Wonderman and past few days

I'm married to a wonderful man! Jesse puts up with my crazy pregnancy thoughts and...

came home from work early yesterday and cleaned up the whole apartment!

Let me back track a little bit- on Monday Jesse called me when I was on my way home from work and said that he still had some work left to do at the Arboretum and asked if I wanted to pick something up for dinner and meet him there so we could eat and walk around for a little bit after he finished.

I made a stop at the apartment to grab something he needed and to go to the bathroom. There was a note on our front door which I briefly read and said they found evidence of bedbugs in adjoining apartments and would be treating our apartment as a precaution as well....

Then as I stepped onto the carpet in front of the bathroom I noticed it was squishing down- not normal. Then I stepped into the bathroom and realized that several of the ceiling panels had fallen down and the floor was wet. Water had also seeped into the bedroom carpet right in front the bathroom, thus the squishiness of the carpet.

So I grabbed what Jesse needed and headed out.

Later, when we got home Jesse was changing and noticed that the majority of the clothes in our closet were wet too along with the carpet in the closet. Not good.

I called emergency maintenance and the maintenance man said that there had been some sort of leak in the apartment above us and apparently they had failed to check our apartment to see if there was any damage! Geez! I informed him there had been damage. He said he would let them know in the morning.

I showed the bedbug letter to Jesse and we read through it- they wanted to come on Thursday (yesterday) to treat for them and we needed to have all our clothes bagged up, sheets off the bed, furniture moved away from the walls 18 inches, etc. so they could get in and spray.

When I came home from work on Tuesday, my sister had said the maintenance guy came and just put a dehumidifier in the bedroom for the leaked water. That's it!

By Wednesday the carpets had started to smell like mildew and I was getting upset at the maintenance people since the hadn't been back to do anything.

Wednesday evening, Jesse and I bagged up our clothes and transferred them to our cars and moved the furniture out from the wall. Well, he moved the furniture and I bagged the clothes...

We talked about it and decided that because of the possible side effects of the bug chemicals we didn't really want them to spray because of me being pregnant. We also have finches and we weren't sure what would happen to them. But Jesse said that by law they're required to spray when there are bedbugs. I said I would much rather deal with the bedbugs than the effects of the chemicals and that if our baby was born with a birth defect because of them we were going to sue and I made him unwillingly pinkie promise!

I asked Jesse if he could take the finches to the Arboretum and he said they wouldn't allow it. My response (which was mostly hormone based as I look back): "Don't you care about the finches?" He said "yes I do. But, we can buy new finches - we can't buy a new baby and if they don't spray because of our baby, the finches will be fine too."

We decided to write a note and let them know.
Jesse wrote:
"Please spray only if absolutely necessary.
My wife is 5 months pregnant.
At this stage the developing baby
is extremely susceptible to pesticides.

Thanks
Jesse D.

The baby thanks you too!"

We left the note up and went to bed.

During lunch yesterday I spoke with the lady in the office and told her about the mildewing carpet and asked if they were going to do anything. She said the maintenance guy was in our apartment right then putting up new ceiling panels in the bathroom and said once the carpet dried a little bit more they would have it steam cleaned. I had a very curt email ready to send to her about the problems!

When I came home from work yesterday, Jesse had cleaned everything up, put all the furniture back, brought all the clothes back in, and vacuumed the apartment. He said they had written on the note that they had sprayed very lightly only in the cracks.

Thankfully! The finches are fine and so is the baby (hopefully).

Good thing since we don't have money to sue!

P.S. I really hope morning sickness isn't coming back. I've thrown up twice in the past two weeks (including last night). But complaining would really be silly, since we're so blessed! We're having a baby!!

P.P.S. I'm pretty sure our son thinks my bladder is his own personal little trampoline. :) "It's so bouncy!"

P.P.P.S. I realize this post would be much more effective and interesting with pictures and I have them, but they're on my phone and my computer at work won't let me transfer them. So you'll just have to wait.

It came! it came it came

Remember the trouble box from LDS distribution in this post?

It came!! After three phone calls on my part and two replacement orders! It came on Tuesday but I couldn't pick it up until today since it was dropped off in the apt. office and today is when the office is open.

But, whoo-hoo! Finally it's here after all the mail problems and phone calls!

*Note to self- have them deliver everything through Fed-Ex from now on since the regular ol' USPS apparently doesn't get it to us.

double sad face

My sis-a-roo has been living with us since the fire in her apartment.

She was working at a nursing job, but hoping to find a different one since it was a bad situation there. A new job didn't quite work out. Boo.

Yesterday was her last day at work and she left today (when I went home for lunch) to move back to Columbus.

It's times like these that make me especially grateful for eternal families.

I miss her already. :(

(I stole the photo from facebook. hee-hee. B, don't be mad at me for posting it, ok?)

P.S. Happy leap day- the day that only comes once every four years. I learned from my sister that today is the only day that women can propose to men. In Ireland. She learned that from the movie Leap Year.

Puppy dog tails...

Man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child. Man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child man-child.

For those of you who voted "boy" on the poll, you would be correct!

He was very, very active during the ultrasound and every time the technician tried to do a scan he would move around or hide his face with his hand (we did get some good images though). Despite all the movement he was definitely not shy about letting us know he was a "he". In the words of the ultrasound tech "I really don't have to explain what that is, do I?"
Since I was born with a birth defect and had to have surgery a few months after being born, we were referred to a high-risk OB for this ultrasound. They did a thorough anatomy exam and said everything looks really good- he's growing right on schedule, thankfully.

If his movement on the ultrasound is any indication, I think he will give us a run for our money! We're so excited!

Boy or girl?

Jesse and I are going to the anatomy ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) for the baby, and if he/she cooperates we can find out the gender too!!

At first I wanted to keep the gender a surprise and not find out until the baby was born, but now I've decided I really want to know- Jesse wanted to know all along. My mom is planning on making the blessing outfit and it would be easier so she has enough time to make it as well. We'll also be able to prepare better ourselves! Not that we'll get all blue clothes if the baby is a boy or all pink if a girl, but maybe a little bit more gender specific clothes.

I'm super excited though! I have a feeling the baby is a boy! And Jesse also thinks boy! My sister and mom aren't sure, but my sister sometimes says the baby will be a man-child, (and she says it like that because I dislike that word!) But all my friends/relatives that are having babies are all having girls! :)

I put a little poll up on the sidebar (at the very top) so you can guess, too! ---------->

Here are some pregnancy symptoms that might help you:

1. I had lots of morning sickness up until about 16 weeks.

2. At the last appointment the baby's heartbeat was around 160.

3. I've felt the baby kick starting a day before 19 weeks.

4. I've only had a little heartburn, but it's not constant and not severe at all.

5. I can still fit into my regular pants but I can't button or zip them up- I have to use the belly band and most of my shirts are too short now.

6. I haven't really craved any food, but I do drink lots of milk and eat lots of cheese.

7. I tend to be more on the cool side, temperature wise.

8. I don't know if I'm carrying low or high. I guess I'd say more in the middle?

Regardless of whether the baby is a boy or girl, we're super excited to welcome this new little one into our lives and we really just hope he/she is healthy!

OK, guess away...!

D.A.

Have you heard of Downton Abbey?

Jesse started watching it at the end of Season 1 and now I'm hooked too! I really love British shows and this one is super (though slightly soap-opera-esque). There are some characters that I really like (Bates and Anna) and others that I can't stand (O'Brien and Thomas), but I love the time era and that it's British!

I can hardly wait for Sunday's season finale.

Will you be watching it?

Some things I love about my valentine

Photo taken at our wedding

:he always tells me that he loves me
:he is willing to scratch my back and give me back massages when I ask (even though he doesn't always want to)
:he takes out the trash
:he likes to cuddle
:he makes the bed
:he makes me laugh
:he is able to calm me down and say exactly what I need to hear when I'm upset
:he vacuums the apartment
:he makes up the best nicknames for me
:he talks to our baby every day and is going to be the best father
:I get to be his forever valentine!

Zelda Fitzgerald once said, "Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold." and I know that's true- each day my love grows for Jesse and I am so blessed to have him as my eternal companion. He helps me to be a better person and I'm grateful I can spend the rest of this life (and eternity) with him. I often tell him "I love you much more than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow."

I hope you all have a wonderful day and celebrate those you love!

bwak, bwak chicken

My sister and I went to the libray last night while Jess took a nap.

As I was looking through the videos I came across a DVD that looked so good I just had to borrow it- The Natural History of the Chicken.



I happily showed it to Jesse when I got home and he really couldn't contain his excitement* at wanting to watch it!

Have you seen this movie?

*not really- he looked kind of doubtful actually...

On my mind

1. I was looking at my blog postings and realized that I wrote just three posts in January. That's sad. Really, really sad.

2. Valentine's day is a week away. I have a slight idea of what I'm doing for Jesse (and other family members) but I have to solidify it for sure.

3. I made two loaves of homemade bread on Saturday night with our Kitchen-aid. By Sunday afternoon they were both gone except for a little end piece. Jesse loves bread (homemade especially) and I must admit, it was pretty good.
I forgot to take a picture but I will definitely be using that recipe again.

4. In the space of 7 months there will have been (will be) three new babies born on Jesse's side of the family:
My brother and sister-in-law (Jesse's brother and his wife) had a baby in December.
My other brother and sister-in-law (Jesse's sister and her husband) are due with their fifth child in April.
And our baby is due in July.
That will put the number of grandchildren up to 7 over a period of 7 months! Crazy!

5. We went grocery shopping last night since we had basically no food in our apartment. The store was pretty empty since we went about 9:30pm. As we passed the cereal aisle Jesse commented that when wheat has been bad, its punishment is that it's made into Cream of Wheat. That comment made me laugh.
Jesse doesn't like Cream of Wheat, but I do- especially with brown sugar. It's comfort food.


6. I haven't been able to find any maternity clothes yet. The Old Navy here doesn't have a maternity section. I have maybe one or two other stores to look at and if I don't find anything I'm not sure what I'll do.

7. I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban over the weekend. Yes, I'm just now reading the series for the first time. I have this theory about waiting until the hype dies down to read a book. This way I don't have to wait 15 years for the book to come at the library.

8. Jesse read two books this weekend. He is a very fast reader and once he starts a book he wants to finish it in one sitting. He'll usually start a book Friday night and then stay up until the wee hours on Saturday to finish. He read books 6 and 7 in The Last Apprentice series.

9. Most of my friends who are pregnant are having girls. I'm now excited to find out whether our baby will be a boy or a girl...

10. I checked out a book from the library called The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. When my sister saw the title she laughed. When Jesse read various chapters of the book he said that I shouldn't check out anymore pregnancy/breastfeeding books from the library since he now knows more about female bodies (i.e. my body) than he ever really wanted to know!

Have a good Tuesday!

P.S. The package that I talked about in this post still hasn't arrived. Except in my imagination.

ultrasound pic

These are mainly for my mom who hasn't seen any of the ultrasound pictures. These were taken on December 30th when I was a day shy of 13 weeks. (Sorry the quality isn't very good- I took a picture of the picture).


One baby with a strong back bone and the cutest nose!

What's in a name

I'm sorry most of the posts on here are now about our baby/babies. But that's a lot of what I think about now.


Jesse and I have had discussions recently about baby names.

I will give you a little background in case you don't know:

Our last name is Dahl, and it's pronounced basically like "doll" as in "the baby...."

Another fact is that Jesse is a horticulturist which means that he works with plants for a living. (And he loves it!)

So, that's the little background info.

Like I said, we have been discussing baby names.

These are some of the names I suggested:

-Porcelain
-China
-Rag
-Paper
-Harry
-Kenneth and Barbara- (We are just having one baby, but this was my suggestion before we knew it was just one in case we were having twins). Their nicknames would be Ken and Barbie.
-I also suggested Ann and Andy for boy/girl twins.
-And I thought our youngest child could be named Baby.

I also suggested
-Daisy
-Summer Flower
-Autumn
-Pansy
-Rose (which is my middle name too)
-Niblet (cute ear of corn)

Jesse said he wasn't so sure if I could have naming privileges anymore.

But then! Jesse suggested that we name all our children with the first name of "The" and for middle names use
Rag
Porcelain
China
Paper, etc

I tell you...our poor children.

Oh, you want to hear my sister's nickname for the baby? Baby Dot. Isn't it cute?

*****

Wowee. Pregnancy does some funny things to my emotions. I think it's those hormonoees.

A little while ago I ordered some items from LDS distribution. The order form said they would arrive in 5-10 business days. Monday was the 10th business day, so yesterday I decided to call and see what happened since we still hadn't received the items.

As I spoke to the nice lady on the phone she said she would check and see what happened to them since they left the warehouse last week.
She came back on the phone and cheerfully told me: "well the box arrived today" (meaning yesterday).
I politely informed her, as I was opening the door to double check, that it had not arrived. "Well, I'm sorry. Is there anything else I can help you with?" she so nicely asked. "Nope," I replied "just waiting for our items to still get here." "Have a great day" she said. When I got off the phone I told Jesse what happened since it was so funny to me. I then proceeded to chuckle about it for a good bit. When my sister got home from work I told her the items had arrived. "Where's the box?" she asked. "Umm, not here yet."

Later as we were falling asleep, I brought it up to Jesse again and started giggling so hard about the whole thing. In fact, every time I thought about it I started laughing again. The lady was so matter of fact that the box had arrived!
Jesse looked at me like I was off the deep end and said "I think those pregnancy hormones are making you crazy."

Oh, man...