A Feeling

Do you ever get the feeling... that craving for change? Over the last few days, I have this anxious, nagging feeling in the bottom of my stomach. I can't tell if it's the "something is coming" feeling, or the "I wish something would come" feeling.
A lot of people are scared of change. I'm not normally one of those people. I kind of like big changes like moving or getting a new job. I view them as a chance to start over. I don't know if any big changes are coming any time soon, but I've got a few little things brewing in my pot of change...
-I'm trying to improve my body (who's not?). I've learned some new things to do with weights and the ball and figured out a way to do a lot of it at home.
-I am trying to improve my overall health through healthy eating. For Christmas I received a subscription to the Cooking Light magazine, a knife block, and an apron with chickens on it. I have vowed to try one new healthy recipe each week.
-I am trying NAET www.naet.com to get rid of my restless leg syndrome. This is an eastern therapy that is supposed to reduce your sensitivity to chemicals, foods, hormones, etc. I am also being treated for a variety of emotions and my voo-doo witch doctor claims that it can help with morning sickness. I'll do a more in depth post about this at a later time.
-I'm starting a collection of essential oils. My friend Maria sent me some samples a couple of months ago. I've been studying the properties of many of the essential oils and am intrigued enough to try them out. I'll keep you posted on this as well.
Perhaps these are my little new year resolutions. Whatever they are, I hope these little changes help me to improve myself and my life.

Jack's First Peak

I love the mountains. I have a sense of freedom when I'm hiking a trail and a wonderful sense of accomplishment when I've reached the summit. I am so happy to live in this beautiful place where I can access freedom and accomplishment so easily.

On Saturday evening, we thought we'd beat the heat and go to a higher altitude for a hike. We did Sunset Peak. The trail head is above Alta at the Albion Basin. We did get out of the heat, but we did not plan for the bugs. All three of us got quite a few mosquito bites... yipes.

Our Trip to Colorado

Well, the original plan was to hit both Thailand and Peru before having a baby, but now that Jack is part of our family, we wouldn't trade him for a trip around the world.

Anyway, our big trip for this year was a trip to Erie, Colorado, home of my sister, Tara and her family. Tara had a new baby, Blake, at the end of May, so we went out there to let Jack meet his new cousin. We had a fun time while we were there. Here is a picture of the cousins: Blake, Josh, Halle, Jack. Above is a pic of Blake and Jack. They happened to have matching outfits... we couldn't resist.

On Wednesday, Tara and I had a girls night out. We went to the awesome venue Red Rock Amphitheater and saw Celtic Woman preform. They were fantastic. They had some of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. There was also a fiddle player who was very entertaining, dancing and jumping all around the stage as she played her instrument. While we girls were enjoying our night out, the men took the children on a little hike. Apparently there was a lot of complaining and crying... sounds like fun.

Thursday we packed up the beach bag and went to Boulder Reservoir. There is a fun little beach area. The kids played in the sand and we all swam around in the water.

Friday, Michael, Jack and I went to Chautauqua Park and hiked around. The Flat Irons Area is beautiful. After a hot afternoon of hiking, we headed over to Pearl Street to get some lunch and do a little shopping. We had gyros from a fun little Mediterranean place.
Later that evening, we enjoyed a neighborhood BBQ in the park and in the Erie tradition, celebrated our country's birthday one day early with fireworks at the golf course. The kids really enjoyed the fireworks... especially Jack and Blake who slept right through them.

Saturday, Michael and Rusty went for a hike. They summited Mt. Bierdstadt at 14,060 feet. This was Michael's first 14er, but I'm sure it won't be his last. While the men were hiking, Tara and I took the kids to a farmers market in Boulder. We enjoyed sampling delicious organic treats and walking around the park. We topped off our outing with lunch on Pearl Street from Old Chicago Pizza. Wow, was it delicious.

We just hung out on Saturday evening and Michael, Jack and I flew home on Sunday. What a fun trip.

5 years ago...

5 years ago last Friday, I ran a marathon. Yes, me... 26.2 miles.

Last Friday, I ran 1.5 miles. It felt like a marathon.

I have about 8 lbs. to loose from the pregnancy. I have been making excuses (some of them legitimate) as to why I am unable to work out:

-I am too tired... I've been up all night with the baby
-My vericose veins are hurting
-I can't work it into my schedule
-Jack is not 3 months old so I can't take him to the daycare

All of these things are resolved (except my veins did hurt last night, but that was the first time in a while), so I am out of excuses.

Oh, and I'm addicted to sugar... do they have rehab for that?

I always say "If it's important, you'll make time for it." So it's time I take my own advice and get going on getting rid of these 8 lbs.

I just found this photo of myself and my two BFFs Melissa (on left) and Katie (on right) after finishing the marathon. They trained with me but were unable to run the race due to injuries.

A Small Accomplishment

After finishing school, I discovered reading for pleasure (something that was foreign to me during my college years). Although I quite enjoy reading, I have never been one to read long books. I get bored with them and impatient with myself (I have never been a terribly speedy reader).
A few months ago, I was looking for a book to read and at the suggestion of my sister, Tara, tararustyhallejosh.blogspot.com I decided to take on Gone With the Wind. It has 1024 pages, so normally I wouldn't have touched it, but I did, and I finished it today (I started it before Christmas). Oh, and I loved it. Although I do feel sorry for poor Scarlett. Her life is so hard. Oh well, I'll not think of it now.
So all I'm saying is, "good for me"... and does anyone have a suggestion for another good book for me to read (it doesn't have to be long)?

Back to Work

Yesterday was my last day as a stay at home mom. I went back to work today. I am cutting back my hours to 20/week, so I only have to be away from Jack two days per week.

He will be 2 months old on Sunday. I can't believe how much he's grown. It is so much fun to have him around. He knows how to sleep for 7 hours at night now and it is wonderful. He has also recently started to smile and coo and it is so adorable. He is a very good baby. Here are some cute pics of him.

Doggy Dilemma

Do all dogs really go to heaven? I don't think so. I have good reason to believe that my 3 doors down neighbor's dog is going straight to hell. The reason?
Jack has been doing great, taking his afternoon nap without any problems. Since the weather has gotten a little nicer, the neighbors let their dog stay outside in a pen. The dog barks incessantly, waking Jack up early every single time I put him down. The dog also barks late at night, keeping Michael and I awake.
So what do I do? I don't want to be the neighbor who goes up to the door and says, "Hi, my name is Natalie. I live a few houses down. Nice to meet you. By the way, could you shut your dog up before I call animal control?" I am 3 houses away... It's got to be bothering other people too. I don't know what to do. My baby needs to sleep. Any suggestions?

It Works... For Pizza

I am driving down the road and I see a Little Cesar's Mascot standing outside the store with a sign that says "Come get a pizza for $5." I think to myself, I sure am hungry and I haven't prepared dinner yet and it's only $5... I'll do it.
I am driving down the same street and see a giant bright pink cell phone mascot standing outside the T-Mobile store. It's sign says "Come buy a new cell phone plan with T-Mobile." I think to myself, I already have a cell phone plan with ATT. I don't want to pay $400 to break my contract and then pay more per month for a plan with T-Mobile. I won't do it.
I continue my drive and see somebody dressed as the Statue of Liberty standing outside the Liberty Mutual store. It's sign says, "Come in now and let us do your taxes." I think to myself, I would, but I don't have my W2 and other necessary tax forms with me right now. I won't do it.
All I'm saying is that it works... for pizza.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all you love birds out there. I don't get out much anymore and haven't had a chance to go get Michael a V-day gift, so I made him a homemade card out of pictures, construction paper, and glue. It's been a while since I've done anything like that. It was kind of fun and reminded me what it was like to be in the fifth grade again... making cards that say "I have a crush on you." If you haven't done something like this lately, I highly recommend that you do.

Linus

Our niece, Darci (4 years old) is very excited about the impending birth of her cousin. During the month of October, after watching the Charlie Brown Halloween movie she started asking us, "Won't you call your baby's name Linus?" Since then, every time the baby comes up, she tells us that we should name him Linus. The other day, she told me, "Yeah, Jack is a cute name, but Linus is better." Her mom sent me a text when I was at work last week that said Darci had been crying. When she asked her what was wrong, she replied, "Mike and Nat won't name their baby Linus." We are so sorry to disappoint.

Happy New Year

I've been thinking about whether or not I care to try to improve myself this year with a new year's resolution. I've been wanting to set a goal, but haven't been successful in thinking of a good one that I really care about. During this time of reflection, I realized that I don't spend enough time thinking about and processing my life. There were a few years in college, when I wrote in a journal every day. By doing that, I was able to process my thoughts and feelings and really got to know myself. I would think about my conversations with people, decide whether these interactions were positive or negative, and reflect on how they affected me. I learned how to be honest with what I was feeling...that anger was usually a way of expressing hurt and that fear was the opposite of love. I remember feeling quite emotionally healthy during those years and I think it was related to writing and reflecting (not that I'm a total emotional wreck now... cut me some slack, I'm pregnant). So, in addition to learning how to be a mother, I resolve to write in my journal this year since I'm certainly not giving up sugar.

Misplaced Keys

We all know the type of person that can't keep track of ANYTHING... especially his keys. Whatever he is looking for was specially placed in a spot that he "would never forget," but then he can't remember where that special place is. I am married to one of these people.

I am the type of person who rarely loses anything. I have a place for everything and I generally always put things in their assigned places. That way I don't have to think of a "special place" for anything. So you can imagine that it can be a little frustrating when things that may effect me get lost by other people :).

Last Friday, I had to work late so Michael got a ride home. Usually, we come in the garage door, where he hangs his keys on the key rack which I strategically placed there to encourage the putting away of the keys. Well, he came in through the front door, so the keys never got put away. Later that evening, we wanted to go out, so we searched the house up and down for his keys. No luck... we just used mine. Saturday, we did the search again, knowing that they must be somewhere in the house because he had used them to get in. Again, we came up with nothing. On Sunday afternoon, it was like a light-switch turned on in Michael's head and he all of the sudden got up and opened the front door. His keys were there, hanging from the dead-bolt.

Merry Christmas

Pictures of the Bird Family trip to Temple Square. The lights were beautiful.

Merry Christmas everyone. I have pretty much fallen off the face of the blogging earth over the last month, but I wanted to wish all my friends and family who read this Happy Holidays.

Michael and I have been very busy this last month getting everything in order in our new house. In addition to our regular schedules, we've had millions of Christmas parties and a baby shower and shopping and concerts and dinners and stuff, stuff, stuff. So it's been a busy month and to be perfectly honest, I am ready for Christmas to be over.

And, the sooner Christmas is over, the sooner my baby comes. I am due 4 weeks from today. I don't know if I'm quite ready to have the baby, but I do know that I am ready to have the baby outside of my body.

So, even though I am a little bit of a Christmas Grinch, I want everyone (including myself) to have a wonderful holiday.

Lost

The remote control for our DVD player is lost. A few months ago, it just disappeared and we figured it would just turn up. It hasn't. Maybe the universe is getting back at me for that mean trick I played on my old neighbors...

Several years ago, some of my college roommates and I were at a party at our neighbors' house. They were this group of guys that thought they were all that and more (alright to hang out with once in a while, but not every day kind of friends). They had this really big, expensive T.V. that was pretty much their pride an joy. I saw the remote sitting on the coffee table and thought it would be a funny joke to steal it. So I inconspicuously slipped it into my bag. I had to do a night shift that night, so I left the party early with the remote. The next day, my roommates told me that they after most of the people had cleared out, they had wanted to watch a movie. Apparently their big fancy T.V. didn't even work without the remote. Well, I didn't want to admit to my crime because they didn't think it was funny, so Brittany and I packaged up the remote and anonymously mailed it back.

Now I don't have a remote. Maybe it will arrive in the mail someday soon.

Finally...

We are FINALLY into our new house. It seems like it's just been one thing after another that has prevented us from actually physically occupying the property. Our original closing date was set for November 7th. Today is the 24th and this will be our first night sleeping there (knock on wood). Lucky for us, we had an understanding landlord who let us stay in our old apartment as long as we needed to and my mom and dad let us stay with them last weekend when Questar couldn't get out there to turn on our gas because of some problem with their computers. So we got all of our stuff moved in on Thursday, but didn't want to take cold showers or freeze to death at night.
Several people commented, asking where our new home is located and other details.... It's in south Lehi. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a phenomenal kitchen (at least for me... my last kitchen had approx. 2 inches of counter space). I have put all of my kitchen stuff away and still have cupboard space to spare. I am looking forward to becoming a culinary master in this kitchen, so send me all your best recipes. I think I am even going to try to make a pie before Thanksgiving (I'll let you know how that goes, or if it even happens).
We are still working on getting all of our stuff organized and put away. Our goal is to have it done by Wednesday because we have ordered new furniture and it is scheduled to be delivered then. It is definitely a work in progress, but we are so glad to finally be working on it.

Oh, by the way, I am 32 weeks pregnant. When I felt so sick, I thought the pregnancy would last an eternity. Now my due date is coming up so fast (January 21st). The baby still doesn't have a name or a car seat or a stroller or even a blanket. I need to get busy. He wiggles all the time and his little foot is wedged up in my right rib (very comfortable). Michael either has a calming effect on the baby or the baby is a tease because he absolutely will not kick for his daddy. He will be going crazy in there and Michael puts his hand on my belly... nothing. I think it's pretty funny.

Anyway, that's what's going on in the Bird world. I hope to have some more interesting posts in the future.

New House

We are in the process of purchasing a new home. At first it was very exciting. We were all set to close two weeks ago, but he day before closing, we found out that the seller of the home did not actually own it yet, but would later that evening. Because of this, our loan was no good (they won't sign off on a loan that is going to someone who does not own the property). So we pushed the closing date back another week. One hour before our new closing time, we got a call saying that the loan had just been audited and that because of the same problem mentioned above, the loan was being denied. So basically, the seller is a dope. Then he tried to charge us money to extend the contract that was invalid because of him. We are not giving him any extra money and our new closing date is set for next Wednesday. What a pain. We packed up most of our house the first time we thought we were moving, so for the past two and next one week, we have been tripping over boxes, and eating poor diets. I can't wait til it actually goes through. The good news is that interest rates have dropped, so I guess a week's wait is worth it. So here is a photo of the lovely home we will be living in soon (the boat on the side of the house does not come with it... bummer :))

She looks so sweet...

This is Indy. She is our family dog. Last month, Michael and I had the opportunity to dog-sit her for 10 days while my parents went on a cruise. Indy doesn't like it when her mom leaves her. She was just like a naughty little child who was acting out. She is very old (like 14 years old), so she can't hold it like she used to. Because of this, she has a bed in the laundry room (larger than your average laundry room) where she stays during the day while nobody is home. If for some reason she can't hold it in, it's much easier to clean up linoleum than carpet. Usually she's such an obedient dog, but when it was time for us to leave and we would tell her to go into the laundry room, she would look right at us and then start walking in the opposite direction. Oh, and then there was the barking in the middle of the night. Each morning around 3, we would hear barking. If I didn't get up to let her out for a minute, I would find a mess the next morning. Once while we were home, we left the bedroom door open and she went in there and peed on our bed. Michael found it when he stuck his foot in a wet bed.

The funny thing is, she is not normally like that. She is usually a good dog with an occasional accident (remember, she is 14 years old). She gets so mad when my mom leaves her. Poor little acting out dog :).

Happy Halloween

My baby dressed up in his first halloween costume today...

Trail Mix

I think they should change the order of the contents of trail mix. Instead of, from most to least:

1. Peanuts
2. Raisins
3. Cashews
4. Almonds
5. M&Ms

I think it should be:

1. Almonds
2. M&Ms
3. Peanuts
4. Raisins

And just leave out the cashews all together. I like dried fruit in my trail mix too. I guess I should just make my own and quit complaining about the store-bought version.

Update

Nothing terribly interesting is happening in my life right now, so here are some of the uninteresting things going on...

I guess I could tell you that we have been house hunting. We have found some nice places in the North part of Lehi and are looking in Draper as well. Now is a great time to be a buyer, not so great if you're a seller. I will keep you updated when we decide what we're getting. Maybe I'll even throw myself a housewarming party.

We went to the Weezer concert on Tuesday. When we got there, we were lined up behind a bunch of 12 year-olds. It was the first time in my life I've ever felt old. Most of the attendees were actually adults, so as the evening went on, I began to feel young again. I think Weezer is alright, but Michael is a pretty big fan (this probably goes back to 6th or 7th grade). So Michael really liked the concert, but the baby would get mad when it got very loud. It felt like he was punching my insides.

We went to Bodyworlds 3 yesterday. It was pretty cool. We had free tickets. Admission is $22 per person, so make sure you REALLY like looking at dead people before you go and drop the cash. There was one display that I thought was exceptionally cool... The baby display. It had embryos and fetuses from 5 weeks gestation through 32 weeks. By 8 weeks it is only about 1/2 an inch long, but it looks like a real baby... amazing. The whole thing was very cool, just a little overpriced (unless you get to go for free like us).

I am getting pretty fat. This baby boy is growing fast. I wont disturb your image of a slimmer me with a photo (you would probably throw up in your mouth and I don't want you to have to search for gum or a breath mint right now). It's actually pretty exciting to watch my belly grow. The baby moves all the time. Sometimes it even makes me feel nauseated again. I'm pretty sure he is the cutest baby ever. I can't wait until we get a new house so that I can start putting his nursery together.

I think that about sums it up...