Mormon Synchronized Swimming

Conversations with a Toddler

We were on our way somewhere in the car the other day and this conversation occurred as we pulled into a parking lot:

Audrey: My Dada!

Ben: Yes, I am your Dada!

Audrey: (pause) PEESACWAP!

Ben: I am not a piece of crap!

(Mom and Dad dissolve into laughter)

Updates... boring and .... boring.

Well, okay... I think I've been a bit boring lately and I'm sorry in advance if I still fall short of entertaining.

I had another prenatal appointment this week, this one with the specialists that I saw last pregnancy. It was that office that labeled me high risk with Audrey.

I got to talk to the genetic counselor lady who, among other things, informed me that I'm not likely to have Hemochromatosis unless Mom is a carrier and/or full-blown herself. I'm still taking that with a grain of salt as there seems to be an awful lot that doctors don't understand about the human body and genetics. Still, it was good to know that the odds are in my favor as far as that goes.

We got another ultrasound (I'll scan the pictures when I dig out my scanner which is currently buried under store ads and disposable dishes) and we got to see our little critter stretching and kicking around in there. That was pretty fun. We still haven't heard a heartbeat, but we have SEEN it going like gangbusters.

The really good thing that came out of all this is that my doctor at this office decided that upping my thyroid medication would be a good idea. FINALLY! I've been feeling unreasonably tired and, over this last weekend, was starting to feel depressed. Depression-like symptoms can point at a thyroid unbalance. So, I've been on the increased dose for two days and I'm already starting to feel good enough to sit up for extended periods of time and my thinking has cleared up a little.

My specialist doctor does seem to need a little breaking in, however. Ben and I were being mildly funny during our visit and my doctor might have cracked a smile once... I'm hopeful that we'll have him loosened up by the time I deliver.

I seem to be at the height of my morning sickness though.. without getting too graphic, I'm pretty sure the stomach acid has been making my throat bleed slightly the last couple of days. I'm definitely going to bring that up to my doctor on my next visit as I don't remember that happening with Audrey.

So, I know it's not funny (yet) but at least I'm able to bring some updates to the table. My only friend lately has been the couch in front of the TV. I am enthused to inform you all, though, that I've managed to help Mario collect 5 of the 7 Crystal Stars and am well on my way to saving Princess Peach and the whole world! Go me!

I'd rather be Farming

Since morning sickness kicked in, I have become a couch potato... sitting in a semi-reclining position takes a good amount of pressure off my tum. So, I have acquired a lot of TV Time...

My TV week officially starts on Tuesday since there is practically nothing airing on Monday night.. except Heroes, but I'm hopelessly lost when it comes to Heroes since I haven't watched it since half-way through season one.

Tuesday: Fox is my friend and I watch House (loooooove it!) and Fringe (learning to looooove it!). I can't help my ridiculous attraction to a horribly sardonic doctor who I desperately want to prove he's a good guy, but I'd be instantly uninterested if he did. Fringe, for me, is like a new, fresh version of The X-Files without aliens... so far. The scientist dad guy makes me giggle... a lot.

Wednesday: Two of my favorite shows are on at the same time on Wednesday. America's Next Top Model and Project Runway... good thing for DVR! Ben and I watch Project Runway together... I'm just sad it's over for this season... Finale was last night. As for that, I totally disagree with the Yahoo! critics who think this year was subpar... I thought the talent was AWESOME and I think the winner was AWESOME! Go Leann! Ben hates ANTM.. he got really annoyed last night when I wanted him to stay with me in the Family Room while I watched it. I am starting to think that the people that get booted off have more to do with "politics" this year.. I don't always get the logic behind the reason why these girls are sent home... speaking of girls.. don't get me started on one of the "girls" this year.. ugh.

Thursday: Woohoo for The Office. Steve Carrell is so histarical! He is an HR nightmare and yet I love him! I think The Office is one of the funniest shows on TV right now.

Friday: America's Toughest Jobs was on on Friday nights.. but for some inexplicable reason, they switched it to Saturday this week. Great show.. but like most reality shows, these "real" people are super annoying.

If nothing (I.E. The Presidential Debates) is on, I play Harvest Moon.... Ah... I'd rather be farming.

My Nugget

Here is the first glimpse at the newest Thompson. You need to have experience interpreting abstract art in order to see anything. :)

Normalcy would be nice..

Okay, so this isn't going to be a real blog today. Just an update on where I've been.

Morning sickness hit me with a vengeance on Monday. I managed to not throw up on Tuesday, but Wednesday was a bad one too.

Speaking of Wednesday...

Ben got a call at 5:30 informing him that our former roommate, Scott, had been in a motorcycle accident. He was unconscious and they were taking him to the hospital right away. Ben literally ran from his class on campus to the hospital. He actually beat the ambulance.

Needless to say we've all been terribly upset. Ben spent the entire evening at the hospital. The Bishop's wife, Erin, showed up at our door around 7 and firmly told me that she was taking Audrey for the night and giving me a ride to the hospital so I could be with Ben and Scott. So, I spent the latter half of the evening in the hospital too.

Overall, Scott looks okay. Not great.. okay. He could be much worse for having been in a motorcycle accident, so that's a blessing. As of now, we're waiting for his parents to get into town. We're also trying to find a suitable place for them to stay as the hotels are mostly booked for Balloon Fiesta. We've offered our third bedroom and the Bishop has offered his spare room as well. So, we'll be a bit touch and go for a while over here.

I'm still here.. just not as available as I was just a few weeks ago. But, I will try to keep in touch.

My Creepy Floating Baby

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed yet, but just under my profile, there is a little floating baby in a bubble. That, supposedly, is roughly what the little alien in my stomach looks like right about now.

Jennifer found the website, so thanks for that... I think.

When Dara first saw it, I think she said something about it looking like a creepy sea monkey...

Ben, if I recall correctly, was disturbed. Especially by the way the little baby free floats in the bubble.

I found out today that if you click on it a lot, it will rotate. I'm not so sure that is a great thing. But.. even if you're creeped out, I'm keeping it anyway. I'm just hoping it will start to look cuter when it gets too big to float around so much.

I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Okay. I still can't think of anything noteworthy to talk about, so I figured I would just update you all on the past horrific week.

Thursday: Dropped off Audrey at the Bishop's house to play with Theo and drove down to the Storehouse to do some service hours. When we got there, we were politely and sweetly told that we couldn't wear open toed shoes. Sigh. So we drove back home and got shoes and drove back. Overall, working at the Storehouse was super fun! We mostly worked in the kitchen preparing fresh fruits and vegetables for the patrons. (I think they put us in there because of my weight (lifting) restrictions.) One of the sweet little old men even brought me a chair so I wouldn't have to stand while chopping, bagging, weighing, twist-tying, etc. Ben and I had a great time and we were able to spend some quality time together talking. They served us lunch, which was a welcome surprise.

Friday: Woke up bright and early and drove up north to Dixion's Apple Orchard. Beautiful drive! We got a little past the start of the dirt road when traffic stopped. It was probably a good 2+ miles to get to the parking lot and we were just crawling alone. After about an hour of creeping down the road slower than a snail, Ben put Audrey in the stroller and jogged down to the Orchard. I continued to creep along in the van. Ben and Audrey and had a good time munching sample apples and looking at twigs, leaves, etc while standing in line. Emily's still creeping, creeping along. The people that wait in line are always super nice and friendly which is amazing since you typically stand in line for nearly 2 hours. And I creeped along. After Ben got our two bags of apples, he waited for a good ten minutes or so to see if I was just round the corner. He then decided that he could just meet up with me at the van. He packed up the stroller, apples and Audrey and hopped in, turned the car around and we headed back to the highway. (I was a good 1/4 mile from the Orchard at the time he got to the car.) I never even got to see the apple trees... maybe next year.

Saturday: Got up early and packed up the van for our trip to northern New Mex. Stopped at the store for a few groceries and hit the road. Ben ended up hanging out with Audrey in the back watching The Little Mermaid. The drive was lovely and the weather was excellent. Sierra Bonita cabins and RV park is pretty nice, though a bit outdated in decor. We got to witness a Catholic wedding blessing and vows renewal which was touching and thankfully simple. Afterwords, we all tucked into some tasty homemade New Mexican food. It was pretty good! After lounging around for a while, a bunch of us decided to go fishing at a tiny nearby pond. I was still feeling rather over-full of food and so was trying to be very careful. We'd been fishing for about an hour when I felt the urgent need to hit the bricks and toss my cookies. Without going into too much horrible detail, I rather painfully and quickly rid myself of my entire dinner.
My thinking was that morning sickness had finally hit (yay.) and that I was in for a solid two months of this. So, I had a pretzel to calm my tum and a little Sprite. About 30 minutes later, we packed up to go back to the cabins and I lost it again. Wow. That's not good, I was thinking. Got back to the cabin and there it went again. As near as I can figure (since my evening was a bit of a blur), I was sick about every half hour from about 5 o'clock to midnight. I was really starting to freak out that my brand of morning sickness this time would be every-half-hour-sickness.
When we got up the next morning, Audrey had thrown up too, so that set me back a bit. Maybe it was something we ate? I couldn't figure anything out. The kicker was when we changed Audrey's diaper and found a massive mess in there. It hit me: Stomach Flu. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!
So, we drove home as quickly as possible and I spent the rest of the day on the couch in front of the TV. Our Bishop's sweet little wife took my primary class for me on 2 hours notice! I owe her big time. Somewhere toward evening, the bug hit Ben and he spent the rest of the night running for the bathroom as well. Woohooo.

Monday: Lots and lots of lying around the house, trying to keep Audrey occupied (and off my stomach). Ben missed school and work that day. By evening we were barely starting to feel human again.

Tuesday: Ben and I spent the early morning clearing the kitchen out. The flooring guys came around 10-ish and started making a ruckus in the kitchen. Audrey, thankfully, was picked up by the Bishop's wife (again!) and whisked away to whatever super fun place they had planned. I spent the majority of the day trying to ignore the disaster in the kitchen. The really frustrating thing was how many blankity-blank breaks these two guys would take. Seriously.. they could have got the floor done at least 2 hours sooner if they didn't have to smoke.... or eat..
Around 5, the whole job was done and the guys left us to hook up our appliances and wonder what to do for dinner. I called the Bishop's house to let them know we were coming to get Audrey finally and sweet little Erin said "Have you had dinner yet?" "Um.. no.. we were trying to figure out something." "We have enchiladas if you're interested." So about an hour later, we rolled home with Audrey and full tummies and yet another thing that we couldn't possibly thank the Bishop's family for enough.

Today: I am so tired. I have no comments. But, hey... I blogged.