{FABRQ [Frequently Asked Baby-Related Questions]}

Here are the answers to our FAQ -

Was it planned? Yes!! It took us longer than we wanted to get pregnant but we couldn't be more thrilled! Timing actually worked out better than we could have hoped!

When did you find out? End of January

How far along are you? 14 weeks as of Saturday

When's the due date? September 25 - but babies rarely ever come on their due date so we're just thinking of it as "End of September"

What's the gender? No idea yet

When do you find out the gender? At 20 weeks so about the middle of May

Are you going to find out? YES!! I cannot wait!

Have you heard the heartbeat? Yes. On Friday we had our appointment where we heard the heartbeat for the first time and it was awesome! It was 160 bpm - It was crazy how fast it was!

Have you been sick? Not too bad - It's been a fairly easy pregnancy and now that I'm out of my first trimester I really can't complain at all! I only had a couple terribly sick days in the first trimester but I was mostly just tired.

Have you started to show? Yes and No. I can for sure tell a difference but no one else really can.

Any weird cravings? Not really - I'm mostly just really picky. I usually make Sean list 6 different things that I could eat for dinner and then I pick one of those.

Is this the first grandbaby? Yes - on both sides! We're pretty excited :)

Do you have names picked out? Yes, some - but I'm not going to post them here because y'all might steal them!!

That's it for now! Let me know if there's more.....
Thanks, everybody, for all your warm wishes! It's so fun to share good news and to have everyone be so excited with us :)

{Word Problem}

Remember in elementary school when you had word problems for homework?

Example: If Amy had 4 apples and then gave Tom 2 apples how many apples does Amy have left?

The answer is 2 apples. Not too bad, right?

Well, because you are a faithful blog reader, you get to do a special little word problem for me. Are you ready? This one is a little bit tricky....or not :)

Here it goes [it's a lot longer than the example given earlier, so it's a lot of things to keep track of sooo ... good luck!]:

*

*

*
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*
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*

If Heidi has been extra sleepy for the last couple weeks...

and

If Heidi has been having a harder time than normal getting out of bed...

and

If Heidi was nauseous a few weeks ago but is feeling better...

and

If Heidi has been eating crackers nearly everyday....

and

If Heidi has been craving lettuce and cottage cheese...

and

If Heidi has been wearing slightly bigger shirts and hoodies...

and

If Heidi has been taking more frequent trips to the little girls room...

and 

If the Husband has been sweeter than ever...

and 

If the Husband has been waiting on Heidi hand and foot...

and

If the Husband has had to put up with a lot more crazy emotions...

and

If Heidi and the Husband have a list of our favorite names....

THEN

What do they have?

*

*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

*

*

*

*

*

If you said  "A BUN IN THE OVEN!" or "A STORK IS GOING TO VISIT THE HOUSE!" or "PREGGERS!" or "A BABY!" then you are 100% correct.

Good job on the word problem! See, it wasn't as tricky as you probably, thought, right??

Oh yeah, I am currently 14 weeks along and the little one is coming around the last week of September :)

{Weekend in Seattle}

Hello Friends... I feel like I have been absent for a while on this blog - oh wait, that's because I have been.
I promised you a run down of my PSA experience and I almost didn't write it at all. I figured it was too far past gone and that no one would even care any more....Well, thank goodness I talked myself out of that one. I really don't care if no one else reads it, but it was a great experience and I need to write it down for myself and you all are more than welcome to read it :) [PS - I completely forgot my camera and therefore have no awesome pictures of things that I saw, did. Bummer.]

Most of the students who went to the conference [probably between 20-30 students] carpooled up in vans that BYU provided. Not me, sorry. I was not going to go on a road trip in a crowded van with people I didn't know especially when I'm prone to car sickness - yup. So I flew.

Thursday

I arrived in Seattle around noon on Thursday and Sean's Grandparents picked me up from the airport. They took me out to lunch and then dropped me off at my hotel. We went out to eat at this fab restaurant called Red Fin and I had seafood pad thai - amazing. [I love love love good food] It was so great to see them and be able to spend a part of the afternoon with them. We don't get to see them much so I was glad I was able to see them.

I stayed at the Sheraton in down town Seattle [It was so nice!] where the conference was being held. I had to wait for one of the program directors from my school to check me into my room and she was out and about running one of the sessions at the conference so I sat in the lobby and used that time to work on my presentation and other homework that I needed to get down. After a couple hours I figured I better find her before she would run out for the evening and I would never get into my room. After some investigation and some amazing coincidences [aka blessings] I ran into her, registered for the conference, and was able to get checked into my room.

My roommates had not yet arrived [vans...] so I went out on the town on my own. It was pretty cold and windy but not unbearable. I walked up and down streets and decided to eat at a little burrito place. It was delicious. It was so fun to people watch there! What a great variety :)

After dinner I decided to do some shopping [of course.....I mean, there was an H&M right across the street from my hotel!! I love that place!!!!]. I realized it was getting late after a couple of cat calls and whistles and I realized that it probably was not the smartest thing for me to be wandering the city by myself at that hour, so I went back to the hotel.

I got in my pjs an worked on my presentation, worked on other homework, and planned out the remainder of my weekend. At registration I got a huge pamphlet with what sessions would be going on at what times so I could map out what I wanted to do [For most of you, I'm sure that attending a sociological conference listening to people's current research projects would not be on the top of your list for exciting, well, it was for me!!] It was awesome.

The conference was held in about 15 different rooms at any one time and in each room a different session [about 1.5 hrs] was taking place covering a different topic. These topics ranged from Race in the media to how to deter crime to adoption to women's issues and the list goes on and on [literally, for pages....]. In each session between 3-5 researchers would go up and present their research and afterwards they would have a question and answer opportunity. It was great.

Friday
I woke up early [early enough for the 8:30 session!!! points to me...] the next morning to go to the conference. I got all dressed up in my professional looking clothes, grabbed my badge [official, no?] and bag [filled with my notebook, the conference program, and of course, snacks] and headed to the conference [Might I add that I looked very grown up and professional?]. It was great! I jumped between rooms and attended the sessions until about noon. It was fabulous. I learned many new great things [but I will not bore you with those at this current moment].

After that, I stopped back at my hotel room, freshened up and went out on the town to find some lunch. I went down to Pike's Place Market and spent all afternoon there. AWESOME. It was great. I had a delicious lunch and some random place and then got dessert at a Russian Bakery. I tried all of the samples [fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, cheese, jerky, fresh salmon... everything] and had a great time. I just wish that the husband was there cause that just makes everything better.

I got back to my hotel in time to see that some of my roommates were heading out to dinner and invited me along. There were a couple professors and a couple students and it was great. We went out to this fabulous Thai restaurant [I love good food and have recently fallen head over heels for Thai - if you have never had Thai food it is now your assignment to look up a Thai restaurant in your area and go this weekend. Provo people Thai Mango or Bangkok Grill are great choices :) ] and ate family style. Delicious. Salmon Curry, Pumpkin Curry, a couple of different noodle dishes...yum. And then of course top it off with mango and sticky rice for dessert [those of you that are going out for Thai this weekend it is imperative that you get this dessert - crucial.] Yum.

After dinner a couple of us stopped by H&M before heading back to the hotel. Yes, I did stop again. No, I will not tell you if I bought something there for a second day in a row [but any of you that know me I'm sure you can guess...] Then it was bedtime.

Saturday
I slept in a little bit that morning but my roommates were all up early because they had to present at 8:30 that morning. I wanted to go see them, but I did not want to fight for the shower, so I took my sweet time that morning. When I was ready for the day and about to head out to find some food for breakfast my roommates came back and we went out to go get some breakfast. Turns out we went to Pike's Place again and just snacked on the samples. Remember before when I said I tried all the samples, well, I didn't mean literally all the samples, but now I do. We stopped at every booth and tried everything. We stopped at every jam booth and tried every different kind of jam that they had. We stopped at every jerky booth and tried every different kind of jerky. It was awesome.

At that point our group kinda split up and I spent the rest of the day with one other student. She's an older student [Married, 3 teenage kids...] that I've had in a couple of my classes before but never spent time with. She was great. All my plans about going to the conference that afternoon were smashed - but I was quite alright by that. I was entranced with the city and I had a great time. We stopped at some point for lunch at a fabulous little corner cafe and got a delicious salad and sandwich.

That afternoon we stopped by the hotel so I could meet with my professor to go over our presentation for the next morning. It was a brief meeting and afterwards we walked down the street to meet up with other BYU folks to watch the basketball game at a sports grill. That was a sad game.

After the game I went out with the same student I hung out with earlier in the day and did some more running around the town picking up souvenirs for her kids. It was great. After a couple hours we were tired and decided that we should grab some dinner [at 9:30 at night....not healthy, but awesome]. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and split a big ol' pasta plate. Delish. Then bedtime.

Middle of the Night
This night was daylight savings time and I was terrified I was going to miss my presentation at 8:30 [or 7:30] in the morning and I did not sleep at well. My phone is supposed to automatically change but I was so nervous that it wouldn't and that my alarm wouldn't go off at the right time in the morning that I woke up every 30 minutes to an hour to check my phone's time vs the hotel's clock's time. No sleep. My phone did [as it was supposed to] change times and my fretting was worthless. Oh well.

Sunday
So I woke up on time, got dressed in my professional get-up, and pulled one of these in front of my mirror [no, I did not stand on the counter, I was too tall]:



I went to my presentation room and got my powerpoint presentation all set up and was informed by our session director [who is actually a current professor of mine] informed me that I would present first.

It went great. At first I was nervous and shaky but that got over relatively quickly. I felt I was clear and articulate [not always the case] and delievered everything that I needed to. I then turned the time over to my professor to finish up presenting the statistical analysis that he ran. Once I sat down and the next presentation started I had those thoughts that you get right after you bear your testimony in church where you think of all the things that you didn't say. Luckily, during the Q&A afterwards many of the questions were directed at our presentation and I was able to say everything that I wanted to and felt much much better about the entire presentation. It was great.

[there wasn't a whole ton of people at the presentation because it was 8:30 {7:30!!} on a Sunday morning, the last day of the conference, and we were competing with 14 other sessions going on at once. There were probably a total of 15- 20 people there, but they were very engaged]

After my presentation I went up and packed up my things. Grandma & Grandpa McQuay picked me up at my hotel, took me out for lunch again [jambalaya!!] and then to the airport to finally arrive at home.


It was a great experience. It was very educational, a great experience, and helped me feel like my college education and the skills that I gained during the past 3 years were actually worth something. I did research on an important topic and found new, interesting things. It was great. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to go and that I took advantage of that. I wish I got involved in research earlier in my college career because it was such a rewarding experience.

Overall - Fabulous Weekend!!!!

Hunger Games: Mockingjay

I ravenously read the first two Hunger Games books nearly a year ago, but it took me forever to pick up the last of the trilogy: Mockingjay. Not sure why the delay, but it happened.

Finished it in a week, wrapping it up last Friday. Loved it.

The series is about a sad, dystopian future of America where one city, named Capitol, rules and has 12 districts that serve as slave-states to support Capitol's people's lavish life styles. The books follows a teenage girl as she unwittingly becomes the face of the Districts' rebellion against Capitol.

It's a fast-paced, impossible-to-put-down series that I strongly recommend to anyone who can stomach a lot of fairly gory scenes. The book was written for young adults (Suzanne Collins, the author, is a screenwriter for Nickelodeon) but involves a number of mature themes throughout as the main character is placed into many compromising situations that make her grow up faster than any child should need to.

This last book was by far my favorite of the series. The previous two were fast paced, but the story line was fairly sparse as each book was consumed by "The Hunger Games" (I'll let you figure out for yourself what those are). Definitely fun reads, but not life-changing or truly moving. Mockingjay, the third book in the series, takes on a much more mature tone. I'd love to explain why, but that'd give the book (and the series) away, and I'm not up to do that.

Suffice it to say, that the ending nearly made me cry. Mrs. Collins was able to utilize a good (but by no means astounding in the literature world) YA plot-line and make some very bold statements about human psychology, pain, grief, self-torment, suicide, and not least of all: love.

I loved it. I'm planning on reading the book again in the near future just to read the ending again. It was powerful - something I was not expecting from the Hunger Games.

email

A short story for you:

I remember during my freshman year of college (2005-2006) a time when I didn't get any emails. None. I'd check my email at least once a day, often times more, and I was consistently and frequently disappointed. Those were the days before I used the Archive function in gmail, so I could see huge gaps in the dates between the emails I had received.

Then one day, it dawned on me: I wasn't getting any emails because I wasn't sending any out myself.

It's a simple principle and but realizing that has made a difference - in a lot of areas of my life, not just in filling up my inbox.

I send out a lot of emails now-a-days.

PS - the word "e-mail" officially got changed to "email" last week. Nerd fact of the day.

{Funny Videos}

No worries, friends, I will post about my PSA experience soon...but I don't have time for that right now, I need to play catch-up on some homework so... it's coming.
BUT here are some funny videos to make you smile today.

enjoy.

This baby cracks me up...




And this saxophone guy is HILARIOUS.

The Princess Bride (yes, there's a book)

Yes, there is a book.

Yes, the book came before the movie.

Yes, the book is better than the movie (I say that even though the movie is one of my favorites), just like every other book-movie combo out there. I finished this one on March 10th.

The movie follows the book almost to the "T", so I'm not going to spend any time talking about the story line. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, repent immediately. At least see the movie.

If you've already seen the movie and have always considered yourself a big fan, I say you're not a true fan till you've read the book. It'd be like someone saying that they're the world's biggest Harry Potter fan without having read the books. That's just sad. I've read this book twice now. Loved it even more the second time.

Why is it better than the movie? Well, it's simply even funnier. Authors have much more ability to speak directly with the reader (it's awkward to do that in movies), and Goldman spent A LOT of time in this book speaking directly to the reader, often making fun of the story. Hilarious.

The premise is slightly different from the movie. Instead of it being a grandpa reading to his grandson, the story goes as follows: William Goldman's (the author) dad reads the story to William when William is sick at home as a kid. William Goldman loves the story but never reads it himself, but then buys the book for his own son decades later. His son tries reading the book, but gives up, declaring that it's too boring. William Goldman (the author) flips out, because he remembers it as being a story full of war, romance, sword-fights, and all of the other things you and I love from the movie. He grabs the book and to his horror, realizes that the book is a historical satire that his dad had been paraphrasing/abridging the whole time. William Goldman then decides to write an abridgment of the book, "The Princess Bride." That's why there's so much commentary through the book - he's explaining why he's taking long, boring passages out, etc.

It's a great book. Seriously, if you like the movie, READ THE BOOK. My only complaint is the author evidently finds himself rather funny and occasionally sounds like a stand-up comedian who's trying too hard. But only occasionally.

Loved it.

Book Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

After reading Candide, I read another sad book: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I don't remember consciously choosing to read another sad book, but I did... Not sure why. Finished this one on Feb 25th.

An important note: I also didn't realize that Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of this book, was the same man who wrote Treasure Island, which I read recently. I'm glad I didn't realize that before I picked the book up, because while I enjoyed Treasure Island, I didn't think it to be very well-written. Oh, what a contrast.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a fascinating, gripping, well-written short novel (only 90 or so pages - hence why it's usually published with other short stories), that bore a tone entirely different from Stevenson's in Treasure Island. And, like Frankenstein, this book bore little resemblance to what I've heard of it in popular culture.

That said, I don't think I'd be confident in recommending this book to just anyone. In several ways, I wish I, myself, had not read it. Here's why:

The book takes place in Puritan England and focuses on Dr. Jekyll, a well-respected doctor. Dr. Jekyll, like anyone else, has his personal temptations that he fights. However, the Puritan society in which he lives influences him to believe that he's evil for having evil desires in his heart - so, being a doctor in metaphysical science, he tried to somehow remove the evil out of himself. His experiments, however, result in something quite different from his purpose. He developed a potion that turned himself into his purely evil self - the physical representation of all of his evil desires. This new form, dubbed Mr. Hyde, is shorter and younger (because, he reasons, that side had not been as well developed), and his, as you'd imagine, purely evil.

At first, Dr. Jekyll drinks the potion to turn himself into Mr. Hyde purely as experiment, but quickly those experiments became indulgences where Dr. Jekyll's darkest fantasies could be lived, without repercussions from society. Whenever Mr. Hyde was chased by police or needed to escape from whatever situation, he'd simply drink the potion and take shelter in the repute of of Dr. Jekyll, whom no one could imagine to do wrong.

So here's why the book disturbed me so much: Stevenson did a fantastic job at never describing what those indulgences were that Mr. Hyde was living. This created the effect that, in my mind as I was reading, my own dark desires found place in the text, and as I imagined what made Mr. Hyde so evil it was my own forbidden fantasies taking place.

I'm sure this was Stevenson's desire and point - to bring each readers' evil thoughts to the surface so that we might reconcile ourselves with them. It did prove positive in another way - to illustrate that all men have evil within them, but that as long as we do not let that evil rule our lives, we can, in fact, remain worthy and decent people. Had Dr. Jekyll been able to come to grips with the fact that yes, evil was inside of him, but that he was no slave to it and that he was not wicked himself for having such desires, he would have been fine. It was Dr. Jekyll's experimentation with his evil self that left him so sad and degraded.

So why do I wish I hadn't read it? It simply hit too close to home. I recognize my need to reconcile myself with my own "natural man" in order to be able to "bridle my passions" and such, but this book proved to be a little too provocative* for me.

*In the real sense of the word, not in the sexually-explicit form it usually takes now-a-days

{PSA this weekend}

Hello dear friends.

Remember when I talked about PSA way back in October? Well tomorrow I fly to Seattle for the presentation! This came up WAY faster than I had anticipated but with a lot of work and sweat the paper is nearly ready for the presentation on Sunday. My partner, and dear friend, for this paper is unable to make it to Seattle because his wife is having a baby in the near future, which is sad yet understandable. So it will be me and Bert, my professor, presenting our findings to the conference.
Look for an update in the next couple days about our presentation!! I'm nervous/scared/excited/tired/stoked about this whole thing.

Book Review: Candide, by Voltaire

After reading Treasure Island, the next book on my list was the timeless classic, Voltaire's Candide, first published in 1759.

This was another fairly short read - only 130 pages, but wow, what packed pages were they. I finished this one in February.

Candide is written as a philosophical tale, a story told to illustrate a philosophical point. I've read many purely-philosophical books in my early years at BYU, and I must say, I wish other philosophers had tried Voltaire's approach. This book was very approachable and bore none of the painfully dull verbose arguments on proofs I've waded through in times past.

Voltaire wrote this book with the sole purpose of debunking Leibniz' pervasive theory that "this is the best of all possible worlds." Leibniz argued, in short, that since God exists (I don't recall his proof of that point), then God must be a benevolent and kind God (otherwise he would not be God), and if he's a benevolent and kind God, then he would not/could not create any imperfection. That meant that this world, this earth, would have to be the "best of all possible worlds," otherwise God would not/could not have created it. Leibniz then reasons that because "this is the best of all possible worlds" then everything that happens is for the betterment of the world - that even individuals' sufferings, murders, earthquakes, rapes, you name it, sure may be dark and sad, but somehow lead to the betterment of the whole human race, to the betterment of this world.

This philosophy had many followers (and still does to this day, in my opinion), Voltaire himself included for a long time. However, after seeing many wrongs in his adult life, Voltaire's faith in this philosophy began to weaken. The horrific earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal in 1755 that left 30,000 citizens dead was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" - Voltaire quickly began a crusade against such "optimism."

The tale of Candide is a 130 page-long example of why Leibniz' optimism is so horribly wrong, in Voltaire's opinion. Voltaire tells the story of a young man, Candide who is raised in a paradisaical castle and taught by a philosopher who completely convinces Candide of Leiniz' philosophy - that everything is for the best, because, after all, "this is the best of all possible worlds." Through a sad chain of events, Candide is kicked out of the sheltering and perfect castle and is suddenly thrust outside to the strange and sad world. His adventures take him across the world, yet as he witnesses slaughterings, rapes, disease, earthquakes, betrayal, and the like, Candide tries with all of his might to hold on to his philosopher's optimism, trying to somehow reason that despite the horrible things he is seeing around him, somehow "all is for the best."

It is a sad story, a very jerking introduction into the pain and suffering experienced by many in both times of old, and today. It was, admittedly, a hard book to read at times, but I am glad I read it. This was an excellent rebuttal to anyone who sees life "through rosy glasses" - an important thing in my opinion. There's no way that any of us can respond effectively to the pain and suffering in the world (and here in the US, too) if we 1) don't recognize its existence and 2) we try to reason away their maladies. If I think that someone's suffering is somehow for the better good, then what reason would I have to help?

Book Review: Treasure Island

One of my favorite pastimes is reading. For the longest time, I stuck with Sci-Fi and Fantasy, my favorite series being the Enders Game series (especially the Speaker for the Dead trilogy), Harry Potter, and the Golden Compass.

However, towards the end of last summer, I decided to branch out. I read Frankenstein, which I wrote about here. Absolutely loved that book. It's vastly different from any popular portrayal I've seen/heard of. Read that review!

My next book was decidedly lower-key: Treasure Island.

Yes, I know Treasure Island was written for children, but I'd never read it, nor had I really been exposed to its story line (I haven't even seen the Muppet's version of the tale... sad, I know), so I figured I should read the quintessential piece of pirate literature, even if I was a bit late.

The book was a quick but fun read. The pirate accents were hard for me to even read in my head (anyone who's ever heard me attempt an accent knows my skills [or lack there-of] are so nonexistent it's awkward), so I avoided sounding their speech out when I read.

I can't say the story was the best put-together I've ever read for a couple reasons: One, the characters were remarkably flat, even for a children's book. Secondly, many characters did things that truly were not logical or well thought-out - but hey, that's why the adventure happened in the first place.

For anyone looking for Pirates of the Caribbean-style pirates, this is not your book. These pirates were the ruthless, murderous, idiotic pirates that were far more likely to be those that horrified sea-travelers for centuries.

I finished this one in January. I'll post my next book review shortly.

{5 Places}

Here are the places I would like to go this weekend. If you want to join me, please feel free :)

1. Chicago, Illinois


Ever since we signed for the internship this summer in Chicago, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm excited out of my mind. I went to Chicago on a band trip my senior year and it was FABULOUS! I cannot wait to go back. :)

2. Portobello Road, London, England

Not quite like Bed-knobs and Broomsticks portrayed it, but you can believe that this song was stuck in my head the whole time we were there over the summer.

I would like to wander those streets again and go shopping for vintage and antique beauties. Over the summer I bought a dress and a necklace which are FABULOUS but I would love to go back. At the beginning of our study abroad, which is when we were in London, we were trying to be frugal with our money and were not buying as many things as we wanted to. By the end of the trip that changed a little bit :) I would like to go back.

3. NYC, NY

I would like to go NYC and go see me some Broadway shows. I would also buy hotdogs and pretzels off of the street [yes, I really would. I've done it before and they're delicious] and visit Chinatown and buy knockoff designer bags and sunglasses.

4. Disney World, Florida

Yes, the happiest place on earth. I love this place. I would go and ride the rides and visit all the characters and do all the cliche things that you're supposed to do at Disney World. I would see all the shows and all the parades and buy myself a pair of Mickey ears.

5. Tossa de Mar, Spain

Yup, this is also known as Paradise. Let's go and lay on the beach all freaking day. When we're hungry we will buy fresh fruit from the market and then maybe we'll go to sea kayaking. For dinner we'll eat a 3 course fresh sea food meal at a restaurant along the coast and top it off with chocolate con churros.


These are my top 5 choices for the weekend, please cast your vote. kthanksfriends.