Pregnancy Update and Google Results

Well, I thought it was time for a little pregnancy update. I am feeling very good. I still throw up first thing in the morning every morning, but that's not as bad as being nauseous all day like in the beginning.

Like most pregnant women, I feel as fat as a cow. . . all the time.

I have good energy and don't have too much trouble sleeping yet.

This little baby is kicking and kicking and KICKING! It's good to know she's in there and healthy, but sometimes difficult when she kicks downward.

Here's a picture of my belly from my view-point....

So I googled myself recently and I have to say my google results are quite revealing! Here's what I found out about Emilie Ahern...

-Served an LDS mission to Nebraska Omaha
-Does genealogy and has ancestors in Herkimer County, New York
-Is a Design Team member for SGK
-Likes presents (Amazon.com wishlist)
-Scrapbooks with a vengeance

Well, it's all true and it's funny to me how the internet has made our private lives more public.

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Laurie Berkner Enthusiast

Ella LOVES the Laurie Berkner Band, a children's group which has CDs and plays music videos often on the Noggin Channel. I highly recommend this CD and DVD for kids. Kids love it! We have already converted my sister and her neighbor to buy it for their children.

We have the Laurie Berkner DVD and we save it for special days when Ella is having a hard time...shots, teething, crankiness. Watch her enthusiasm and excitement, especially during the chorus.

The nerdy dancing is included free of charge!

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Movie Review: "Stranger Than Fiction" PG-13

Last night we went to see "Stranger than Fiction" which, by all reviews, promised to be a fabulous experience and a refreshing movie plot we had not seen before.


In fact, everything was in place for this to be a GREAT movie...a well crafted story, great performances by Will Ferrel, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhal, a great soundtrack and a very fresh and new kind of cinimatography which illustrated the main character's obsession with numbers. As the movie started and the plot began to unfold I was immediately drawn into a main character, Harold Crick, that you easily come to love and route for. And the story was interesting and different enough to hold your attention. Up to this point the only drawback was a very unnecessary placement of Queen Latifa as a writer's assistant....a role with no magic, which could have served it's purpose just as well by Emma Thompson speaking into a tape recorder.


Yes, everything was in place for movie greatness and sadly, the last 1/3 of the movie fell flat as a pancake for me. I wish I could go in depth into what made the movie fail at the end, but to do so I would have to ruin the plot twists and ending, so I can't. But I will say this in an abstract way. All of the well-executed components of the movie had successfully made the viewer feel a certain way about the life of the main character and then, in the 11th hour, everything you have been built up to root for is switched and the movie tries to force you to completely change your way of thinking about what is valuable in this particular story...leaving me feeling let down and a bit confused.


The movie's end could have been triumphant if the ending had been less morbid or even more morbid, but the middle path they chose was almost disconcerting and held the meaning of the movie back from what it could have been. In vain the writers tried to tie up it's ending with a few musings by the "author" writing the fictional story, but it falls way short of being reflective, deep or meaningful like it so easily could have been. In the car on the way home we could have talked about insights about life the movie offered and instead we talked about what the ending SHOULD have been to match the build-up of first 2/3 of the movie. While the movie isn't bad by any means, it is definately short of greatness.

*In case you were wondering, the PG-13 rating comes from one, sad, obligatory F-word that is thrown in there for no other reason than to boost the rating from a PG...what's this world coming to?*

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Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving this year! We started out with our own family Thanksgiving dinner. We had herb roasted turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, mushroom stuffing, grilled asparagus and corn pudding. Everything was fabulously delicious!!!

Ella really got into it this year. She gobbled (he he!) up her dinner and her sparkling grape-juice.

At dinner we talked about the very first Thanksgiving and then we each took a turn saying 5 things we were grateful for.

Ella chose the following...

1. Dora (the Explorer)
2. Elmo
3. Cars
4. Doggies
5. (she was too busy with her food to choose a 5th)

Mommy and Daddy chose the usual family, health...blah blah blah. But for the record, I wanted to say the shallow things I am grateful for...the littel things that make my life a bit happier.

1. Hand Sanitizer
2. My Paper Cutter
3. Hair Spray
4. Creme Brulee
5. Cool Ranch Doritos

After dinner we grabbed our home-made desserts and headed to Caleb and Alison's for dessert. We took 2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Pies and Cranberry Upside-Down Cake, which was to DIE for...

After desserts we all settled down and watched "Nacho Libre"....isn't that what the pilgrims did? Here is Ella and Michelle snuggling on the couch, despite the fact that Michelle has shingles...uh oh!

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Scaring children...one sweet fable at a time!

Last week I was working around on the top floor of our house. I could hear Ella playing quietly in her room. I heard her say, "book...book!" like she often does when taking books off of her bookshelf to read. But then I heard an unusual follow-up. A terror stricken little voice muttered, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!!" Now, there's the "uh-oh" like I dropped my doll and then there's THIS "uh-oh" like I'm injured.

I couldn't imagine what had happened!

She ran into the living room holding the book "The Giving Tree" and saying uh-oh repeatedly. When she got to me she pointed at the back of the book and muttered "uh-oh!" as if asking me to stop the pain. This is what she was pointing at...

...the scariest children's book jacket photo of all time!

I said, "Oh honey, it's okay....Heavenly Father makes people look all different so that we can have a beautiful world!" She wasn't buying it...she was just terrified and can you blame her?

Honestly....the publisher could not find any better picture than this? It looks like they have set up Shel for his photo shoot facing a blazing hot sun (for shifty, squinty eyes) and he has just finished drinking a pint of children's blood (the gaping mouth with the stained teeth). The sinister crooked smile doesn't really help his cause. Seriously, even Stephen King has friendlier looking book jacket photos on his horror novels!

We try and teach our children about different kinds of beauty, but I think Ella's got a point...I'm just wondering why no one in the publisher's office said their own "uh-oh" before this book went to print!

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Can I get that cross-stitched on a pillow?

When I was 19 years old my Sister had a baby and I went to stay with her for a visit for the birth and a few weeks after. During that visit I had a startling revelation. One day, while she was cleaning up an exploded diaper I said, "There is just no way to be a Mommy and avoid touching poo....no matter what you will HAVE to touch poo." and then added, "Motherhood means touching poo!" My sister laughed and said, "Can I get that cross-stitched on a pillow?"

Well since then it has been a bit of a joke amongst my family members and, of course, since becoming a Mommy I have touched more than my fair share of poo and lived to tell about it.

Now, my husband has always wanted a phrase to stitch on a pillow and last night a phrase cam out of his mouth that is destined for cross-stitch greatness.

"If poo smelled like roses, people would pick a rose and say, Man..this flower smells like CRAP!"

I laughed until my stomach hurt and decided to pull out my needle and thread to immortalize this one forever!

Funny how we are all about poo. Maybe we need a pillow that say "Maturity is a virtue."

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She's not hiding how she feels...

Here is Ella's "Church-girl" hair...




Here's how she feels about it....

6

A name for baby

Well, we had our diagnostic ultrasound on Thursday and everything is perfect with our newest little Chicken.

If you don't already know I am kind of a control freak about some thing and one of those things is baby names. The thought of waiting until we see a baby to pick a name fills my heart with anxiety. What if we couldn't decide and then they pressured us to fill out the birth certificate and we picked something in haste that we hated??? This actually happened to a friend of mine and she's still bitter...the nurse picked her name because the parents had waited too long.

So, having said that we have picked out a name for our baby.

Evangeline.

We will call her Eva (ee-va) for short. Evangeline is the heroin of a beautiful epic poem by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. The poem was so famous in it's day that 4 different locations in North America claim to have the burial sites of Evangeline and her love Gabriel, despite the fact that these characters are completely fictious. In the poem Evangeline and her love are separated, causing Evangeline to travel across the country searching for her lost love, only to find him on his death bed in Philadelphia. Here's a little excerpt from the poem for those who are interested...

Halfway down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,
Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion.
Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to meet him,
Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his shoulder, and whispered,
"Gabriel! be of good cheer! for if we love one another nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances may happen!"

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The Disciplinary Wonders of Time Out

As you can see,
during her stay in Time Out,
Ella is feeling intense remorse for her mis-deeds...

And by "remorse" I mean she could care less.

And by "care less" I mean I think she actually LIKES being in Time Out.

It's so much more interesting to try to scale the walls of Time Out
than to play with her toys.

I fear this discipline method is failing us.

How can I make it less fun?

Maybe throw some instruments of torture in there with her.

6

Ultrasound Gender Announcement

Ella and Daddy awaiting the verdict...
We had my 20 week appt. today with Dr. Boheen and she gave us a gender ultrasound. I announced to her before she started that I already KNEW it was a boy. We had a hard time seeing much at first since this baby is a mover.

We did see a perfect footprint (pictured below), but never got a clear shot of the baby's profile. We do have another ultrasound on Thursday which is the diagnostic to check all of the health and organs of the baby so maybe we'll get a glamour shot then.

Finally, the Doctor got a shot between the legs and she didn't even have to tell me what we were looking at because I had seen those 3 white lines on an ultrasound once before...

It's A Girl!

I was so SHOCKED, but I am thrilled! We've got all of the clothes, we've got a name mostly picked and my mind is filled with scenes of Princess Tea-Parties in the years to come. There will be little matching Easter dresses and Barbie body parts laying all over our house and I can't wait!

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At the Playground - Sept. 2006

I just found this little video of Chicken at the playground from the end of September. Watch as she throws herself down the slide with fearless abandon!

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Chubby Turbo Scrapper!

Matt and I had a late dinner tonight...a VERY late dinner. I think we sat down to eat at 10:10 pm. We had garlic seared T-bone steaks, roasted rosemary potato wedges and steamed broccoli. I am STUFFED...good thing we can go straight to bed!

Ahhhh...being a "foodie" is the good life, the FAT life, but still the good life.

Today I scrapped like a wild woman. I have a few deadlines coming up so I threw myself into it full force tonight. I finished 2, 2 page layouts, a card and a 1 page layout. That's like 5 layouts and a card in one evening! Here's what I made...

Layout for a Circle Journal about Friendship


Layout for a Circle Journal featuring my favorite quotes on a topic of my choice. I chose Encouragement


Layout for a Circle Journal profiling my Hometown and why I love it. Here's my favorite things about Salt Lake City. This one was the easiest to put togther.


Sorry, I didn't take a photo of the card before I gave it away!

4

Blechk!

I woke up yesterday sicker then sick!
(that sounds like a line from a Dr. Seuss book)

I have a magical sort of hybrid disease between a flu and the worst cold ever! It's all of the amazing sinus pressure of a cold with all of the vomiting of a flu. How did I get so lucky? No seriously...it has been SOOOO bad.

I have had a ton of work to do and layouts stacking up on my "deadline approaching" list.

Hoping tomorrow is phlegm free.

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I'm STILL Hungry Like The Wolf

I am a child of the 80's.

I loved the care bears,
the neon fashion
and especially the music...
I am eating grape Nerds right now.

These are the 80's songs that can still be found in rotation in my CD player and still get me dancing like Punky Brewster:

Faith by George Michael
Just Like Heaven by The Cure
Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran
Need You Tonight by INXS
Tainted Love by Soft Cell
Kiss by Prince
Under Pressure by Queen/David Bowie

And pretty much ANYTHING by The Smiths.
As well as the entire "Reading, Writing & Arithmatic" album by The Sundays...listened to in it's entirety just this past week.

I can't take much more of the EMO rock filling the airwaves these days.

Stop sleeping in your car and come back to us George Michael...you're so crazy now!

So...what are YOUR fave 80's tunes?

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Ode to my scrapping friends!

How can scrappers be so entirely lovely and nice? I chit-chat with my fair share of un-met scrappers from all over the country and they are ALL so wonderful and caring (okay, okay...I have run into one emotionally unstable and very cranky scrapper in my travels...but only ONE). I have come to know and love these women as we chat about the little daily occurances in our lives.

These are just a few of my stellar scrappy friends...


I met Julie a few months back and she is so sweet! One of those wonderful, sincere people who is SO NICE that you can't help feeling guilty for being a sarcastic person.




Stacey who I love discussing religion with, who has given me sound advice about the scrapbooking world, who I can count on to be level-headed and reliable. She is a great woman and a strong individual.



I viewed a layout today made by my friend Pam, whose son has autism. Her page was celebrating their first conversation together. I cried. I have never met this woman or her son, but feel I know them and love them already and rejoiced in their triumph and success.


Christine, whom I have never met, offered to bring me meals when I was so morning sick at the beginning of this pregnancy and who drops me a line every week or so just to see how I am feeling. Also a great source of parenting advice for this novice!


So, this post is dedicated to the terrific human beings who scrapbook. A network of real women who share a common hobby, but also share themselves. I love you girls!

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Things I did this week...

Created 2 layouts, 1 altered mini-suitcase, one altered picture frame and 2 cards for the new scrapbook company I am the DT Leader for. The suitcase nearly took my life!

Trick-or-Treated in FREEZING weather.

Let my daughter drink Dr. Pepper at the ripe old age of 20 months (see previous post).

Drove to Logan (1 hour north) and back three times.

Tossed my cookies 6 mornings out of 7...oh the joys of pregnancy!

Updated my scrapbook.com Round Robin Scraplift Challenge.

Spent a full hour concocting different sceneries in which Aluminum Foil could save Matt's life (Matt was feeling rather down on Aluminum Foil that day).

Traumatized myself by missing this week's episode of LOST.

Yes...it was quite a week!

4

Dr. Pepper Delight!

Today Matt, Chicken and I went out to eat lunch at a fast food restaurant. Matt got his usual drink, the biggest Dr. Pepper possible. I went against my norm and also got a Dr. Pepper since I had a headache. We got Ella a little sandwich and her own water. While Matt and I were deep in discussion Ella stood up and reached over and before I knew it had taken a sip of my Dr. Pepper. I tried to stop her, but it was too late. You should have seen her face. She said, "Mmmmmmmmmmmm!" and then begged for more. Yes, you read it right, we gave our 20 month old a caffeinated beverage. She'll probably be hooked for life like her Daddy is.

5

Halloween Tales & a Scandalous Layout

Hooray for Halloween! We packed up the car and headed to Logan to celebrate Halloween with my Mom and Sister's family. For the first few houses Ella was terrified. Who were these strangers at the door and why were they approaching her?!! She finally realized that these strangers were trying to give her "yummies". After about 3 doors she couldn't get enough and would dive right into the candy bowls! We canvassed the neighborhood and then went to a trunk-or-treat which had about 30 cars! We got so much candy that finally Ella couldn't hold her bucket anymore. We are allotting her 3 pieces per day...which should last her through the winter! Unless Mommy and Daddy snitch candy from her and then it will last through the week!


I also made my DT layout for Scrappy Giraffe Kits yesterday. The assigned theme was "secrets". I think I may have gone a little too far! Here's my LO:

Journaling Reads:
"What can I say? It's not decent or ladylike, but I can't help myself...I love SKINNY-DIPPING! Every Thursday night my roommates and I would pile into my car and head to 1st Dam. We stood together on the shore, stripped off our clothes, counted to 3 and threw ourselves into the icy cold waters. Our screams and squeals filled the night air. It was our ritual every week. I started it and I loved every minute of it. Am I ashamed of my secret? No, but I'm not going to put it on my resume either."

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