Riley

Good news!  Our baby is here!  Riley is such a good baby and we love him so much.  He was born on Friday December 16th.  It took a long time to get him here 18 hours of labor, or something like that.  When he was born he was 22 inches long and weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces.  

Andrew did a good job taking these pictures, the ones he's not in. :)

Mary

There are about a thousand reasons why this Christmas is going to be different from all the other Christmases of my life, but one thing is that the likelihood of me having a brand new baby is very high.  Lately I've been thinking about Mary and how brave and tough she was.  I can barely stand riding around the busy streets of Pittsburgh in the car with Andrew driving, let alone ride on a donkey to Bethlehem.  That sounds pretty awful.  Also the whole giving birth in a stable sounds pretty bad too.  And the pressure of having to be the mom of the most important person whose ever lived. . . that sounds very intimidating to me.  Luckily I don't have to worry about all that stuff.  I'm grateful for Mary, the mother of Jesus, and all that she did.

Week 37- Almost There!

Good news.  I have made it all the way to 37 weeks and three days! Yay! This baby might actually come.

I have been super uncomfortable lately, but I hear that's supposed to happen.  But it's not so fun to move.  Also I don't have so many comfortable clothes that fit me, so I wear Andrew's most of the time.  He's a good sport and shares, he's a nice head.

I spend a lot of time at the doctor's office, appointments every week.  The doctors tell me that he could come any day now.  That would be nice. Andrew doesn't want the baby to come on his birthday, which is today.  Andrew actually would prefer if the baby would come when he's done with classes for the semester.  His last day is the 8th.  I want the baby to come now, and I'm pretty sure he wants to come now too.  I guess we'll see what happens.

I Miss. . .

• Family
• Cafe Rio
• Being close to Wal mart 
• Sleeping through the night and being able to sleep on my back
• Being able to zip up my jackets
• Wearing all my clothes
• Playing sports
• Roads wide enough for a wagon to make a U-turn (or even a regular sized car)
• Streets that are in a grid
• Andrew going to sleep before 1 a.m.
• After School Club
• Friends
• Milk that costs less than $3.50 a gallon
• USU basketball games

Luckily there are lots of things I love about living in Pittsburgh and I won't be pregnant forever-- 36 weeks yesterday :)

Goals of 1st grade Lindsay

Around the time I got married I was cleaning some of the stuff out of my old room at my parent's house and I ran across a school paper (I wish I would have kept it).  The top of the paper said "In 2007 I will graduate from Mountain Crest High School then I will. . ."  There were three lines where I was to write my goals of what to do after high school.  This is what I wrote:

1.  I will probably get a job
2.  I will probably get a car
3.  I will probably go to USU

1st grade Lindsay wasn't very committed, but I guess I've always been like that.  I don't want to set things in stone just in case.  I just don't want to disappoint myself.  I did all these things within three months of graduating.  I feel like these goals were expected of me (not necessarily going to USU, but college), but I'm glad that the people around me had the faith in me to want and expect me to go to college and have a job to be able to afford things.

I haven't made new goals in a while, but I feel like they are important to make you a better person.  Even if they are simple. I'm sure that's why the Personal Progress program has such an emphasis on goals.  I'll start working on a good list of goals, maybe I'll even post it.  That may give me more of an incentive to achieve them.

I've Missed Primary

Andrew and I are the Valiant class primary teachers.  Yes we teach all of the senior primary.  That sounds very impressive until I tell you that there are only three of them.  We've got two boys and a girl ages 9, 10, and 11.  I like this age because you can hold a real conversation with them and tease them a little.  Sometimes they don't like to sit still or listen, but I think they are funny.   We had primary program practice yesterday, the primary program next week should be pretty exciting.

At the beginning of class Andrew asked what the kids did this week and one of them said he played Super Nintendo

The other boy asked "What's that?"

The first boy said it was "a super super super super old gaming system"

Andrew and I were quick to correct him saying it wasn't THAT old.

His response was "You're right, it's not as old as Atari."

There's nothing like a 5th and 6th grader to remind you how old you really are . . . 23.  Thanks guys

Life in Pittsburgh

We have lived in Pittsburgh just over two months, we are both really liking it.

Pittsburgh is a quirky city. It is divided up into neighborhoods that have their own distinct personalities.

We live in Friendship.  It's little, so good luck finding it on the map.  It's above Shadyside.  Friendship is mostly old Victorian homes that have been split up into apartments.  Most of the neighborhoods have their own shopping areas, but Friendship is small and really close to other shopping centers, so we don't have one. Bloomfield is close to us and almost everyone is Irish, in Squirrel Hill there are a lot of Jewish people, East Liberty is low income housing and there are a lot of African Americans there.  Oakland is full of undergraduate students.  Most of our ward lives in Morningside where there are fairly cheap houses. It is very divided and a lot of times you can tell when you are in a new neighborhood because the houses or buildings change.

The roads are crazy.  They used to be old horse trails and go all sorts of directions.  Sometimes you will be going one direction and the road will change direction with out you knowing it and you will end up somewhere completely different.  There are a lot of one way roads so you can't always go where you want.  Also you could be driving on a road for a few miles and it's name changes five times.  It's very confusing.  But I can easily get to the church, Andrew's school, the grocery store, the doctor's office, and Morningside (where most of our ward is).  

Everyone here loves the Steelers

I flew here from Utah on a Sunday when the Steelers played.  Half of the people on the flight home and in the airport had on Steelers clothes and hats.  They also take popular songs and change the words so they are now Steelers songs.  Everyone here loves the Penguins also, they play hockey and apparently they are pretty good.  The baseball team is awful though, the Pirates just finished their 19th losing season in a row, that is more consecutive losing seasons than any other professional sports team (any sport), ever.  Sports are kind of a big deal here. 

I feel like I'm getting used to living in a big city and I am liking it so far.  The internet and the church make moving to a new place significantly easier.  It is nice to know that we can refer to the internet and find anything that we need.  And our ward is so great.  We've made friends quickly and there are a lot of people looking out for us.  

We've been able to do a lot of new thing and have new experiences.  We are having a good time and learning lots.  Andrew has been swamped with school lately, it's been kind of hard but he is learning a lot.  

While Andrew's been gone I have been making a new quilt for my sister, reading, cooking, going to institute, and watching movies.  

Here are some pictures of stuff we've been doing lately that isn't school.

Pittsburgh at night

Alyna came to visit us.  We didn't take so many pictures, but we had fun.

We went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History one day
Here's a dinosaur 

This is me in the minerals, it was probably my favorite part of the Natural History Museum

We also went to the Carnegie Art Museum --
 I'm trying to figure out this modern art -- No Luck

A lady in our ward is teaching a photography class and we decided to go,
it was fun and I learned a lot

Us being models for photography class

We are having fun.  Our car is still getting fixed.  We were supposed to pick it up on Thursday, but they didn't fix the alarm system.  But the body work they did looks great.  Hopefully they will be able to fix it soon, without having to take it to the Nissan dealership.  But I am still liking the rental car.

The First Time I felt like an Adult

We are still having car problems. . . It's only been about a month.  The body work looks great, but the car alarm continues to go off.  It is also super annoying to turn it off.  The only way to do it is to unlock the trunk.  Kind of annoying.  It's also hard working with the insurance people to solve this problem because it seems unrelated to them.  But I don't understand how the alarm would suddenly break the same day I get in an accident.  I do understand that there could be people trying to scam the insurance company into doing extra work on their car, but I'm not doing that.

Another hard thing is that the insurance adjuster that we are working with knows that Andrew and I are young and it seems as though he is trying to take advantage of that.  We still have a few more things we are going to do, but getting the insurance to pay for this fix is looking more and more like a lost cause.  It's also super annoying because neither of us did anything wrong, except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Working with these people have really made me think about the first time I was seen as more than a kid, or just a dumb college student.  Working at Bridger Elementary was one of the first times I was treated as an adult, or an equal to the teachers.  Even though I was just a part time aide, who was just out of college with a degree that had nothing to do with teaching, I felt very respected.  The teachers I worked with were so grateful for my hard work.  They were very supportive of my ideas and were very understanding when I was having problems with some of the kids.  I was never talked down to and really appreciated being viewed in such a positive light. It really is amazing how big of a difference it makes to work with people who view you as a positive contributer.  It makes me think who I'm treating inappropriately because of their age, whether it is older or younger than me.

Tow Truck

Tuesday we got our rental car, it's a Toyota Corolla, we like it.  

Yesterday the tow truck guy came to take our car away.  He looked a little annoyed when he saw that our car could still be driven.  It was behind our house and the driveway is too small for a tow truck so we had to get it out into the street before he could take it away.  He jumped our car and the alarm went off.  He thought he knew  how to turn off the alarm by locking and unlocking the car door, which normally would work, but our car is broken.  I don't think he realized that I already knew that, it happens when you are a girl and are dealing with cars. 

After about two minutes the alarm turned off.  He closed the door and the hood and asked me if I needed anything out of the car.  I told him no and he got back in, but not before the alarm went off.  He ended up getting in and out of the car a few more times and every time the alarm went off.  He seemed pretty annoyed as he drove away with a honking car being pulled behind him. 

Crash/Football

Sometimes I think to myself. . .  "nothing exciting happens to me".  Then something happens, and I think "this is all my fault for thinking nothing exciting ever happens to me".

This week I was going to my doctors appointment when I got in a car accident.  I'm 100% fine, but our car. . .  not so much.  I was driving along a nice one way street, the light was green I was going straight and suddenly someone made a left turn into me.  She wasn't going very fast so I'm fine.  Our car got crunched in the back passenger side door.  It doesn't open anymore.  Also after about a day later our car decided that it would turn on the security alarm every time we opened the door.  Then the next day the battery decided it didn't want to work anymore.  With the assistance of our neighbor I jumped our car (I am basically an expert at jumping cars), but then then alarm went off.  I have a theory that there is an electrical short where we got hit and the rain just messed everything up.  Another car I had had the same problem with dying batteries after an accident in the same area.

Also something weird, we called the police to come to the accident, because in Utah when the damage is over $1,000 you are supposed to call the police and they write up a report and give someone a ticket.  (It's actually pretty sad that I know so much about this)  Here the police guy came, made sure that we were fine, that our cars were drivable and made sure we exchanged information.  Then he said, "It's not our responsibility to decide who's at fault, that's what the insurance people do."  Then he left.

We are now part way through the insurance investigation and waiting to hear from the liability people.  I'm pretty sure there is no possible way to find me at fault, but we still need to wait and see what the insurance people have to say before we can move forward with fixing the car.

So that's what's going on with the car. . . that poor car has had a sad life.  But I guess it is making me become more responsible and capable and handling accidents and problems.  Andrew is lucky, no one wants to randomly crash into the car when he's there.

On another note. . . Andrew and I went to the University of Pittsburgh football game against University of Utah.  The first quarter was pretty exciting, other than that not so much.  It was really fun to be at Heinz Field where the Steeler's play.  It's HUGE.  We didn't really know who we were cheering for going into the game, and I guess we never really decided I just cheered for the team that had the ball, it's more fun that way.  Also I don't really care about either team that much.  We were in a section split pretty evenly among Pitt and Ute fans.

We had a fun time and it was nice to be able to see a football game in person this year, we are planning on going to a Carnegie Mellon game sometime, but they aren't so good--like high school. But that should be fun too.

The guy behind us is making a funny face :)

One funny thing is that they pat you down before you can go into the stadium.  The girl accused me of trying to smuggle something in under my jacket.  She felt pretty embarrassed when I showed her it was my pregnant belly.

I Love to See the Temple

In the April General Conference President Monson said that 85% of all church members live within 200 miles of a temple.  According to google maps, Andrew and I live 196.4 miles from the Columbus Ohio temple.  The Washington D.C. temple is about 40 miles further away and the soon to be Philadelphia temple is a little further than that.  It is a 3.5 to 4 hour drive to Columbus.  When we lived in Logan we could have driven to a lot of temples in that time.  And in Albuquerque our temple was five minutes away.

On Saturday we went to the Columbus Temple.  The drive was long, but really pretty. Since it is such a small temple and sessions are one and a half to two hours apart you need to call and make an appointment for your session.  Even though it was very small it was still very pretty.  It was nice to go to the temple and feel the spirit there.

Not my picture. . . came from wikipedia. 

Peanut?

This is where I do my makeup, because I don't like standing while I'm doing it-- I never have.

The other day I was doing my makeup when I heard a weird sound coming from the air conditioner.  The only thing I could think was "AHHH!  It's going to fall out the window!"  And since we live on the third floor that would not be a good thing.  So I hopped up to try to rescue the air conditioner and a peanut popped through a little hole.  I was very confused.  Then a blue jay flew away, I guess he was saving it for later.  Silly bird.

Peanuts are not rare to see randomly strewn around our neighborhood, quite often the squirrels and birds are eating them, but I have yet to find out where they are coming from.

Weird Pregnancy Things. . .

Here are some nice stories about weird reactions to my stomach.

In Albuquerque we went to Motherhood Maternity because my pants weren't fitting so good.  I tried on a few things, but the lady there was so excited.  She kept bringing me clothes to try on like I was a dress up doll or something.  I had to model a couple of them for her.  It was a little weird, but I have discovered how comfy maternity pants are, I highly recommend them.

Andrew and I were in the Natural History Museum a few weeks ago when I over heard a lady whisper kind of loud "that's definitely a boy".  I turned around because I haven't quite mastered the skill of listening in on other people's conversations without looking, and she looked at me and said, "You're having a boy right?" I told her she was right and she elbowed her husband (who really didn't seem to care) and said, "I told you".

I thought that was weird, but didn't really think about it until the next day.

We were almost done with the tour at the Holocaust Memorial Museum when a security guard said, "that's a boy, isn't it?"

She didn't seem terribly busy so I told her yes and asked her how she knew.

She was really excited to tell me.  She said that she and her sisters had all had boys first and they all gained weight in their stomach (obviously) but not really anywhere else.  But pretty much that was the only thing that happened with their bodies.  Her sisters then both had girls and crazy things happened to them.  Their noses got all puffy and big along with the rest of their faces.  They got terrible acne and according to her they "looked like monsters".  Another favorite thing she said about having girls-- "Not only do you feel awful because you are pregnant you are also ugly and depressed by how you look".  She has two sons and says they are the best and she was happy that I was having a son so I could stay cute.

I got a good laugh, I have some friends that know they are having girls, and I don't think they look like monsters.  But if I do see a monster then I will know.

Andrew and I got smoothies from an Asian lady in Washington D.C. and she gave me a banana with my smoothie and said "for the baby".  Awesome!  Free Banana!

Andrew was thrilled when he saw "Expectant Mother Parking" at Walmart yesterday.  We parked there, but an older lady gave him the grouchiest look I've ever seen.  When we came out she was still there with the same crusty look on her face.  I'm obviously pregnant, but not so much that it looks like I'm just picking up some last minute things on my way to the hospital.  But I don't feel bad about parking there.

I'm now at 27 weeks, and just finishing up the 2nd trimester.  Now I just get to get bigger and bigger.  This is what I look like these days.

Washington D.C. Adventure

Andrew and I went to Washington D.C. the week between when we got to Pittsburgh and when his classes started.  We got to our hotel about 10 minutes after the earthquake (which we didn't feel, because we were driving) and we left Sunday morning just as the hurricane was ending (just a lot of rain and pretty windy).

We went to the Air and Space Museum

Space Shuttle

Pretty Flower

We were going to go inside the Washington Monument, but there were cracks from the earthquake

Me and the White House

Luckily I'm still smaller than a Walrus (at the Natural History Museum)

Andrew and an elephant

Dome at the Capital (Andrew's friend Devin gave us a sweet tour)

More Capital

Library of Congress (but we didn't get to see any books, because of the earthquake)

I have scary hair because it rained all day

Jefferson Memorial

Crazy lady at the Jefferson Memorial with her cardboard dogs

We went and saw the Memorials with Devin and Amber

WWII Memorial

The new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

We had a really fun trip, and we saw a lot of things.