Sea World

We saw this shortly before we left the park. It was $16.95 so we decided to take a picture instead of buy it. Too funny!

So when we got to Sea World we went to one of our favorite shows. This is the Pet's Rule Show. They have performing cats, dogs, ducks, pigs and birds. It is entertaining to say the least.
Baby beluga in the deep blue sea swims so wild and swims so free. (Okay not free and not in the sea, but I couldn't come up with anything to rhyme with tank.)

Feeding the baby ducks. The other ducks stayed away and let the babies get all the food for the most part. Then one brave duck tried to get some food and the momma duck went after it. We threw food to the other ducks too. Shortly thereafter one Sea World employee came with a ton of food and threw it out to all of the ducks. They enjoyed it.

Here's an aquatic succulent garden

This little turtle wanted so badly to get out of the water but he couldn't quite make it out. The water was really low for some reason today.

And here are some pretty cool sea stars. The white one was moving quickly.

Well there you have it, our day at Sea World. We saw our usual encounters, but tried to take pictures of things we don't normally take pictures of. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours and then we met up with Greg, Ellen and Ethan. We were at the park for about 4-5 hours and then I got tired. On the walk back to the car I was dragging my feet. As soon as I sat down in the car I quickly reclined the seat and promptly fell asleep. We stopped to pick up dinner on the way home, ate when we got home and then I was back down again for a longer nap. I'm now refreshed and ready to go!

Squirt's Closet

Yesterday Peter and I went to Home Depot and bought Squirt a closet. We also ran to Frazees with a wet stir stick in hand hoping they could match the color of paint needed to paint the closet. We come home only to find the old can of paint had a sticker with the paint name on it...duh! Oh well we got the right color anyway. The closet is great. We built our closets a few years back and we love the extra storage space, now it's Squirts turn. I wanted drawers to put his clothes in so we wouldn't have to buy a dresser, so drawers we got. Then we put in several shelves to store his toys and a bar for the hanging up clothes that will always be out of his reach, but oh well. When he's able to dress himself, we can always put in a bar lower. We can also add shelves any time we want. I love it. So there's four drawers, top drawer is socks/booties/mittens.

Second drawer is onesies and some pants that a friend gave me.
Third drawer is empty for the time being, but will hold more clothes. And the fourth drawer for now is holding swaddling blankets, and other baby blankets.
My co-worker has two little girls and she gave me all of her gender neutral baby outfits and the swaddling blankets. Another co-worker gave me the pooh booties. I picked up four onesies at the Carters outlet a long time ago to give away as shower gifts...well I didn't give them away, so now they're Squirt's. I got a onesie from a friend, and the three adorable pooh outfits I bought. The one in the middle I bought intending to give away to my sister-in-law, but then she found out she's having a girl...so Squirt gets it, and the two on the outside I picked up Friday. They were just too cute to pass up.
So what it visually looks like is there's a shelf along the top, under that there's a pole across the whole top for hanging up clothes, then on the left side there's a shelf across the entire part followed by the four drawers. On the right side you see besides the two shelves across the whole thing, there are two more shelves for holding toys and such.

Squirt's room is still under construction...that will be left for another post...if I can ever get it clean :)

The Results Are In!!!!

Looks like we won't be buying any cute frilly dresses. There's no doubt about it, we're having a Boy!

I knew before we were told. The picture on the screen was so obvious. Here's a few of the snapshots. This one is a 4-D one of the face. The big blob on the right side is the placenta. He is using it as a pillow.

Here's a profile of his face.

Here's one of the legs

and a foot

and don't forget the most important part...this is a rear view, the two things on the sides are his legs and well the obvious part is in the middle with an arrow pointing to it.

Peter's response: "Yes now we can buy planes, trains, buses, dump trucks, he can play with my legos and we can build pirate ships, space ships, we can play pirates and cowboys..." Yes he is thrilled! We are both thrilled to know that Little Squirt is actually an appropriate name for our little bundle.

While watching the screen we could see that he is super wiggly. He kept on turning over and hiding from us, and then shortly thereafter would flip back over. Lately I've been feeling the little butterflies which is so weird.

And the gender is?

Yeah we don't know yet either. For now we're calling it Little Squirt. We find out Thursday morning. So what do you think it will be? So far my mom and Kira think it's going to be a boy. Fred and my aunt Patty think it will be a girl. Peter hopes for a boy since he has his Legos from his childhood in our closet as well as he knows how to do boy things. He's not very good at playing make believe with our nieces (or at least they don't like it when he wants to be a pirate and they want to play princesses and there's no pirates allowed). I of course would love to dress up a little girl, but would be happy with anything healthy. Plus I'm convinced that since we have picked a girl's name that we both l0ve and we haven't agreed on any boy names, this one for sure will be a boy. I've already picked out the car seat/stroller set-can you guess what the theme will be?

Peter talked to Little Squirt today. He started with something cute and endearing and then said, "Little Squirt, you're making your momma sick. You made her puke up her favorite dinner last night." It was something along those lines. Note to self, all you can eat buffets are not nice to pregnant bellies. And they're definitely not pretty seeing them a second/third time around. But the strawberry vinaigrette was delicious the first time.

The Wild Animal Park

Saturday we made it back to the Wild Animal Park, on our previous trip I fainted, so I was extra cautious this trip and didn't stand in any lines. We walked through the Lorikeets (our favorite) and I fed them again. At one point I had 7 birds on me and for the longest time I had one on my hat. After that we went on the African Safari tour, where we took pictures of several animal rear ends. We said hello to the lions, then stopped next to the water playground for lunch and watched the kids get soaking wet. By this time I was running out of steam. We walked to the elevator and rode that to the top floor and then got a nice cold lemonade which Laurel dumped all over the table. I sipped what was left and then we headed for the petting corral which was where everyone else was. We also got a lemonade icee which I did a good job at devouring. Then we headed home and left the others to play. Peter and I renewed our passes and upgraded to the Diamond Package so now we get free parking at the wild animal park. We also get four free guest passes instead of two (we gave Sean and Amy our two guest passes so they got into the park free, we also gave them our old membership cards so they could get on the rides for free too, since we had a new paper document). There's a couple of other benefits too. I just love having a pass so I don't feel like I have to spend all day long at the park. We stayed maybe three hours and then headed home, which was great because I needed a nap! Here's some fun pictures we took:
Sean, Peter and Chris from behind. Sean is the only one wearing a manly backpack. And for the record Peter insisted on carrying mine...he did eventually carry it like a backpack so it looked slightly more manly.
I love the look on Kirk's face here. He didn't want to get too close, just wanted to look.

By the end of the day I really wanted a nap too.

The weekend

This past weekend was a blast! We originally (about a month or two back) thought about going away for the long weekend and doing something fun. We decided against that since at the time I was still quite nauseous and the thought of going anywhere really wasn't appealing. So we decided to stay home and figured we would be able to find some fun things to do. I'm glad we stayed because Friday I worked on conference reports all day long and then in the evening went to my parents house for dinner and then went over to my best friend's (Kira-best buds since 5th grade)house late to say hi since she was in town. Saturday I went out maternity shopping with my mom. It was really fun. We went to Motherhood at the mall and I got a few pairs of pants/crops that will grow with my belly as I grow. I can't even begin to tell you how totally comfortable they are....so much better than trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans. I got a bunch of cute outfits. The rest of Saturday was a relaxing day. I took a nap, played in my mom's garden, we went to Home Depot and then out to Pat and Oscars for dinner. Sunday I went to my old home ward to listen to Kira's youngest brother speak. He is preparing to serve a mission in Chile for two years. After church I hung out with Kira for a little bit and then headed home and met up with Peter who just got a new calling. He's the assistant ward clerk. Then we headed to his parents home to see Sean, Amy and Kirk who are visiting for 10 days. We stayed and played there, then headed over to Kira's house for Alex's farewell. We stayed and socialized till late and then headed home. That brings us to Monday. We went to a Memorial Day picnic with all of the O's. It was quite a gathering. Afterward we headed over to the O's-well I took a nap and Peter made homemade ice cream. We had leftover lunch for dinner and ice cream for dessert and played with nieces and nephew until it was time for bed. So yes we're glad we didn't end up leaving the area for the long weekend.

On Tuesday morning I had another doctor's appointment. We heard the heartbeat which was pretty cool. The doctor said, "It's beating fast....there's an old wives tale that says a fast heartbeat indicates a girl...though my two boys had a fast heartbeat too." So there you have it, it might be a girl and then again it might be a boy...yes we're back at square one. We find out for sure on June 17th. Now let me tell you about that little part too. So I was told 4 weeks ago to call a special number to set an appointment with a special doctor who would be able to get a detailed picture of my baby's face (my grandmother was born with a cleft palate). Now I told the nurse that I had been trying for the past two weeks and I'm just about at my wits end. I called the original number which is a number for the hospital. I try to set up an appointment and they say the doctor only comes to the hospital when he has appointments, so you have to call his secretary at number A, if that doesn't work then call number B and push option 2. So I call number A. The secretary says "oh you need department C so I will forward you there." Department C says, "you need department D, I'll forward you there." Department D has a list of things I have to push 2, then 2 again and then a person answers and says you need to call phone number B and push option 2. Okay so here I am trying number B after talking to numerous people and being put on hold several times as well. I call number B and after pushing option 2 and then something else I get to a recording that says to key in my mailbox number. Realizing I've made a mistake somewhere I hang up and try number B again. This time I push the same thing and I get a recording that says "we're out of the office for lunch between 12:30 and 1, leave a message and we'll get back to you within four business hours." Now still totally confused at this whole thing I hang up and try back again a few days later. While at work around 3:30 I call number B once again. I wait on hold for a few minutes and then it rings. Person picks up with heavy accent, she says I need to go to different department, hold on she'll transfer me. I wait on hold again. New person answers (by this time I am slightly annoyed at the whole process but still have a bit of patience stored up.) I tell her my situation (like the 100th time I've repeated it) and she says you need to call number B. (I was ready to scream here.) I told her I just called that number and they transferred me here. She was confused as to why they did that and told me that was the number I really needed to call. So I thanked her, hung up and stormed back into my work, at this point totally and completely annoyed with UCSD. My co-workers can back me up on that one...I was ticked! I left school early and headed home to use my house phone. It is now almost four but not quite four yet. I call number B again. I am told that my holding time will be approximately four minutes. I wait, and wait and wait, and totally peeved I hang up the phone after waiting 26 minutes. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! You would think I wouldn't bother again, but gosh I must've been crazy because I waited a couple days and then tried again. This time it was Friday around 2:00. I call number B one last time. I explain my situation and she tells me I'm not in the system. I know that, I'm not a patient at UCSD (and trust me after my experience on the phone with them I never will be). So I try to make an appointment with this doctor through UCSD but have him go to the Scripps Hospital in La Jolla...I failed. The lady tells me I need to have my doctor fax my info over to UCSD to number E and then I have to call number F and set up a record. I also have to call number G and have my insurance card ready to make sure my insurance will cover this appointment. Then after doing all that I can call number B again and make an appointment. Yeah like that was going to happen. So I thank the lady and hang up the phone now totally annoyed and completely confused. I go to my appointment on Tuesday morning and tell them what happened and ask for someone who actually works regularly at the hospital. The nurse said she would try to find someone for me. She comes back at the end of the exam (which was a quick one anyway) and gives me a business card and says, "Your appointment is at 8am on June 17th, check in is at 7:45 please call and confirm your record." At this point I'm jumping up and down as she has made the appointment for me with a different doctor and it only took her like 10 minutes to do the whole thing. I couldn't believe it. I love Scripps!

Fathers and sons/news

A couple weekends ago Peter went to the Father and Sons camp out. His dad called him up Thursday night saying that a scout in his ward wanted to go, but his dad was unable to go and had asked David to take him. So David called up Peter and asked him to go too. Peter's family is big into dutch oven cooking (Peter has his own dutch oven). They made chicken pot pie for dinner and caramel apple crisp for dessert. He made some of the caramel apple crisp for me too, so I wouldn't feel left out. So Friday evening the boys headed out camping and shortly after they left I headed over to my parents house for the night. Yes I was a big chicken about sleeping in my own house by myself. My dad was out of town, so it was just me and my mom for most of the night. We watched a chick flick, ate the caramel apple crisp which was yummy, and chatted. Saturday morning we did yard work, and I sat on the swing by the pool while my mom put chemicals in the pool. It was a fun and relaxing day. When Peter arrived, we ran a few errands and then were back in time for my nephew's birthday dinner. Shortly after dinner I went to rest my eyes for a few minutes and a couple hours later I was woken up as it was time to go home. It was a fun weekend!

Today at work I announced my news to my students. A couple told their parents after school. Julianna and Ainsley's mom was shouting for me and giving me a thumbs up while I was putting another child into his car. That mom asked what all the commotion was about so I told her. (She was the mom who thought I was pregnant 1 1/2 years ago.) So it was a pretty funny conversation with her. I even brought up the fact that this time it really was true. We both laughed. Then Julianna's mom came over and talked to me a little bit. She also thought I was pregnant earlier this school year, but she was smart and asked one of my co-teachers, who was able to save her from the embarrassment of being wrong. Then Vicki (one of my co-teachers) said I have been showing a little bit for a couple weeks now and she was surprised no one said anything to me. Julianna's mom said she was wondering about a week ago, but decided to keep her mouth shut in case she was wrong again. We laughed! Before now I've had a couple parents give me funny looks, like they know my secret but are too afraid to say anything in case they're wrong.

Good news the nausea seems to have gone away, for most of the time, the puking is still there, but I'll take that over the constant nausea feeling. At least I can puke and then feel better, instead of feeling awful all day long.

Revealing the news

So a couple years back I saw Target had baby socks in the dollar bins and they just so happened to have Winnie the Pooh, and being a Pooh fan I just had to buy them. Now every time I go to Target I check the bins to see if they have any new socks that I don't already have. I use these to give to friends having babies or to go along with an outfit that I have bought for baby showers.

Well since we came up with a cute way to announce our little secret to our parents, we thought we would share it. Now our announcement came earlier than we expected only because I was supposed to go to the dentist and have x-rays taken and they always ask if you're pregnant before hand because they won't do the x-rays if you're pregnant. Well I was and I was only 7 weeks but there was no way I was going to tell my dentist before my parents. So we headed over to my parents' house two days before my dentist appointment and took a small envelope with us. I gave the envelope to my parents and told them to open it. Inside the envelope were some Pooh baby socks and a post-it that said, "These might come in handy in November." They both looked at me and said, "Does this mean what I think it means?" "Yes." Needless to say they were both excited and for the rest of the night all we talked about were baby things.

Now telling Peter's family was a bit different. I asked if we should do it the same way and he said they wouldn't want baby socks. Just telling them would be good. He said he would take care of that announcement. So we went over for Easter dinner. (We would've told the week prior but it was Mary's birthday and she had guests over so we decided to wait.) So we're all sitting down at the dinner table. Peter's mom is telling us all this funny story about how her mother was stuck in Sherry's bathroom and it took Sherry and her two expecting daughters to pick his grandma back up. At this point Peter cuts in and says, "Speaking of expecting, Mandy is too." This was followed by a few screams and Diana asking me four times if I was pregnant. It was a pretty funny night.

Our Little Secret

So it's been awhile since we last posted. That's due to a couple of things.
1-We haven't been up to much, because I haven't been up to much, due to our little secret.
2-Our "happenings" stories relate to our little secret, so we haven't posted.

So here's a few clues:
1-I've been nauseous a lot for the past 2 months and puking a little.
2-I really like taking naps.
3-I'm hungry more often.
4-On a trip to the Wild Animal Park, we stood in line for 30-45 minutes to see the butterfly jungle. We thought we would have pictures to post of pretty butterflies....unfortunately at some point my legs turned to jell-o and I fainted. Boy was that a fun day! Peter caught me as I was going down and walked me to a wall where we sat and I drank a lot. We then headed home, no butterflies.
5-Yesterday while folding the church program I started to get really dizzy again. I sat down, drank a little and then was okay. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich only a matter of minutes ahead of time and drank lemonade. It was again, standing still. Note to self, don't stand still!

Okay with reasons as above our little secret should be pretty obvious, but if you still need a little help....Take a look at this:

Our little bundle of joy is due November 12th. Here it is 13 weeks old.

Easter, Earthquake and a child's prayer answered oh my!

For Easter morning Peter and I went to my parents' house for brunch. Peter made ebelskivers and crepes during the conference break. They were delicious. My mom had bought a jam injector which made filling the ebelskivers so much easier. They turned out perfectly. After conference my aunt and uncle were getting ready to leave. Our car was blocking them in, so we left first. While driving home a 7.2 earthquake hit the Baja area. We were driving so we didn't feel a thing. When we got home we called Peter's parents to let them know that we were still on for Easter dinner. They told us about the earthquake. I then called my parents and they said they felt it. They were saying goodbye to my aunt and uncle when the cars all started to shake. While we were home we felt a couple of the aftershocks, but they were clearly not nearly as big as the original. Then we headed to Peter's parents' house for dinner. While there Chris shared a cute story. Ellie (4yrs) had said a prayer the previous morning. Now with her prayers you never know what she might ask for. So it wasn't too surprising when she asked for a princess make-up kit. She then participated in an Easter egg hunt and got more plastic eggs than either of her two sisters. Many of the eggs contained candy and some contained numbers that coincided with prizes. She had one egg with a number in it. When she took it to the prize booth...lo and behold the number she had went with the prize for the princess make-up kit. A child's prayer was answered.