In Honor of My Inner Nerd...

Today is international Star Wars day! I'm not sure why. I just know it is. So, in honor of one of the best movie sagas ever created, and also in recognition of my very nerdy side, which hasn't had an opportunity to shine in awhile, enjoy this picture of Jedi me with the real live original Yoda!

Home Alone...

...with no idea what to do today! So far time's a wasting because it's 11:00 and I haven't even managed to get myself ready for the day. I'm sitting here on the couch doing nothing instead, with Shena laying on my feet (a funny place for her to be, since she isn't technically allowed on the couch) and Toby by my side. Josh is off helping Sterling film his final project for school. So what shall I do? I SHOULD clean the house. It is such a disaster - especially after Toby helped himself to the paper that was inside the diaper bag I bought yesterday. He loves a good paper-shredding session! The one thing I know I have to do is laundry, at the very least.


I would love to work on the nursery some more, but at the moment I think I've done about everything I can. I have to wait another paycheck or six before I have the money to buy anything else. Yesterday we did take the closet door down (it took up too much space) and replace it with this adorable curtain:

And I can't wait to get the rest of the wall decals up either. Love that elephant above the changing table!


I'm feeling very frustrated by "work" right now. It is work. It's just work at home. I really enjoy it, for the most part, but at the moment I only have one consistent client and the articles they want are so boring! They take all creativity out of the writing process. Ridiculous. I really am trying to find more clients, or at least an occasional fun job here and there, but I guess I need more patience for that.


Josh is currently enjoying some freedom from school, though he has to decide tonight whether he wants to take summer classes or not. He has procrastinated the decision, and the summer term starts tomorrow. The problem is that finals week happens to be the same week the baby is due, and we're not sure how well that will work out. If he doesn't do school, he may try to find a second, temporary summer job to help earn some extra money. He is on the job hunt for a more permanent job as well, since the church decided to merge the distribution center and Deseret Book (which is not owned by the church) and all distribution center employees are being laid off at an undetermined point in time (by the end of the year). We're keeping our fingers crossed that he can find something good.


That is about our life in a nutshell right now. School, work and baby! It's not much but we love it anyway. Aside from the work part...would be nice if we were independently wealthy and didn't have to worry about that. Who doesn't want that though?

Nursery Update

I am so excited to get this nursery put together, and so far it is turning out great! Unfortunately the crib and the shelf wood don't exactly match, but they don't look too bad together either. We've still got a long way to go, but here is a sneak peak:


Josh and my dad seemed to enjoy putting the crib together. Toby, of course, had to approve as well:

We picked up this adorable light switch cover to match the set:

And this valance. We still need to pry the blinds off of the window and shorten the curtains:

And here is a peak of the room so far:

So far I am loving it. It is such a tiny room that we are trying to arrange things the best way possible for the space. Of course there is some more decorating to come. I really can't wait to see the final outcome!

At The Request of Friends...

...I reluctantly posted this on Facebook as well, at the request of some of my friends, so I guess I will do the same here. Here is my 20 week bump picture:

It is a very poor quality cell phone picture that my mom took. Sorry about that! Thus far I've managed to avoid real cameras. I'm now 24 weeks and little man in there is steadily getting bigger. I'll admit I enjoy the baby bump - it's the other weight gain that I wish I could do without! :)

The Sweet Taste of Freedom

From work, that is. Well, not entirely. I still have to work, but now I work for me. Van Drimmelen & Associates is a thing of the past, and I nearly have my own business set up. Things there progressively got worse. Sick leave policy changed every single time I had to take a sick day (of course, to make it more difficult). What was the final straw? Suddenly I was only eligible to be compensated for a sick day, up to the average number of hours I worked during the pay period, rather than being able to take 8 hours. With doctors appointments and such, my average could get pretty low. At the time of this particular change, my average was "7.2" hours, so that's what they compensated me for. Yet what was on my pay stub? 8 hours of sick time used. Really? You're going to pay me for 7.2 and charge me for 8?

Well we finally decided the time had come. After much prayer, argument, discussion and more prayer, we realized it was the right thing. Terrifying, of course, with a baby on the way and my job providing the bulk of our income. Josh is on the verge of being laid off because the Distribution Center is merging with Deseret book. But we knew it was possible for me to make enough money with my freelance writing, even if things are tighter. It's better to learn to live on the new budget now, a few months before baby's arrival, anyway.

Well things are tighter, but so much better. I enjoy being home. The work is much harder than it ever was at my job, but I don't mind that at all. Money doesn't seem so bad either, and I'm at the very least breaking even with what I earned before. The best part? I actually earn that much and even more in 2-3 hours less per day. My bad habit right now is stopping at that point. If I worked a full 8 hour day I could earn much more. The best part is that I will be able to be home with the baby.

It's all still a scary thought, and I know that our finances might be much less stable for awhile, especially until Josh is out of school. But we are making it work, and are both so much happier now! (Bye bye depression for me!) On top of it all, baby Emmett is moving around so much now that I think he must really be an octopus. We can't wait to get his nursery all set up and are starting to get very excited for his arrival. Life is changing very rapidly. It's an adventure, but we feel very blessed!

I Have to Entertain Myself Somehow

While my husband is off at Priesthood meeting. We got a start on the nursery last weekend with this bookcase:

So while I was home by myself this evening I decided I would get started on a little wall decor. I knew I wanted to put his name on the wall somewhere, so I went to Ben Franklins to see what sort of supplies I could find. This is what I came up with:

Not bad for my first attempt at such a craft! I really can't wait to get the nursery all put together!

What a stubborn little baby...boy!

This was the morning of the anatomy scan, the big ultrasound where we would finally get to find out if our little one is a boy or a girl. I was a *ahem* great mother and tried to hop the baby up on sugar before we went in - just a glass of orange juice (and a chocolate egg). Do you think it worked? Of course not! The little turkey was sound asleep and folded completely in half. 

The ultrasound tech did manage to wake him up (boy was he mad), but it wasn't for about another ten minutes that he showed us his little manhood. Yep, no doubt about it, we're having a baby boy! We're very excited, and since this is our first we were happy with the thought of either one! He's growing perfectly, weighing in at just under a pound so far, with five fingers and five toes. Here are some snap shots of our little Emmett Bradley:

Here's his profile. What a cute little chin!

And he even smacked his lips and yawned for us!

Here's a little hand, blocking his face. He's camera shy!

And my favorite, a teeny tiny baby foot!