Let's See...

Let's see...there are a few things I have almost forgotten to record on the blog since life has been busy with visitors and holidays.

I am about 17 weeks now. Some days I feel really, really big. This was one of those days, so it's funny that I took a picture. I have an appointment tomorrow, and I'm hoping the doctor will take a look and maybe we can find out the sex of the baby. I am having a lot more "good" days lately. Stomach aches still plague me, but I think we are past the worst of the morning sickness stuff. Hot chocolate finally sounds good again! Some foods that I really like lately: string cheese, grapefruit, orange juice, and tortilla chips with cheese melted on them. By the way, our door is not green. There was some funky lighting going on. 

Nate writing now... Over the Thanksgiving week I spent an inordinate number of hours working on a research project investigating the link between obesity and musculoskeletal injuries.  I've been leading my group in this project for the past 2.5 years, and we are finally getting close to publishing it in a well-respected journal - assuming they accept it.  We just submitted a revised manuscript to the journal (MSSE - google it) with extensive changes, lots of work. In this picture I'm hiding in the basement to avoid distractions.  Kinda chilly down there!  You can almost see the smoke coming out of my ears.

And Jessica writing now...this research project haunts me!!! It's always there, hanging over our heads on a free day or night...I'll be glad when it's all over. That's an understatement.

I do a little preschool once a week with two other moms in the ward, and we rotate teaching. This was the first time I had ever seen Emmy write her name all by herself. 

It's just so cute. She describes what she's doing as she writes, "Up and then down..."

This was weeks ago, but we went with Nate to a women's field hockey game he had to attend. I had never seen a field hockey game. It doesn't really even "exist" out in the west. I was so intrigued, and I loved watching it.  

We stopped for burgers, fries, and shakes after the game at Bobby's Burger Palace. I got potato chips on my burger. 

Natalie received the Principal's Writing Award at school for the first quarter. I was so proud of my little bug. 

Natalie is an absolute angel at church and school. Like perfectly behaved at all times. Which means all that little kid energy and naughtiness has to come out at home. For some reason she HATES getting dressed in the morning. It doesn't matter the shirt or pants or whether she chooses them or I do, she will almost always fall on the floor complaining about how it feels and how she hates it. This is her laying on the floor in a sort of tantrum about her clothes. I would be more understanding if I thought her clothes were really irritating her in some way, but 10 minutes later she is perfectly fine and doesn't complain again for the rest of the day. 

Jansen has been reading a lot. Given the right book, I think it's one of his very favorite things to do.

Another favorite thing right now is basketball. He had his first practice last Saturday, and it went great. I love being in gyms. I spent so much time in gyms playing basketball growing up, and I love the sounds, smells, and sights. If I had to choose one sport for him to play and love, it would be basketball.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme on our way home from his practice. Nate was at a conference in Las Vegas, so we were in no hurry to get home and spend the rest of the day in the house.

Emmy still dresses up every day. She calls this her "dance party" skirt. She is always talking about some dance party that she and Natalie are going to have. I think she wore this outfit to bed that night.