The Foster Family

No action yet, folks. I’m writing down guesses for when she’ll officially be here! She’s due this Saturday (March 28). We set an induction date for April 8th at 7am. Please guess for my cool calendar that will go in my journal. Thanks all!

I have learned all of this just in time to impart my wisdom on a family that does not need pregnancy advice…. but here it is…

1. These pants are the most comfortable for a pregnant belly. Instead of folding the flap over, I put it over my belly… automatic tummy sleeve. Genius. They’re Victoria’s Secret, and you can find ‘em for about $10.

2. I had a hard time finding something I could wear to church. Cheleyne gave me two dresses, but they both go up to about my mid-thigh, so… eee….

Anyhoo, I found a swim cover at Target for $17 that is the best thing in the world. It’s supposed to be worn as like a strapless tube dress over a bathing suit, so it’s super stretchy, but as I’m about 8 feet tall, I wear the top of it around my belly instead of around my chest. It’s perfect! And once again, automatic tummy sleeve.

3. Pregnancy is harder than I thought it would be. I mean I knew it could be really hard, but I always thought it was all the symptoms that made it hard. But the truth is, I have been really lucky as far as not having bad symptoms, but still everything kind of hurts and feels enormous. And sleeping is HARD. I roll over every few minutes it seems to try to get comfortable, and it hurts to roll over! How do I have more than 20 nieces and nephews and I never knew what pregnancy was really like? I missed most of ‘em I guess. I wish I had been more involved when I could have though. But now I know, you cannot be truly sympathetic until you’ve experienced it. I salute all you moms out there. Especially mine! Holy moley. Doing this eight times!

4. Maybe eating everything you want whenever you want is not the best way to go. I know this is the time to gain weight, but I really wish I had cut out a lot of the bored eating I did. I do not regret the countless bean burritos, but maybe I could have decreased the late-night Oreo count…. It was high… and wonderful. I don’t know. I weigh as much as Nat now (which I realize he’s pretty skinny, but the dude is 6′5″).

5. There might not be anything cooler in the world than feeling a baby wiggle around in your belly. I get excited every time. Even when she’s kicking my bladder or pushing her buns against my ribs. I love it when you think you know what body part you feel. I picture her little knees and elbows poking out a little. So cute. She’s gonna be awesome. I asked Nat if we’re still set on the name Josephine, or if we should change it last minute to something like Shatiqua. We’ll see.

Laurie tagged me to do this on Facebook, but I’m kind of anti-Facebook… so, sorry blog. You guys don’t have to read this, it just looked like fun. Especially because I’m supposed to be working right now.

1. When I was little my siblings called me Vern.

2. I’m claustrophobic, but I hide it well… usually.

3. I met and hugged Adam Sandler in Hawaii a few years back. I said, “Hey give me a call sometime.” (without giving him my number of course.) He laughed and said, “I will–we’ll hook up.” Ha. I made Adam Sandler laugh.

4. When I play Mario Kart, I am always Donkey Kong… and yes, I lose a lot.

5. Since I’ve been pregnant, I’ve worn Victoria Secret yoga/lounge pants 99% of the time.

6. My hair has been almost every color in the book (though the most exciting were bright red and dark purple).

7. One of the physical traits I got from my mom is a dimple that only shows when I make one specific face.

8. I went to Africa in July 2008, and a lion just a few feet from our safari jeep roared really loudly to his lioness buddies.

9. My favorite scripture is Isaiah 45:8 “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies poor down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it.” It’s poetic and grand, don’t you think?

10. I check the mail everyday now hoping Medicaid is sending us good news.

11. I am a terrible dancer, and I honestly believe that if I were short, I would have been good. I like being tall otherwise.

12. I intensely dislike the sound that harmonicas make. They sound like nails on a chalkboard to me.

13. I love strawberries as much as candy… although (beware TMI ahead) the only time I’ve thrown up since I’ve been pregnant it was all strawberries, so there’s been a drastic decrease in my intake of them. It’s a shame.

14. When I lived in Belize I had to go to mass every Friday (cuz I went to a Catholic school). LDS kids would spend a long time in confession so we’d miss more classes. I thought it was funny, but actually it’s quite wrong, isn’t it?

15. I am proud of my ability to discern quality movies/songs from lame ones. I’m also proud that I can openly admit when I love the lame ones.

16. I just noticed that all of our Wii games and remotes are in a Top Ramen box by our TV. How old are we?

17. I’m oversensitive when people dis’ California. I’m aware it’s far from perfect, but it’s got a lot of great qualities… I say this as I look at my lawn which has a layer of snow with a layer of ice over it (at noon).

18. The people whose basement we live in didn’t know I was pregnant until yesterday. Ha.

19. In high school my friends ate at the table in the cafeteria closest to where the food was sold so we could have quick access to nachos.

20. I love sharks, but hate sting rays. Once I swam with both at the same time, and it was a challenge to try to pet one and swim away from the other.

21. When I went to BYU I used to go to bridal fairs before I was engaged so I could get free stuff (food, prizes, etc.)

22. One of my friends in Virginia stopped talking to me because I wouldn’t watch her dog for a week. Obviously we were very close.

23. My cabbage patch kid from when I was little’s name was Kelly, and now my real baby will be Josephine Kelli. Weird, eh?

24. My dad and I used to get frozen yogurt after karate. I almost always got chocolate with Reeces. He usually got vanilla with some kind of berry.

25. The first concert I went to was Ricky Martin. He was beautiful, even from all the way across Arco Arena.

Nat was all excited to play basketball yesterday. In the first few minutes he scored the team’s first 4 points… then he sprained his ankle REALLY badly. We thought it was broken so we drove to the ER, but as we have no health insurance and Medicaid hasn’t responded to our application yet, Nat decided to try his weight on it (to see if it was broken or just sprained). Anyway, he could put a little weight on it without falling over dying, so we went home hoping it’s just a sprain. The photo really doesn’t show the puffiness. He’s been lying on our couch with it elevated and iced for about 30 something hours now. He can’t get up because it fills with liquidy-ness and throbs crazily. I’m not feelin’ so good either (heck of tired and achy), so we’re kind of unpleasant to be around right now. Miraculously, we’re still getting along though. Gus needs someone to take him on a walk, man.

Here’s a happier picture:

That’s by DB… not too far from the villa.

So, here beginneth the inauguration story… through the eyes of 7 months pregnant Renee…

On Monday we left our house at 3pm to go into Washington for a inaugural reception at Senator Dodd’s offices. We had a friend drop us off at the nearest metro station (dodge that crazy traffic, eh? No. We are stupid.) We stood in line for approximately 2 hours in the freezing cold, outside the metro station… just to get tickets onto the train. People in line were selling Obama scarves and buttons, etc.

The train was actually fine. We got seats, which was a must… it would have gotten very ugly if we hadn’t; however, we were already too late to make it to the reception, so we planned on heading strait to the Dodds’. When we got to the metro station in DC we found out that the Dodds were still at the reception, but planning on leaving soon. No one was at their house to let us in, so we loitered at Quiznos for about an hour and 45 minutes. When they were headed home we started walking the 7 or so blocks to their house. Keep in mind all this time our faces our frozen solid and I’m holding my belly cuz it feels like it ways 800 pounds after all the standing and walking. So basically, it took 5 hours to get from our house to the inside of Jackie’s. Luckily, that night was restful. We were in a cozy bed and well taken care of by Jackie and her crew.

Inauguration morning, we woke up at 7:15 thinking we’ll go stand in line early and save seats for Jackie’s daughter, Chris Dodd’s priest, and Jackie’s assistant. Worthless. We walked from 7 blocks north of the capitol building, all the way to the Newseum (which is far). We passed the gate to our section and followed the line Forever (with a capital F). Then we stood in line until about 11:30, which is when the ceremony was starting. Our seats were awesome! I overheard someone say they were worth $5,000 each. Yeah, it’s possible we should have sold them. Anyhoo, the ceremony was great. Aretha Franklin sang, I sat next to and chatted with this guy:

who you may recognize from XMen 2 or Romy & Michelle’s. And Susan Surrandon and Tim Robbins sat in the row behind us. Anyway, the reactions to people coming out of the capitol were very interesting. As they announced Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, the crowd was completely silent. You could’ve heard a pin drop. The Clintons got wild applause of course, and when President Bush came out it was pretty quiet, but there was some applause mixed with some boos.

Obama’s speech was excellent. The message I got from it was that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but that hopefully changes our country makes will be very positive. There was a real feeling of hopefulness throughout the crowd. People believe in Obama, and he seems to have the desire to work hard and to get our country rollin’ again. I’m hopeful for him. He’s got a huge weight on his shoulders now, and I hope he is able to make great things happen. To sum up, I haven’t felt patriotic in years. Seeing the Dodd campaign up close (how the whole process works) made me disgusted by the system… he would probably be vice president, by the way, if it weren’t for the malicious and false accusations about him in the last few months. After years of mainly feeling disgusted by the system and sad about the state of our government, I listened to Obama speak, and I felt proud to be an American again. I sang the national anthem and felt hopeful.

Thus endeth the inauguration story from the point of view of 7 month pregnant Renee…. I won’t even write about the day after and how every inch of my body was more sore than ever before. I’m a poet.

Merry late Christmas all. We spent a very snowy Christmas in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Nat got a Wii, so we’re pretty psyched. Looks like 2009 is already shaping up to be very productive (after all, he also got Mario Cart). We’re going to have a New Years party with Nat’s friends. There’s a “film festival” theme, where everyone has to submit a short film, then we’ll watch ‘em and vote on which prize the film deserves. Turns out this is no easy task. We’ll see how many films we end up with. Then we’ll drive out to Folsom on January 2nd. I can’t wait! Baby shower and New Years party, January 3rd! Evey’s b-day too! Julie’s reception on the 10th! Good stuff. If we don’t bring Rock Band will people still love us (mainly Hyrum, who requested it)? I know mom will. We will bring the Wii I think. No Gus though. It has been requested (I won’t say by who) that he stay in Utah this time. Poor doggy. How are people liking the Fisher Girls Mix 2008? Pretty fancy case, eh?

See you all soon!

8 Favorite Books: Grapes of Wrath, The English Patient, Great Expectations, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Crossing, All the Pretty Horses, Ender’s Shadow, Porn for Women (that sounds bad, but it’s a coffe table book with pictures of guys vacuuming and taking out the trash and stuff. It’s hilarious).

8 Things that Happened Yesterday: I drove from Nebraska to Utah, bought tickets for tonight’s Jazz/Portland game, ate Subway, Gus peed on the kitchen floor when he saw his sister Rikki, I slept a lot, Nat watched the Suns/Lakers game, Nat was greeted by a scary toothless man at a rest stop bathroom, and Josephine grew.

8 Things I’m looking Forward to: going to California for New Years, Josephine being born, Christmas, my baby showers, the Jazz game tonight (it’s our 4 year anniversary hot date), eating after I finish this post, moving back to the west, having people visit us in March

8 Things on My Wish List: yoga pants from Victoria’s Secret, an awesome chair for when Jo’s born, some good Spanish music (not sure where to find it), a drum set, drum and piano lessons, to find decent medical insurance, improved economy, the war to end… I really got a wide range there.

8 Things I Love about Winter: holidays, cozy clothes, the look of snow (only the look of it), bright blue skies without heat or humidity, seeing people’s Christmas cards/letters, Christmas lights, Mom’s bread, fires in fireplaces