How does one sleep on their side effectively after they are 20 weeks pregnant? I'm told the baby won't be able to breathe appropriately if I don't sleep on my side but I'm having a very difficult time! Waking up three times in the middle of the night is not so effective and tacked onto the week's worth of long meetings and things to do is very hard! The only thing nice about not sleeping well is that I'm up so early to get ready and am able to respond to so many work e-mails and even blog a day or two in the AM. The bad thing is that I want to sleep before I have no option!
Andy is also struggling. Having gone from the Family Medicine rotation of 4 half days and one full day that began at 8 and ended around 6 to 2 weeks of luxury called vacation with no wake-up deadlines (exclusive of travel and ski days), he is finding it difficult to wake up in time to make it for his 6 AM start, even with our 10 PM sleep time!
So I suppose we are both in trouble. If we can't even get some sleep now, what happens when the baby comes?!
The only comfort seems to be, we have been very prayerful in asking for help upon return to work and school this week and thus far, despite the crazy schedule we both have, it has been doable. In fact, I am more energized, I even take time and care to do my hair and look presentable (for a while, my coworkers were commenting that I just "looked pregnant" and "a mess"). Andy has also commented that in spite of not having enough sleep and feeling fatigued constantly, his team has been great and he has had it pretty easy so far.
Since today is his first duty on call, and my longest day by far, we will see where we actually land by the end of the week. My guess? Asleep in the Temple on Friday night.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Our Blogs are Merged
FYI a ton of old entries from Daisy's old blog, Daises Without Thorns, just got added to our family blog so she will not be posting on the old blog anymore. Happy reading!
I Resolve To....dun dun DUN!!!
When it comes to new year resolutions, there are some staple ones I have had since I was a kid and have never yet been able to fully meet them.
1) Do the splits
2) Stop biting my nails
To my credit, I have had naturally grown pretty nails at one point, but the habit of biting 'em keeps returning and I have yet to overcome it fully (I will chew off nailpolish, fake nails are gross to take off and the closest I came to doing the splits was the high school dance team which I quit after a year.
An additional resolution I remember from my early tween years was to find a guy I could be interested in. At 5'7 in fifth grade, there were not many boys at school I even looked at (yes, I'm superficial but it's one of those things I will admit when it comes to height). I remember every year wondering when I would find Mr. Right. Over the years, Mr. Right would have more qualities tacked onto him and by the time I was 25, he had to be so many things...
1) Tall
2) Intelligent
3) Hardworking
4) Reads
5) Funny
6) Good family values
7) Good moral values
8) Considerate
9) Listen to my type of music
Luckily, I did find Mr. Right and he had 8/9 of the above (we listen to different music) but in reality, none of those qualities were as important as one I didn't even have to begin with.
Imagine my surprise when I realized Mr. Right's qualities were not as important as Heavenly Father and His plan of happiness and the qualities that came with that knowledge. Imagine my surprise when pursuing someone with the above qualities meant nothing if he did not have a firm foundation in the Gospel and a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Imagine my surprise when the once turn-off qualities of being too religious became a question of how faithful is he?
Never in my 25 years growing up had I been to Church regularly with my family and never had I imagined my Sunday routine consisting of 3 hours of Church (it's fun and goes by quickly on most days if you are spiritually ready) followed by uplifting and spiritual activities to keep the Sabbath Day holy (lately it's reading gospel non-fiction, writing letters, blogging, journaling, spending time with family, helping others, etc.). Never had I imagined I would have companionship study and prayer with my husband everyday. Never had I imagined I would have what we term weekly "companionship inventory" (stolen from the missionaries and then from Genny's blog post about her and Dan doing it) to go over how we are doing and how we can improve, family home evening (we sing a hymn, open with a prayer, go over our weekly plans, share a spiritual message, do an activity, close with a prayer and eat a treat) once a week or conversations about life and the Gospel. Never had I imagined how easy things would become if you just remembered to keep the Gospel at the center of the relationship. Never had I ....
I often think of the past, not to reminisce on it, but to remember the contrast of dark and light. I was in a room with less light, and unknown to me at the time, it was darkness compared to the light I have now. The best example is when you're in a dark room for a while and your eyes adjust. At first, you are unable to see anything but over time... you start to see just fine. That is, until you are shown the light and then, to your surprise, you were barely seeing even at the point where you adjusted whilst in the dark.
This year, as I look over my resolutions and how many of them pertain to developing myself spiritually, I am shocked at the changes. Though they are real, I sometimes forget how great the Gospel has changed my life because I have become accustomed to the light. I hope I never forget and never take it for granted.
This year, I have goals that are categorized into three areas: mind, body, soul (as copied from the goals set forth by my father-in-law's bi-annual challenge). I encourage everyone to come up with goals and though you may not reach all of them, I am confident you are better off for trying because though I am still unable to do the splits (and will have to wait until post baby to continue trying) and still unable to always have beautiful and unbitten nails, I am inching towards that day by stretching and only having ugly nails two-three weeks out of a month. If I can do it, so can you.
1) Do the splits
2) Stop biting my nails
To my credit, I have had naturally grown pretty nails at one point, but the habit of biting 'em keeps returning and I have yet to overcome it fully (I will chew off nailpolish, fake nails are gross to take off and the closest I came to doing the splits was the high school dance team which I quit after a year.
An additional resolution I remember from my early tween years was to find a guy I could be interested in. At 5'7 in fifth grade, there were not many boys at school I even looked at (yes, I'm superficial but it's one of those things I will admit when it comes to height). I remember every year wondering when I would find Mr. Right. Over the years, Mr. Right would have more qualities tacked onto him and by the time I was 25, he had to be so many things...
1) Tall
2) Intelligent
3) Hardworking
4) Reads
5) Funny
6) Good family values
7) Good moral values
8) Considerate
9) Listen to my type of music
Luckily, I did find Mr. Right and he had 8/9 of the above (we listen to different music) but in reality, none of those qualities were as important as one I didn't even have to begin with.
Imagine my surprise when I realized Mr. Right's qualities were not as important as Heavenly Father and His plan of happiness and the qualities that came with that knowledge. Imagine my surprise when pursuing someone with the above qualities meant nothing if he did not have a firm foundation in the Gospel and a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Imagine my surprise when the once turn-off qualities of being too religious became a question of how faithful is he?
Never in my 25 years growing up had I been to Church regularly with my family and never had I imagined my Sunday routine consisting of 3 hours of Church (it's fun and goes by quickly on most days if you are spiritually ready) followed by uplifting and spiritual activities to keep the Sabbath Day holy (lately it's reading gospel non-fiction, writing letters, blogging, journaling, spending time with family, helping others, etc.). Never had I imagined I would have companionship study and prayer with my husband everyday. Never had I imagined I would have what we term weekly "companionship inventory" (stolen from the missionaries and then from Genny's blog post about her and Dan doing it) to go over how we are doing and how we can improve, family home evening (we sing a hymn, open with a prayer, go over our weekly plans, share a spiritual message, do an activity, close with a prayer and eat a treat) once a week or conversations about life and the Gospel. Never had I imagined how easy things would become if you just remembered to keep the Gospel at the center of the relationship. Never had I ....
I often think of the past, not to reminisce on it, but to remember the contrast of dark and light. I was in a room with less light, and unknown to me at the time, it was darkness compared to the light I have now. The best example is when you're in a dark room for a while and your eyes adjust. At first, you are unable to see anything but over time... you start to see just fine. That is, until you are shown the light and then, to your surprise, you were barely seeing even at the point where you adjusted whilst in the dark.
This year, as I look over my resolutions and how many of them pertain to developing myself spiritually, I am shocked at the changes. Though they are real, I sometimes forget how great the Gospel has changed my life because I have become accustomed to the light. I hope I never forget and never take it for granted.
This year, I have goals that are categorized into three areas: mind, body, soul (as copied from the goals set forth by my father-in-law's bi-annual challenge). I encourage everyone to come up with goals and though you may not reach all of them, I am confident you are better off for trying because though I am still unable to do the splits (and will have to wait until post baby to continue trying) and still unable to always have beautiful and unbitten nails, I am inching towards that day by stretching and only having ugly nails two-three weeks out of a month. If I can do it, so can you.
Monday, January 3, 2011
CHOOSE THE RIGHT!
Isn't it funny how the first day back to work or school always seems the worst? Somehow, all my workload seems to have accumulated over the past two weeks and is hitting me this week. Regardless of how much I have to face, I am positive that it will be a good (though tough) week! I am confident if I go in with a good attitude, try to uplift others and be honest with whomever I come in contact with (including angry managers and partners considering our lack of staff and turnover over the holiday period), everything else should be okay. I also am hoping I remember to choose the right. CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!!!
Happy first day back at work in 2011. Woo-Hoo!
Happy first day back at work in 2011. Woo-Hoo!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
She's a Sunbeam Now!
When we were in Salt Lake for Christmas, our oldest niece thought she was a sunbeam the Sunday following Christmas. Devastated that she had another week to go, she balled and balled until she couldn't anymore. So it was with great joy that I squealed at Andy across the Sunday school classroom today when I remembered that today was Sophie's first day as a sunbeam!
I didn't get a photo of her in her Sunday best dress but as you can see from the photo, her hair is curled for the extra special day!
I'm not sure if every child is as excited as Sophie was to be a sunbeam but I am taking notes in the corner, of the example her parents have been to me. Here are some of my notes thus far:
#1 My nieces are always, hands down, the best dressed girls at Church. When Church is over, they immediately change out of their dresses into play clothes (which may sometimes also be another cute "not Church" dress). What I like about this is that the girls recognize early on, even from something as minor as what they wear to Church, that they must be reverent as indicated by their special Sunday best dresses. Upon leaving Church, Sophie is always asked to change before she can eat or play. Cunningly genius, my sister-in-law also further sustains the depreciation of these cute adorable dresses while emphasizing the spiritual importance of being at Church. It's a small simple thing but in many aspects, the girls are taught, from a very early age of why it's important to dress appropriately for Church in Sunday best.
#2 Our nieces always have quiet books to keep them company throughout Sacrament, HOWEVER, nothing can be removed from the Church bag until after the Sacrament is passed. This emphasizes the importance of partaking of the Sacrament and although it is probably just bread and water to them now, they hear the prayer and they are learning, very early, that it is the most important part of the hour.
#3 If our niece acts up, she is taken from the Chapel SANS Church bag goodies. This means princess fun stays inside the Chapel but time out is outside of the Chapel. It's something so minor but so many times, I have seen kids outside with their parents playing with a toy. I think, it's not a big deal, but then I recognize, it is slowly creating a habit where the kid can just hang out outside.
These are but three simple notes I have taken but I am excited for it and cannot wait to follow the examples they have given me.
I didn't get a photo of her in her Sunday best dress but as you can see from the photo, her hair is curled for the extra special day!
I'm not sure if every child is as excited as Sophie was to be a sunbeam but I am taking notes in the corner, of the example her parents have been to me. Here are some of my notes thus far:
#1 My nieces are always, hands down, the best dressed girls at Church. When Church is over, they immediately change out of their dresses into play clothes (which may sometimes also be another cute "not Church" dress). What I like about this is that the girls recognize early on, even from something as minor as what they wear to Church, that they must be reverent as indicated by their special Sunday best dresses. Upon leaving Church, Sophie is always asked to change before she can eat or play. Cunningly genius, my sister-in-law also further sustains the depreciation of these cute adorable dresses while emphasizing the spiritual importance of being at Church. It's a small simple thing but in many aspects, the girls are taught, from a very early age of why it's important to dress appropriately for Church in Sunday best.
#2 Our nieces always have quiet books to keep them company throughout Sacrament, HOWEVER, nothing can be removed from the Church bag until after the Sacrament is passed. This emphasizes the importance of partaking of the Sacrament and although it is probably just bread and water to them now, they hear the prayer and they are learning, very early, that it is the most important part of the hour.
#3 If our niece acts up, she is taken from the Chapel SANS Church bag goodies. This means princess fun stays inside the Chapel but time out is outside of the Chapel. It's something so minor but so many times, I have seen kids outside with their parents playing with a toy. I think, it's not a big deal, but then I recognize, it is slowly creating a habit where the kid can just hang out outside.
These are but three simple notes I have taken but I am excited for it and cannot wait to follow the examples they have given me.
My First Christmas as a Phillips
I'll be the first to admit, I was a bit homesick while in Utah for Christmas this year. It was my first ever Christmas as Andy's wife as a Phillips, and though I was excited to be with his family (now MY family too!), I was shocked when I felt a longing for my Chou family one night. To my disappointment, when I called my parents and brother to wish them a Merry Christmas, I found out my brother's Christmas dinner was provided by Jack in the Box and my parents were spending the night dancing with friends (they got into ballroom dancing after my stint in college). I knew of my parents' plans but I didn't expect my brother to eat dinner alone. I know that didn't bother him as a few years back, the two of us spent Christmas in the Cheesecake Factory, but still it bothered me now.
As I sat and pondered, unable to reconcile the wonderful Christmas I was having with Andy's family in Utah and my brother's fast food Christmas in California, I started thinking back to when we had our last family Christmas celebration. The recent years were a blur but the memories that stuck out most of Christmas time with the family dated back to years of my youth. When we were all kids, Christmas was more special and family oriented but as we grew older, it seemed to lose meaning. No longer did we have Christmas lights, wrapped presents under a decorated Christmas tree or even the fire roasting chestnuts in the background... and gone was the magic of Christmas that came with our own family traditions.
This year, as I became more aware of a Christ centered Christmas and what it really means to celebrate the birth of our Savior, I also realized that for my Chou family, the only time we seemed to truly celebrate as a family was when we were younger. The intermission through adult life leaves a gap that I am excited to try to help fill when Christmas will be spent with my family and the first grandchild or wai-sun once Baby Phillips is born. I can only hope that our example will bring the Spirit to my family and help build a foundation of faith, patience and diligence as we will need all of the aforementioned to persevere when the family only expects to eat together and then go off on their separate ways.
This year, I contrasted more the differences between a family raised in the Gospel and a family not. We read the Christmas stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, opened gifts, had a feast of food, and played games. Unlike memories from family gatherings before in which adults rarely played with us (except for the one year we got Uncle Andy and Aunt Jessica who was still the new girl he just met to play three games of Monopoly with us), the whole family gathered together. If anything, the teens were the ones hesitantly refusing to partake but begrudgingly participating.... while the adults, myself included, reveled with joy and laughter.
A common thanks we often give is for the gospel in our lives. My first Christmas as a Phillips helped me grow in my love for that gift as it will now be a part of my life as we raise our child and formulate our own family traditions. How grateful I am for that and how drastic of a difference I already am able to witness of life with and without the gospel. How did I get so lucky? How was I in the right place at the right time, with all the balls falling into place when I decided to investigate the Church and check out mormon.org? I'm not quite sure, but I'm thankful for it and humbled by the experience and the gift of truth that I will now be able to pass on to my posterity and share with my family.
As I sat and pondered, unable to reconcile the wonderful Christmas I was having with Andy's family in Utah and my brother's fast food Christmas in California, I started thinking back to when we had our last family Christmas celebration. The recent years were a blur but the memories that stuck out most of Christmas time with the family dated back to years of my youth. When we were all kids, Christmas was more special and family oriented but as we grew older, it seemed to lose meaning. No longer did we have Christmas lights, wrapped presents under a decorated Christmas tree or even the fire roasting chestnuts in the background... and gone was the magic of Christmas that came with our own family traditions.
This year, as I became more aware of a Christ centered Christmas and what it really means to celebrate the birth of our Savior, I also realized that for my Chou family, the only time we seemed to truly celebrate as a family was when we were younger. The intermission through adult life leaves a gap that I am excited to try to help fill when Christmas will be spent with my family and the first grandchild or wai-sun once Baby Phillips is born. I can only hope that our example will bring the Spirit to my family and help build a foundation of faith, patience and diligence as we will need all of the aforementioned to persevere when the family only expects to eat together and then go off on their separate ways.
This year, I contrasted more the differences between a family raised in the Gospel and a family not. We read the Christmas stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, opened gifts, had a feast of food, and played games. Unlike memories from family gatherings before in which adults rarely played with us (except for the one year we got Uncle Andy and Aunt Jessica who was still the new girl he just met to play three games of Monopoly with us), the whole family gathered together. If anything, the teens were the ones hesitantly refusing to partake but begrudgingly participating.... while the adults, myself included, reveled with joy and laughter.
A common thanks we often give is for the gospel in our lives. My first Christmas as a Phillips helped me grow in my love for that gift as it will now be a part of my life as we raise our child and formulate our own family traditions. How grateful I am for that and how drastic of a difference I already am able to witness of life with and without the gospel. How did I get so lucky? How was I in the right place at the right time, with all the balls falling into place when I decided to investigate the Church and check out mormon.org? I'm not quite sure, but I'm thankful for it and humbled by the experience and the gift of truth that I will now be able to pass on to my posterity and share with my family.
BYU shirt for our son!
My first stocking... I am 28 and this is my first stocking... EVER!
My cute nieces!
I hope my kids are as cute and sweet!
Just Like My Grandma Used to Do
One of my favorite things to do growing up was to rearrange the furniture in my room. It didn't involve much except shuffling books off of bookshelves (I had three which also served as a backboard to my bed), moving all my ceramic goods into a safe haven, rolling the twin bed and occasionally removing the desk drawer items and clearing the top of the desk in order to move it. My parents never discouraged it, and in fact my mom said I got it from my grandmother who loved rearranging furniture and living spaces as well.
With the upcoming addition to our family, conversations have been floating in the air about how to free up space for the baby's room. Ordinarily, a task such as this would be simple considering we have three bedrooms, but upon consolidation of our stuff after I moved in, we came out with seven couches total. I know that's a lucky number but think about it... SEVEN couches and we only have ONE living room. On the bright side, entertaining was easy and everyone always had a seat-- but on the flip side, our house a walking nightmare of couches galore (couch in the guest room, couch in the study, couch in our bedroom, and four couches in the living room/kitchen).
Unable to sell a set of the couches for a reasonable price on Craig's List (the LA market for couches is pretty lousy considering a ton of dealers are on there selling their new couches for $200), we left everything as was and didn't consider much until the baby's room became a topic of conversation. We knew we had to move some stuff and unload ourselves of some couches, but how we were not sure.
And then upon returning from Utah where we spent Christmas, something came over my husband. Two days after we returned, he awoke from a nap in the afternoon and declared very succinctly his plan to clean the house. I thought this meant tidying things up a bit (having a lot of couches lends to clean laundry sitting there often), but instead he started moving furniture around the rooms. To my disbelief, he was talking about clearing our living space of some couches (which we had been talking about for months but never gotten around to) and using the guest room to store some of our extra stuff. I immediately jumped on board to help but being pregnant, I wasn't able to do much except cheer him on and provide him with my expertise on proper placement of furniture (as I do have years of experience) which meant him moving things back and forth (only twice... maybe?) to get the right position for every item. It was quite a task but in the end, it was an amazing face lift to our living room in mere hours!
And then, to top it off, we found a beautiful dining room set from World Cost Plus Market, where we had $500 bucks of free money (courtesy of our favorite talk show host). We quickly listed our existing dining table on Craig's List, got a response within literally five minutes, and a buyer within another hour and a day later, and a sweaty and handy Andy later, we had ourselves a brand new dining table set!
And I'll tell you a secret, I can't wait to get home now! I always loved our home but now it feels JUST right for the new year. Not too spacious, not too cluttered, but JUST right. Now I'm ready to continue making goals both spiritually and physically, ready to execute on those goals in our new home, ready to host our family for some holidays, and ready for the changes left to update our study into a baby room (a project for another day... small steps...)
It's a great way to start the year and it has made me so deliriously happy to be home! I love our new living room and our new dining room! I can't wait to see what we pull out of our pockets for the baby's room!
With the upcoming addition to our family, conversations have been floating in the air about how to free up space for the baby's room. Ordinarily, a task such as this would be simple considering we have three bedrooms, but upon consolidation of our stuff after I moved in, we came out with seven couches total. I know that's a lucky number but think about it... SEVEN couches and we only have ONE living room. On the bright side, entertaining was easy and everyone always had a seat-- but on the flip side, our house a walking nightmare of couches galore (couch in the guest room, couch in the study, couch in our bedroom, and four couches in the living room/kitchen).
Unable to sell a set of the couches for a reasonable price on Craig's List (the LA market for couches is pretty lousy considering a ton of dealers are on there selling their new couches for $200), we left everything as was and didn't consider much until the baby's room became a topic of conversation. We knew we had to move some stuff and unload ourselves of some couches, but how we were not sure.
And then upon returning from Utah where we spent Christmas, something came over my husband. Two days after we returned, he awoke from a nap in the afternoon and declared very succinctly his plan to clean the house. I thought this meant tidying things up a bit (having a lot of couches lends to clean laundry sitting there often), but instead he started moving furniture around the rooms. To my disbelief, he was talking about clearing our living space of some couches (which we had been talking about for months but never gotten around to) and using the guest room to store some of our extra stuff. I immediately jumped on board to help but being pregnant, I wasn't able to do much except cheer him on and provide him with my expertise on proper placement of furniture (as I do have years of experience) which meant him moving things back and forth (only twice... maybe?) to get the right position for every item. It was quite a task but in the end, it was an amazing face lift to our living room in mere hours!
And then, to top it off, we found a beautiful dining room set from World Cost Plus Market, where we had $500 bucks of free money (courtesy of our favorite talk show host). We quickly listed our existing dining table on Craig's List, got a response within literally five minutes, and a buyer within another hour and a day later, and a sweaty and handy Andy later, we had ourselves a brand new dining table set!
And I'll tell you a secret, I can't wait to get home now! I always loved our home but now it feels JUST right for the new year. Not too spacious, not too cluttered, but JUST right. Now I'm ready to continue making goals both spiritually and physically, ready to execute on those goals in our new home, ready to host our family for some holidays, and ready for the changes left to update our study into a baby room (a project for another day... small steps...)
It's a great way to start the year and it has made me so deliriously happy to be home! I love our new living room and our new dining room! I can't wait to see what we pull out of our pockets for the baby's room!
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