Family resemblance

A lot of people have commented on how much Calvin looks like Brandon. We looked through Brandon's baby pictures to see which pictures he looked the most like Calvin. See the similarities?
Calvin 2008:
Brandon 1982:
Calvin 2008:
Brandon & his sisters 1982:
Calvin 2008:
Brandon 2008:

Different

I'm sure there are lots of differences between taking care of other people's newborn babies and taking care of your own. The biggest difference I've noticed is that I always look at Calvin to make sure he's breathing. I don't think I ever did that when I would watch other people's babies. I just assumed they were always breathing. Now I'm a paranoid mom. It's different.

Bald Spot

When Calvin was born he had a tiny circular scab on the crown of his head, about the size of a ladybug. It turns out the skin grows from the outside in, towards the center. Who knew? The scab is where the skin didn't quite connect. There isn't any kind of damage from that happening, the scab already fell off. The doctor just said he won't ever get hair in that spot. So our little newborn is already going for the come-over look. I think he'll pull it off well.

Correction

On Wednesday Calvin went to his first doctor's visit. Things went really well. I thought for sure he would decide that was the perfect time to eat and scream his head off when we got there, but he was mellow, I was so glad. They weighed and measured him again and he gained back a few of the ounces he lost, and he also grew an inch and a half. He is 21 1/2 inches long. Okay, we don't really think he grew an inch and a half. They said the hospital just measures them so fast it's not always very accurate. We thought he looked longer than 20 in. He has already grown out of some of the newborn clothes and I put some socks on him where the heel only went to the middle of his foot. He must have his dad's feet.
The picture is of him in his bassinet. We placed him on his back in the sunshine to help with jaundice. He tried to get out of the sun and almost rolled over!

Pictures

I added some Calvin pictures to the picture blog (link is to the right) It's just a few, but you know there's a lot more where that came from.

Finally!

Our sweet little baby came on June 25th at 7:36pm. It was quite a day. He weighed 9 lbs 13 oz.! Yeah, huge. And he was 20 inches long. His name is Calvin John Miller and we love him!

oh yeah, and nobody passed out.

Safety First

Big-D was kind enough to send Brandon a package this weekend. Enclosed was a letter about the importance of safety and they included safety glasses, glasses strap (not shown), leather gloves, and the nice glowing vest. He has a hard hat at work, which would have looked good for the photoshoot too, maybe next time. At the end of the letter it stated that safety is important to keep in mind, even while working on things at home. Of course, I insisted that Brandon put everything on so I could take pictures. Now Brandon is prepared to safely hang pictures on the wall, keep our carpet in place & move furniture around. (those are the only household projects I can think of right now)

Da Vinci

As much fun as it is for Brandon and I to sit around the apartment staring at my belly, wondering if I'll have a contraction in any moment, we ventured out to Orem today. We had heard about the Da Vinci exhibit on display at the mall gallery and it was pretty cool. It's amazing that one guy could come up with so much by himself. I love how great Da Vinci was at science and art, his anatomical studies are so amazing. Mostly the exhibit was models that had been made of his inventions. So today we learned some things, and most importantly, killed some time waiting for junior.

Wikipedia

I noticed that on Wikipedia they have Rebecca Miller on there, only it's not me. It's some film lady. What I want to know is, how do I know when I am famous enough that I can edit Wikipedia and write down my bio info in replacement of hers? Do you think she'd be upset? I also noticed on google there is another Rebecca Miller who is even an illustrator. I feel like I have name competition. I need to hurry and become famous before she does.

9 months

After running some errands today I made some observations. As did the people around me. I don't feel like I'm much bigger than I was last week, but for some reason I felt like everyone noticed me today. Some of the looks I got were "are you suppose to walk around with a belly like that?" and "what if that girl goes into labor right here in the middle of the store?"
What I decided today is that anyone 9 months pregnant should be given a disability parking pass, just to have the option, and free cuts to the front of any line more than 10 minutes long.

Absolute deadline

Even though our little baby may be nervous about ll this coming out into the world stuff, kind of like his mom is, 2 weeks from today there is no way around it. We will have a baby! Our doctor let us know that after the baby is a week late they'll induce me to make sure unnecessary complications don't come up. Being induced doesn't sound like the ideal way to go, kind of intense. So even though I have zero signs of labor so far, hopefully that will change before the 2 week deadline.
I love watching my massive belly when he is moving around and I was thinking how nice it would be for the pregnant belly to not only expand really huge, but what if it turned into transparent skin too? Then you could see how he's doing and what he looks like. It might be kind of gross, but also really fun.

Summer Band

Apparently our neighbor has a band that likes to play in their backyard so everyone can enjoy their music. At first I thought it was nice, something unique to listen to instead of the radio. Lately when they've been practicing they decided against lyrics though and they just yell various things like they're pretend singing - euh uh. EUUUh ah ooh. Do you get the idea? Brandon does a great impression of the female vocalist if you want to get a better idea what they sound like.

Scera Shell Outdoor Theater

Friday night Brandon and I went to see The King and I in Orem. We had never heard of this outdoor theater before, but we saw some pictures and things in their brochure. It was really fun, a little windy so we bundled up in blankets to keep warm. The funniest part for me was trying to figure out where to sit before we got there. They have different sections and different prices for each section. I just knew I wanted to be in a section with chairs because I would get way to uncomfortable trying to watch a whole play sitting on a blanket with a big belly and aching back.
When we got to the ticket counter we decided to sit in section B, the further away, cheaper, but still chair seats. I asked the ticket kid if we could still see from those seats. He nodded and confirmed that we would be fine. Then we walked over the big grassy hill to see the theater and everything was a lot smaller than we had pictured it. They had some chairs for the "floor" seats, maybe a couple rows, a few rows of chairs for section A, and then 2 rows for section B. So yeah, we could see just fine being 8 rows from the stage and on hill. Brandon mentioned how funny it must have been to the ticket kid that I asked if we would be able to see okay from section B. I couldn't stop laughing. I don't know if I can adequately describe how funny this was to us, so it's okay if you don't get it. But if you're looking for a nice summer activity, it is a pretty cool place to check out.

Educated Voting

To assist you in determining who is more likely to pass out in the delivery room here is some background information to assist you:

When Brandon had to go with me to the ER for breaking a window and getting 10 stitches in my slashed wrist, he almost passed out while I was getting checked in and prepped. He was white as a ghost and had to go outside and lay down on the sidewalk.

I've passed out from pain before. I was running around getting ready for work one morning a few years ago and I smashed my elbow against my bedroom door. As I was walking down the hallway my elbow was throbbing and I started getting light headed. I reached my hand out to balance myself against the wall and the next thing I knew my face hurt really bad and I thought I had run into the wall. I opened my eyes and realized I had passed out and smashed my face on the floor. It was a painful morning.

Pointless shopping

I've wanted to purchase some new sandals recently but every time I try some on they are too tight or narrow. I keep forgetting that I have swollen feet. What's the point? So it's black flip flops every day, rain or shine.

New callings

We've been in our ward for a few months now and half the people just moved out, so Brandon and I both have new callings. Since we are in a BYU ward sometimes you get unexpected callings. Brandon is one of 3 assistant ward clerks. Or maybe it's assistant to the ward clerk, I'm not sure. He's the statistical guy. That's right, he's the one who walks up and down the aisles counting people. His goal is to make it through the first week without laughing.

Movie personality of the week

For those of you who don't understand why Brandon wrote a comment on my last blog about "his boys" it's because he spent labor day watching a couple Godfather movies with his friend's clearplay set up. And whenever Brandon watches some kind of action movie, he often talks about what his life would be like if he were in a role like the main character. ie: after watching Bourne movies he wants to be an assassin, and after watching Godfather movies he tells me of his plans to run his business through my art projects and turn it over to our son when he is old enough, after watching 24 he wants to be Jack Bauer. You get the idea. So this week I get to hear about our life in the mafia. It's quite entertaining.

High school art

My little brother has taken some ceramic classes in high school, which I always thought he did just to have an easy class. I guess he is really good at it though. He won awards and is having a piece displayed somewhere in town and gets to put some pieces in an auction. Pretty impressive.
He has the same art teacher I had in high school, and that a lot of our siblings have had. The art teacher remembers our other siblings, but not me. What a jip. I'm the only making a career out of it here! I guess I'm not sending her some autographed books anytime soon. At least my math teachers remember me. They kind of have to though, since they are a couple that live two doors down from my family.

He's really coming!

Has anyone noticed our baby could be here in less than a month?! The pregnancy thing is getting to be pretty uncomfortable, but I feel like I have so much work to do before he gets here, I'm kind of hoping he comes late. I feel kind of weird saying that because I think every person I have ever talked to about their pregnancy hopes their baby will come a week or 2 early. But even though I wouldn't mind him coming a week late, I have a feeling he'll be early. I guess I think if I'm this uncomfortable, he probably is too. who knows though? We'll definitely have reasons to rejoice either way.
I can't believe such a life changing event has such a vague date. He could come this week, he could come in a month and a half, either one wouldn't be that abnormal. (and Katy, don't worry, I have a back up plan if he comes early - either you and/or Brandon will finish the paintings for me) And then, suddenly my life will be completely different. We are way excited about being parents, however, it would be more convenient the better prepared we are. If it is even possible to be "prepared". I don't think junior really cares about that though. I think he'll come whenever he feels like it. He's in charge already.

Baby Clothes

We've been collecting baby clothes of all different sizes, some new, some used, all tiny and cute. The tricky thing is knowing when he'll actually wear them. If you look at the tags they give you a month estimate, like 0-3months or 6-9, or whatever, and occasionally include pounds, and they all look so similar. Not only that, but they are not consistent whatsoever and some items that say for 12mo, they look smaller than the 6mo? So if you ever see our little boy in clothes that look way too big or small, it's because I never figured it out. And I'm pretty sure Brandon's strategy for dressing him will be to put his hand in the clothes drawer and put on him whatever he grabs first. It could be interesting.

humans & robots

I really enjoy listening to science friday podcasts from npr, but I don't do it often enough. While painting today I listened to this segment about robots and how they are trying to give them more personality so people can feel like they have some companionship them. Isn't that what people are for? Do we really need to have conversations about our day with our vacuum cleaners? I mean, I know some people get lonely, but is talking to our appliances the best answer for that?

Beginning painting

I am a professional illustrator. You would think after a few years of doing this, I would have caught on by now that if I'm painting with watercolors from the right to the left, I will inevitably smear by hand in the fresh paint while painting the left side. I think I have told myself 10 times today to paint left to right. It seems basic enough. Apparently, I am just a beginner still and I can't seem to catch on to this basic concept. Someday...

Golf

This weekend was a lot of fun, we had friends visiting from out of town and we didn't do any work/homework. It was great. On Saturday some plans were made for the guys to go golfing. Staci and I planned to do something else, but then decided to tag along. Neither of us had been on a golf course before and they even gave our cart to us for free! (they probably saw my large belly and thought I couldn't walk the course if I tried, which may have been true) We loved cruising around the course in the carts. It was a beautiful day, a little windy, but sunny and gorgeous. We cheered everyone on, kept score, looked for the wayward balls, took pictures, and had a lot of fun as spectators.

Google Reader

I'm sure this isn't new to some of you who already use google reader or some other program that let's you know when blogs are updated, but I just tried out google reader and it is so convenient! Now I don't have to go through all these blogs that never get updated, hoping something new will actually be there. Google reader just tells me, it's like getting an email, only it's an updated blog! I love it. Brandon isn't as set on the idea because he likes how much time it wastes to go through each blog while he has absolutely nothing to do at work.

Another class

We attended a breastfeeding class last night at the hospital which was very informational. We were curious if they could really teach us for over 2 hours, but they did, and it was interesting too. I'm a little less intimidated by breastfeeding now and determined to breastfeed longer. However, as much as Brandon would love our little baby to become an NBA star, I kind of doubt I'll be breastfeeding until he is 3 and a half like Michael Jordan's mom.

Throatburn

I have always heard of heartburn, mostly from commercials, but I never knew what it was. I figured it was a burning feeling in your heart, or at least your chest area. That would make sense, right?
Well, I started getting this really uncomfortable feeling in my throat all the time. I thought it might be heartburn because it was a pregnancy symptom I was anticipating. Yep, that's what it is. I have no idea how it got it's name, but it's definitely a throat thing for anyone else out there who doesn't know what it is. And tums, or even a generic version of them, work great! They look like candy, and taste like it too. I'm glad one pregnancy problem has an easy solution.
And by the way, this is my 300th post! Wow, I've sure had a lot of random things to write about.

New scanner!

It's about time. I kept putting off buying a nice scanner because what I really wanted was a high quality Epson that could handle 11x17 paintings. Since those are $2,000 or more, I finally settled for the Epson V500. From looking around, this one seemed to be a good price and very professional. As excited as I am to have it, it is still sitting in it's box after arriving a few days ago. I'm a little nervous about the installation process. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Awesome new dessert

Here's the new recipe we tried yesterday. I highly recommend it. And just to warn you, it takes 6 hours to chill in the freezer, that was the hardest part. We had to try a little when it was only partially frozen, it was pretty messy, but still super delicious.

Brandon modeling

I was trying to draw this guy chasing a pig and it wasn't looking the way I wanted it to, so I asked Brandon if he would pose for me. After some prying I got him to agree.
I told him how to pose and he informed me that he could never catch a pig like this:
So we changed the pose to this:
Where would artists be without great models?

Dollar Theatre

The dollar theatre isn't going to be a $1 anymore - starting tomorrow, $1.25. And Tuesday .50 night is changing to .75, and I think it said $1.75 for movies on Fri & Sat. So you've been warned. See all the movies you can fit in today before it's too late.

Back to school

Today I went to an elementary school in Salt Lake to give an illustration presentation to their 2nd graders like I did last year. (it's Brandon's mom's class) I think this year was more interesting than last year because we involved the kids more. After telling about becoming an illustrator and giving them drawing and painting tips, I did a painting demonstration while some of them practiced drawing and some of the other kids could look through books I've done and my massive sketchbook pile.
Since Brandon skipped work today he came along and the kids asked him lots of hilarious questions. They mostly asked me about the books I brought, but they told me many random things. I think every 2nd grader in there had a relative that is an artist and they all told me about them. One kid came up to me at the end just to tell me how excited he was to go home and play his xbox. They were an entertaining bunch.

Bravo!

One thing I forgot to mention about the ballet was the program. I was reading over some things after I got home since I didn't get a chance to while we were there. There were 10 instructions for enjoying the ballet. It was mostly things like turning off your cell phone and not talking during the performances. The best one said that you should clap at performances you really enjoy, or yell bravo. I don't think I've ever yelled bravo before, I think it would have been pretty fun. If I had only known.

The Ballet Report

Unfortunately, things did not work out as we planned. Brandon was really sick with the flu or something else that makes all your food come back up. He was really miserable all day so I ended up recruiting an old roommate to go to the ballet with me. It was so fun, and really beautiful performances.
One of the funny highlights was when I was waiting in the bathroom line at intermission that went way out the door. I asked one of the ushers walking by if there were any other bathrooms and she told me this was my best bet. She looked down at my large belly and said, but I can just take you to the front of the line if you need it. It was really tempting, an offer I've never had before - front of the bathroom line! I said I would survive though and waited my turn.
When we were walking back to the car we were chatting while we waited for the light to change and this guy in front of us was smoking. I was a little disgusted, but figured the light would change in a second. He kept looking back at me, and then as we were walking across the street he informed me that if someone is smoking around me I should tell them to "*%&$@# put it out", and then he chucked his cigarette into the street. I thanked him. I don't know if I will take his advice word for word, but I do try to avoid cigarette smoke as much as possible.
Of course, when I got home Brandon wanted me to reenact the show. I did my best to demonstrate some of the moves. It was pretty pathetic of course, but I think he got the general idea.

Mirror & Feet

I've been telling Brandon for a long time that we need a full length mirror. It's one of those things you don't fully appreciate until you don't have one. I could never tell how well my shoes went with my outfit because all the mirrors in our apartment only let me see to my waist, unless I stand on the coffee table or something, which isn't the safest idea.
The other day I tried to buy a mirror at Lowe's because they were cheap, but after pulling a few off the shelf I realized all of them were curved so that I looked a little squashed & a lot rounder than I am. Not just a little pregnancy round, but I'm in a fun house kind of round. I didn't think that would be good for my self esteem to look at frequently, even if it let me see my whole outfit, shoes included.
Lucky for me, yesterday Brandon brought home a new mirror. I was really glad to have it, and even more so now that I realize it is slightly bent the other way because I've never looked so tall & awesome in a mirror before. It's great. I don't care if it isn't accurate. I think everyone should have a mirror that makes them look a little bit better than they really are, because let's face it, everyone is too hard on themselves for the way they look anyways.

the Friday surprise

Brandon and I have talked about going on some really cool dates while it is still simple and doesn't require a babysitter to do so. I have tried to get Brandon to go to a BYU ballet event all semester and we always seem to be doing something else instead. However, Brandon surprised me yesterday with tickets for us to go see Ballet West on Friday! He actually meant to surprise me on Friday, but I happened to be the one that went through the mail yesterday and opened the artix envelope. I'm really excited. If I didn't have a giant belly holding me down I would probably be doing a lot of twirls and leaps around the apartment the next few days. I might have to settle for walking around on my tip toes with a little bit of prancing and lots of arm swirls.

New stuff for us

Remember how I wanted a new couch? Here's the slip cover I found on sale. I love it:
After months of looking in stores and online we finally found this really great deal for a crib and the mattress came with it too. This is both of us trying to use the timer feature on our camera to get both of us to fit in the picture, with the crib, that's why we are hunched over and look a little awkward.
My awesome friends and family threw me an awesome baby shower, with awesome presents and awesome food. So now we are a little more prepared for the baby.

Baby Projects

Brandon did a wonderful job putting together the new dresser that we got for the baby. It was more complicated and time consuming than he expected, but he did great. And I think it may be the beginning of many more projects to come as we put together a crib, stroller, swing, etc...
Maybe they should have included baby gear set up in that prenatal class we went to. I think it would have been more helpful than that video we watched of all those ladies giving birth. It was pretty intense and all I could think about was labor for the rest of the night. Brandon said I was even whimpering in my sleep. They showed way more than I'll ever see at my own baby's delivery. As Michael Scott would say: TMI.

The Mold

Here is our once awesome knife set that I really liked. However, due to unfortunate events of getting our counter top really wet and not realizing it was soaking our knives, we seem to have some black stuff accumulated on the bottom of our knife container. We have a few options here, we could:

A. look up disinfecting mold online and find a thorough way to clean it off.
B. throw the wood block away, disinfect and keep the knifes.
C. have our neighbor's dog lick the black stuff to see if it really is poisonous or not.
D. pretend like we never noticed it and continue using the knives as always.
E. give the knives away as a lightly used wedding present.

Don't go shopping

I've recently been to some furniture stores, sometimes looking for cribs, other times helping Hazel pick out things, and it has had some bad side effects. I've always been grateful for the hand-me-down plaid couches we were given, but they are a bit on the grungy side. After seeing so many soft, beautiful, plush couches, it's been engraved in my mind how scratchy, and ugly our couches are. I was content with them for so long, but after seeing what else is out there it's hard to not want something better. Shopping can be such a bad idea. I guess it's not practical for us to go purchase a new couch right now, but I have been searching around for a decent, yet low priced slip cover. They're not ideal, but at least a step up?

Another illustration creation

I just got some books in the mail from Cedar Fort yesterday. I'm guessing they'll be in LDS bookstores soon. Check it out:

Our growing boy

My belly is getting large enough now that people aren't afraid to ask when I'm due. It's great to feel him kick around and sometimes I'll tell Brandon that he is kicking like crazy and Brandon always says, "He wants to come out now! He's ready!" to which I respond " absolutely not! He has to grow more." And Brandon says something like "okay, he'll wait. But he's really excited to come out." We have our first prenatal class tonight, so we can realize even more how little we know about this whole birthing thing.

Provo Hosting Plans

My brother and sister are coming tomorrow to visit for the weekend. We're really excited to run around and have some family fun time. We have a list of ideas of things to do, like Park City, museums, sporting events. Does anyone know of some other fun events going on in the area this weekend? Has anyone had out of town visitors impressed with anything specific in Provo? We're thinking they'll really like Jdawgs and Costa Vida, some of our favorites places that are not found in Puyallup. (Seattle area) As much as I love the Bean Museum, I don't know if they'll be very excited about that.

The Stroller Search

There's a lot of equipment that is required, or just very helpful, for a baby. It's overwhelming to figure out what to buy. We've looked around at different strollers and I think I've figured out the one that will work best for us. It's a jogging stroller, because I plan to go back to my old ways of running a lot and I don't think those plastic wheels on other strollers would last very long. However, most jogging strollers you can't put infants in them, which means it wouldn't be helpful this summer. So this stroller looks like the best I've found so far. It even has a cool triangle handle. If any of you have stroller experience and would like to offer any insights on whether or not this is a good choice, we'd love to hear it. For further details go here.

A special check

I just received my very first royalty check! It was for a project I did over a year ago. So it takes some patience, but I'm so happy to see that this whole royalty system actually works!

Improper chewing?

There must be something wrong with the way I chew. It's the only explanation. I had a crown put on my back molar a year and a half ago, it fell out and I had to get it replaced (#2) then it fell out and again so I went to a different dentist and had it replaced again (#3), all within a couple months. So at least this crown lasted awhile, but I thought these things are suppose to be permanent fixtures? They're not. I went to floss my teeth last night and noticed a chunk of the crown had chipped off. So now I'm getting crown #4 on this tooth. The other times I at least noticed it fall off while I was eating. Not this time, I apparently ate it. I don't think it can make it's way into the placenta, and I really hope not too, because I don't think consuming metal is good for a baby. I know they always give instructions at the dentist office on how to brush, but maybe this time they can teach me how to chew without loosing teeth.

March Beginnings

I just filled out my first bracket today. Basketball has become a much larger part of my life in the past year and a half. Of course, I still have no idea what I'm doing. I figure I'm going to be watching a lot of basketball and I might as well have a reason to cheer for someone. I actually chose the same final match as Brandon, Texas and North Carolina, with Carolina winning it. That's probably because we watched a UNC game last week and they looked like a great team, and Texas was random. So we'll see what happens. I threw in a bunch of upsets, so hopefully some of those underdogs do better than expected.

Good food

Usually I only go to campus if I need to do some scanning or printing, etc. Every now and then I feel like eating a delicious wrap and nothing is as good as the chicken taco wrap they sell in the Cougareat. So occasionally when I want to go out to eat for dinner, that's where I go, the Cougareat. It's kind of like going to the mall just to eat in the food court. Does anyone else like to do that?

St. Patty's

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I haven't thought of any creative green things to celebrate this big significant holiday. I figure I'll try to bake something with green food coloring later. Any suggestions of what works well? We could eat green jell-o and salad for dinner? Maybe I'll just dye the milk green, or would that look rotten?

Coming soon...

I just received a couple of these banks I illustrated in the mail today. They even come with a little lock and key for it. So when you're browsing in bookstores that have LDS stuff, you might see my merchandise! And if you know any little kids who need a practical birthday present or even an Easter present, you might want to keep these little babies in mind. Or if you're not that great with money, you might want to consider one for yourself.

Mountain Lion Kid

What's with this kid on the news who got attacked by a mountain lion and he barely even has scratches from his head being chewed on? He just held still? First of all, I don't know how you could do that, and second of all, that sign we saw at Mount Rainier National Park clearly stated that if you were attacked by a mountain lion to fight back vigorously. So which is it? Hold still? Or fight back with all you've got? I'm so confused. I just don't know what I'm going to do if I get attacked by a mountain lion this week.

Sometimes I know what I'm doing

I've been in limbo of a book contract for the past few weeks. We finally worked everything out today. Even though I wasn't successful in negotiating for more money with this company in the past, I actually got them to agree to what I asked for this time! I'm so glad. I think it might have something to do with the fact that their deadline is now only a few weeks away and it's either me or nothin'. Time is definitely on my side. I'd like to think that I had some good arguments for my case too. Now hopefully I can whip out some awesome work to prove I'm worth what I asked for!

All or nothing

I love running. Especially in the kind of weather we've had lately, cool, but not freezing. However, since I'm way out of the habit and now carrying a large belly it's not very comfortable to run, even though I crave it and am jealous of all the runners I see. I keep telling myself I should be going for nice brisk walks instead. I have yet to do that even once. Walking seems so dull for some reason, I can't convince myself to go. I think I might be more inclined to do some serious walking if I drove someplace nice, like up the canyon, or over to the Provo River trail. But who wants to drive someplace for the sole purpose of getting out and walking for exercise? So I just sit around at home and blog instead. What a great solution.

Fashion for pants

I don't know why these great elastic waist pants are restricted to pajamas, maternity pants and 3 year olds. I think the thick elastic waists are so comfortable and much simpler to fit to various shapes then trying to get pants/jeans that zip up to just the right size over various size hips. If I was in the fashion industry I would introduce the maternity pants style into everyday lines of clothing. (just don't wear them with a shirt tucked in, as shown in the picture above) There are already so many styles of shirts that are in fashion now that used to be considered "maternity styles". I bet some lady just liked her maternity clothes and wanted them to be in fashion to wear whenever she wanted. And I say, the more the maternity and normal clothes merge, the better. Those maternity sections are small - if the store even has one. So if you're not pregnant, nor planning to be anytime soon, don't think that you are excluded from the maternity section, there are great pants for everyone.

Grocery Run

This evening as it neared 7:00 I decided I really wanted a cinnamon roll. Normally I'm not a big fan, but it sounded good. After looking at a few recipes online it was clear the best method for this evening was going to be running to Smith's instead of actually baking.
Lately we've been watching some American Idol and I decided I was going to try and get to the store and home before it started. I hurried in, grabbed the necessary junk food and made it home in plenty of time. The funny thing was I saw a few other people going in and out of the store at a very rapid pace. One person was even running. I wondered if they were worried about missing American Idol. I'm sure there are other good reasons to rush at the grocery store, but it was funnier to watch the people imagining they were that worried about missing the show.

Kid acceptance

When I am feeling motivated enough in the mornings I like to go to my old stake center for their aerobics class. Everyone brings their kids and they run around the gym while we get some exercise. When I walked into the building this morning I was greeted by a couple of 3 year olds. One little boy looked up at me and asked, "Where is your kid?" as if to say, why are you here if you didn't bring someone for us to play with? I told him my kid was still in my belly and pointed out it's roundness. I told him he's still really small. He pointed at my stomach and said, oh yeah, I can see him. Apparently, that was good enough to have a kid inside of me and I was accepted by the 3 year olds.