Santa Clause Water?!?

Isaac has said some pretty funny/strange things, but today just blew everything else out of the water. He was talking about things being silly and saying his "that's silly pizza," etc. thing, then he just said, "that's silly Santa Clause water!" HUH?!? I think this falls under the "darndest things" category.

I went in for my 3 hour glucose test and spent the morning at the hospital getting poked and prodded, and thank goodness everything came back normal - no gestational diabetes. I also had an NST done while I was there and baby did pretty well with a strong heartbeat pattern and lots of movements.

Jarom pushed his interview in Texas back a week so that he could help me out a little bit, and so that we could see how some more local jobs play out. We feel very encouraged that he will have a new job in the next few weeks, and hopefully in Utah!

Today marks 30 weeks being pregnant - WONDERFUL! I love being big and uncomfortable and awkward and able to still get out and about! To celebrate (and because I was in no mood to cook dinner), we went out to dinner at the Mayan. Isaac loved watching the cliff divers and begged to go swimming the whole way home. Their menu has changed a lot since I was there last and I didn't like it nearly as well, but the atmosphere was fun and we had a good time.

Done is good, free is better

I've been putting of finishing my taxes for a while until I could find the rest of the papers I needed, and while I was cleaning out the office today, I found the rest of the papers I needed. So I bit the bullet and just finished filing my taxes - they are DONE! And I was able to do it for free too, which is always nice. Our refund should be here in about two weeks, so that will be appreciated.

I also got new glasses this morning (or at least ordered it today, they won't be ready quite yet). My eyes have gotten a little worse since last year, but being pregnant may affect that. Our vision insurance (along with everything else) expires on Friday, so I thought I might as well get a new pair of glasses while the insurance would cover most of the cost.

We got the website up with the pics of our home, click here to see the pictures. The MLS listing can be seen here.

It's Official

My cute little brother Chris came by today with our For Sale sign (that's his mug on the sign, and his Mercedes parked beside it). He also took a bunch of pictures and will be putting our info in the MLS in the next day or two. We're going ahead with selling our house, but whether we'll be able to find a job in Utah and continue building our home in Saratoga Springs, or if we have to move elsewhere remains to be seen. Jarom has a job interview on Thursday morning in San Antonio, Texas and still applying like crazy to jobs in Utah, so hopefully we'll have more answers in the next couple of weeks.

I'll post the link to our MLS listing when it's available. If you know anyone looking for a cute townhouse, send them our way!!! :)

29-week visit

Since Isaac was sick last week, I canceled my 28-week appointment and rescheduled for today. And despite the snow, we still made good time and were able to get my glucose test done before my scheduled ultrasound. I just heard back from the nurse though that my glucose level was a little bit high (145, they like it to be under 140), so I have to go back next week for the 3-hr test where they check your glucose levels every hour. I need to go in next week anyway for a Non Stress Test, so I'll just do the glucose test around the NST.

Good news from the visit though, Baby is still doing great and my cervix (AMAZINGLY!) is still 4 cm long. I'm just progressing like a normal pregnant mommy I suppose and I am so grateful for that. I guess from here on out I'll have weekly visits and NST's, so that should keep things exciting (especially since our insurance runs out next week, but that's another story). :)

We got a good look at her feet, and sure enough, she's got Jarom's feet (her second toe is longer than her big toe), very cute! She's measuring a few days ahead of her due date, which is great, and is estimated to weigh about 3 lbs. 7 oz. right now. What a good girl! While they were looking at her head, they could actually see her hair, so she's a Hatch baby all right - lotsa hair.

That's silly pizza!

As most active toddlers, Isaac is often doing things that we find to be quite silly, and we tell him so. He loves singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and loves to end with "all through the ..." and fills it in with truck, train, Gabby, Mommy, etc. He laughs uncontrollably and things he's the funniest little guy (and we agree). We play the game by coming up with silly answers and making each other laugh. Well, the last few days, instead of saying "that's silly!" Isaac has been saying "that's silly pizza!" (for those who don't understand the reference, there are two Signing Time episodes where they sing the "Silly Pizza" song as they learn different food signs and Isaac loves singing the song.)

Thanks for everyones support and well wishes with our little situation we're in right now with Jarom's job. He's already had some interest with a few companies and had a phone interview today with a follow-up one tomorrow. It takes time to find a job and hopefully we'll hear even more in the next couple weeks as to where he'll work and if we will need to relocate elsewhere at all. Luckily, Jarom's a smart guy and has made lots of connections that are helping to refer him to quite a few different companies. We'll keep everyone posted as things unfold, and until then, I'm keeping him plenty busy working on things around the house. No rest for the weary! :)

I have another doctors appointment tomorrow morning and will have the dubious pleasure of taking the glucose test (yuck!!!). I anticipate more good news, although my contractions are increasing in frequency and intensity, especially in the evenings. It's probably just a normal part of being 29 weeks pregnant, but I wouldn't know - I've never been this far along before!

A real pain in the @**

Jarom's pretty happy - he got to give me my progesterone shot today. He's been begging and pleading to let him give me one of my weekly shots, but I've been having my sister the nurse give them to me. I couldn't get a hold of her this morning, so Jarom got an evil twinkle in his eye and eagerly volunteered to administer the shot himself. The shot itself isn't too bad, although the needle is kind of thick (the Progesterone is about the consistency of Karo syrup) and very long and it goes right in the bum. I must admit, Jarom did a fine job with the shot, although I didn't appreciate hearing him describe the feeling of the needle going through the different skin/fat/muscle layers.

To celebrate Presidents Day, Jarom and Ammon are ripping out the tile in the entryway right now and are getting ready to lay down the new tile. Isaac is so curious and has to watch whatever they are doing and tries to help out where he can. He's "daddy's good helper!" I guess the best part of Jarom's temporary jobless status is that he has the time now to work on some of these unfinished projects. :)

Not so much love

In a feeling of no love nor generosity on this Valentine's Day, Jarom's company laid off all their employees today. Luckily he gets a few weeks of severance pay and had some vacation time saved up, but needless to say, the job hunt begins. If you know anyone looking for a talented, smart, hard-working Linux System Administrator, let us know!

Your valentine gift - random pics!

I've been meaning to dump the pics from my camera onto the computer for a while and finally did it today while Isaac's been playing. (He's dragging Jarom's suitcase around the house... dunno why) Enjoy!

Here is Isaac on Mars. A couple weeks ago we went to the planetarium at the Gateway and Isaac had so much fun walking on Mars and the Moon. He's really into planets and stars (thanks to daddy!) and thought it was great to see the huge Saturn! Afterwards we had dinner at Happy Sumo. Yum.
Last Friday for playgroup, we took the kids back to Backyard Adventures and Isaac had so much fun playing in this tire swing! (doesn't he look happy?) He loved spinning round and round and round and got so dizzy but wouldn't get off to let other kids play on it.
And Laura, this one is for you. It's not a very flattering pic of me by any means, but now you can see what I look like 27 weeks pregnant (and not in the hospital on bedrest, wow!). I think I'm even sprouting some new stretch marks, so this is a very exciting stage! I'm really in unchartered territory. Tomorrow marks 28 weeks and 2 days, the age Isaac was born. I don't even have words to describe how thankful I am that we are not having to worry nearly so much with this pregnancy.
So there you go. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! And I guess that means that tomorrow I can change the background and find something more spring-appropriate (and probably not quite so girly-girly for Jarom's sake). :)

A very late night

Yesterday was kind of a rough day with contractions - I had more than usual and wasn't feeling all that great. I made it through church ok and we went to Hatch's for dinner still doing ok (just not great). I kept up on my nifedipine and that helped with contractions, but I was still having about 1 or 2 an hour. When we got home, I sat in bed and tried to finish my work for the weekend when I noticed that my contractions were getting to be about 5 minutes apart! Yikes! I called up to L&D at the U and a lovely nurse named Michele (who just so happens to be my sister) answered and she gave me some suggestions to slow down the contractions. I took an extra pill and guzzled down water. After a half hour, it seemed to help - contractions were about 10-15 minutes apart now. It was about 10pm and I was trying to decide if we should come in to the hospital or just wait it out at home. Just when I decided to just stay home, the contractions started up again, and luckily Isaac was already asleep, so my good friend Rachele came over for a few minutes until Ammon arrived to keep an eye on Isaac and we were off to the hospital.

On our drive up there, it was nearly impossible to not think about the other late night trips up to the hospital - with our first little girl thinking it was impossible to actually be in labor at 22 weeks, then with Isaac at around 21 weeks after significant cervical shortening and some bleeding. How here we were with this one, but at least knowing that if she were born at 27 weeks, although it would require a long stay in the NICU, she would be ok.

As soon as we got to L&D, Michele met us and took us back to an exam room and hooked me up to the monitors to see how baby was doing. They found her heartbeat and monitored the contractions. The doctor came in and did an exam to check my cervix, make sure my water sack hadn't broke yet, and checked for a few other things. They did this test where they check for fetal fibronectin tissue which breaks down in preparation for labor - essentially, if the test comes back positive, odds are likely that the mom will deliver within two weeks, and if it's negative, the mom has a 99% chance of NOT delivering in the next two weeks, which helps determine if the contractions are productive labor contractions or not. Amazingly, the test came back negative, so it looks like baby is staying put for at least two more weeks. YEAH!

They were able to figure out the cause of the contractions, thank goodness. It turns out that it all leads back to my sinus infection last week, go figure. To get rid of the sinus infection, I took a round antibiotics. One of the side effects is that it puts me at a higher risk of a yeast infection. I didn't realize it, but I am coming down with a yeast infection, and in pregnant moms, any infection can cause contractions. Michele said that infections are the most common reasons that moms come in with pre-term contractions. Since they caught the infection early, it's not going to get too bad. I got some pills to take care of it and already the contractions are not bad. I don't think I've had any this morning so far. My next doctors appointment in on Thursday, and it's a good think that they caught the infection now because otherwise it could have gotten pretty bad by waiting a few more days. So it was a good thing we went in and didn't need to spend the night. I packed a little bag with things just in case, and I am so glad we didn't need it. We got home just before 2am and I had no problem falling asleep. :) Thanks so much to Ammon and Rachele for helping us out last night!!!

Good milestone

Today marks the beginning of my third trimester with this pregnancy, yeah! I remember reaching this mark with Isaac's pregnancy and being a week away from delivery, but right now we are still hanging in there and I anticipate making it pretty far through this trimester. I just can't believe how well things are going with this little one. We are so blessed and protected! If things continue this well and I am able to make it to 36 weeks, then they will take out the cerclage stitch at that time, stop the progesterone shots, and just let nature take its course. That will be around the first part of April, so we'll see how things go over the next few weeks and months.

Another piece of good news, I got word from my friend Mandy this morning that her little girl was born on Monday night in Alaska (they are adopting). Her name is Sidney (spelling could be wrong?) and she was 8 lbs 3 oz, 19 inches long. They were hoping to make it up there before she was born, but weren't quite able to get up there soon enough. The birth parents have signed their papers but they still need to stay there for another week to make sure everything is ok. I'm so excited for her to finally be able to have a baby in her family and wish her all the best!

Eat the yellow snow?

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I couldn't see anything other than WHITE. I guess the storm that was supposed to come this afternoon came early this morning. I begrudgingly got in the shower and started getting ready for church, dreading the drive over to the chapel. As I got out of the shower, the phone rang and we received word that church meetings had been canceled due to the snow. In all my 30 years of living in Utah with our Utah snow storms, I have never had church canceled because of the snow! It's probably a very good thing though because we got about 16 inches of snow out of this latest round.

Isaac's friend Kaleb came over around 11am and the boys played out in the snow for quite a while, throwing snow balls and climbing up the plowed embankments. When it was finally time to come inside, Isaac was very upset, so we let him play out on the deck while we got lunch ready.

Then Jarom had the wonderful idea to make "yellow" snow - at least that's what his family called it growing up. It's just hard-packed snow covered in apple juice. Yummy! Next time I'm going to try it with a little sweetened lemon juice! When I was a kid, we used to get plates full of snow and cover it in maple syrup to eat it. I've also tried making snow ice cream by putting milk, sugar, and vanilla over the snow. Pretty tasty.

The ABC's of Claudine

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend(s): Andrea & Mandy
C-Cake or Pie: Cake (especially chocolate)
D-Day: Sunday
E- Essential Item: iPod
F- Favorite Color: Yellow or pink
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: I love those cinnamon bears, and juju hearts
H-Home town: Bountiful, Utah
I- Indulgences: Vera Bradley bags
J- January or July?: July, so many fun holidays and celebrations!
K-Kids: Isabelle (my angel baby), Isaac, and baby Emilie due in May
L-Life is incomplete without: My family, the gospel, and music
M- Marriage Date: November 22, 2000
N- Number of Siblings: 5 - 4 brothers and 1 sister
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples - Gala and Jonagold are my favorite
P- Phobias or Fears: I hate spiders and driving in the snow or inclement weather
Q- Quote(s): "Your dad's not handy, ha ha!"
R- Reason To Smile: Isaac (so jumping!), feeling the baby moving
S- Season: Summer
T- Tag Three: Erin, Jarom, and Charlotte
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I worked with the Romanian delegation during the 2002 Olympics as a translator and driver (although I didn't get to do much of either being female...)
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I admit it, I like meat.
W- Worst Habit: Leaving my shoes all over the house
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds, just not the T.V. kind - I hate those kind
Y-Your favorite food: Sarmale cu mamaliga, ciorba cu perisoare, si zacusca - pofta buna! (Romanian cabbage rolls, meatball soup, and vegetable spread - yum! My favorite Romanian meal)
Z: Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

My thoughts on the passing of a Prophet of God

I've been thinking quite a bit this week about what President Hinckley has meant to me and I hope that I can find adequate words to express the deep love and admiration I have for this great man. Some of my fond memories include:

• On the morning of my wedding, Pres. Watson performed the sealing. He is the secretary to the First Presidency, and directly before coming to the temple, he was in a meeting with the Prophet. Pres. Hinckley asked why Pres. Watson was in a hurry to leave and he mentioned he was on his way to the temple to perform a sealing, so he asked him to send his love and best wishes to us, the couple to be wed.
  
• In August 1998, I received my mission call to serve the Lord in the Romania Bucharest Mission - a call that has changed every aspect of my life from that day forward. At the bottom of my call letter was the noble signature of Gordon B. Hinckley (an actual signature, not just photocopied). I know that my call came through revelation and I was very proud to represent my church and teach the people of Romania the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and share the great news that we have a living prophet of God alive today and leading God's church.
• I think it was in 1997 when I was in the Ogden LDS Institute chorale choir and we were asked to sing in General Conference, which in and of itself was an amazing experience. But I will never forget at the end of the Conference session, Pres. Hinckley turned to the choir, waved to us, and thanked us for our music.
  
• President Hinckley was called to be Prophet in 1995 after President Hunter passed away. I remember being in high school and worried about the leadership of the church because President Hunter was so sick. I knew that the First Presidency was doing much of the work, but I just remember feeling such a gust of relief when President Hunter was able to pass on and complete his mission and the reins of the church were then passed on to President Hinckley. It seemed to me that the church was instantly re-energized and it was amazing to see a prophet who was so active and able to be a very visible leader.

Other thoughts:

• It's interesting to contrast President Hinckley's passing to that of the first Prophet of our dispensation, Joseph Smith. Both were very amazing men who had a lot of work to do. To see the outpouring of public admiration for our dear President Hinckley has been very inspiring, but I can't help but wish that Joseph Smith could have been offered the same courtesy. Instead of being able to quietly pass through this life with dignity and grace surrounded by his family, he was brutally gunned down by a cloaked, angry mob. I am so grateful that there were no ugly mobs trying to attack in our day. While opposition to the church still exists, we are widely respected and unharassed and I am very grateful for that.
• I add my testimony to all the others that have been expressed that I truly believe with all my heart that President Hinckley has been a true Prophet of God and I trust that he led our church with inspiration and revelation. Looking in his face, I could feel the love of God emanating from him. He was a great example of life-long dedication and service to the Gospel. Even with all his responsibilities, he still made his family a priority and loved to serve them and spend time with them.
• I think the thing I will miss most about President Hinckley is the way that he would speak to the church at General Conference. He was always so direct, concise, and personal. I remember him recently saying that his life was not his alone, but it belonged also to the entire church, and then went on to share some of his personal history stories. We will always remember his 6 "Be's" and his words of wisdom to try a little harder to be a little better.

So with humility and deep respect, I humbly say goodbye to our dear Prophet and leader. May God be with you till we meet again.