It's Here...

My due date is here... and I'm still pregnant.

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.

Pregnancy Update

Several people have asked questions about my baby in the comments lately. I try not to post too much about my pregnancy because I don't want to complain, but you asked... Here is what's going on:
I am due in 9 days (January 21st). I am having a baby boy and we do not know what we are going to name him for sure, although we are leaning heavily toward Jack. If anyone has any suggestions on names, we are looking and listening. I am fat and uncomfortable and hope that he comes soon just so I can breathe again. My hands and feet are swollen and I get frequent headaches. I can only sleep a few hours at a time (better get used to it) even with the assistance of a sleep aid. My clothing no longer fits... even the "fat scrubs" I bought to wear to work are getting tight around my belly. I have painful varicose veins. I also have ligament pain and frequently end up limping instead of walking.
I am really looking forward to the delivery. I am ready for different kinds of pain. I am excited to meet our little guy and know that all this discomfort will be worth it. We have everything we need set up in his nursery and sometimes I go in there and daydream about how sweet he'll be. I especially love to look at his snowsuit. So stay tuned for pics of the new baby...He's coming soon (I hope).

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.

EY2K5

On Saturday, Michael and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It was super romantic... We spent the day with his extended family at the annual Bird family Christmas party and then topped it off with a wonderful evening at my parents' house hanging out with my family. We had plans to go out, but being as pregnant as I am, I just didn't feel like it.

Despite the lack of actually doing anything to celebrate it, it has been a great 3 years. We have had many good times and hope to continue to do so throughout our lifetimes... only from now on, we'll get to share the fun times with our baby too. This is a collage of some of the highlights of the last 3 years:
And here are a few of the wedding:

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.