it ended up costing us. We all agreed that we were pretty sure that the cooks were just planning on everyone being drunk when they were eating, that way they wouldn't be able to taste (or remember) how horrible it was.

We were glad at least one thing was great that night - the company! We had a lot of fun with the Mora's and I'm glad we had the experience, but I won't be headin' back to the Abbey.... ever again. Not the most exciting of "first time at a pub" stories, but it is mine, so what can I say?

NEXT POST: The horrors of the DMV in Chicago. Now this is one to get excited about ;)

Here we go again...

Alrighty, so we all know how well I do at keeping up my blogs... This is another attempt at the improbable. Here's hoping!

The Quick Facts:

Brad graduated about a year ago

We moved to Chicago at the end of last April

Brad works as an Art Director in Advertising at Leo Burnett

I have been working at the Chicago Distribution Center at the Chicago Temple since August

We've had our puppy Nikita for 8 months and she turns 1 April 21st

I'm taking one class via Independent Study - U.S. History through 1877

I just turned the ripe old age of 21 on March 5th

Brad and I have been married for approximately 2 years (April 25th)

I am the 2nd Counselor in the YW Presidency

Brad is the Scout Master

So today I am posting about an experience I had babysitting.

Being the youngest, I was not around babies or younger children that often. I would go babysitting with my sister then as I got older I babysat a couple of times by myself. I haven't babysat anyone besides nieces or nephews since I was in High School. (Just a little background)

I was at YW one night when a woman in my ward, who's daughter was in my primary class, asked me what I did on Tuesdays. I knew that this couldn't be leading to anything good. But I said that I was on call for work, though I rarely had to go in. She then asked me if I could take her to the hospital that day. I was relieved and agreed to do so.

...That is when she added that I would need to watch her kids as she was at the hospital, take them with me to pick her up after her surgery, and possibly stay a while afterwards...

The panic returned; I had a lot of praying to do.

I put on a smile and said sure thing. I tried to remember all the important questions to ask about the needs of the kids, emergency numbers, etc. Unfortunately I have to admit that I was entertaining the questions of "Why ME? I do not know this lady very well at all, unlike the Relief Society President, or countless other children lovers in the ward." But then I soon rebuked myself and said that sooner or later I should get used to children.

Sunday came and I saw this family sitting on the front row. I suddenly grew an unexplainable love for them. I did not know this kids, but I became excited to spend time with them on that Tuesday. That is when I found out her surgery, which had previously been scheduled for 2PM was now scheduled for... 7AM. I'm an early riser, but 7 AM + a 4 yr old, 7 yr old, and 10 yr old? Wow, my work was cut out for me!

Tuesday came very quickly. Before I knew it I was at their house and sitting in a chair waiting to hear any noise indicating the children were awake. I had clear instructions that they were to empty the dishwasher before the oldest daughter (Sam) was off to school. And the rest was pretty much up to me.

Sam was the first one up and she talked with me for a bit before the others were awakened. She showed me a project she had done and I asked some questions. She liked me! It was going really well, I didn't even feel awkward for a moment.

When the others were all up I asked them if they had ever timed themselves to see if they could empty the dishwasher within 5 minutes, they said no, I set the timer and off they went. They were soooo excited!! It was wonderful. Then Sam asked me to time her to see if she could get ready in 3 mins. She was ready in 1.5. And then she was off.

Now the unstructured time began. Maggie (7) and Matt (4) weren't sure what to think of me. But soon they were telling me all sorts of stories. They also let me know that they hated each other. Fits/tantrums were thrown. I was proud of the way I handled them! Matt was the main tantrum thrower, 4 during the 5 hrs I was there. When he was upset he would throw things, pout and yell. I told him if/when he wanted my help all he had to do was ask nicely, then I would leave him where he stood to let him cool off. He eventually always came around :) We read some books, watched some Rugrats, and played a board game. Then it was time to pick up their mother. So off we went! We were at the hospital (in the car) waiting when Matt broke the big news to me. He said "If my mommy weren't my mom, I'd want you to be her!"

I guess I was a success!!! They were begging me to stay after mom was home, but alas I had to return home to take Nikita out on a walk.

Later that night I received a text from Sam on her mom's phone. She told me that Matt and Maggie had said I was nice and fun and that they liked me!

It boils down to it's being a wonderful experience that I wouldn't mind having again.... in the future... about a fews months in the future.... Ha! It really was great, and it helped me realize I won't fail as a mother when that time arrives. Heavenly Father saw an opportunity to help me grow for the better, and strengthen a weakness, and He put it in my path. I am grateful!

That concludes my story. I know this will sound like a piece of cake for most of you, but it was new for me and something I very much needed.

Next Post: My first experience at a Pub. ST. PATTY'S DAY 2011.